SOUTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY

Transcription

1 Hawes 1 SOUTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY Instructor s Name: Dr. Janice Hawes Department: English and Modern Languages School: College of Education, Humanities, and Social Sciences Course Prefix, Number, and Title: E 508 Graduate Survey of British Literature Instructor s Building/Office Number: Turner Hall A / 262 Instructor s Office Hours: (Based on Current Semester Schedule) Instructor s Office Telephone Number: / jhawes@scsu.edu Primary Textbook: The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Major Authors (8 th Edition). Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: Norton, I. COURSE DESCRIPTION (as stated in the Catalog) E 508. Survey of British Literature. 3(3,0). An in-depth coverage of British literature from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. Representative selections are covered from such major writers as Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Swift, Pope and Tennyson. Other notable literary works are treated as well. Students are expected to engage in the analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of literary works, and to do research on assigned topics Credit Hours / Lecture hours II. COURSE RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES English 508 is a chronological survey of some of the major works and authors of English literature. The course will begin with the Old English Period and the Middle English Period, continue with the works of the Renaissance/Early Modern Period and the Restoration and the Neo-Classical Period and then finish with the Romantic and Victorian Periods. In keeping with the mission of South Carolina State University, this course is designed to help prepare students to be socially aware graduates ready to live in a dynamic global society. Class discussion will involve detailed exploration of the historical and social contexts of each our texts. Valid interpretations will exhibit both careful close reading and a basic understanding of the culture and time period in which each author lived. One of the areas of focus for this course, for example, will be on social reform: ideas about progress, and how issues of race, class, and gender complicate our understanding of each author s discussion of progress and tradition. Although this course is roughly divided into literary time periods, class discussion will exhibit an awareness of the varieties of voices within each time period. Thus, while the class will strive to create a basic definition of each period, class discussion will also consider ways in which different texts challenge that definition. Moreover, students will be expected to consider how writers have influenced one another, both within a time period and across time periods. Class discussion, for instance, will often focus on the realities of daily life for individuals in different classes, the ways in which different classes in England are depicted in certain texts, the discussion within texts of legal reform to ensure more equal rights for people across class boundaries, and how later ideas about such reform (including contemporary ideas) were influenced by (and often built upon) earlier ideas. III. COURSE COMPETENCIES This course is designed to assist graduate students in fine-tuning their reading comprehension skills, critical thinking skills, and research skills (skills that are essential for success in certification exams, graduate school applications, and other endeavors beyond the program) through close reading of a variety of texts, class discussion, in-class short argumentative essays, the research paper, and various reflective papers on the readings assigned. In addition, through oral presentations to the class and a short paper with a pedagogical focus, students will improve their skills in incorporating their increasing knowledge into their own teaching.

