ENGL 252: Great Books II: Medieval and Renaissance Literature
Dr. Debora B. Schwartz

Calendar, Fall, 2009
Week: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

In addition to the required textbooks for this class, some required readings are found in .HTML files on my website or have been placed on "electronic reserve" as .PDF files in the Library Resources section of Blackboard.  To access online readings, click on the links provided and print out the files.  To access e-reserve readings, log in at MyCalpoly, go to "Blackboard Access" and select "ENGL 252" from the classes you are taking.  Click on the link in the Electronic Reserves section (under "Library Resources") to download, read and/or print the file using Acrobat Reader. Please note that ALL required electronically accessed readings should be PRINTED OUT AND BROUGHT WITH YOU TO CLASS.

Week 1    (September 22 - 4)
 
Topic and Readings
Day 1 Introduction to ENGL 252 and background lecture.  Topic: Translatio studii et imperii: passing the twin torches of literary authority/legitimacy and of political authority/legitimacy from one civilization to another. 
Day 2 Topic:  Medieval Prologues and Translatio.  Readings are to be completed prior to our class meeting on Thursday, 9/24; don't forget to bring print-outs / textbooks with you to class, as well as a SCANTRON for today's reading quiz!

Required background readings:

  • "Medieval Attitudes toward Vernacular Literature" (online reading; also serves as Study Guide for the medieval prologues and epilogues listed below). PRINT OUT AND BRING WITH YOU TO CLASS!
  • Translatio studii et imperii (online reading). NOTE 1:  you can read this text online to enjoy the images, but don't try to follow the links, most of which are out of date.  NOTE 2:   Rather than printing out the online reading, I recommend that you PRINT AND BRING TO CLASS the text-only file which I have scanned and placed on e-reserve in the Library resources section of Blackboard.  This .PDF file can be printed on a single double-sided page (small font and margins); a print-out of the online reading would be significantly longer because of the embedded images.  NOTE 3:  We will be coming back to the ideas summarized in this reading all quarter, but you will get substantially more out of today's lecture if you have read through this information prior to class!
  • "Courtly Love" (online reading).  PRINT OUT AND BRING WITH YOU TO CLASS.  For today's class, the most important part of this reading is the first several paragraphs, through the discussion of Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Please note that you are responsible for the information in required background readings (as well as information presented as "text info" on this course calendar) for all reading quizzes and exams.

Also recommended (but not required):

  • W. F. Bolton, "The Conditions of Literary Composition in Medieval England" (very helpful overview; on e-reserve in the Library resources section of Blackboard).  If you choose to read this very useful supplemental background essay, click HERE for some advice on what to pay particular attention to and what to skim over.
Required Primary readings (prologues and epilogues by Marie de France and  Chrétien de Troyes, to be read in conjunction with the online reading "Medieval Attitudes toward Vernacular Literature"; the links below take you directly to relevant portions of this online reading):
  • Prologue and Epilogue to Marie de France's Fables (.PDF file, 8 pp., on e-reserve in the Library resources section of Blackboard). 
  • Prologue to the Lais of Marie de France (Lais of Marie de France, pp. 28-9; also included in e-reserve reading with the Prologue and Epilogue to the Fables). 
  • Prologues (first 1-2 paragraphs) to Chrétien de Troyes's Erec and Enide (Arthurian Romances, p. 37) and Cligés (Arthurian Romances, p. 123). 
NOTE: the Prologue and Epilogue to the Fables of Marie de France are found on pp. 3-6 of the eight-page .PDF file, and the Prologue to the Lais of Marie de France is found on p. 8 of the eight-page .PDF file.  You don't need to print out scanned pp. 1, 2 and 7 of the .PDF file, which I included in the file so you'd have access to the medieval manuscript illuminations on the cover of the book and to the publication info about the books I scanned the text from.  Also note that you don't have to print out the last page of the .PDF file, the Prologue to the Lais, if you bring the textbook of the "Lais of Marie de France" with you to class (in which the Prologue is found pp. 28-29). 

