This course mainly surveys the poetry (with some mention of fiction and drama) written in England before Romanticism (1789). It will include study of the main aspects of English social and political history, which form the background reflected in the literary works. The main text-books will be the Norton Anthology of English Literature Volume 1 (seventh edition) and Brother Anthony's books on Literature in English Society : (1) The Middle Ages and (2)The Renaissance (Sogang University Press). All students are expected to have access to the World Wide Web and to know how to explore it for useful resources. Brother Anthony's Home Page offers a list of some of the main sites for medieval and renaissance literature and culture.

Students should read the following pages in the two volumes by Brother Anthony, focusing on the writers and works listed, as preparation for class. The Norton Anthology will provide the full text of the works we study.

August 27  Week 1 (no class Friday)
Old English Literature
Reading :The Middle Ages pages 1 - 33.
Works : The Wanderer

September 3 Week 2
Chaucer
Reading : The Middle Ages pages 123 - 149
Works :  The Nun's Priest's Tale.

September 10 Week 3
Medieval Drama
Reading : The Middle Ages pages 191 - 207
Works :  Everyman, The Second Shepherds' Play

September 17 Week 4 (Culture Festival. No class Friday)
The Renaissance : early poetry
Reading : The Renaissance pages 1 - 11, 24 - 60
Works :  Wyatt and Surrey sonnets;  Marlowe 'The Passionate Shepherd' and Ralegh 'The Nymph's Reply';

September 24 Week 5
The Renaissance : Sidney and Spenser
Reading : The Renaissance 61 - 101
Works : Sidney, Astrophel and Stella; Spenser, Epithalamium

October 1 Week 6 (No classes Monday & Wednesday)
Shakespeare's Sonnets
Reading : The Renaissance pages 131 - 148
Shakespeare,  Sonnets.

October 8 Week 7
Shakespeare and other dramatists
Reading :  The Renaissance pages 103 - 129

October 15 Week 8 : Mid-term Exams

October 22 Week 9
17th-century Poetry (1)
Reading : The Renaissance pages 177 - 178 (society), 189 - 234 (Donne & Jonson),
Works : John Donne 'Song', 'The Sun Rising', 'Batter My Heart';  'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning'; etc. Ben Jonson 'On my First Daughter',  'On my First Son', 'To Celia,' 'To Penshurst'.

October 29 Week 10
17th-century Poetry (2)
Reading : The Renaissance pages 178 - 187 (society) 253 -263 (Herbert), 294 - 301 (Marvell), 303 - 325 (Milton)
Works : George Herbert 'The Pulley', 'The Altar', 'Easter Wings', 'Love 3' etc. Andrew Marvell 'To His Coy Mistress'. George Herrick 'To the Virgins'. John Milton 'L'Allegro' and 'Il Penseroso'

November 5 Week 11 - November 12 Week 12
18th Century :  Nature
Works : Ann Finch 'Nocturnal Reverie'. Thomson's The Seasons: from 'Autumn'. Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. William Collins 'Ode to Evening'. Oliver Goldsmith 'The Deserted Village'. George Crabbe The Village Book 1. William Cowper The Task : from Book 1. Christopher Smart 'My Cat Jeoffry' (from Jubilate Agno)

Novermber 19 Week 13
18th Century : Satire
Works : John Dryden Mac Flecknoe. Alexander Pope Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot.  Swift Gulliver's Travels Part 2.

November 26 Week 14 - December 3 Week 15
18th Century : Men & Women
Works : Hogarth's Marriage a la Mode. Daniel Defoe Roxana (extract). Jonathan Swift The Lady's Dressing Room. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu The Reasons... Alexander Pope Epistle to a Lady. Anne Ingram An Epistle to Mr. Pope. Mary Leapor An Essay on Women.

1. A Midterm Essay (due on the Monday after the Mid-term Exam) about one of the works studied in class, relating it to its background.
2.  A Final Essay  (due on the Monday after the Final Exams) on the various works listed under one of the broad topics studied in the 2nd half of the semester.
Students will illustrate their two reports with a few well-chosen pictures copied from books in the library or from the Internet (with a Bibliography)

Grading

Grading will be based on the 2 reports and the result of the Mid-term and Final Exams, which will test students' detailed knowledge of what has been taught. Reports and exams are of equal weight.