All entries for October 2009

Ionic Pilasters: what?!

In the Masque of Beauty Jonson describes the ‘the Throne of Beauty, erected, divided into eight squares, and distinguished by so many Ionic pilasters’.

So what are they? Extensive research on Google Images reveals that they look something like this:

It’s apparently the scroll at the top of the pillar that makes them ionic.

Alice Eardley : 28 Oct 2009 21:35 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Next Week: Court Masques

Preparation for Next Week:

The reading in bold type is a compulsory part of the course and everything else is optional but highly recommended.

Please read the Ben Jonson’s ‘Masque of Blackness’ in the Norton Anthology and the ‘Masque of Beauty’ (PDF on course website: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/undergraduate/current/modules/fulllist/second/en228/handouts/). The introduction to ‘Blackness’ (in the anthology) is very useful so make sure you read that as well.

Points to think about:

- Masques were primarily intended to reflect and praise the virtues of the monarchy. Can you detect any ways in which Jonson subverts this?
- How do the two masques relate to one another? What themes are carried over? How has the passage of time effected the way certain ideas/images are used?
- Think about the significance of the court setting for the performance of the masques. In what ways does this influence the content or style of each text?
- Queen Anne is an important figure for, and in, these masques. Think about the ways in which her influence is manifested in the different texts. If you want to know more about her, the Dictionary of National Biography is a good place to start.

Useful secondary reading:

On the masque genre:
- Stephen Orgel, The Illusion of Power: Political Theater in the English Renaissance (1975).
- Martin Butler, ‘Courtly Negotiations’, in David Bevington and Peter Holbrook ed., The Politics of the Stuart Court Masque (1999).

For illustrations of the sets and costumes used in masques see: http://www.shafe.co.uk/art/early_stuart_10_-_the_caroline_court.asp

Alice Eardley : 23 Oct 2009 10:50 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Something to Look Forward to…

Radio 4 programme about the influence of c17th composer Henry Purcell on Pete Townsend from The Who. Now that has to be worth listening to:

http://feeds.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nf3kr

Alice Eardley : 21 Oct 2009 09:30 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

More About Puritanism

Another good source of information about puritanism is: John Coffey and Paul C. H. Lim ed., The Cambridge Companion to Puritanism (Cambridge: CUP, 2008). It’s available online via the Warwick University library catalogue.

Alice Eardley : 18 Oct 2009 10:50 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Week Three: John Donne

Preparation for the Seminar:

Points in bold type are a compulsory part of the course. Everything else is intended to be an optional guide to help with preparation.

- Read the selection of ‘Holy Sonnets’ in the Norton Anthology together with ‘Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward’, ‘A Hymn to Christ, at the Authors Last Going into Germany’, ‘Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness’ and ‘A Hymn to God the Father’ (pp. 1268-76).

Points to think about:
- In what different ways does Donne represent the relationship between the soul and the body.
- What other common themes emerge from these poems? Are there any contradictions?
- A couple of the poems refer to ‘grace’. What does Donne mean by this?
- Think about the tone of the poems. How is Donne addressing God? What impression of God does this give you?
- Is Donne talking about himself in these poems? Or not? What is the evidence?

Useful Secondary Reading:

- James Doelman, ‘The Accession of King James I and English Religious Poetry’.
http://www.geocities.com/queenswoman/jamesdoelman.html

The article is very dense and provides a lot of information. Here is a list of some things you might want to pay attention to:
- The relationship between poetry and politics (ie. the court).
- The significance of dedications/prefaces/commendatory verse.
- Note how the texts are tied into very specific dates.

Alice Eardley : 18 Oct 2009 10:36 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Week Two: Ben Jonson, The Alchemist

One of the three “most perfect plots ever planned”, Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Preparation for the Seminar:

Points in bold type are a compulsory part of the course. Everything else is intended to be an optional guide to help with preparation.

For next week, please read Ben Jonson, The Alchemist. The campus bookshop has multiple copies of the New Mermaids edition ed. Elizabeth Cook (Methuen, 2004).

Points to think about:
- Where and when is the play set? Why is this significant?
- Language: how is it being used in the play? What different kinds of language are being used? What does the play as a whole have to say about language?
- Alchemy: what is alchemy? What is said about alchemy in the play? How do alchemical ideas/themes emerge in the structure/themes of the play?
- If you can, try and imagine what this play would look like if performed on stage? How might the exits and entrances work? What effect would this have on your understanding of the play?
- Is the end of the play surprising? If so, why? If not, why?

Useful Resources:
For a more detailed description of Anabaptists than that included in the New Mermaids edition, see:
http://www.exlibris.org/nonconform/engdis/anabaptists.html
(Scroll down for a section on Anabaptists in England)

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01445b.htm

A slightly bizarre but very interesting site on alchemy can be found here:
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/

Alice Eardley : 07 Oct 2009 10:58 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Welcome Back!

EN228: Seventeenth Century Literature and Culture: Week One

Alice Eardley: a.eardley@warwick.ac.uk
Office hour: Thursday 4.00-5.00 H528

Course website: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/undergraduate/current/modules/fulllist/second/en228/

Aims of the Course
1. To end up with a real understanding of why people wrote in the seventeenth century, and who read their work
2. To acquire knowledge of seventeenth-century writing, both canonical and non-canonical
3. To develop skill in reading the particular genres and codes of seventeenth-century writing
4. To enjoy reading seventeenth-century writing no-one else has read.

Assessment
Two essays of 2,500 words and a two-hour examination. There is also a required unassessed essay due in Term 1, week 7.

Preparation for seminars
Every Thursday evening/Friday morning I will send out an email detailing the work that needs to be done for the following week’s seminar. This will include information about where to find the text and a series of issues/questions for you to think about while you’re reading.

Presentations
Starting after Reading Week I will be asking each of you to give a presentation on a chapter or article of criticism related to that week’s reading. The week before it is your turn to present, I will send you an email with a list of articles from which you will be asked to select one. Presentations need not be more than five or ten minutes long.

NB: If you read one critical study this year, make it: Jason Scott-Warren, Early Modern English Literature (Cambridge: Polity, 2005)

Any questions: EMAIL ME!

Alice Eardley : 07 Oct 2009 10:25 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem