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English 3I06: The Age of Elizabeth I
Summer 2008
Tuesdays and Thursdays 7pm to 10pm, BSB / B103
Instructor: Dr. Melissa Smith
Email: mesmith@mcmaster.ca, smithmk2@gmail.com
Office: CNH 214
Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 5:45-6:45pm, or by appointment
Summer 2008
Tuesdays and Thursdays 7pm to 10pm, BSB / B103
Instructor: Dr. Melissa Smith
Email: mesmith@mcmaster.ca, smithmk2@gmail.com
Office: CNH 214
Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 5:45-6:45pm, or by appointment
IMPORTANT
In the event that a class must be cancelled, students will be notified on WebCT, on the course blog, and on the English Department website. It is your responsibility to check these sites regularly for any such announcements.
Link: http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~english/ (Department)
Link: http://www.ltrc.mcmaster.ca/webct/index.shtml (WebCT)
Students will be requested to complete a course evaluation on August 5th.
Course Description
The 1500s in England was one of the most culturally vibrant periods in western history. New ideas about religion, society, the world, individual identity, love, and poetry were sweeping England. The writings of the period reflect, document, and inspire these new ways of thinking and being. This course will focus mainly on works from the second half of the century, when the rule of a female monarch brought gender issues to the fore, a nascent nationalism was emerging, and English society was growing ever more complex.
Course Texts
The Broadview Anthology of British Literature Volume 2: The Renaissance and the Early Seventeenth Century. Broadview Press.
Maclean, Hugh and Anne Lake Prescott, eds. Edmund Spenser’s Poetry. 3rd edition. Norton.
Nashe, Thomas. The Unfortunate Traveller and Other Works. Penguin.
Harriot, Thomas. A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia. Dover.
Shakespeare, William. All’s Well that Ends Well. Folger.*
*n.b. I recommend the Folger edition, but any edition will be fine if you already have a copy of the play.
Evaluation
In-class test May 27 5%
Term 1 Essay (6-7 pages) Due June 12 15%
Term 2 Essay (8-10 pages) Due July 22 25%
Pedagogy Workshop July 29 or July 31 20%
Participation 10%
Final Exam August 7 25%
Detailed information on assignments follows Schedule of Classes, below.
Schedule of Classes
May 6 - Introduction to course
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
May 8 - Writings by Lady Jane Grey (Broadview 131-135), Elizabeth I (Broadview 292-299);
and Mary Queen of Scots (Broadview 319-326)
May 13 - More’s Utopia (Broadview Antho 12-68)
RELIGION AND DEVOTIONAL LIFE
May 15 - Religion and Devotional Life: Contexts (Broadview 87-105); Tyndale’s Bible (Broadview 73-80); Selections from The Book of Common Prayer (Elizabeth I’s 1559 revision, online resource at
http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1559/BCP_1559.htm, sections 15-17 )
CULTURE AND ENTERTAINMENT
May 20 - Culture: A Portfolio (Broadview 301-316); The Tunning of Elinor Rumming (Broadview 1-2); Thomas Nashe, The Terrors of the Night (Penguin)
May 22 - Selections from Francis Bacon’s Essays (Broadview 388-401); Nashe, Pierce Penniless (Penguin)
May 27 - Shakespeare, All’s Well that Ends Well Acts 1-2 ***In-class test first hour of class ***
May 29 - Shakespeare, All’s Well that Ends Well Acts 3-5
THE ELIZABETHAN SONNET AND LYRIC
June 3 – The Elizabethan Sonnet and Lyric (Broadview 122-130); Thomas Wyatt (Broadview 107-116); Henry Howard (Broadview 117-121)
June 5 – Philip Sidney, from Astrophil and Stella and The Defense of Poesy (Broadview 254-291)
June 10 – Shakespeare, from Sonnets (Broadview 450-466); Spenser, from Amoretti and Epithalamion (Broadview 244-253)
June 12 – Christopher Marlowe, Hero and Leander (Broadview 402-415) ***Term 1 Essay due***
TRAVEL AND COLONIZATION
June 17 – Contexts: Other Lands, Other Cultures (Broadview 361-387); Selected writings by
Walter Raleigh (Broadview 334-360)
June 19 – Thomas Harriot, A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (Dover text)
June 24 – Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller (Penguin)
June 26 – Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller (Pengiun)
July 1 – NO CLASS – CANADA DAY
THE FAERIE QUEENE
(Text: Edmund Spenser’s Poetry)
July 3 – Faerie Queene, Book I cantos 1-3
July 8 – Faerie Queene, Book I cantos 4-6
July 10– Faerie Queene, Book I cantos 7-10
July 15– Faerie Queene, Book I cantos 11 & 12
and Book III cantos 1 & 2
July 17– Fairie Queene, Book III cantos 3-5
July 22 – Fairie Queene, Book III cantos 6-9 ***Term 2 essay due***
July 24 – Fairie Queene, Book III cantos 10-12
July 29 – ***PEDAGOGY WORKSHOPS***
July 31 – ***PEDAGOGY WORKSHOPS***
August 5 – EXAM REVIEW
August 7 ***FINAL EXAM***
In the event that a class must be cancelled, students will be notified on WebCT, on the course blog, and on the English Department website. It is your responsibility to check these sites regularly for any such announcements.
