Most of our discussions of these works will begin (but not end) with the related materials on LitWeb. Works not on LitWeb are noted here in italics.
Note that you should read AND reread each assignment before class discussion begins.
Unit I: Fiction
Week 1. Introduction to course and to fiction:
T 1/15 Discuss the reading process: Read "The Story of an Hour" (p. 403)
Outside of class: read [before Thursday] "This is Just to Say." (p. 703)
R 1/17 Read and prepare for discussion: "Happy Endings" (p.26), "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." (p. 513) Read pp. 15-20 on plot.
Week 2. T 1/22 "Hills Like White Elephants" (75).
"The Cask of Amontillado" (70). Read pp. 66-69.
R 1/24 "Sonny's Blues"(47) Reading and Rereading Discussions.
Week 3, T 1/29 "Bartleby the Scrivener" (116). Read 102-107.
R 1/31 Symbolism, Setting "Young Goodman Brown" (189) and "Janus" (205) . Read 186-188.
Week 4, T 2/5 Flannery O'Connor week: "A Good Man is Hard to Find" (323). Read 320-323
Reading and Rereading Discussions.
R 2/7 "Everything That Rises Must Converge" (360) ; and "Why I Live at the P.O." (107) . Read 372-77.
Week 5, T 2/12 "A Rose for Emily" (425) Read 423-465.
R 2/14 "The Yellow Wallpaper" (537) .
Week 6, T 2/19 "Boys and Girls"(385) Discussion, "Araby" (395) and "Girl" (409)
R 2/21 Paper 1 draft due(10 course points). Post and critique in the first 45 minutes of class. (Your critique is part of your grade). In-class test. (10 course points) First grade on discussion participation. (10 course points)
Unit 2: Poetry [more reading will be added as we go)
Week 7, T 2/26 "The Fury of Overshoes" (612) "Hanging Fire" (656), "Persimmons"
R 2/28 "To My Dear and Loving Husband," ; "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," ; "Dover Beach" Discussion
Week 8, T 3/5 "Design," p. 822, "Musee des Beaux Arts," p. 820, "London",p. 625
R, 3/7 Annotate "love poem," p. 603 , "Wedding-Ring," p. 606 , "Barbie Doll," p. 619 , "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers," p. 628 .
Discussion of "A Way of Life, " p. 677, "What's That Smell in the Kitchen", p. 918
Week 9, T 3/19 "On Being Brought from Africa,"
"Yet Do I Marvel," "To the Diaspora"
R 3/21 "To Autumn," "Because I Could Not Stop for Death", "The Raven"
Week 10, T 3/26 Annotate "I, being born a woman"
(p. 919); "Diving into the Wreck" (p. 737) or join discussion for comparisons
and LitWeb reading questions
R. 3/28 Sylvia Plath: Annotate "Morning Song (p. 680), " Annotate "Daddy"
(p. 926)
Week 11 T 4/2 Paper due on three different poems (you may include one from our text
which we have not read for class) on one of the following topics. You MUST
use at least one LitWeb poem! Try to be as specific as possible, discussing
passages from the poem; generalities and cliches are not enough.
1. What qualities make a poem good? (Read "Evaluating poetry" 956-59 as a
base) Go beyond your own personal response to consider specific matters
of content, style, and general appeal. Use at least three poems for examples.
2. Find a shared idea or theme and show very different ways that three poems
deal with it which reflect particular cultural, gender, or racial differences,
tone, style, and/or historical context.
3. Many of the LitWeb explorations on the poems involve comparisons, between
poems by different poets and poems by the same poet. Choose one of those to
develop.
Read and critique papers in your group, after
class time if necessary; revised paper to in my drop box by next Tuesday.
Your critique is part of your grade.
In-class test on poems (will do this in the final 45 minutes of class)
(10 points)
Unit 3: Drama
R 4/4 Litweb play: "Trifles" (p. 1019-)--come to the classroom; also read "Understanding the Text, 1043-1050
Week 12 T 4/9 Litweb:
"A Raisin in the Sun" (p. 1477-)
R 4/11 "The Piano Lesson" (p. 1154-) on questions on p. 1215.
Week 13 T,4/16 "Antigone," (p. 1620-)--watch
video of key scenes and discuss
LitWeb questions
R 4/18 Re-read "Antigone" and criticism in our text
Research paper (4) due on a topic from any of the exploration sections on any
of the LitWeb works. Be sure to document well all supporting materials from
the Web and from the library. Critique group on the papers will be open for
a week before the revision is due (10 points)
Week 14 T 4/23 "Hamlet" (1278-) Discussions on
the first three acts and the "To be or not to be" soliloquy
R 4/25 "Hamlet"--
Week 15 T 4/30 Paper 3 due
R 5/2 at 1 p.m. (exam time); final in-class test (on drama)
(10 points). If you did not choose to write the research paper, you will also
write the final exam essay at this time. I'll give you the topic on
Tuesday.
Final participation grade (10 points)
.