Fall 2022 – LIT 251/HON 270 British Literature to 1700

LIT 251-01/HON 270-05
1 course unit (4 credits)
Term:  Fall 2022
Time: 3:30-4:50pm MR
Place: Bliss Annex 228
Prerequisites: None		 Prof. G. Steinberg
Office: Bliss Hall 216
Office Phone: 609-771-2106
Office Hours:  1:30-4:30pm T
Email: gsteinbe@tcnj.edu

REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS.

Broadview Anthology of British Literature (package), Volumes 1 (3rd ed., 2015), 2 (3rd ed., 2016), and 3 (2nd ed., 2012), ed. Joseph Black et al., ISBN 9781488102714

COURSE DESCRIPTION.  The official catalogue description of the course is available in PAWS.

Knights in shining armor and damsels in distress.  The Tudors and “Renaissance men.”  The culture of Britain before 1700 has had a profound impact on today’s entertainment, gender roles, symbols, and language.  In this course, we read both familiar and unfamiliar texts from pre-1700 Britain to understand this alluring, influential, and profoundly different period better:  from Beowulf to Shakespeare, from the Green Knight to the Faerie Queene, from King Arthur to the Petrarchan sonnet.

Reading all the important texts of British literature from 600 to 1600 is impossible.  So, in this course, we focus primarily on three critical moments in English history, not coincidentally critical moments also in the history of British literature:

    1. the Norman Conquest of 1066,
    2. the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, and
    3. the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603).

When the College went through a curriculum revision several years ago, the vast majority of undergraduate courses were “transformed” from 3-credit to 4-credit (1-unit) learning experiences.  While most of the classes continued to meet for only 3 academic hours per week (typically 150 minutes on the TCNJ schedule grid), it was understood that the “transformed” courses offered a depth of learning with additional learning tasks unfolding in the equivalent of a fourth hour, including, sometimes, an actual additional hour of class interaction.  As the equivalent of the fourth hour in this course,

F) The students are assigned additional learning tasks that make the semester’s learning experience more deeply engaged and rigorous, and no other additional classroom space is needed.

GOALS.  By the end of the course, I want you to

    1. enjoy the freshness, vitality, and strangeness of early British literature,
    2. become more comfortable reading early British literature (despite its historical, geographical, and cultural distance from us),
    3. appreciate early British literature’s profound impact on today’s entertainment, gender roles, symbols, and language,
    4. demonstrate familiarity with a significant body of texts within – and on the margins of – a variety of literary traditions (including Old English, late medieval, and Renaissance British), and
    5. demonstrate sensitivity to the concrete historicity of texts and to the development of literary traditions, cultural values, modes of thought, and uses of language over time.

More officially, this course contributes to the following goals for Liberal Learning, the School of Humanities & Social Sciences, and the English Department:

#1 Written Communication
#5 Critical Analysis and Reasoning:  Ability to critique the arguments of others in the discipline and the construction of one’s own arguments in the discipline, using data/evidence as a focus of instruction and/or the ability to analyze linguistic and cultural patterns
#7 Interpret Language and Symbol
#12 Students will be able to demonstrate familiarity with a range of critical, generic, and literary traditions (including recent theoretical approaches) that shape – and are shaped by – literary discourses and texts of particular periods or movements
#14 Students will be able to identify historically specific elements relevant to a particular text
#15 Students will be able to read a literary work and characterize its main aesthetic, structural, and rhetorical strategies in an argumentative, thesis-driven essay or in a writing workshop
#17 Analyze how creative texts, artworks, or performances reflect, shape, exalt, or challenge the values of a culture

REQUIREMENTS.  For this course, you must complete the following graded assignments:

    1. ten response papers (altogether worth 20% of your final grade),
    2. a midterm exam and a cumulative, comprehensive final exam (worth 10% and 25% of your final grade), and
    3. PAPER 1 and PAPER 2 (worth 20% and 25% of your final grade).

In addition, the Honors students, taking the course as HON 270 for Honors credit, are required to do a 15-minute presentation in class on a topic of their choice (approved by the instructor).  Possible topics include

    • the Norman Conquest of 1066,
    • the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381,
    • the life and career of Petrarch (considered the father of the Renaissance), and
    • the Protestant Reformation in England.

This presentation is graded Pass/Fail and does not directly impact the student’s final grade, but if it is not completed successfully, the Honors student will not receive Honors credit for the course.

