[Milton-L] Seventeenth-Century Graduate Courses

[Jason Kerr]

I'll be teaching an undergrad seminar on seventeenth-century poetry in the
fall, so I'll be looking forward to seeing the responses. Being a graduate
student, I'm still in the improvisational phase of course design, but my
thoughts at the moment are to do two "units" of three poets each: Donne,
Herbert, and Lady Anne Southwell; and Milton, Marvell, and Dryden. An
idiosyncratic grouping, to be sure, but my course will only be meeting 12
times (robbed by Labor Day and Columbus Day), and I started feeling like a
broader survey would mean 12 cursory discussions of writers (and even poems)
that merit a whole lot more. Instead we get two weeks each on these six
poets who are, to an extent, in conversation with each other. Southwell is
on there because 1) she's a fascinating and under-read poet and 2) the RETS
edition of her commonplace book will provide a concrete example to help
students think about the material conditions of literary production (we'll
also be using the Donne Variorum to talk about the various manuscript
versions of the Holy Sonnets).
So it's far from a "successful experience" (yet), and I know it leaves quite
a bit out (a bunch of great poets, not to mention prose), but I hope it's
somewhat useful.

Best,
Jason A. Kerr

PS. I share in Peter Herman's love for The Knight of the Burning Pestle (and
Monty Python)!

On Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 3:55 PM, Paul Parrish <p-parrish at tamu.edu> wrote:

>  I would be interested in hearing from those who have had successful
> experiences teaching a graduate-level course on seventeenth-century
> literature NOT including Milton.  In particular, I am interested in hearing
> about texts that have been effective. I have taught the course here at Texas
> A&M a number of times and have never been very satisfied with the texts
> available.  The students usually include some who have previous course work
> in the area and some who have none.
>
> Since this isn't precisely about Milton, on- or off-list responses are
> welcome.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Paul Parrish
>
> Paul A. Parrish
> Regents Professor
> Department of English
> Texas A&M University
> College Station, TX
> 77843-4227
> (979) 862-8305 (phone)
> (979) 862-2292 (fax)
> p-parrish at tamu.edu
>
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-- 
The purpose of poetry is to remind us
how difficult it is to remain just one person,
for our house is open, there are no keys in the doors,
and invisible guests come in and out at will.

—Czeslaw Milosz, from "Ars Poetica?"
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