English 221-001 -- LITERATURE OF THE WESTERN WORLD I

Fall 2005

T-TH 11:45-1:00 Tompkins G-109

Dr. Hans D. Kellner (261 Tompkins Hall, 515-4165, )

Office hours: T-TH 10:30 -11:45, W 9-11, TH 2-3 and by appointment.

This course has three basic goals: to acquaint you with some of the major works and periods of Western culture before 1650; to introduce ways of talking and thinking about literature and culture; and to offer you an opportunity to write. The course has a lecture format; there will be opportunities for questions and comments.

Attendance is important (see below). If you must leave class early, notify me in advance and do not disrupt the class.

Students should bring the textbook to class to follow the passages discussed.

What I Expect From You

As with any university course, the outcome depends on your faithful study outside the classroom. You should spend at least two hours in preparation for every hour of class.

Your work should be your own. Your essays must acknowledge any works used or cited. During examinations, you must not receive aid from anyone else, nor appear to do so.

Attendance is required. Attire and comportment must be appropriate to a university classroom. In class you should be alert and focused. Eating in class and other forms of excessive informality are not appropriate in an academic setting. Do not read newspapers, study German or write love letters. You should be prepared to answer questions and participate in class discussions.

Education is a process, not a product. It is mistaken and unwise to think that the products like grades and diplomas are what matters. I believe in the process, and intend for this course to make a difference in your life decades after your major has become irrelevant to you.

What You Should Expect

The course is a serious academic inquiry into the cultural foundations of your civilization. Each work has been read and studied by our culture for a long time. Reading them places you in contact with a long tradition. There is a story to this Homer-to-Shakespeare sequence.

The format of the course is mainly lecture. Discussion is welcome, when stimulated by student comments or questions.

The professor has taught this course (more or less) at three research universities for 28 years. He is available for consultations, and will try to answer in class any questions relevant to the course.

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Reading: The textbook is Brian Wilkie and James Hurt, Literature of the WesternWorld, v. I. Fifth edition. (Prentice Hall, 2001). All the reading is available at the bookstore or on-line.

All reading assignments include the appropriate introductions. The works below are listed in the weeks during which they will be discussed.

August 18 -- “Ancient World,” 1-15.

August 23, 25 –; Homer, Iliad. 127-182.

August 30, Sept. 1 – Homer, Iliad. 182-272, Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 612-669;

September 6, 8 -- Sophocles, Oedipus the King, 741-791. Euripides, Medea, 839-877; Aristophanes, Lysistrata, 911-967

September 13, 15 –. Plato, Republic, Apology, 1197-1220; Aristotle, Poetics, 1220-1241; Virgil, Aeneid, 967-1078.

September 20, 22 -. Virgil, Aeneid, 967-1078

Oct. 4 – Midterm exam

Oct. 11, 13 – Ovid, Metamorphoses, 1119-1129; Catullus, Poems, 1158-1166; Sappho, Poems,1141-1148; Song of Songs; Old Testament, 65-127.

October 18, 20 – New Testament, 1130-1138, also “Gospel of Matthew” (on-line, sections TBA) and “Epistle to the Galatians”; Koran, 1289-1301; “Middle Ages”, 1279-1288

October 25, 27 –.- Andreas Capellanus, 1819-1827; Marie de France, "Bisclavret (The Werewolf)" and "Yonec", 1332-1353; John of Salisbury, 1808-1809.

November 1, 3 -.- Dante Alighieri, Inferno, 1471-1543

November 8, 10 - Dante Alighieri, Inferno, 1398-1471. -."The Renaissance,"

November 15, 17 --1849-1864. Machiavelli, Prince, 2282-2288; Marguerite de Navarre, Heptameron, 1916-1944; Montaigne, "Of Cannibals”, 1944-1958. Shakespeare, The Tempest

November 22 -- Shakespeare, The Tempest

November 29, December 1 -. -- Review

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Grades – The student will be graded in three areas: quizzes, exams, and essays.

Quizzes – The first 6 minutes of every class will be devoted to a ten question quiz covering the reading and lectures. The total score for these quizzes will be an important part of the grade. They also are a record of attendance.

Exams – There is a midterm (4 October) and a final (6 Dec. AM).

Essays -- You will write 3 essays in this course. All essays are 1000 words (4 pages), described below. Improvement and attention to comments on the work is anticipated throughout the semester. They should reflect careful reading and thoughtfulness.