Your final grade will be based on the following scale:  A = 93%-100%, A- = 90%-92%, B+ = 87%-89%, B = 83%-86%, B- = 80%-82%, C+ = 77%-79%, C = 73%-76%, C- = 70%-72%, D+ = 67%-69%, D = 60%-66%, and F = below 60%.  This scale is absolute.  Because the response papers are in a sense a form of extra credit built into this course from the start, I do not give extra credit at the end of the semester to help students raise their grade even a whisker.  So, even if, at the end of the semester, you are just .0001 points away from an A-, your final grade will be a B+.

PROFESSOR’S AVAILABILITY.  My office is Bliss Hall 216.  My office hours this term are 1:30-4:30pm on Tuesdays and by appointment.  You may contact me by email (gsteinbe@tcnj.edu) or by calling my office phone (609-771-2106) and leaving a message (if I do not answer), but email is usually the best way to get in touch with me.  You may also leave a message for me in my box at the English Department offices in Bliss Hall 124.

LANGUAGES ACROSS THE CURRICULUM.  A ¼ unit (one credit) Languages Across the Curriculum independent study (LAC 391) may be added to this course for those students who have intermediate level proficiency in another European language (including dead languages such as Latin) and who wish to complement the work in this course by utilizing their language skills. LAC 391 (P/U grading only) will be noted on the student’s transcript.  Please contact Dr. Deborah Compte at dcompte@tcnj.edu for more information. Students must contact Dr. Compte to enroll in the LAC independent study no later than Tuesday, September 6, 2022.

ATTENDANCE.  Regular attendance is a virtual necessity for successful completion of this class.  Class discussion constitutes important, useful preparation for your graded work.  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 expect you to find out what you missed and to come fully prepared – without excuses – to the next class meeting.  For more information on the College’s attendance policy, please go to https://policies.tcnj.edu/?p=77.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY.  Academic dishonesty is any attempt by a student to gain academic advantage through dishonest means, to submit, as his or her own, work which has not been done by him/her or to give improper aid to another student in the completion of an assignment. Such dishonesty would include, but is not limited to, submitting as his/her own a project, paper, report, test, or speech copied from, partially copied, or paraphrased from the work of another (whether the source is printed, under copyright, or in manuscript form). Credit must be given for words quoted or paraphrased. The rules apply to any academic dishonesty, whether the work is graded or ungraded, group or individual, written or oral. TCNJ’s academic integrity policy is available at https://policies.tcnj.edu/?p=130.

ACCOMMODATIONS.  The College of New Jersey prohibits discrimination against any student on the basis of physical or mental disability or perceived disability. The College will also provide reasonable and appropriate accommodations to enable students with disabilities to participate in the life of the campus community. If you require special accommodations, I will make every reasonable effort to accommodate your needs and to create an environment where your special abilities are respected. For more information, please go to https://policies.tcnj.edu/?p=145 and https://arc.tcnj.edu/.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION. We are all enriched by greater diversity, and we all bring different perspectives to this class. I want to create a learning environment that supports diversity and honors your identities and perspectives (including your race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, mental and physical health, differing abilities, politics, etc.). If you go by a name and/or set of pronouns that differ from those that appear in your official records, please let me know. If you feel that your performance in class is being impacted by a hostile environment related to your identity outside of class, please don’t hesitate to talk to me. If something is said or posted in class (by anyone, including me) that makes you feel that your identity is being targeted, misunderstood, or disparaged, please talk to me about it. I will expect our whole class (including me) to strive always to honor every form of diversity. To see TCNJ’s official diversity statement, please go to https://diversity.tcnj.edu/campus-diversity-statement/.

CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT AND COMMITMENT TO STUDENT SUCCESS, SAFETY, AND WELL-BEING.  The TCNJ community is dedicated to the success, safety and well-being of each student. TCNJ strictly follows key policies that govern all TCNJ community members’ rights and responsibilities in and out of the classroom. In addition, TCNJ has established several student support offices that can provide the support and resources to help students achieve their personal and professional goals and to promote health and well-being. You can find more information about these policies and resources at the “TCNJ Student Support Resources and Classroom Policies” webpage here:  https://academicaffairs.tcnj.edu/tcnj-syllabus-resources/.

Students who anticipate and/or experience barriers in this course are encouraged to contact the instructor as early in the semester as possible. The Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) is available to facilitate the removal of barriers and to ensure reasonable accommodations. For more information about ARC, please visit:  https://arc.tcnj.edu/.

