Skip to main content
Department of English
Search
Log in
Navigation
About
Current Office Hours
Diversity Resources
English Library
Faculty Statement Archives
Internal Dept Resources
Medieval and Early Modern Studies
University Writing Program
Video Guides & Worksheets
Visit us on Facebook
Major/Minor in English
Advising
Creative Writing Application
Honors Program
Internships
Literary Magazines
Major Requirements Guide & FAQ
Minor Requirements
Study Abroad
Why Major in English?
MFA in Creative Writing
Admissions
Events, Prizes, and Resources
MFA Program Faculty
Newly Admitted Grad Students
Resources
Ph.D. in Literature
About
Admissions
Newly Admitted Grad Students
PhD Alumni Directory
Resources
Courses & Schedules
People
News & Events
Off the Syllabus Podcast
Recent News
Contests
Contest Winners
Previous Contest Winners
Newsletters
You are here
Home
»
Courses & Schedules
English 177 - Fall, 2022
Study of an Individual Author
Topic: Edmund Spenser
Class Information
Instructor:
Werth, Tiffany Jo
CRN:
52768
Time:
MW 1:40-3:00
Location:
308 Voorhies
GE Areas:
Writing Experience
Description
ENL177: Single Author Focus
The Chthulucene in Edmund Spenser?s The Faerie Queene (1596)
Modern readers might think of Edmund Spenser as the author of one of England?s longest poems writ, as Ben Jonson quipped, in ?no language.? An unfinished work, it praises Queen Elizabeth I, memorialized as Gloriana, Belphoebe, Cynthia, or the ?Faerie Queene.? Yet while the poem seemingly shadows this human monarch, she barely appears and its world teems with what cultural geographer Sarah Whatmore terms more-than-human life: a ?clownishe? and elfin knight, a mournful tree, an unfriendly dragon, false avatars, a crafty shape-shifting hermit, a resourceful dwarf, an iron man, gender-bending heroines, giants and a blatant beast; its interwoven plot spotlights two rivers in love, a sea deity who sulks, graces and angels who disappear, self-guided lances, a headstrong horse and a happy human-come-hog. This course explores the limits of literary modes such as allegory, the poetics of lyric, and the long form of the early modern romance alongside questions that stretch the meaning of ?human.? Together, we will analyze Spenser?s ?worlding? that anticipates many recent posthumanist theories (ecofeminism, the Chthulucene, game theory, geontologies, and other unthinkables).
A word to the intended reader: the readings that comprise our nine weeks together will be ?clowdily enwrapped,? full of ?darke conceit,? an ?endlesse worke? that may at times ?seeme tedious and confused.? But if pursued like a hound on the scent, it promises more pleasure than a sermon and the ability ?to fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline.?
Grading
10% Weekly Reading Quizzes (via Canvas)
5% Compose a Spenserian Stanza
5% Compose a new footnote for a scholarly edition of The Faerie Queene
20% Material History Research Exercise (3-4 pp)
15% written review
5% presentation
10% Research proposal & annotated bibliography
May build off the history exercise; 6-8 secondary peer-reviewed sources; one paragraph that justifies your archive of chosen passages from the syllabus and one paragraph research question and annotated bibliography of secondary sources 6-8 sources with one to two paragraphs of critical annotation each.
30% Critical Essay or Creative Analytic Project (8-10 pp)
20% Final Exam
Texts
The Faerie Queene
, Edmund Spenser