STUDENTS

• Professor: Fidel Fajardo-Acosta
• Course: ENG 340: English Literature I, Medieval/Early Renaissance, Call No. 1859
• Class Time: Tuesday 2:30-5:00
• Classroom: Humanities Center (HC) Room 212
• Course Dates: Tuesday, January 18-Thursday, May 4, 2000
• Office Hours: Tuesdays 1:00-2:15 & Thursdays 2:00-3:45 and by appointment (notice that posted office hours are subject to cancellation without previous notice, call to be sure)
• Office: Hitchcock Communication Arts Building (CA) Room 304 A
• Office Telephone: (402) 280-2522
• E-mail: fajardo@creighton.edu
• Web Home Page: http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/english/fajardo/

This course offers a historical survey of English literature from its beginnings in the Anglo-Saxon (Old English) period through the early Renaissance (c. 1600). Texts and authors studied include Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Romance of Tristan and Iseult, Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great, and others.

TEXTBOOKS (Available at Creighton Bookstore):

• M. H. Abrams, ed., The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. I, Seventh Edition, W. W. Norton (2000)
• Mike Ashley, ed. The Mammoth Book of Arthurian Legends, Carroll & Graf Publishers (1998)
• Glyn S. Burgess & Keith Busby, trans., The Lais of Marie de France, Penguin USA (1999).
• Geoffrey Chaucer, Comic and Bawdy Tales, Tuttle/Everyman's (1997)

The exam will feature an essay section as well as objective questions dealing with literary texts, their features, authors, and history. Quizzes will involve objective, short answer questions of various formats. Quizzes and exams will cover both texts read in the class as well as those discussed in the student presentations.

Students will work in groups and take turns making 15-20 minute presentations on assigned topics. Presentations should offer objective information on the dates, historical context, authorship, genre, stylistic and/or language features, and other relevant facts connected to specific texts and authors. Knowledge of facts covered in the presentations will be tested in quizzes and examinations. Presenters are encouraged to use audiovisual materials (web pages, PowerPoint slides, overhead displays, handouts, etc.) illustrating and clarifying important points. Presentations will be graded on the basis of accuracy and completeness of the researched information, clarity of delivery, and audiovisual appeal.

Students will design and pursue a project (paper, creative work, web site, etc.) related to any aspect of the course materials. All projects must be presented to the class (about 15 minutes per student). Projects may be analytical papers (5-10 pp., MLA format) offering close readings/interpretations of any of the literary texts studied. In general, students are encouraged to choose material and media which are interesting and stimulating and should not feel limited to traditional academic topics or techniques. All projects however must demonstrate substantial effort, thought, and understanding/incorporation of the course's issues and materials. All projects must be approved by the instructor in advance (see Schedule below).

Students will also be graded according to preparation, effort, participation, development, and involvement in the course.

All performance will be graded on a 0-100 point scale where 0-59 = F, 60-69 = D, 70-76 = C, 77-79 = C+, 80-86 = B, 87-89 = B+, and 90-100 = A. Notice that the course grade may not exceed the percentage of class time attended (thus, a student attending only 75 % of the total class time may not receive a course grade higher than C). Originality and personal effort are expected of all work. All students in the class are expected to observe the University's guidelines on student conduct as described in Creighton University's Student Handbook (see "Code of Conduct," and especially the section on "Academic Misconduct" dealing with problems of plagiarism, cheating, etc.).

Students must make sure to complete the reading by the date indicated. Class work will include discussion of the texts, literary and cultural history, and student presentations.

• Introduction
• Historical Outline: Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period
• Historical Outline: Middle English & Early Renaissance Periods

• Presentation: Anglo-Saxon (Old English) Poetry: (Bede, Caedmon's Hymn, Wanderer, Seafarer, Dream of the Rood) (Group # 1)
• Reading: Beowulf, Norton Anthology pp. 29-99

• Presentation: Geoffrey of Monmouth, Wace, Layamon (Group # 2)
• Reading: Arthurian Legends, Mike Ashley edition, pp. 3-108

• Presentation: The Romances of Chrétien de Troyes (Group # 3)
• Reading: Arthurian Legends, Mike Ashley edition, pp. 144-159, 449-467, 482-518, 558-566
• QUIZ # 1

• Presentation: Sir Thomas Malory, Morte Darthur (Group # 4)
• Reading: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Norton Anthology pp. 156-210)

• Presentation: William Langland, Piers Plowman (Group # 5)
• Reading: Marie de France, Lais, Burgess & Busby edition. pp. 41-126
• ONE-PAGE PROJECT PROPOSAL/DESCRIPTION DUE

• Presentation: The Mystics (Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe) (Group # 6)
• Reading: The Romance of Tristan and Iseult, Mike Ashley edition, pp. 353-411

• Presentation: Medieval Drama, Morality and Mystery Plays (Everyman, Noah's Flood) (Group # 7)

• Reading: The Wakefield Second Shepherds' Play, Norton Anthology, pp. 391-419

• Presentation: Middle English Lyrics (Group # 8)
• Reading: Geoffrey Chaucer, Comic and Bawdy Tales, pp. 3-96

• Presentation: Renaissance Poetry (John Skelton, Thomas Wyatt, Henry Howard) (Group # 9)
• Presentation: Edmund Spenser and Sir Philip Sidney (Group # 10)
• QUIZ
# 2

• STUDENT PROJECT PRESENTATIONS
  • Allie Davis
  • Katie Crooks
  • Abby Allen
  • Elisa Czarnick
  • Heather Brown
  • Liz Powers
  • Erica Iverson
  • Andrea Mouser
  • Roshini Neduvelil

• STUDENT PROJECT PRESENTATIONS
  • Katie Robertson
  • Christina Gawrych
  • Katie Quick
  • Serena Ake
  • Collen Nothern
  • Jill Narak
  • Beth Conradson
  • Keoni Enriques
  • Nick Flattery

• PROJECTS IN FINAL FORM DUE (by 12 Noon, in instructor's mailbox or office)