Spring 2014 Syllabus for ENG331

Medieval Studies                                                 ENG331

Spring 2014                                                                                                     Prof. Mead

            January

14        T          Introduction

16        R          Unit I:  Clans. Beowulf, ix-47 (Lines 1-687)

21        T          Beowulf, 47-81 Lines 688-1158)

23        R          Beowulf, 83-123 (Lines 1159-1784)

28        T          Beowulf, 123-213 ( Lines 1785-end of poem)

30        R          Njal’s Saga, vii-95 (Intro, Sections 1-55)

            February

 4         T          Njal’s Saga, 95-198 (Sections 56-118)

 6         R          Njal’s Saga, 198-278 (Sections 119-145)

11        T          Njal’s Saga, 278-310 (Sections 146-159)

13        R          Unit II: Feudalism.  The Lais of Marie de France, Introduction, “Guigemar,”

                                    “Equitan,” & “Le Fresna.”

18        T          The Lais of Marie de France, “Bisclavret,” “Lanval,” & “Les Deux Amanz.”

20        R          The Lais of Marie de France, “Yonec,” “Laustic,” & “Milun.”

25        T          The Lais of Marie de France, “Chaitivel,” “Chevrefoil,” & “Eliduc.”

27        R          Sir Gawain & the Green Knight, Intro, Note, “Fitt I”

            March

 4         T          Sir Gawain & the Green Knight, “Fitt II”

 6         R          Sir Gawain & the Green Knight, “Fitt III”

11        T          SPRING BREAK

13        R          SPRING BREAK

18        T          Sir Gawain & the Green Knight, “Fitt IV”

20        R          Unit III: Christendom. Inferno, Intro, Cantos 1-5

25        T          Advising Day, No classes

27        R NO CLASS

            April

 1         T          Inferno, Cantos 6-10

 3         R          Inferno, Cantos 11-15

15        T          Inferno, Cantos 16-20

17        R          Inferno, Cantos 21-25

22        T          Inferno, Cantos 26-30

24        R          Inferno, Cantos 31-34

29        T          Scholars Day.  Evaluations.

Papers:  Unit I.  Kinship and law play heavily in the maintenance of order in both Beowulf and Njal’s Saga, yet both worlds are also jeopardized by threats to this order.  In Beowulf the main threats seem to come from the outside; in Njal’s Saga, the threats seem to come from within the community.  Write a thesis-driven paper that argues against one of these assertions; i.e., argue that Beowulf’s “monsters” are actually internal or that the saga’s agents of chaos are actually external to the Icelandic community. Unit II.  Bonds of kinship seem to give away in the second unit to bonds of chosen vassalage: a person’s promise becomes almost sacred to interpersonal trust. How does the “game” that Gawain plays with his Host comment upon Gawain’s promise to meet the Green Knight a year after the beheading?  How do the promises between men or between lovers presuppose a spiritual understanding of humanity in the lais of Marie? Choose either to write on SGGK or one at least three of Marie’s lais. Unit III. It seems a huge distance having moved from Heorot, the “best of halls,” in Beowulf to Dante’s conception of a universal reality in The Divine Comedy. Although we have only read the first of three books at that make up La Comedia, we see Christians, Jews, Muslims, Pagans, and mythological creatures all engaged in the same ontology, and a very Catholic one at that.  Are there places where Dante seems to be deliberately straining his universal concept, perhaps in order to lay a passive critique to his own work?  Another topic you can choose would be to examine the nature of movement and stasis, particularly as regards morality within a geocentric universe.

All papers are to be 6-9 pages long, with 1) a clear, provocative thesis; a detailed methodology; and a case for the argument’s importance in the first paragraph; 2) topics sentences for each body paragraph that explicitly connect the paragraph’s topic with the paper’s thesis; and 3) close reading (i.e. analysis of word choice, tone, sound effects, meter, rhythm, repetition, or syntax).  Papers should also integrate at least three scholarly works (for support, challenge, data, etc.) into your argument.  All papers must be submitted with two earlier drafts that illustrate the process of your revisions.  You must complete all assignments to pass the course.  Each paper will be roughly equally weighed, although I will take into account improvement.  Late papers usually lose one decrement per day late.

