Dr. Jennifer Keith
ENG 344, MCVR 330: M & W 2:00-3:15
Office hours (MCVR 120): M & W 12:00-1:00, T 4:15-5:00, and by appointment
tel.: 334-4692; e-mail: jmkeith@uncg.edu

This speaking-intensive survey focuses on oral interpretation as fundamental to understanding and analyzing poetry. Students will analyze how reading poems aloud reflects and guides the interpretation of a poem. Assignments are constructed with the assumption that reading poetry is a performance that engages the senses and that this sensory experience enhances analytical and creative responses to the poems.

Learning Goals: At the completion of this course, the student will be able to
• Identify and understand varied characteristics of literature
• Apply techniques of literary analysis to texts
• Use literary study to develop skills in careful reading and clear writing
• Demonstrate understanding of the diverse social and historical contexts in which literary texts have been written and interpreted

The goals of this speaking-intensive section include
• improving the student’s ability in oral communication
• enhancing learning through active oral engagement

Texts
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 7th ed., vol. 2
William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience (Oxford Univ. Press facsimile edition)
Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook
English Poetry 600-1900 database (abbreviated as EP on the syllabus): print and bring to class
poems assigned from this database
materials on electronic reserve

Readings
Aug. 16 Introduction
Aug. 18 “The Romantic Period” (1-23); Oliver, “Sound” (19-28); Robinson, “London’s
Summer Morning” (92); Burns, “To a Mouse” (105), “A Red, Red Rose” (115); “Song:
For a’ that and a’ that” (116)

Aug. 23 Oliver, “More Devices of Sound” (29-34); Blake, “Introduction,” “The Lamb,”
“ The Little Black Boy” (Songs of Innocence)
Aug. 25 Oliver, “Imagery” (92-108); Blake, “The Divine Image,” “Night” (Songs of
Innocence)

30 Fussell, Poetic Meter and Poetic Form (3-29: e-reserve); Blake, “Introduction,” “Earth’s Answer,” “London” (Songs of Experience)
Sept. 1 Fussell, Poetic Meter and Poetic Form (30-61: e-reserve); Blake, “The Tyger”
and “The Human Abstract” (Experience), “Holy Thursday” (both Innocence
and Experience), “The Chimney Sweeper” (both Innocence and Experience); Nurmi, “Fact and Symbol in ‘The Chimney Sweeper’” (e-reserve)
Annotations due at beginning of class

Sept. 6 Labor Day—no class
Sept. 8 Oliver, “The Line” (35-57); W. Wordsworth, Preface to Lyrical Ballads (238),
“We Are Seven” (224), “Resolution and Independence” (280)

Sept. 13 Oliver, “Some Given Forms” (58-66); W. Wordsworth, “Strange fits of passion
have I known” (251), “She dwelt among the untrodden ways” (252), Nutting (258),
“The Solitary Reaper” (293), Dorothy Wordsworth, “The Floating Island” (handout)
Sept. 15 Seward, “The Poppy”
(EP: go to the Jackson Library homepage, click on “reserves,” click on “P”and then
on “Poetry Full-Text,” and then scroll down to and click on “English Poetry [600-
1900]”; enter the name of poet and title of poem; be sure to bring your
printed copy to class); Smith, “To Night” (33), “Written in the
Church-Yard at Middleton in Sussex” (34), “On Being Cautioned” (34), “The Sea
View” (35); W. Wordsworth, “London” (297), “The world is too much with us” (297)

Sept. 20 W. Wordsworth, “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” (235),
“Ode: Intimations of Immortality” (286)
Sept. 22 Coleridge, from Biographia Literaria (474-86), “The Eolian Harp” (419), “Kubla
Khan” (439), “Metrical Feet” (EP)

Sept. 27 Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (422)
Sept. 29 Coleridge, Christabel (441)

Oct. 4 Review
Oct. 6 Exam 1

Oct. 11 Fall Break—no class
Oct. 13 Byron, Manfred (588)

Oct. 18 Manfred, cont.
Oct. 20 Manfred, cont.

Oct. 25 P. B. Shelley, “A Song: Men of England” (727), England in 1819” (728), “To
Constantia, Singing” (EP), “With a Guitar. To Jane” (EP)
Oct. 27 P. B. Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind” (730), A Defence of Poetry (789)

Nov. 1 Keats, “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” (826), “When I have fears that
I may cease to be” (833), Letters (886)
Nov. 3 Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes” (834), “La Belle Dame sans Merci” (845)

Nov. 8 Keats, “Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art” (845), “Sonnet
to Sleep” (847), “On the Grasshopper and Cricket” (EP)
Nov. 10 Keats, “Ode on Melancholy” (853), “To Autumn” (872), “This living hand” (EP)

Nov. 15 Hemans, “Casabianca” (815), “The Image in Lava” (EP), “Properzia
Rossi” (EP) ; L.E.L., “Love’s Last Lesson” (1037), “Revenge” (1040)
Nov. 17 Clare, “Pastoral Poetry” (805), “Nutting” (EP: both poems with this title),
“The Eternity of Nature” (EP)

Nov. 22 Clare, Autobiographical Passages and Journey out of Essex (e-reserve), “Mouse’s
Nest” (807) “I Am” (808)
Nov. 24 Thanksgiving Holiday—no class

Nov. 29 Not about Nightingales: Finch, “To the Nightingale” (e-reserve); Carstairs,
“Nightingale” (handout); Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale”(849); Clare, “The Nightingale’s
Nest”(803)
Dec. 1 Review

Dec. 6 Exam 2

Attendance Policy: Excellent attendance and thoughtful participation are very important to your success in this course. You are expected to attend every class meeting. Arriving late or leaving early is strongly discouraged. If you do arrive after the roll is called or after the attendance sheet has circulated, you are responsible for notifying me at the end of the class session.

Arriving late to class or leaving early is the equivalent of 1/2 absence.

Over the course of the semester, you may have two absences without any penalty or excuses required. If during the semester you have more than two unexcused absences, your final grade will be lowered by one third of a letter grade for each additional unexcused absence. I will only excuse an absence if you have had a serious illness or problem and if you provide me with documentation for that absence. You are responsible for providing me with this official documentation. If during the entire semester you have more than six absences, excused or unexcused, I reserve the right to drop you from the course. If you have missed three classes in the first two weeks, I reserve the right to drop you from the course.

Academic Integrity: Familiarize yourself with the Honor Code of the university to be sure that you avoid committing plagiarism. If at any time you have questions about plagiarism—the use of someone else’s ideas or words without indicating their source—please feel free to discuss the matter with me.

Assignments and responsibilities: The reading assignments are to be completed before the beginning of class on the date indicated. I expect enthusiastic and informed discussion of the material. You are expected to have read carefully and prepared for the discussion of every work assigned. Take notes as you read and mark significant passages. Look up in the dictionary any word that you do not know. As you read, consider each work’s similarities with and differences from other works already studied in the course. Part of your preparation for class should include answering--in writing--any questions that I ask you to consider for discussion. The syllabus is subject to change: you are responsible for keeping up with any changes to the syllabus announced in class. You will not be allowed to make-up pop quizzes or homework assignments. There will be no make-up exams.

Your final grade will be determined according to these percentages:
participation in class discussion, homework, pop quizzes 10%
Annotation 5%
exam 1 15%
exam 2 20%
first oral presentation 15%
essay 15%
second oral presentation 20%

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