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Dr. Lucy Price, Instructor

Case 305C, ext. 8471

[email protected]

Office Hours: 10:30 11:30 a.m. MWF

2 3 p.m. TTh. and by appt.

English 120 - Introduction to Literature

Syllabus Spring 2009

Course Description: This course introduces students to the major literary genres ofnarrative fiction, poetry, and drama and examines the interrelationships between language

and aesthetic experience. Literary works will serve as the basis for study of the ways in

which writers consciously employ language to create aesthetic expressions which reflect

experiences of the senses, emotions, intellect, and imagination, as well as ways in whichhuman experience itself is shaped by language. This course is listed as a writing course

and as a general education course in literature (Aesthetics Perspective).

Course Goals and Objectives: The purpose of this course is to make students consciousof the aesthetic qualities and potential of the English language and to introduce them to

the various ways in which writers have employed and responded to the major literary

genres and their traditions as they create literary works of art. At the completion of thiscourse students will demonstrate ability

to understand the ways in which writers employ and respond to the conventions of

the major literary genres through the study of significant representative texts;

to analyze and evaluate works of literature based on their understanding of literary

language and genre forms; to interpret and evaluate literary works, using textual evidence to support their

ideas, in both oral class discussion and written critical essays.

Assignments: The schedule of assignments provides an outline of the reading

assignments to prepare for each class period and the dates for the midterms exam and

essays. Since this class develops skills of reading and literary analysis, the final examfor this class is comprehensive in the sense that students will have the opportunity todemonstrate their ability to analyze and interpret a variety of types of literary texts.

Students may also expect occasional short quizzes and/or writing assignments. Some

writing assignments will be completed as homework to be handed in; some writingassignments will be completed in class. These writing assignments are designed topermit students to demonstrate that they have read and reflected on the assignment and

will provide the class as a group with initial ideas for discussion. In-class quizzes and

writing assignments cannot be made up.
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Introduction to LiteratureSpring 2009 Syllabus

Students are expected to read the assigned literary works carefully and thoughtfully. A

single hurried or casual reading will not suffice for our in-class writing assignments or

our discussions. Many more facets of the works or layers of meaning can be discoveredthrough rereading and further reflection on our class discussions.

Finally each student will be expected to prepare poems to present and discuss in class.Not every student will be asked to present a poem each time this assignment is scheduled,

but everyone will present at least once during the course of the semester.

Required Text: There is one textbook required for this class:

Abcarian and Klotz, eds. Literature: Reading and Writing the Human Experience. Shorter

9th Ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2006.

Students are expected to bring the textbook to each class meeting as we will want to

look at specific texts and poems in the course of our discussions.

Grading:

3 essays 15% each = 45%

Midterm exam = 15%

attendance and class participation (including discussion of poems) = 10%

daily quizzes, writing, and assignments on Blackboard = 10%

final exam = 20%

Total = 100%

Attendance and Academic Expectations:

Since the quality of class discussion is in part a function of both the quality and quantity

of student participation, attendance and participation are expected of all students atall sessions. If an absence is unavoidable, it is the responsibility of the student to check

with the instructor regarding missed work and possible make up. Make-ups areunavailable except in the most extraordinary cases, subject to the instructor's approval,

and must be completed within one week of an absence. More than three absences will

result in a lowering of the class participation grade by 5% for each additional absence.Absence from more than 25% of the class sessions, i.e., 10 absences for a MWF class,

will result in course failure.

The discussion format of this course means that the class is student-centered. Studentswill have ample opportunity to ask questions, to participate in dialogue, and to argue forpositions they are taking while listening and responding to arguments of others. Thus,

the abilities to think, communicate, and listen are equally valued as we focus on the

assigned topics and issues.

Attention to and participation in the class discussion is expected of everyone; activitiesand behavior that distract from participating in and listening to the discussion, including

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private conversations and use of electronic devices, late arrivals and early or unnecessary

departures from the classroom, and eating, are unacceptable and will result in a lowered

class grade.

Each student is expected to adhere to the standards of academic integrity outlined in the

Student Handbook. Any work determined to be plagiarized or counterfeit in any partrepresents an instance of academic misconduct will result in penalties up to and including

a grade of "F" for the course.

Accommodations:

Students with documented disabilities that will affect their work in this class should

contact me to discuss their needs. You should also meet with Cindy Novelo, Coordinator

of Disability Resources, to arrange for accommodations for this course.

The following is a tentative schedule of readings and assignments for the

semester and is subject to modification as needed.

26 Jan Syllabus Available on Blackboard

28 Jan Read pages 3 - 6 and 22 - 30 in our textbook on Responding to

Literature and Reading Drama no class meeting

30 Jan Read Sophocles, Oedipus Rex

2 Feb Discussion of Sophocles, Oedipus Rex continued

4 Feb Reading Poetry; Robert Browning, My Last Duchess; Thomas

Hardy, The Ruined Maid

6 Feb William Blake, The Chimney Sweeper; John Keats, On First

Looking Into Chapmans Homer; Gerard Manley Hopkins, Springand Fall; A.E. Housman, When I Was One-and-Twenty; StevieSmith, Not Waving but Drowning

9 Feb Reading Fiction and Hemingway, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

11 Feb Reading Essays and Langston Hughes, Salvation

13 Feb

16 Feb Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener



23 Feb First Essay DueUrsula LeGuin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

25 Feb Wordsworth, The World Is Too Much with Us; Claude McKay, If

We Must Die

27 Feb Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ulysses

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2 Mar Henrik Ibsen, A Dolls House



9 Mar Midterm Exam

11 Mar Looking Deeper, From History to Literature13 Mar Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

16 20 Mar Spring Break

23 Mar William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily;

25 Mar Alice Walker, Everyday Use

27 Mar Sherman Alexie, This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona

30 Mar T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ;

1 Apr e.e. comings, The Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls;

Henry Reed, Naming of Parts; M. Carl Holman, Mr. Z; EtheridgeKnight, Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the

Criminal Insane

3 Apr Second Essay DueKate Chopin, The Storm

6 Apr Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper

8Apr Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

10 Apr. Good Friday no class

13 Apr Shakespeare, Sonnets numbers 18, 29, 13015 Apr John Donne, The Flea; Theodore Roethke, I Knew a Woman;

Sharon Olds, Sex without Love

17 Apr William Shakespeare, Othello





29 Apr Third Essay Due

1 May John Donne, Death Be Not Proud; Robert Frost, Nothing Gold CanStay, Emily Dickinson, After great pain, a formal feeling comes

4 May Dylan Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

6 May Woody Allen, Death Knocks

8 May Last Class Day Review for Final Exam

TBA Final Exam time and date to be announced

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