Introduction to English II: From Milton to the Romantics

Professors Blair Hoxby, Denise Gigante

Winter, 2015-16

Room 200-034; T, Th 12:00-1:20 pm

Required Texts

  1. John Milton, Paradise Lost (978-0872207332)
  2. AphraBehn, The Rover (Oxford World Classics, 978-0199540204)
  3. John Dryden, All for Love (978-0713671056)
  4. Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock (Oxford World Classics, 978-0140423501)
  5. Wordsworth and Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads (Routledge, 9780415063883)
  6. John Keats, Selected Poems (Penguin, 978-0140424478)
  7. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein(Broadview, 9781554811038)
  8. Jane Austen, Persuasion (Broadview, 9781551111315)

William Blake, The Book of Thel and Visions of the Daughters of Albion are available online at Please use Copy J (Houghton Library) of Thel, and Copy G (Houghton Library) of Visions.

Week 1 Paradise Lost: The War in Heaven

1/5John Milton, Paradise Lost, 1-2

1/5 John Milton, Paradise Lost, 3-4

Week 2Paradise Lost: Adam, Eve, and the Angel

1/12John Milton, Paradise Lost, 5-6

1/14John Milton, Paradise Lost, 7-8

Week 3Paradise Lost: The Fall and Aftermath

1/19John Milton, Paradise Lost, 9-10

1/21John Milton, Paradise Lost, 11-12

Week 4Rakes and Rovers I

1/26AphraBehn, The Rover

1/28AphraBehn, The Rover / John Dryden, All for Love

Week 5Rakes and Rovers II

2/2John Dryden, All for Love

2/4Alexander Pope, Rape of the Lock

Week 6Illuminated Poetry

2/9William Blake, The Book of Thel

2/11William Blake, Visions of the Daughters of Albion

Week 7Lyrical Ballads

2/16S.T. Coleridge: “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

William Wordsworth: “The Female Vagrant”; “Goody Blake and Harry Gill”; “Simon Lee”; “Anecdote for Fathers”; “We are Seven”; “The Thorn”; “The Last of the Flock”; “The Mad Mother”; “Expostulation and Reply”; “The Tables Turned”; “Complaint of a Forsaken Indian Woman”

2/18Coleridge: “The Nightingale”

William Wordsworth: “Tintern Abbey”; “A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal”; “Lucy Gray”; “Nutting”; “Three Years She Grew”; “The Old Cumberland Beggar”; “Michael”

Week 8John Keats: Sonnets, Odes, and Romance

2/23John Keats, “O Solitude”; “Why Did I Laugh Tonight?”; “A

Dream, After Reading … Paulo and Francesca” “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles”; “Ode to Psyche”; “Ode on aGrecian Urn”; “Ode to a Nightingale”; “Ode on Melancholy”; “Ode on Indolence”; “To Autumn”; “Bright Star”; “I Cry Your Mercy”;=

2/25John Keats, “Isabella, or the Pot of Basil”; “The Eve of St. Agnes”;“La Belle Dame Sans Merci”; Lamia; “This Living Hand”

Week 9Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus

3/1Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Preface, Introduction, vol. 1

3/3Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Vols. 2 & 3

Week 10The Novel of Manners: Persuasion

3/8Jane Austen, Persuasion, Vol. 1

3/10Jane Austen, Persuasion, Vol. 2

Learning Goals

  1. Knowledge of a selection of major literary works in cultural context
  2. Understanding of authorial voice and style
  3. Development of critical, interpretive skills
  4. The capacity to articulate a cogent argument about literary works
  5. Heightened sensitivity to the aesthetic qualities of language

Requirements:

  1. Attendance at lecture and participation in discussion; you’ll be asked to contribute one written question. Please turn off computers and cell phones.
  1. Active participation in section. No unexcused absences.
  1. Four shortpapers, due weeks 3, 5, 8, 11, respectively:
  1. Paradise Lost (5-6pp): You’ll be asked to incorporatecanonical criticism on Milton’s poem to be distributed and discussed in section.
  1. Behn, Dryden, Pope: (2-3pp): Imagine importing a character from one of these authors into a dramatic work by another: what would happen?
  1. Blake, Wordsworth, or Keats (4-5pp): Close read a poem in support of a thesis.
  2. Frankenstein or Persuasion (6-7pp) Discuss either novel in light of contextual material (choose one author or text) contained in the Broadview appendices.

Special Accommodation

We will make every effort to accommodate any special needs related to learning. Please contact the Office of Accessible Education to obtain a letter explicating any requests and present both your TA and professors with this at the start of term. The phone is: 723-1066;URL: