ENGL 621:  Studies in the English Renaissance (Shakespeare) 

Summer 2004

INTERNET COURSE

Session I

Please e-mail me if you have registered for the course, but have not yet contacted me.  And please e-mail me if you did not receive the e-mails I sent to all students in the course this week.

The course discussions will take place on Blackboard.  Most of the course materials should be available there by Friday afternoon or evening--but keep checking back over the weekend and on Monday.  I'll also be posting

information on this web page as well, so make sure you check both places.

I've inserted discussion questions into the calendar below (I'll also put these on Blackboard when it's up and running).  On a daily basis, you will be responsible for responding to at least three discussion questions, and at least two responses by other students.  But feel free to contribute more if you feel like it.

Instructions for next week:  Start reading the plays, look at the discussion questions below (see also my study questions), and begin to formulate responses to be posted on Blackboard next week.  All responses to questions (3 per day minimum), and responses to other student responses (2 per day minimum) will be due by 6 a.m. the morning after the day of the assigned readings.  These should be thoughtful, imaginative responses that are supported by references to the text and analysis.

You should also have a look at the instructions for the first writing assignment, the paraphrase and analysis exercise--choose a sonnet and start working on it if you want to get a head start.  (And if you've already written one of these for me for another class, please choose a different sonnet!)

Some of the documents we will be using this semester are in Adobe Acrobat format.  Please download the Acrobat Reader, below, if you don't already have it on your system:

This course will be conducted on the Internet.  Please contact the instructor at the e-mail address below as soon as you register for this course.  

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

This course engages students in an extended study of a number of plays by Shakespeare. We will study some plays that you may be familiar with, but we will try to explore these works more deeply, in part by reading critical commentaries on these works, and in part by thinking about some of the textual problems associated with Shakespeare's works (Hamlet and King Lear in particular).  We will also read a number of plays that aren't usually taught in undergraduate Shakespeare courses in order to better understand the breadth of Shakespeare's achievement (and perhaps also his failures).  And because many of the students in this course plan to teach or are already teachers, we will spend some time discussing ways of presenting Shakespeare in the classroom.

TEXTS (available at the Longwood University Bookstore)

• Richard II  (Pelican ed.). [ISBN:  0140714820]

• 1 Henry IV (Pelican ed.).  [ISBN:  0140714561]

• As You Like It (Pelican ed.). [ISBN:  0140714715]

• Twelfth Night (Pelican ed.). [ISBN:  01400714898]

• Othello (Pelican ed.). [ISBN:  0140714634]

• Hamlet (Pelican ed.).  [ISBN:  0140714545]

• King Lear (Pelican ed.). [ISBN:  0140714766]

• Cymbeline  (Pelican ed.). [ISBN:  0140714723]

• The Sonnets (Pelican ed.). [ISBN:  0140714537].

• The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare, ed. Russ McDonald, second edition.  [ISBN:  0312248806]
  

• If you already have a good, annotated edition of Shakespeare's complete works (or feel that this is the time to buy one), feel free to use it instead.  I'd be happy to provide suggestions on an appropriate text.  A good, and relatively compact complete edition is The Complete Pelican Shakespeare, ed. Orgel and Braunmuller (2002).  [ISBN:  0141000589]

• A number of secondary readings will be available in the Course Documents section of Blackboard.
  

• Optional, but strongly recommended:  Shakespeare A to Z, ed. Charles Boyce.  [ISBN:  0385313616]

• You should also have a good collegiate dictionary, and please acquaint yourself with the location of the Oxford English Dictionary (second edition) in the library at your earliest convenience.

INTERNET RESOURCES

• The Oxford English Dictionary (Second Edition).  Use the "browse" function.

• Voice of the Shuttle:  Web Site for Humanities Research.

• Literary Lexicon

• Glossary of Rhetorical Terms

• The Virtual Classroom Glossary of Literary Terms

• The Cambridge History of English and American Literature

• Luminarium (medieval and Renaissance texts)

• Perseus Project (classical texts)

• Conventions for Writing Papers about Literature
• Guidelines for Writing a Literature Paper
  

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

• A 4-5 page paraphrase and analysis of a sonnet.  Go here for instructions (20%).

• Class preparation and participation on course bulletin board (30%).

• Final paper of 10-12 pages (50%).  Go here for instructions.

Other information on papers:  Go here to learn about MLA format (but note that this style sheet is not comprehensive--you may need to consult the MLA Handbook on some formatting issues).  Papers that do not quote and cite verse (and prose, for that matter) properly will be returned for reformatting.  Please include your e-mail address on your paper.  See my handouts for information on writing about literature.  See the Longwood University Style Manual for other formatting issues.

POLICY MATTERS

Written assignments handed in late will lose one letter grade for each class day late. Plagiarism, cheating, and other forms of intellectual dishonesty will result in an F for the course and referral to the Longwood University Judicial system. For details on Longwood University's honor code and judicial system, direct your web browser to: http://www.longwood.edu/judicial.

 

Note: the syllabus may be changed at any time if necessary, though I'll try to give you as much advance notice as possible. Please check the web page regularly for updates.

CALENDAR