Text info:

  • A "Prologue" refers to an opening statement made by an author at the beginning of his or her narrative, before the beginning of the story itself).  Medieval authors typically used Prologues (and Epilogues, statements found at the end of a narrative, after the conclusion of the story itself) to talk about what they have written, to explain what they are trying to do, and to stake a claim to literary legitimacy.  Prologues and Epilogues may also be used by authors to dedicate a work to a potential "patron,"  a rich and powerful person whom they hope will reward them for the honor, either financiallly or by offering them protection or prestige.
  • Marie de France was active ca. 1160s-1190s at the Anglo-Norman court (i.e. the court of the French-speaking rulers of England, descendants of the Norman Duke William the Conquerer who became King of England after defeating the English king in the Battle of Hastings in 1066).  Marie de France spoke and wrote in French.  Her works are in rhyming verse (specifically, octosyllabic rhyming couplets). We are reading the Prologue and Epilogue to her collection of Fables and the Prologue to her collection of Lais (some of which we will be reading next week).
  • Text info: Chrétien de Troyes was active ca. 1170-1190. While Chretien lived and worked in France rather than in Anglo-Norman England, his works, like Marie's, were enjoyed by court audiences on both sides of the English channel.  Also like Marie, his works were written in French octosyllabic rhyming couplets.  We are reading the Prologues to Chrétien's Arthurian romances Erec and Enide and Cligés (a romance which we will read in its entirety later this quarter). 

Week 2    (September 29 - October 1)
 
Topic and Readings
Day 1 Required background readings:
  • The Medieval Tristan Tradition (online reading).  Please note that you are responsible for the information in online readings (as well as information presented as "text info" on this course calendar) for all reading quizzes and exams.
 Required primary reading:
  • Béroul, The Romance of Tristan.   Reading assignment for today is ONLY Béroul's text, found pp. 39-148.  Note that the passages printed in italics in your textbook are not actually from the existing fragrments of Béroul's poem; they were added by the translator to fill in the gaps in Beroul's fragmentary narrative.  Also note that the episode of Tristan's madness (printed pp. 151-64 of the textbook and assigned for our next class meeting) is NOT in fact part of Béroul's text. 
Also recommended (but not required):
  • The extant fragment's of Thomas's Romance of Tristan (.PDF file, 33 pp., on e-reserve in the Library resources section of Blackboard). 
Text info: Béroul wrote his romance, which is in French octo-syllabic rhyming couplets, some time in the second half of the 12th century; it appears to have influenced the work of Chrétien de Troyes (active ca. 1170-1190), so we assume it to predate those of Chrétien's works which show that influence.  It is preserved in only one manuscript, in a fragment of 4,485 lines.  Part of the so-called "common tradition."

NOTE: You may find it interesting or useful to skim through the Introduction to our textbook  (9-35) -- but it is not required.  (The material you will be tested on is what's found in the required online background reading or listed under "text info" in the course calendar -- not what's presented in the introduction to the text.)
Day 2 Required Background readings: Required primary readings: 
  • The independent episode of Tristan's Madness (printed in Béroul, The Romance of Tristan, pp. 151-64).  Also read the two-page summary of the end of the Tristan stories (italicized passages, pp. 164-5 of the textbook).
  • Selections from the Lais of Marie de France:  "Chevrefoil" (Marie's Tristan poem, pp. 190-95); as well as her "Guigemar" (pp. 30-59); "Bisclavret" (pp. 92-104); "Lanval" (pp. 105-25); and "Yonec" (pp. 137-54). 
    • Text info:
  • There are two versions of the episode of Tristan's Madness (or "Folie Tristan"), both of which are short episodic French narrative poems, probably dating from the second half of the twelfth century, written in octo-syllabic rhyming couplets. One is preserved in a manuscript in Berne (Switzerland) and the other is in Oxford (England).  The text we are reading is the 572-line Berne fragment (often referred to as the "Folie Tristan de Berne"); this text is associated with the so-called "common tradition" of which Béroul's poem is also a part. 
  • Marie de France was active ca. 1160s-1190s at the Anglo-Norman court; in addition to her Fables (of which we read the Prologue and the Epilogue last week), Marie wrote a collection of twelve lais, short narrative poems in French octo-syllabic rhyming couplets.  A lai (often anglicized as "lay") usually includes some sort of supernatural event; its primary focus is a love relationship.  If a romance (like Béroul's Tristan) is the medieval equivalent of the modern novel, a lai is analogous to a modern short story (or perhaps a fairy tale).
    		•

