THE SINGER OF TALES: BEOWULF TO SHAKESPEARE
A carrier of tales
a traditional singer deeply schooled
in the lore of the past, links a new theme
to a strict meter.
(Beowulf 867b-70a)
Literature consists of tales, composed orally or in writing. English 2100 is a survey of English literature from the earliest extant texts (including one by the first-named English poet, Caedmon) through works composed in writing in Elizabethan England, still based on the "lore of the past." Its purpose is to give students a historical grasp pf the development and continuity of Englkish literature during the Middle Ages through the very early seventeenth century (1601). The reading list consists of selections from Poems and Prose from the Old English (translated by Burton Raffel with an introduction by Alexandra H. Olsen), the seventh edition of the Norton Anthology, a photocopied reader, and the seventh edition of M. H. Abrams A Glossary of Literary Terms. You may also wish to know about Labyrinth on the world-wide web, the main server for medieval studies.
Old English and most Middle English texts will be read in translation, but Chaucer, Gower, and Middle English lyrics will be read in the original, and some time will be devoted to learning Middle English. Assignments should be read before coming to class, and attendance is mandatory. More than three unexcused absences will reduce the course grade by one letter grade, and five will result in a failure in the course.
There will be a translation quiz on Chaucer [10 pts], a midterm [100 pts], a final examination [110 pts], and a 7-8 page paper [100 pts], due November 14 [course total 320 pts]. (Suggested paper topics will be distributed during the early part of the quarter.) The essay on the final will involve both material from before the midterm and from after. According to DU regulations, the final MUST be taken when scheduled. In accordance with the Honor Code, any plagiarism will be penalized, with penalties ranging from failure of the paper to failure of the course.
SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS
Tuesday, September 11 INTRODUCTION
Thursday, September 13 Raffel-Olsen,
"Introduction,"
xi-xxii, "Prosody and Style (3-4), "A. D. 755" (143-44), "Deor"
(18-19),
"The Wanderer" (7-10), "The Seafarer" (10-14), "A Woman's Lament"
(14-15),
and "Wulf and Eadwacer" (15-16)
Norton Anthology, "Text and Contexts" (21-22)
Abrams, "Alliteration" (8), "Elegy" (72), "Periods of
English Literature" (210-12), "Refrain" (263), "Lyric" (146-47), and
"Oral-Formulaic
Poetry" (200)
Tuesday, September 18 Raffel-Olsen, Bede's
Caedmon
(194-197), "The Dream of the Rood" (55-60) and Heaney, Beowulf (Norton
Anthology, 1-990 [pp. 32-52 and reader]
Abrams, "Author and Authorship" (14-18), "Didactic
Literature"
(65-66), "Dream Vision" (6), "Epic" (76-78), "Epithet" (82), "Kenning"
(99), and "Litotes" (120)
Thursday, September 20 Heaney, Beowulf
(Norton Anthology, 991-2390) [pp. 52-83] and Raffel-Olsen, "The
Battle of Finnsburh" (39-40)
Abrams, "Invective" (134)
Tuesday, September 25 Heaney, Beowulf (Norton Anthology, 2391-3121) [pp. 83-99] and Raffel-Olsen, Judith (23-35)
Thursday, September 27 Raffel-Olsen, "The
Battle of Maldon" (43-52), "The Battle of Brunanburh" (40-42), and
Ælfric's
"Dialogues" (201-215)
Abrams, "Prose" (246-47)
NOTE: ALL FUTURE READINGS ARE FROM THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED.
Tuesday, October 2 "Medieval English," 14-18;
Chaucer,
"General Prologue, ll. 1-310 (215-222)
Abrams, "Heroic Couplet" (114-115), "Frame Story"
(287),
and "Meter" (159-165)
Thursday, October 4 Chaucer, "General
Prologue,"
ll. 311-860 (222-235)
TRANSLATION QUIZ
Tuesday, October 9 Chaucer, "Prologue
to
the
Wife
of Bath's Tale." ll. 1-834 (253-271)
Thursday, October 11 First hour:
Gower, "Prologue" and "The Tale of Florent" (course reader)
Abrams: Motif (169-70); Second hour: Midterm
Tuesday, October 16 Chaucer, "Another
Interruption"
and "The Wife of Bath's Tale," ll. 835-1270 (272-281); "The Pardoner's
Prologue," (281-285)
Abrams, "The Seven Deadly Sins" (285), "Allegory"
(5-6),
"Exemplum" (7-8)
Thursday, October 18 Chaucer, "The Pardoner's
Tale" (285-296) and "Epilogue" (313); Langland,
Piers
Plowman, from the Prologue (319-22) and "The Harrowing of
Hell"
(336-346)
Tuesday, October 23 Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight,
Parts I and II (158-181)
Abrams, "Chivalric Romance" (34-35), "Courtly Love"
(48-49),
"Rhyme" (273-75), and "Stanza" (294)
Thursday, October 25 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Parts III and IV (181-210); Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur (421-439)
Tuesday, October 30 The Second
Shepherd's
Play (391-419);
Everyman (445-467)
Abrams, "Miracle Plays" and "Morality Plays" (165-66)
Thursday, November 1 "Alison," "Sunset on
Calvary," "I Sing of a Maiden" (from 349-354); Chaucer, "Truth" (315);
Dunbar, "The Lament for the Makers" (reader); "The Three Ravens," "The
Twa Corbies," and "Edward" (reader); selection from "The Life of St.
Leoba"
(reader); Julian of Norwich, A Book of Showings (356-366 and
reader);
Margery Kempe, The Book (367-379 and reader)
Abrams, "Ballad" (18-19) and "Biography" (22-23)
Tuesday, November 6 More, from Utopia
(506-513 and 520-522; Sidney, from The Defense of Poesy
(934-939
and 953-954); Petrarch (reader); Wyatt. "The Long Love that in my
Thought
doth Harbor" and "Whoso List to Hunt" (527); Surrey, "Love that Doth
Reign"
and "The Soote Season" (570-571), Spenser, 64, 65, and 67 (864-868),
Sidney,
1, 5, and 71 (917-926) and "Thou Blind Man's Mark" (932), and
Shakespeare,
12, 30, 55, and 146 (1030-1042)
Norton Anthology, "Text and Contexts" (497-498)
Abrams, "Petrarchan Conceit" (42), "Renaissance"
(264-68),
"Sonnet" (290-91), and "Humanism" (116-17)
Thursday, November 8 Spenser, from The
Faerie Queene, Book 2, Canto 12 (773-783); Marlowe, Dr. Faustus
(991-1023)
Abrams, "Act and Scene" (2), "Blank Verse" (24-25),
"Dramatic
Monologue" (70), and "Spenserian Stanza" (296)
Tuesday, November 13 Shakespeare, Twelfth
Night, Acts 1 and 2 (1045-1074)
PAPER DUE
Thursday, November 15 Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Acts 3, 4, and 5 (1074-1105)
Last revised May 1, 2007
