Syllabus
British Literature I
Fall 1997
It is in your best interests to read the material
before the class in which it is discussed. It will
mean a lot more to you and you will learn more if you
are actively involved (either mentally or verbally)
than if you are always playing catch-up. "Catch-up"
students often do work that is a grade or more lower
than they are capable of--but it's your life.
N.B.: I may from time to time get behind this
schedule in my lectures. You, however, are
responsible for having the material prepared on the
dates given below (I may catch up very quickly).
Week 1 (beginning 25 August):
- Thursday: Read carefully and be prepared to
answer questions on the following:
The Old English Period, pp. 2-5
Beowulf, pp. 1-23
- Short quiz on video and reading.
N.B.: Read the background (xeroxed) material before
you tackle each author or period.
Week 2 (beginning 1 September):
- Old English Poetry
Beowulf, pp. 23-57
Week 3 (beginning 8 September):
- The Middle English Period
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Week 4 (beginning 15 September):
Week 5 (beginning 22 September):
- Tuesday: General Prologue, ll. 1-42, 79-100, 165-
272, 285-308, 671-858
- Thursday: The Franklin's Tale
Week 6 (beginning 29 September):
- Malory, Morte D'Arthur, Books 20 and 21
Week 7 (beginning 7 October):
- Tuesday: Mid-term on medieval period
- Thursday: Lecture on the sixteenth century.
England under Henry VII; Humanism; The
Reformation; Patrons, Writers,
and Publishers; Art and Nature: Elizabethan
Aesthetics
Read: Wyatt, Surrey, Sidney lyrics (yellow book)
Week 8 (beginning 14 October):
- Tuesday: Wyatt, Surrey, Sidney, Spenser
First paper due
- Thursday: Poetic Conventions, Modes, and Genres; Nationalism--Elizabeth I;
Attitudes, Anxieties, and Ambiguities
Read: Shakespeare
Week 9 (beginning 20 October):
- Tuesday/Thursday: Shakespeare
- Thursday: Lyrics--Ralegh, Marlowe (yellow book)
Donne, The Flea," "The Bait," Holy Sonnets: X, XIV, Jonson, Herrick,
Marvell
Week 10 (beginning 27 October):
Week 11 (beginning 3 November):
Week 12 (beginning 10 November):
- Tuesday: The Restoration and the Eighteenth
Century;
Swift, "Death of Dr. Swift"
- Thursday: Gulliver's Travels, Book I
Week 13 (beginning 17 November):
- Tuesday: Gulliver
Final paper due
- Thursday: Swift, "A Modest Proposal"
Week 14 (beginning 24 November):
- Tuesday: Finish Swift
- Thursday: Lecture on the Augustan Age
Pope, Rape of the Lock
Week 15 (beginning 1 December):
- Rape of the Lock and wrap up
Return to course list
Rev 9/97