English 50aOffice hours:
Professor TargoffTue. 10:15-12 PM and by app’t
Fall 2017Mandel Center for Humanities 107
Tue/Friday, 12;30-1:506-2138
LOVE POETRY FROM SAPPHO TO NERUDA
Course books
Sappho, If not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho (Vintage)
Catullus, The Poems of Catullus (Penguin)
Ovid, The Erotic Poems (Penguin)
Propertius, The Poems (University of Oklahoma Press)
Petrarch, The Poetry of Petrarch (Farrar, Straus)
Sidney, Sir Philip Sidney: The Major Works (Oxford)
Shakespeare, Sonnets (Oxford)
Donne, The Complete English Poems (Penguin)
Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets (Univ of Texas)
Course Schedule
Fri 9/1Course Introduction
Tue 9/5Sappho, 1-90 (pg. 2-177)
Fri 9/8Sappho, 91-end (p. 178-355)
Tue 9/12Catullus,1,2,3,5,7,8,32,34
Fri 9/15Catullus, 35,48,51,72,75,76,85
Tue 9/19Ovid, The Amores, Book 1 and 2
Fri 9/22Ovid, The Amores, Book 3; The Art of Love, Book 1
Tue 9/26Ovid, The Art of Love, Book 2 and 3; Cures for Love
Fri 9/29Petrarch, Rime Sparse , 1-6, 11, 12, 17, 18, 20, 23, 51, 52, 61
Tue 10/3 No class: Brandeis Thursday
Wed 10/4First paper due
Fri 10/6Petrarch, Rime Sparse, 85, 111, 132, 135, 190, 194, 211, 218, 219
Tue 10/10Petrarch, Rime Sparse 267, 268, 276, 288, 292, 302, 309, 320, 363, 364, 366
Fri 10/13Discussion section on Petrarch and Wyatt (translation exercise)
Mon 10/17Vittoria Colonna (poems to be posted on Latte)
Fri 10/20Sidney, Astrophil and Stella, 1-50 (assignment posted on Latte)
Tue 10/24Sidney, Astrophil and Stella , 51-109 (assignment posted on Latte)
Fri 10/27 Mid-term exam
Tue 10/31Shakespeare, Sonnets1-20
Fri 11/3Shakespeare, Sonnets 21-66
Tue 11/7Shakespeare, Sonnets67-126
Fri 11/10Shakespeare, Sonnets 127-154
Tue 11/14Donne, Songs and Sonnets (assignment posted on Latte)
Fri 11/17Donne, Songs and Sonnets(assignment posted on Latte)
Tue 11/21Herrick, Hesperides, Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress”(poems to be posted on Latte)
Fri 11/24No class: Thanksgiving break
Tue 11/28Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets from the Portugese, 1-3, 6, 12-14, 16, 22,23,26, 29-31, 40-44 (link to online text posted on Latte)
Wed 11/29Second paper due
Fri 12/1Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets, 1-11, 17, 22, 43-44, 49,51-52
Tue 12/5Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets, 58, 62, 65-66, 69, 78, 89, 93, 99, 100
Fri 12/8Favorite poem project (short presentations, 2-3 minutes each)
Course Requirements
•Attendance and participation in class
All students are required to attend class, and to be prepared to participate in class discussion. More than 3 unexcused absences will result in failure for the term. If you must miss class, or if you are ill, please send me an email before class meets to inform me of your absence.
•Weekly reading response on LATTE
Every week you will be asked to post a short—1 to 2 paragraph—reading response to our LATTE site for one of the two days we meet. Responses to Tuesday’s readings are due by 10 PM Monday evening; responses to Friday’s readings are due by 10 PM Wednesday evening. These responses will be ungraded, but they will be weighed, along with your attendance and participation record, as 15% of your final grade. Instructions about posting your responses will be given in class.
•Two papers
Topics will be handed out in class for both papers (if you’d like to devise your own topic, it will need to my approval in advance). Papers must be typed, double-spaced, with reasonable margins and font-size. Pages should be numbered, and carefully proofread. No papers will be accepted late without an official excuse from the Dean’s office or by agreement with me. Late papers will be marked down 1/3 grade per day.
•Mid-term exam
This exam will be given in class, and will cover all material taught in the first half of the term.
•Short presentation (2-3 minutes per person) on last day of class.
This will be discussed in class later in the term, but will be a mini-version of the favorite poem project run by former poet laureate, Robert Pinsky. Each student will choose a single poem to discuss.
Note on Plagiarism: All work that you submit must be your original work. If you use secondary sources, whether published books, articles, or websites, these sources must be cited. Please consult the Chicago Manual of Style, MLA Handbook, or another standard guide on appropriate footnote or endnote format, and please ask for guidance if you are unsure about proper attribution. The University policy on academic honesty is distributed annually in the Rights and Responsibilities handbook. Instances of alleged dishonesty will be forwarded to the Office of Campus Life for possible referral to the Student Judicial System. Potential sanctions include failure in the course and suspension from Brandeis.
Grade break-down:
Class participation25% (*this includes LATTE posts and short presentation)
First paper 25%
Mid-term exam25%
Second paper:25%