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British Literature 2: Perchance To Dream Cary Honig email: caryh@school-one.org
Nil sine magno vita labore dedit mortalibus
Welcome to the Brit. Lit. 2 wiki. Hopefully, having an overview of what we will do and roughly when will make the class easier. This also allows me to make the suggested but not required readings available in a context that might make them more attractive. The workload is actually a little lighter this trimester than previous times I taught this class as two of the essays will be done in class, which most students consider easier.
Students can take this class for English or history credit. Because the class is so writing intense, there is a different workload for English and history students with history students writing fewer essays (and usually those that have more history or sociological content). The reading requirements are the same. The syllabi provide the details.
Every student even considering this class must read and sign the source policy and abide by it. Failure to do so will lead to no credit in the class. I am not interested in what anyone at wikipedia, Sparknotes or Harvard thinks about this literature. I am interested in what you think. You must think for yourself in this class. If you don't want to do that and perhaps occasionally struggle, don't take the class. You are always welcome to come discuss your ideas with me before writing if you are worried you are off track. I won't tell you what to write or think, but I am happy to ask you questions that might help you to focus or reorient. This is NOT a research class; it is a thinking class. Please respect that and trust that I respect ideas that may be flawed but original far more than ideas that are on more solid ground but aren't yours.
For a guide to proper citation within text and bibliography (works cited), go to
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/
Weekly sections below are split into two parts. The first paragraph is about classwork projected for that week, although we won't always be on target. Links under the weekly schedule are to note sheets we will use in class or that might be useful to you as well as to articles that are usually recommended but not required to add to your knowledge about what we are discussing in class.
Essays are due almost every week on Thursdays at class time. Revisions should be done soon after being returned but must be completed by the Monday after they are returned unless an earlier date is specified at the end of the trimester. On two occasions this trimester, students will do their essays in class on Thursdays to practice for college testing. They should be sure to have read the materials very carefully and to have given them some thought before taking these exams, but the questions are broad and don't require focus on one particular detail in the text(s). Students who are absent on these days will do the essays at home with the amount of evidence expected in an essay done at home, so that means considerably more work. If you're out on those days, I won't give you the in-class essay at a different time. In-class essays are generally not revised unless the student didn't do the reading. At-home essays need revision until I approve a draft as final because you have addressed the issues I identified in your draft(s).
Late work is not tolerated in this class. If a student is late on one essay, s/he will have to do an additional essay as well as the one that is late. If a second assignment is late, the student cannot earn credit. If a student is home sick, the essay must be emailed on time. Exceptions will only be made in a situation that is completely unavoidable by the student and for which there is clear evidence and that was pre-arranged.
Students should begin reading the materials as soon as they sign up for the class (if not sooner) even though the first essay about it isn't due until December 4, as they are expected to have read many articles about Shakespeare and some about the authorship question to do that essay. It would be a good idea to look at the essay assignments related to the texts before reading so that you can look for evidence and ideas as your read.
The abbreviation ws in links means worksheet. Even if you're not taking notes, these are designed to provide helpful guidance while reading texts.
Week 1: Review of last trimester's main points and a jump right into Elizabethan England and a close study of eighteen of Shakespeare's Sonnets. For differing views about the autobiographical nature (or not) of the sonnets, read the handouts from Peter Ackroyd and William Empson.
Grammar: Adverbs
in-Class work:
Sh's sonnets documents and pictures
Optional Reading:
16th Century Florentine painting and sculpture talk from the Met from 2021 (1/2 hour) https://www.metmuseum.org/events/programs/met-celebrates/the-medici-virtual-opening?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Development&utm_campaign=2021_0630_Dev_Evite_Medici_PM&promocode=
Charles Nicholl on DaVinci's Language
Excellent summary of historians' views of gender in the Renaissance and Middle Ages '11
how Sir Francis Drake and the Queen made England a global empire
Elizabeth, Romance and gardens
William Empson discusses the sonnets
Early Variant of Sonnet 116 discovered 25
Shakespeare's Leap - Greenblatt
Shakes authorship Lorrie Moore
New evidence regarding Shakespeare's Coat of Arms
James Shapiro on Shakespeare and Plague 11
Stephen Greenblatt on Shakespeare and Plague 20
recent Shakes books reviewed '07
Arguing For Marlowe's Collaboration on the Henry VI plays 17
Did Shakespeare help write (the early for him) Spanish Tragedy ?
