English Literature of the Renaissance and Early 17th Century

TEXTBOOKS:
Christopher Marlowe, The Complete Plays (ISBN 0140430377)
Christopher Marlowe, The Complete Poems (ISBN 0460879952)
Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Philip Sidney (ISBN 0192820249)
Edmund Spenser, Edmund Spenser's Poetry (ISBN 0393962997)
William Shakespeare, Three Roman Plays (ISBN 0140434615)
John Donne, The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Donne (ISBN 0679601023)
Ben Jonson, Ben Jonson (ISBN 0192813390)

COURSE DESCRIPTION.  Studies in the literature of the English Renaissance, centering on two or more major writers such as Spenser, Donne, Marlowe, Bacon, Brown, and Marvell.  This semester, we will focus on the topic of “Flesh and Spirit:  Humanism, Classicism, Petrarchanism, and Protestantism in the English Renaissance.”

GOALS.  As my goals for this course, I want you

1. to increase your familiarity with the work of Marlowe, Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne, and Jonson,
2. to expand your strategies for approaching and analyzing unfamiliar texts,
3. to get a feel for what the major issues and concerns were for people of the English Renaissance,
4. to increase your appreciation of the talents and accomplishments of Renaissance English writers, and
5. to become more comfortable reading Renaissance texts on your own.

1. two sets of discussion questions and two sets of responses for assigned days (30 points each),
2. three short papers (220 points each), and
3. a comprehensive final exam (220 points).

Your final grade will be based on a 1000-point scale:  A = 930-1000 points, A- = 900-929, B+ = 870-899, B = 830-869, B- = 800-829, C+ = 770-799, C = 730-769, C- = 700-729, D+ = 670-699, D = 600-669, and F = below 600.

ATTENDANCE.  Regular attendance is a virtual necessity for successful completion of this class.  Class discussion constitutes important, useful preparation for the course’s graded assignments.  If you miss a class, you will essentially lose out on that day’s contribution to your preparation, since it is never really possible to recapture the dynamics and flow of discussion for a missed class meeting (even if you get notes from someone).  If you positively must miss a class, however, I will expect you to find out what you missed and to come fully prepared -- without excuses -- to the next class meeting.

OFFICE HOURS.  My office is Bliss 216.  My office hours this semester will be 11:00 a.m.-12:20 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays.  If you cannot see me at this time, please, feel free as needed to call my office (771-2106) or talk to me before or after class to arrange an appointment at another time.  You may also contact me by e-mail (gsteinbe@tcnj.edu), or you may leave a message for me in my box at the English department offices in Bliss 124.  E-mail is generally the fastest way to contact me in an emergency.

COURSE SCHEDULE.  This schedule is subject to revision at the discretion of the professor.  Click here to see a list of those signed up to post discussion questions and be respondents for each class meeting.

Date	Topic	Assignment
W Aug 29	Introductions	Sign up to provide discussion questions and responses for particular class meetings.
W Sep 5	Marlowe	Ovid's Elegies, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love,” Part One of Tamburlaine, and Hero and Leander
W Sep 12	Marlowe	The Jew of Malta and Edward II
W Sep 19	Sidney	The Lady of May, The Old Arcadia, and Lamon’s Tale
W Sep 26	Sidney	The Defence of Poesy, Astrophil and Stella, and The New Arcadia
M Oct 1	NO CLASS	PAPER 1 DUE in my box in Bliss 124 by 4:30 p.m.
W Oct 3	Spenser	The Shepheardes Calender (the selections in your text), Muiopotmos, Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, the Amoretti, and the Epithalamion
W Oct 10	Spenser	Book I of The Faerie Queene
W Oct 17	Spenser	Book III of The Faerie Queene
W Oct 24	Shakespeare	Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra
M Oct 29	NO CLASS	PAPER 2 DUE in my box in Bliss 124 by 4:30 p.m.
W Oct 31	Donne	Songs and Sonnets, Elegies and Heroicall Epistle, and Satyres
W Nov 7	Donne	A Funerall Elegie and the First and Second Anniversaries, Divine Poems, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (the selections in your text), “A Sermon of Commemoration of the Lady Danvers, Late Wife of Sir John Danvers,” and Death’s Duell
W Nov 14	Jonson	The Alchemist and Conversations with William Drummond of Hawthornden
W Nov 21	NO CLASS	Thanksgiving
W Nov 28	Jonson	Epigrams, The Forest, and The Underwood
W Dec 5	Review	PAPER 3 DUE
Finals Week	FINAL EXAM	Study, study, study

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