Early English Literature

British Literature: Early English, Renaissance, Baroque (Part-time Course)

British Literature: Early English, Renaissance, Baroque

MODULE TITLE: British Literature: Early English, Renaissance, Baroque

MODULE NUMBER: BTAIT124-L

COURSE TYPE: Lectures

PROGRAMME: Part-time

CLASS HOURS: Fridays 11-11.50 am

VENUE: Lecture Room XVIII (A/6)

HOMEPAGE:

TUTOR: Dr. Attila Dósa

CONTACT: Office: A/6 Room 9. Office Hours: as advertised on my door or by appointment. Phone: 46/565-111 2285. E-mail: .

AIMS:

This survey course introduces you to the early development of English literature, from the beginnings to the end of the eighteenth century. By the end of the term you will have gained knowledge of several important writers including Marlowe, Shakespeare, Jonson, Milton, Swift and Defoe, and will be familiar with the major theoretical and critical terms of the period.

ASSESSMENT:

The lecture course will end with a signature and a kollokvium grade. The signature may be refused from students who miss more than three classes. The kollokvium grade will be based on a written examination in the examination term. Please find a list of exam topics and set texts as well as a bibliography of recommended readings below. Most of the texts will be covered in the seminars and/or lectures but you are responsible for reading all the texts for the examination. You will be able to access and download all the relevant primary texts from the course homepage indicated above. It is strongly advised that you regularly visit the course homepage, where you will also find updated links to relevant articles, criticism, images, lecture notes on some occasion, and other sources. It will be taken for granted that you will have familiarised yourselves with the online material before you come to class. I recommend that you consult these sources when you revise the material for the examination. For more information on the module requirements please visit the faculty homepage at: .

SCHEDULE:

WEEK 1: Introduction to the course

WEEK 2: Medieval Poetry

READINGS: The Wanderer, The Dream of the Rood

WEEK 3: Medieval Drama

READINGS: Everyman

WEEK 4: The English Renaissance: The Term and the Period

CRITICISM: Pálffy, István and Szilassy Zoltán, English Literature from 1485 to 1660 (Bp.: Nemz. Tankvk., 1993), pp. 5-21

WEEK 5: The Development of Elizabethan Drama

READINGS: Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus

WEEK 6: Elizabethan Poetry

READINGS: Sir Philip Sidney, Defence of Poesie (extracts)

WEEK 7: Jacobean and Caroline Poetry; The Poetry of the Commonwealth Period:

READINGS: John Donne, Sonnet no. 6 (‘Death be not proud…’) from Holy Sonnets

Ben Jonson, ‘To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author Mr William Shakespeare’

John Milton, Paradise Lost, extracts: Book I

WEEK 8: The Beginnings of the Novel

READINGS: Joseph Addison, The Spectator, nos. 70 and 74 (extracts)

Jonathan Swift, ‘A Modest Proposal’, The Battle of the Books

WEEK 9: The Age of Sensibility: The Term and the Period

READINGS: John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (extracts)

Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (extracts)

Thomas Gray, ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’, ‘The Bard’

William Cowper, ‘The Castaway’

Robert Burns, ‘Tam O’Shanter’

WEEK 10: Realism and Sentimentalism in the Novels of the 18th Century

READINGS: Samuel Richardson, Pamela, extracts: Letters I-XII

Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, extracts: Book I Chapter 1; Book II Chapter 1; Book V Chapter 1; Book VII Chapter 1; Book VIII Chapter 1

Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy, extracts: Book I, Chapters 1-25

EXAMINATION TOPICS:

The English Renaissance: The Term and the Period
The Development of Elizabethan Drama: Morality Plays, Marlowe and Shakespeare
William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare, Hamlet
William Shakespeare, King Lear
William Shakespeare, Macbeth
Elizabethan Poetry: Wyatt, Surrey, Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare
Metaphysical, Cavalier and Puritan Poetry: Donne, Jonson, Marvell, Milton

10. The Beginnings of the Novel: Journalism. Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

11. The Beginnings of the Novel: Pamphlets and Satires. Swift, Gulliver’s Travels

12. The Age of Sensibility: The term and the Period

13. Sentimentalism and Realism in 18th c Fiction: Richardson, Fielding, Sterne

REQUIRED READINGS FOR THE EXAMINATION:

