COURSE DESCRIPTION.  A survey of non-Chaucerian literature of the 12th to 15th centuries, including selected major works of the Pearl Poet, Langland, Malory, the English romancers and song writers.  My personal emphasis in the course is on the fascinating culture that existed at this time, a culture that produced the first major flowering of literature in what we recognize as English.  Middle English writers set the tone for all English literature since their day and gave us our ideas of what literature is and can be.  They refined a mongrel language and made it respectable for future generations, shaping the very foundations of what we speak and write and study today as English.
 

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

1. to enjoy the freshness, vitality, and strangeness of Middle English literature,
2. to acquire specialized knowledge of English literature and culture from the 12th to the 15th centuries,
3. to become aware of some of the problems in studying old literature (especially in terms of the literary canon and historicity),
4. to master the challenges of -- and develop a healthy appreciation for -- the Middle English language, and
5. to learn something of the forms and norms of the academic discipline of English.

REQUIREMENTS.  This course consists of essentially four graded assignments:

1. a mid-term exam,
2. "participation assignments" scattered throughout the semester,
3. one paper (8-12 typewritten pages), and
4. a final exam.

Your final grade will, however, be based on a 1000-point scale:

A = 930-1040 total points for the semester,
A- = 900-929 total points for the semester,
B+ = 870-899 total points for the semester,
B = 830-869 total points for the semester,
B- = 800-829 total points for the semester,
C+ = 770-799 total points for the semester,
C = 730-769 total points for the semester,
C- = 700-729 total points for the semester,
D = 600-699 total points for the semester, and
F = 0-600 total points for the semester.

ATTENDANCE.  Regular attendance is a virtual necessity for successful completion of the papers and exams in this class, and I fully expect you to attend every class meeting.  In-class exercises and discussion constitute 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 reproduce or recapture the dynamics and flow of information for a missed class meeting (even if you get notes from someone).  If, however, you positively must miss a class, I will expect you to find out what you missed and to come fully prepared -- without excuses -- to the next class meeting.  If, moreover, you are absent on a particular day, any participation assignment due in class that day may not be made up or turned in late for credit.
 

OFFICE HOURS.  My office is Bliss 216.  My office hours this semester will be 9:30-10:50 a.m. TF.  If you cannot come to see me at those times, please feel free as needed to call my office (771-2106) or to talk to me before or after class to arrange an appointment to see me at another time.  You may also contact me by e-mail (through SOCS), or you may leave a note for me in my mailbox in Bliss 124.
 

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES.  An e-mail discussion list has been created for this course.  To subscribe, send the message, "subscribe LIT-L your name" from your own personal e-mail account to listproc@list.TCNJ.EDU.  Be sure to send the subscription message from your own personal e-mail address (e.g., "name2@tcnj.edu" or "username@aol.com") -- not from one of the generic e-mail accounts on campus (such as "nobody@tcnj.edu" or "student@tcnj.edu").  After you have subscribed to the list, you may circulate messages to all members of the list simply by sending what you want to circulate to LIT-L@list.TCNJ.EDU (although, again, you must be sure to send the message from your own personal e-mail address not from a generic one in the labs).  NOTE:  You can access your personal TCNJ e-mail account from the web anywhere -- including in the computer labs on campus -- just by going to https://secure-web.tcnj.edu/imp/index.php3.
 

PARTICIPATION ASSIGNMENT -- E-MAILS TO THE LIST.  You will want to subscribe to the e-mail discussion list as soon as possible, because one of your participation assignments is to e-mail the list with your thoughts on the readings for class.  As often as you like, up to a total of 40 points, you can receive 2 points for each relevant e-mail you send to the list.  The following kinds of e-mails will qualify for these points:

1. an e-mail that consists of at least one question about a particular day's reading assignment (if the question is a good and thought-provoking discussion starter),
2. an e-mail that consists of several questions about a particular day's reading assignment (if the questions are about more basic, factual information, such as questions about the meaning of particular words or phrases in the reading or questions about some aspect or other of medieval history relevant to the reading),
3. an e-mail that consists of a thought-provoking, insightful, or interesting observation about a particular day's reading assignment, or
4. an e-mail that responds substantially to what someone else has posted to the list.

1. your message must be sent before class meets to discuss the reading assignment that you are addressing;
2. your message must actually be posted to the discussion list (not sent to me privately);
3. your message must be original (that is, not repeat what somebody else has already posted to the list); and
4. your message must not repeat material that you submit for any other graded assignment for class (i.e., you may not submit an e-mail that is made up of material from your paper or from one of your other participation assignments in class).

*You may only earn a maximum of 10 points in the course of the semester by doing Middle English readings -- that is, you may do a Middle English reading as a participation assignment twice (but only twice) out of the four opportunities listed in the course schedule above.