English 100: Introduction to English Literature

Transcription

1 English 100: Introduction to English Literature SYLLABUS FOR COURSE DESCRIPTION ENGLISH 100 aims to introduce students to the richness and breadth of literature written in English. It is organized in four thematically based units, each focussed on the problems of responding imaginatively to change and to new realities. The course begins in Elizabethan England in the great age of expansion (unit 1) and then moves geographically outward and chronologically forward, as it examines English responses to apocalyptic and monstrous developments in European culture (unit 2), the struggle of Americans to voice hitherto unexpressed spiritual and racial realities (unit 3), and the birth of post-colonial literatures around the globe, with a closing look at Canada (unit 4). At the end of this syllabus, there is a timeline that places the course s texts in historical context. In addition to weekly lectures and tutorials, there will be a workshop on the expectations for university essays on literature. TUTORS Suzanne Bailey TC WH , ext sjbailey@trentu.ca Christy Carlson TC WH , ext christycarlson@trentu.ca Ross Clarkson TC WH , ext rclarkson@igs.ptbo.on.ca Geoffrey Eathorne CC C , ext geathorne@trentu.ca Mac Fenwick TC WH , ext mfenwick@trentu.ca Joanne Findon TC WH , ext jfindon@trentu.ca Gordon Johnston (Course Co-ordinator) OC , ext gjohnston@trentu.ca Peter Lapp BH , ext plapp@trentu.ca John McIntyre TC WH , ext jmcintyre@trentu.ca Orm Mitchell (first term) TC WH , ext omitchell@trentu.ca Alice Palumbo TC WH , ext alicepalumbo@trentu.ca Michael Peterman TC SH , ext mpeterman@trentu.ca Fred Tromly (second term) CC E , ext ftromly@trentu.ca Brent Wood TC WH , ext drwoo@pipcom.com English 100 SYLLABUS FOR Page 1

2 REQUIRED TEXTS English 100 Course Pack (to be purchased in bookstore) Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (Heinemann) Mary Ann Armstrong, et al., Notes on the Preparation of Essays in the Arts and Sciences, 5th Edition, Peterborough, Ontario: Academic Skills Centre, Trent University, 2001 Willa Cather, My Ántonia, ed. Urgo (Broadview) Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, ed. Goonetilleke (Broadview) Athol Fugard, Master Harold and the boys (Viking Penguin) Kamala Markandaya, Nectar in a Sieve (Signet Classic) Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus (1604 version), ed. Keefer (Broadview) William Shakespeare, The Tempest, ed. Orgel (Oxford World s Classics) Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818 text), ed. Macdonald & Scherf (Broadview) Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, ed. Elliott (Oxford World s Classics) Walt Whitman, Selected Poems (Dover Thrift) W. B. Yeats, Selected Poems, ed. Kelly (Everyman) RECOMMENDED TEXTS In addition to Notes on the Preparation of Essays (required), two texts by the Academic Skills Centre are highly recommended: Clear, Correct, Creative: A Handbook of Academic Prose provides instruction about common problems of grammar, style, and usage Thinking It Through: A Practical Guide to Academic Essay Writing covers all stages of planning, organizing, and writing essays. EVALUATION Mid-year Exam on the first two units (2 hours)... 15% Final Exam on third and fourth units (3 hours)... 15% Seminar Participation (for the year)... 25% Essay 1: 1000 words. Diagnostic essay due in seminar in week of October 6/ % See page 8 below for the topic for Essay 1. Any student who wishes may choose to revise this essay all revisions are due no later than the seminar in the week of November 10/12. Essay 2: 1500 words. Topic and due date to be set by student s instructor... 15% Essay 3: 2000 words. Topic and due date to be set by student s instructor... 20% In the third essay, all students are required to discuss at least two works by different authors. Like essay topics and deadlines, late essay policies will vary from tutor to tutor. Make sure you are aware of your tutor s policy. Page 2 English 100 SYLLABUS FOR