2 Hawes 2 IV. EXPECTED MEASURABLE OUTCOMES 1. Having completed the class activities, reading assignments, and writing assignments for Unit 1, the English Literature student will be able to do the following in a well organized and supported short essay exam: define epic, explain how certain works in Unit 1 reflect the heroic and/or sacred tradition of the Old English Period, define romance, describe the basic characteristics of a romance hero, explain how the certain works discussed in Unit 1 incorporate the medieval romance tradition, explain how each text in Unit 1 is representative of the context in which it was written, identity important themes in each text, and compare and contrast the themes of at least two texts in Unit Having completed the class activities, reading assignments, and writing assignments for Unit 2, the English Literature student will be able to do the following in a well organized and supported short essay exam: define comedy, describe the comic elements of Shakespeare s Twelfth Night, describe the romance elements of Spenser s The Fairie Queene, describe the elements of the literary forms of poetry and drama, identify important themes in each text from Unit 2, explain how each text is representative of the context in which it was written, and compare and contrast how the literary form helps develop an important theme in at least one larger work and one shorter work from Unit Having completed the class activities, reading assignments, and writing assignments for Unit 3, the English Literature student will be able to do the following in a well organized and supported short essay exam: describe the ideals of the Neo-Classical tradition in literature, explain how each work in Unit 3 is representative of that tradition and how it challenges that tradition, define satire, explain the satiric elements in at least two of the works in Unit 3, identify important themes in each text from Unit 3, and compare and contrast an important theme in at least two works from Unit Having completed the class activities, reading assignments, and writing assignments for Unit 4, the English Literature student will be able to do the following in a well organized and supported short essay exam: define and give examples of some of the major ideals of the Romantic Period, explain how each work in Unit 4 reflects and/or challenges the traditional scholarly description of the ideals and norms of the Romantic Period, explain how at least two works reflect the transition from the Neo-Classical Period to the Romantic Period, explain how each text in Unit 4 is representative of the context in which it was written, identity important themes in each text, and compare and contrast the themes of at least two texts in Unit Having completed the class activities, reading assignments, and writing assignments for Unit 5, the English Literature student will be able to do the following in a well organized and supported discussion journal: define and give examples of some of the major ideals of the Victorian Period, explain how each work in Unit 5 reflects and/or challenges the traditional scholarly description of the ideals and norms of the Victorian Period, explain how at least two works reflect the transition from the Romantic Period to the Victorian Period, explain how each text in Unit 5 is representative of the context in which it was written, identify important themes in each text, and compare and contrast the themes in at least two works from Unit Having completed the class activities, reading assignments, and writing assignments for Units 1 and 2, the English student will be able to produce a brief textual analysis of at least one major work that goes beyond the scope of class lecture. 7. Having completed the class activities, reading assignments, and writing assignments for Units 1, 2, and 3, 4, and 5, the English student will be able to produce textual analysis of at least one major work that goes beyond the scope of class lecture in a well organized and well supported term paper that incorporated properly cited historical and critical research and explain his/her analysis and conclusions to the class in an oral presentation.

3 Hawes 3 V. OUTLINE OF COURSE CONTENT Unit 1: The Medieval Period 8/24 Introduction to Class; The Dream of the Rood ; Caedmon s Hymn 8/31 Beowulf 9/7 Chaucer s Canterbury Tales: selections from the General Prologue (lines 1-271, lines , lines , and lines ), The Wife of Bath s Prologue and Tale 9/14 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Passage ID Quiz Unit 2: The Early Modern Period 9/21 selections from Spenser s The Fairie Queene (Book I: Opening, Canto 1, Canto 2, Canto 4, Canto 7); begin discussion of sonnets 9/28 Shakespeare s Twelfth Night; continue discussion of sonnets 10/5 selections from Milton s Paradise Lost (Books 1, 2, 4, and 9); Passage ID Quiz Midterm 10/12 Short Essay Due; In-Class Brief Presentations (An assignment sheet will be passed out ahead of time.) 10/19 No Class: Fall Break Unit 3: The Neo-Classical Period 10/26 Pope s The Rape of the Lock; selections from Swift s Gulliver s Travels (TBA) Unit 4: The Romantic Period 11/2 selections from Blake s Songs of Innocence and Experience and Visions of the Daughters of Albion (TBA); Wordsworth s Preface to Lyrical Ballads, Tintern Abbey, Resolution and Independence and selections from The Prelude 11/9 Wordsworth continued; Wordsworth s The Ruined Cottage ; Baillie s A Winter s Day ; Keats s Ode to a Nightingale ; Clare s The Nightingale s Nest 11/16 Coleridge s Rime of the Ancient Mariner ; selections from Wollestonecraft s A Vindication of the Right of Woman (TBA); finish discussion of Romanticism; Passage ID Quiz Unit 5: The Victorian Period 11/23 Browning s My Last Duchess ; E.B. Browning s Aurora Leigh (selections TBA); Rosetti s Goblin Market ; selections from Mill s The Subjection of Women ; research paper due; oral presenations 11/30 Tennyson s The Lady of Shalott and Ulysses ; Arnold s Dover Beach and Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse ; oral presentations

