Introduction to Literature, ENG 104-01

Instructor: Elizabeth Renn

Class Info: Eberhart 161, MWF 9:00-9:50

Office: 02 Petty Science Bldg.

Office Hours: 11:00-12 noon MWF, and by appointment

E-mail: ESRenn@aol.com

Texts:

Norton Anthology: Introduction to Literature, 8th edition

MLA Handbook

A novel

GeneralGoals:

This course is designed to introduce the styles and strategies of some of the most famous (or controversial) British and American writers. Rather than simply dividing up "literature" into three units (poetry, fiction, drama), Ive formed our reading list around certain themes. Before fall break, we will concentrate on contemporary literature and its treatment of love, death, or over-all weirdness, as it compares to Shakespeares treatment of the same themes. After fall break, we will focus on twentieth century British and American genres as they progressed chronologically throughout the century: Edwardian poetry, Modern poetry, Southern literature and African American literature. We will learn how to find connections between works of literature and the time periods in which they were written.

Your active participation will be required in class discussion, so we can stretch our understanding of our discussion to include yours. Your viewpoint may be crucial to someone elses understanding. Writing to express and explore our understanding of the texts will play a major role in how we study the texts and will prepare you for the kind of writing youll see on the mid-term and final exams My real goal is for you to look at literature as a form of art rather than just a class to take.

 

Course Requirements:

Mid-term exam 20%

Final exam (non-comprehensive) 30%

Book club project 20%

Class participation: 30%

Journal portfolio

Quizzes

Class discussion

 

Journals:

Journal entries are typically based on the days reading and require you to form an opinion about a subject and explain yourself coherently and informally.

Journal Portfolio:

Towards the end of the semester, you will be asked to collect and revise several journal entries youve written throughout the semester. This will be graded on clarity of thought, intensity of focus on the subject, and originality.

Book Club project:

You will choose a genre from a list of six genres of contemporary fiction. Together we will decide on a novel from this genre for your group to read and discuss with the class. I strongly discourage relying on Cliffs Notes or other study guides for this project. Read the novel or your ability to portray the richness of the text will be limited. The last two weeks of class will be devoted to book club presentations, as each group (six) will lead the class for the entire 50 minutes.

Writing Center: UNCG offers a workshop-type lab where you can bring in work-in-progress and receive feedback from writing instructors. Take advantage of this resource and schedule a session with an instructor to try out new ways of thinking about your writing. Drop in or call for an appointment.

(Located in McIver 101, 334-3125)

 

Policies:

Due dates: No work will be accepted late.

Attendance: You are allowed four absences. Your fifth absence and every absence thereafter will count 1/3 of a letter grade off of your final average. Remember, too, that no work will be accepted late.

Tardiness: Walking into class late breaks the concentration levels of me and the rest of your classmates. Even being distracted for a few minutes negatively impacts the class. If you are late to class and miss a quiz, you will not be allowed to make it up. Plus, three tardies will count as one absence.

Plagiarism: Do not plagiarize. If the idea is not yours, then that idea has to be cited. If you are unsure of what should be cited, then check with me. Plagiarism will result in a failing grade for the course and possible university disciplinary action.

 

Syllabus English 104-01, Fall 2001

WEEK ONE: INTRODUCTION TO COURSE; CONTEMPORARY AND POST-MODERN SHORT STORIES

M 8/20 Course overview; how to read

HW Read Tallents "No Ones a Mystery" 5-7; and Atwoods "Happy Endings" 20-22; write up of four new reading strategies

W 8/22 Discuss these short stories: form and theme; discuss reading

HW Read Moores "How" 78-84; and Olds "The Victims" 1027; write-up of four different reading strategies from the list

F 8/24 Discuss short story and poem; discuss reading

HW Read Atwoods "Death of a Young Son" 866; Piercys "Barbie Doll" 833; Heaneys "Mid-Term Break" 820; write-up of four different reading strategies

WEEK TWO: CONTEMPORARY POETRY; BEGIN SHAKESPEAREAN POETRY

M 8/27 Discuss poems: tone; discuss all twelve reading strategies

HW Read Findleys "Dreams" 85; and Hudgins "Praying Drunk" 874

W 8/29 Discuss short story and poem

HW Read Shakespeares death sonnets: "That time of year thou mayst in me behold" 957; "Like as waves make towards the pebbled shore" 1000; "Not marble, nor the gilded monuments" 1136; "Full many a glorious morning have I seen" 907

F 8/31 Introduction and discussion of sonnets

HW Read Shakespeares love sonnets: "Spring" 1006; "Th expense of spirit in a waste of shame" 1238; "My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun" 1057; "Shall I compare thee to a summers day?" 830

WEEK THREE: SHAKESPEARES POETRY

M 9/3 No classLabor Day

W 9/5 Discuss love sonnets; intro. to Hamlet

HW Read Hamlet, Act. I, p.1670; list all the reading strategies you are still using; explain why you stuck with these rather than some of the others

