This course will focus on some of the most important English poems written during the 17th century.

The basic textbooks will be Volume I of The Norton Anthology of English Literature (7th edition) and Brother Anthony's Literature in English Society : Volume 2, The Renaissance (Sogang University Press, 1998). Reference should also be made to such general introductions as:

George Parfitt, English Poetry of the 17th Century (Longman)
Graham Parry, The Seventeenth Century: The Intellectual and Cultural Context of English Literature 1603-1700. (Longman)
Thomas N. Corns ed., The Cambridge Companion: Donne to Marvell
Steven N. Zwicker ed., The Cambridge Companion to English Literature 1650 - 1740.
 

Week 1: General Introduction.
Week 2: John Donne: Secular poems
Week 3: John Donne: Secular poems
Week 4: John Donne: Religious poems.
Week 5: Shakespeare: Sonnets.
Week 6: Ben Jonson: Epigrams and The Forest.
Week 7: George Herbert
Week 8: John Milton's early works : Nativity Ode; Lycidas.
Week 9: John Milton: L'Allegro and Il Penseroso;
Week 10: John Milton: Paradise Lost Book 1
Week 11: John Milton: Paradise Lost (overview)
Week 12: Andrew Marvell
Week 13: Robert Herrick; the cavalier poets; Waller
Week 14:  Vaughan; Abraham Cowley; John Wilmot.
Week 15:John Dryden: Absalom and Achitophel; Mac Flecknoe

Written assignments

Each student will write two papers, one by the end of the 8th week, the other for the end of the semester.
The first will be a broad study of the characteristic features of  the work of  John Donne, compared with the poetry of Ben Jonson.
The second paper will be an in-depth study of either Paradise Lost or the 4 pre-1640 poems of Milton we studied.