UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Department of Languages and Literatures Hans Löfgren EN1B01: British Literature Survey Required Texts The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Seventh Edition, vol. 1 Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Norton Critical Edition) All assigned texts below, with the exception of Mary Shelley s Frankenstein and the attached appendices on John Milton s Paradise Lost and The Rise of the Novel, are included in The Norton Anthology of English Literature. The assignments on for each period can initially be read cursorily (later to be studied more intensively for the exam). For each author studied, the biographical introduction is required and should be read more attentively. For each lesson, the assigned texts should be read carefully and the related study questions should be prepared for class discussion. Study questions for each student-led lesson will be reviewed briefly in the teacher-led lesson that follows. TIMETABLE LECTURE 1: Course Introduction A. The 16th century Seminar 1: 16th Century Poetry, especially the sonnet Lyric Poets of the 16th Century Sir Thomas Wyatt, They Flee from Me Edmund Spenser, sonnet 75 William Shakespeare, sonnets 18, 55, 73, 116, 130, 144 - Read these poems carefully in preparation for class discussion. Thomas Wyatt In what sense is the poem ironic, that is to say, what difference in perspective do you find between the speaker and an implied author? The Sonnet 1. What is the definition of a sonnet? 2. What themes do you find in the sonnets assigned? 3. What is the relation of form and content in each sonnet, that is, the relation between the sections of a sonnet as defined by rhyme scheme and its imagery? its ideas? B. The Early 17th Century LECTURE 2: Shakespeare
Seminar 2: William Shakespeare, King Lear 1. What problems do you see in the scene where Lear asks his daughters to say how much they love him? What expectations does he have for his old age? 2. Consider characters opposed in terms of good and bad qualities: are these clear-cut oppositions? 3. Consider imagery of seeing and in this context the disguises assumed by many characters. What instances of deception and misrecognition do you find? 4. What is the central conflict of the play, and what part do the major characters play in this conflict? How is the conflict resolved? how does it remain unresolved? LECTURE 3: Milton Seminar 3: Early 17th century poetry: student-led John Donne, The Sun Rising, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, Holy Sonnets 10 and 14 Lyric Poets of the Early 17th Century George Herbert, The Altar, The Redemption Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress John Donne, The Sun Rising 1. What does the speaker of the poem mean by claiming that Princes do but play us? 2. By means of what kind of imaginative process does the speaker arrive at the conclusion that the sun is contained within the bedroom sphere of the lovers? 3. A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning : Donne is famous for his metaphysical conceits, extended metaphors that seem to explain the nature of the universe and the meaningful relation between spirit and matter, thought and feeling. Explain how the central image of a geometer's compass works in this poem, focusing on unification of the physical universe, science, feeling and physical love. 4. Holy Sonnet 10: Explain the poetic argument by means of which the speaker conquers death. 5. Holy Sonnet 14: Explain how and with what effect this poem combines the imagery of faith and warfare, spiritual and physical love. George Herbert Compare and contrast the religious attitudes of Herbert and Donne. Andrew Marvell With reference to the historical introduction to this period and to the available biographical information, explain the essential differences in values, poetic style and subject matter of Donne, Herbert and Marvell. Seminar 4: Milton John Milton, Paradise Lost: Book 1 lines 1-270; all introductory arguments and summaries; Book 9. See the study questions in Appendix 1. C. The Enlightenment and the 18th Century (1660-1785) LECTURE 4: The Enlightenment and the 18th Century
Seminar 5: Pope, Johnson and Swift: student-led Alexander Pope, from An Essay on Man Samuel Johnson, on Milton and Pope Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal Alexander Pope 1. The Norton Anthology states that An Essay on Man gives memorable expression to the ideas about the nature of the universe and our place in it, ideas on which 18 th - century optimism rested. What are the main ideas expressed in the piece? 2. What is it about Pope s language and his structuring devices that helps make these lines easy to remember? Pick out a couple of lines that you find memorable. 3. What is the effect of the heroic couplets (two lines of iambic pentameter, linked by a rhyme) in which the poem is written? 4. Pope s major argument in An Essay on Man can be summed up in one phrase: Whatever is, is RIGHT. It might be argued that such a statement is facile and superficial. To what extent can we defend Pope s philosophy of man and the universe? Samuel Johnson In the Lives of the Poets Johnson gives a critical appreciation of several English poets. Compare his assessment of Milton with that of Pope. Do you agree with Johnson s view of the poets? Jonathan Swift 1. Two pages of Swift s essay A Modest Proposal, elapse before the narrator explicitly identifies his modest proposal. What does this long preamble contribute to Swift s satire? 2. What are Swift s true proposals for solving the problems of poverty and overpopulation in Ireland? How are these proposals presented? Seminar 6: The Rise of the Novel First-page excerpts from eight novels, two excerpts from literary criticism on the novel: in Appendix 2, with study questions. Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels: Part 1, chapters 1, 4, 6; Part 2, chapters 6 and 7; Part 3, chapters 2 and 5; Part 4, chapters 1, 4-8, 121. 1. At the beginning and end of each of the four parts, Swift locates Gulliver s travels in a familiar world, full of exact geographical references, specific dates, and precise measurements. Find some examples of this. 2. This logbook style infiltrates, to varying extents, the narration of Gulliver s actual adventures. What is the significance of this realistic style for Gulliver s Travels as a whole? What is the effect of the deadpan reporting? What kind of persona is established? 3. Explain the satire in Part 1, chapter 4. 4. How do the learning, laws, and customs of the Lilliputians compare to Swift s view of these matters? (Part 1, chapter 6) 5. What is the combined effect of the representations of or references to England in Part 2, chapter 6 and chapter 7, respectively? 6. Does the satire of part 4 express a misanthropical view? Defend your answer.