3 Lecture and Workshop Schedule NOTE: Every lecture will be given twice once on Monday at 6:00 PM in the Wenjack Theatre, and a second time on Wednesday at 9:00 AM in the Wenjack Theatre. It is important that students read the assigned work in its entirety before attending the lecture and seminar in which it is to be discussed. FIRST TERM New Worlds and Old Worlds in the Renaissance Sept. 8/10 Sept. 15/17 A Dialogue about the Renaissance (Read: Marlowe s The Passionate Shepherd to his Love and Ralegh s The Nymph s Reply, and four sonnets by Shakespeare (for texts, see pp. 5-6 of syllabus) F. Tromly and S. Bailey Marlowe, Doctor Faustus (and read the excerpt in the course pack from Pico s Oration on the Dignity of Man, pp. 7-8) F. Tromly Sept. 22/24 Marlowe, Doctor Faustus M. Peterman Sept. 29/Oct. 1 John Donne, Selected Poems (all of the poems in course pack, pp. 9-17) Sept. 30/Oct. 2 Oct. 6/8 S. Bailey WORKSHOP: University Expectations for English Essays Please note days, times and location for this workshop: Tues. Sept. 30, 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM, Science Complex Lecture Hall or Thurs. Oct. 2, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM, Science Complex Lecture Hall Shakespeare, The Tempest G. Johnston FIRST ESSAY DUE see assignment sheet (syllabus, p. 8) Oct. 13 THANKSGIVING DAY NO LECTURE Oct. 15 AUDIO-VISUAL WORKSHOP: Shakespeare, The Tempest (optional), Wenjack Theatre Oct. 20/22 Z. Pollock RESIDENTIAL READING WEEK NO CLASSES Imagining the Apocalypse Oct. 27/29 Nov. 3/5 Nov. 10/12 Shelley, Frankenstein O. Mitchell Shelley, Frankenstein J. Findon Yeats, Selected Poems (for assigned poems, see p. 7 of syllabus) G. Johnston NOTE: All revisions of first essay due in this week s seminar. English 100 SYLLABUS FOR Page 3

4 Nov. 17/19 Nov. 24/26 Dec. 3 Yeats, Selected Poems (for assigned poems, see p. 7 of syllabus) O. Mitchell Conrad, Heart of Darkness C. Carlson Conrad, Heart of Darkness J. McIntyre MID-YEAR EXAMINATION: 2 HOURS during the formal exam period, from Dec. 6 through Dec. 16. (The specific day, time, and place will be determined and announced by the Registrar s Office.) SECOND TERM Discovering America s Voices Jan. 5/7 Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn P. Lapp Jan. 12/14 Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn J. Findon Jan. 19/21 Dickinson, Poems (the assignment is all her poems in the course pack, pp ) S. Bailey Jan. 26/28 Whitman, Poems (for assigned poems, see p. 7 of syllabus and read the anonymous, unsympathetic British review of Whitman in the course pack, pp. 30) B. Wood Feb.2/4 Cather, My Ántonia M. Peterman Feb. 9/11 Cather, My Ántonia J. McIntyre Feb. 16/18 RESIDENTIAL READING WEEK NO CLASSES Post-colonialism and Cultural Encounters Feb. 23/25 Achebe, Things Fall Apart F. Tromly Mar. 1/3 Achebe, Things Fall Apart M. Steffler Mar. 8/10 Markandaya, Nectar in a Sieve G. Eathorne Mar. 15/17 Fugard, Master Harold...and the boys (and Fugard s journal entry in course pack, p. 56) G. Eathorne Mar. 22/24 Walcott (for assigned poems, see p. 7 of syllabus, course pack, pp ) B. Wood March 29/31 Native (Canadian) Women Poets (for assigned poems, see course pack, pp ) G. Johnston March 29/31 EVALUATIONS: During this week, course evaluation will be conducted on WebCT, and individual tutor evaluations will take place in seminars. FINAL EXAMINATION: 3 HOURS, during the formal exam period, from April 10 through April 26. (The specific day, time, and place will be determined and announced by the Registrar s Office.) Reading Assignment for First Seminar: Week of September 8/10 ASSIGNMENT CONTINUES ON PAGE 6 1 Page 4 English 100 SYLLABUS FOR

