English 300 - Schedule

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Aug 26	Introduction to course, course policies and introduction to English Studies. In-class reading of Holst, “The Zebra Storyteller” (2-3).
Unit I: The Text and the Reader: Fiction and Formalism
28	“What is Literature” in the Norton (xxvii-xxxii) Chapter 1, “Getting Started” in the handbook (1-15). Tallent, "No One's a Mystery" (5-6); Chopin, “The Story of an Hour” (403-405); Cheever, The Country Husband” (23-42); Williams, “This is Just to Say” (703);  Millay, “I being born a woman” (919).
Sept 2	Chapter 2 - 4 in the handbook. Traditional, Biographical, and Moral/Philosophical Approaches. Atwood, “Happy Endings” (20-23); Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues” (41-65); Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants” (75-78) Glossary: Criticism Due: Chapters 1 - 4 study questions (WebCT)
4	Due:  Paper #1. Bring this self-reflective essay to Walker 216 on a disk (or h drive or easily accessible form). Use of WebCT.  Post: pre-critical responses to any text so far.  Here's a good "literacy narrative" (a narrative describing how reading has informed your life or worldview)  from NPR's series "This I Believe."
9	Chapter 5, “The Formalistic Approach ” in the handbook along with Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown” and Walker, “Everyday Use." Kafka, “A Hunger Artist” (198-204)) in Norton. Glossary: Formalism, New Criticism, Affective Fallacy, Intentional Fallacy Due: study questions on Chapter 5.
11	Read the introductions to chapters 1-6 of the Norton. “The Open Boat” (301-318); Erdrich, “Love Medicine” (284-300); “A Rose for Emily,” (425-432). See also 433-470 in the Norton on this story. Read the “Writing About Literature” section in the appendix (A3-A17) Post on the symbolism in one of these or Tuesday's stories.
16	Carver, “Cathedral” (580-590); Lawrence, “The Blind Man” (handout); Pre-writing for Paper. Post: on Atlantic Monthly article on style, "A Reader's Manifesto" and/or this one by Jonathan Franzen on the "contract" and "status" models of writer/reader relationships.
Unit II: The Text as Art: Poetry, Language, Verse
18	Some poets on poetry. Read on responding to poems, 600-618 LeGuin, “She Unnames Them” (419-421); Hollander, “Adams Task” (889), Donnelly, “Eve Names the Animals” (889). Please also read Donne, "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” (973); Keats, “To Autumn” (838) and Lorde, “Hanging Fire” (656) Annotate: Cullen, "Yet Do I Marvel” (803).
23-25	Peer Review of Paper #2 (Peer Review Sheets here--fill out one per paper and bring to your group meeting in Young 310; groups and meeting times here). Load your paper, as an attachment, into the discussion area created for your group (see roundtable) by Sunday evening.
30	Study pages 691-702 , 710-711, 717-725 on language and 729-736 on symbol Annotate: Auden, "Musee des Beaux Arts" (820) or Plath, "Morning Song" (680). Post on Arnold, "Dover Beach" (671) or Winters, "At the San Francisco Airport" (694)
Oct 2	In the Norton, Read: on sonnets 793-814 and on "The Sounds of Poetry," 743-754. Annotate: Wordsworth, "Nuns Fret Not" (796) and Frost, “Design” (822). Get in eight (8) items from these poetry terms. Due:  Paper 2: A close reading, or explication de texte, of “Sonny’s Blues,” The Open Boat, “Love Medicine” or another short story in the Norton provided you discuss it with me.
Unit III:  The Text and the Author: Biographical/Psychological Approaches
7	Chapter 6, “The Psychological Approach,” in the handbook (hand in study questions). Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado” (70-74) and “The Raven” (754);   Plath, “Daddy” (926), Sexton, “The Fury of Overshoes” (612).  Also, write a sonnet, sestina, villanelle, limerick or some other poetic form about your pet (note: does not have to be serious--try the form).
9	Keats (830-839) and Rich (846-848; 857-865), 'Storm Warnings" (848), "My mouth . . ." (854). Annotate:  "To Autumn"  or "Diving into the "Wreck" (737)
14	Due:  Paper 3:  Hypertext notes on one poem discussed in class and one of the following: Hopkins, “Spring and Fall,” (758), Donne, “The Good Morrow” (679); Brooks, “First Fight, Then Fiddle” (802); Dickinson, “I dwell in possibility” (702).  Get in at least eight terms from the poetry terms.
16	O’Connor, Flannery, “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” (323-334) Everything that Rises Must Converge” (360-377), and passages and essays (371-377).
21	Chapter 7, “Mythological and Archetypal Approaches” Post: What familiar cultural myths, archetypes, attitudes can you see in a film like The Matrix (or some other). Joyce, “Araby,”(395-399).
23	Pre-writing for paper #4. What author? What texts?
28	Writing workshop for #4. Bring copies of your draft to class.
30	Due:  Paper 4:  Develop a biographical/psychological/archetypal approach to any of the authors/texts we have read to the deliver in the form of a presentation. Or, the author in his or her own context. Load into WebCT. No class this day--Van Noy out of town.
Unit IV:  The Text and its Cultural/Historical Context: Feminist and New Historical Approaches
Nov 4	Chapter 8, “Feminist Approaches,” handbook (with study questions WebCT). Rich (re-read), “Diving into the Wreck” (737), Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” (537-539); Millay, “I, being born a woman and distressed” (919) re-reading. Munro, “Boys and Girls”(385-395)
6	Chapter 9: “Cultural Studies” (handbook, quiz); Fitzgerald, “Babylon Revisited” (handout); Cultural contexts of A Raisin in the Sun and Death of a Salesman (1473-1476) and of poems (899-905).
11	Crossing Cultures: Wheatley, “On Being Brought from Africa” (893); Lee,  "Persimmons" (632); Tan,“A Pair of Tickets” (159-172), Brooks, “To the Diaspora” (968), Carter, “A Souvenir of Japan” (218-224), Mukherjee, “The Management of Grief” (224-235), Baca, “Green Chile” (628)
13	Chapter 10: “Additional Approaches” (with study questions) including ecocriticism. Borges, “The Garden of Forking Paths” (573-580);  Oliver, “Singapore” (683) Porter, “Flowering Judas” (564-572) Post:  Choose a sign and tell how it works/how it can be read. Evolution of a Fish
18	Library or computer room
20	Email two (2) annotations of some researched texts you will use in your paper.  An annotation (root is note) is a brief summary (about a paragraph) of the work, including quotation(s), and some description/commentary of how it will be relevant.  Give an MLA entry and the summary/commentary below.  Here are two samples: sample annotation 1, sample annotation 2.
25-27	Thanksgiving
Dec 2	Careers and concentrations.
4	MLA Workshop. Bring copies of your (quality) draft for members of your group. (Peer Review Sheets here--fill out one per paper; groups and meeting times here). You must be present in class to give your draft to your group members. Try to make your draft as good as it can be--that way you benefit most from peer review.
Exam	Paper due on Tuesday December 13, 12:30 (our exam is really Monday at 8am) . Due:  Paper 5:  Choose two works and explore how the cultural and/or gender context helps to shape their meanings. Write on works you have not already written on.  Or, place the work in a critical context.