Link: http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~english/ (Department)
Link: http://www.ltrc.mcmaster.ca/webct/index.shtml (WebCT)
Students will be requested to complete a course evaluation on August 5th.
Course Description
The 1500s in England was one of the most culturally vibrant periods in western history. New ideas about religion, society, the world, individual identity, love, and poetry were sweeping England. The writings of the period reflect, document, and inspire these new ways of thinking and being. This course will focus mainly on works from the second half of the century, when the rule of a female monarch brought gender issues to the fore, a nascent nationalism was emerging, and English society was growing ever more complex.
Course Texts
The Broadview Anthology of British Literature Volume 2: The Renaissance and the Early Seventeenth Century. Broadview Press.
Maclean, Hugh and Anne Lake Prescott, eds. Edmund Spenser’s Poetry. 3rd edition. Norton.
Nashe, Thomas. The Unfortunate Traveller and Other Works. Penguin.
Harriot, Thomas. A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia. Dover.
Shakespeare, William. All’s Well that Ends Well. Folger.*
*n.b. I recommend the Folger edition, but any edition will be fine if you already have a copy of the play.
Evaluation
In-class test May 27 5%
Term 1 Essay (6-7 pages) Due June 12 15%
Term 2 Essay (8-10 pages) Due July 22 25%
Pedagogy Workshop July 29 or July 31 20%
Participation 10%
Final Exam August 7 25%
Detailed information on assignments follows Schedule of Classes, below.
Schedule of Classes
May 6 - Introduction to course
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
May 8 - Writings by Lady Jane Grey (Broadview 131-135), Elizabeth I (Broadview 292-299);
and Mary Queen of Scots (Broadview 319-326)
May 13 - More’s Utopia (Broadview Antho 12-68)
RELIGION AND DEVOTIONAL LIFE
May 15 - Religion and Devotional Life: Contexts (Broadview 87-105); Tyndale’s Bible (Broadview 73-80); Selections from The Book of Common Prayer (Elizabeth I’s 1559 revision, online resource at
http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1559/BCP_1559.htm, sections 15-17 )
CULTURE AND ENTERTAINMENT
May 20 - Culture: A Portfolio (Broadview 301-316); The Tunning of Elinor Rumming (Broadview 1-2); Thomas Nashe, The Terrors of the Night (Penguin)
May 22 - Selections from Francis Bacon’s Essays (Broadview 388-401); Nashe, Pierce Penniless (Penguin)
May 27 - Shakespeare, All’s Well that Ends Well Acts 1-2 ***In-class test first hour of class ***
May 29 - Shakespeare, All’s Well that Ends Well Acts 3-5
THE ELIZABETHAN SONNET AND LYRIC
June 3 – The Elizabethan Sonnet and Lyric (Broadview 122-130); Thomas Wyatt (Broadview 107-116); Henry Howard (Broadview 117-121)
June 5 – Philip Sidney, from Astrophil and Stella and The Defense of Poesy (Broadview 254-291)
June 10 – Shakespeare, from Sonnets (Broadview 450-466); Spenser, from Amoretti and Epithalamion (Broadview 244-253)
June 12 – Christopher Marlowe, Hero and Leander (Broadview 402-415) ***Term 1 Essay due***
TRAVEL AND COLONIZATION
June 17 – Contexts: Other Lands, Other Cultures (Broadview 361-387); Selected writings by
Walter Raleigh (Broadview 334-360)
June 19 – Thomas Harriot, A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (Dover text)
June 24 – Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller (Penguin)
June 26 – Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller (Pengiun)
July 1 – NO CLASS – CANADA DAY
THE FAERIE QUEENE
(Text: Edmund Spenser’s Poetry)
July 3 – Faerie Queene, Book I cantos 1-3
July 8 – Faerie Queene, Book I cantos 4-6
July 10– Faerie Queene, Book I cantos 7-10
July 15– Faerie Queene, Book I cantos 11 & 12
and Book III cantos 1 & 2
July 17– Fairie Queene, Book III cantos 3-5
July 22 – Fairie Queene, Book III cantos 6-9 ***Term 2 essay due***
July 24 – Fairie Queene, Book III cantos 10-12
July 29 – ***PEDAGOGY WORKSHOPS***
July 31 – ***PEDAGOGY WORKSHOPS***
August 5 – EXAM REVIEW
August 7 ***FINAL EXAM***
Assignment Details
In-class Test
May 27, during the first hour of class
Value: 5%
This will be a simple test consisting of short and medium answer questions. Its purpose is to provide course participants with a means to gauge their progress in the early stages of the course.
