English 113b English Literary Tradition II Winter 2006 Dr. Glen Wickens TH 10:00 Morris House 8 N. 211 Office Hours: Friday 8:30-11:30 a.m. Phone: ext. 2384 (office) Home: 562-3488 (home) Email: gwickens@ubishops.ca This course is designed to introduce students to the works of selected major authors from the l8th century to the 20 th century. There are three texts: l. Abrams, M.H., et. al., eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Major Authors (7th edition). 2. Hardy, Thomas. The Mayor of Casterbridge. 3. MacLean, Norman. A River Runs Through It. Schedule of Lectures, Readings, and Assignments January 10 Introduction to the course 12 Pope The Rape of the Lock (l7l7) 17 The Rape of the Lock cont. 19 Swift AA Modest Proposal@ (l729) 24 Blake AThe Chimney Sweeper@ (1789), ALondon@ (1794) 26 Wordsworth AOde: Intimations of Immortality@ (1807) 27 Screening of A River Runs Through It in Nicolls 4, 4:00-6:00 p.m.
31 Norman MacLean A River Runs Through It (1976) February 2 A River Runs Through It (1992 film) 7 Coleridge AThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner@ (1798) 9 Coleridge AThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner@; Keats ATo Autumn@ (1820) 14 Tennyson AThe Lotos-Eaters@ (1842) 16 Tennyson AUlysses@ (1842); Browning AMy Last Duchess@ (1842) 21 Arnold ADover Beach@ (1867), AThe Function of Criticism at the Present Time@ (1865) 23 Hardy AThe Darkling Thrush@ (1901), AThe Convergence of the Twain@ (1912) *1st essay due March 7 The Mayor of Casterbridge cont. (1886) 9 The Mayor of Casterbridge cont. 14 Hardy The Mayor of Casterbridge cont. 16 Yeats AEaster 1916" (1916), AThe Second Coming@ (1920) 28 Eliot AJourney of the Magi@ (1927); Conrad AHeart of Darkness@ (1902) 30 Conrad AHeart of Darkness@ cont. 31 Screening of Apocalypse Now in Nicolls 4, 2:00-5:00 p.m. April 4 AHeart of Darkness@ cont. 6 Apocalypse Now (1979)
11 Joyce AThe Dead@ (l9l4) 13 Lawrence AOdor of Chrysanthemums@ (l9ll) 14 Review *2nd essay due Weight of Marks lst essay: 30% 2nd essay: 30% Class attendance and participation: 10% Final examination: 30% l. Scale of Marks: Further Information for Students Class Letter Grade Percentage First A 80 - l00 Second B 65-79 Third C 50-64 F (Failure) 0-49 2. A student who does not do all the year's work (the examination and essays) places himself in jeopardy; he may be failed, regardless of how high his marks on submitted work. 3. Whatever the quality of the content, essays may be failed for stylistic or grammatical incompetence. 4. Students will be expected to have read works before the days assigned for discussion of them. 5. Regular attendance and class participation are both expected. The final examination will directly reflect the material and ideas discussed in class. 6. There is no supplemental examination for this course.
7. Essays must be handed in either to the professor or to the English Department secretary no later than 4:00 p.m. on the day on which they are due. 8. Requests for extensions must be made at least a day before essays are due. 9. Essays that are handed in after the deadline without the prior consent of the professor will be penalized 5% per working day late. l0. The third edition of the MLA Handbook defines plagiarism as "the act of using another person's ideas or expressions in your writing without acknowledging the source" (l.6). For details, examples of plagiarism, and instructions for avoiding it, please read the entire article on plagiarism carefully (pp. 21-25). Also read the Department handout on Quotations, Citations, and List of Works Cited and the section about plagiarism and academic dishonesty on p. 21 of the Bishop's University Academic Calendar for 2005-06. If you are guilty of plagiarism, you will receive a mark of zero for the essay concerned; the members of the English Department and the Dean of the Division of Humanities will be informed. If you are guilty of a second offense, you will receive a mark of zero for the course; again, the members of the department and the Dean will be informed. 12. Please put your box number on your essays.