Frank Kermode on the evolution of Shakespeare's dramatic language
Greenblatt on Shylock and Shakespeare 17
Shakespeare's Anti-Xenophobia 20
Unknown Shakespeare Source Uncovered by computer plagiarism software 18
Shakespeare NYT obituary 400th anniversary
Frances Yates on Shakespeare's globe (what its stage looked like)
Codpieces - More Than You Want To know 20
Is Shakespeare's Birthplace a Fraud?
On the transition from Elizabeth to James I. 24
Homework:
The first essay is due by class time on Thursday, December 2 by class time.
While some, including many top post-Modern scholars, might see this week's essay topic as beside the point, I think it's a good way into getting to know about Shakespeare, his life and the conditions in which he worked. While I think the authorship debate would be a waste of time to cover if it didn't get so much misleading publicity, I think it is very valuable to understand the nature of Shakespeare's theatrical company and his role in it as opposed to our current notions of authorship. The main reading will be handed out in class, and you must read the debate titled The Ghost of Shakespeare, which contains arguments from ten different authors, The Ghost's Vocabulary (very brief) by Edward Dolnick (about computer textual analysis and authorship) and the selection from The Genius of Shakespeare by Jonathan Bate. one of the few serious Shakespeare scholars willing to spend time on the authorship issue. I don't mean to sound like a snob, but in assessing the various arguments, consider the credentials of those arguing. Just as on the internet, you can't believe everything you read, so you need criteria to figure out what's most likely true. The articles attached below are more optional but also helpful. I especially recommend Greenblatt and Moore and the Coat of Arms article and Ernst Honigmann's "dismissal" of Oxford linked below. The Bible and Willobie links will be used in class to make key points about the authorship issue.
For a great site with actual documents relating to Shakespeare from his time, go to http://www.shakespearedocumented.org/
Exercise 1 required reading about the authorship question 21
Exercise 1 Authorship question 21
Ernst Honigmann's brief summary of his discoveries in the brilliant Shakespeare: The Lost Years
Ernst Honigmann's dismissal of the Oxfordians 85
Charles Nicholl on the discovery of Anne Shakespeare's letters 25
The Right-Wing Crusade Against Shakespeare
Week 2: We will continue with Shakespeare's sonnets this week, culminating in an in-class essay on Thursday, December 9, in which students will be asked to analyze one of his sonnets they haven't yet seen. Grammar: Prepositions
In Class work
Recommended Reading:
Unusual Theory that the sonnets are mostly written to Shakespeare's Wife 86
You have no at-home reading this week, so I strongly suggest that you begin Aphra Behn's Oroonoko this week to make next week easier and allow you to enter your vacation earlier. There will be an in-class essay on December 9. This one tests a different intellectual muscle than the others we have had in the past, and the best way to prepare for it is to look over your notes about the sonnets we read in class beforehand. Of course, you could prepare all of the sonnets we haven't read if you really want to ace it. I wouldn't consider this cheating; in fact, I'd be impressed.
Oroonoko text for next week's essay
Week 3: We will look at a series of Early Modern love poems by a variety of authors to get a sense of what others were thinking about love in this period. They include Christopher Marlowe, Sir Walter Ralegh, John Donne, Katherine Philips and Aphra Behn, whose Oroonoko you will be finishing at home. We'll also look at Donne and Ms. Behn's interesting lives this week. We may do a few more Donne poems this week if we have the time, and we will definitely do more later in the trimester along with more by Ms. Behn. We will also take time to sort out Shakespeare's life and clarify the authorship nonsense. Grammar:
In Class Work:
You have a revision of exercise one due by Monday, December 13 at class time with the first draft. This week's new assignment requires completing Oroonoko. It is due by December 16 at class time.
