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Schedule of readings and events:

Note: this schedule is subject to change (I will give warning, however).
 

Dates	Readings and Events	Due Dates
Aug. 25	Course introduction
	THINKING ABOUT LITERATURE
Aug. 27	Some opening questions: What is literature? Why do we read it? Study it? "The Zebra Storyteller" and commentary following (2-4); Márquez, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" (405-409)	Home Page construction assigned
Sept. 1	No Class	Labor Day
Sept. 3	Chopin, "Story of an Hour (403-404), Volkman, "Evening" (681-82)
Sept. 8	Responding to literature: Malowe, "Passionate Shepherd" (876-77) and Williams, "This is Just to Say" (703); "Imitating and Answering" (883- 886).
Sept. 10	Evaluating literature: "Most Dangerous Game" and the student essays following evaluating it (477-95); and these poems: Browning, "How Do I Love Thee" (601), Frost, "Range-Finding" (802), Olds, "The Victims" (780), Piercy, "What's That Smell in the Kitchen" (918)
Sept. 15	Continue with poems for evaluation. Bring in your favorite poem or music lyrics	Due: Home Page  Preliminary essay assigned (2 pp)
	WORDS
Sept. 17	Word Choice: "Language: Precision and Ambiguity" (696-702) and Collins, "Lies" (702); Williams, "The Red Wheel Barrow" (703); Hopkins, "Pied Beauty" (704), Jonson, "Still To Be Neat" (705), Herrick, "Delight in Disorder" (705-706)
Sept. 22	Figures of Speech: "Metaphor and Simile" (717-725). Also read "The Twenty-Third Psalm" (725);  Ferry, "At the Hospital" (726); Jarrell, "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" (727),  Shakespeare, "Let me not to the marriage of true minds" (616)	Due: Preliminary essay
Sept. 24	Image: "Picturing: The Language of Description" (710-712); Pastan, "To a Daughter Leaving Home" (666) and "love poem" (603), Oliver, "Singapore" (683-684); Rich, "Storm Warnings" (848); Carver, "Cathedral" (580-590)
Sept. 29	Writing instruction and revision: discussion of annotation assignment and sentence issues from preliminary essay	Annotation project assigned (web project)
Oct. 1	"The Sounds of Poetry" (743-47 only); "External Form" (793-96; stop before the section "The Sonnet") "Stanza Forms" (804); Brooks, "First Fight. Then Fiddle." (792), Thomas "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" (805), Bishop, "Sestina" (806-807), Randall, "Ballad of Birmingham" (912)
Oct. 6	Symbol: "Symbol" (729-730; 733-736); "Young Goodman Brown" (189-198); "Janus," (200-203)
Oct. 8	Midterm exam (in class; 50 min.); also preliminary discussion of results of annotation project
Oct. 14	Conferences--no class. Meet individually at my office.
Oct. 15	Conferences--no class. Meet individually at my office.
	STORIES
Oct. 20	Haiku/Honku: "Haiku" (878-882) and "Honku" at http://www.honku.org/faves.html Here are my examples of honkus	Due: Annotation assignment; Words essay assigned (3pp); Instead of a reading response, write a "honku" for today
Oct. 22	Plot: "Plot" (15-20), "Happy Endings" (20-22); Cheever, "The Country Husband" (23-41)
Oct. 27	Writing instruction and revision	Words essay exchanged
Oct. 29	Setting: "Setting" (157-158); "Rose for Emily" (425-432); Walcott, "Midsummer" (686)
Nov. 3	Character and Persona: Lorde, "Hanging Fire" (656), Brooks, "We Real Cool" (658), Kincaid, "Girl" (409-410) (You might also wish to start  the reading to be discussed on Nov. 5, "Sonny's Blues," since this is a longer story).	Due: Words essay
Nov. 5	Character: "Character" (102-106); Baldwin, "Sonny's Blues" (41-64)
Nov. 10	Point of View: Poe, "Cask of Amontillado" (70-74), Tallent, "No One's A Mystery" (5-6) Also read a poem about point of view: Auden, "Musee des Beaux Arts"  (820)
	PERFORMANCES
Nov. 12	"Drama: Reading, Responding, Writing" (1016-1018; stop on 1018 at break in middle of the page); Sophocles, Antigone, lines 1-862 (pp. 1620-1640)	Stories essay assigned (3pp)
Nov. 17	Web page for results of annotation assignment, and Sophocles, Antigone, lines 863-end (1640-1653)
Nov. 19	Writing instruction and revision	Stories essay exchange
Nov. 24	Three productions of Antigone on video, viewed in class (no reading assigned)
Nov. 26	No class	Thanksgiving Break
Dec. 1	Run Lola Run (watch movie, available at reserve desk at JLC or rent from video store, for today)	Due: Stories essay; Performance essay assigned (3pp)
Dec. 3	Wrap up
Dec. 8	No Class	Due: Performance essay

Other important dates:
 

Sept. 9:	Last day to drop a course with no tuition liability
Sept. 9:	Last day to add a course
Sept. 26	Last day to drop a course

 

