Early Modern Literature

Dr. Margaret Hannay

Journals

Each student will keep a reading journal, submitting no more than one entry per class on the reading due that day; by the end of the semester you should have submitted 14 journal entries. Journals are due at the beginning of class. These journals will serve as the starting point for class discussion in this student-centered class; journals are thus an important part of the learning process. Since the purpose of the journals is to prepare for class, late journals will not be accepted.

Please write your journal entries of 1-2 pages on loose-leaf paper or type them on the computer. Supply a heading with your name, the reading, date, and number, as "Jane Doe, Beowulf, March 10, Journal #3." Add a category: "Summary," for example, or "Analysis of a metaphor," or "Comparison to a painting."

Turn them in at the beginning of class.

Only one journal may be turned in on one class day.

When they are returned, keep journals in your notebook for your future reference.

For each journal, summarize and/or analyze the reading. Analysis involves a clear thesis with detailed textual evidence to back it up. Here are some suggestions that may help you write an analysis.

1. Discuss the presentation of self, noting how spirituality and/or sexuality help to form that sense of selfhood.

2. Choose a brief quotation and analyze why this passage is important.

3. Connect this reading to a previous reading on a similar theme.

4. Connect this reading to appropriate art or music.

5. Connect this reading to work that you are doing in another class.

6. Analyze the use of an image, or symbol, or descriptive setting.

7. Analyze a character.

8. Retell the story from the perspective of a minor character, using events from the work.

9. Analyze any literary technique--use of flashback or foreshadowing, use of comedy or satire, handling of metrics or rhyme, importance of end-stopped or run-on lines in a poem, etc.

10. Discuss use of magic or the supernatural.

11. Discuss presentation of cultural values, either through positive or negative example. What does this culture find worthy of praise?

12. Discuss presentation of gender roles for men or for women.

13. Discuss presentation of arts or crafts or engineering.

Grading: If the journal entry is at an acceptable level for this course, it will be given a check; + or - added to the check indicates that the entry is of higher or lower quality than expected. A reasonably detailed summary will earn a check. A personal reaction paper will earn a check. A check-plus journal will normally have a clear thesis, proven by detailed evidence from the reading, including appropriate short (no more than a line) quotations. Use parenthetic documentation (45).

If all journals are completed at an acceptable level, the journal grade is 85 or a B. Each plus or minus adds or subtracts 2 points; each extra credit (more than 14) or missing entry (less than 15) adds or subtracts 5 points.

Extra Credit Journals: You may receive extra journal credit for up to three journal entries on the following topics; only one extra credit journal may be turned in per week. 1) Attend any Greyfriar reading and turn in an analysis of the reading 2) View a film that dramatizes a work by any author that we are reading or any aspect of our literary period (1500-1700) and write an analysis of it. 3) Bring to class any reference in a newspaper, magazine, or contemporary song lyric to a work or author that we are reading in class. 4) Describe in detail any early modern book or manuscript in the Convivium collection.