    Week 3    (October 6 - 8)
     
    Topic and Readings
    Day 1 Required Background readings: 
  • Read carefully through the online study guide Chrétien de Troyes's Knight of the Cart (Lancelot) (which as usual you should print out and bring with you to class).
  • To better understand the literary techniques employed by Chrétien (e.g. his borrowing from prior literary works, including numerous Tristan elements), review the online reading "Medieval Attitudes toward Vernacular Literature."
    • Required Primary Reading: 
    Chrétien de Troyes, The Knight of the Cart (Arthurian Romances, 207-94).
    Text info: Chrétien de Troyes was active ca. 1170-1190; The Knight of the Cart, his fourth extant romance, was probably written simultaneously with The Knight with the Lion, as the plots of the two works are intertwined.  Like all of Chrétien's romances, it is in French octosyllabic rhyming couplets. It is noteworthy for having introduced into literary tradition the love affair between King Arthur's wife, Queen Guenevere, and Lancelot, his best knight (no trace of which exists prior to Chrétien's romance).  Contrary to what has been argued by some critics, Chrétien's intention was not to glorify an adulterous love affair; instead, the Knight of the Cart offers a witty contestation of the sort of adulterous love affair which is arguably glorified in the Tristan romances, from which it borrows freely (including variations on the flour on the floor episode, the ambiguous oath, a passion inspired by a woman's golden hair, and an adulterous passion linking a King's wife with his best knight).
    Day 2 First hour:  wrap-up discussion of the Knight of the Cart.

    Second hour:  NEW READING: Chrétien de Troyes's Cligés (Arthurian Romances, pp. 123-205).

    Required Background Reading: 

    Required Primary Reading: 
    • An anti-Tristan: Chrétien de Troyes's Cligés (Arthurian Romances, pp. 123-205).  Lecture will focus first on the "prequel" story of Cliges's parents Alexander and Soredamors (Arthurian Romances, pp. 123-154), but will likely refer also to later parts of the narrative, so please be sure to have completed the romance before our class meeting. 
    Text info: Chrétien de Troyes was active ca. 1170-1190; Cligés, his second extant romance, is in French octosyllabic rhyming couplets.  It offers Chrétien's clearest and most unambiguous rejection of "Tristan-love." To better understand the literary techniques employed by Chrétien (e.g. his use of numerous Tristan elements), review the online reading "Medieval Attitudes toward Vernacular Literature."

    Week 4    (October 13-15)
     
    Topic and Readings
    Day 1 First hour:  wrap-up discussion of Chrétien de Troyes's Cligés (Arthurian Romances, pp. 123-154); the medieval manuscript tradition of The Knight of the Cart (which you can explore via the Princeton University Charrette Project). 

    Second hour:  Introduction to Heldris of Cornwall, The Romance of Silence (NOTE:  The new readings listed below will not be covered on Midterm Exam 1, but they WILL be covered on today's reading quiz!)

