English 104-12: Approaches to Literature / TR 3:30 – 4:45 / GRAHAM 209

Fall 2011 / Instructor: Anastasia Smith / Office: McIver 328

Mailbox: 3114 MHRA / Phone: 334-8553 / Email:

Office Hours: Wednesday, 2-5 p.m. and by appointment

Course Description:

We all know life has no right answers, though we want them! In this class, we’ll investigate how poetry, drama, and fiction wrestle with representing something as complicated as the human experience, and how literature attempts to provide humanity with solace. To that end, we’ll examine the techniques and conventions of each of these forms with the ultimate goal of enjoyment and a greater understanding of what literature is, and can do.

Required Texts:

  • Kelly, Joseph, ed. The Seagull Reader, 2nd Ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2008. (ISBN 978-0-393-93264-5)
  • Blackboard Readings (budget printing costs accordingly; see calendar)
  • Required attendance at one performance of A Doll House at Triad Stage in downtown Greensboro (budget accordingly:

Student Learning Outcomes:

In this course you will:

  • develop and/or expand your understanding of what literature is and does
  • learn to identify and understand literary techniques, and to analyze the writer’s use of those techniques
  • demonstrate an understanding of the diverse social and historical contexts in which literature has been written

Academic Integrity:

Please keep this in mind during your all your academic pursuits at UNCG:

“Academic integrity is founded upon and encompasses the following five values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. Violations include, for example, cheating, plagiarism, misuse of academic resources, falsification, and facilitating academic dishonesty. If knowledge is to be gained and properly evaluated, it must be pursued under conditions free from dishonesty. Deceit and misrepresentations are incompatible with the fundamental activity of this academic institution and shall not be tolerated” (from UNCG’s Academic Integrity Policy). To ensure that you understand the university’s policy on academic integrity, review the guidelines and list of violations at < I expect you to abide by the Academic Integrity Policy.

I expect you to abide by the Academic Integrity Policy. Failure to do so will affect your grade in the course.

Attendance:

You are expected to come to every class on time, and are expected to have all the texts we will be discussing in hand. If you are more than five minutes late, you are tardy. Tardies affect your participation grade. If you know you will be late or absent, let me know—obviously, emergencies come up, but not being able to find a parking space does not excuse tardiness. You are allowed three absences without a grade penalty, after which you will be penalized half a letter grade for each subsequent absence. On your sixth absence, you fail the course. I do not differentiate between excused and unexcused absences except in the case of religious holidays (see below) or extreme circumstances. Keep in mind that your thoughtful attention is the most important tool you can bring to class—coming to class unprepared is always better than not attending at all.

You are, by state law, allowed two excused absences due to religious holidays, which do not count toward your total allowed seven absences. If you plan to miss class because of your faith, you must notify me in advance of your absence.

Disruptive behavior will not be tolerated. If you disrupt class, expect your participation grade to suffer, and expect to hear from me. If you continue to disrupt class after a formal warning, I will call a meeting with you, which may result in you being withdrawn from my course.

Late Work:

I do not accept late work or late quizzes (see below). If an assignment is due the day you are absent, you must still turn that work in by classtime. No exceptions, unless, of course, you have an emergency, in which case you must contact me as soon as possible.

Assignments:

In addition to Blackboard quizzes (on course vocabulary and readings), your assignments include:

Participation: By participation, I mean active engagement in the class. You demonstrate this engagement through your attention to me and your peers, adding your ideas to our class discussions, and bringing the assigned reading to class.

Close Readings: In 2-3 pages, you will perform a close reading of a text we’ve studied in class. There are three opportunities to turn in a close reading (see Calendar), and you must turn in one throughout the semester. More instructions and guidelines to follow.

Examinations: The three examinations will include both objective and short answer sections, and we will spend one class session in review for each.

Extra Credit: Throughout the semester, the Creative Writing Program offers a series of free readings on UNCG’s campus. See the link to the calendar of readings under External Links in Blackboard. If you attend one and would like extra credit, you may turn in a write-up of the reading. This write-up should include the name(s) of the reader(s), the work(s) read, and a critical response to the material (so, discuss the themes, imagery, voice, tone, etc of the work, and/or how the reader presented the material). Each write-up counts for up to 10 points on an exam, and you’re allowed three extra credit write-ups.

Grades:

Participation10 %

Close Reading10 %

Blackboard quizzes20 % (I drop the lowest quiz grade)

Exams60 % (20 % each)

Electronics:

You may not use a laptop or mess around on any electronic device in class, unless you have a note from the Office of Disability Services. You may not text or, obviously, talk on a cell phone during class. If I see you on your phone, I will scream loudly at you and your participation grade for the day will be a zero.

Email Policy:

I will try my best to respond to email within 48 hours. If I haven’t, please either resend your email or remind me in class.

Students with Disabilities:

Students with documentation of special needs should arrange to see me about accommodations as soon as possible. That means this week, not the day before the first examination. If you believe you could benefit from such accommodations, you must first register with the Office of Disability Services on campus before such accommodations can be made. The office is located on the second floor of the Elliott University Center (EUC) in Suite 215, and the office is open 8am to 5pm, Monday - Friday. Telephone: 334-5440; e-mail: .

