English 209 is the first of two courses comprising a selected survey of American literature and cultures.  In this course we will focus on the literature of British North America written in English during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, along with the literature of the early nineteenth century (roughly speaking, from 1620-1860).  We will explore the invention and formation of “Americanness” and “American literature” during this time of upheaval and revolution, examining some of the fundamental ideas, myths, assumptions, intellectual concepts, and popular perceptions that still influence the ways in which Americans think about themselves and their societies.

 

This course is a survey—its intention is to sketch only a broad map of incredibly diverse literary traditions across a span of over two hundred years—using some specific thematic lenses.  Obviously, the diversity of American experience and the amount of time covered by the survey mean that a course of this type will always be relatively cursory.  I have tried to focus the lens for us this semester by asking you to concentrate on literature and cultures of the northeastern seaboard colonies, states, and cities (principally New England).  Your anthology provides a much more expansive selection of literary and cultural expression from other regions of North America during this same period, and I encourage you to peruse these sections on your own as a supplement to the readings we will share in class.

Our objective in 209 is to achieve the following course goals for this semester:

·       Students can produce a literary close reading that addresses both the form and the content of one or more text(s) in the construction of an argument about the text’s meaning.

·       Students attain a broad knowledge of American literary history of the Colonial, the Early National, and the American Renaissance periods.

·       Students gain the confidence and ability to speak in a sophisticated and critical fashion about early American literature.

·       Students will develop effective written communication skills.

·       Students will recognize and identify key concepts in the arts, sciences, and humanities to provide a broad perspective on the human condition.

Grading Scale:

 

100-98 = A+	89-88 = B+	79-78 = C+	69-68 = D+	59 or below = F
97-93 = A	87-83 = B	77-73 = C	67-63 = D
92-90 = A-	82-80 = B-	72-70 = C-	62-60 = D-

 

 

Assignments, Due Dates, and Grade Percentages:

 

            

Exams:

You will take two exams this semester: a midterm and a final. For each test, half of questions will come from class material (lectures, discussions, etc.), while the other half will ask you things about the reading that we may not have discussed in class. In other words, in order to succeed on these exams, you need to read AND attend class regularly.

 

Formal Paper:

You will write one 5-6 page argumentative essay this semester. I am allowing you a good deal of freedom with your individual topics, but your paper needs to focus on texts we cover this semester. More information for this assignment will be given later on in the semester.

 

Reading Response Quizzes:

Over the course of the semester, you will complete 12 reading response quizzes.  These assignments will occur during the first fifteen minutes of selected classes. The fourfold goal of the reading responses is to hold you accountable for completing the course readings, to encourage you to arrive to class on time, to prepare you for course discussions, and to give you ideas for your final paper.  At the end of the semester, I’ll drop your two lowest response scores.  

NUMBER ONE RULE: Assignments not turned in BEFORE or ON TIME earn ZERO POINTS. These assignments include exams, your major graded essay, and the reading response quizzes. Unless we have worked out arrangements ahead of time, missed exams cannot be made up or rescheduled.    

 

If you think that you will be unable to turn in an assignment on time, you must email the professor and ask for an extension in advance.  If the professor determines your circumstance to be extenuating (such as in the event of hospitalization, family death, etc.) and if your request has been made PRIOR to the assignment’s due date, then you may be granted an extension.  A professor-approved extension is the only way in which late work will not earn a zero

I take roll everyday (because I like to know who attends class), but this class does not have a specific attendance policy. You will not be penalized directly for being absent, but you cannot make up the daily quizzes/responses from days that you are absent (and remember that much of what we do and discuss in class will show up on the tests!). If you must miss class, you are responsible for getting the notes for that day from someone else in the class.

 

I do not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences. If you must miss class for a university-sanctioned purpose, let me know ahead of time. If circumstances out of your control cause you to miss multiple classes or if you foresee circumstances affecting your performance in the class, let me know as soon as possible. 

Schedule for English 209

Spring 2010

 

Note: This course schedule is subject to change, but students will receive appropriate notice from the instructor well in advance if changes are deemed necessary.

Page assignments refer to the Norton Anthology of American Literature, 7^th Edition, Volumes A and B.

