ENGLISH 382: BRITISH LITERATURE SURVEY IIDr. Karen Schneider Spring 2003
CH 118, 745-5714 TR 12:30 - 1:45
karen.schneider@wku.edu www.wku.edu/~karen.schneider
Course Description and Rationale:
English 382 is a survey of British literature from the late 18th through the mid 20th century. Surveys are by nature somewhat overwhelming, but we will attempt to maintain a balance between a broad overview and attention to individual writers and texts. We will study three distinctive--though mutually informative and overlapping--literary/historical "ages": Romantic, Victorian, and Modern. Genres will include poetry, fiction, drama, and a little non-fiction prose. To emphasize that literature develops as part of a larger cultural milieu, we'll look at a little art on the side. Class will consist of a some lecture and a lot of discussion.Teaching Philosophy:
True students are not empty vessels waiting to be filled. They are active participants in the learning process, as responsible for what they learn as is the teacher. I am not here to tell you what literary works mean but, rather, to help you develop your specialized reading skills, to facilitate your critical thinking, and to enhance your appreciation and enjoyment of literature within the larger context of the history of ideas. Your ideas, your ways of seeing are important--more, they are necessary. Ideally, our class will be a learning experience for both of us. Interactive reading and open discussion are vital to this process. And don't just talk to me; talk with your classmates. Debate is at the heart of understanding. Finally, I believe that people tend to achieve no more than what is expected of them; thus, I have high expectations for you. I trust you will accept the challenge . . . and thrive on it.Required Texts:
The Longman Anthology of British Literature (compact ed.), Vol. B
Shelley, M., Frankenstein
Lawrence and Mansfield short stories (I will provide copies)Course Expectations and Requirements:
--Prompt and Regular Attendance. I'm not kidding. More than 2 absences will result in proportional decreases in points allotted for attendance and participation.--Keeping up with all reading assignments and being prepared to discuss them in class. We will not have time to discuss everything we read, so if you are particularly eager to discuss a specific work, be prepared to say so. You are responsible for everything assigned, whether we discuss it in class or not.
–Quizzes: We will have a brief (5 questions) reading quiz over the assigned material most days. These cannot be made up. I will drop two.
--Exams: We will have one exam for each of the three "ages" or course units. The "modern" exam will be at the time of the final. See syllabus for dates. The exams will cover all assigned literature, the background material assigned from the textbook, and any additional lecture material.
--Papers: You will write three (3) four-five page papers, one for each unit. You are free to turn in these papers at any time during the appropriate unit (with absolute deadlines noted on the syllabus). This flexibility will allow you to work around the busiest times in your schedule. Do not procrastinate. Note: Because of this built-in flexibility, I will not accept late papers.
Your paper topics will probably come out of class discussion, although you are free to write about texts we have read but have not discussed. These essays will be literary analyses and should present and support a thesis that will lead your reader to some understanding of the work. You may, for example, explicate a single poem, compare the treatment of an idea in two or more poems (by the same or different authors), analyze a theme, character, symbol, or motif in, or the structure of, a short story or novel, and so forth. If you have little or no experience writing literary analyses, consult "Some Basic Advice on Writing about Literature" on my web site; then come talk with me. This is essential.
All papers must be either computer-generated or typed (double-spaced, with the usual 1" margins, NON-justified on the right). Do not put papers in any kind of binder, but make sure the pages are stapled or clipped together. I reserve to right to return, unread, papers that have not been adequately proofread or otherwise do not meet the requirements. All quoted material requires parenthetical page or line number (poetry) documentation, as per MLA style.
Good writing is an essential component not only of this class, but of good thinking. One of my goals is to help you become better writers. If you know you have problem areas, you should seek help at the appropriate stage of your papers. If I identify problems areas in my comments. I expect you attack them.
If at any point during the semester, you need or desire help--or just additional dialogue--I'll be happy to chat with you or to work with you at any stage of the reading/writing process (brainstorming, planning, outlining, drafting, revising). You can, of course, come by my office any time during my regular office hours, but an appointment is the best way to go.
Office Hours: 9-10 and 1-2 MWF, 2-4 Thursday, and by appt.
You can also get assistance at the Writing Centers (CH 124 and in Helm, e.g.). This is not a proofreading or correction service, however.
A note on PLAGIARISM: I hope never to see plagiarism, but it is only fair that you know the consequences of academic dishonesty: it will result in a zero for the assignment and perhaps failure of the course. The incident could be recorded on your academic record. Keep in mind that even accidental plagiarism is a serious problem. In general, avoid consulting the Internet when writing your papers. If you feel you must turn to secondary material, be sure to document its use fully (in text and on a Works Cited page). All ideas borrowed from a source must be attributed to that source, even when you do not quote from that source.
