Lit 100 Fall 2006 Syllabus

Course Description:
=> This course is designed to introduce students to a wide variety of fiction, poetry and drama focusing on British and American literature since the Renaissance. Through reading literature, we can come to a greater understanding of the time periods in question while simultaneously gaining a better understanding of ourselves. However, the critical reading of literature also helps us develop our reasoning skills, skills that can be used in a multitude of fields. While reading the works discussed in class, we will consider them from many different perspectives. We will discuss their traditional place in society as well as their more contemporary interpretations.

Course Outcomes:
=> By the end of this course, students should:
1) Be fluent in a variety of literary styles
2) Be able to critically discuss fiction, poetry and drama
3) Understand mechanical literary devices such as rhyme, meter, metaphor,irony, theme, plot, and character development
4) Understand linguistic devices such as figures of speech, imagery, tone, and symbols
5) Understand the connection between the production of literature and the political and cultural environment from which the poems come.

Attendance
=> This course is primarily discussion based, so it is important that you are here on a regular basis. Furthermore, as there are only seven weeks throughout the semester, missing one class is like missing two classes during a fall or winter semester.

Course Policies:
=> Be on time. Arriving late is rude and will cause you to miss important information. This can greatly affect your participation grade.
=> If you are absent, find out what you missed from a class mate. (It is a good idea to exchange phone numbers with someone for this purpose.)
=> Late papers will not be accepted.
=> All work must be typed (with a font of 10 - 12, in “Times New Roman”), double spaced, stapled, and complete, following the standard MLA format.

Plagiarism:
=> This is the act of using an outside source (a quote, a fact, or a paraphrase) without proper citations. Most often this is done accidentally, without the knowledge of the writer; never the less, it is illegal, and will result in failure. Proper citation will be focused on throughout the course, so this will hopefully not become an issue.

Course Supplies:
=> Kennedy, X. J. and Dana Gioia. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama 9th. Ed. New York: Pearson Longman 2005.
=> Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. 4th Ed. Paul B. Armstrong, ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2005.
=> You also need a good collegiate dictionary.

Course Requirements and Grading:
=> There is a five page paper. For your topic, you can choose between “Hamlet,” Heart of Darkness, Emily Dickinson, or Langston Hughes. You must construct a focused analysis of one aspect of the work or works upon which you are focusing. Do not simply summarize the work or the writer’s life. Focus on a unified thesis and include references to at least to of the essays in the book and at least one outside source. (250 points)
=> There is a take-home mid-term exam based on three essay questions. You will be given the questions well in advance, and you will have some choice as to which questions you will answer. This will be due October 31. (240 Points)
=> There is a take home final exam, and again, there will be some choice as to the essay questions you will respond to. When you turn it in, there will also be an in class essay. This will be due December 19. (300 Points)
=> Participation: this course is primarily discussion based, so it is important that you are here and participating on a regular basis. (160 Points)
=> There will also be six ten point reading comprehension quizzes throughout the semester. I will drop the lowest score. (50 Points)
=> Extra Credit: TBA

COURSE CALENDAR
Date In Class

September 7 Introduction: Walt Whitman: “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” Handout; William Carlos Williams: “The Red Wheelbarrow” P 731; Margeret Atwood: “Happy Endings” P 497

September 12 Renaissance: William Shakespeare: “My Mistress’ Eyes are Nothing like the Sun” P 1238, “Shall I Compare thee to a Summer’s Day” P 815; John Donne: “Death, Be not Proud” P 1162; “Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God” P 753

September 14 Robert Herrick: “To the Virgins to Make Much of Time” P 1191 “Upon Julia’s Clothes” P 761; John Milton: “When I consider How My Light is Spent” P 1212
Andrew Marvell: “To His Coy Mistress” P. 1208

September 19 William Shakespeare: “Hamlet” P 1603

September 21 “Hamlet” con’t

September 26 “Hamlet” con’t

September 28 Romanticism: William Blake: “The Lamb” handout, “The Tyger” P 778, “London” P 778; William Wordsworth: “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” P 727, “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” P 1263

October 3 Edgar Allen Poe: “The Fall of the House of Usher” P 391; Phyllis Wheatley: “On Being Brought from Africa to America” handout

October 5 Nathaniel Hawthorne: “Young Goodman Brown” P 584

October 10 Walt Whitman: “A Noiseless Patient Spider” P 1258, “I Hear America Singing” P 1259; Emily Dickenson: “Because I could not stop for Death” P. 1254, “Wild Nights - Wild Nights” P 969

October 12 Victorianism: Charlotte Perkins Gilman: “The Yellow Wallpaper” P. 571

October 17 Alfred, Lord Tennyson: “Ulysses” P 111250; Robert Browning: “My Last Duchess” P 712; Matthew Arnold: “Dover Beach” P 1141

October 19 Ambrose Bierce: “An Occurrence at Owl Creak Bridge” P 501

October 24 Henrik Ibsen: “A Doll’s House” P 1809

October 26 “A Doll’s House” con’t

October 31 Modernism: William Butler Yeats: The Second Coming” P982; James Joyce: “Araby” P 612; Mid Term Exam Due

November 2 T. S. Eliot: “The Winter Evening Settles Down” P 792, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” P 1169

November 7 John Millington Synge: “Riders to the Sea” P 1322

November 9 Zora Neale Hurston: “Sweat” P 594; Langston Hughes: “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” P 1125, “Harlem” P 1175

November 14 Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness

November 16 Heart of Darkness con’t

November 21 Heart of Darkness con’t

November 23 No Class: Thanksgiving

November 28 Edna St. Vincent Millay: “What Lips My Lips have Kissed” P 919; William Carlos Williams: “This is Just to Say” P 750; e. e. cummings: “in Just” P 949; Paper Due

November 30 Post-Modernism: Jorge Luis Borges: “The Gospel According to Mark” P 508; Terrence McNally: “Andre’s Mother” P 2060

December 5 Flannery O’Connor: “Good Country People” P 416

December 7 Alice Walker: “Everyday Use” P 102; Adrienne Rich: “Living in Sin” P 1230

December 12 Amy Uyematsu: “The Ten Million Flames of Los Angeles” P 1255, Derek Walcott: “The Virgins” P 1257; Adrian Louis: “Looking for Judas” P 1206

December 19 Final Exam