Milton

 

 

English 4310.001

Fall 2010

TTH 9:30-10:45

L-160

Instructor:  Perrello

Office: L-195K

Phone: 209-667-3274

Email: tperrello@csustan.edu

Office Hours: TTH 11-12, 1:45-2:45

 

 

Course Description:

 

In their preface to a selection of Milton's work in The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Constance Jordan and Clare Carroll report that, "While writing Paradise Lost, Milton would rise early to begin composing poetry; when his secretary arrived late, the old blind man would complain, 'I want to be milked.'" This vignette says a lot about the man. It offers a sense of the austerity and rigorous self-discipline of one who, from an early age, saw himself as destined to become England's national poet. It also shows some of the cantankerousness of the rebel, a role Milton certainly assumed at different times in his life. He was probably the first person, for instance, to publish a work that justified armed rebellion against a monarch--and he helped fuel what is known as the Puritan Revolution of 1649. He argued for divorce on the grounds of incompatibility and he championed freedom of the press and educational reform. He would finally fulfill what he always saw as his destiny: late in his life, the blind poet would write the great English epic, Paradise Lost.

Milton is considered by many the greatest English poet. There was a time when it would have been unthinkable for an English major to graduate without a course in Milton (and Shakespeare and Chaucer). Well, the unthinkable has come to pass in academe, and it's advancing, in fact, as online degrees flourish and the humanities, represented by dwindling departments mired in debt, slowly drown in institutions concerned only with the bottom line. But you have a chance--and you've seized it! For the next fifteen or so weeks, we will lose ourselves in Milton. We'll trace the arc of his career, but at times classes will be driven by topics--marriage, virginity, the blind prophet, and so on. You will attend to large group discussions, but also engage in breakout sessions that will give you the opportunity to work in small groups under the guidance of graduate students. Half of our class time will focus on Paradise Lost, but we will read plenty of other texts, as well. You will write two short papers in which you'll exercise your close-reading skills, and you'll take two exams. Come Christmas break, you will feel at home with John Milton.

 

Course Goals

 

  • To gain factual knowledge about Milton, his career, his poetry, and some of his selected prose

 

  • To gain an appreciation of Renaissance thought and poetic craft by poring over the works of one rather well-known English author

 

  • To develop skills in verbal analysis, critical thinking, and detection of subtlety through reading and  discussing difficult literature; to become more comfortable expressing ideas in a small group setting

 

  • To hone and utilize writing and analytical skills by authoring two short papers in which you grapple with poems or short passages from Milton's work

 

 

 

 

Required Materials

 

The Complete Poetry and Essential Prose of John Milton. Ed. William Kerrigan, John Rumrich, and Stephen

            M. Fallon. New York: The Modern Library, 2007.

 

Grade Breakdown

Mid-Term Exam:

15%

Final Exam:

25%

Paper 1

20%

Paper 2

20%

Class Participation

20%

 

We will use the optional plus minus system for grades.  Letter grades correspond to numerical values in accordance with the chart below.

                                                                

A

A-

B+

B

B-

C+

C

C-

D+

D

D-

F

100-92

91-90

89-88

87-82

81-80

79-78

77-72

71-70

69-68

67-62

61-60

< 60

 

Please note: I will not allow you to go Credit/No Credit after census day (9-20); Also, I will not sign a withdrawal form after week 10.

 

To see my grading standards for written work, click here.

 

Explanation of Course Content

 

Exams: There will be two exams in this class; one is scheduled for Tuesday, October 12; the other is scheduled during finals week on Thursday, December 16 from 8:30-10:30. The mid-term will consist of about ten identification questions drawn from the readings and class lectures. The final exam will be two hours long and will consist of identification questions and an essay. Be sure to mark these dates on your calendar because I will not move them or allow make-ups.

 

Papers: Two papers are required for this class, both of which are short, at least by Milton’s standards. The first paper (due October 5), should be a close reading of one of Milton’s sonnets or of a short passage—10-20 lines—from any of the poems read in the course (excluding the long, later poems). Find a focus, but remember that you are doing a close-reading of a short text, squeezing rich and precious wine from only a handful of grapes. Useful strategies might include the analysis of a particular Miltonic allusion (to a Biblical, Classical, or native English text) or the examination of Milton’s use of formal devices (meter, rhyme, enjambment) to create particular effects in his poetry.

For paper two, you will be writing about some topic related to Milton’s long, late poems—probably Paradise Lost. Since this text is vast, thorny, and difficult, I will provide you with a list of potential topics well in advance of the December 9 due date.  

Papers should be between four and six pages long and written in MLA format. This means that your essay should be double-spaced with one-inch margins all around the page. Times New Roman 12-point font is preferred. The paper should have an intriguing title that is not underlined, italicized, or in quotation marks. No extra spaces between paragraphs. Edit so carefully that surface level errors will not distract me from your argument. Research is not required for paper one, but it is professional and therefore not a bad idea. But research should be less important than a skillful and persuasive reading of a poem. Research is probably more advisable for paper two since you’re dealing with the monster that is Paradise Lost. Use parenthetical citation of sources, a properly formatted works cited page, and endnotes if notes are necessary. Be sure to give credit to your sources; beware of not documenting or of cut-and-paste plagiarism. As stated on the syllabus, you should know about plagiarism and if you don’t understand you should take the time to ask.

Class Participation: You’ll notice that class participation is a hefty 20% of your grade in this class. Here’s why: Milton’s prose and poetry is heady, heavy, difficult stuff. We are a large class and I am likely to be doing some lecturing, which, of course, isn’t conducive to what we commonly regard as class participation. And so I’ve scheduled several breakout sessions for this class. Breakout sessions are class periods in which you work in small groups to focus on short texts, passages from longer texts, or focused topics in texts. Each breakout group will be led by a graduate student. I will be in the classroom as well. You will be graded on the level of participation, preparedness, energy, and honest effort you put into these sessions. Several factors will influence the breakout session portion of your participatory grade. Attendance is one. For each session, you must prepare something, bring something, or produce something. More specific information regarding class participation and general and your breakout session work, in particular, is forthcoming.

 

Closely tied to the concept of class participation is classroom decorum:  what is appropriate behavior in a college classroom?  For starters, each student must be completely prepared with all assigned reading and must undertake an active, responsible role in all classroom activities.  The score you receive for class participation is not awarded simply for attendance.  Each student must earn it by contributing to the exchange of ideas upon which every successful course depends.  Here are some behavioral guidelines: don’t talk disruptively, especially when others are talking.  Have your textbook with you every class, and have it on your desk and opened to the relevant pages.  Don’t read the paper or do work for other courses in class.  Falling asleep in class is the height of rudeness.  Don’t behave as if I’m on television and I can’t see or hear you.  Also, turn off and put away all cell phones and PDAs before class begins. I don’t want you texting or fooling with any sort of technology during class time.  This includes laptops.

 

Rules and Regulations

Attendance and Tardiness: You should attend every class meeting.  I will take attendance during the first five minutes of class each day.  Anyone not present during roll will be marked absent.  If you are late and miss roll, it is up to you to see that I correct the roll that same day; failure to do so means the absence is permanent.  If tardiness becomes excessive, I reserve the right to treat a tardy as an absence.  Each student is allowed two absences without penalty.  For each subsequent absence, 1 percentage point will be deducted from your final semester grade.  Further, you are responsible for keeping up with the syllabus during any absence.  Finally, if your absences exceed 8, you will fail this course.  I value your presence in class, so please come.

Late Work: For the purposes of this class, late means late.  All work is due at the beginning of class on the due date.  Missing class or coming late on the day an assignment is due in no way excuses you from submitting work on time.  I will not accept late work without having given prior permission.  Please make every attempt to contact me if something goes wrong, and the sooner the better—preferably, I’d like to know about any problems a day in advance.  I will be unsympathetic to your cause if you show up on the day something is due and offer a lame excuse like “my printer isn’t working.”  Uncle Teakus will croak in the blink of an eye.  Valley criminals will steal your Honda.  Your significant other will ditch you out of the blue.  They will do this to you on paper-due-eve.  Be prepared for life’s sharp breaking curveballs by having your work done ahead of time so that you can at least email me a copy of your project from wherever you are. Not getting an assignment in at all means that you did not fully meet the requirements of the course (big F).  Getting it in late (within 24 hours) means that you at least met criteria minimally (little F factored in).

Academic Honesty: You are responsible for knowing what plagiarism is and avoiding it.  This, and any other form of cheating, such as downloading or buying papers off of the internet, having someone else write a paper for you, having Gertrude, who happens to be your mother-in-law and a graduate student at UC Davis, “edit” your essay for you, etc., can’t be tolerated in college.  Copying from another person’s test paper or other forms of cheating on in-class written assignments are just as egregious.  Your integrity, as well as that of the entire academic community, is at stake.  Please make sure all work is original, individual, and done specifically for this class.  The English Department’s policy on plagiarism is as follows:

Academic honesty is an important principle to ensure that all authors, including students, are acknowledged for their original expressions of ideas. 

Instructors have a responsibility to demonstrate to students in their courses the difference in acceptable and unacceptable use of others’ work.  Students have a responsibility to ask their instructor for guidance whenever they are uncertain about fair use of someone else’s work.   

