SYLLABUS

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1.)YOUR ASSIGNMENTSare on thisSYLLABUS. READ IT ALL BEFORE YOU BEGIN YOUR WORK. Links for assignments are on this document.Download link is below to access class readings.

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Course LIT111: British Literature:Students discuss canonical texts of early British writing, with particular attention to close-reading and appreciation. This course continues a historical survey of British literature covering the 19th and 20th centuries. It examines the development of this national literature in the contexts of British cultural and intellectual history and of Western literary tradition. This course also introduces students to literary forms and conventions characteristic of this period
Week 1A – Historical Survey
Read your download, “British Literature Breakdown”
1.)For each of the following periods in British Literature, give a 2-3 sentence power summary that sums up the key aspects of that period: Old English, Middle English, Elizabethan, Caroline, Neo Classical, English Augustan, Romantic, Victorian, The Aestheticism and Decadence Movement of English Literature, Edwardian, and Modern.
2.)Which period is most appealing to you and why?
3.)What is meant by “British”? Who does this include? (Research)
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Week 1B
Read your download“British Literature Cambridge”
1.)THE GREAT WAR: On text page 10, answer the four key questions.
2.)Who were the “Georgians”?
3.)Summarize The Imagists – who were they?
4.)Read “Picket” – How well does the poem illustrate the imagist principles?
5.)POETRY AND THE WAR 1914-1916 – What role did poetry play in The Great War?
6.)WOMEN WRITERS AND THE WAR… - Define, “Canon”. What contributions did women make during the war; and, what was given recognition? Why do you suppose not more recognition was given to women writers during this time?
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Oscar Wilde
1C.) PLAY: The Importance of Being Earnest - READ

QUESTIONS
Be detailed with your responses and give support from the text.
1.)By the end of the play, has Jack really learned the importance of being earnest? Why or why not?
2.)What is each of the four main character’s relationship to reality? How do they cope, romanticize, or escape from it?
3.)What is the girls’ fascination with the name, Ernest? What does it have to do with their romantic idealizations? How are names used to indicate character (or not) in the play?
4.)Judging by the tone in Earnest, what is Wilde’s opinion of the aristocracy? Does he approve or disapprove of them?
5.)What is the importance of the city/country split? What qualities do city-dwellers usually have? How about country folk? Do these stereotypes work in Earnest?
6.)What’s up with all the food fights? Why are they humorous?
7.)How are Miss Prism and Dr. Chasuble products of society?
8.)In the end, why doesn’t Cecily care that Algernon’s name isn’t Ernest?
BIOGRAPHY- Oscar Wilde
9.) After researching and reading the biography of Oscar Wilde, how would you describe his character traits? What is your overall impression of this British Writer?
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WEEK 2A:
William Shakespeare
VIDEO: A BRIEF BIO ON WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Assignment
* Give your interpretation of the poem below. Use your Literary Devices attachment.
A Poem
All the World's a Stage
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
William Shakespeare
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2B: READ “Othello”