Participation will count toward one full quarter of your final grade:  this is important; it means you have to do more than show up on time with the texts read and respond to my questions (such participation will earn a participation grade of “C”); you must actively and proactively engage in analysis of the texts, come to class and take the lead in questions, proposals, responses to the works, and analysis. 

Attendance is, therefore, required and expected for all of our class meetings.  More than two absences may lower your final grade (usually by one decrement per absence over two).  Students who miss more than four classes may be asked to drop the class.

Grades:            Unit I research paper:              25%

                        Unit II research paper :           25%

                        Unit III research paper:           25%

                        Participation:                           25%

Students who memorize and recite 20+ lines of Beowulf, SGGK, or Inferno (passages must be approved by instructor ahead of time) with less than five errors will have their FINAL grade boosted by one increment. It’s crazy not to do this.

Please remember that I am here to help you along with all these tasks:  reading, preparing for class discussion, freewrites, rough drafts, research, revisions, and digesting instructor comments on your work.  Take advantage!  My office hours for Spring Semester are MWF 9-10, 11-12; TR 8:30-9:30 AND BY APPOINTMENT.              I an often off-campus in the pm, but I will make it work so that anyone who wants to meet with me can.  Office OM 312b  tel. 438-4336.

Visit my blogs at http://stephenxmead.blogspot.com/ for lots of useful handouts, links, and instructions. My blog also has important policies on plagiarism.

Students with special needs must contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester and he will make all reasonable accommodations.

Required Editions:

Beowulf,  translated by Seamus Heaney. Norton, 2000.

Hjal’s Saga,  translated by Robert Cook. Penguin, 2001.

The Lais of Marie de France, translated by Glyn S. Burgess & Keith Busb, Penguin, 2003.

Sir Gawain & the Green Knight,  translated by Simon Armitage. Norton, 2007

Dante: the Inferno, translated by Robert & Jean Hollander. Anchor, 2002

“Your Majesty, when we compare the present life of man on earth with that time of which we have no knowledge, it seems to me like the swift flight of a single sparrow through the banqueting-hall where you are sitting at dinner on a winter’s day with your thegns and counsellors. In the midst there is a comforting fire to warm the hall; outside the storms of winter rain or snow are raging. This sparrow flies swiftly in through one door of the hall, and out through another. While he is inside, he is safe from the winter storms; but after a moment of comfort, he vanishes from sight into the wintry world from which he came. Even so, man appears on earth for a little while; but of what went before this life or of what follows, we know nothing. Therefore, if this new teaching has brought any more certain knowledge, it seems only right that we should follow it.”

Shakespeare 2013 Syllabus

           Shakespeare                                                                                                     ENG341

Mead                                                                                                               Fall 2013