1. Plays:

Everyman

Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus

William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth

2. Poetry:

Sir Thomas Wyatt, ‘The Long Love That In My Thought Doth Harbour’

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, ‘Love That Doth Reign and Live Within My Thought’

Sir Philip Sidney, Sonnets no. 1, 3, and 7 from Astrophel and Stella

Edmund Spenser, Sonnets no. 54 and 79 from Amoretti

William Shakespeare, The Sonnets

John Donne, ‘The Good Morrow’, ‘The Canonization’, ‘Love’s Alchemy’, ‘The Flea’; Sonnet no. 6 (‘Death be not proud…’) from Holy Sonnets

Andrew Marvell, ‘To His Coy Mistress’, ‘The Definition of Love’, ‘The Garden’

Ben Jonson, ‘To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author Mr William Shakespeare’, ‘On My First Son’

John Milton, Sonnets no. 17 (‘When I consider how my light is spent…’), 18 (‘On the Late Massacre in Piedmont’), 19 (‘Methought I saw my late espoused saint…’); Paradise Lost, Book I

Thomas Gray, ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’, ‘The Bard’

William Cowper, ‘The Castaway’

Robert Burns, ‘Tam O’Shanter’

3. Fiction:

Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

Jonathan Swift, Gullivers Travels

Samuel Richardson, Pamela, extracts: Letters I-XII

Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, extracts: Book I Chapter 1; Book II Chapter 1; Book V Chapter 1; Book VII Chapter 1; Book VIII Chapter 1

Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy, extracts:Book I, Chapters 1-25

4. Essays:

Sir Philip Sidney, Defence of Poesie (extracts)

Jonathan Swift, ‘A Modest Proposal’, The Battle of the Books

John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (extracts)

EdmundBurke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (extracts)

Course Books:

Abrams, M.H. et al. (eds.), The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 5th edn (New York: Norton, 1987) AIT

Daiches, David, A Critical History of English Literature, Vol. 1., From the Beginnings to Milton (London: Mandarin, 1994) AIT, KLM C140.164

Ford, Boris (ed.), The Pelican Guide to English Literature (London: Penguin, 1982), Volumes: 2. The Age of Shakespeare, 3. From Donne to Marvell, 4. From Dryden to Johnson, AIT, KLM C140.187, 188, 189

Géher, István, Shakespeare-olvasókönyv: Tükörképünk 37 darabban (Bp: Cserépfalvi, 1993) KLM D93.540,41

Gray, Martin, A Dictionary of Literary Terms (London: Longman, 1992) AIT

Kocztur, Gizella, The History of English Prose in the Eighteenth Century (Bp.: Tankvk., 1992) KLM 027.284,5,6,8,9,90,93

Országh, László, Szöveggyűjtemény a reneszánsz és polgári forradalom korának angol irodalmából, 1-2. köt. (Bp.: Nemz. Tankvk., 1996) KLM 031.204, 031.206, 031.208, 031.205, 031.207, 031.209

Pálffy, István and Szilassy Zoltán, English Literature from 1485 to 1660 (Bp.: Nemz. Tankvk., 1993) AIT, KLM 030.727, 030.728

Róna, Éva, A XVIII. század angol irodalma (Bp.: Nemz. Tankvk., 1996) KLM 030.842, 030.844, 030.844, 030.846, 030.843, 030.845

Internet Resources:

Please keep in mind that while the Internet can be a useful research tool, you will be more likely to find the most reliable information in books. Nevertheless, here are a few recommended sites:

BUBL Language, Literature and Culture: bubl.ac.uk/link.lan.html

HUMBUL Humanities Hub:

Interactive Shakespeare Project / Virtual Globe Theatre:

Norton Anthology Online:

Online Books Page: onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/

Oxford Text Archive: ota.ahds.ac.uk/

Poetry.com:

Project Gutenberg:

Voice of the Shuttle (English Literature): vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=3

Dr Attila Dósa

Department of English Literature

University of Miskolc