F 9/7 Discus Act I; discuss reading; journal assignment

HW Read Acts II and III

WEEK FOUR: SHAKESPEARES HAMLET

M 9/10 Discuss Acts II-III; journal assignment

HW Read Acts IV-V

W 9/12 Discuss Acts IV-V; journal assignment

F 9/14 Hamlet wrap-up

HW Read Blakes "London" 839; Tennysons "Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal" 1302; Wordsworths "She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways" 873; EB Browning "How Do I Love Thee?" 811; R Brownings "A Womans Last Word" 1187; C Rossetti "In an Artists Studio" 1053

WEEK FIVE: 19TH CENTURY BRITISH POETRY (ROMANTICS AND VICTORIANS)

M 9/17 Discuss poems

HW Read Blakes "The Tyger" 1250; Coleridges "Kubla Khan: or, a Vision in a Dream" 1252; R Brownings "Porphyrias Lover" 904

W 9/19 Discuss poems

HW Read Blakes "The Sick Rose" 976; Keats "On Seeing the Elgin Marble" 1092; Tennysons "Break, Break, Break" 1001; DG Rossettis "A Sonnet is a Moments Monument" 1049; Blakes " Holy Thursday" 903, Keats "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" 1092; Tennysons "Tears, Idle Tears" 1302

F 9/21 Discuss poems; conclude discussion on this period; select novel for Book Club project

HW read Poes "The Cask of Amontillado" 70; and "The Raven" 997

 

WEEK SIX: 19TH CENTURY AMERICAN

M 9/24 Discuss Cask and Raven

HW Read Dickinson poems: "Because I could not stop for Death" 1254; I stepped from Plank to Plank " 1255; "My life closed twice before its close" 1256; "She dealt her pretty words like Blades" 1256

W 9/26 Discuss Dickinson

HW Prepare for your book club meeting on Friday

F 9/28 Book Club meeting

WEEK SEVEN: CONCLUDE 19TH CENTURY AMERICAN; MID-TERM EXAM

M 10/1 Mid-term exam review; journal portfolio due

W 10/3 Mid-term exam

HW Read Kafkas "A Hunger Artist" 207, Yeats "Byzantium" 1330; Dylan Thomas "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" 1060

F 10/5 Class cancelled

WEEK EIGHT: EDWARDIAN POETRY (WAR AND DEATH)

M 10/8 Fall break, no class

W 10/10 Discuss prose and poetry

HW Read Conrad "The Secret Sharer" 272; Audens "Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone" 825; Frosts " Range Finding" 1054; Hardys "Channel Firing" 1167; Owens "Dulce et Decorum Est" 1178; Owens "Disabled" 1184

F 10/12 Discuss poems and cultural history

HW Read Glaspells Trifles 1335

WEEK NINE: EARLY 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN AND EDWARDIAN

M 10/15 Discuss play

HW Read Chopins "Story of an Hour" 470; Audens "As I Walked Out One Evening" 1249; Frosts "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" 1267; Hardys "The Darkling Thrush" 1974

W 10/17 Discuss Chopin, in-class writing assignment; intro. to Harlem Renaissance

HW Read Hughes "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" 1157; Harlem (A Dream Deferred)" 1175; "I, Too" 1277; "Theme for English B" 1277

F 10/19 Class canceled

WEEK TEN: HARLEM RENAISSANCE

M 10/22 Discuss Hughes

HW Read McKays "The White House" 1051, "The Harlem Dancer" 1055, "America" 1174; Cullens "Yet Do I Marvel" 1056; and Toomers "Song of the Son" 1308

W10/24 Discuss poetry

HW Read Baldwins "Sonnys Blues" 41

F 10/26 Discuss short story

HW Read Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun, Acts I-III, p. 1869

WEEK ELEVEN: 20TH CENTURY AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE

M 10/29 Discuss Acts I-III

HW Read A Raisin in the Sun, Acts IV-V; read Gwendolyn Brooks "We Real Cool" 881; "First Fight, Then Fiddle" 1054

W 10/31 Discuss Acts IV-V and poetry

HW Read Angelous "Africa" 1159; Reeds "beware: do not read this poem" 1062, "I Am a Cowboy in the Boat of Ra" 1160; and Lordes "Hanging Fire" 876

F 11/2 Discuss poetry

HW Read Flannery OConnors "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" 390

 

WEEK TWELVE: 20TH CENTURY SOUTHERN LITERATURE

M 11/5 Discuss short story

HW Read OConnors "Everything that Rises Must Converge" 427

W 11/7 Discuss short story

HW Read Faulkners "A Rose for Emily" 531

F 11/9 Discuss short story

HW Read Vogels How I Learned to Drive, 2177-2199

WEEK THIRTEEN: 20TH CENTURY SOUTHERN LITERATURE

M 11/12 Discuss play and cultural context

HW Read How I Learned to Drive, 2199-2218

W 11/14 Discuss play

HW Read Masons "Shiloh" 761

F 11/16 Discuss short story

WEEK FOURTEEN: BOOK CLUB MEETING

M 11/19 Book Club Meeting

W 11/21 Class canceled for Thanksgiving break

F 11/23 Class canceled for Thanksgiving break

WEEK FIFTEEN: BOOK CLUB PRESENTATIONS

WEEK SIXTEEN: BOOK CLUB PRESENTATIONS

WEEK SEVENTEEN: EXAM REVIEW AND FINAL EXAM