Detailed Schedule | Introduction to the Study of English Literature

Week 1	Aug. 13	No class (Mother's Day observed)
Week 1	Aug. 15	Ways of Reading 1: Introduction: Texts, Tools, Tastes and Conventions Reading O. Henry, "Girl," Whirligigs (1910) Discussion: different ways of reading and how it affects the meaning of the text; reflecting on one's ways of reading and their effectiveness for a text; close reading; plot techniques, building suspense, setting up for climax; function of setting; choice of diction: denotation, connotation; irony; rhythm; pace; imagery; simile, metaphor
Week 2	Aug. 20	2: Why Plot? Reading O. Henry, "Girl," Whirligigs (1910) Edgar E. MacDonald, "Porter, William Sydney (O. Henry)," Dictionary of North Carolina Biography (1994) Curt Homan, "At the Canyon," The World's Shortest Stories (1998) Saki, "The Open Window," Beasts and Super-Beasts (1914) Tida Navakul, "From Lady to Child: The Moving Identity of Vera" (student response) Discussion: plot structures of a story; exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution; mapping plot; Freytag's pyramid; conflict; beginnings and endings; plot twist Creative Writing: (10 minutes) "How short can a story be and still be considered a good story?" asks Steve Moss in his introduction to The World's Shortest Stories. Show what can be done by writing a short short story that features a window or windows. Post your answer to Moss's challenge at Roundtable Conversation. Writing: (30 minutes) Review your notes recording what you believe throughout O'Henry's "Girl." What changes do you notice? How is your response different at various points in the story? What aspects of the text triggered your altered views? How might you characterize the trajectory of these shifts from the beginning of the story to the end? Write a short response discussing movement in O'Henry's "Girl." E-mail me your work or hand it in Wednesday.
Week 2	Aug. 22	3: Driving a Narrative: Techniques and Choices Reading Alice Munro, "Train," Harper's Magazine (2012)
Week 3	Aug. 27	4: Expectations: Form Reading Alice Munro, "Train," Harper's Magazine (2012)
Week 3	Aug. 29	5: Expectations: Character Reading Alice Walker, "Everyday Use," In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women (1973; study guide)
Week 4	Sep. 3	6: Making Connections: Dialogue Reading Alice Walker, "Everyday Use," In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women (1973; study guide)
Week 4	Sep. 5	7: Making Connections: The Mental and the Physical Reading Shirley Jackson, "Charles" (1948) Quiz 1 (20 minutes; in class; on Shirley Jackson's short story "Charles")
Week 5	Sep. 10	8: Symbolic Things Reading Dorothy Parker, Here We Are (1931)
Week 5	Sep. 12	9: Symbolic Acts Reading Dorothy Parker, Here We Are (1931) Practice close reading and writing (40 minutes)
Week 6	Sep. 17	10: The Language of Live Theater: Production, Direction, Performance, and Meaning Reading Lucille Fletcher, Sorry, Wrong Number (1943; study guide)
Week 6	Sep. 19	11: Reading Small and Reading Big: Scenes and Structure Reading Lucille Fletcher, Sorry, Wrong Number (1943; study guide) Practice close reading and writing (40 minutes)
Week 7	Sep. 24	12: Themes and Interactive Meanings Reading Phillis Wheatley, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" (1773) June Jordan, "The Difficult Miracle of Black Poetry in America: Something Like a Sonnet for Phillis Wheatley," Poetry Foundation (2002) Meter and Scansion "Ear Training: Sound and Meter," Purdue Online Writing Lab (includes meter and scansion, poetic feet and line length, sound and rhyme) Susan Tichy, "The Basics of Scansion," George Mason University Al Filreis, "Rhythm and Meter in English Poetry," University of Pennsylvania) Journal entry: a time capsule: You are going to keep a log to record your journey in this course. Our reading for today, Phillis Wheatley's poem, speaks to readers who are prejudiced against the Negro race. For this first entry, consider misguided statements about you. (In class we looked at Simon de la Loubère's 1693 published description of "their Countenance naturally squeez'd and bent like that of Apes, and a great many other things which they have in common with these Animals, as well as a marvellous passion for Children. For nothing is equal to the Tenderness which the great Apes expressed to their Cubs, except the Love which the Siameses have for all Children, whether for their own, or those of another.") Respond to wrongheaded comments about you (defined as specifically or as generally as you choose, ex. as an individual, a person of a particular age, gender, culture, nationality, type, as a human being, as an entity in this time-space) by showing qualities that define you rather than saying what they are. Experiment with forms of writing that suit what you are trying to illustrate or prove. Reading response 1 due (prompt: Compare connections between disparate things in Sorry, Wrong Number and “On Being Brought from Africa to America.” What links two dissimilar entities? Consider the basis and language of difference and the grounds and language of association found to bridge that difference. Why is this bringing together of two elements that usually do not go together significant?)
Week 7	Sep. 26	13: Themes and Contextual Meanings Reading John Milton, Sonnet 19 ("When I consider how my light is spent"; c. 1655; study guide) "The Sonnet: Poetic Form," Academy of American Poets (2016) Discussion: enjambment; rhyme scheme; prose paraphrase; diction
Week 8	Oct. 1	14: The Drama of Sonnets Reading William Shakespeare, Sonnet 138 ("When my love swears that she is made of truth"; 1609; study guide) Ian Johnston, "A Note on Shakespeare's Sonnets," Vancouver Island University (1999) Edward A. Snow, "Loves of Comfort and Despair: A Reading of Shakespeare's Sonnet 138," ELH 47.3 (1980; Chula access) Discussion: the sonnet form, types of sonnets, structure of the sonnet, rhyme scheme, scansion (foot, meter, line), quatrain, couplet, types of rhyme, irony, word play, puns, double entendre, persona; the sonnet and Shakespeare
Week 8	Oct. 3	15: Living Art and Life Reading Edgar Allan Poe, "Sonnet—To Science" (1829) "Sonnet—To Science," Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore (variants and notes) Kyle Miller, "Close Reading of 'Sonnet—To Science'" (2010 student paper)
Week 9	Oct. 8	Test 1 (Midterm week: October 8–12, 2018) (30 points; 90 minutes, in class) In test 1 you will be responding to an essay-type prompt that asks you to discuss short stories and plays. It is helpful to take a few minutes to plan an outline before writing your essays. Formulate a thoughtful thesis/point in responding to the question that allows you to address effectively the requirements of the prompt. The most coherent and logical organization of your response may not be to answer every single question in the prompt cluster in order and separately; structure your essay to most suitably set up, develop and support your argument/idea/points in response to the prompt. Bullet points are not proper paragraph or essay form. Cite specific acts, scenes, lines, or words to illustrate and support your points and claims. You will want to show us your critical and analytical skills: demonstrate that you have read closely and understood the material, that you can critically engage with that material, with discussion in class and outside of class, and with the test question, that you can synthesize material and knowledge gained, and that you can write clear and effective prose. Give your essay a title if you like. Essay Exam Tips "Preparing for Exams," University of Reading "Essay Writing in the Exam Context," University of Essex "Essay Exams," University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Sample Essay Exam Questions and Responses Mary Oliver, "Crossing the Swamp," American Primitive (1978) 2004 AP English Literature and Composition Free-Response Questions Form B 2004 AP English Literature and Composition Scoring Guidelines Form B Sample Student Responses Question 2 AP English Literature Scoring Commentary Form B "Examples of Strong Responses," Purdue University Reminders Follow instructions. If the prompt asks you to discuss two works, do not discuss only one. Have a clear point to make in each of your paragraphs, and in the essay as a whole. Support your ideas with textual evidence. Cite specific acts, scenes, lines, or words to illustrate and substantiate your observations. Avoid plot summary. Order your discussion around the point you are making, not according to the the plot of the story. Elaborate on aspects of scenes or characters to develop and support your points about the story, not to tell the story. Proofread. Sherly Jackson is not the author of "Charls," nor is Dianne the name of the goddess of the moon. Follow academic conventions in writing about literature such as using the literary present tense and referring to authors by their last names. Avoid non-close reading tendencies in your discussion.
Week 9	Oct. 10	Test 2 (Midterm week: October 8–12, 2018) (20 points; 90 minutes, in class) In test 2 you will be responding to an essay-type prompt that asks you to discuss poems.
Week 10	Oct. 15	No class (Bhumibol Memorial Day observed)
Week 10	Oct. 17	16: Patterns and Progression Reading Edmund Waller, "Go, Lovely Rose" (1645; study guide) Discussion: symbolism; speaker, persona; apostrophe; personification; imagery; diction; theme: carpe diem, love
Week 11	Oct. 22	17: Folk Form Reading "The Three Ravens" (c. 16C) The Ballad Susan Tichy and Margaret Yocom, "Traditional Ballads," George Mason University Ted Nellen, "Ballad" (description of the folk and literary ballad) Discussion: the ballad form; symbolism; tone; suspense; irony; personae; metaphor; refrain; rhyme scheme Reading response 2 due (prompt: While the focus of the folk ballad may be on the dead knight and that of Waller’s composition on the maiden, the presence of another set of “characters” is undeniable. What are the ravens and the rose doing in the ballad and in Waller’s song? What purpose do they serve in the poems? Explain their function and significance.) If another issue interests you in either or both of the poems we have read thus far in the second half of the semester, you are welcome to pursue that instead of the above prompt in your second reading response.
