727 Introduction to 16th Century Literature

Instructor:   Richard Dutton                                                       Class Meeting: M, W 1.30-3.18, DE 245

Office: DE 518   (Mailbox:  421 Denney )                                Office Hours:  M,W 3:30 – 4:30,

Email:  dutton.42@osu.edu                                                                           and by appointment   

Phone:  292 7661

Course Description and Objectives

The course offers a historical contextualisation of the birth of modern English literature (and aims to explain why so many grown men spent so much time writing sappy sonnets). The key dates for understanding 16thC England are 1453 (fall of Constantinople), 1485 (start of the Tudor dynasty), 1492 (Columbus and all that) and 1517 (Luther). We follow the shock waves of these events through the literature: the spread of humanist scholarship; the growing importance of the Tudor court; the impact of the New World on Old World thinking; religious controversy in vernacular literature; the beginnings of women’s writing. Key authors will Thomas More, Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe and the Shakespeare of the sonnets.

Required Texts

The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1 (i.e. 16th century section), Seventh edition

(NB several key texts are not in earlier editions).

A Companion to English Renaissance Literature and Culture, ed. Michael Hattaway.

W. Shakespeare, Hamlet (any edition)

Useful websites:

http://www.wwnorton.com/nael/16century/welcome.htm

http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/essays

Electronic Resources you should learn to know and love if you don’t already:

Early English Books Online

Literature Online

Literature Resource Center

MLA Directory of Periodicals

MLA International Bibliography

Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford Reference series

Course Requirements

During the quarter, you will complete a class presentation, two shorter papers and a final research paper.

Class Presentation: Chosen from the weekly topics we will be pursuing (see below). The object is to produce a

        15-minute talk, based on secondary reading (including web sites), which will direct the seminar’s discussion.  

        You may, if you wish, re-use material from this presentation for the final paper. 10%

Paper 1: A reading of any short poem or prose extract from the course, highlighting its relationship to any two of the following themes: patronage; the court; gender/sexuality; religious controversy; identity; satire/complaint; humanist thought; rhetoric; the Classics; new philosophies; new worlds.  With proper bibliography. 5-6 double-spaced pages. 20%

Paper 2: Discuss the significance of the publishing history (including manuscript circulation, if relevant) of any author/text/body of work on the course. With proper bibliography. 5-6 double-spaced pages. 20% 

[I phrase this ‘author/text/body of work’ because definitions will depend on subjects. You might want to do, say, The Shepheardes Calendar or The Faerie Queene – but not the whole of Spenser. Ditto Sidney. But with, say, Isabella Whitney it might be appropriate to look at everything. Discuss with me if in doubt. When I say‘significance’ I mean: how is this relevant/important to modern readings?]


Final Paper: A research-driven longer paper, on a topic discussed with me, arising out of the course. 12-20 pages, as nearly as possible in publishable form. 50%

All submitted work must be double spaced, typed, and formatted according to MLA guidelines with 1” margins and a 12-point standard font. Assignments should be handed to me personally in class (this avoids any later confusions) and will not be accepted by email, or on diskette. But I am always happy to answer questions by e-mail.

Course Policies

You are fellow professionals and teachers yourselves. I do not need to tell you that attendance and punctuality are matters of courtesy as well as requirements. Coursework should always be submitted on time and in the required format. I understand that occasionally there are extreme circumstances which make it impossible for you to comply with deadlines etc.: I would appreciate it if you could give me the earliest possible notification.

Plagiarism is, of course, unthinkable.

Issues

If you have any grievances, about grades or anything else, contact Professor Debra Moddelmog, Director of Graduate  Studies in English: she can be contacted via the English Graduate Studies office, Denney 425; phone 292-7919; web site http://english.ohio-state.edu/programs/graduate/; e-mail graduateenglish@osu.edu.

SCHEDULE

Day 1:

M, 3/29/04

Discussion of course;

goals & expectations;

syllabus

   

Day 2:

W, 3/31/04

Sir Thomas Wyatt (the elder)

9. Court and Coterie Culture: Curtis Perry

14. Wyatt's 'Who So List to Hunt': Rachel Falconer.

34. Love Poetry: Diana Henderson.

 

Day 3:

M, 4/5/04

LITERATURE OF THE SACRED

& Robert Southwell, ‘The Burning Babe’

3. English Reformations: Patrick Collinson.
13. Translations of the Bible: Gerald Hammond

49. Theological Writings and Religious Polemic: Donna Hamilton

See also Norton web site on religion.

  

Day 4

W, 4/7/04

Humanisms: Sir Thomas More (selections) & Arthur Golding’s trans. of Ovid, ‘The Golden Age’ from Metamorphoses.

2. Early Tudor 'Humanism': Mary T. Crane.
4. Platonism, Stoicism, Scepticism, and Classical Imitation: Sarah Hutton

  

Day 5

M, 4/12/04

Humanisms: Roger Ascham (selections)

Sir Thomas Hoby / Castiglione

Henry Howard, earl of Surrey

53. Rhetoric. Marion Trousdale.

  

Day 6

W, 4/14/04

Women’s Writing: Isabella Whitney; Mary, Countess of Pembroke; Queen Elizabeth

55. Was there a Renaissance feminism? Jean E. Howard.

  

Day 7:

M, 4/19/04

Sir Philip Sidney: Arcadia (selections)

.
28. Pastoral: Michelle O'Callaghan.
29. Romance: Helen Moore.
48. Prose Fiction. Andrew Hadfield

Paper 1 due

Day 8:

W, 4/21/04

Sir Philip Sidney: The Defense of Poesy (selections)

26. Theories of Literary Kinds: John Roe.
31. The Position of Poetry: Arthur Kinney.

  

Day 9:

M, 4/26/04

The Wider World (selections, inc Ralegh on Guiana) & Drayton, ‘Ode to the Virginia Voyage’

12. The Writing of Travel: Peter Womack.

59. Race: A Renaissance Category? Margo Hendricks.

See also Norton web on Discovery (& on Ireland)

  

Day 10:

W, 4/28/04

Sir Philip Sidney: from ‘Astrophil and Stella’

54. Identity. A. J. Piesse.

  

Day 11:

M, 5/3/04

William Shakespeare: Selected sonnets


56. Sexuality: A Renaissance Category? James Knowles

  

Day 12

W,  5/5/04

Dr Faustus

Norton web on magicians, herectics & playwrights

  

Day 13

M, 5/10/04

Dr Faustus

  

Paper 2 due

Day 14:

W, 5/12/04

Ralegh (selections) and his circle

Norton web.

  

Day 15:

M, 5/17/04

Spenser: The Shepheardes Calendar & Epithalamion

7. Publication: Print and Manuscript: Michelle O'Callaghan.

33. Traditions of Complaint and Satire: John King.

 

Day 16,

W, 5/19/04

Spenser: The Faerie Queene, Bk 2 (The Bower of Bliss)

27. Allegory: Clara Mucci.
30. Epic: Rachel Falconer.

  

Day 17,

M, 5/24/04

Spenser: The Faerie Queene, Bk 1 to Canto 6

    

Day 18:

W, 5/26/04

Spenser: The Faerie Queene, Bk 1 to Canto 12

    

Day 19:

M, 5/31/04

Memorial Day observed: no class

    

Day 20:

W, 6/2/04

Hamlet: a retrospective

Final paper

due 6/9/04