ENGL 2319 British Literature

The University of Texas at Arlington

ENGL 2319 British Literature

Professor:

Tom Ryan

Email:

Office:

202 Carlisle Hall

Office Phone:

817-272-2758 or 817-272-2692

Professor Website:

http://www.uta.edu/english/TAR/tar.html

History of Brit Lit Blog:

http://blog.uta.edu/sophbritlit08/

Texts:

Most of the literature for ENGL 2319 is available online, and the links are provided within the course. The two exceptions are:

·  Atwood, M. (1998). Wilderness tips. New York: Bantam Books.

·  Stoppard, T. (1966). Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. New York: Grove Press.

Some of the online sites where the texts we will use in the class are available are funded at least in part by donations. If you find the texts valuable and want to contribute to the sites, you are encouraged to do so.

If you prefer to read literature in a book version, you may purchase a printed copy of any of the selections included in the course at the UTA Bookstore or other commercial or used bookstores, including a number of online stores. These are the texts I recommend for their accuracy and availability:

* Geoffrey Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales. Trans. N. Coghill. Penguin-Viking.

* William Shakespeare. Henry IV, Part I. Signet Shakespeare.

* ______. Hamlet. Signet Shakespeare.

* ______. The Sonnets. Signet.

* Metaphysical Poetry: An Anthology. Paul Negri, ed. Dover Thrift.

* James Joyce. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Dover Thrift.

* W. B. Yeats. Selected Poems and Four Plays. Fourth Edition. Scribners.

* Samuel Beckett. Waiting for Godot. Grove Press.

Course Description:

Significant British works with emphasis on ideas and the ways in which they reflect cultural and aesthetic values; emphasis on critical methods of reading, writing, and thinking; at least three genres and six authors considered. This course will introduce students to a study of literature on the college level. The works we will read are drawn from several different historical periods and represent a number of different literary genres. Class lectures and discussions will focus on ways of understanding and interpreting the works and on locating them in their historical, cultural, and intellectual milieus.

ENGL 2319: British Literature will invite you to explore a wide variety of British literature from the Middle Ages to the last quarter of the twentieth century. We'll start with a selection from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, read a couple of plays by Shakespeare and study how to explicate poetry by looking at a number of his sonnets and other poems from the late-sixteenth- and seventeenth-centuries, and then move on to the twentieth century for more poems, plays, short stories and a novel.

Course Goals:

The goals of the course are to provide you with an introduction to literature and literary study, to give you a taste of some of the best writers in the English language, and to let you see for yourselves that great writers and their great books can be both entertaining and helpful in letting you understand the people of other ages and places as well as yourself much better.

Grading

The course will be graded on the basis of points. The total points available for the course will be 750 points.

Final Grade

A / 675 or more points
B / 600 or more points
C / 525 or more points
D / 450 or more points
F / Fewer than 449 points

Points Earned for Quizzes, Explication Exam, and Discussions

Lesson / Quiz / Discussion / Assignment / Test
One / 10
Two / 15 / 45 / Portrait Discussion List Assigned; Due Lesson 10
Three / 10 / 30
Four / 10 / 30
Five / 10 / 20 / 40
Six / 25
Seven / 15 / 40
Eight / 15 / 10 / 40
Nine / 35 / 40
Ten / 10 / 30 / Portrait List Due
Eleven / 10 / 40
Twelve / 40
Thirteen / 10 / 40
Fourteen / 10 / 40
Fifteen / 10 / 30 / 40
Totals / 125 / 425 / 160 / 40

Academic Dishonesty:

It is the philosophy of the University of Texas at Arlington that academic dishonesty is a completely unacceptable mode of conduct and will not be tolerated in any form. All persons involved in academic dishonesty will be disciplined in accordance with University regulations and procedures. Discipline may include suspension or expulsion from the University.

“Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such acts.” (Regents’ Rules and Regulations, Part One, Chapter VI, Section 3, Subsection 3.2, Subdivision 3.22.)

Americans with Disabilities Act:

The University of Texas at Arlington is on record as being committed to both the spirit and letter of federal equal opportunity legislation; reference Public Law 93112-The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. With the passage of the federal legislation entitled The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), pursuant to Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act, there is renewed focus on providing this population with the same opportunities enjoyed by all citizens.

As a faculty member, I am required by law to provide “reasonable accommodation” to students with disabilities, so as not to discriminate on the basis of that disability. Student responsibility primarily rests with informing faculty at the beginning of the semester and in providing authorized documentation through designated administrative channels.

Information regarding specific diagnostic criteria and policies for obtaining academic accommodations can be found at The University for Texas at Arlington Office for Students with Disabilities. They are located on the UTA campus in Room 102 of University Hall, or you may call them at 817-272-3364.

Student Support Services Available:

The University of Texas at Arlington supports a variety of student success programs to help you connect with the University and achieve academic success. They include learning assistance, developmental education, advising and mentoring, admission and transition, and federally funded programs. Students requiring assistance academically, personally, or socially should contact The Office of Student Success Programs at 817-272-6107 for more information and appropriate referrals.

Drop Policy:

To avoid receiving a failing grade due to missing quizzes, discussions, and assignments, it is the student's responsibility to drop the class according to university guidelines and time frames.

Student Evaluation of Teaching:
Toward the end of the semester, I shall ask your opinion on the success of the course by having you complete the Student Evaluation of Teaching Survey.