4 Hawes 4 VI. LIBRARY ASSIGNMENTS The term paper project, including the oral presentation, will involve research in the library and use of SCSU library resources. See the description of this project below for further information. In addition, there will be a sonnet definition and analysis activity that will involve some research in the library. Detailed assignment sheets will be passed out for both assignments at a later date. VII. SPECIAL COURSE REQUIREMENTS In addition to in-class assignments, there will be a short essay requiring careful close reading of a work of literature. This brief project will include a brief oral presentation based on the essay topic. Moreover, there will be a longer researched term paper project requiring each student to illustrate an understanding of the relationship between the social and historical context of a work of literature and a valid interpretation of that work. Part of the research project will be an oral presentation to the class where students will have the opportunity to teach the text that they have been studying closely during the semester. Students will also be responsible for maintaining a reading reflections journal, based on prompts provided that are designed to encourage student engagement with the texts assigned for class and to assist students in strengthening their reading skills, analytical skills, and teaching skills. VIII. METHOD OF EVALUATION 15% of course grade: Short Essay There will be a short essay (4 pp. typed and double-spaced) assigned during the first half of the semester that will be a close reading of a work or works discussed so far in the class. This paper will not involve any outside research; instead, focus on supporting your own interpretation of the text using evidence from that work of literature only. (This method used to be called New Criticism.) 10% of course grade: Brief Oral Presentation based on the Short Essay For this oral presentation you will be teaching a close reading of the work you discussed in your short essay. Obviously, you should employ the close reading you did in the written portion of the assignment to organize your discussion. 15% of course grade (5% each): Short Essay Quizzes The quizzes will be announced, short essay quizzes given at the beginning of class. All reading assignments, including the literature and the historical background information in the Norton, are fair game for the quizzes. You will be given a choice of passages from our works to choose from, and you will discuss those works in terms of the context and close reading we discussed in class. 15% of the course grade: Reading Reflections Journal You will be responsible for keeping a typed and double-spaced reading journal. While these short written assignments are not as formal as the term paper, you should follow the standards of basic good writing, including having some basic organization to your argument and a clear point you are trying to make. I encourage you to think of these assignments as opportunities to get your ideas together for the papers, the exams, and other assignments, since much of their focus will be the context in which each of our works was written. Keep in mind that, while these reflections are not collected individually but as a unit, you should keep up with the assignments so that you have enough time to give each prompt careful thought and make sure that your writing reflects that careful thought. An assignment sheet with the reading reflections and the due date for the entire journal will be passed out during the second week of the class. 45% of course grade: Term Paper Project, Oral Presentation, and Related Assignments The 7-10 page typed and double-spaced research paper will involve comparison of works and genres. You will incorporate outside sources and demonstrate proper understanding of incorporating those sources to support your argument and an ability to cite those sources properly. This paper will be 20% of your course grade. (Continued on the next page.)

5 Hawes 5 We will discuss this in more detail, and I will pass out a detailed assignment sheet for the paper. Paper Format will follow the guidelines for writing from the Modern Language Association (MLA). (See a good writing handbook.) These guidelines cover areas such as citation and manuscript format. I expect your paper to be in the following form: typed, double-spaced, one-inch margins, twelve-point font, titled, stapled, proofread. Put your name, my name, class name, and date on the left hand top corner. Do not include a cover page. A title should be centered at the top of the first page and should be specific to your topic. ( Term Paper: Chaucer is not an appropriate title for your paper, and neither is Beowulf. ) To be considered on time, your paper must be turned in at the beginning of class on the day it is due; papers turned in to me after I have picked the assignments up at the beginning of class will be counted late. If you know in advance that you cannot attend class and you have a legitimate excuse, it is your responsibility to contact me before the due date to make arrangements for turning in the assignment. If a final draft is late, I will accept the paper up until the time I submit the final class grade, but the grade will be lowered automatically by 1/3 letter grade for every day it is late. The process of writing the research paper will be part of your course grade. You will be expected to submit a topic proposal, an outline, a working thesis statement, a working bibliography and a draft to me on certain due dates. This part of the assignment will be worth 5% of your course grade. Each student will present an oral report towards the end of the semester to the class. Basically, you will be teaching the text on which you are already doing your research project to us. Thus, this report will be more than simply reviewing what has been covered in class and more than simply summarizing your research paper to us. Strive to explain your ideas about the text in detail appropriate to an oral report. While I encourage you to use technology (PowerPoint, etc.) if you want, keep in mind that substance is always more effective than mere flash. You should put careful thought into this oral report, in other words. This assignment will be worth 20% of the course grade. IX. BIBLIOGRAPHY Abrams, M. H. The Mirror and the Lamp. New York: Oxford, Arnold, Matthew. Poetry and Criticism. Ed. A. Dwight Culler. Boston: Houghton, Baldwin, Dean and Patrick J. Quinn, eds. An Anthology of Colonial and Postcolonial Short Fiction. Boston: Houghton, Bate, Walter Jackson. From Classic to Romantic. New York: Harper, Beidler, Peter, ed. The Wife of Bath: Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism. Boston: Bedford, Benson, Larry, ed. The Riverside Chaucer. New York: Houghton, Berry, Philippa. Of Chastity and Power: Elizabethan Literature and the Unmarried Queen. New York: Routledge, Bjork, Robert and John Niles, eds. A Beowulf Handbook. Lincoln Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, Brown, Peter. A Companion to Chaucer. Maiden, MA: Blackwell, Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Aurora Leigh. M. E. Braddon, ed. Leipzig: Hernhard Tauchnitz, Carver, Martin. Sutton Hoo: Burial Ground of Kings? Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998.

