Dr. Laurel Amtower
Adams Humanities 4182
Office Hours: MW 3:30-4:45
Phone: 594-1517
e-mail: lamtower@mail.sdsu.edu

Required Texts:

The Longman Anthology of English Literature, vol. 1 (ed. Damrosch)
The Way of the World (William Congreve)

Course Requirements:

Grades:

Midterms (3) 300
Portfolio (3) 300
Oral Performance/participation 100

Exams:

The exams will include multiple choice items, short answers, and longer essay questions, and will include all the material covered in the reading assignments and class lectures. Questions will range from the historical to the literary; you will be expected to know titles, authors, and (approximate) dates of composition, as well as main characters, themes, major issues and concerns. You may also be asked to identify major passages and to comment upon them. Essay questions will generally require a passage analysis, asking you to not only explain what's going on in the passage, but also to show its relevance to the larger work, its significance to the larger contextual themes and issues at work in the text, etc. Exams may not be made up, unless advance notice and an acceptable, documented excuse are provided.

Reading Portfolio:

You will be required to keep a "reading log" throughout the semester, one entry for every week of class. The intention of this assignment is to help you engage your own critical methods in textual analysis through the act of writing. Each entry should be typed and include 1) a brief synopsis of the salient features of the texts, including identification of its major themes, concerns, and/or issues, and 2) a brief critical interpretation of the texts in their cultural context. Plan on writing approximately 500 words, or one typed, single-spaced page, per week. Ideally you should complete each log as you read the texts, or immediately afterward, while your thoughts are still fresh. Please do not wait until after class discussions to write your logs; the point is to further your own critical readings of the texts.

Your writing need not be as formal as for a standard paper; however, you should take this assignment very seriously. You will be graded on the critical content of your work, but points will be deducted for sloppiness or missing work. All logs should be dated and titled, and should be kept in a loose-leaf portfolio-style binder (no rings). Portfolios are due at the time of the exams, with the exception of the final portfolio, which is due on the last day of class.

Late policy: The following provisions will apply for any paper or bibliography turned in after the beginning of the period on the date assigned in the syllabus. Papers turned in 1-2 days after the assigned date and time will be marked down 10%. Papers turned in 3-7 days late will be marked down 25%. No assignments will be accepted after seven days beyond the due date.

Participation:

This class is a seminar/discussion, which means that you are expected to be in class and to participate every day. Your overall contribution to the class will be assessed and graded at the end of the semester. Basic expectations include the following: that you will have read and prepared in advance all materials to be covered that day in class; that you are ready to discuss core problems or issues; and that you maintain standard rules of politeness: i.e. no eating, sleeping, chatting, reading extraneous material, leaving and re-entering the classroom, etc.

SCHEDULE:

The Middle Ages

Week 1: M: Introduction
W: Reading: Longman on the Middle Ages, p. 11 ff; Bede, Ecclesiastical History, "Caedmon's Hymn," "Dream of the Rood," "The Wanderer," "Riddles"

Week 2: M: Holiday
W: Beowulf, ll. 1-2183 (about half-way through)

Week 3: M: Beowulf, ll. 2184-end
W: "Prologue," "Lanval," from Lais of Marie de France; poems of Dafydd ap Gwilym

Week 4: M: Chaucer, The General Prologue
W: Miller's Tale, Pardoner's Tale

Week 5: M: The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale.
W: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, fitts I and II

Week 6: M: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, fitts III and IV
W: exam, portfolios due

The Early-Modern Period

Week 7: M: Longman on the Early Modern Period, pp. 569-88. Sidney's "Apology for Poetry"; poetry by Wyatt, Sidney, Lady Mary Wroth (all poetry to be identified in class)
W: Marlowe, Dr. Faustus acts I-III

Week 8: M: Dr. Faustus acts IV-V
W: Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book I: "A Letter of the Authors," prologue, and Canto 1-2

Week 9: M: The Faerie Queene, Cantos 3-5
W: Shakespeare, Othello, acts I-III, AND Hobbes, Leviathan excerpts, pp. 1670-1673.

Week 10: M: Shakespeare, Othello, acts IV-V, AND "Othello in Context," pp. 1261-75.
W: Shakespeare, Othello, Shakespeare's Sonnets

Week 11: M: Marlowe, Hero and Leander; Donne, Sonnets
W: Exam, portfolios due

The Commonwealth and After

Week 12: M: Longman on Restoration and Eighteenth Century, p. 1978 ff;
Milton, Areopagitica, "Lycidas," political sonnets
W: "Periodical Personae," p. 2320-32. Pope, "Essay on Criticism"

Week 13: M: Johnson, Dictionary of the English Language, "Preface" to The Plays of William Shakespeare
W: Congreve: Way of the World, Acts. I-III

Week 14: M: Congreve: Way of the World, Acts. IV-V
W: Aphra Behn, Oroonoko pp. 2152-68

Week 15: M: Aphra Behn, Oroonoko pp. 2168-93
W: Study Day, portfolios due.