ENG/HUM 4973.001: Senior Seminar: Robin HoodInstructor: Mark Allen
Fall 2010Office: MB 2.478 (ext. 5358)
Hours: M 5:00-6:00
TTh 3:30-4:30
and by appointment
Texts:
Knight, Stephen, and Thomas Ohlgren, eds. Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales. TEAMS, 2000.
[Abbrev.: K&O below]. See also <
Scott, Sir Walter. Ivanhoe. Dover, 2004.
White, T. H. The Once and Future King. Ace, 1987.
Description and Requirements:
First recorded in the fifteenth century, tales of Robin Hood and his band have held the interest of listeners, readers, and viewers for more than six hundred years. This course offers students opportunities to acquire knowledge of the stories associated with Robin Hood, to examine how and when these stories developed as they did, and to explore their developments in particular narrative and lyric modes and in various cultural/historical contexts. Course work includes all assigned readings and regular quizzes (15%), a film/tv report (15%; see below), a critical notebook (35%; see below), and a semester project (35%; see below).
Successful completion of this course fulfills the Seminar for English Majors required for a B.A. in English or the Seminar for Humanities Majors required for a B. A. in English. It cannot be used for both.
Reading Schedule:
8/30Introduction
9/6NO CLASS. Labor Day
9/13Background, Chronicles, and Early Ballads, K&O, 1-29, 31-79, 169-83
9/20A Gest of Robyn Hode, K&O, 80-168. Notebooks due in class
9/27Early Drama and Ballads, K&O, 269-95, 453-92
10/4Ballads, K&O 521-632
10/11Anthony Munday, The Downfall of Robert, Earle of Huntington, K&O, 296-401
10/18 Anthony Munday. The Death of Robert, Earle of Huntington, K&O, 402-40
Robin Hood and His Crew of Souldiers, K&O, 441-52. Notebooks due in class
10/25 Robin Hood & Romanticism: Poems by Reynolds and Keats
Alfred Noyes, “A Song of Sherwood”
11/1 Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, Introduction, Dedicatory Epistle, and chapters 1-31 (i-xxii; 1-271); see notes and glossary
11/8 Ivanhoe, chapters Introduction, Dedicatory Epistle, and chapters 32-45 (272-410)
11/15 T. H. White, The Sword in the Stone (from The Once and Future King). Notebooks due in class.
11/22 Stage and Film presentations
11/29 Stage and Film presentations
12/9 [1:30-4:00] Research reports. Seminar Papers due in class.
Stage and Film presentations:
You will partner with another member of the class to summarize and evaluate a dramatized version (stage, film, television) of the Robin Hood story. The primary goal is informational: How does the version differ from others? What contemporary cultural trends does your version reflect or respond to? But you should also concern yourself with analysis: What are the strengths and weaknesses of your version? How and to what extent does it succeed in contributing to the legacy? Provide appropriate handouts, including bibliographical listing of any resources you use or find to be valuable for future reference. You might well wish to illustrate your class presentation with film clips or stills, so please let me know what in advance, if any equipment you will require. Your presentation will be to the class, and should not run longer than 20 minutes, so beware the fussiness of technology. I am happy to discuss the material or your presentation beforehand.
Critical Notebook:
Your notebook should be a record of your responses to primary and secondary materials that relate to the Robin Hood tradition and a gauge of your progress as a scholar and critic. The precise format is yours to choose because any organized combination of outline, summary, and analysis should do. I ask, however, that you use a ring binder of convenient size that differs from your notebook for class. Label and date your entries and include complete bibliographic information, including URLs for Internet materials. You may wish to download Internet materials for later reference, but be sure to include in your notebook analyses, summaries, and/or outlines of these materials, as well as library materials. When you do outline, arrange your notes and observations to reflect the hierarchical importance of the points you record; a list of “bullet” points is not as useful as a full-fledged outline. Mini-essays are welcome, but not required.
I will assess both the range and depth of your entries, looking for evidence of your investigations of a number of topics and your thorough pursuit of several of them. For example, if you skim the article by Kevin Harty called “Robin Hood on Film” in Thomas Hahn’s Robin Hood in Popular Culture, a list, short outline, or summary may be in order. In the case of something more fundamentally argumentative (like the chapters in A. J. Pollard’s Imagining Robin Hood), you should respond more analytically, not only summarizing what he says but also striving to engage it critically. Comparisons and contrasts between critics and their opinions are welcome.