 

English 209: Schedule of Assignments and Readings
Week 1.  “America” and the Puritan World View
1/12	­ Introduction to the course—The Importance of Critical Reading ­ American visions, American stories: The Puritan World View
1/14	­ Read syllabus in its entirety ­ Read essay “Beginnings to 1700” (Norton Vol. A. pp. 1-16) ­ Read biographical note, John Winthrop (Norton 147) ­ Read Winthrop, A Model of Christian Charity (Norton 147-158)
Week 2.  An Errand Into the Wilderness
1/19	­ Read biographical note, William Bradford (Norton 104-105) ­ Read Bradford, from Of Plymouth Plantation (Norton 105-138)  Last day to register or add a class Last day to drop a course without a grade of “W”
1/21	­ Read Anne Bradstreet selected poetry:   ­ Biographical note (Norton 187-188)   ­ “Before the Birth of One of Her Children” (Norton 205-206)   ­ “To My Dear and Loving Husband” (Norton 206)   ­ “A Letter to Her Husband, Absent Upon Public Employment” (Norton 206-207)   ­ “In Memory of My Dear Grandchild, Elizabeth Bradstreet” (Norton 210)   ­ “On My Dear Grandchild Simon Bradstreet” (Norton 211)   ­ “Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666”  (Norton 212-213)   ­ “To My Dear Children” (Norton 214-217)
Week 3.  The Captivity Narrative and Puritan/Indian Relations
1/26	­ Read biographical note, Mary Rowlandson (Norton 235) ­ Read Rowlandson, A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary   Rowlandson  (Norton 236-255)
1/28	­ Read Rowlandson, A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary   Rowlandson (Norton 256-267)
Week 4.   Travels and Transgressions
2/2	­ Read biographical note, Edward Taylor (Norton 267-268) ­ Read Taylor, selected texts (Norton 278-287) ­ Read biographical note, Sarah Kemble Knight (Norton 368) ­ Read Kemble, The Private Journal of a Journey from Boston to New York (Norton 368-378)
2/4	­ Read “American Literature 1700-1820” (Norton 357-367) ­ Read biographical note, Jonathan Edwards (Norton 384-386) ­ Read Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (425-436)
Week 5.  The Enlightenment and the Gospel of the Self-Made Man
2/9	­ Read biographical note, Benjamin Franklin (Norton 449-451) ­ Read Franklin, from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Norton 472-492)
2/11	­ Read Franklin, from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Norton 492-534)
Week 6.  Prodigious Poetry and Prose: Wheatley Writing
2/16	­ Read biographical note, Phillis Wheatley (Norton 751-752) ­ Read Wheatley, Selections (Norton 752-764) ­ Exam Review
2/18	­ Midterm Exam
Week 7.   The Short Story: Genre Formations
2/23	­ Read “American Literature 1820-1865” (Norton Vol. B pp. 929-950) ­ Read biographical note, Washington Irving (Norton 951-953) ­ Read Irving, “Rip Van Winkle” (Norton 953-963)
2/24	Midterm grade submissions for 100-200 level courses (due 12:00 midnight)
2/25	­ Read Washington Irving, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (Norton 965-985) ­ Read Edgar Allan Poe works: ­ Biographical note (Norton 1528-1532) ­ “The Raven” (Norton 1536-1539) ­ “The Fall of the House of Usher” (Norton 1553-1565) ­ “The Tell-Tale Heart” (Norton 1589-1592) ­ “The Philosophy of Composition” (Norton 1617-1625)
Week 8.  The Gothic and the Romance / The Art of Persuasion: Native American Agency in the Literary Marketplace
3/2	­ Read Nathaniel Hawthorne works:   ­ Biographical note (Norton 1272-1275)   ­ “Young Goodman Brown” (Norton 1289-1298)   ­ “The Minister’s Black Veil” (Norton 1311-1320)
3/4	­ Read Hawthorne, “The Birth-mark” (Norton 1320-1332) ­ Read biographical note, William Apess (Norton 1051-1052) ­ Read Apess, “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man” (Norton 1051-1058)
Week 9.  The “Peculiar Institution”: Imagining Slavery
3/9	­ Read biographical note, Harriet Jacobs (Norton 1808-1809) ­ Read From Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl  (Norton 1809-1829)
