Spring 2009
English 710: Studies in English Renaissance Literature
Early Modern Women’s Writing
Professor Michelle Dowd
T 6:30-9:20
MHRA 2208
Office: 3123 MHRA
Office Hours: TR 11:00-12:30, and by appt.
Office Phone: 334-5384
mmdowd@uncg.edu
Course Description and Objectives:
This seminar will offer graduate students a broad overview of the writings of early modern Englishwomen,
with primary emphasis on seventeenth-century texts. In order to situate this diverse body of literature within
its larger historical, literary, and theoretical contexts, we will read the works of early modern women within
the context of feminist theory and seventeenth-century social history. By reading some of the most
influential criticism of recent decades, students in the course will also engage with central topics of debate in
the scholarship on early modern women writers, including such issues as literacy, domesticity, sexuality,
religious and racial difference, the construction of the self, and manuscript vs. print publication.
Student Learning Goals:
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
 Demonstrate familiarity with early modern women’s writing in a range of genres
 Analyze the various social, historical, and literary contexts in which these texts were written
 Critically evaluate secondary sources on early modern women’s writing
 Develop and hone critical writing skills, research methods, and the skills of oral communication
Required Texts:
Bowerbank, Sylvia and Sarah Mendelson, eds. Paper Bodies: A Margaret Cavendish Reader. Broadview, 2000.
Clarke, Danielle, ed. Isabella Whitney, Mary Sidney, and Aemilia Lanyer: Renaissance Women Poets. Penguin, 2001.
Hodgson-Wright, Stephanie, ed. The Tragedy of Mariam. By Elizabeth Cary. Broadview, 2000.
Roberts, Josephine A., ed. The Poems of Lady Mary Wroth. LSU, 1992.
Todd, Janet, ed. Oroonoko, The Rover, and Other Works. By Aphra Behn. Penguin, 1999.
Secondary readings on Blackboard (BB) and online via Jackson Library (O)
Recommended Text:
Wilcox, Helen, ed. Women and Literature in Britain 1500-1700. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996.
Reading Note:
Please read all relevant introductions to assigned primary texts that are included in your editions to familiarize
yourselves with important biographical and contextual material. You may also wish to consult the Dictionary of
National Biography (DNB) available online via Jackson Library for biographical sketches of each author. While
I will aim to provide some key background information at each class meeting, it is ultimately your
responsibility to determine and seek out the context that you need in order to engage fully in our discussions.
Schedule of Readings and Assignments:
Jan. 20:
Introduction
Jan. 27:
Isabella Whitney, selections from A Sweet Nosgay and The Copy of a Letter, in
Clarke.
EM Women’s Writing Syllabus, Spring 2009- 2
Please also take a look at the images of A Sweet Nosgay and The Copy of a Letter
available on Early English Books Online (EEBO).
Margaret W. Ferguson, “Renaissance Conceptions of the Women Writer” (BB)
Margaret J.M. Ezell, “The Myth of Judith Shakespeare” (BB)
Brief excerpts from Hayden White, Felicity Nussbaum, and Joan Scott (BB)
Feb. 3:
Queen Elizabeth, speeches (O- via Women Writers Online (WWO))
Mary Sidney, “‘Even now that Care,’” “To the Angell spirit…,” and “Thenot and
Piers in praise of Astrea,” in Clarke.
Constance Jordan, “Women’s Rule in Sixteenth Century British Political Thought,”
Renaissance Quarterly 40.3 (1987): 421-451. (O)
Shannon Miller, “Mary Sidney and Gendered Strategies for the Writing of Poetry”
(BB)
Feb. 10:
Aemilia Lanyer, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, in Clarke.
Mary Ellen Lamb, “Patronage and Class in Aemilia Lanyer’s Salve Deus Rex
Judaeorum” (BB)
Erica Longfellow, “Ecco Homo: The Spectacle of Christ’s Passion in Salve Deus Rex
Judaeorum” (BB)
Book review workshop
Feb. 17:
Lady Mary Wroth, Pamphilia to Amphilanthus, in Roberts.
Ann Rosalind Jones, “Feminine Pastoral as Heroic Martyrdom” (BB)
Jeffrey Masten, “‘Shall I turn blabb?’ Circulation, Gender, and Subjectivity in Lady
Mary Wroth’s Sonnets” (BB)
Feb. 24:
Elizabeth Cary, The Tragedy of Mariam, in Hodgson-Wright.
Susan Amussen, “Political Households and Domestic Politics” (BB)
Margaret W. Ferguson, “The Specter of Resistance” (BB)
BOOK REVIEWS DUE
March 3:
Katherine Philips, selected poetry (O- via WWO; 1667 edition)
John Donne, “The Sun Rising” and “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” (BB)
Elaine Hobby, “Orinda and Female Intimacy” (ER)
Valerie Traub, “‘Friendship so curst’: Amor Impossibilis, the Homoerotic Lament, and
the Nature of Lesbian Desire” (BB)
March 10:
Spring Break. No class.
March 17:
Margaret Cavendish, The Description of a New World Called the Blazing World,
in Bowerbank.
Catherine Gallagher, “Embracing the Absolute: Margaret Cavendish and the Politics
of the Female Subject in Seventeenth-Century England” (BB)
Rachel Trubowitz, “The Reenchantment of Utopia and the Female Monarchical
Self: Margaret Cavendish’s Blazing World,” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature
11.2 (1992): 229-245. (O)
Deborah Taylor-Pearce, “The Growth of Science” (O- via WWO, under “RWO
Essays”)
March 24:
Margaret Cavendish, The Convent of Pleasure, in Bowerbank.