Notebooks should not be confined to secondary reading only. Include plot summaries and/or reactions to the stories and movies about Robin Hood that you read on your own (e.g., Ben Jonson’s The Sad Shepherd or Alfred Noyes’s tragic fairy play Sherwood). Comment thoughtfully on Robin Hood art that you find (book illustrations and paintings). Include thoughts and analyses of class discussions. Include observations, questions, and/or discoveries that excite, intrigue, or fascinate you. Leave out diary entries and mere impressions, and be sure to allow space for later commentary (mine and your own). Strive to write clearly in both senses—pointedly and legibly. You are welcome to use a word processor, print the pages, and include them in your ring binder. I will be happy to assess your notebook any time during the semester, but they must be turned in three times: 9/20, 10/18, and 11/15.
Seminar Papers or Projects: Due December 9, in class. NOTE: Include a description of the thesis/topic for your Seminar Paper as the last entry in your Critical Notebook (due 11/15).
A seminar paper should be a sharpened, focused argument that derives its thesis from research and sound critical thinking. For example, if you become interested in the literary character of Will Scarlet, you may wish to research the various versions tales in which he appears, while your paper might zero in on a specific version or comparison of a few related versions, analyzing how the character functions or develops. Similarly, if you wish to investigate Robin Hood in modern children’s literature, you have a broad territory to survey from which you should generate a focused argument in your paper. Seminar papers should be about 15-20 pp., typed, one-inch margins, and otherwise consistent with MLA format for citation and documentation. Please discuss your topics with me, often and earnestly. I will be happy to look at sample thesis statements, outlines, and drafts of your work. If you would like to discuss with me an optional project rather than a traditional research paper, please do so early in the semester. All projects must be accompanied by a written critique of the project, which explains the nature and goals of the project and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the finished product.
Reserve list and library policy. The following works are on reserve and are therefore available to all of you most of the time.
Texts:
Child, Francis James, ed. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. 5 vols. 1882-98. New York: Dover, [1965]. [Volume 3 includes the Robin Hood material]
Dobson, R. B., and J. Taylor, comp. Rymes of Robin Hood: An Introduction to the English Outlaw. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1976.
Knight. Stephen and Thomas Ohlgren, eds. Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute, 2000. [Our textbook]
Pyle, Howard. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. 1883 New York: Dover, 1968. [Influential children’s version]
Critical Books:
Holt, J. C. Robin Hood. London: Thames and Hudson, 1982.
Keen, Maurice. The Outlaws of Medieval Legend. New York: Dorset, 1961.
Knight, Stephen. Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English OutlawOxford: Blackwell, 1994.
---. Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 2003.
Ohlgren, Thomas H. Robin Hood: The Early Poems, 1465-1560: Texts, Contexts, and Ideology. Newark: U of Delaware P, 2007.
Pollard, A. J. Imagining Robin Hood: The Late-Medieval Stories in Historical ContextNew York: Routledge, 2004
Singman, Jeffrey L. Robin Hood: The Shaping of the Legend. Westport, CN: Greenwood, 1998.
Anthologies of essays:
Hahn, Thomas, ed. Robin Hood in Popular Culture: Violence, Transgression, and Justice. Rochester, NY: Brewer, 2000.
Knight, Stephen, ed. Robin Hood: Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism. Rochester, NY: Brewer, 1999.
Phillips, Helen, ed. Robin Hood: Medieval and Post Medieval. Dublin, Four Courts, 2005.
Poetter, Lois, ed. Images of Robin Hood: Medieval to Modern. Newark: U of Delaware, 2008.
As you get involved in your research and notebooks, competition for other books will develop, so let me make some suggestions:
1) Carefully reshelve all books pertinent to our seminar when you are done using them in the library; if left on tables, re-shelving will be delayed. But remember: a book misshelved is a book lost.
2) Talk to each other about what you've used and what you yet want to see, sharing resources as they appear important or interesting.
3) Use the other libraries in town (Trinity, St. Mary's, S. A. Public, etc.); their holdings include materials we do not have. Use our library’s Interlibrary Loan system when necessary.
Internet Note: There is much Robin Hood material on the Internet, some of it excellent, some of it very suspect. Use it with the same intellectual care as you would a “popular” bookstore, and always give credit where credit is due. A very reliable place to start is the Robin Hood Project at the University of Rochester: . A more personal and campy site, although still very good is Allen W. Wright’s: .
Disability Services: UTSA offers support services, including registration assistance and equipment, to students with documented disabilities through the Office of Disabled Student Services (DSS), MS 2.03.18. Students are encouraged to contact that office at 458-4157 as early as possible in the semester.
Academic Dishonesty: Students are expected to be above reproach in scholastic activities. Students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty, including, but not limited to plagiarism or collusion, are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and dismissal from the University. “Plagiarism” includes, but is not limited to, the appropriation, buying, receiving as a gift, or obtaining by any means another's work and the submission of it as one's own academic work offered for credit. “Collusion” includes, but is not limited to, the unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing academic assignments offered for credit or collaboration with another person to commit a violation of any section of the rules on scholastic dishonesty.