3/11	­ Read biographical note, Angelina E. Grimke (Norton 1692) ­ Read Grimke, From “Appeal to the Christian Women of the South” (Norton 1692-1695) ­ Read biographical note, Sojourner Truth (Norton 1695) ­ Read Truth, “Speech to the Women’s Rights Convention” (Norton 1695-1696)
Week 10.  Spring Break
3/16	No Class
3/18	No Class
Week 11.  The “Peculiar Institution”: Living Slavery and the Slave Narrative
3/23	­ Read biographical note, Frederick Douglass (Norton 2060-2064) ­ Read Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Norton 2064-2105)
3/24	Last day to drop a course with a grade of "W"
3/25	­ Read Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Norton 2105-2129)
Week 12.  Women’s Sphere and the Literary Marketplace
3/30	­ Read biographical note, Fanny Fern (Norton1792-1794) ­ Read Fern selections (Norton 1794-1807)
4/1	­ Read biographical note, Rebecca Harding Davis (Norton 2597-2599) ­ Read Davis, “Life in the Iron-Mills (Norton 2599-2625)
Week 13.  American Transcendentalism and the American Self
4/6	­ TURN IN 5-page draft of Formal Essay at the beginning of class for peer workshop
4/8	­ Read biographical note, Herman Melville (Norton 2304-2308) ­ Read Melville, “Bartleby, The Scrivener” (Norton 2363-2389)
Week 14.  American Transcendentalism and the American Self
4/13	­ Read biographical note, Ralph Waldo Emerson (Norton 1106-1110) ­ Read Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Nature (Norton 1110-1138) FORMAL ESSAY DUE TODAY! ­ TURN IN 5-6 Page Formal Essay: Due at the beginning of class
4/15	­ Read biographical note, Henry David Thoreau (Norton 1853-1857) ­ Read Henry David Thoreau, from Walden (Norton 1872-1882 and 2038-2046)
Week 15.  From Romanticism to A New Realism: Walt Whitman
4/20	­ Read biographical note, Walt Whitman (Norton 2190-2195) ­ Read Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”  (Norton 2210-2233)
4/22	­ Read the remainder of Whitman’s “Song of Myself (Norton 2234-2254)
Week 16. From Public Spheres to Private Spaces: Emily Dickinson
4/27     ­ Read biographical note, Emily Dickinson (Norton 2554-58)              ­ Read Poetry Selections: ­ 112 “Success is Counted Sweetest” (Norton 2558-2559) ­ 124  “Safe in their Alabaster Chambers” (Norton 2560) ­ 236  “Some Keep the Sabbath” (Norton 2563) ­ 260  “I’m Nobody” (Norton 2564) ­ 340  “I Felt a Funeral in my Brain” (Norton 2568) ­ 409  “The Soul selects her own Society” (Norton 2574-2575) ­ 448 “I Died for Beauty” (Norton 2576) ­ 466 “I Dwell in Possibility” (Norton 2576)  ­ 479 “Because I could not stop for Death” (Norton 2578) ­ 519 “This is my letter to the World” (Norton 2578) ­ 620 “Much Madness is divinest Sense” (Norton 2581) ­ 764 “My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun” (Norton 2584) ­ 1263 “Tell all the truth but tell it slant” (Norton 2590) ­ 1773 “My life closed twice” (Norton 2594)
4/29    ­ Final Exam Review
FINAL EXAMINATION: Section 014 (12:30-1:45 Class): Monday, May 3, 11:30 am to 2:00 pm Section 006 (2:00-3:15 Class): Wednesday, May 5, 8:00 am to 10:30 am Student must take their final exams during the date and time as scheduled by the University.

 

 

If you are registered with the Office of Disability Services, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible to discuss any course accommodations that may be necessary. If you have a disability, but have not contacted the Office of Disability Services, please call 348-4285 or visit 133-B Martha Parham Hall East to register for services. Students who may need course adaptations because of a disability are welcome to make an appointment to see me during office hours. Students with disabilities must be registered with the Office of Disability Services, 133-B Martha Parham Hall East, before receiving academic adjustments.

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The Academic Misconduct Disciplinary Policy will be followed in the event of academic misconduct.

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