August

27        T          Introduction

29        R          Romeo & Juliet. Mass of the Holy Spirit

September

 3         T          Romeo & Juliet

 5         R          Romeo & Juliet

10        T          A Midsummer Night’s Dream

12        R          A Midsummer Night’s Dream

17        T          A Midsummer Night’s Dream

19        R          Much Ado About Nothing

24        T          Much Ado About Nothing           Paper #1 due.

26        R          Much Ado About Nothing

October

 1        T          Twelfth Night

 3        R          Twelfth Night

 8        T          Twelfth Night

10       R          Richard II

15       T          NO CLASS

17       R          Richard II                                  Paper #2 Due.

22       T          Richard II

24       R          1 Henry IV

29       T          1 Henry IV

31       R          1 Henry IV

November

 5        T          NO CLASS

 7        R          Hamlet

12       T          Hamlet                                      Paper #3 Due.

14       R          Hamlet

19       T          King Lear

21       R          King Lear

26       T          King Lear

28       R          NO CLASS

December

 3        T          Evaluations.  Speeches.           Paper #4 Due.

                                                           Class Policies

ENG341, Shakespeare, is a required class for all English majors and satisfies the General Education requirement for literature. In this section of the class, we will read carefully eight plays in the genres of comedy, history, and tragedy. These are just a small sampling of the 37+ plays that William Shakespeare wrote or co-wrote (in the Early Modern period, playwrights frequently collaborated).  I have chosen plays that offer the student both a taste of Shakespeare’s breadth and will “teach well” together by reinforcing habits of reading, inquiry, and interpretation.  Further, I have paired the plays to emphasize how one can read Shakespeare’s work comparatively, even across genres.  Romeo & Juliet is paired with A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Both of these plays were composed around the same time, and they illustrate how genre is sometimes merely a matter of perspective. Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night, two mature comedies, each give a distinct view of the female experience in the patriarchal world. Unsurprisingly, each play depends upon disguise.  Richard II and 1 Henry IV are the first two plays in Shakespeare’s second historical tetralogy, telling (with great artistic license) the events of Richard’s usurpation by his cousin Bolingbroke in 1399 and Bolingbroke’s son’s rise from a ne’er-do-well to the stuff of glory. Finally, we have the apex (although by no means the end of Shakespeare’s most powerful work) of Shakespearean tragedy with Hamlet and King Lear.  Significantly both plays are historical fictions, both are God-haunted, both deal with the very darkest possibilities of human experience and thought.  Yet Hamlet is very much a younger person’s play, and King Lear carefully gauges the movement from one’s prime to middle age to senescence. And yet again, one can say after reading both plays, that Hamlet is also very much haunted by Lear, and Lear is frequently permeated by essences of Hamlet.

How we are going to “learn” Shakespeare

Our work will consist of reading, re-reading, noting (with much ado), discussing, researching, and writing.  That is a LOT of work, so please begin this semester with an acceptance of the tasks that are necessary to completing the class.  I expect you to have each play read completely before the first class meeting on the play.  I also expect each student to RE-READ the play before our second class on the play.  With the exception of Hamlet, which is Shakespeare’s longest play, it usually takes from 3-4 hours to read each play (carefully, taking notes).  That puts you at roughly eight hours of reading for this class per week-and-a-half.  Of course, when you are working on papers, you will also be researching and reading secondary sources as well as re-re-read all or portions of select plays. When you read (and I strongly encourage you to read from a paper-clad book, so you can take notes, write in margins, underline passages, jot in definitions, etc.) be sure to have a pen or pencil in your hand and a notebook at your elbow. Try simply to get the gist of the plot, the personalities of the characters, and the emotional arc of the play. When you re-read, you will notice so much more than you did the first time through. This is the time to consider themes, recurrences, contradictions, deliberate problems, interpretations.

On the first day of each play, I will offer you a general sense of the play’s meaning, structure, and characterization.  To begin these classes, we will have a brief (ten-question) factual quiz designed to gauge the care with which you read the plays for the first time. This is the day that you have read, but not re-read, the play.  Nevertheless, I invite and encourage questions, comments, assertions, and interpretations to interrupt and enliven my monotonic soporifics.  On the second day of a play, you will have re-read the play, and the class will be devoted to student observations, interpretations, and questions.  On the third day of each play, we will have read a critical essay appropriate to the play.  We will, together, analyze the article and discuss its merits and limitations.  These secondary works will introduce students to critical habits of language, focus, and construction.

The next step in “learning” Shakespeare is to construct an essay that interprets an idea or theme shared by the two plays of the section.  This paper must be thesis-driven, constructed of clear topic sentences that define the paragraphs’ topics and connect the topic to the thesis, close-reading of brief, selected passages, and the integration of at least three peer-juried critical articles.  Papers should be roughly 5-7 pages long, exclusive of Notes (required) and Works Cited (strict MLA format).  

 Grades:  Each paper is worth 20% of your final grade.  All papers must be completed to pass the course.  Participation (determined by attendance, preparedness, thoughtful engagement in class discussions, office visits, quiz scores, promptness, and how helpful one is to other students) will constitute 20% of your final grade.

Attendance: You are required to attend all class meetings, to be there on time, prepared, and to remain until the end.  Please have your book and notebook opened and ready at the beginning of each class.  TAKE NOTES during class. You have three free absences; beyond three, your final grade will be lowered by one decrement per absence.

Students with special needs must inform the instructor at the beginning of the semester, and he will make all reasonable accommodations.

Please visit my Blog at http://stephenxmead.blogspot.com/ my blog has required reading for policies such as plagiarism and useful handouts such as edit sheets—but there’s also lots of good stuff for you to look through.  There will also be copies of the syllabus and class policies, in case you lose this.

