EN 283 surveys literature of the British Isles from the Middle Ages to the early eighteenth century. The course covers three major genres—lyric, drama, and narrative—each encompassing a number of sub-genres and modes which may include sonnet, epigram, ode (lyric); mystery, morality, tragedy, comedy (drama); romance, epic, mock-epic, and satire (narrative).
Students will learn to distinguish among the various genres and to recognize their features. They will also learn something of the social, cultural, intellectual, political, and historical circumstances in which these works were created. Though it is impossible entirely to transcend our own historical context, students are asked to be open to what will surely seem completely alien worlds: both the imaginative worlds of the texts, and the “real” world in which their authors lived. Our primary concern, however, will be aesthetic rather than historical: we will attend more to the generic, formal, thematic, prosodic, and rhetorical features of early modern literature than to the authors’ biographies or the social/political/cultural circumstances of literary production.
The schedule is arranged chronologically. We have but fourteen weeks (27 classes), so the amount of material actually covered is necessarily limited. The emphasis, therefore, is on major authors: Chaucer, Shakespeare, Donne, Jonson, Wroth, Lanyer, Milton, Behn, and Pope.
“British literature from before the Middle Ages to the 18th century, concentrating on major figures and works and on the development of modern issues in literature.”
Students will 1) become familiar with a modest selection of major literary works from the middle ages through the English Restoration and early eighteenth century; 2) learn to distinguish among them by recognizing their generic features and authorial styles; and 3) acquire the ability to think and write critically about the themes, ideas, and problems they embody.
Students will fulfill these overlapping objectives through a) regular participation in class discussion, preparing for each class by reading the scheduled material and submitting, prior to class, a brief (200-word—i.e. half-page) writing assignment (75%); b) three comprehensive quizzes (15%); and c) one poetry-memorization assignment (10%).
Students must acquire the following texts. No exceptions, including digital versions.
| Pre-class writing assignments and participation | 75% |
| Quizzes | 15% |
| Poetry memorization | 10% |
In evaluating student work, I will use the following system:
| 90-100% | A | 64-67% | C |
| 84-89% | A- | 60-63% | C- |
| 80-83% | B+ | 58-59% | D+ |
| 74-79% | B | 54-57% | D |
| 70-73% | B- | 50-53% | D- |
| 68-69% | C+ | Below 50% | F |
Regular attendance and participation, both prior to and during class, are the central activities of this course. They are also, given their grade weight relative to the quizzes and memory test, essential to student success.
Prior to each class, students will read the scheduled material, then write and submit a brief initial response to prompts provided on EduCat. These responses are due no later than 9am, one hour before class. Having thus engaged with the assigned reading, students will come to class prepared to interact with the professor, to engage in additional discussion with their fellow students, and to participate in communal reading and further analysis.
So each class consists of two phases:
Quizzes one and two consist of some combination of multiple-choice and true-or-false questions pertaining to particular characters, plot features, and/or central themes. The third quiz, sight-passage recognition, asks students to identify the authors and titles of a selection of passages from the course readings. This final quiz will be held during the exam-week class. The best way to prepare for these quizzes is to participate regularly in class preparation and engagement as described above.
Students will select one sonnet or verse passage of comparable length and write it out from memory during the exam-week class. The best way to prepare for this assignment is to start early with, say, a single line, and then gradually commit additional lines to memory, week-by-week, over the course of the semester.
The reading of literature is a deeply meditative, perhaps even spiritual, practice—an engagement with those aspects of human being which cannot be reduced to mere information and data. The professor therefore envisions this class as a refuge and respite, twice per week, from the digital noise and frenetic pace of the online world. It is an opportunity for students to relax and breathe, to slow down and reflect, and to engage with works whose primary utility is their capacity to elicit aesthetic admiration and wonder.
It is for these reasons that phones, computers, and any other personal electronic devices are strictly forbidden in class. Students must silence and store all such devices for the duration of the class. This restriction includes digital versions of the course readings; these must be brought to class as hard-copy only. The poems scheduled for October 16-30 and December 4-6 are provided for free and may be studied digitally outside of class; but students must bring printed copies of these to class on the appropriate days as indicated in the schedule. Similarly, all note-taking must be done manually, using pen and paper.
“No students shall submit as their own to an instructor any work which contains ideas or materials taken from another without full acknowledgement of the author and source.” (Student Code, 2.2.3.02, in the NMU Student Handbook.) My plagiarism policy is simple: if you present as your own the ideas or phrasing of another and are caught, you will fail the course and might even be reported to the Dean. If you have any questions as to what constitutes plagiarism, or if you are not certain that your use of sources is free of plagiarism, please consult the Handbook and/or me before you submit your essays.
If you have a need for disability-related accommodations or services, please inform the Coordinator of Disability Services in the Dean of Students Office at 2001 C. B. Hedgcock Building (227-1700). Reasonable and effective accommodations and services will be provided to students if requests are made in a timely manner, with appropriate documentation, in accordance with federal, state, and University guidelines.
©Robert Whalen, 2023