6 Hawes 6 Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. Of Giants: Sex, Monsters, and the Middle Ages. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness: A Norton Critical Edition. New York: Norton, Cooper, Helen. The Canterbury Tales (Oxford Guides to Chaucer). New York: Oxford UP, Baker, Peter S. Beowulf: Basic Readings. New York: Garland, Boose, Lynda and Richard Burt. Shakespeare: The Movie. New York: Routledge, Damico, Helen and Alexandra Hennessey Olsen, eds. New Readings on Women in Old English Literature. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana UP, Davis, Norman, et al. A Chaucer Glossary. New York: Clarendon, De Staël, Anne-Louise-Germaine. Corinne. Sylvia Raphael, trans. New York: Oxford UP, The Dickens Project. Dinshaw, Carolyn. Chaucer s Sexual Poetics. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, Dollimore, Jonathan and Alan Sinfield, eds. Political Shakespeare. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, Farmer, D. H., ed. The Age of Bede. New York: Penguin, Forrest, Alan. Paris, the Provinces, and the French Revolution. London: Arnold, Ferguson, Margaret W., Maureen Quilligan, and Nancy J. Vickers, eds. Rewriting the Renassiance: The Discourses of Sexual Difference in Early Modern Europe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Greenblatt, Stephen. Renaissance Self-Fashioning. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Haight, Gordon S., ed. The Portable Victorian Reader. New York: Penguin, The Harvard Chaucer Page. Honour, Hugh. Romanticism. New York: Harper, Jordon, John, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Charles Dickens. New York: Cambridge UP, Lee, Clare A, ed. Medieval Masculinities. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, Leighton, Angela. Victorian Women Poets: Writing Against the Heart. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia, Shakespeare, William. The Arden Shakespeare: Twelfth Night. Eds. J. M. Lothian and T. W. Craik. Walton-on-Thames, UK: Thomas Nelson, 1997.

7 Hawes 7 Martin, Priscilla. Chaucer s Women: Nuns, Wives, and Amazons. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, Muscatine, Charles. Chaucer and the French Tradition. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, Orchard, Andy. Pride and Prodigies: Studies of the Monsters of the Beowulf-Manuscript. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, Reynolds, Margaret, ed.. The Sappho Companion. New York: Palgrave, Robinson, Fred. The Tomb of Beowulf and Other Essays on Old English. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, Robinson, Mary. A Letter to the Women of England and The Natural Daughter. Ed. Sharon M. Setzer. Orchard Park, New York: Broadview, Sands, Donald, ed. Middle English Verse Romances. Exeter, UK: University of Exeter Press, Schiller, Friedrich von Schiller. Naïve and Sentimental Poetry and On the Sublime. Trans. Julius Elias.. New York: Frederick Ungar, Showalter, Elaine. A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Bronte to Lessing. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton UP, Alexander, Michael, trans. The Earliest English Poems. New York: Penguin, Veeser, H. Aram, ed. The New Historicism. New York: Routledge, 1989.