Speeches:  Student can boost their final grades up one increment by memorizing and presenting 20+ FULL lines of Shakespeare, from one of the eight plays in the reading list.  Five or fewer errors gets you the boost.  And there are do-overs.

Office Hours: OM312b.  Students who meet with their professors (or other students) to talk about the texts and the writing process do better than those who do not.  Please see me as a resource for your success and excellence in the class.  If you are not free during office hours, we can make a special appointment. tel. 438-4336 smead@stmartin.edu. You may, of course, email me, but I cannot promise to respond before the next class meeting.

MWF 10-12AM.  TR 8:30-9:30. And by appointment.

You can follow me on Twitter at sxmead.  

Required Texts: The Pelican Shakespeare (2^nd edition).

I will also make available to you eight articles that you need to study for day three of each play.

Please check your university email in box regularly, as this is the only way I can contact all of you in case of timely messages, changes in syllabus, or helpful prompts.

Literature & Theology 2013 Syllabus

Literature & Theology                    RLS320

Mead                                                                                                   Fall 2013

August

26        M         Introduction: John, 1:1-4.

28        W         Consolation of Philosophy, Book 1

30        F          Consolation of Philosophy, Book 2

September

 2         M         NO CLASSES

 4         W         Consolation of Philosophy, Books 3 & 4

 6         F          Consolation of Philosophy, Book 5

 9         M         Inferno, Cantos 1-3

11        W         Inferno, Cantos 4-6

13        F          Inferno, Cantos 7-9

16        M         Inferno, Cantos 10-12

18        W         Inferno, Cantos 13-15

20        F          Inferno, Cantos 16-19

23        M         Inferno, Cantos 20-23

25        W         Inferno, Cantos 24-27

27        F          Inferno, Cantos 28-31

30        M         Inferno, Cantos 32-34

October

 2         W         Purgatorio, Cantos 1-3

 4         F          Purgatorio, Cantos 4-7

7          M         Purgatorio, Cantos 8-11

 9         W         Purgatorio, Cantos 12-15

11        F          Purgatorio, Cantos 16-18

14        M         NO CLASSES

16        W         Purgatorio, Cantos 19-22

18        F          NO CLASS

21        M         Purgatorio, Cantos 23-26

23        W         Purgatorio, Cantos 27-29

25        F          Purgatorio, Cantos 30-31

28        M         Purgatorio, Cantos 32-33

30        W         Catch-up Day.

November

 2         F          The Faerie Queene, Book 1, Cantos 1-2

 4         M         The Faerie Queene, Book 1, Cantos3-4

 6         W         The Faerie Queene, Book 1, Cantos 5-6

 9         F          The Faerie Queene, Book 1, Cantos 7-8

11        M         NO CLASSES

13        W         The Faerie Queene, Book 1, Cantos 9-10

15        F          The Faerie Queene, Book 1, Cantos 11-12

18        M         Paradise Lost, Books 1-2

20        W         Paradise Lost, Books 3-4

22        F          Paradise Lost, Books 5-6

25        M         Paradise Lost, Books 7-8

27        W         Paradise Lost, Books 9-10

29        F          NO CLASSES

December

 2         M         Paradise Lost, Books 11-12

 4         W         Evaluations. Speeches.

Literature & Theology?  What’s the connection?  No, this isn’t a Bible-as-literature class (but do take one if you ever get the chance).  Here’s the premise:  all literature is a footnote to the Bible. If that sounds radical or indefensible, try this: insofar as the Bible promotes moral living, literature is the Bible’s natural successor, as literature is inherently a moral engagement between ideas and the reader.  If neither of those premises excites you, you can still study in this class under the premise of studying how issues of religion are expressed and explored in literature.  There. That’s as mundane as I can make it.

Our readerly journey will take us from sixth-century northern Italy to thirteenth-century central Italy to sixteenth-century Ireland and sevententh-century England.  But imaginatively, we will on the battlefield of dragon and saint in Eden, in a dank prison cell, across the fields of heaven before Creation, in the deepest pits of hell (a couple of times), Faerie Lond, a solitary mountain in the Southern Hemisphere, and beyond time and space in the presence of the Ultimate Signified. Our journey also takes us through Classical philosophy, high medieval allegory, Reformation Arthurian, and seventeenth-century radical Protestantism.  Grab your towel and don’t panic.

