SPRING 2002
ENG 340: ENGLISH LITERATURE I, MEDIEVAL & EARLY RENAISSANCE

STUDENTS

• Professor: Fidel Fajardo-Acosta
• Course: ENG 340, Call No. 1853
• Class Time: Tuesdays & Thursdays 12:30-1:45 PM
• Classroom: BA 316
• Office Hours: Tuesdays 2:00-4:00 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 studied include Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Romance of Tristan and Iseult, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the Lais of Marie de France, Sir Thomas More's Utopia, Spenser's Faerie Queene, and others.

TEXTBOOKS (available at Creighton Bookstore):

• M. H. Abrams, ed., The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. I, Seventh Edition, Norton
• Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Modern Library
• Glyn S. Burgess & Keith Busby, trans., The Lais of Marie de France, Penguin
• Joseph Bédier, The Romance of Tristan and Iseult, Random House/Vintage

1) Three Exams (60%)

The exams will feature essay sections as well as objective questions dealing with literary texts, their features, authors, and history. The objective portion of the examinations will include multiple choice, short answer and other questions covering the information in the course's outlines (available through the links in the online syllabus) and/or featured in lectures or student presentations. Objective questions will also test students coverage and comprehension of the assigned reading. The essay portion of the exam will ask students to analyze and comment on a given issue or textual passage related to the course's materials and concerns. For details on the grading of essays see "Grading of Essays and Other Written Work".

2) Group Presentation (10%)

Students will work in groups and take turns making 15-20 minute presentations on assigned topics. Presentations should offer objective information on the assigned topic. Presenters are encouraged to use audiovisual materials (web pages, PowerPoint slides, overhead displays, handouts, etc.). Presentations will be graded on the basis of the relevance and accuracy of the researched information, organization and clarity of delivery, and audiovisual appeal.

3) Term Project (20%)

Students will design and pursue a project (paper, art or creative work, videotape, web site, etc.) related to any aspect of the course materials. All projects must be original and will be presented to the class. 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 ideas and materials. All projects must be approved by the instructor in advance (see deadline for project proposal in the 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 complete the reading by the date indicated. Read both the text and any introductions provided in the textbooks.

Thu Jan 17

• Literature: An Introduction

Tue Jan 22

• Historical and Cultural Outline: Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period (449-1066)
• Reading: The Middle Ages: Introduction, "Anglo Saxon England" (Norton Anthology pp. 1-6)

Thu Jan 24

• Reading: Bede's "The Story of Caedmon" and "The Dream of the Rood" (Norton Anthology)

Tue Jan 29

• Reading: "The Wanderer" and "The Wife's Lament" (Norton Anthology)

Thu Jan 31

• The Battle of Maldon (Norton Anthology)

Tue Feb 05

• Beowulf

Thu Feb 07

• Beowulf

Tue Feb 12

• EXAM

Thu Feb 14

• Historical and Cultural Outline: Middle English Period (1066-1509)
• Reading: The Middle Ages: Introduction, "Anglo-Norman England," "Middle English Literature in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries," and "Medieval English" (Norton Anthology pp. 7-20)

Tue Feb 19

• Student Presentation: The Legend of King Arthur (Group #1)
• Reading: Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I-II, pp. 1-78, Book III, Ch. 1, pp. 79-80, Book IV, Ch. VIII-XVI, pp. 113-127, Book VI, pp. 175-208
  

Thu Feb 21

• Reading: Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XI, pp. 608-632, Book XIII , pp. 655-689, Book XVII-XXI, pp. 744-938
  

Tue Feb 26

• Student Presentation: Chivalry and Courtly Love (Group #2)
• Reading: Joseph Bédier, The Romance of Tristan and Iseult

Thu Feb 28

• Reading: The Lais of Marie de France (trans. Glyn S. Burgess & Keith Busby)

Tue Mar 05

• Reading: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Norton Anthology).

Thu Mar 07

• EXAM

Tue Mar 12

• SPRING BREAK

Thu Mar 14

• SPRING BREAK

Tue Mar 19

• Student Presentation: Geoffrey Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales (Group #3)
• Reading: Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, (read "The General Prologue" and "The Miller's Prologue and Tale") (Norton Anthology)
• ONE-PAGE TERM PROJECT PROPOSALS DUE

Thu Mar 21

• Student Presentation: William Langland, Piers Plowman (Group #4)
• Reading: William Langland, The Vision of Piers Plowman (Norton Anthology)

Tue Mar 26

• Student Presentation: The English Mystics (Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, Walter Hilton, Richard Rolle) (Group #5: The English Mystics, Margery Kempe)
• Reading: Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe (Norton Anthology)

Thu Mar 28

• Student Presentation: Medieval Drama: Morality and Mystery Plays (Group #6)
• Reading: Everyman (Norton Anthology)

Tue Apr 02

• Reading: Mystery Plays, The Wakefield Second Shepherds' Play (Norton Anthology)

Thu Apr 04

• Historical and Cultural Outline: The Early English Renaissance (1509-1600)
• Reading: The Sixteenth Century (Norton Anthology pp. 469-496)

Tue Apr 09

• Reading: Sir Thomas More's Utopia (Norton Anthology)

Thu Apr 11

• Reading: Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene (Book 2, Canto XII, "The Bower of Bliss")

Tue Apr 16

• EXAM

Thu Apr 18

• STUDENT PROJECT PRESENTATIONS

Tue Apr 23

• STUDENT PROJECT PRESENTATIONS

Thu Apr 25

• STUDENT PROJECT PRESENTATIONS

Tue Apr 30

• STUDENT PROJECT PRESENTATIONS

Thu May 02

• STUDENT PROJECT PRESENTATIONS
• COURSE EVALUATIONS (bring #2 pencil)
• TERM PROJECTS DUE

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