Course policies: Readings: The readings for each class are due on the date listed above. Approach each assignment actively by always reading with a pen or pencil in hand. Note words, phrases or sentences that interest you, that seem significant in the context of the work, or that you have questions about. Jot down in the margins any questions or ideas you have about a particular point or the work as a whole. This practice will help you come prepared to discuss the readings in class and get the most out of class discussion; it will also help you become a more skillful reader of literary texts in general. Participation and Attendance: One of the benefits of courses in English is that they are relatively small. If you are in other, larger classes that consist mainly of lecture, in this class you will be able to participate in active discussion with other students. As much as possible we will open up the class to such discussion, to our observations about the ideas presented in a text, about its style, its uses of language, its puzzling qualities--whatever grabs our attention. Contribution to class discussion will not be formally calculated into grades, but I will take participation into account for grades that are borderline. If you aren't in class, you can't participate in discussion, nor will active class participation wholly excuse excessive absences.   Reading Responses: The reading responses are meant to help you read carefully, to prepare for class discussion and to aid you in finding starting points for your essays. A reading response should either ask a question about or observe some aspect of the reading that is not answerable by a fact. For example, asking who dies at the end of the story "The Zebra Storyteller" would not be an appropriate question, since the answer is an easily observable fact. But asking how we are meant to feel about that death, or why the story is so brief, would be appropriate, since these questions are open to speculation and debate. You might also wish to consider how your question or observation would matter for other moments in the text, or why it seems an important matter to consider. A reading response of a about a half page to a page will be required for each day's reading, and collected at the end of class (the responses need not be typed). I will frequently begin class by asking some of you to read out your responses. I will read all your responses and grade them on a credit/no credit basis. They will get credit if they are turned in at the end of class and meet the criteria above. Grading will be based on the number of no credits: 0-3=A; 4-5=B; 6-7=C; 8-9=D; 10 or more=F. I will also use responses to keep track of who was in class for a particular day, so if you were in class but did not do a response (say it's not so!) let me know you were there. If you are absent you may not make up a reading response. Quizzes: Quizzes will pose questions about the day's assigned reading that are objectively and easily answerable if you have read attentively. They will be given irregularly. If you are absent you may not make up a quiz. Paper Due Dates: I expect students to hand in their work on time. Late papers will be graded down a half grade for each day late. On the due date policy for essays for peer review (paper exchange days) see below under "Paper Exchanges." Paper Standards: All papers should be typed with standard margins, spacing and type size. They should be carefully proofread and neatly presented. The writing assignments will relate to issues we have discussed in class, and you are encouraged to bring to bear class discussion in your writing. You are also encouraged to expand on these discussions and credit will be given for new ideas. Paper Exchanges: As one way of helping you with your written work for this class, you will have the opportunity to give and get help in class on the two longer essays assigned for this course. These two essays will be due twice: the first time in class at the paper exchange scheduled about one week after each paper is assigned, and the second time one week following that. During the exchange you'll have a chance to trade your essays with fellow students and raise questions or give each other suggestions for revision. You'll have the second week to revise your essay, based on this input and on your own rethinking and rewriting. The second week after the essay is assigned both the revised and original version of the essay will be handed in to me. I hope that this system will help build revision, so necessary to good writing, into the structure of the course. I'll grade the essays on the basis of the revised version only, but I will expect the original version to be your best initial attempt at the topic. First versions of essays not done, not typed or obviously incomplete will result in a half letter grade reduction in the evaluation of the final version. It would not be fair for other students to have to read work that is not your best; additionally, it is in your interest to write as good an original version as possible, so that your second version is even better. Paper Helps: During the scheduled essay exchanges, you'll have a chance to give and get advice on your work. Additionally, I encourage you to come see me at my office hours or to make an appointment to see me. When we meet, try to have a draft of the paper you are working on. This will give us something more concrete to talk about. There is also available a Writing Center at Robinson A116 that can provide you with further individual attention to your writing. I encourage you to take advantage of this excellent facility. I would also suggest that you give yourself plenty of time to work. Writing a paper at one sitting is, for most people, unpleasant, and the results are not likely to be satisfactory. Start early! Plagiarism: Since this class emphasizes the development of your own close reading and interpretive skills, you are not encouraged to consult secondary sources. If you do choose to look at such work, however, you must cite, using a standard citation format, all the articles, books or other sources that your own writing draws on, either directly or indirectly. Such sources include (but are not limited to) introductions to editions of the texts we're reading, material available on line, and any kind of study aid. Also note that uncited sources will constitute plagiarism even if they ended up in your work without your conscious knowledge (e.g. you forgot you read the material; you confused your own notes with notes on a source), since part of the scholarly responsibility that comes with using secondary sources is keeping track of which words or ideas were yours and which came from a source. If you do not wish to take on this responsibility then you should not consult secondary sources. I will take all suspected cases of plagiarism to the Honor Committee. Midterm and Final: The midterm and final will consist of short answers, close readings, and one or two longer essay questions. They will provide reviews of material covered in the class, and give you the opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of key ideas and skills in the study of literature. The final will be longer than the midterm, and more comprehensive. It will cover material from the first as well as second half of the semester.

Grading: The final grade will be derived as follows:
Reading Responses	10 %
Quizzes	8 %
Preliminary essay	6 %
Annotation web project; words and stories essays each @ 14%	42 %
Performance assignment	8 %
Midterm	10 %
Final	16 %

 

Please come see me if you have any questions about grading, the syllabus or the class. I look forward to having the chance to meet you. Best wishes for a good semester! GRADE CRITERIA FOR ESSAYS A Specific, complex and/or striking thesis, thesis developed without digression through the course of the paper, consistently precise, sensitive and/or striking interpretations of the text, crafted prose, no major mechanical problems B Specific thesis, thesis generally developed through the course of the paper, consistently good interpretation of text, competent prose, minor mechanical problems C Has a thesis, but one that needs greater specificity or complexity, thesis developed with some digression or repetition, some good interpretation, some mechanical problems D Very general thesis, thesis development digressive or repetitive, plot summary or thoughts/speculations not based on textual evidence, major mechanical problems F No thesis or thesis development