    Required Background readings: 

    Required Primary Readings: 
    • Heldris of Cornwall, Prologue to The Romance of Silence, odd numbered pages 3-7 in your textbook only (unless of course you read Old French -- in which case you can check out the even-numbered pages as well!)
    • The "prequel" story of Silence's parents, Eufemie and Cador, odd numbered pages 7-79 in your textbook 
    Text info: The Romance of Silence is a French romance in octosyllabic rhyming couplets dating from the second half of the thirteenth century.   Nothing is known of the author other than the name "Heldris of Cornwall," which is found in the opening line and at the beginning of the epilogue (line 6684, p. 313).  Despite what is stated on the back cover of our textbook, it is a post-Arthurian romance rather than an Arthurian one.  It is preserved in a single manuscript at the University of Nottingham in England (see text intro, p. xxiii).
    Day 2 Midterm Exam 1

    Week 5    (October 20 - 22)
     
    Topic and Readings
    Day 1 Heldris of Cornwall's The Romance of Silence; complete reading of whole text before class meeting.

    Required Background readings: 

    Required Primary Readings: 
    • Heldris of Cornwall, full text of The Romance of Silence, odd numbered pages 3-315 in your textbook only (unless of course you read Old French -- in which case you can check out the even-numbered pages as well!)
    Text info: The Romance of Silence is a French romance in octosyllabic rhyming couplets dating from the second half of the thirteenth century.   Nothing is known of the author other than the name "Heldris of Cornwall," which is found in the opening line and at the beginning of the epilogue (line 6684, p. 313).  Despite what is stated on the back cover of our textbook, it is a post-Arthurian romance rather than an Arthurian one.  It is preserved in a single manuscript at the University of Nottingham in England (see text intro, p. xxiii).
    Day 2 First hour:  Complete discussion of The Romance of Silence

    Second hour:  Backgrounds to Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales; the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales.

    Required Background readings: 

  • the Introduction, pp. xiii-xvii in your textbook The Canterbury Tales, tr. Nevill Coghill (Penguin Classics).
  • the Norton Anthology introduction to Chaucer (biographical headnote), to the Canterbury Tales, to the General Prologue, and to the close of the Canterbury Tales (Parson's Prologue and Chaucer's Retraction) (.PDF file, 3 pp., on e-reserve in the Library resources section of Blackboard).
  • online reading: Backgrounds to Chaucer study guide.
  • online reading: the General Prologue Study Guide.
  • online reading: The Medieval Estates.
  • contextual documents: Map of the Pilgrimage Route and Chart of the Medieval Humors (.PDF file, 2 pp., on e-reserve in the Library resources section of Blackboard).
    • Required Primary readings:
    • Chaucer's ballad "Nobility"  (.PDF file, 1 p., on e-reserve in the Library resources section of Blackboard).
    • Chaucer, the Parson's Prologue and "Chaucer's Retraction" (.PDF file, 2 pp., on e-reserve in the Library resources section of Blackboard).  The same map can be accessed through the Harvard Chaucer Pages website; for additional information on the four humours, see also Prof. Michael Hanly's webpage.
    • Chaucer: opening lines (up to portrait of Knight) of the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales., pp. 3-4 in our textbook of The Canterbury Tales, tr. Nevill Coghill (Penguin Classics).
    REMEMBER:  YOU SHOULD NOT SUBSTITUTE ANOTHER EDITION/TRANSLATION for the Penguin Classics version ordered for this class!

    Text Info: Geoffrey Chaucer lived ca. 1343-1400.  All of our Chaucer readings were originally written in English rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter (ten-syllable lines with an alternating pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables). An "iamb" is a two-syllable unit in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one; five such two-syllable units form an iambic pentameter line with the stress pattern "da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM."

  • The Canterbury Tales (taken as a whole) is a "frame narrative" collection on which Chaucer worked during the last 14 years of his life (ca. 1386-1400).  A "frame narrative" is a work in which a group of story-tellers tell stories to each other.  The individual stories that they tell are embedded within the narrative framework, which in the case of the Canterbury Tales is a pilgrimage to visit the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.
  • The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales sets up the narrative framework of the collection.  It also functions independently as an example of the medieval genre known as Estates Satire. (See the online reading The Medieval Estates.)
    		•

    Week 6   (October 27 - 29)
     
    Topic and Readings
    Day1 Chaucer, the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. 

    Review Background Readings assigned for last class meeting.