Each student will be assigned to a group (A,B,C,D). Every Thursday, one group will receive essay assignments, due two weeks later. Thus, beginning on the third Thursday, one quarter of the class will be submitting essays each week. Papers may be turned in early, but LATE PAPERS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Please do not ask. Each essay will be typed, and carefully proofread; corrections in ink will be accepted. The first paper may be rewritten.

The format of the papers should be as follows:

* No cover or title page

* Pages stapled at upper left corner

* Your name, course number, date, at top left.

* Paper title centered.

* The body of the paper will be double-spaced, with one-inch margins all around. Arial 10

is the preferred font. (The body of the syllabus is in this font.)

* Pages will be numbered, preferably at the bottom. (Ink is acceptable.)

* Write your last name at the top right-hand corner of every page.

If you need help with your writing, the Writing and Speaking Center is where to go.

Other Information:

Disabilities: Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities. In order to take advantage of available accommodations, students must register with Disability Services for Students at 1900 Student Health Center, Campus Box 7509, 515-7653. For more information on NC State's policy on working with students with disabilities, please see the Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Regulation.

Academic Integrity: Cheating, plagiarism, aiding or abetting others to cheat or plagiarized are not acceptable and will be dealt with according to the Code of Student Conduct (

There are no prerequisites for this course. This course meets the GER literature requirement.

Rationale for General Education Courses: The humanities and the social sciences comprise the subjects and disciplines that use various modes of rational inquiry to understand human nature and experience, organization and change in human societies, the nature of the world, and rational inquiry itself. An education in the humanities and social sciences requires reading significant works, gaining an exposure to a variety of methodologies, and learning to apply these in written exposition. An education in the basic humanistic disciplines is a necessary part of being truly educated -- of becoming a citizen with a broad knowledge of human cultures and with well-considered moral, philosophical, aesthetic, and intellectual convictions.

Each course in the general humanities category of the General Education Requirements will provide instruction and guidance that help students to:understand and engage in the human experience through the interpretation of human culture and artifacts (this objective must be the central focus of each humanities course); and become aware of the act of interpretation itself as a critical form of knowing in the humanities; and make academic arguments about the human experience using reasons and evidence for supporting those reasons that are appropriate to the humanities. In addition, each course appearing on one of the specific humanities lists meets the objectives for the specific category as detailed below. Objectives for courses in the category of Literature:

Each course within the literature category of the General Education Requirements in the Humanities will provide instruction and guidance that help students to understand and engage in the human experience through the interpretation of literature (this objective must be the central focus of each literature course); and become aware of the act of interpretation itself as a critical form of knowing in the study of literature; and make scholarly arguments about literature using reasons and ways of supporting those reasons that are appropriate to the field of study.

Comments on Papers

Dr. Kellner

A. A good, original point.

B. You do not show that you have fully surveyed the sources at

your disposal. There is important material which your essay has

not mentioned.

C. There are problems in your writing that harm your essay.

These may be spelling, grammar, or style, but you should try to

work on them as much as you can before you graduate.

D. You are committing a historical anachronism -- that is, a

statement or judgment about the past which has no real relevance

or meaning for that time, and which expresses instead the

concerns of today.

E. The conclusions to this essay are not adequate. It is a string of

statements and examples (maybe) that do not add up to a point.

F. Your use of examples is not as effective as it ought to be.

In general, the problem is explaining why your example

demonstrates what you want it to demonstrate.

G. I cannot follow your logic here.

H. This is well written.

I. This shows no more than what I said in class. Have you done

the reading?

J. This is not a proper sentence. See "U".

K. Wrong word.

L. No sense of time or change. It's all one -- "way back then."

M. Good sense of time.

N. This is confused.

O. Not on the subject.

P. Sketchy. More like an outine of an essay.

Q. Little more than a string of examples.

R. This answer is totally inadequate.

S. Little substance here. Where are names and events?

T. My cow is dead, so I don't need your bull.

U. A trip to the Writing Center should help

V. What is your evidence for this statement?

W. Get to the point! (Too much introduction.)

X. This passage is pompous and over-written. Who is speaking?

Y. This paragraph is too short, suggesting a writer who cannot think in longer spans.

Z. Too much plot! Assume your reader knows the work, and needs your interpretation.

AA. Titles of books must be underlined.

BB. Dictionary definitions denote an insecure writer.

CC. The opening of this paper has little to attract or inform the reader.