Active Learning:

The UTA Quality Enhancement Plan (2007) has adopted this working definition of active learning:

Active Learning places the student at the center of the learning process, making him/her a partner in discovery, not a passive receiver of information. It is a process that employs a variety of teaching and learning strategies to place the responsibility for creating and defining the learning environment on the instructor and the responsibility for effective engagement in the learning process on the students. Active learning encourages students to communicate and interact with course materials by reading, writing, discussing, problem-solving, investigating, reflecting, and engaging in higher-order thinking tasks such as application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. An active learning approach draws upon a continuum of teaching and learning strategies, including class discussion activities, undergraduate research, and community-based learning experiences (QEP Executive Summary 2007 p. 1).

Go to UTA's active learning portal for students to read what UTA students are saying about active learning at UTA and how it enhances higher order thinking skills.

English Studies at UTA:

Rafia Mirza is the subject librarian for the English Department. Go to the Central Library's English Studies page for a comprehensive review of library resources for English students.

The English Studies page includes contact information for the subject librarian, a link to an English Studies Facebook page, and general help with your English research needs.

E-Culture Policy:

The University of Texas at Arlington has adopted the University email address as an official means of communication with students. Through the use of email, UT-Arlington is able to provide students with relevant and timely information, designed to facilitate student success. In particular, important information concerning registration, financial aid, payment of bills, and graduation may be sent to students through email.

All students are assigned a UTA email account. Go to MavMail UTA Email for information about activating and using MavMail. New students (first semester at UTA) are able to activate their email account 24 hours after registering for courses. There is no additional charge to students for using this account, and it remains active as long as a student is enrolled at UT– Arlington. Students are responsible for checking their email regularly.

Course Schedule:

Lessons begin on Monday at 6:00 a.m. and end on Sundays at 11:55 p.m. Discussion postings and, except for the last lesson, replies are due by 11:55 p.m. on Sunday evenings.
English 2319, Spring 2010
Lesson / Date / Authors and their Works / Assignment
1 / January 25 / Video Introduction to the Course
Introduction to The Canterbury Tales / Discussion Forum:
1) Introduce yourself
2) What do we learn in the first 18 lines of The General Prologue?
2 / Chaucer's General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales; Prologue to The Parson's Tale / Discussion Forum
Quiz
3 / February 1 / Chaucer: The Knight's Tale, The Miller's Tale, The Shipman's Tale / Discussion Forum
Quiz
4 / Chaucer: The Monk's, The Nun's Priest's, and The Pardoner's Tales / Discussion Forum
Quiz
5 / February 8 / Chaucer's Marriage Group: The Wife of Bath's Tale, The Clerk's Tale, The Franklin's Tale / Discussion Forum
Quiz
Assignment #1
6 / Pound's "The Jewel Stairs' Grievance"
Shakespeare's Sonnet 73
The Elements of a Poem / Discussion Forum
(accumulated notes from responses)
7 / February 15 / Shakespeare, I Henry IV / Discussion Forum
Quiz
Sonnet Explication Module I / (This learning module overlaps with the I Henry IV lesson; intended to provide practice for Sonnet Explication Exam) / Sonnet 3 Discussion Forum
Sonnet 18 Discussion Forum
8 / Shakespeare, Hamlet / Assignment #2
Quiz
Sonnet Explication Module II / The Explication of Sonnet 27
Sample Explication of Sonnet 116
/ Sonnet 27 Discussion Forum
Feb 24-Feb 26 / Sonnet Explication Exam / WebCT online exam
Available:
Feb 24,12:05 a.m.–Feb 26, 11:55 p.m.
9 / February 22 / Introduction to 17th Century Poets: Donne, Herrick, Marvell, Herbert / Discussion Forum
10 / James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist / Portrait List
Discussion Forum
Quiz
11 / March 1 / James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist (continued) / Assignment #3
Quiz
12 / Modern Poetry: Yeats / Discussion Forum
13 / March 8 / Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot / Discussion Forum
Quiz
14 / Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead / Discussion Forum
Quiz
15 / March 15-March 19 / Introduction to Short Stories—5 Stories by Margaret Atwood / Discussion Forum
Quiz
Assignment # 4 on the analysis and explication of "Hairball"

Online Reading Quizzes

Except for the first lesson and the lessons in which we are studying poetry, you will have a reading quiz that will make up part of your grade for that lesson.

The reading quizzes are timed and are taken using the WebCT quiz tool. Each quiz consists of 10 to 15 multiple choice questions and are worth 10 to 15 points (i.e. 1 point per question).

Please read the assigned literary works thoroughly and carefully before taking the quiz. The quiz is meant to ensure that you will have sufficient knowledge of the poem, story, or play so that you may understand and participate in the class discussions of it. Each quiz question is worth one point.

Discussions

Style

Please consider the "Discussions" that are included in each lesson as essays. Please write them as correctly, coherently, and clearly as you can. Use complete sentences; use a topic or thesis sentence to unify your essay.

Guidelines for Length and Substance of Discussion Postings

Try to explore the topic you are discussing in as much detail as possible. As a rough guideline, you can use the number of points as a indicator of how long your essay discussion should be. Please try to write as many "pages" (one page = about 200 words) as the score divided by 10 (that is, if the discussion is worth 25 points, try to write about two-and-a-half pages or 500 words).

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©2009 UTA Department of English

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