English 456: Advanced Studies in Genre (The Dramatic Monologue)

English 456: Advanced Studies in Genre (The Dramatic Monologue)
Fall 1997

Sept. 2 - 5

Read Langbaum, Introduction, Wordsworth's "Prelude,"* and "Tinturn Abbey"*

Sept. 8 - 12

Read Langbaum, Chap. 1, Wordsworth's "Resolution and Independence,"* Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale,"* Coleridge's "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner"*

Sept. 15 - 19

Read Langbaum, Chap. 2, Browning's "My Last Duchess," The Bishop Orders His Tomb," "The Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister," "Porphyria's Lover," "Karshish," "Cleon," "Johannes Agricola"

Sept. 22 - 26

Read Tennyson's "Supposed Confessions,""St. Simon Stylites," "Tithonus," "The Two Voices," "The Lotus-Eaters," "Ulysses," "Tiresias," "Northern Farmer (OS) & (NS)," "Rizpah"

Sept. 29 - Oct. 3

Read Langbaum, Chap. 3, "I--The Ring and the Book," "II--Half-Rome"

Oct. 6 - 10

Read "III--The Other Half Rome," " V--Count Guido Caponsachi"

Oct. 13 - 17

Read "VII--Pompilia," "X--The Pope"

Oct. 20 - 23

Read "XI--Guido," "XII--The Book and the Ring"

Oct. 27 - 31

Read Langbaum, Chap. 6, Browning's "Caliban," "Andre del Sarto," "Beatrice Signori," Webster's "Medea," "Circe"

Nov. 3 - 7

Read Webster's "The Happiest Girl in the World," A Castaway," "A Soul in Prison," "Tired," "Coming Home," "In an Almshouse," "An Inventor," "A Dilettante"

Nov. 10 - 14

Read Eliot's "Prufrock," "Portrait of a Lady," "Gerontion," "The Journey of the Magi," "A Song for Simeon," Yeat's "Crazy Jane Talks to the Bishop"*

Nov. 17 - 21

Read Eliot's "The Waste Land"

Nov. 24- 26

Watch Rashomon

Dec. 1 - 5

Read Langbaum, Conclusion, Frost's "The Witch of Coos,"* "The Pauper Witch of Grafton,"* "The Death of the Hired Man,"* "Home Burial"*

Dec. 8 - 12

Conclusions

Course expectations:

1)

Write a short (2-4 pp.) explication of either a Browning dramatic monologue or a Tennyson monologue.The paper should discuss content principally, but should include a short and thorough description rhythm and rhyme patterns.Select poem by Sept. 10; present paper in class on day of assigned reading. (suggested weight 10%)

2)

Develop a longer (6-8 pp.) paper on The Ring and the Book, focusing on the effect of multiple perspectives. Consider particularly how the poem is different if you accept divine authority of the pope's voice; would the poem read very differently if the first and last books were not included? Due, Oct. 30. (suggested weight 20%)

3)

Participation--includes comment in class, participation in electronic discussion, quality of assigned class presentations beyond the one outlined in # 1 above. (suggested weight 20%)

4)

Short paper (3-5 pp.) on feminist perspectives, considering one of Augusta Webster's works in connection with another poem by a male writer; choose for a good comparison. Due Nov. 21. (suggested weight 20%)

5)

Final paper (8-10 pp.) assessing the significance of the dramatic monologue as a modern poetic form. If you wish, you may range a little afield and attempt to compare the genre with some other genre (it need ot necessarily be literary), in order to attempt to see how the formal properties of genre may well be historically embedded. Due Dec. 15. (suggested weight 30%)

All of the papers will be research papers; we will work in class or on e-mail to share 
ideas and resources from our library, from ORBIS and other remote libraries, and from 
web resources.
 
Texts:      Robert Langbaum, The Poetry of Experience
		   Robert Browning, Selected Poems
		   Robert Browning, The Ring and the Book
		   Alfred Lord Tennyson, Tennyson's Poems
		   Augusta Webster, Portraits
		   T. S. Eliot, The Selected Poems of T. S. Eliot
		   *handouts*
 
 Your Comments on the Class

Sept. 2 - 5	Read Langbaum, Introduction, Wordsworth's "Prelude,"* and "Tinturn Abbey"*
Sept. 8 - 12	Read Langbaum, Chap. 1, Wordsworth's "Resolution and Independence,"* Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale,"* Coleridge's "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner"*
Sept. 15 - 19	Read Langbaum, Chap. 2, Browning's "My Last Duchess," The Bishop Orders His Tomb," "The Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister," "Porphyria's Lover," "Karshish," "Cleon," "Johannes Agricola"
Sept. 22 - 26	Read Tennyson's "Supposed Confessions,""St. Simon Stylites," "Tithonus," "The Two Voices," "The Lotus-Eaters," "Ulysses," "Tiresias," "Northern Farmer (OS) & (NS)," "Rizpah"
Sept. 29 - Oct. 3	Read Langbaum, Chap. 3, "I--The Ring and the Book," "II--Half-Rome"
Oct. 6 - 10	Read "III--The Other Half Rome," " V--Count Guido Caponsachi"
Oct. 13 - 17	Read "VII--Pompilia," "X--The Pope"
Oct. 20 - 23	Read "XI--Guido," "XII--The Book and the Ring"
Oct. 27 - 31	Read Langbaum, Chap. 6, Browning's "Caliban," "Andre del Sarto," "Beatrice Signori," Webster's "Medea," "Circe"
Nov. 3 - 7	Read Webster's "The Happiest Girl in the World," A Castaway," "A Soul in Prison," "Tired," "Coming Home," "In an Almshouse," "An Inventor," "A Dilettante"
Nov. 10 - 14	Read Eliot's "Prufrock," "Portrait of a Lady," "Gerontion," "The Journey of the Magi," "A Song for Simeon," Yeat's "Crazy Jane Talks to the Bishop"*
Nov. 17 - 21	Read Eliot's "The Waste Land"
Nov. 24- 26	Watch Rashomon
Dec. 1 - 5	Read Langbaum, Conclusion, Frost's "The Witch of Coos,"* "The Pauper Witch of Grafton,"* "The Death of the Hired Man,"* "Home Burial"*
Dec. 8 - 12	Conclusions

1)	Write a short (2-4 pp.) explication of either a Browning dramatic monologue or a Tennyson monologue.The paper should discuss content principally, but should include a short and thorough description rhythm and rhyme patterns.Select poem by Sept. 10; present paper in class on day of assigned reading. (suggested weight 10%)
2)	Develop a longer (6-8 pp.) paper on The Ring and the Book, focusing on the effect of multiple perspectives. Consider particularly how the poem is different if you accept divine authority of the pope's voice; would the poem read very differently if the first and last books were not included? Due, Oct. 30. (suggested weight 20%)
3)	Participation--includes comment in class, participation in electronic discussion, quality of assigned class presentations beyond the one outlined in # 1 above. (suggested weight 20%)
4)	Short paper (3-5 pp.) on feminist perspectives, considering one of Augusta Webster's works in connection with another poem by a male writer; choose for a good comparison. Due Nov. 21. (suggested weight 20%)
5)	Final paper (8-10 pp.) assessing the significance of the dramatic monologue as a modern poetic form. If you wish, you may range a little afield and attempt to compare the genre with some other genre (it need ot necessarily be literary), in order to attempt to see how the formal properties of genre may well be historically embedded. Due Dec. 15. (suggested weight 30%)