Required Texts           

The Consolation of Philosophy (524), Boethius

Victor Watts, trans. Penguin, 1999

Inferno (~1310), Dante

            Mark Musa, trans. Penguin, 2003

Purgatorio (~1315), Dante

            Mark Musa trans. Penguin, 1985

The Faerie Queene, Book 1(1590), Edmund Spenser

            Carol V. Kaske, ed. Hackett, 2006

Paradise Lost (1674),  John Milton

            David Scott Kastan, ed. Hackett, 2005.

In addition to these literary texts, I will give you five scholarly articles to use as models to consider when composing your own scholarly papers.

What We Do in Class:  After we have all read, digested, and critically considered the reading material for the day, we meet in the assigned classroom to pool our thoughts, to ask probing questions, and to advance the group’s understanding and appreciation of the texts and their contexts.  As the instructor, my role is to keep the discussion moving forward, to be prepared to respond to all question, but to wait first for several of the students to respond.  It is of capital importance that each student engages not only with the material and with the instructor, but with each other student in the class.  Even though this is not a lecture class, I urge all students to take full notes during class discussion.  Please feel free to ask other students or the professor to repeat themselves so you can get things down in your notebook. When the class period is over, take a few minutes to finish up your notes, talk to students or the instructor if you have some questions or suggestions, and give yourself a sense of what the preceding class was composed of.

What We Do Outside of Class: First of all, read and re-read.  Take notes of the material.  Underline passages that seem important, that confuse you, or that infuriate you.  Second, talk to people, specifically, the instructor, other students in the class, the library professionals, as well as other students, faculty, and monks. If you only talk about the works in the classroom, your experience with the material will be unnecessarily delimited, and your success in the class will be minimized. Third, do extra reading.  You may want to look at Augustine of Hippo, Boccaccio, William Shakespeare, Andrew Marvel (contemporaries of our authors); or you may want to start early reading critical studies of these works.  Perhaps you will find enlightenment in reading about the historical periods, the lives of the authors, the history of religion in Europe.

Papers: This class is your chace to sharpen your skills in sound prose, critical thinking, and logical argumentation.  All papers MUST have a clear, interpretive thesis in the first paragraph; topic sentences at the beginning of each body paragraph that signal the topic of the paragraph AND explain how that topic advances the thesis; brief, selected passages from the texts that are interpreted by close reading; three-five secondary sources from peer-reviewed sources integrated into the paper; proper MLA format.  Papers should be 5-8 pages long, exclusive of Notes and Works Cited, both of which are required. Each paper is worth 20% of your final grade.

Speeches: Students who memorize and recite in class 20+ full lines of Dante, Spenser, or Milton with fewer than five errors (and there are do-overs) will imporve their final grade by one increment.

Attendance: Students are expected to attend every class meeting, to be on time and prepared.  Students who miss more than three classes over the course of the smester will have their final grade lowered by one decrement per additional absence (so don’t miss!).  Participation (determined by attendance, preparedness, thoughtful engagement in class discussions, office visits, promptness, and how helpful one is to other students) will constitute 20% of your final grade.

Students with special needs must inform the instructor at the beginning of the semester, and he will make all reasonable accommodations.

Please visit my Blog at http://stephenxmead.blogspot.com/ my blog has required reading for policies such as plagiarism and useful handouts such as edit sheets—but seriously, there’s lots of good stuff for you to look through.  There will also be copies of the syllabus and class policies, in case you lose this.

Office Hours: OM312b.  Students who meet with their professors (or other students) to talk about the texts and the writing process do better than those who do not.  Please see me as a resource for your success and excellence in the class.  If you are not free during office hours, we can make a special appointment. tel. 438-4336 smead@stmartin.edu. You may, of course, email me, but I cannot promise to respond before the next class meeting.

MWF 10-12AM.  TR 8:30-9:30. And by appointment.

You can follow me on Twitter at sxmead.  

Please check your university email in box regularly, as this is the only way I can contact all of you in case of timely messages, changes in syllabus, or helpful prompts.