HUMANITIES 2033/4033-201: Renaissance through Realism
Spring 2013
Professor: Lynn Hoggard Office: Bea Wood 201
Office Hours: 1:15-3:45 TR Telephone: 397-4145
E-mail: lynn.hoggard@mwsu.edu Class: 9:30-10:45 TR, PY201
Overall course goals and objectives: This course offers you an interdisciplinary study of the major achievements in literature, music, art, architecture, theater, and philosophy in a historical context that begins at the dawn of the Renaissance in the mid-fourteenth century ends with the age of Realism at the end of the nineteenth. The intellectual aim of the course is to develop your abilities to analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and think creatively about complex cultural information and human values while improving your basic skills in speaking, critical thinking, reading, and writing. Ultimately, the aim of this course is to help you become a more active and fully formed human being and citizen in a world that is changing dramatically and rapidly. To comprehend your past helps you create your future.
Required Textbook: Benton et al., Arts and Culture: An Introduction to the Humanities, Vol. II, Third Edition.
Tentative Schedule:
1. T, 15 Jan: Introduction to course.
Chapter 13: The Renaissance and Mannerism in Italy
2. R, 17 Jan: Timeline, Map, The Early Renaissance (The Medicis’ Florence, Cross Currents, The Humanist Spirit, The Platonic Academy of Philosophy, Architecture, Sculpture): pp. 1-13
3. T, 22 Jan: Readings (Pico della Mirandola, from the “Oration on the Dignity of Man”; Petrarch, “Sonnet 159"; François Villon, “Ballad of Dead Ladies,” “Ballad of Forgiveness”; Vittoria da Colonna, “I Live on this Depraved and Lonely Cliff”): pp. 46-48
4. R, 24 Jan: The Early Renaissance (Painting, Early Renaissance Music, Connections,
Literature): pp. 13-21. Video on Early Renaissance Art; discussion and activities
5. T, 29 Jan: The High Renaissance (Painting, The Reinvention of Rome, Painting and Sculpture, Critical Thinking, Architecture, The New St. Peter’s Basilica, Venice, Music, Literature): pp. 21-37
6. R, 31 Jan: Readings (Castiglione, from The Book of the Courtier; Machiavelli, from The
Prince): pp. 48-55
7. T, 5 Feb: Mannerism (Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Then & Now, Cultural Impact, Key
Terms): pp. 37-45. Reading: Cellini, from The Autobiography): pp. 55-57
8. R, 7 Feb: Test I: Chapter 13: The Renaissance and Mannerism in Italy
Chapter 14: The Renaissance in the North
9. T, 12 Feb: The Early Renaissance in Northern Europe (Timeline, Map, The Columbian Exchange, Ghent and Bruges, Flemish Oil Painting): pp. 58-67; The High Renaissance in Northern Europe (The Habsburg Patronage, Erasmus and Northern Humanism, Then & Now): pp. 67-68; Reading (Erasmus, from The Praise of Folly): pp. 86-88
10. R, 14 Feb: The High Renaissance in Northern Europe (Thomas More, Martin Luther and the
Reformation, John Calvin and the Institutes of the Christian Religion, Iconoclasm, Cross Currents, The Age of Discovery): pp. 69-73; Reading (Martin Luther, Ninety-Five Theses): pp. 88-92
11. T, 19 Feb: The High Renaissance in Northern Europe (Painting and Printmaking,
Architecture, Secular Music, Literature, Connections, Critical Thinking, Cultural Impact, Key Terms) pp. 73-85
12. R, 21 Feb: Readings (Louise Labé, “Sonnet 18"; Queen Elizabeth I, “Speech to the English Troops at Tilbury”; Montaigne, “Of Cannibals”; Shakespeare, sonnets and famous excerpts from plays): pp. 92-99
13. T, 26 Feb: Test II: Chapter 14: The Renaissance in the North
Chapter 15: The Baroque Age
14. R, 28 Feb: (Timeline, Map) The Baroque Age in Italy (The Counter-Reformation in Rome, Thirty Years’ War, Architecture and Sculpture in Rome, Painting in Italy, Music in Italy): pp. 100-112; Reading (Ignatius Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises): p. 140
15. T, 5 Mar: The Baroque Outside Italy (Painting in Holland, Painting in Flanders, Connections, Painting in England, Painting in Spain, Painting in France): pp. 112-124
16. R, 7 Mar: The Baroque Outside Italy (Architecture, Critical Thinking, Baroque Music Outside Italy, Cross Currents, The Science of Observation): pp. 125-132
Spring Break: March 9-18
17. T, 19 Mar: The Baroque Outside Italy (Philosophy, Then & Now, Literature, Cultural Impact, Key Terms): pp. 132-139; Reading (René Descartes, from The Meditations): pp. 140-141
18. R, 21 Mar: Video on Baroque Age; Readings (Cervantes, from Don Quixote; Molière, from Tartuffe; John Donne, “The Flea”; Anne Bradstreet, “A Letter to Her Husband”): pp. 141-149
19. T, 26 Mar: The Baroque Outside Italy: Readings (Thomas Hobbes, from Leviathan; John Locke, from Second Treatise of Civil Government, John Milton, from Paradise Lost): pp. 149-159
Easter Break
Chapter 16: The Eighteenth Century
20. T 2 Apr: Enlightenment and Revolution (Timeline, Map, Enlightenment, The Enlightenment, Revolutions, The American Revolution, The French Revolution, The National Assembly, The Demise of the Monarchy, Napoleon Bonaparte, The Industrial Revolution, Then & Now, The Scientific Revolution, Rococo, French Music, French Painting): pp. 161-172
21. R 4 Apr: English Painting, Connections, Literature of Rationalism, Voltaire’s Philosophy of Cynicism: pp. 172-178; Readings: Pope, “An Essay on Man”; Swift, “A Modest Proposal”; Voltaire, from Candide: pp. 190-199
22. T 9 Apr: Neoclassicism (Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Literature, Critical Thinking, Classical Music); Toward Romanticism, Cross Currents, Cultural Impact, Key Terms): pp. 178-189
