This syllabus is for a mandatory first-year "Introduction to Literature" course, taken by all
students at our university; it's a one-term course. The only requirements are that the syllabus
include a novel, a play, and some poetry. Themes can be chosen by the instructor, so naturally I
run mine as an Arthurian literature course. The students aren't English majors; there isn't much
time in a single term; and the course is taught in a combination of large lectures and small
tutorials. I make each tutorial group responsible for one class: each group is given the
responsibility of researching and presenting on a particular Arthurian figure or phenomenon;
you'll see that the syllabus is organized by major figures.
The poetry readings are part of a course packet made by our Bookstore (they research and
pay the copyright, then photocopy what we ask for); I have used Alan Lupack's Modern
Arthurian Literature in the past, however. I put The Arthurian
Handbook on the syllabus as a recommended but not required text. The play is a
problem: I use The Tempest, but it's a stretch. You'll note that the second novel
in this version is The Dark is Rising. For several years I used C.S. Lewis's
That Hideous Strength, and it worked very well for about a third of the
class the others just didn't get it. This coming year, however, I'm going to read
three novels: The Sword in the Stone, and The Dark
is
Rising, and That Hideous Strength. I'll shorten the poetry section a bit,
but in general, I've decided to be more demanding rather than less.
The syllabus in last year's version (shorn of dates) follows.
Like all sections of English 110, this course is intended to offer an introduction to the major
genres of English literature: the novel, poetry, and drama. This section will concentrate on works
with a common subject, the story of King Arthur. From the Middle Ages to the present, this tale
of the rise and fall of an ideal king and kingdom has attracted the attention of artists and
audiences of all kinds. Arthurian literature can be tragic or comic, "serious" or popular, idealistic
or satiric; and while few people are familiar with all the intricate windings of the whole cycle,
most, whether from movies and Monty Python, comic books or popular fiction, can name at least
some of its famous figures. This course will put some flesh on the bones of those figures, as we
tour Arthurian literature through a focus on Arthur, Lancelot, Guenevere, and Merlin. A detour
into Shakespeare should help us to identify some of the archetypal themes of the Arthurian story,
so that we may come to see how Arthur indeed became, in a literary sense at least, "the once and
future king."
Lecture: Who was King Arthur, anyway? The historical Arthur, and the early growth of the
Arthurian legend
Class group work: Arthurian places and objects research assignment
Lecture: A King's Childhood: The enfances of the hero in tradition and in T.H. White
Reading: T.H. White, The Sword in the Stone (pp. 7-208 of
The Once and Future
King)
Lecture: Arthur in modern fiction and film: from T.H. White to First Knight
Reading: White, The Sword in the Stone
Class group work reports on Arthurian places and objects
LANCELOT
Group 1 reports: Lancelot
Lecture: Introduction to Lancelot; Arthur in Victorian Verse
Reading: Chapters 1-2, 45 of The Ill-Made Knight (pp. 309-19, 506-11
of The Once and
Future King); Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "The Lady of Shalott"
Lecture: Pure Knight and Adulterers: On the development and treatment of the grail quest in
Arthurian literature
Reading: Algernon Charles Swinburne, "Lancelot"; Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Sir
Galahad"; John Ciardi, "Lancelot in Hell"
GUENEVERE
Group 2 reports: Guenevere
Lecture: Introduction to Guenevere
Reading: Algernon Charles Swinburne, "The Day Before the Trial"; Alfred, Lord
Tennyson, from Idylls of the King
Lecture: "Anything, except my dog, my spear, my horse, or my wife": Revising Guenevere's
Role
Reading: William Morris, "The Defence of Guenevere"; Wendy M. Mnookin,
"Guenever Speaks"
MERLIN
Group 3 reports: Merlin
Lecture: Introduction to Merlin; Arthur in Science Fiction and Fantasy
Reading: Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising
Lecture: Sorcerers and Children: Arthurian fantasy for children and young adults
Reading: Cooper, The Dark is Rising
Lecture: "And Now for something completely different" ... or is it? From Merlin to Prospero
Reading: William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Lecture: Patterns of Tragedy and Comedy; Innocence, Initiation, and Magic
Reading: Shakespeare, The Tempest
Lecture: "Some of them do sparkle": The Appeal of the Ideal
Reading: Chapter 14 of The Candle in the Wind (pp. 625-38 of
The Once and
Future King)
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