    Required Primary Reading:

    • Complete text of the General Prologue, in your textbook The Canterbury Tales, tr. Nevill Coghill (Penguin Classics), pp. 3-26.
    • ADDITIONAL READING ASSIGNMENT:  When you are done reading the translation of the whole General Prologue in your textbook, go back and reread the opening lines in translation (pp. 3-4 in our textbook, stopping before the portrait of the Knight).  Then, read the text of the opening lines of the General Prologue in Chaucer's Middle English (.PDF file, 2 pp., on e-reserve in the Library resources section of Blackboard).
    HINT:  in order to understand Chaucer's Middle English, try the following sure-fire steps:
  • Reread the modern translation of the passage several times to become fully familiar with its meaning (pp. 3-4, ending at "And at a Knight I therefore will begin").  Then:
  • PRETEND that you are drunk (to lose your inhibitions -- but please note that I do NOT advocate the actual consumption of alcoholic beverages as part of this homework assignment!);
  • Put on your best "Monty Python" (or fake British) accent; and 
  • Amuse your friends / roommates / Significant Others by reading the opening lines of the Middle English text ALOUD.  If you proceed in this manner, I think you will be surprised by how much of the Middle English you are able to understand!
    • REMEMBER:  YOU SHOULD NOT SUBSTITUTE ANOTHER EDITION/TRANSLATION for the Penguin Classics version ordered for this class!

    Text Info: Geoffrey Chaucer lived ca. 1343-1400.  All of our Chaucer readings were originally written in English rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter (ten-syllable lines with an alternating pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables). An "iamb" is a two-syllable unit in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one; five such two-syllable units form an iambic pentameter line with the stress pattern "da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM."

  • The Canterbury Tales (taken as a whole) is a "frame narrative" collection on which Chaucer worked during the last 14 years of his life (ca. 1386-1400).  A "frame narrative" is a work in which a group of story-tellers tell stories to each other.  The individual stories that they tell are embedded within the narrative framework, which in the case of the Canterbury Tales is a pilgrimage to visit the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.
  • The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales sets up the narrative framework of the collection.  It also functions independently as an example of the medieval genre known as Estates Satire. (See the online reading The Medieval Estates.)
    		•
    Day 2 As necessary, complete discussion of Chaucer's General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales.

    2nd Hour: New Reading: Chaucer's The Knight's Tale

    Required Background Readings: 

    Required Primary Readings:  NOTE:  If the lecture on the General Prologue extends into the second hour of class, we will catch up on The Knight's Tale next week, when we will consider contrasts betweenThe Knight's Tale and The Miller's Tale.  For today's quiz, you are responsible for all readings assigned above.

    Text info: Geoffrey Chaucer lived ca. 1343-1400.  All of our Chaucer readings were originally written in English rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter (ten-syllable lines with an alternating pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables). An "iamb" is a two-syllable unit in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one; five such two-syllable units form an iambic pentameter line with the stress pattern "da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM."

    The Knight's Tale is a romance, but note that it was written in English, not French.  By the late 14th-century, the term "romance" no longer means "a narrative in the French vernacular"; it refers to a particular genre, a story which typically has a long-ago-and-far-away setting, aristocratic characters, plots involving both love and warfare, and a happy ending.  Romances often draw on the conventions of courtly love, depicting lovers who suffer from lovesickness and express their feelings in flowery speeches.  A common plot line is the winning of a bride by a brave knight through chivalric prowess.  The primary source of the Knight's Tale is an Italian poem by Boccaccio called Il Teseida (the "Story of Theseus").  The Knight's Tale was originally written ca. 1384-5, before Chaucer began work on the Canterbury Tales collection. (In the Prologue to the Legend of Good Women, written ca. 1385, he refers to this poem as Palamon and Arcite.)  Chaucer apparently considered this "translatio romance" to be an appropriate tale for his Knight and a fitting beginning to the Canterbury Tales as a whole when he chose to incorporate it into his frame narrative collection.

    Week 7    (November 3 - 5)

    LOOKING AHEAD:  before class on Thursday, November 12, you are required to have screened a video version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and to have posted a short written response to it in the Blackboard Discussion Board for the film you have selected.  You may choose any of the filmed versions listed on the class website (all of which are on Reserve for ENGL 252-03 in the Kennedy Library) except the 1982 Joseph Papp / Public Theater version that will be screened in class on Tuesday, November 24.  NOTE:  prior to screening the film, it is recommended that you read the online Synopsis of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
     
    Topic and Readings
    Day 1 Chaucer, The Knight's Tale and The Miller's Tale.

    Required Background Readings: 

    • online study guides to Chaucer's The Knight's Tale (The Canterbury Tales, pp. 26-86) AND The Miller's Tale (The Canterbury Tales, pp. 86-106).
    • review the online reading "Courtly Love."
    • diagram of the Structure of the Knight's Tale (.PDF file, 2 pp., on e-reserve in the Library Resources section of Blackboard). 
    Required Primary Readings:
    • Chaucer, The Knight's Tale and The Miller's Tale, in The Canterbury Tales, tr. Nevill Coghill (Penguin Classics), pp. 26-106. DO NOT SUBSTITUTE ANOTHER EDITION/TRANSLATION; you MUST use the Penguin Classics version ordered for this class!
    Text info: Geoffrey Chaucer lived ca. 1343-1400.  All of our Chaucer readings were originally written in English rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter (ten-syllable lines with an alternating pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables). An "iamb" is a two-syllable unit in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one; five such two-syllable units form an iambic pentameter line with the stress pattern "da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM."
  • The Knight's Tale is a romance, but note that it was written in English, not French.  By the late 14th-century, the term "romance" no longer means "a narrative in the French vernacular"; it refers to a particular genre, a story which typically has a long-ago-and-far-away setting, aristocratic characters, plots involving both love and warfare, and a happy ending.  Romances often draw on the conventions of courtly love, depicting lovers who suffer from lovesickness and express their feelings in flowery speeches.  A common plot line is the winning of a bride by a brave knight through chivalric prowess.  The primary source of the Knight's Tale is an Italian poem by Boccaccio called Il Teseida (the "Story of Theseus").  The Knight's Tale was originally written ca. 1384-5, before Chaucer began work on the Canterbury Tales collection. (In the Prologue to the Legend of Good Women, written ca. 1385, he refers to this poem as Palamon and Arcite.)  Chaucer apparently considered this "translatio romance" to be an appropriate tale for his Knight and a fitting beginning to the Canterbury Tales as a whole when he chose to incorporate it into his frame narrative collection.
  • The Miller's Tale is a fabliau, a French genre popular in the 13th century.  These short humorous narratives are characterized by a setting in the "here and now " (not the "long ago and far away" of romance); ordinary sorts of characters (not the aristocrats of romance); earthiness of tone and subject matter; an emphasis on the body in all its physicality -- sex, defecation, farting, the appetites -- rather than the emotions or the spiritual; and coarse rather than flowery language. Fabliaux (plural form) tend to flout authorities of all sorts and are frequently subversive. Characters are often "tricksters" admired for their cleverness; a common theme is the gleeful adultery of a repressed wife and a clever cleric. (For fuller information, see the beginning of the  Miller's Tale study guide.)
    		•
    Day 2 As needed, wrap-up discussion of The Knight's Tale and The Miller's Tale.

    New reading: The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale.  In The Canterbury Tales, tr. Nevill Coghill (Penguin Classics), pp. 258-92.

    DO NOT SUBSTITUTE ANOTHER EDITION/TRANSLATION; you MUST use the Penguin Classics version ordered for this class!

    Background:  review the online readings "Courtly Love" and "Translatio"

    Text info: Geoffrey Chaucer lived ca. 1343-1400.  All of our Chaucer readings were originally written in English rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter (ten-syllable lines with an alternating pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables). An "iamb" is a two-syllable unit in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one; five such two-syllable units form an iambic pentameter line with the stress pattern "da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM, da DUM."