Term 1 Essay (6-7 pages)
June 12
Value: 15%
Topics for this essay will be posted online and distributed in class May 8. I encourage course participants to o adapt topics or create their own. If you choose to adapt a topic or create your own, you must do so in consultation with me.
Term 2 Essay (8-10 pages)
July 22
Value: 25%
Topics for this essay will be posted online and distributed in class June 17. As with the term 1 essay, adaptation or creation of topics by students is welcome in consultation with me. The term 2 essay will be a research paper that will require students to consult secondary sources.
Pedagogy Workshops
July 29 or July 31
Value: 20%
July 29 and July 31 will be devoted to workshops facilitated by class members. This is a group assignment; you must sign up for a group by the end of May. You will be given some time in class to construct your workshop with your fellow group members. Your goal for the workshop is to teach the text or texts with which you choose to work; in other words, you should strive to implement a good strategy for teaching 16th century literature.
Some strategies you might wish to consider as you approach designing your workshop:
* A roundtable presentation: each member of your group presents a short research paper on the play or plays you’re studying, followed by a class discussion led by the workshop group.
In-class Test
May 27, during the first hour of class
Value: 5%
This will be a simple test consisting of short and medium answer questions. Its purpose is to provide course participants with a means to gauge their progress in the early stages of the course.
Term 1 Essay (6-7 pages)
June 12
Value: 15%
Topics for this essay will be posted online and distributed in class May 8. I encourage course participants to o adapt topics or create their own. If you choose to adapt a topic or create your own, you must do so in consultation with me.
Term 2 Essay (8-10 pages)
July 22
Value: 25%
Topics for this essay will be posted online and distributed in class June 17. As with the term 1 essay, adaptation or creation of topics by students is welcome in consultation with me. The term 2 essay will be a research paper that will require students to consult secondary sources.
Pedagogy Workshops
July 29 or July 31
Value: 20%
July 29 and July 31 will be devoted to workshops facilitated by class members. This is a group assignment; you must sign up for a group by the end of May. You will be given some time in class to construct your workshop with your fellow group members. Your goal for the workshop is to teach the text or texts with which you choose to work; in other words, you should strive to implement a good strategy for teaching 16th century literature.
Some strategies you might wish to consider as you approach designing your workshop:
* A roundtable presentation: each member of your group presents a short research paper on the play or plays you’re studying, followed by a class discussion led by the workshop group.
* A targeted pedagogical presentation: your workshop group collaborates to design a lesson, aimed at an education level of your choosing (high school? a university class? middle or grade school? general public?). You spend the workshop time describing and/or executing the lesson.
* Creative engagement: you enact a reading of your text; engage your class in helping you to read the text; discuss outcomes of your reading; find ways for the class to engage actively with the text.
Participation
Value: 10%
Your thoughtful and/or inquisitive contributions to class discussion will help make the class enjoyable and productive for everyone. I usually begin each class by asking participants to offer their thoughts or questions about the text we’re studying that day. A good strategy is to come to class prepared to offer an opinion. I will assign participation grades based on your contributions to class discussion. Regular attendance without participation in class discussion will not earn participation marks. Your regular attendance is expected, however, and failure to attend regularly will result in deductions from your participation grade.