RESPONSE PAPERS.  In the course of the term, you are required to write ten short, informal papers (about 2 pages each) on the readings for class.  You may choose for which days you want to write a response paper, as long as you have completed ten response papers by the end of the term.  For each response paper, choose one of the following topics and analyze the reading assignment for the day with respect to the topic you’ve chosen:

    1. Values.  What values does the reading assignment seem to assume, reinforce, question, or criticize?  Does the reading value hard work, honesty, wealth, breeding, loyalty, physical prowess, outward beauty, love, intelligence, humility, learning, action, duty, honor, (self-)discipline, individual freedom, community, and/or patriotism? How and where do the characters manifest such values? How and where are they rewarded for good values (or punished for bad)? Exactly how does the reading define such values as duty, honor, love, and loyalty?  How do its values compare to those of previous assignments in class?  How do its values compare to ours today?
    2. World View.  What kind of world does the reading assignment portray?  What are the fundamental elements or principles of the reading’s fictive world?  Is the world a benevolent place or a dark, dangerous hell-hole without hope?  Is the world logical and stable or random and unstable?  Does the reading seem to view/portray the world in a basically positive or a basically negative light?  How does the reading’s portrayal of the world relate to those of previous reading assignments in class?
    3. Human Nature. How does the reading assignment portray humanity?  What are the fundamental nature and characteristics of humanity in the reading’s world?  Does the reading seem to view/portray humanity in a basically positive or a basically negative light?  Are humans basically good and innocent beings (damaged and corrupted by the world or society or circumstances), or are they basically sinful, evil creatures (only made good with difficulty by being strictly governed by powerful institutions or rigid social standards)?  How does the reading’s portrayal of humanity relate to those of previous reading assignments in class?
    4. Social Class.  How does the reading assignment seem to relate to social interests and class? What seems to be the reading’s main purpose in terms of sociocultural work – propaganda, social critique, education, social bonding, social pacification, patriotic self-glorification?  To what social class(es) might it appeal?  To what social class(es) might it be directed?  Why might this reading appeal specifically to that audience?  How do its class assumptions and connections relate to earlier assignments in class?
    5. Conflict.  Does the conflict and action of the reading assignment focus more on the personal, the social, or the political?  Is the focus more on private affairs and family life (personal), on communal situations and social norms (social), or on civic events and political repercussions (political)?  Is the focus more on morality (personal), group identity (social), or power (political)?  Are different parts of the reading differently focused on different kinds of conflict?  How do the personal, social, and political elements of conflict relate to one another?  How does the conflict compare to those in previous assignments in class?
    6. Setting.  Where is the reading assignment’s story set?  How does the setting affect our perception of the plot and characters?  Does the setting change?  How is the change of setting significant to the action and characterization in the reading?  Is the setting symbolic?  If so, how?  How does the symbolism of the setting compare to the symbolism of setting in previous reading assignments?  What assumptions do the original readers seem to make about the significance of certain settings (e.g., forests, Italy)?
    7. Genre.  To what genre does the reading assignment belong?  Does it belong to a particular sub-genre of that genre?  What seem to be the critical elements in the reading that associate it with its particular genre?  How does the reading reflect or upset the expectations for its genre?  How does it compare to other examples of its genre that we have read for class?  How does it fit or change the specific conventions of its genre (as suggested by other reading assignments from the same genre)?  Is its genre easy or difficult to identify?
    8. Language.  What are the unusual (for us) characteristics of the language of the reading assignment?  What elements of the language seem archaic or foreign?  What are some elements that are consistently different from today’s English?  What kind of language is used?  Is the reading’s language bombastic, elegant, contrived, colloquial, educated, simple, coarse, conventional, mundane, all of the above, none of the above?  How does the reading’s language compare to that in earlier assignments?
    9. Gender.  How are men and women portrayed in the reading assignment?  What seems to be the attitude of the author toward men and women?  What are the characteristics of a good man in the reading? a good woman? a bad man? a bad woman?  Does the reading generalize about male and female gender roles?  What does the reading imply or say about what are appropriate roles for each gender?  Does the reading seem to favor or criticize either gender, portray one or the other gender negatively or positively?  How does the reading’s treatment of gender relate to that of previous reading assignments in class?  How does it relate to our ideas and attitudes about gender today?
    10. Religion.  How are religion and religious ideas portrayed in the reading assignment?  How Christian is the reading in outlook, doctrine, and/or symbolism?  Does the reading use Christian images?  Does it allude to Christian stories?  Does it espouse Christian values (with or without explicit Christian content)?  Does it reflect on or mention Christian doctrine?  How is organized religion portrayed?  How are Church figures (such as the pope, friars, monks, priests, ministers, and nuns) portrayed?  Does the reading seem specifically Catholic or Protestant in outlook?  If so, how so?  How does religion in the reading compare to that in previous readings?