Students, in submitting work, certify that the work is their own original work except that all information garnered from others whether quoted, summarized, or paraphrased has been appropriately cited.  Dishonesty by failing to acknowledge the work of others constitutes plagiarism and is a serious offense. Normally, the penalty for plagiarism is failure in the course. More serious penalties may also be invoked.*

In cases of plagiarism instructors should also submit the Student Discipline: Academic Dishonesty Incident Report Form to the Coordinator of Student Discipline for tracking or for disciplinary investigation. http://www.csustan.edu/english/dept/AcademicDishonestyIncident.pdf

English Department’s Policy on Plagiarism

 

*Title 5, California Code of Regulations, Section 41301 notes that students may be “expelled, suspended, placed on probation, or given a lesser sanction for one or more of the following causes which must be campus related: 1. Cheating or plagiarism  in connection with an academic program at a campus. . . .” (see Appendix F of the current CSU, Stanislaus catalog).

 

Failure of the course will be the penalty for first time offenders.  You may be subject to expulsion from the university for repeated offenses. 

 

Students with special needs: Students who require extra help, space, or time to complete assignments should speak to me as soon as possible.

 

Schedule of Reading and Assignments (subject to change as the semester’s obligations develop—note that the instructor reserves the sole right to modify any of the terms or conditions of this syllabus):

 

T, 8-24: Introductions

H, 8-26: "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity" (18-30); "At a Vacation Exercise in the College" (11-15); "On    the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough" (6-11); Elegia sexta (190-193)

T, 8-31: Sonnet VII: "How soon hath Time" (143-144); Sonnet XIX: "When I consider" (156-158); Ad Patrem           [To His Father] (220-224); from The Reason of Church Government (835-844)

H, 9-2: Breakout Sessions: L'Allegro and Il Penseroso (41-52); "On Shakespeare" (34)

T, 9-7: Comus (A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle) (61-98); L'Allegro and Il Penseroso (41-52); "On             Shakespeare" (34); from An Apology for Smectymnuus (845-852); Sonnet IX: "Lady that in the prime"             (145-146)

H, 9-9: Comus, continued

T, 9-14: Breakout Sessions: Sonnet VII: "How soon hath Time" (143-144); Sonnet IX: "Lady that in the        prime" (145-146); Sonnet XIX: "When I consider" (156-158); Comus, 61-63.

H, 9-16: Lycidas (99-110); Manso (227-232); Epitaphium Damonis (232-242); Sonnet VIII: "When the Assault"             (144-145)

T, 9-21: Lycidas, continued; Re-read Reason of Church Government (835-844); Sonnet XVI: "To the Lord General Cromwell" (153-154); Sonnet XVII: "To Sir Henry Vane the Younger" (154-155); Sonnet        XVIII: "On the Late Massacre" (155-156)

H, 9-23: Areopagitica (923-966); "On the New Forcers of Conscience" (163-165)

T, 9-28: Paradise Lost, Book I (293-322, especially lines 1-49); Note on "The Verse" (291); from De Doctrina             Christiana (1140-1144)

H, 9-30: Breakout Sessions: Sonnet XX: "Lawrence of virtuous Father" (158-159); Sonnet XXI: "Cyriack,    whose Grandsire" (159-160)

T, 10-5: Paradise Lost, Books I and II (293-383); Paper One Due

H, 10-7: Paradise Lost, Book III (359-383, but especially lines 1-55); Re-read Sonnet XIX: "When I consider"             (156-158); Psalm vi (128); The Second Defense of the English People (1073-1090); Sonnet XXII: "To         Mr Cyriack Skinner upon his Blindness" (160-161); Sonnet XXIII: "Methought I saw" (161-163); Samson Agonistes, lines 68-101 (712-713)

T, 10-12: Mid-Term Exam

H, 10-14: Paradise Lost, Book III (359-383); from De Doctrina Christiana (1159-1193)

T, 10-19: Breakout Sessions: Paradise Lost, Books I-III

H, 10-21: Paradise Lost, Book IV (384-417); from The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (865-879; 887-893)

 T, 10-26: Breakout Sessions: Paradise Lost, Book IV

H, 10-28: Paradise Lost, Books V-VI (418-475); Psalm ii (124-125)

T, 11-2: Paradise Lost, Books VII-VIII (476-516); On Christian Doctrine, Chapter 7 (1196-1209)

H, 11-4: Breakout Sessions: Paradise Lost, Books V-VIII

T, 11-9: Paradise Lost, Book IX (517-551)

H, 11-11: Veteran's Day--No Class

T, 11-16: Paradise Lost, Books IX-X (517-584)

H, 11-18: Paradise Lost, Books XI-XII (585-630); On Christian Doctrine, Chapter 8 (1209-1216)

T, 11-23: Paradise Regained (1671), Books I-II

H, 11-25: Thanksgiving Day--No Class

T, 11-30: Paradise Regained, Books III-IV

H, 12-2: Breakout Sessions:  Samson Agonistes (707-761)

T, 12-7: Samson Agonistes

H, 12-9: Last Day of Class; Paper 2 Due

H, 12-16: Final Exam, 8:30-10:30