English 664 Byron Nelson

Spring 2003 341 Stansbury

CRN # 14894 293 -3107, x419

4-6:50 Wednesday bnelson2@wvu.edu

46-B Stansbury 9:30-11:20 MWF (Library or Stans.)

RENAISSANCE LITERATURE

REQUIRED TEXTS (9)

Grafton, New Worlds, Ancient Texts (Harvard UP)

Wu, ed., Renaissance Poetry (Blackwell)

Clarke, ed., Renaissance Women Poets (Penguin)

Spenser, The Faerie Queene, ed. Hamilton (Longman)

Donne, The Major Works, ed. Carey (Oxford World Classics)

Milton, The Complete Poetry of John Milton, ed. Shawcross (Anchor)

Milton, Areopagitica and Of Education, ed. Sabine (Crofts Classics)

Marvell, The Complete Poems, ed. Donno (Penguin)

Fox, The Journal, ed. Smith (Penguin)

READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS

1/15 Introduction; selected poems and prose

1/22 Grafton, New Worlds: 1-10, 13-58, 197-252, 253-56

1/29 No class

2/5 Renaissance poetry: (1) sonnets by Greville, Sidney and Shakespeare

(starting at 36, 39 and 45 in Wu, Renaissance Poetry); (2) lyrics by

Jonson, Herrick and Herbert (starting at 79, 97, 105 in Wu)

ASSIGNMENT: on poets and Grafton due

2/12 Renaissance poetry: (1) Jonson, "To Penshurst," 80 in Wu; (2) Marvell,

"Upon Appleton House," 75 in Marvell

2/19 Renaissance poetry: (1) Whitney, "Will and Testament," 18-28 in Clarke,

Renaissance Women Poets; Lanyer, "Description of Cooke-ham," 274-80

in Clarke; (2) Sidney, Psalms, starting at 53; Lanyer, "Salve Deus Rex

Judaeorum," 205-74; read also Clarke's introduction, x-xxxvi

ASSIGNMENT: on country-house poems (Lanyer, Jonson, Marvell) due

2/26 Spenser, Faerie Queene I. i. (pp. 31-43); II. i-xii. (Temperance, pp. 157-286)

3/5 Spenser, Faerie Queene III. I-xii. (Chastity, pp. 287-407); VII. vi-vii.

(Mutability, pp. 691 -712)

ASSIGNMENT: on Spenser due

3/12 Donne, Songs and Sonets, 88-138 in Carey

SPRING HOLIDAY, March 15-23

3/26 Donne, (1) religious poetry: Holy Sonnets, 173-80 in Carey; "The Crosse,"

143; "Good Friday, 1613," 241; "To Mr. Tilman," 286; hymns 332, 333,

358; (2) "Death's Duel," 401-18

4/2 Milton, (1) Areopagitica, 1-56 in Sabine; (2) "On the Morning of Christ's

Nativity," 63-73; "In Quintum Novembris," 36-41; A Mask [Comus],

124-52

ASSIGNMENT: on Donne and Milton due

4/9 Milton, Paradise Lost, Books III-IV, pp. 298-342 in Shawcross

4/16 Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IX-X, pp. 420-78 in Shawcross

ASSIGNMENT: abstract of long paper due

4/23 (1) Marvell's poetry: "To His Coy Mistress," 50; "The Picture of Little

T. C.," 63; "The Nymph Complaining," 67, "The Garden," 100,

"Bermudas," 116; mower poems, 105-110; "Horatian Ode," 55;

(2) Fox, Journal, 1624-53, pp. 3-133 in Smith; read also Smith's

introduction, ix-xxvii

4/30 PRESENTATIONS OF PAPERS (and brief critiques)

The goals of the course are (1) to familiarize you with the expanded canon of Renaissance literature (roughly 1500-1660); (2) to acquaint you with trends in recent scholarship; (3) to prepare you to teach Renaissance literature; and (4) to help you to prepare a conference-length paper. The extensive readings will focus on lyric and epic poetry and on public and private prose. Be sure to bring all the appropriate texts to class and (needless to say) keep up with the readings. In addition to the primary texts, there will be extra handouts of critical readings. In addition to the assignments listed above, there will be informal short writing assignments nearly every week.

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