5 Read Christopher Marlowe s poem and Sir Walter Ralegh s response to it. How would you characterize the differences in attitude of the two speakers? Are these differences absolute? How do the poems make their points? Do they use language differently? The Passionate Shepherd to His Love The Nymph s Reply to the Shepherd Come live with me, and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove That valleys, groves, hills and fields, Woods, or steepy mountain yields. If all the world and love were young, And truth in every shepherd s tongue, These pretty pleasures might me move To live with thee and be thy love. 5 And we will sit upon the rocks, Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks By shallow rivers, to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals. 5 Time drives the flocks from field to fold When rivers rage and rocks grow cold, And Philomel becometh dumb; The rest complains of cares to come. And I will make thee beds of roses, 10 And a thousand fragrant posies, A cap of flowers, and a kirtle, Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle, The flowers do fade, and wanton fields 10 To wayward winter reckoning yields; A honey tongue, a heart of gall, Is fancy s spring, but sorrow s fall. A gown made of the finest wool Which from our pretty lambs we pull, 15 Fair-lined slippers for the cold, With buckles of the purest gold, Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies 15 Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten, In folly ripe, in reason rotten. A belt of straw and ivy-buds, With coral clasps and amber studs, And if these pleasures may thee move, 20 Come live with me, and be my love. Thy belt of straw and ivy buds, Thy coral clasps and amber studs, All these in me no means may move, 20 To come to thee and be thy love. The shepherd swains shall dance and sing For thy delight each May morning. If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me, and be my love. Christopher Marlowe But could youth last, and love still breed, Had joys no date, nor age no need, Then these delights my mind might move, To live with thee and be thy love. Sir Walter Ralegh 2 prove: try out 11 kirtle: skirt 7 Philomel: in classical mythology, Philomela was raped by her brother-in-law, who cut out her tongue so that she couldn t accuse him; the gods transformed her into a nightingale. dumb: speechless 22 date: terminal date, shelf life English 100 SYLLABUS FOR Page 5

6 Then read these two poems from Shakespeare s sonnet-sequence. Does it make sense that the first comes from early in the story being told, and the second from much later? As a pair, are they like or unlike the Marlowe-Ralegh pairing? Sonnet 18 Shall I compare thee to a summer s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer s lease hath all too short a date; 5 Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm d, And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature s changing course untrimm d; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, 10 Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow st, Nor shall Death brag thou wand rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow st. So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. 4 date: duration 8 untrimm d: stripped of beauty 10 ow st: ownest Sonnet 130 My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. 5 I have seen roses damask d, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks, And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know 10 That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go, My mistress when she walks treads on the ground. 3 dun: swarthy And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare. 5 damask d: mingled red and white 11 go: walk 14 she: woman belied: misrepresented And here is another pairing of sonnets by Shakespeare. Any similarities to the other pairings? Sonnet 116 Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments; love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. 5 O no, it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand ring bark, Whose worth s unknown, although his heighth be But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved. 5 mark: a sea-mark, something on land to plot a course by taken. Love s not Time s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 10 Within his bending sickle s compass come. Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, Page 6 English 100 SYLLABUS FOR

