Elizabethan
Literature
Dr. Margaret Hannay
Spring 2009
Office hours: Mon 9:30-11:30
TTh 11:30-12:30 Kiernan
Hall 230
Wed 3:35-4:35 783-4282
and by
appointment http://www.siena.edu/hannay
Email:
hannay@siena.edu
The
self can be expressed most directly through lyric and sonnet, prayers, psalms,
and life writing, but it can also be expressed indirectly through fiction, as
in Sidney’s prose romance Arcadia or
in allegory of The Faerie Queene. We
will be exploring the expression of subjectivity (or the inner sense of self)
in three areas:
1.
Political (focusing on representations of Queen Elizabeth by herself and
others)
2.
Amatory (love and sexuality)
3.
Devotional
Each
area includes poems of petition—to the queen or other patrons, to the beloved,
and to God.
We
will focus on two major writers and one family of writers: Queen Elizabeth, Edmund Spenser, and the
Sidneys (Philip, Mary, Robert, and Mary Wroth).
Selections online, including those from the Women Writers
Project/Renaissance Women Online (through Siena library website), will put
these writers into a wider context.
NB: Unless otherwise noted, page numbers refer to
Elizabeth I and Her Age
Introduction to Elizabeth and Her Reign
*What events and
relationships shaped the life of Elizabeth?
How does Elizabeth represent herself and her (eventual) role as
monarch? What personal qualities does
she see as important? What constitutes
her authority?
Jan 22 Introduction
Jan 27 Elizabeth
as Princess, Eliz I and Her Age 3-31
Ilona
Bell, “Elizabeth ….Poet” 712-17
Portraits: http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/elizface.htm
Jan 29 The
Young Queen
Female
Rule 76-78
Mulcaster
Passage 107-8
Answer
to commons 127-28
Anjou 281, 308-11
Cupid
at Court 313-21
Doran, “Why did
Elizabeth not Marry?” 683-95
Feb 3 Elizabeth and her Enemies
Mary
Queen of Scots 141-43, 152-55, 168-72, 344-61
Spanish
Armada 390-97
Representations of Elizabeth
*How do these
artists and writers represent Elizabeth and her role as monarch? What personal
qualities do they see as important? What
constitutes her authority? How are
representations of Elizabeth used to discuss the ideal monarch and society?
What terms are used to diss Elizabeth? How are these representations similar to
and different from political discourse today?
Feb
5 Elizabeth as
Astraea, Goddess of Justice
Mary Sidney
Herbert, “Astrea,” “Even Now,” and letter to QE (MSH 144-63)
Davies, Astraea
608-16
Yates 802-09
Feb
10 Diana Primrose, “A
Chain of Pearl” 541-49
Anne Bradstreet, “In Honor of…Queen Elizabeth,” “To my Dear
and Loving Husband,” “Upon the Burning of our House, www.annebradstreeet.com
Hilliard and
Oxford 234-35
Roy Strong,
“Depicting Gloriana” 746-54
Sumptuary Laws (Handout)
Feb
12 Spenser,
“Aprill” (Spenser 517)
Isabel
MacCaffrey on “April” (Spenser 776)
Montrose, “The
Elizabethan Subject” (Spenser 687-91)
Religious Poetry and Meditation
*How does the
relationship with God shape the sense of self?
How does it permit, encourage, or impede the expression of self? How much of the metrical Psalms are David and
how much the poet?
Feb 17 Elizabeth as Virgin Queen
616-23
Levin, “Royal
Wanton and Whore” 816-38
Feb
19 Anne Vaughan Lock, “
Meditation…upon the 51. Psalm” 118-21
Mary Sidney
Herbert, Introduction (MSH 1-21), Psalm 51 (MSH 195-98)
Topics due
Feb 24/26 WINTER BREAK
Mar 3 Mary Sidney Psalms (MSH) 53,
73, 100, 117, 124 and 150
Sidney: Psalms
(Sidney) 274-78
Mar 5 Mary Sidney Herbert, “To the Angel Spirit” (MSH 164-74)
“The Manner of Sir
Philip Sidney’s Death” (Sidney 315-18)
Extract from
Greville’s Life of Sidney (Sidney 329)
Philip Sidney to
Johan Wyer (Sidney 297)
Letters
of Sir Philip Sidney to Robert (Sidney 284-87, 291-94)
Mar 10 Mid-term Exam
Love, Sexuality, AND FAMILY
*How does the
relationship with the beloved shape the sense of self? How much voice is given to the beloved? What
persona does the writer adopt? How is the rhetoric of love poetry similar to
religious poetry?
Mar 12 Marlowe, “A Passionate Shepherd to His Love”;
Ralegh, “Nymph’s Reply” http://www2.latech.edu/~bmagee/201/marlowe/shepherd_&_notes.htm
Sidney,
Astrophil 1, 2, 3, 5, 18, 21, 30
Mar 17 Sidney, Astrophil 37, 45, 47, 52, 69, 71, 107
Mar 19 Wroth, Pamphilia to
Amphilanthus (HANDOUT)
Mar 24 Sidney Prose Romance--Arcadia and Urania
Mar 26 Film in L26: “Elizabeth”
Betteridge, “A
Queen for All Seasons” 853-65
Mar 31 Letters of Robert Sidney to
Barbara Gamage Sidney (HANDOUT)
Whitney
<http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poet/447.html>
Prospectus due
SPENSER
Apr
2 Spenser, Amoretti 15 (593), 37 (602), 64 (612),
67 (614), 68 (614), 75 (617),
and 79 (619)
Prescott,
“Allegorical Deer” (809-812)
Apr
7 Epithalamion
Apr 9 Faerie Queene Book I (the education of
the hero)
Apr 14 Faerie Queene Book I
Apr 16 Faerie Queene Book III
Apr 21 Faerie Queene Book III
Apr 23 Faerie Queene Book III
Apr 28 Projects and term papers due
Apr 30 Faerie Queene Book III: House of Busirane
Review
for exam