Be detailed with your responses and give support from the text.
1) Some have said that the focus of Othello is not the title character, as is the case with Shakespeare's other great tragedies, Macbeth, King Lear, and Hamlet. Is Othello simply too one-dimensional to be considered a great tragic hero? Does his seemingly unrealistic gullibility lessen our interest in him and his suffering?
2) Why does Othello not investigate Iago's accusations? Why does Othello not seek his own proof of Desdemona's betrayal?
3) Explore the character of Desdemona. What does she represent in the play?
4) If you read the play closely you will see that not enough time could have elapsed on Cyprus for Desdemona to have committed adultery. Examine the problem of time in Othello and the possible dramatic reasons behind this unrealistic passage of time.
5) Discuss Othello's relationship with Desdemona. Does he truly love her?
6) Examine the female characters in the play. Do they share a common role in Othello?
7) Explore and discuss the issue of racism in Othello and relate it to the problems of racial hatred in Elizabethan England
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Week 3A
“Modern British Poetry”
British Poetry Attachment
Resource, “Literary Devices”
A.)Compare and contrast any two poems.
B.)Explain the use of imagery in 5 selected poems.
C.)Identify at least ONE each of the following literary poetic devices from any poems you choose: List the title of the poem, the literary device, and the direct quotation that supports the device you have chosen
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
Euphony
Hyperbole
Onomatopoeia
Simile
Ekphrastic
Inversion
Metaphor
Synecdoche
Metonymy
D.)Interpret 2 separate poems. Give the meaning, and your reasoning on why you feel the poems mean what you state. Include terminology from your glossary of terms
E.)READ the biography and poems of: John Masefield, Walter De la Mare, Robert Louis Stevenson, William Watson, William H Davis AND Rupert Brooke. What was quite unusual about their life? What is your impression of their poetry? How would you best describe each writing style?
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John Masefield
Walter De la Mare
Robert Louis Stevenson
William Watson
William H Davis
Rupert Brooke
Week 3B
Read , The Man Who Could Work Miracles by HG Wells
READ
1.)Give a critique of this short story. Include expressions on the theme, choice of words and overall interest level of the reader. What was the plot? What major conflict was in this story and how was it resolved.
2.)If you could work miracles, what miracle would you work? Think of one, and then think of all the consequences it would have. Make a list.
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Persuasive Essay Writing Workshop – online

3.)Persuasive Essay: Take one of these positions: A:It is possible to know reality. Science can describe and possibly explain it, so we know that miracles don’t exist. B:It isn’t possible to know reality
because our knowledge is always filtered by our senses and the
structure of our brain.; therefore, miracles can exist. (1 page double spaced minimum)
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Week 4-5: Charles Dickens
Short Story: A Christmas Carol
Text:
Original Movie:
QUESTIONS
Be detailed with your responses and give support from the text.
1.) Had you read A Christmas Carol before? Did anything surprise you in the book?
2.)This is a very short book, and not the only Christmas story that Dickens wrote. Why do you think that it and its message endured and became such a part of English-speaking culture?
3.) Did you have a favorite part? What image or line or scene sticks with you the most, if one does?
4.) How would you characterize Bob Cratchit’s attitude toward Scrooge? Scrooge’s attitude toward Cratchit?
5.)Besides literal heat, what might be the symbolism of the tiny coal fire that Cratchit has in the office?
6.)Why does Scrooge say that Fred should not be happy? What does this reveal about Scrooge’s priorities?
7.) What is the significance or symbolism of the fact that bells announce Marley’s ghost?
8.) Why is the Ghost of Christmas Past young, small, cloaked in white and shining bright? What does he mean when he says that Scrooge made his cap and has forced him to wear it?
9.)What has Marley’s ghost been doing since his death?
10.) What is Scrooge’s initial attitude toward the spirit?
11.) What is different about Scrooge when he says “Remember it? I could walk it with a blindfold?”
12.) How does Scrooge’s relationship with his sister Fan play into the story?
13.) How does Scrooge try to extinguish the light of the first spirit? Does he succeed? Of what is the light a symbol ?
14.)What is the point of the visits with the Ghost of Christmas Present to the lighthouse and the ship?
15.)Why does Fred refuse to speak against Scrooge? How does his wife differ on this matter? Fred and his wife and Bob and his wife have different views on Scrooge. What does this say about each of them?
16.)What does the Ghost of Christmas Present mean when it says the boy and the girl under his robes, Ignorance and Want, are “Man’s”?
17.)How does Scrooge feel about the spirit of Christmas yet to come?
18.)What is the lesson Scrooge learns when the ghost shows him the Cratchit family after Tim’s death?
19.)Why is this lesson needed when Scrooge’s attitude has already changed so much?
20.)Is Scrooge’s transformation believable?
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COURSE ESSAY
In an essay of 2 pages minimum in length, respond to “A Christmas Carol” by analyzing the following… Analyze Dickens’s use of imagery, language, important themes, or any other unique aspects of the novel that intrigue you.
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