Julie Crawford, “Convents and Pleasures: Margaret Cavendish and the Drama of
Property” (BB)
EM Women’s Writing Syllabus, Spring 2009- 3
Judith Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in
Phenomenology and Feminist Theory,” Theatre Journal 40.4 (1988): 519-531. (O)
ABSTRACT AND ANOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE
March 31:
Aphra Behn, Oroonoko, in Todd.
Laura Brown, “The Romance of Empire: Oroonoko and the Trade in Slaves” (BB)
Margaret W. Ferguson, “Juggling the Categories of Race, Class, and Gender: Aphra
Behn’s Oroonoko” (BB)
April 7:
Aphra Behn, The Rover, in Todd.
Nancy Copeland, “‘Once a Whore and Ever’? Whore and Virgin in The Rover and Its
Antecedents” (BB)
Elin Diamond, “Gestus and Signature in Aphra Behn’s The Rover,” ELH 56.3 (1989):
519-541. (O)
April 14:
Seminar Presentations
April 21:
Seminar Presentations
April 28:
Dinner at Michelle Dowd’s house
Friday, May 1:
SEMINAR PAPERS DUE by NOON
Course Requirements and Grading:
Book Review
Oral Presentations (#1=10%, #2=5%)
Class Participation
Seminar Paper
15%
15%
20%
50%
Attendance: Consistent attendance is essential to your success in this course. I expect you to attend every
class meeting, to arrive on time, and to participate actively in our discussions. Unexcused absences will
negatively affect your course grade. If you miss three classes for any reason, you will be dropped from the
course. In cases of adverse weather, classes will meet unless the Chancellor closes the University.
Participation: Active and thoughtful class participation is one of your most important assignments in this
course, and it represents a significant part of your grade. In order to participate fully, you will need to come
to class prepared – that is, having read the material, having thought about it critically, and having brought it
with you. You will also need to come to class ready to share your ideas with your classmates and engage in
rigorous, intellectual discussion. I expect you to be prepared with specific questions and observations about
our readings as well as particular passages that you want to discuss. Since this is a graduate seminar, it is your
role and responsibility to produce active and informed discussion at every class meeting. I will be looking for
enthusiastic and thoughtful discussion of this material. If you do not contribute substantively to class
discussion each week, I will assume that you have not read the material.
Book Review: Each student will write a book review on a recent anthology of early modern women’s
writing. You will be assigned either Female and Male Voices in Early Modern England (ed. Travitsky and Prescott)
or Reading Early Modern Women (ed. Ostovich and Sauer), both of which I have put on 3-day reserve at Jackson
Library. I will post a handout on Blackboard with more details about this assignment.
Oral Presentations: During the semester you will be responsible for two oral presentations. For the first,
you will organize and lead approximately 30 minutes of class discussion, incorporating at least one of the
secondary sources on the syllabus in addition to the primary source. The second will be a presentation of
EM Women’s Writing Syllabus, Spring 2009- 4
your seminar paper at the end of the semester, as scheduled on the syllabus. You will deliver a short (10-15
minute) version of your essay or project to your classmates, who will then respond to your presentation with
comments, questions, and suggestions. I will post a handout on Blackboard with more details about both
presentations.
Seminar Paper or Project: For your final project, you may choose to do one of the following assignments.
If you are a Ph.D. student, I strongly suggest that you choose Option 1.
1. Write a 15-18 page seminar paper on a topic of your choice.
2. Create a six-week unit for either a high school or college course that is focused on early modern women’s
writing and organized around a specific theme of your choice.
Whichever option you choose, you will also be responsible for producing an abstract and annotated
bibliography of your final project, due in class on March 24. I will post a handout on Blackboard with more
details about these assignments.
Academic Integrity: Plagiarism—copying or using another’s work without proper acknowledgement—is a
serious academic offense that will not be tolerated in this class. I expect every student to abide by the
principles of the Academic Integrity Policy, which appears in the Student Handbook. Students will need to
sign the Academic Integrity Pledge on all major work. When you use sources such as books, web pages,
articles, or primary documents in your writing, you must identify them to your reader. If you quote a source
directly, you must put the borrowed material in quotation marks and include a proper citation. If you take an
idea from another source but put it in your own words (i.e. paraphrase it), you must still give proper credit to
the source. Please use MLA style documentation to document any sources used in written work. If you
plagiarize, the work in question will receive an F (recorded numerically as a 0), you will be reported to the
Dean of Students, and you will risk failing the course. Repeated offenses can cause you to be expelled from
the University. If you are unsure about how to give credit to your sources or have any questions about what
constitutes an act of plagiarism, please ask me!
Technology:
E-mail: Email is the fastest way to contact me, and I will occasionally use e-mail to contact you. All
messages will be sent to UNCG email accounts, so you need to check your UNCG account regularly. You
are required to hand in paper copies of all written work; I will not accept assignments handed in via email or
computer disk.
Blackboard: I have set up a Blackboard website for the course where you can find copies of the syllabus,
assignments, announcements, and useful links. Please note that you will be responsible for printing out
copies of all handouts and assignment sheets and bringing them to class as needed. If you are absent, please
check Blackboard for any updates or assignments you may have missed.
Laptops and Cellphones: This is an interactive discussion class, and I expect your engaged attention and
participation. You may not use laptops in this class, except in documented cases of medical need.
Cellphones and other electronic equipment must be turned off at all times.