    • The Wife of Bath's Prologue is a literary confession or "apology," a first-person narrative in which a character explains his or her character and motivation. (Note that despite the modern connotations, these terms do not imply the speaker's sense of guilt or regret about the behavior described.)
    • The Wife of Bath's Tale is a miniature Arthurian romance, with a setting in the distant past, aristocratic characters, magical events, and a happy ending. The structure is circular, beginning and ending at Arthur's court, where a knight undertakes a quest, and to which he returns when the quest is complete
    REMINDER:  before our next class lecture, on Thursday, November 12, you are required to have screened a video version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and to have posted a written response to it in the Blackboard Discussion Board for the film you have selected.  You may choose any of the filmed versions listed on the class website (all of which are on Reserve for ENGL 252-03 in the Kennedy Library) except the 1982 Joseph Papp / Public Theater version that will be screened in class on Tuesday, November 24.  NOTE:  prior to screening the film, it is recommended that you read the online Synopsis of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

    Week 8    (November 10 - 12)

    REMINDER:  before class on Thursday, November 12, you are required to have screened a video version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and to have posted a written response to it in the Blackboard Discussion Board for the film you have selected.  You may choose any of the filmed versions listed on the class website (all of which are on Reserve for ENGL 252-03 in the Kennedy Library) except the 1982 Joseph Papp / Public Theater version that will be screened in class on Tuesday, November 24.  NOTE:  prior to screening the film, it is recommended that you read the online Synopsis of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
     
    Topic and Readings
    Day 1 Midterm Exam 2 (FURLOUGH DAY)
    Day 2 First Hour:  Backgrounds to Shakespeare; preparation for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

    Required Background Readings:

    Second hour:  Acts 1-2 of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.  Lecture will refer to both the assigned portions of the text and to selected scenes from several filmed versions of the play which will be screened in class (and are on Reserve for ENGL 252-03 in the Kennedy Library). 

    In addition to reading the assigned text, you are required to watch a filmed version of the play chosen from those listed on the class website, but please note that watching a performance (or reading the synopsis) ALONE -- without also READING THE TEXT -- will NOT be sufficient to score well on quizzes or on the final exam!

    Required Background Readings: 

    Required Viewing:  Required Primary Reading: Text info: A Midsummer Night's Dream  was written ca. 1595-1596 by William Shakespeare (1564-1616).   This English-language comedy was first published in 1600 in a "quarto" edition (Q1) which is believed to have been printed from Shakespeare's own text, and is the based text used for our edition. An additional "quarto" edition, Q2, appeared in 1619, and it was also printed in the "First Folio" (F1), a posthumous collection of 36 of Shakespeare's plays published in 1623 by John Heminges and Henry Condell (Shakespeare's friends and actors in his theater company, the King's Men). 

    Week 9    (November 17-19)
     
    Topic and Readings
    Day 1 Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Acts 3-5.

    Required Background Reading: 

    Lecture will refer to the text as well as selected scenes from several filmed versions of the play which will be screened in class (and are on Reserve for ENGL 252-03 in the Kennedy Library).
    Day 2 Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, review complete text (acts 1-5); continued discussion of MND.  

    Required Background Reading: 

    • Introduction to A Midsummer Night's Dream in our textbook, pp. lxiii-lxxvi.
    Lecture will refer to the text as well as selected scenes from several filmed versions of the play which will be screened in class (and are on Reserve for ENGL 252-03 in the Kennedy Library).

    Week 10a  (November 24 - 26)
     
    Topic and Readings
    Day 1 In-Class video screening:  the 1982 Joseph Papp / Public Theater A Midsummer Night's Dream.   (FURLOUGH DAY)
    Day 2 THANKSGIVING DAY -- no class meeting.

    Week 10b  (December 1 - 3)
     
    Topic and Readings
    Day 1 Wrap-up discussion of A Midsummer Night's Dream (text and film excerpts); possibility of EC student performances.
    Day 2 Final Exam. 
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