D. The Romantic Period (1785-1830) LECTURE 5: Romanticism Seminar 7: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein Mary Shelley, Frankenstein Alan Moore, Female Gothic (Norton Critical Edition, pages 214-224) 1. Consider the fact that the monster Victor Frankenstein creates is never given a specific name. What are the implications of this? 2. The monster clearly represents a misfit in the novel. Discuss the ways in which the monster finds himself an outsider in the world of human beings. 3. Between Frankenstein and the monster there is arguably an ambivalent, dialectical relationship. Discuss it and provide some examples of this. In what ways could the two figures be considered as doubles? 4. In the course of the narrative, Frankenstein is punished for his ambition, as the monster he creates brings misery upon the scientist. Discuss this statement as a core theme of the novel, especially in relation to the novel s subtitle The Modern Prometheus. Seminar 8: Blake and Wordsworth, student-led William Blake, from Songs of Innocence and of Experience: The Lamb and The Tyger, The Chimney Sweeper in both parts, Holy Thursday in both parts, London. William Wordsworth, comment on Preface to Lyrical Ballads, Lines Composed A Few Miles above Tintern Abbey William Blake The title-page of Blake s Songs describes them as showing the two contrary states of the human soul. The two sections, The Songs of Innocence and The Songs of Experience, are contrasted elements in a single design. 1. Identify the major types of contrast between the paired poems. Consider especially: The Tyger as a restricted conception of creation and The Chimney Sweeper from Songs of Innocence as a poem of social criticism. 2. London can be read as a critique of corrupt urban life or as a failure of creative perception, the projection of a negative attitude. Discuss. William Wordsworth 3. What does the speaker focus on in his description of nature in Lines Composed A Few Miles above Tintern Abbey? What is the effect of nature upon the mind of the speaker? 4. Discuss the role of memory in Wordsworth s poem. Find some examples. Seminar 9: Coleridge, Keats, Byron and Shelley Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan John Keats, Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian Urn George Gordon, Lord Byron, Child Herald s Pilgrimage, from Canto 1 Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias, A Song: 'Men of England'
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1. Kubla Khan retains many qualities of the dream in which it was born. What is it about the poem that is dreamlike? John Keats 2. Ode to a Nightingale progresses by means of statement and counter-statement. Identify the places where the speaker changes his mind and comes to have a different understanding of what the nightingale represents. Explain how the poem moves from a state of depression or emotional withdrawal to a more affirmative and alert attitude. 3. Identify examples of assonance in Ode on a Grecian Urn. Interpret the meaning of the statement the speaker feels that the urn makes in the last stanza. George Gordon, Lord Byron 4. What is the dominant mood in the extract from Childe Harold s Pilgrimage? 5. In what ways does Byron differ from the other romantic poets you have read? Percy Bysshe Shelley 6. The traveler in Ozymandias does not comment on his story. What conclusions might be drawn from the last five lines? Give reasons for your opinion. Examination: a sit-down exam (time and place to be announced, 6 credits) involving four essays of no more than 250 words on specified topics. Two of these essays will be concerned with literary history and two will be analyses of short passages of works we have read this term. A sample exam can be found on the Learning Platform (GUL).