Week 11	Oct. 24	18: Lyric Form Reading Thomas Hardy, "The Walk" (1912; study guide) Tim Armstrong, "Thomas Hardy's Poems of 1912–13," A Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry (2001) Rosemarie Morgan, "Thomas Hardy," Victorian Poetry 46.3 (2008) Discussion: diction; repetition; meter; rhyme; rhythm; effects of understatement; interplay between form and content
Week 12	Oct. 29	19: Form and Content 1: Organic Form Reading John Reed, "Operating Room," Poetry 10.5 (1917) Discussion: hyperbole; pathetic fallacy; imagery; diction
Week 12	Oct. 31	20: Form and Content 2: Commentary Reading Henry Wadsworth Longfellow "Aftermath" (1873) "The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls" (1880) Discussion: imagery; metaphor; repetition; alliteration; anaphora
Week 13	Nov. 5	21: Form and Content 3: Visual and Textual Reading William Carlos Williams, "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" (1960) "On 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus,'" Modern American Poetry W. H. Auden, "Musée des Beaux Arts" (1938; study guide) Discussion: allusion; symbols, symbolism
Week 13	Nov. 7	22: Form and Content 4: Framing and Focus Reading William Carlos Williams, "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" (1960) W. H. Auden, "Musée des Beaux Arts" (1938; study guide) Discussion: intertextual relationship; framing ideas vs. images; imagery; diction; enjambment; allegorical influences
Week 14	Nov. 12	23: Novel: The Literary Long Form Reading Octavia E. Butler, Kindred (1979) Discussion: plot structure and chapter divisions; character dynamics and development; kindred themes
Week 14	Nov. 14	24: Genre Conventions and Author Originality Reading Octavia E. Butler, Kindred (1979) Randall Kenan, "An Interview with Octavia E. Butler," Callaloo, vol. 14, no. 2 (1991; Chula access) *Reading response 3 draft due (optional)
Week 15	Nov. 19	25: Time Reading Octavia E. Butler, Kindred (1979)
Week 15	Nov. 21	26: Travel Implications Reading Course packet Octavia E. Butler, Kindred (1979)
Week 16	Nov. 26	Exploring Literature If you are planning to use PowerPoint, make sure it is compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 version. Also embed or include files of any nonstandard fonts that are in your presentation. Let me know of any other audiovisual needs by 4 p.m. Friday, November 23, 2018. About 5 minutes per speaker (15 minutes per panel) followed by a 10-minute question and answer session Schedule 1. Rufus’s Weird Love for His Mother, Lover and Savior 9:30–9:55 a.m. Presiding: Chollada Kessuwan Speakers: 1. “Rufus and His Mother,” Sukrita Wongnongtaey 2. “Forcing Love,” Nattaya Boonyaphaisalkul 3. “Rufus’s Love for Dana,” Pemika Pupakorn Respondents: 1. Chanakarn Wanichodom 2. Chayuda Lattayaporn 3. Sasikan Siangjun 2. Becoming a Slave 10:00–10:25 a.m. Presiding: Thai Phutthitada Speakers: 1. Piengfa Chumwangwapee 2. Pimchutha Prasoetsang 3. Pichaya Chirawatana 4. Chayuda Lattayaporn Respondents: 1. Nopparuj Sriratsirikul 2. Panida Maneetavat 3. Nattaya Boonyaphaisalkul 4. Rinrada Suebsoh 3. Identity Change 10:30–10:55 a.m. Presiding: Nattaya Boonyaphaisalkul Speakers: 1. “Rufus’s Growing Views of Dana,” Kanyarat Tanyadul 2. “Is Change a Change?: Margaret’s Identity,” Chollada Kessuwan 3. “Violence and Dana,” Kulatida Sukthana Respondents: 1. Thai Phutthitada 2. Peeraya Boontawee 3. Phannika Tharninthra
Week 16	Nov. 28	Exploring Literature Schedule 4. Theme Potluck Breakfast 7:30–9:25 a.m. Theme potluck breakfast hosted by section 1. You are welcome to bring themed breakfast foods inspired by our course reading list to eat and share with friends Wednesday morning. Currently on the menu: jelly donuts, plantation corn, Vivienne's gourmet sandwich squares, spattered gules, lovely rose tea. Come early and have breakfast together! 5. Variations on Repetition 8:00–8:30 a.m. Presiding: Sukrita Wongnongtaey Speakers: 1. Chanakarn Wanichodom 2. Rinrada Suebsoh 3. Phannika Tharninthra 4. Panida Maneetavat Respondents: 1. Piengfa Chumwangwapee 2. Chollada Kessuwan 3. Pichaya Chirawatana 4. Kulatida Sukthana 6. The Power of Image(ry) 8:30–9:00 a.m. Presiding: Panida Maneetavat Speakers: 1. “Go, Lovely Rose,” Peeraya Boontawee 2. “Operating Room,” Nopparuj Sriratsirikul 3. “The Three Ravens,” Thai Phutthitada 4. “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus,” Sasikan Siangjun Respondents: 1. Pemika Pupakorn 2. Sukrita Wongnongtaey 3. Pimchutha Prasoetsang 4. Kanyarat Tanyadul Reading response 3 due (2 pp., MLA format) Writing in College Writing Prose (handbook on college writing, Yale University; pdf file) Sources and Citation (Dartmouth College; pdf file) Writing about Literature Getting an A on an English Paper: Close Reading
Week 17	Dec. 3	Final Exam (1:00–4:00 p.m.; BRK 301 sections 1, 3 and 5; BRK 304 sections 2, 4 and 6) The final exam consists of three parts: the first on an unseen poem, the second on poems in the second half of the semester, and the third on the novel Kindred. Part 1, among other things, will require you to scan, paraphrase and indicate rhyme scheme of a poem text. Parts 2 and 3 each will require you to write an essay in response to a prompt on the works we have read.