Keep in mind that some topics are more relevant to some readings than to others (and some topics aren’t really relevant at all to some readings).  Don’t choose to focus on a topic for a reading for which that topic isn’t very relevant.

Please note that, when you do a response paper, you are writing about the reading assigned for the day on which you’re submitting the paper. So, you’re writing about the reading before we discuss it in class and submitting the paper on the day for which that reading is assigned. You can’t submit a response paper about a past day’s reading assignment.  You should submit each response paper by “sharing” it with me as a Google Doc before class on the reading’s assigned day.  Be sure to grant me “editing” or “suggesting” status when you share the Google Doc with me (so that I can comment directly on the paper).

Response papers will be graded Pass/Fail, so they need not be a perfect, polished product.  Rather, response papers should be just what their name says – a response.  Think about one of the topics that I have asked you to consider; then write a response.  Don’t worry about typos or comma splices or organization.  Don’t worry about answering every question I ask under the particular topic.  In fact, focus on the one question that seems most interesting to you, and be as specific as you can, getting down as much as you can, as quickly as you can.  Treat response papers more like a journal entry than like a formal paper.  I don’t want a five-paragraph theme.  Rather, I want an exploration – as detailed and specific as possible – of the reading assignment for the day.  But don’t focus too narrowly on just one scene or passage from the text.  Try to generalize about the text and then look at specific examples from all over to support your generalization.

Normally, as long as you submit a response paper of suitable length, detail, and thoughtfulness (and as long as you submit it before class on the assigned day), you will receive all the points that the response paper is worth.  The purpose of the response papers is

    1. to help you in your preparation for class discussion,
    2. to help me see where you’re struggling with the readings for class,
    3. to help you develop your intellectual independence and your confidence as a reader, and
    4. to help you explore the relationships among the texts we’re reading.

You may submit more than ten response papers in the course of the semester (to make up for any response papers that do not pass), but no matter how many extra response papers you turn in, you will not receive credit for more than ten total.  You may not submit more than one response paper on a single day, nor may you submit a response paper for a day that you are absent from class. (NOTE: Even if you do not submit a response paper on a particular day, you should still come to class prepared to discuss the response paper topics in relation to the reading assignment, since we will focus on these topics in our in-class discussions all semester; in other words, the response paper topics above are a great guide for your class prep every day.)

PAPER 1 and PAPER 2.  Choose two of the three options below and complete the assignment as described:

    1. Old English Option.  Choose either Judith or The Battle of Maldon.  Compose a paper of 4-6 pages (roughly 1,000-1,500 words) that argues a clear, specific, and interesting thesis about one way in which your chosen text challenges or reinforces the cultural values, world view, gender roles, or religious outlook of pre-Norman England, as we have explored those topics in class.
    2. Chaucer Option.  The Nun’s Priest’s Tale, like so many of Chaucer’s stories in The Canterbury Tales, addresses the social issues of Chaucer’s day and responds to the perspectives on those issues taken by other pilgrims on the Canterbury pilgrimage.  In a paper of 5-7 pages (roughly 1,250-1,750 words), argue a clear and specific thesis about how The Nun’s Priest’s Tale situates itself in relation to one other Chaucerian pilgrim or tale with respect to issues of social class or gender.
    3. Sonnet Option.  Choose a sonnet from our textbook by an English author whose sonnets we are not discussing in class (such as Wyatt, Surrey, Daniel, Drayton, Davies, Barnfield, Mary Queen of Scots, Ralegh, Shakespeare, or Milton).  Be sure that the poem you’ve chosen is in fact a sonnet, that the author of the sonnet is in fact English (not Italian or French), and that the author you’ve chosen is not one that we are reading and discussing together in class.  In a paper of 5-7 pages (roughly 1,250-1,750 words), argue a clear and specific thesis about how your sonnet’s author has used and adapted the traditions of the sonnet genre in your chosen poem.  In your paper, you may address issues of both form (i.e., how your author adheres to and/or manipulates the sonnet form) and content (i.e., how your author uses and/or adapts typical sonnet topics and themes), but your paper should not simply be a random list of the sonnet’s typical and atypical characteristics in terms of form and content.  Rather, it should argue a thesis about how typical or atypical your chosen sonnet is and, in arguing that thesis, point out the most important characteristics of the sonnet with respect to form and content.