The Writing Center:

The purpose of the Writing Center is to enhance the confidence and competence of student writers by providing free, individual assistance at any stage of any writing project. Staff consultants are experienced writers and alert readers, prepared to offer feedback and suggestions on drafts of papers, help students find answers to their questions about writing, and provide one-on-one instruction as needed. Located in the Moore Humanities and Research Building, room 3211.

Though this course has few writing assignments, you may wish to visit the Writing Center for your close reading or extra credit write-ups.

The Learning Assistance Center:

The Learning Assistance Center offers free services to the entire UNCG undergraduate community and is located in McIver Hall, rooms 101-104, and 150. For help with study skills, contact Erin Farrior, Academic Skills specialist. Telephone: 334-3878; e-mail: .

Calendar:

ELT = Essential Literary Terms

Bb = Blackboard. All texts that are posted to Bb must be printed and brought to class.

Assume all other reading assignments are from The Seagull Reader

Week 1

T – 8/23: Introduction; Syllabus

Poetry

R – 8/25ELT: “Poetry” 13-14

Introduction: “What is Poetry?” (xxii – xxv); “Poetry” by Marianne Moore, “Ars Poetica” by Archibald MacLeish, and “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins

Bb: “What is Poetry?”

Week 2

T – 8/30:A Poet’s Argument is Imagery

ELT: “Symbolism and Imagery” 83-89 and “Simile/Metaphor” 32 – 36

“Metaphors” by Sylvia Plath, “You Fit into Me” by Margaret Atwood, “Diving into the Wreck” by Adrienne Rich and “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” by Randall Jarrell

Blackboard: quiz 1 on syllabus and terms before class

R – 9/01:Sounds of Poetry

ELT: “Sound and Sound Patterns” 217-221 and “Anaphora” 64

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes, “I Heard a Fly Buzz—When I died—” by Emily Dickinson, “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks

Bb: “Junk” by Richard Wilbur and “If the Rise of the Fish” by Jane Hirschfield

Week 3

T – 9/06:Sound as a Part of Structure

ELT: “Rhyme” 210-217 and “Sonnet” 231-234

“The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe, “Design” by Robert Frost, “Sestina” by Elizabeth Bishop, “Not Waving but Drowning” by Stevie Smith

Blackboard: quiz 2 on terms before class

R – 9/08:What is a close reading?

Week 4

T – 9/13:Romantic/Victorian Poetry

“Ozymandias,” by Percy Shelley, “The Daffodils,” by William

Wordsworth, and “How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43 from the Portuguese),” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Blackboard: quiz 3 on poems before class

R – 9/15:American Movement pt 1: The Harlem Renaissance

“Harlem” by Langston Hughes

Bb: “Dead Fires” by Jessie Redmon Fauset, “Black Woman” by Georgia Douglas Johnson, and “If We Must Die,” by Claude McKay (all on one handout)

Week 5

T – 9/20:American Movement pt 2: Modernism/Imagism

Bb: “Lament” by William Carlos Williams

“In a Station of the Metro,” by Ezra Pound, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” by T.S. Eliot, and “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens

Blackboard: quiz 4 on poems and movements before class

R – 9/22:Prose Poetry

Bb: “Be Drunk,” by Charles Baudelaire, “A Story About the Body,” by Robert Hass, “The Colonel” by Carolyn Forché (all on one handout)

Week 6

T – 9/27:Review for first exam

R – 9/29: First Exam

Drama

Week 7

T – 10/04:What is Drama?; A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen

First close reading due date

R – 10/06:Fall Break!

Week 8

T – 10/11:A Doll House

R – 10/13:A Doll House

Week 9

T – 10/18: A Doll House

Blackboard: quiz 5 on A Doll House by classtime

R – 10/20: A Doll House

Week 10

T – 10/25Review for second exam

R – 10/27Second Exam

Fiction

Week 11

T – 11/01:What is Fiction?

ELT: “Setting, Theme, and Tone” 150-162;

“Introduction (What Are Stories, How Do You Read Stories, Point of View and Character)” xi-xviii and “Cathedral,” by Raymond Carver

Blackboard: quiz 6 on terms and stories by classtime

R – 11/03:The First Person Narrator

“Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker and “A & P,” by John Updike

Week 12

T – 11/08: The Second Person Narrator

“Happy Endings,” by Margaret Atwood and “Girl,” by Jamaica Kincaid

Blackboard: quiz 7 on stories by classtime

R – 11/10: The Third Person Narrator

ELT: “Third-Person” 114-118

“Hills Like White Elephants,” by Ernest Hemingway

Week 13

T – 11/15:“Introduction (Plot)” xviii-xxii

“The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Second close reading due date

R – 11/17: “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien

Blackboard: quiz 8 on terms and stories by classtime

Week 14

T – 11/22: A bit of magic…

“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” by Gabriel García Márquez

R – 11/24:Thanksgiving!

Week 15

T – 11/29: Review for third exam

R – 12/01: Third Exam

Week 16

R – 12/08: Third close reading due date (in my mailbox by 5 p.m.)