The Commonplace Book

Long description here

Websites to consult

Dates: 1530-1606

Sections that must be included:

War (wars involved in; military technology; the body in war)

The Body: illness, plague; midwives, childbirth, gynecology; the four humors; surgery and medical care; herbalists, recipes

Alchemy and Science

Gender and Marriage: sermons, conduct books

Other Material Culture: clothing, food, hygiene, housing,

Work: agriculture, weaving, sheep industry and enclosure, masonry, metalwork, shopkeeping, apprenticeship, urban industry

Economy: Poor Laws, poverty, inflation, banking

Book Culture: print technology, broadsheets, pamphlets, books, quartos, folios, etc. signatures,

Literature: the theater, manuscript culture, poetry, authorship

Art and Music: developments in color and perspective; instuments, vocal music, sculpture, carving

Politics: the monarchy (crowning and succession; acts and proclamations; processions and progresses, parliament, the church; speeches, foreign relations, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I, James I.

Religion: break with Rome, Reformation, Thomas More, Erasmus, Whitgift, tolerance, end of tolerance, Luther, RLE

Media to be used: quotes, copies of primary texts in early modern format (see books and internet); illustrations either primary or modern; pictures, woodcuts, engravings, and portraits; photocopies from books;

As much as possible should be in early modern format, not modern type or spelling. Grades not based on expense (color photocopies, etc.)

Models: Milton, Marcus Aurelius

Evaluation based on:

The Assignment

I am asking you to keep a commonplace book this semester. Hand copying someone else’s work gives you a particular intimacy with it and makes it more memorable. You may find that, by semester’s end, you have created a collection of writing that is both particularly meaningful to you A commonplace book can also come in handy when you’re doing your own writing and looking for a good line from elsewhere to add humor, erudition, sophistication, or wisdom.

Serious keepers of commonplace books divided them into “heads,” i.e., topics. You may do this if you wish. This practice can be particularly useful as a preparation for writing a term paper considering multiple works (e.g., Misogyny in Restoration Comedy). Close each transcription with the name of the author, the title of the work, and enough information (page number, line numbers) to allow you to find your original source if you need to.