Happy Holiday! Take that, Bill O'Reilly! You should definitely be reading Book One of Paradise Lost over vacation to make your return easier. The first essay upon our return has each student analyzing a different soliloquy from Hamlet and is staggered with some people having it due the day we return. I can't post the specific assignments until the trimester begins and I know who is in the class, but the general assignment is posted until that time. It is important that you check to see if you need to have your essay done by January 4, 5 or 6 or some later date to avoid a late essay.
Week 4
(after vacation)
It's Hamlet time! We will begin an exhaustive study of this most famous but elusive play and hopefully see why thinking of it as a study in procrastination is doing it a real injustice. Like Lear, Hamlet is very open to differing interpretations. The characters are very real and recognizable, but we may not agree about what their experiences signify. Much of our class time over the next three-four weeks will be spent reading and discussing this play. This week, we will look at some background specific to this play: Early Modern ideas about melancholia and intellect, about science and the scientific method as related to how we know what we know, about representation, about differences between Catholicism and Protestantism regarding the afterlife. Grammar: Parallel Structure
Classwork:
Frontpiece from Vesalius's Fabrica (showing the move from old texts to experiment)
Montaigne excerpts relevant to Hamlet
The Painter Scene from The Spanish Tragedy, quite possibly by Shakespeare
Further Proof of Shakespeare's Hand in Spanish Tragedy Additions 18
Recommended about Hamlet:
Maya Philips: My Undying Obsession With Hamlet 23
Whirligig: Barbara Everett on Hamlet
Barbara Everett on power in Hamlet 25 25
Better than usual assessment of Hamlet 25
Stephen Greenblatt on the road to interiority and its connection to mourning in Hamlet 04
Excellent Fintan O'Toole article about Shakespeare's tragedies: screw the tragic flaw! 24
William Empson's chapter about Hamlet
How Montaigne Fled the Plague and Found Himself 20
Hamlet and the Surveillance State 17
Stephen Greenblatt on Hamnet 21
Charles Nicholl on Elizabethan Murder Plays 21
James Shapiro on The Question of Hamlet 18
Review of Hamlet riff Fat Ham 23
Recommended about Paradise Lost:
Milton includes Galileo in Paradise Lost
William Propp on Satan and other Demons
Return to Paradise: The enduring relevance of John Milton.
Frank Kermode on Milton's 400th BDay 09
Catherine Nicholson on John Milton 22.
Christopher Ricks on John Milton 66.
The first essay upon our return has each student analyzing a different soliloquy from Hamlet and is staggered with some people having it due the day we return. I can't post the specific assignments until the trimester begins and I know who is in the class, but the general assignment is posted until that time. That means you should be doing preparation ahead of time. It is important that you check to see if you need to have your essay done by January 4, 5 or 6 or some later date to avoid a late essay. You will be teaching your soliloquy when it comes up in our reading of the play. If you have a later soliloquy, you would be wise to get moving more quickly on Paradise Lost so that you don't end up having this week off and then two essays due next week. I will repost this exercise with the specific assignments early second trimester.