23. R 11 Apr: Readings: Jefferson, “The Declaration of Independence”; National Constituent Assembly of France, “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen”; Jane Austen, from Pride and Prejudice; Mary Wollstonecraft, “A Vindication of the Rights of Women”; Thomas Paine, from “Age of Reason”; Benjamin Franklin, from Autobiography: pp. 199-207
24. T 16 Apr: Test III: Chapters 15 & 16: The Baroque and Eighteenth Century
Chapter 17: Romanticism and Realism
25. R 18 Apr: (Timeline, Map) Romanticism (Painting, The July Monarchy, Then & Now,
Sculpture, Architecture, Philosophy): pp. 209-222
26. T 23 Apr: Romanticism (The Antislavery Movement, The Civil War, The Crimean War, Literature, Music, Connections, Music in Russia): pp. 222-230
27. R 24 Apr: Readings: Rousseau, from Confessions and Social Contract; Wordsworth, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”; Blake, “The Chimney Sweeper” (both Innocence and Experience versions); Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale”; Whitman, from Song of Myself; Dickinson, Five Poems: pp. 246-256
28. T 30 Apr: Realism (Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, French Painting, American Painting, Critical Thinking, The Rise of Photography, Sculpture, Literature, Russian Literature, Then and Now, Critical Thinking): pp. 230-243; Readings (Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, from The Communist Manifesto; Dostoevsky, from The Brothers Karamazov; Tolstoi, from Anna Karenina): pp. 256-259
29. R 2 May: Realism (The New Sciences: Pasteur and Darwin, Cultural Impact, Key Terms): pp. 243-245; Reading (Charles Darwin, from The Descent of Man): p. 256
Conclusion and Evaluation of Course, Preparation for Final Essay.
Final Essay Due: Tuesday, 7 May 2013, 8-10 a.m., Bea Wood 201
HUMANITIES 2033/4033 COURSE REQUIREMENTS
A. Tests. As the course outline indicates, there will be three exams during the semester, plus a final assessment. Each exam will cover material on the units indicated, using objective questions to measure your knowledge of cultural material and an essay topic to show your degree of mastery of content and your ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information in written form. For 2033 students, each exam counts 18% of the semester grade; for 4033, 15%.
B. Daily Assignments: For almost every class there will be a reading and either a short reading comprehension quiz or a brief writing assignment based on the reading. Any short written assignments will be stamped on the day they are due, and you will keep the stamped writing in a flat folder (portfolio) to be submitted twice during the semester for evaluation. All quizzes and assignments are intended to help you learn about the humanities, improve your writing skills and self-discipline, and develop your abilities to evaluate, analyze, synthesize, and think creatively. Daily assignments will count for 20% of the grade for 2033 students and 17% for 4033 students. Quizzes cannot be taken early or made up, but other assignments may be submitted early for full credit or late for partial credit.
C. Attendance and Participation: A large part of the value of a class such as this will come from daily participation in give-and-take discussions and review of artistic and cultural materials. Therefore, regular attendance is important and expected. A record of attendance at each class meeting will be kept. Excessive absences (more than a total of three, even if excused) will have a negative impact on a student’s grade and may be grounds for that student being dropped from the class. If you arrive late, you should apologize discreetly to the class upon entering. Once in class, you should turn off all electronic equipment. You should never leave the classroom while class is in session except in case of emergency or by prior arrangement with the professor. Six percent of your semester grade (5% for 4033 students) will be based on the degree of your oral participation in class. You should plan to contribute to class discussion in an intelligent way at least three times during the semester in order to receive full 6 % ( or 5% for 4033) class-participation credit.
D. Additional Requirements for 4033 Students: (1) Research Paper: A ten-page, typed paper on a topic selected after consultation with the instructor is due Thursday 25 April, 2013 (topic choices must be turned in no later than Thursday, 7 February). The paper should involve independent research (including at least three sources beyond Internet) and show the ability to synthesize multiple sources into your own expression. The format for presentation and documentation is that of the Modern Language Association (MLA style). The topic needs to relate to some aspect of the humanities between the periods of the Renaissance and Realism.
(2) Oral Report: 4033 students will prepare a ten-minute oral report to present to the class on an agreed-upon subject and agreed-upon presentation date. Topic must be chosen and cleared with the professor by Thursday, 31 January. A typed outline of the report and a bibliography of at least three sources in MLA format (at least one of which must be from a non-electronic source) must be turned in to the instructor on the day of the report.
E. Semester Grades:
2033: 3 exams @ 18% (54%); participation @ 6%; daily assignments @ 20%; final essay
@ 20%
4033: 3 exams @ 15% (45%); participation @ 5%; daily assignments @ 17%; research
paper @ 10%; oral presentation @ 8%; final essay @ 15%
In accordance with the law, MSU provides academic
accommodations for students with documented disabilities.
If you are a student with a disability, please contact the professor.