English 201-2
Spring 2002
Charles Knight
Wheatley 6030
Tel. 287-6723
charles.knight@umb.edu
Office Hours MWF 2:30-3:30
M 5:30-6:45
Co-teacher: Jason Romanowski
Heamasnh@aol.com
Texts:
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Ed. A. Kent Hieatt and Constance Hieatt. Bantom
Books.
Shakespeare, William. King Lear Signet (NAL).
Shakespeare, William. Tempest. Signet (NAL).
Milton, John. The Portable Milton. Ed. Douglas Bush. Viking Penguin.
Swift, Jonathan, Gulliver's Travels. Ed. Christopher Fox. Bedford Books (St. Martin's Press).
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Ed. James Kinsley. Oxford (World's Classics).
Course packet (available at the Wheatley Copy Center, bin # 012sp02) containing selections by William Cobbett, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Raymond Williams.
Syllabus
I. Geoffrey Chaucer: Interpreting Character, Story, and LanguageJanuary 30. Reading Medieval Poetry: Levels of Meaning. Read Psalm 114, Dante and Augustine on interpretation (handout).
February 1. Introduction to Chaucer. Read "Chaucer Chronology" and "Tips on Reading Chaucer's Language" (handouts). Web Site on Chaucer.
February 4. "The Prologe," lines 1-412. Read "An Outline of Chaucer's 'General Prologue" (handout).
February 6. "The Prologe," lines 413-860.
February 8. "The Millere"
February 11. "The Wife of Bath's Tale"
February 13. "The Frankeleyns Tale"
February 15. "The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale"
II. Shakespeare and Milton: Problems of Renaissance Hierarchy and Order
February 18. Holiday
February 20. Introduction to the Renaissance. Read Shakespeare's Ulysses on "Degree" (handout). Paper 1 due. Guide to Writing Papers.
February 22. Introduction to Shakespeare. Web site on the Globe.
February 25. King Lear, Act One. Web site on King Lear.
February 27. King Lear, Act Two.
March 1. King Lear , Act Three.
March 4. King Lear, Act Four.
March 6. King Lear, Act Five.
March 8. The Tempest, Acts One and Two.
March 11. The Tempest, Acts Three, Four and Five.
March 13. Introduction to Milton: Milton and the Civil War. Read "A Second Defense of the English People" (The Portable Milton, 205-17); Paradise Lost, Book I, lines 1-26 (232-33); Book III, lines 1-55 (288-90). Web site on Milton.
March 15. Introduction to Milton's Poetry. Read Sonnets VII ("How soon hath Time," 75); XII. On the Same ("I did but prompt the age," 220); XV. On the Lord General Fairfax ("Fairfax, whose name in arms," 223); XIX. When I consider how my light is spent (223); XVI. To the Lord General Cromwell ("Cromwell, our chief of men," 224); XVIII. On the Late Massacre in Piedmont ("Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints," 225); XXII. To Mr. Cyriack Skinner upon his Blindness ("Cyriack, this three years' day," 227); XXIII. Methought I saw my late espoused saint (228). Read "Advice on Reading Milton's Poetry" (handout). Paper 2 due.
March 25. "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso" (61-71).
March 27. "Comus" ("A Mask presented at Ludlow Castle," 76-107)
March 29. Paradise Lost, Book IV, lines 1-535 (310-326)
April 1. Paradise Lost, Book IV, line 526-1015 (326-341)
April 3. Concluding Paradise Lost. Read the "Argument" for each book, and Book XII, lines 552-649
April 5. Samson Agonistes, lines 1-709 (613-634)
April 8. Samson Agonistes, lines 710-1755 (634-64)
III. Jonathan Swift: The Traveler's Perspective
April 10. Introduction to Swift. Web
site on Gulliver's Travels.
April 12. Gulliver's Travels, Book 1
April 15. Holiday
April 17. Gulliver's Travels, Book 2. Paper 3 due
April 19. Gulliver's Travels, Book 3
April 22. Gulliver's Travels, Book 4
Return to Home Page
IV. Jane Austen: Observing the Observer
April 24. Observer's Packet: Gilbert White, from A Natural History of
Selborne (photocopy), and William Cobbett, from Rural Rides (packet).
April 26. Observer's Packet: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, from Reveries of a Solitary Walker, and Raymond Williams, from The Country and the City.
April 29. Introduction to Jane Austen. Web site on Jane Austen.
May 1. Pride and Prejudice, vol. 1, ch. 12.
May 3. Pride and Prejudice, finish vol. 1
May 6. Pride and Prejudice, vol. 2, ch. 11. Paper 4 due
May 8. Pride and Prejudice, finish vol. 2
May 10. Pride and Prejudice, vol. 3, ch. 8
May 13. Pride and Prejudice, finish vol. 3
May 15. Conclusions
Final exam to be scheduled.
Some Comments, Warnings, and Suggestions. This course reads major works by five authors
who are central to the British literary experience, and it tries to suggest ways of looking at them
in the context of ideas that may be typical of the periods in which they live. The course is
introductory in several senses: it tries to introduce you to the works and their authors and to the
ways in which literature can be understood in relation to its intellectual context; it is also
introductory in the sense that the works we will read are too complex to master in a single
reading, so that the experience of them in this course is only the beginning of what, for many, is a
lifelong process of reinterpretation and deeper comprehension.
There are three elements which make up in this course. (1) Class participation, whether you passively attend and listen or actively make points and ask questions, contributes to my evaluation of your work. Asking questions is a particularly valuable way of contributing. I cannot emphasize enough how much I value questions, even if the askers may feel that they are revealing their ignorance: your questions are the best way I have of understanding what you understand and of learning how I can be of help. (2) There are four papers in the course. They make up more than half of the final grade. (Only in rare cases, and for such obvious reasons as poor attendance, will a final grade be lower than the average of the papers and exam.) If papers are handed in promptly, I will return them within a week, along with typed comments. I would very much appreciate it if you would also type your papers. I do not deduct for late papers, but I will correct them at my own convenience. The most common cause of failure in this course is falling behind in the written work. If you have basic writing problems, you may profit from tutorial help, and in some cases I may ask you to work with a tutor. I encourage students who receive lower than a B on papers to rewrite them. (The later, better mark will replace the original.) I prefer to receive papers on paper rather than on the computer, but if you need to send a paper to me by email, feel free to do so, but before sending it, print it out and go over it carefully, as errors are difficult to see on a terminal. (3) The final examination constitutes about one-third of the final grade. It will consist of a series of questions on the reading for the course, an essay on Jane Austen, and an essay asking you to develop a topic in relation to at least three works.
The single most important contributor to success in this course is keeping up with the reading and thinking about it in relation to class discussions.