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Eng 165, Winter 2007

Renaissance Pastoral

Of all the different ways of writing, pastoral may be the most versatile–and most misunderstood and overlooked. Pastoral can be lighthearted fun (as in Shakespeare’s As You Like It, which we will be reading), scathing, subversive, and dangerous political allegory (as it was for poet Edmund Spenser), astonishingly beautiful nature writing (such as the description of Eden in Milton’s Paradise Lost), or any number of other forms. In fact, pastoral can take nearly any shape: a play, a lyric poem, an epic, a novel, or even a film. In this course we will be tracing this remarkable mode of writing from its earliest beginnings to its height in the Renaissance, while also considering how it is still very much at work in the world today.

“Please rate the overall quality of the instructor’s teaching”

Average rating: 4.8 of 5 (♣♣♣♣♣ Excellent; ♣♣♣♣ Very Good; ♣♣♣ Good; ♣♣ Fair; ♣ Poor)

♣♣♣♣♣ I actually enjoyed the course a great deal and didn’t miss a single lecture.

♣♣♣♣♣ Amazing professor! Always available and very helpful! Made one class enjoyable and I wanted to learn and I did learn! Thank you!

♣♣♣♣♣ One of the best classes I’ve ever taken here at UCSB. The professor inspired me to become extremely interested in Renaissance literature.

♣♣♣♣♣ I loved this course and the handouts were especially helpful ☺

♣♣♣♣♣ Great lecturer, really kept what could have been a dry topic interesting.

♣♣♣♣♣ More discussion of readings needed.

♣♣♣♣♣ I loved the course and it I weren’t graduating I would want to take more of your courses. Thank you so much for such an enjoyable course.

♣♣♣♣♣ Amazing, good job! ☺

♣♣♣♣♣ Professor does a terrific job of engaging students – getting to know them and is very interested in helping everyone understand the material and get good grades. Excellent! ☺

♣♣♣♣♣ Excellent course, got me interested in Medieval literature that I was ignoring.

♣♣♣♣♣ Professor Hiltner is the best English professor I’ve ever had at UCSB in the three years I’ve been here. Not only did I learn an exceptional amount, he was kind and considerate. I

♣♣♣♣♣ Professor Ken Hiltner is a great instructor whom obviously has extensive knowledge of the subject matter (Renaissance Pastoral literature). He is always avialable for outside help and is very clear in his instructions. Professor Hiltner is one of the best English professors I have had in my four years at UCSB. He is always amiable and is very fair in his grading. He really makes the subject interesting and engaging. A+ for Professor Hiltner ☺

♣♣♣♣♣ The course was very well organized, I loved the teaching style. Ken should not go back to Harvard.

♣♣♣♣♣ The class was well rounded. Professor Hiltner presented the readings in an easily understood way and he was always available for clarification outside of class.

♣♣♣♣♣ Professor Hiltner is always very organized and clear during lectures. He is very approachable and always available for questions. The reader is helpful and it was great not having to buy all the individual books.

♣♣♣♣♣ Liked the small classroom environment. Some good discussions took place and it was a nice change from my other classes.

♣♣♣♣♣ I really enjoyed this class. Professor Hiltner is exceedingly helpful and knowledgeable.

♣♣♣♣♣ I enjoyed this class so much. Professor Hiltner made the material easy to understand and was always open to discuss material. His knowledge of the material was superb and his enthusiasm made the class fun. It was easy to speak up in class because his teaching style was so open.

♣♣♣♣♣ I liked the course a lot. It was very hard and tedious, but I definitely learned a lot from the classical and biblical sense ☺

♣♣♣♣♣ Ken Hiltner is a really great professor! He is highly educated and communicates properly. He is always available during office hours. He was born to be a professor. Very professional, encouraging and organized. If I wasn’t graduating I would take every other course he’s offering! Wonderful.

♣♣♣♣♣ Great, stimulating class – tough, though, but worth it!

♣♣♣♣♣ Best professor I’ve ever had! So sad that this is the only quarter I took classes with him. Very impressed. Made the class fun and easy to understand literary works and concepts. Wish I had him for more classes!! ☺

♣♣♣♣♣ He is an excellent professor and I thoroughly enjoyed the course. He is incredibly intelligent and it is demonstrated throughout the course. Pastoral is fun!

♣♣♣♣♣ Ken was a fabulous professor, who was extremely insightful, interesting and knowledgeable. He was kind and very helpful outside of class. Ken made the topics and overall course enjoyable to go to. Would have liked less readings and to not have a paper due less than 1 week before the final, but otherwise a great person.

♣♣♣♣ Use of slides or board would have helped but Ken was great.

♣♣♣♣ Hiltner is a very effective and informational teacher but this is the most boring class ever so it is hard to care or pay attention.

♣♣♣♣ While lectures were a little heavy in historical context, the selection of texts was EXCELLENT. Course material was entirely thorough and ran the entire gamut of pastoral works available. Truly an enlightening course! Thank you!

♣♣♣♣ Great professor; fair; creates an atmosphere great for learning. Tests fair.

♣♣ I thought the professor was very patient, but the course was not at all that interesting.

Unrated Ken was very organized and explained ideas very well. He was also always available if I had any questions.

Unrated I liked that he set up meetings with us.

Unrated Professor Hiltner is highly skilled in the teaching of pastoral literature. His lectures were well prepared and participation in class was well moderated.