7 Sonnet 129 Th expense of spirit in a waste of shame Is lust in action, and til action, lust Is perjur d, murd rous, bloody, full of blame, Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust, 5 Enjoy d no sooner but despised straight, Past reason hunted, and no sooner had, Past reason hated as a swallowed bait On purpose laid to make the taker mad: Mad in pursuit and in possession so, 10 Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme, A bliss in proof, and prov d, a very woe, Before, a joy propos d, behind, a dream. All this the world well knows, yet none knows well To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell. 1 expense: expenditure spirit: vital spirits, but also could refer to semen 11 in proof: while being experienced Specific Poems for Poetry Assignments SEPTEMBER 29/OCTOBER 1: Donne All of the readings in the course pack. NOVEMBER 10/12: Yeats The Lake Isle of Innisfree (p. 5); When You are Old (p. 7); Adam s Curse (p. 18); No Second Troy (p. 20); Easter 1916 (p. 36); The Second Coming (p. 39); Sailing to Byzantium (p. 42); Leda and the Swan (p. 55); Byzantium (p. 68). NOVEMBER 17/19: Yeats The Second Coming (p. 39); Sailing to Byzantium (p. 42); Leda and the Swan (p. 55); At Algeciras A Meditation upon Death (p. 67); Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop (p. 74); Lapis Lazuli (p. 78); Long-Legged Fly (p. 84); The Circus Animals Desertion (p. 88); Politics (p. 89) In course pack: (p. 27): The Magi, Two Songs from a Play, Mother of God JANUARY 19/21: Dickinson All the poems in the course pack, pp English 100 SYLLABUS FOR Page 7

8 JANUARY 26/28: Whitman I Hear America Singing (p. 1); I Sing the Body Electric (p. 12); Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (p. 39); Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking (p. 73); A Noiseless Patient Spider (p. 113). MARCH 22/24: Walcott From the course pack: all the poems, pp , especially A Far Cry from Africa (p. 49); Nights in the Gardens of Port of Spain (p.50 ); Codicil (p. 53 ) and the selection from The Spoiler s Return (p. 53). MARCH 29/31: Native Canadian Women Poets All the poems in the course pack pp Page 8 English 100 SYLLABUS FOR

9 First Essay Assignment For English 100 DUE DATE: This essay is due in your seminar during the week of October 6/8. LENGTH: It should be no less than 1000 words long, and no more than EVALUATION: This first essay counts for 10% of your final grade. TOPIC: Write an essay on EITHER Shakespeare s Sonnet 116 (p. 6 of the course syllabus) OR John Donne s The Flea (printed in the course pack, p. 11, and also below on p. 10 of the syllabus), centering your argument on some aspect or dimension of the poem which seems interesting or important to you. Your tutor may give you some suggestions for possible theses about the poems, or may prefer that you create a thesis yourself. Construct a coherent argument about the thesis, drawing on a close reading of the poem and its specifically poetic features. PRELIMINARY PREPARATION: As a preparation for thinking more carefully about it, and creating a thesis or constructing your argument, you may want to paraphrase the poem for yourself, but your final essay must not be a mere paraphrase of the poem. You may assume that the reader of your essay has read the poem, and understands its substance. Instead of paraphrasing, you should consider the ways in which the poem differs from any possible paraphrase of it, and how it does more than any paraphrase could. Why does it use these particular words and images in this order? What kind of voice does it imply or require? What shape does it have? As you work through this stage, think about what seems to you to be centrally important or interesting in the poem. This may shift somewhat as you pay more attention to details, and as you begin to develop your argument. DETAILED PREPARATION: (The questions are intended only as guides and prompts to your thinking. Your essay should NOT consist merely of answers to these questions.) Words: Look up in the dictionary any words you find interesting or surprising or difficult. You should be aware of what meanings and connotations the words had at the time the poem was written. What kinds of words are used? (For example, are they from spoken language? Casual and English 100 SYLLABUS FOR Page 9