Hamlet soliloquy assignment 21
Week 5: We will continue our reading of Hamlet, covering some of the greatest speeches ever written for theater this week. Grammar: Me/I
Notes for Milton/Civil War background
Notes for Paradise Lost Book 1
article about the English Republic 1642-60. 25
Grammar: We're back to reviewing the first set of rules:
This week's essay is based on Book One of Paradise Lost. If you are a slow reader of poetry, be sure to get an early start. It is amazing poetry, so it should be a treat. You should enjoy the topic. This is due on Thursday, January 13. Revisions of the Oroonoko essay are due by class on Monday, January 3 (or Tuesday if you come for help on Monday). The Satan essay is only for English students
Week 6: If we're making better than average progress, we will be finishing Hamlet this week. Some students' Hamlet essays may be due this week, especially if they owe extra essays, so they should get an early start on Pride and Prejudice, for which we are jumping ahead two hundred years to find a great novel of an appropriate length. (If only Tom Jones were shorter for these purposes!) In fact, anyone could do this easily during vacation and be well ahead at this point. Grammar: Additional Usage
Hamlet essays must be revised within a week of the draft's return to you. That means different deadlines depending on when yours is returned. This is your bye week on essays, and next week's is in-class.
Reading:
Key Pride and Prejudice info before reading
Jane Austen's Imaginartion displayed in new exhibition with photos of her belongings 25
Jane and Cassandra Austen: sisters
the Consolations of Reading Jane Austen 20
Jane Austen's unfinished novel
Three new Jane Austen books reviewed by Jane Smiley17
What Mr. Darcy would have looked like
Week 7: It's likely we will be finishing up Hamlet. Once we are done with him, we will move on to more of John Donne's unique and amazing poetry. If we're really cruising, we might get to some of John Milton's poetry as well.
Grammar: agreement
Donne Sappho to Philaenis notes
Donne Valediction on Weeping ws
Sounds and travails of Renaissance women 24
You should be reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (a most pleasant task) for this week's IN CLASS essay, which will occur on January 27. You will need to have read carefully through chapter 23 in order to be able to do this essay well and avoid redoing it at home with quotations. Before reading, please read the following short document, which provides some important background to some key plot twists that you're not likely to know in the 21st Century. The revision of the Satan essay is due by Monday, January 22 by class time. If you had a late Hamlet explication, you may still owe that revision this week. Use your time to finish Pride and Prejudice and to start planning the last two significant essays. If you're not excited to finish the book, you're barely if at all human.
Week 8: This week we will talk about John Milton, both Paradise Lost and his shorter poetry, and a truly great poem by his contemporary Andrew Marvell. We'll also get into the history of 17th century England. Hopefully, we'll get back to Ms. Behn this week too. Grammar:
P and P discussion notes through book 1
Notes for Paradise Lost Book 3 selection: God's plan
Adam, Eve and Milton's Nuance 17
The Afterlives of Paradise Lost 25
Frank Kermode on Marvell's Poems
Milton's Areopagitica (anti-censorship)
This week's essay asks for your assessment of Hamlet as a tragedy. Does it fit any of the conventional ideas of what constitutes a theatrical tragedy? This essay is due on Thursday, February 3 by class time. You should continue reading Pride and Prejudice this week. I assume you will want to do this anyway.
Week 9: We are probably doing some of what was listed under last week, but we will also begin discussing Pride and Prejudice. Grammar: Agreement review
It's final essay week! This is a larger essay that encompasses many of our texts from the trimester as they relate to love. The sooner you look at this assignment, the sooner you can be scanning the texts for evidence. This is due by class time on Thursday, February 10.
Your Hamlet/tragedy essay's revision is due by Monday's class (Feb. 12) with the draft.
Week 10: We will spend the week finishing up any spare poetry (as we will certainly have gotten behind) and continue to discuss Pride and Prejudice and love in general. We'll also note how the novel's original idea at the time has been annoying copied in every rom-com and sit-com since those genres began. Grammar: Commas and adverbial clauses review
Your final essay's revision is due by class time on THURSDAY, February 17. I mean this. There should be no outstanding work at this point. That will lead to a pleasant last week of the trimester.
Week 11: I imagine we will be finishing up what is listed under previous weeks, but if we have somehow done everything on time, an appropriate cinematic treat (perhaps the great film of The Revenger's Tragedy or Stage Beauty) could be arranged. Grammar: Commas and Subordinate Conjunctions review
Week 12: Brit. Lit Jeopardy
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