Literatures in English I: to 1700
Class Information
Instructor: Sarpong, Ashley
Time: MWF 9:00-9:50
Location: 226 Wellman
GE Areas: Writing Experience
Description
The aim of this course is to prepare students for advanced study in English literature. Our focus will be literature written in English before 1700, and through these texts, we will study how changes in ecology, social relationships, and genre expectations can help us better understand the rich cultural history from this time that we still carry with us today. Topics we will consider include: class, gender, and race as they relate to ecological problems and questions--particularly as we consider the rise of new ideas of property, the rise of science, and the discovery and later colonization of the New World. In the process, we will engage in different methods for analyzing literature, particularly how individual literary texts interface with similar texts in a genre, and how these genres approach and react to changes in social relations. By the end of the course students should develop the following three major skills: (1) understanding literary history before 1700 and applying literary history to an analysis of a text (2) developing a large toolkit of literary devices and analytical methods to conduct "close readings" of texts across genres (3) learning how to engage with other scholars on questions pertaining to the texts we will read, and evaluating multiple points of view.
Grading
Attendance and Participation: 10%; Quizzes: 10% (drop lowest); Discussion Section Participation & Exercises: 15%; Close Reading Paper (3 pages): 15%; Research Paper Proposal: 10%; Research Paper (6 pages): 20%; Final Exam (in two parts): 20%
Texts
Norton Anthology of English Literature vol. 1 9th ed. , ed. Stephen Greenblatt
Texts TBD