10 Images: Voice: Shape: Situation: conversational? Specialized? Contrived? Erudite?) Do the words form a consistent language field, or do some of them stick out? How and why? What words are repeated, and why? What images does it use? What use does it make of them? (For example: Do they carry the weight of the argument? Do they convey meaning? Are they entertaining? Diversionary?) Does the poem have a particular tone of voice? (Try out several different tones, reading the poem aloud, to see which are the most appropriate or convincing. For example, is the tone earnest? Shy? Cynical? Forthright? Devious? Clever? Ostentatious?) Does the tone of voice change during the poem? If so, where and why? Does the thought progress in an even and regular way, or is it disrupted? Does it circle back and repeat things? Does it break at some point, and take a different direction? Does the ending resolve the issues and feelings in the poem, or are they left open-ended? How regular is the rhythm? What is the significance of any disruptions in the rhythm? How frequent are the rhymes? Are they familiar or surprising? Are they revealing? How do they underline the sense of the poem? Do they extend or subvert the meaning? What are the circumstances of the poem? That is, what situation do you understand to provoke or precede the poem? Does it have a listener. Is it addressed to someone? What is the poem s intended or announced purpose? What is its effect or consequence? WRITING THE ESSAY: Decide how your ideas connect to each other, and which ones you want to use. Write the first draft of your essay. You probably won t be able to include all the insights you have had into the poem; not all of them will be relevant to your thesis. Construct a coherent argument about your thesis which refers to some interesting or important aspect of the poem, drawing on and referring to the relevant features you have noticed. Put the essay away for at least a day. Come back to it, to make sure that it says what you mean to say, and that it holds together. Also make sure the grammar, sentence and paragraph structure and spelling are correct. By this stage, your thesis should be clear enough to you that you can give the essay its own title. That is, your title should not be the same as the poem s, and should not be Essay Number One, but should indicate explicitly the subject of your argument. For this essay we ask you not to use any secondary sources (e.g. critical commentaries), including material from the web. The key thing is your careful, engaged response to the text. ASSIGNMENT CONTINUES ON PAGE 10 1 Your tutor will tell you about any particular expectation that she or he has for the essay. For questions of format and much else, consult Notes on the Preparation of Essays, which is the Trent University style guide. NOTE: all students have the opportunity to re-think and re-write this first essay. All revised essays are due no later than the seminar in the week of November 12. Page 10 English 100 SYLLABUS FOR

11 The Flea Mark but this flea, and mark in this, How little that which thou deniest me is; It suck d me first, and now sucks thee, And in this flea our two bloods mingled be. 5 Thou know st that this cannot be said A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead; Yet this enjoys before it woo, And pamper d swells with one blood made of two; And this, alas! is more than we would do. 10 O stay, three lives in one flea spare, Where we almost, yea, more than married are. This flea is you and I, and this Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is. Though parents grudge, and you, we re met, 15 And cloister d in these living walls of jet. Though use make you apt to kill me, Let not to that self-murder added be, And sacrilege, three sins in killing three. Cruel and sudden, hast thou since 20 Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence? Wherein could this flea guilty be, Except in that drop which it suck d from thee? Yet thou triumph st, and say st that thou Find st not thyself nor me the weaker now. 25 Tis true; then learn how false fears be; Just so much honour, when thou yield st to me, Will waste, as this flea s death took life from thee. John Donne 8 one blood made of two: In Donne s day it was believed that in sexual intercourse, the blood of the man and the woman mixed and this led to procreation. 15 jet: black 16 use: habit English 100 SYLLABUS FOR Page 11

12 Plagiarism Plagiarism is an extremely serious academic offence and carries penalties varying from failure in an assignment to suspension from the University. Definitions, penalties and procedures for dealing with plagiarism are set out in Trent University s Academic Dishonesty Policy which is printed in the Calendar supplement. While scholarly work often involves reference to the ideas, writing, and data of other scholars, it is intellectually dishonest to present the work of others without explicitly and clearly giving them credit and appropriate reference. Plagiarism is a failure to indicate the ownership of the ideas or the work of another author by, for example, not using quotation marks and/or appropriate citation when rewriting the words of a source. If you have any questions about plagiarism or the proper documentation of source material, please speak to your instructor, preferably before an error in judgment is made. English Department Website For the most complete and up-to-date information on the English Department courses, faculty, schedules, procedures, policies, special events, etc. check the English Department website at Page 12 English 100 SYLLABUS FOR