Final Exam
August 7
Value: 25%
Details to follow closer to the exam date.
Policies
Submitting Your Work and Late Assignments
Once agreed upon, workshop dates are non-negotiable. Takehome test and essays: students may submit their work electronically via email any time before 11:59pm on the due date, or as a hard copy to me in person in class or during office hours, on or prior to the due date. Do not leave your assignment in the department drop box, or under my office door! Upon receiving your electronic submission I will respond with a short note acknowledging it. I will check email frequently on the essay due date. If you have submitted your paper electronically and you do not receive email confirmation from me within 24 hours of your submission, it is your responsibility to follow up with an inquiry to confirm that I have received it. I must be notified prior to the essay due date if your paper will be late for any reason, or I will not accept it. Essays submitted later than the due dates will receive a grade but may receive minimal or no commentary. Essays in excess of one week later than the due date will not be accepted.
Academic Dishonesty
Academic dishonesty consists of misrepresentation by deception or by other fraudulent means and can result in serious consequences, e.g. the grade of zero on an assignment, loss of credit with a notation on the transcript (notation reads: “Grade of F assigned for academic dishonesty”), and/or suspension or expulsion from the university.
It is your responsibility to understand what constitutes academic dishonesty. For information on the various kinds of academic dishonesty please refer to the Academic Integrity Policy, specifically Appendix 3, located at http://www.mcmaster.ca/senate/academic/ac_integrity.htm
The following illustrates only three forms of academic dishonesty:
1. Plagiarism, e.g. the submission of work that is not one’s own or for which other credit has been obtained.
2. Improper collaboration in group work. (Receiving a group grade for a presentation without having done an equal amount of work on the project.)
3. Copying or using unauthorized aids in tests and examinations.
If deemed necessary by the instructor students will be required to submit their work electronically and in hard copy so that it can be checked for academic dishonesty.
Participation
Value: 10%
Your thoughtful and/or inquisitive contributions to class discussion will help make the class enjoyable and productive for everyone. I usually begin each class by asking participants to offer their thoughts or questions about the text we’re studying that day. A good strategy is to come to class prepared to offer an opinion. I will assign participation grades based on your contributions to class discussion. Regular attendance without participation in class discussion will not earn participation marks. Your regular attendance is expected, however, and failure to attend regularly will result in deductions from your participation grade.
Final Exam
August 7
Value: 25%
Details to follow closer to the exam date.
Policies
Submitting Your Work and Late Assignments
Once agreed upon, workshop dates are non-negotiable. Takehome test and essays: students may submit their work electronically via email any time before 11:59pm on the due date, or as a hard copy to me in person in class or during office hours, on or prior to the due date. Do not leave your assignment in the department drop box, or under my office door! Upon receiving your electronic submission I will respond with a short note acknowledging it. I will check email frequently on the essay due date. If you have submitted your paper electronically and you do not receive email confirmation from me within 24 hours of your submission, it is your responsibility to follow up with an inquiry to confirm that I have received it. I must be notified prior to the essay due date if your paper will be late for any reason, or I will not accept it. Essays submitted later than the due dates will receive a grade but may receive minimal or no commentary. Essays in excess of one week later than the due date will not be accepted.
Academic Dishonesty
Academic dishonesty consists of misrepresentation by deception or by other fraudulent means and can result in serious consequences, e.g. the grade of zero on an assignment, loss of credit with a notation on the transcript (notation reads: “Grade of F assigned for academic dishonesty”), and/or suspension or expulsion from the university.
It is your responsibility to understand what constitutes academic dishonesty. For information on the various kinds of academic dishonesty please refer to the Academic Integrity Policy, specifically Appendix 3, located at http://www.mcmaster.ca/senate/academic/ac_integrity.htm
The following illustrates only three forms of academic dishonesty:
1. Plagiarism, e.g. the submission of work that is not one’s own or for which other credit has been obtained.
2. Improper collaboration in group work. (Receiving a group grade for a presentation without having done an equal amount of work on the project.)
3. Copying or using unauthorized aids in tests and examinations.
If deemed necessary by the instructor students will be required to submit their work electronically and in hard copy so that it can be checked for academic dishonesty.
