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English
449:
The English
Renaissance
Dr.
Michael Bryson
Sierra Tower
832
818-677-5695
michael.bryson@csun.edu
COURSE
DESCRIPTION:
This
course will
explore the
English
Renaissance--a
late party crasher
to the European
Renaissance--through
literature that
considers politics
and social
organization,
theology, love,
the desire for
power/free will,
and the status of
women. England
begins to become
recognizably
modern during this
period, and for
better or worse,
the
English-speaking
world has been
shaped by the
developments of
this island-nation
separated from us
by time (and by a
common language).
ASSIGNMENTS:
Midterm and
Final
Essays:
in the range
of about
1500-2000 words (for the
entire
essay, not each
question),
these will be
responses to essay
questions. These essays
will not
require
secondary
sources, but
will require
you to read
the texts
closely, and
cite evidence
from the
texts (using
MLA citation)
to back up
your
arguments.
The midterm essay
will be due in
class on 3/15 (all
stapled together
into one tidy
package). The
final
essay
will be due by
11:59:59
PM
on 5/19 by
email as one
attached docx,
doc., rtf., odt,
or pdf file (no
multiple
attachments,
Apple-specific
file formats, or physical
submissions of
finals).
In your email
subject line,
put English
449 final, and
make sure your
name is on
your paper and
in the body of
your email,
especially if
using a
non-CSUN
address.
READING
LIST:
The Norton
Anthology of
English
Literature: The
Sixteenth
Century/Early
Seventeenth
Century,
also various
online texts
indicated
week-by-week in
the syllabus
Statement
on Academic
Dishonesty:
Plagiarism is
a serious
offense that
will be
treated
seriously.
Please read
the CSUN
policy
here.
Statement on Being Dull:
Dullness is an even more serious offense that will be treated even more
seriously. (Un)fortunately, CSUN has no policy, so I am left to my own
devices when dealing with dullards and dullardry. "[F]or always the dullness
of the fool is the whetstone of the wits" (As You Like It 1.2.52-53).
Weekly
Preview
Week
1 (1/25):
Introductions
Week 2 (2/1):
Social and
Political
Organization:
Thomas
More--Utopia
(Norton, 572-646)
Week 3 (2/8):
The
Theological
Tradition:
Calvin (Norton,
681-84),
Erasmus--On Free
Will
(20-31, original
pagination),
Luther--Bondage of
the Will
(32-39, original
pagination),
Book of Homilies
(Norton, 692-95),
Thomas More
(Norton, 679-81)
Week
4 (2/15):
Love and the
Poetic Tradition,
part 1:
Plato--Symposium
(572-82, original
pagination),
Troubadour/Trobairitz/Minnesinger
poetry,
pre-Petrarchan
Italian poetry,
Castiglione
(Norton, 706-18),
Thomas
Wyatt (Norton, 648-54),
Henry Howard
(Norton, 662-64,
669-70)
Week 5 (2/22):
Love and
the Poetic
Tradition, part 2:
George
Gascoigne--The
Lullaby of a Lover
(Norton,
1008-09),
Edward De
Vere--The Lively
Lark (Norton,
1009-10),
Samuel
Daniel--Delia
(Norton,
1014-15),
Michael
Drayton--Idea
(Norton, 1015-17),
Thomas
Campion--My
Sweetest Lesbia
(Norton, 1017),
Catullus--Vivamus
Mea Lesbia,
Philip Sidney,
Astrophil and
Stella (Norton,
1084-1101, poems
1, 7, 9, 10, 15,
21, 39, 52, 56,
71, 72, 106, 108)
Week 6 (3/1):
Love and
the Poetic
Tradition, part 3:
Christopher
Marlowe--Hero and
Leander
(Norton,
1107-1126),
The Passionate
Shepherd to His
Love (Norton,
1126), Walter
Raleigh--The
Nymph's Reply to
the Shepherd (Norton, 1024-25)
Midterm Essay
(distributed
in class 3/1, due
in class 3/15)--staple
everything
together into one
paper--do not hand
in multiple,
separate papers.
Week 7 (3/8):
Love and
the Poetic
Tradition, part 4:
William
Shakespeare--Sonnets
(Norton, 1171-86,
poems 1, 3, 15,
18, 19, 55, 71,
94, 105, 116, 130,
138)
Week 8 (3/15):
William
Shakespeare--Twelfth
Night
(Norton,
1187-1250)
3/22
Off for Spring
Break
Week
9 (3/29):
Politics:
Machiavelli--The
Prince
(53-62, original
pagination),
Mary Queen of
Scots--Letter to
Elizabeth I
(Norton, 740-42),
Narrative of
the Execution of
the Queen of Scots
(Norton, 742-49),
Elizabeth I--A
Letter to Mary,
Queen of Scots
(Norton, 757),
A Letter to King
James VI of
Scotland
(Norton, 760-61),
Speech to the
Troops at Tillbury
(Norton,
762-63)
Week
10 (4/5):
Critique
and Defense of
Poetry:
Stephen
Gosson--The School
of Abuse
(9-44, original
pagination),
Philip Sidney--The
Defense of Poesy
(Norton, 1044-83)
Week 11 (4/12):
Poetry as Moral
Allegory: Edmund
Spenser--The Faerie
Queene (Book 1,
Cantos 1-5, Norton
781-843)
Week
13 (4/19):
Witchcraft, the
Devil, and the
Question of Human
Will:
King James
VI/I--Daemonologie
(4-23, original
pagination),
News from Scotland
(64-81, original
pagination),
Reginald Scott--The
Discoverie of
Witchcraft (1-35,
58-62,
original
pagination),
Christopher
Marlowe--Dr. Faustus
(Norton, 1127-63)
Week 14 (4/26): The
Status of Women:
Joseph Swetnam--The
Arraignment of Lewd,
Idle, Froward, and
Unconstant Women
(Norton, 1650-52),
William
Gouge--Of Domestical
Duties (Norton,
1655-60), Rachel
Speght--A Muzzle for
Melastomus
(Norton, 1652-55),
Heinrich Cornelius
Agrippa--Female
Pre-eminence, or,
The dignity and
excellency of that
sex above the male
(entire text)
Week
15 (5/3):
The Lover(s)
of Women: John
Donne--The Flea, The
Good-Morrow, Song,
The Ectasy, Elegy
19: To His Mistress
Going to Bed, Sappho
To Philaenis
(Norton, 1373-74,
1376-78, 1386-87,
1393-94 , 1397-99)
Week 16 (5/10):
Off. Work on
your final essay
Final Essay
(distributed in
class 5/3, due by
11:59:59 PM on
5/17 via
email)--combine
everything in
one
file/attachment--do
not send multiple,
separate
attachments.
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