Grading: Quizzes: 10 pts each (up to 230 pts)
Papers: 300 pts (100 each)
Exams: 300 pts (100 each)
Total: 800 pts
SYLLABUSM 1.13 Introductions
W 1.15 Visit my web site. Explore literary links and "Handouts."
Print copy of marking symbols.
Read "The Romantics and Their Contemporaries."
Receive time line.
______
M 1.20 MLK DayW 1.22 Wollstonecraft: 1469-71
Blake: 1389-90+
"Songs of Innocence and of Experience" 1392-98 and
1401-04 plus "London" and "A Divine Image"
______
M 1.27 Wordsworth: 1520-24+ (inc. "Simon Lee")
from "Preface" to Lyrical Ballads 1533-38
"Tintern Abbey" and "Lines Written a Few Miles above
Tintern Abbey"
"Strange fits of passion have I known"
"She dwelt among th' untrodden ways" and "Lucy Gray"W 1.29 "The world is too much with us"
"Composed upon Westminster Bridge, Sept. 3, 1802"
"My heart leaps up" and "Ode: Intimations of
Immortality" 1610-15
______
M 2.3 Coleridge: 1635-36+
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Kubla Khan"
1655-57
Byron: 1673-75
"She walks in beauty"
Don Juan 1680-87
"Stanzas" and "On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth
Year"W 2.5 P. B. Shelley: 1702-03+
"Ozymandias"
"The Mask of Anarchy" 1710->
"Ode to the West Wind"
"To a Skylark"
reading questions for Frankenstein
______M 2.10 M. Shelley, Frankenstein
W 2.12 Frankenstein, cont.
______
M 2.17 Keats: 1749-51
"Sonnet: When I have fears"
"La Belle Dame sans Mercy"
"Ode to a Nightingale"
"Ode on a Grecian Urn"W 2.19 Paper # 1 Due
Exam Review
______
M 2.24 Romanticism ExamW 2.26 "The Victorian Age" 1783-1805, 1818-19+
______
M 3.3 Tennyson: 1908-10+
"The Lady of Shalott"
"The Lotus-Eaters" (1918-22)
"Ulysses"W 3.5 from "In Memorium A.H.H." 1928+
[stanzas 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 28, 30, 39, 54, 55, 56, 115, 120, 124, 130, 131]
Darwin: 1944+
from On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
______
M 3.10 E. B. Browning: 1858-59+
from Sonnets from the Portuguese, #s 22 and 48
from Aurora Leigh, from Book I (1863-64)R. Browning: 1957-60
"Porphyria's Lover"
"My Last Duchess"W 3.12 Arnold: 2017-20 and "Dover Beach"
Hopkins: 2060-61
"God's Grandeur"
"Pied Beauty
"Spring and Fall"
______
M 3.17 Rossetti, C.: 2043-44
"In an Artist's Studio"
"Goblin Market"
"Aestheticism, Decadence, and the Fin de Siecle" (2140-44)W 3.19 Wilde: 2066-68
"Impression du Matin"
"The Harlot's House"
The Importance of Being Earnest
______
Spring Break
______
M 3.31 Paper # 2 Due
Exam ReviewW 4.2 Victorian Exam
______
M 4.7 "Twentieth Century" (2165-76+)
"The Great War: Confronting the Modern" (2264-66)W 4.9 Hardy: 2254-55
"Hap"
"Neutral Tones"
"The Convergence of the Twain"
Brooke: all
Sassoon: all except "Everyone Sang"
Owen: all except "Strange Meeting"
Rosenberg: all
______
M 4.14 Mansfield, "The Fly"
Lawrence, "The Rocking-Horse Winner"
Larkin, "MCMXIV" (2575)W 4.16 Yeats: 2322-25
"The Lake Isle of Innisfree"
"Easter 1916"
"The Second Coming"
"Sailing to Byzantium"
"Leda and the Swan"
______
M 4.21 Eliot: 2415-17+
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"The Waste Land" (2425-38)W 4.23 Woolf: 2445-47
"Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street"
from Chap. 3, A Room of One's Own (2468-72)
______
M 4.28 Joyce: 2345-47+
"The Dead"W 4.30 Paper # 3 due
Review for Exam
______
Tuesday, 5/6, from 1-3 Modernism Exam