Over the last twenty years, scholars and critics of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literature have focused attention on representations and traces of war in English literature of the period, which, like ours, was characterized by war without end. England’s involvement in a world-wide conflict with Spain from the 1570s until the reign of James I, a proliferation of popular pamphlets on soldiering in the late 16th and early 17th century, the beginnings of colonization and proto-imperialism on the margins of England’s dominion and in the New World, and the cataclysmic civil conflict that overthrew all the institutions of monarchial government in the mid-seventeenth century and the subsequent Restoration are the contexts within which literature of the period can be viewed as haunted by war, whether through direct or indirect representations, rhetorical addresses to audiences affected by or enlisted into soldiering, or militarized metaphors and tropes. Although our examination of representations and traces of war will focus on canonical texts and writers, work in the course will be otherwise open-ended and exploratory, and your seminar paper may focus on these works and these writers, or others, or relevant modern or non-literary texts.
Our investigation of early modern English literature of war will fall into three phases. First, an introduction to anti- and pro-war perspectives in Thomas More’s Utopia, the most enduring prose work of the English Renaissance and Sir Philip Sidney’s Apology for Poetry, its greatest critical work as well as a comparison between modern and Renaissance war poetry. Second, reading and study of literary works that reflect the war with Spain, the Civil War, and the Restoration aftermath of nationalistic trade wars that would ultimately destroy Europe in the 20th century. For the first, Marlowe’s blood-saturated Tamburlaine, Parts One and Two and Shakespeare’s Henry V, a more normative theatrical celebration of war; Spenser’s Faerie Queene, Books 1 and 5, which reflect earlier optimism and later despair concerning England’s Protestant imperialism. For the second, Milton’s enthusiastically patriotic Areopagitica, Of Education, The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates and his later condemnation of war and human history in Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained together with selected Civil-war related poetry (sonnets by Milton, lyrics by Cavalier poets, Abraham Cowley’s abortive pro-Royalist epic of the war, works by Andrew Marvell). For the third, Dryden’s Annus Mirabilis and Marvell’s anti-Dutch satires, and selections from Thomas Hobbes Leviathan, an anti-war blueprint for totalitarianism very different from Utopia’s war critique. During these 6–8 weeks, each of you will be giving a report on one or two critical essays examining one of these works or writers from a war-related perspective (e.g., Alan Shepard, “The Rhetoric of Soldiers’ Desire in Tamburlaine,” Michael Walzer, “The Crime of War” and “The Rules of War”, Diane Purkiss, “Dismembering and Remembering: The English Civil War and Male Identity”). In the final 3 –5 weeks after our joint reading and discussion, each of you will be giving a presentation on your research project and preparing a draft of it that will be critiqued by a classmate and by me prior to final submission.
Course Learning Objectives:
- Understanding and analysis of canonical 16th- and 17th-century English literary works and writers within the context of England’s involvement in war between 1500 and 1700. Focus on both literary representation and ethical and political issues associated with early modern and subsequent wars (e.g., imperialism and colonialism, just-war theory, trauma theory, women and warfare)
- Intensive individual study (summary, analysis, critique) of at least one text and a professional interpretation of that text via an oral representation and subsequent short paper (4–6 pages) as well as written and oral critiques of one or more classmate’s study.
- Devising a research question focused on representations or reflections of war during in the works we have read and conducting independent research to pursue and develop that question into a substantial (15–20 page) draft paper.
- Oral and written presentation of your research project for feedback and commentary by other class members and for written feedback and critique by one student reader and myself.
- Revision and completion of a complete first draft of your project in a final form that might be revised or considered for subsequent professional presentation orally at a professional conference or submission for publication.
Course Requirements:
- Attendance and effective participation (20%)
- Oral and written interpretation of at least one required reading and critique of related scholarly article (30%)
- Research project: presentation, peer critique, revision, final submission (50%)
Required texts:
Printed (or digital) editions of More, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Spenser, Milton, and Hobbes. Digital PDFs of other works and all required critical or theoretical essays.