Note the different deadlines for each option in the “Course Schedule” below.

You need not use any other sources for this paper.  In fact, I would encourage you not to use other sources (because I’d rather hear what you think than what some published scholar thinks).  But if you do use any other sources, be sure to cite and document those sources appropriately.

I encourage you, about a week before each paper is due, to submit a thesis paragraph (a draft first paragraph of your paper or just a paragraph that describes what you plan to write about) to me by email; if you do so by the date noted in the course schedule below, I will give you feedback on your proposed thesis.

Your papers will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

    1. Does the paper have a clear, specific thesis?  Does the thesis offer an interesting perspective or “hook” that is provocative without being gimmicky or offensive?
    2. Does the paper’s analysis progress logically?  Does the paper have a clear and consistent overall organization that relates all the ideas of the paper together in support of the thesis with appropriate transitions to aid the reader (rather than simply a list of random similarities and differences without relation to one another or to the thesis)?  Does the paper have appropriate transitions to aid the reader in following the paper’s logic (rather than weak transitions, such as “The first…,” “Another…,” and “…also…”)?
    3. Does the paper provide relevant, concrete evidence and logically persuasive reasons for every assertion?
    4. Does the paper show sensitivity to the concrete historicity of the texts under consideration (rather than treat them as timeless museum pieces or reflect on them anachronistically)?
    5. Does the paper exhibit confidence and insight when analyzing texts not discussed in class?
    6. Does the introduction to the paper offer an interesting, helpful preview of the content, logic, and organization of the paper?
    7. Is factual information in the paper accurate?
    8. Is the writing in the paper clear, effective, and appropriate to an academic setting?

COURSE SCHEDULE.  This schedule is subject to revision at the discretion of the professor.  Changes in the schedule made after the first day of class will be shown in red.

Date Assignment
R Sep 1 Introductions
M Sep 5 NO CLASS (Labor Day)
T Sep 6 MONDAY SCHEDULE.  We will have class this day at our usual time in our usual room.
all the “Exeter Book Elegies”
The Dream of the Rood
all the “Exeter Book Riddles”
R Sep 8 Beowulf, pp. 69-90
M Sep 12 Beowulf, pp. 91-111
R Sep 15 Marie de France (all selections in our textbook)
F Sep 16 Thesis paragraphs for the Old English Option DUE via email by midnight
M Sep 19 Sir Orfeo
Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle (available free online at https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/hahn-sir-gawain-sir-gawain-and-the-carle-of-carlisle)
R Sep 22 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, pp. 288-317
F Sep 23 Old English Option DUE in Canvas by midnight
M Sep 26 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, pp. 317-352
R Sep 29 Chaucer, The Parliament of Fowls and The General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales
M Oct 3 Chaucer, The Knight’s Tale
R Oct 6 Chaucer, The Miller’s Prologue and Tale and The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale
F Oct 7 Thesis paragraphs for the Chaucer Option DUE via email by midnight
M Oct 10 NO CLASS (Fall Break)
R Oct 13 Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe (all selections in our textbook)
F Oct 14 Chaucer Option DUE in Canvas by midnight
M Oct 17 The York Crucifixion and The Second Shepherds’ Play
R Oct 20 Malory, Morte Darthur, Book 8
M Oct 24 MIDTERM EXAM
R Oct 27 Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book I, pp. 194-235
M Oct 31 Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book I, pp. 235-277
T Nov 1 Last day to withdraw from class with a W
R Nov 3 Sidney, Astrophil and Stella (all selections in our textbook)
M Nov 7 Spenser, Amoretti (all selections in our textbook)
R Nov 10 Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy
M Nov 14 Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
R Nov 17 Jonson (all the poems in our textbook)
M Nov 21 Donne (all the poems in our textbook)
R Nov 24 NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)
M Nov 28 Wroth (all the poems in our textbook)
T Nov 29 Thesis paragraphs for the Sonnet Option DUE via email by midnight
R Dec 1 all the poems in our textbook by Herbert, Marvell, and Cavendish
M Dec 5 Milton, Paradise Lost, pp. 992-1025
T Dec 6 Sonnet Option DUE in Canvas by midnight
R Dec 8 Milton, Paradise Lost, pp. 1046-1079
Finals Period
 FINAL EXAM