Engl. 433: Renaissance Literature

Baker's Home Page | 433 Requirements | 433 Syllabus | Course Descriptions and Syllabi

 

Professor Moira P. Baker

406 Young Hall

831-5352 (Office)

731-4104 (Home)

mpbaker@runet.edu

Office Hours: T--1:45-3:15

W &Th--5:00-6:30

Post messages to entire class in mailbox:

Course Objectives, Policies and Required Texts

Some of the most exciting work in literary scholarship today has grown out of Renaissance studies under the influence of the New Historicism in the U. S. and Cultural Materialism in England. This course will draw upon the latest developments in Renaissance scholarship to examine the poetry, prose, and drama of the English Renaissance in light of the historical, cultural, political, and discursive contexts which shaped, and were in turn shaped by, literary texts.

Policies

 Class Attendance and Participation:

Regular attendance and thoughtful participation in class discussion are essential not only to your individual performance, but also to the success of this course. Our work together relies on collaboration in every phase of the course so that we might form an intellectual community whose insights and power surpass those of any one of us working on our own. We are all subjects who share the responsibilities of teaching and learning in this class. Each of us has a responsibility to the group and to the learning that goes on in class.

Therefore, more than 3 absences will affect the final grade adversely; more than 7 absences will result in automatic failure of the course. I do not make distinctions between excused and unexcused absences; therefore, use your absences wisely, saving them for occasions when you cannot come to class for legitimate reasons.

 Due Dates: Late Work, Drafts of Scholarly Essay and Focus Questions

I do not accept late work unless you have requested an extension prior to the due date. Both MLA projects and the scholarly essay must be submitted by the due dates. In the event of difficult circumstances such as sickness or emergencies, I can be reasonable about the due dates on the syllabus, but you must request an extension on your work prior to the due date. Such extensions may be granted provided you have a legitimate reason.

The first draft of the scholarly essay must also be ready for writing workshop on the assigned date and must be submitted on that date. A late or missing first draft will lower the final grade on the scholarly essay by one letter grade.

If you are unable to attend class on a day when a set of focus questions is due, I will accept your questions on the next class period when you attend class, but no later than that unless extreme circumstances warrant your asking for an extension, which may be granted provided you have a legitimate reason.

 Academic Honesty

The University Affairs Council has asked all faculty to include the following statement in our course policies:

"By accepting admission to Radford University, each student makes a commitment to understand, support, and abide by the University Honor Code without compromise or exception. Violations of academic integrity will not be tolerated. This class will be conducted in strict observance of the Honor Code. Please refer to your Student Handbook for details."

Plagiarism, including the use of work submitted to another course without the consent of both instructors, the use of work by another person, or the use of someone else's words, ideas, or arrangement of argument without giving proper reference to the author, is a serious violation of the Honor Code. Please see the section on plagiarism in your Student Handbook. Be especially careful, as you complete your scholarly essay, that you do not use the ideas of other critics without giving them credit even if you do not use direct quotations. You must give credit to another writer when you paraphrase his or her ideas. This applies to all sources you find on the WorldWide Web and all electronic sources in the library, such as InfoTrak and electronic bibliographies or indexes that provide abstracts of articles or complete articles.

 Required Texts

Arden of Faversham. Ed. Martin White. New York: Norton, 1982.

Baker, Moira, ed. Readings for Engl. 433. The anthology appears as Readings on the syllabus. One copy is available at Bartleby's, across Tyler Avenue from campus, so you can have the readings copied there for 6 cents a page. 2 copies on two hour reserve in McConnell Library. I also have a copy in my office if you wish to borrow it and Xerox copies during my office hours. I suggest you get a large loose-leaf binder, in which you can set up two separate sections using a divider between the two sets of readings.

Literature of Renaissance England. The collection appears as LRE on the syllabus. A copy is available at Bartleby's so that you can duplicate the readings for 6 cents a copy. I have 2 copies in my office if you prefer to duplicate them on campus.

Jonson, Ben. Epicoene, or the Silent Woman. New York: Norton, 1979.

Marlowe, Christopher. Edward the Second. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1997.

Salzman, Paul, ed. An Anthology of Elizabethan Prose Fiction. New York: Oxford, 1987.

Baker's Home Page | 433 Requirements | 433 syllabus | Course Descriptions and Syllabi