English 113b lst Essay Topics Length: app. 1500 words Due: February 23, 2006 Dr. G. Wickens Choose one of the following: l. APope=s attitude towards Belinda is very mixed and complicated.@ Discuss. 2. Examine the relation of the spirits, especially the sylphs and gnomes, to the fashionable world in The Rape of the Lock. 3. Discuss the relation between Swift and the speaker in AA Modest Proposal.@ 4. Do you agree that Athe loss of the lock is not simply a >trivial thing=@ in The Rape of the Lock? 5. Discuss the variety of satirical techniques in AA Modest Proposal.@ 6. To what extent is Wordsworth=s AIntimations Ode@ a celebration of the influence of nature on the developing mind? 7. Discuss the relation between gain and loss, hope and doubt, in Wordsworth=s AIntimations Ode.@ 8. Do you think Athe solution is asserted rather than dramatized@ in the AIntimations Ode@? 9. Discuss the relation between the physical voyage and spiritual experience in AThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner.@ 10. AMore than any other poet of his age Keats had the power of externalizing his experience.@ Discuss. 11. What does Coleridge=s Ancient Mariner reveal about the poet?
12. Examine the theme of crime, punishment, and expiation in AThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner.@ 13. Explain the relation between the wedding frame and the mariner=s tale in AThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner.@ 14. Discuss the relation between the Amoral@ (AHe prayeth best, who loveth best...@) and the story in AThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner.@ 15. Compare the attitude of Keats and Wordsworth towards transience. 16. Compare Blake=s Amind-forg=d manacles@ and Wordsworth=s AShades of the prison-house.@ 17. Compare the importance of the child in Blake and Wordsworth. 18. AIf >The Lotos-Eaters= exposes the temptation to escape, >Ulysses= is really a poem of escape.@ Discuss. 19. ANature, lovely as she is, is no solution to moral or human problems.@ Discuss this statement in relation to ADover Beach@ and AThe Lotos-Eaters.@ 20. Discuss the effect of the listener on the speaker in Browning=s AMy Last Duchess.@ 21. Explain the relation between criticism and creation in Arnold=s AThe Function of Criticism at the Present Time.@ 22. Discuss the idea of the hero in Tennyson. 23. How does A River Runs Through It (either the film or the book) respond to Wordsworth? 24. Discuss the relationship between the two brothers in A River Runs Through It (either the film or the book). 25. Compare the film adaptation to the original story of A River Runs Through It.
26. What is the significance of the river in A River Runs Through It? 27. What does fly fishing mean to the father and two sons in A River Runs Through It?
English ll3b Second Essay Topics Length: app. 1500 words Due: April 14, 2006 Choose one of the following l. Compare the treatment of religious experience in two poems from Hardy on. 2. AIn the entire history of European fiction there are few more brilliant openings.@ Discuss the function of the opening two chapters in The Mayor of Casterbridge. 3. Discuss the relation between the Roman past and the Casterbridge present in The Mayor of Casterbridge. 4. Examine the importance of the market place in The Mayor of Casterbridge. 5. Discuss the thematic significance of the relationship between Henchard and Farfrae in The Mayor of Casterbridge. 6. AHardy recognizes that the guilty...create what appear to be unlucky accidents.@ Discuss. 7. Discuss the treatment of time in The Mayor Casterbridge. 8. Discuss the relation between death and (re) birth in Eliot and Yeats. 9. Discuss the various forms of evil in AHeart of Darkness.@ 10. How does Conrad use setting to convey ideas other than place in AHeart of Darkness@? 11. Explain the function of doubles in AHeart of Darkness@ or The Mayor of Casterbridge. 12. Discuss Marlow=s attitude towards women in AHeart of Darkness@
13. Examine the problem of seeing in AOdor of Chrysanthemums.@ 14. Compare the treatment of marriage in Lawrence and Joyce. 15. Discuss the relation between tradition and death in AThe Dead.@ 16. Discuss the function of irony in either Lawrence or Joyce. 17. AIt=s when the ghost of novelist Joseph Conrad enters the picture... that >Apocalypse Now= runs aground.@ Do you agree? 18. Is Apocalypse Now both Aa comedy and a terrifying psychological horror story@? 19. Compare Kurtz in the film and the original story. 20. Discuss Marlow=s attitude towards Imperialism in AHeart of Darkness.@ 21. Compare Conrad=s Marlow and Coppola=s Willard as narrators and characters.