ENG 213

Survey of British Literature I

Spring 2002
John Loftis
Office: Michener L38
Office Hours: MWF 10-11am;
   by appointment
Phone: 351-1478
Email: jelofti@unco.edu
Text: Norton Anlthology of English Literature, Vol 1a, b, c; at Book Stop

This course is both a general education course in category 4 and a required course in the liberal arts and secondary-teaching English majors. As general education, the course has the following goals for student learning as they pertain to the study of literature:

•The student will understand aesthetic and intellectual achievements in art, music, literature, history, or philosophy.

•The student will understand the intellectual, cultural, and historical framework of these disciplines.

•The student will know various contributions these disciplines make to the enhancement of our lives.

•The student will demonstrate abilities in analytic thought, the use of language, aesthetic appreciation, or research techniques.

As a required course in the liberal arts and secondary-teaching English majors, this course offers you the opportunity to read, analyze, and discuss a representative selection of English literature from the Anglo-Saxon period to about 1800, with particular attention to the relationship of the literature to its historical context. This should provide a basic familiarity with a selection of early English literature, a grounding in the history of early English literature, and the foundation you will need for further study of both canonical and non-canonical literatures in advanced courses in the major, including those which cross period and national boundaries.

Each student will take four tests, one on each period of literature studied. Each test will consist of an objective section and at least one essay question, which will be worth at least half the grade for the test. The final test will cover the Restoration and Eighteenth Century, but it will include also an additional essay question which will cover the entire course. This additional essay will be graded separately and will count as an additional test grade.

Each student will write three papers of one to two pages each (two pages is the absolute maximum). One must be a literary analysis of some aspect of one or more literary selections; one must be a historical study of an event or person from one of the time periods studied; and one must relate one or more literary works to some issue of contemporary personal or public concern. One paper is due on each of the first three test dates. You may do the papers in any order, but you must do all three of the different kinds of papers. The average of the three paper grades will count equally with each test grade.

Final grade will be the average of the grades on the four tests, the additional essay on the final, and the average of the three papers (total of six items), with extra credit (one to five points added to the average) for exemplary class participation at the instructor's discretion. (NB: The only absolutely certain ways not to receive this credit are to sit absolutely silent for the semester or to ask for it.)

Students with disabilities who believe they may need accommodations in this class are encouraged to contact the Disability Access Center (970) 351-2289.

The following are class by class readings for the course. In addition to these selections, you should read the introductory essays on each period and the introductory headnotes on each author at the appropriate time.
 

Jan 14:

Course Introduction

Jan 16:

Middle Ages--The Story of English (film)

Jan 18:

discussion of film; begin Beowulf

Jan 21:

MLK Day; no class

Jan 23:

Beowulf, cont. 

Jan 25:

Chaucer, General Prologue 

Jan 28:

Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

Jan 30:

Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich, selections in text

Feb 1: 

Middle English Lyrics and Popular Ballads, all selections

Feb 4:

Catch-up and review 

Feb 6:

Test 1/Paper 1; Click helmet to review

Feb 8:

Renaissance-- Wyatt, Whoso list to hunt 

Feb 11:

Spenser, sonnets 37,64, 67, 75 

Feb 13:

Shakespeare, sonnets 18, 73, 129, 130 

Feb 15:

More, Utopia

Feb 18:

Spenser, Faerie Queene, A letter of the Authors and Book 1, Canto 1 

Feb 20:

Shakespeare, King Lear 

Feb 22

Shakespeare, continued 

Feb 25:

Catch-up and review

Feb 27:

Test 2/Paper 2; Click Q. Eliz. to review

Mar 1:

Seventeenth Century-- Herrick, Corinna's Going AMaying; To the Virgins . . .

Mar 4:

Marvell, To His Coy Mistress, The Garden

Mar 6: 

Donne, The Sun Rising; A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning; Sonnets 10 and 14

Mar 8:

Herbert, The Altar; Easter Wings: Jordan (1); The Collar; The Pulley; Love (3)

Mar 11:

Jonson, On My First Son; To Penshurst

Mar 13:

Bacon, Essays (all); Novum Organum

Mar 15:

Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I, 9, and 12

Mar 18

22: Spring Break

Mar 25:

Milton, continued

Mar 27:

Bunyan, selections from Pilgrim’s Progress

Mar 29:

Behn, Oroonoko

Apr 1:

Behn, continued

Apr 3:

Catch-up and review

Apr 5:

Test 3/Paper; click Execution of Chas I

Apr 8:

Restoration and 18th century--Dryden, MacFlecknoe

Apr 10:

Swift, Modest Proposal

Apr 12:

Swift, Gulliver's Travels

Apr 15:

Swift, Gulliver's Travels continued

Apr 17:

Pope, Rape of the Lock

Apr 19:

from Dunciad, Book the Fourth; Johnson, Vanity of Human Wishes

Apr 22:

Johnson, from Dictionary; Preface to Shakespeare

Apr 24:

Boswell, selections from Life of Johnson

Apr 26:

Goldsmith, The Deserted Village; Crabbe, The Village

Apr 29:

Smart, Jubilate Agno; Cowper, The Task; The Castaway;

May 1:

Course summary, evaluations, etc

May 3: 

Catch up and Review

CLICK HERE FOR 18TH CENTURY REVIEW



CLICK HERE FOR COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY REVIEW

May 10:

8:00-10:30am

Final Exam (Test 4 plus comprehensive essay)