Description

This course will survey the writings of John Milton, one of most celebrated writers in English literature. We will work towards gaining an appreciation and understanding of Milton's work in several genres, ultimately concentrating on a full and close reading of Paradise Lost -- one that reflects the historical and intellectual context both in which Milton wrote and in which we encounter it today.

Course Materials

• Texts:
  • Primary:
    • Milton, John.  The Riverside Milton.  Roy Flannagan, ed.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.
  • Supplementary:
    • Abrams, M. H. (gen. ed.), et al, eds.  The Norton Anthology of English Literature.  Vol. 1.  7th ed.  New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 2000. [In library; from English 200; 6th ed. will be fine as well.]
    • Dennis Danielson, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Milton. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999. [In library; additional copies ordered for the bookstore.]
    • Parry, Graham.  The Seventeenth Century: The Intellectual and Cultural Context of English Literature, 1603-1700.  Longman Literature in English Series.  London: Longman, 1989. [In library; specific readings may be assigned.]
    • Siemens, R.G.  "Milton's Works and Life: Select Studies and Resources." 268-90 in Danielson.  Rptd. Early Modern Literary Studies (1999). <URL: http://purl.oclc.org/emls/iemls/postprint/CCM2Biblio.html>.
• Additional Resources:
  • English 369 Online Discussion Group: (now closed)
  • Lunsford, Andrea, Robert Connors, and Judy Segal.  The Everyday Writer: A Brief Reference. Canadian ed.  New York: St. Martin's P, 1997.  (The home page for most recent edition of this work is found at <http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/lunsford/everyday_writer/default.html>.)
  • The Writing Centre at Malaspina U-C.
  • Malaspina U-C, English Department Grading Standards
 

Course Requirements

• Research Presentation Outline, 10%  (Week 5.)
  • We will choose topics during the second week of classes.  Due at the beginning of our meeting during week 5 is  [1] a detailed outline of  your presentation, [2] a draft of your class handout, and [3] an annotated bibliography, MLA style, of between 5-8 secondary academic resources pertinent to your topic.
• Mid-term exam, 5%.  (Week 5.)
  • This half-hour exam will cover material up to and including that presented in week 4.  It will have 2 sections: [1] identification of passages and expansion on their significance, and [2] short answer, paragraph form.
• Research Presentation, 15%.  (Due weeks 7-12.)
  • A well-researched and formal presentation on your topic.  The presentation will [1] be approximately 10 minutes in length, and [2] will include, for each member of the seminar, a one-page handout that outlines your presentation and lists useful secondary resources (in MLA style) for those who wish to know more about your topic.
• Research Paper, 25%.  (Due at our last meeting.)
  • A formal research paper on your topic, having its origins in your research presentation; it will be presented in MLA style, ca. 2,000 words, and will include an annotated list of works cited.
• Class and Seminar Notes / Participation, 25%.
  • The first seminar for this course meets during week 2, as noted on the syllabus, for a complete reading of Paradise Lost.  Thereafter, the seminar for this course meets 2 hours per week during weeks 7-12, consisting of both in-class and on-line components.  Seminar notes are a one page, single-spaced, typed exploration of the topics under consideration in our seminars for the current week; notes are due at the conclusion of each seminar.
• Final Exam, 20%.
  • To take home for completion; distributed at our last meeting and due in my departmental mailbox by December 6.

Further Notes:

• All deadlines are firm.  Attendance is mandatory.  All course requirements must be met (and a mark of greater than F received) for a passing grade to be issued in the course.
• This course assumes training and/or ability in the use of our library (and ILL facilities), its catalogue, and the various specialized indexes and bibliographies related to literary studies in the areas covered by the course.
• All written work will be submitted as per MLA style (parenthetical citation).  All students are advised to consult and use The Everyday Writer as part of their course and assignment preparation.  All students are advised to be familiar with Malaspina's Student Conduct Policy (available at: http://www.mala.bc.ca/www/crsinfo/calendar/STUDCOND.HTM), which includes a section on plagiarism.
• What is an annotated bibliography?  For our purposes here, and in short, an annotated bibliography is a list of critical/scholarly works that includes a brief summary of the argument of each work. Works are to be listed as per MLA Style. A sample entry follows: 

Frye, Northrop. "The Argument of Comedy." 165-179 in Alvin B. Kernan, ed. Modern Shakespearean Criticism: Essays on Style, Dramaturgy, and the Major Plays. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970.
     Frye discusses ideas on the evolution from Old to New Comedy, and therein touches upon a number of elements of the New Comedy, among them the basic plot and movement towards resolution. Of interest is his relation of the individual and the societal, in the resolution of the comic drama: "The essential comic resolution," Frye states, ". . . is an individual release which is also a social reconciliation" (167). His comments on the structural relation of the comedy and the tragedy are particularly useful: "Comedy," he notes, "grows out of the [tragic] ritual, for in the ritual the tragic story has a comic sequel" (168).

Syllabus

• Week 1 (Sept. 6):  Introductions; course overview; survey of 16th and 17th century English poetry; "On Shakespeare," and discussion of Milton's poetic tendencies.
• Week 2 
  • (Sept. 13):  "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity"; "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso"; "How Soon hath Time"; Lycidas.
  • (Sept. 14) Seminar: A full, uninterrupted class reading of Paradise Lost.  Begins at 9:00 AM, in 355/211 (the Liberal Studies Project Room).
• Week 3 (Sept. 20):  A Masque (Comus); The Reason of Church-Government (excerpts); The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (excerpts).
• Week 4 (Sept. 27):  Areopagitica (excerpts), The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (excerpts), Eikonoklastes (excerpts).
• Week 5 (Oct. 4):  Samson Agonistes
  • Mid-term Exam; research presentation outline due.
• Week 6 (Oct. 11):  Introduction to Paradise Lost (PL); PL I
• Week 7 (Oct. 18):  PL II, III
• Week 8 (Oct. 25):  PL IV, V
• Week 9 (Nov. 1):  PL VI, VII
• Week 10 (Nov. 8): PL VIII, IX
• Week 11 (Nov. 15):  PL X, XI
• Week 12 (Nov. 22):  PL XII
• Week 13 (Nov. 29): Paradise Regain'd

© R.G. Siemens, 2002-.
Last updated November 19, 2002 .