English 4

 

 

Texts and Equipment

 

Homer, The Odyssey,  Fitzgerald, trans. (Doubleday)

Allison, et al, The Norton Anthology of Poetry, Shorter Edition (Norton)

Shakespeare, Hamlet, (Washington Square Press)

Hwang, M. Butterfly (Plume)

Chopin, “The Story of an Hour” (on computer)

Morrison, Beloved (Plume)

Abrams, A Dictionary of Literary Terms (Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich)

Two 3 1/2" double-sided, double-density (or high density) floppy disks

Bruin Online account

 

Course Description

 

English 4 is an introduction to the conventions of analyzing and writing about literature. We will focus on 1) your responses to each literary work as an artistic piece in its own right, as a cultural artifact, and as representative of a genre; and 2) communicating these responses in writing. You will write and revise a 5-7 - page paper on each of the three genres: poetry, drama, and fiction.

 

This section of English 4 takes place in a Macintosh computer lab; you will use a Macintosh computer both in and out of class. During class time, you will do numerous writing assignments, both on your own and in collaboration with others. Because these class-based activities are essential to the course, attendance is mandatory and will figure in your final grade. Missed classes cannot be made up.

 

Requirements

 

3 oral reports

3 5-7 - page papers, 2 drafts of each

Short writing assignments

Final exam

 

Grades

 

Papers             60% (20% each)

Final exam                   20%

In-class work  20%

Schedule

 

UNIT 1: POETRY

Week 1

T 1/7        Class:       Introduction; defining poetry, drama, fiction; reading poetry

                Home:      The Odyssey, 1-4; oral reports

           Abrams—allusion, epic, epic simile, epithet, genre, in medias res, invocation, myth, oral formulaic poetry, personification.

 

Th 1/9      Class:       The Odyssey, 1-4; background; epic poem; oral reports

                Home:      The Odyssey, 5-12

 

Week 2

T 1/14      Class:       The Odyssey, 5-12

                Home:      The Odyssey, 13-24

 

Th 1/16    Class:       The Odyssey, 13-24

                Home:      Norton—Tennyson, “Ulysses” (402)

Yeats, “Leda and the Swan” (523)

Marlowe, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” (87)

Ralegh, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” (58)

Lewis, “Song” (653)

Shakespeare, Sonnet 73 (89)

Keats, “Bright Star” (374)

Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale” (370)

Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress” (178)

           Abrams— alliteration, consonance, assonance, carpe diem, conceit, connotation, denotation, intertextuality, lyric, ode, simile, sonnet, metaphor, meter, imagery, onomatopoeia.

Week 3

T 1/21      Class:       Lyric poetry

                Home:      Norton—Browning, “My Last Duchess” (413)

Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (594)

Arnold, “Dover Beach” (463)

Rossetti, “Song” (479)

Dunbar, “We Wear the Mask” (537)

Parker, “Résumé” (626)

Hughes, “Harlem” (648)

Hughes, “Theme for English B” (648)

Brooks “We Real Cool” (719)

Plath, “Daddy” (821)

           Abrams—dramatic monologue, free verse, persona, blank verse, tone.

 

Th 1/23    Class:       Lyric poetry

                Home:      Paper 1, draft 1

 

UNIT 2: DRAMA

Week 4

T 1/28      Class:       Paper 1, draft 1 due; revising strategies for Paper 1; edit groups

                Home:      Paper 1, draft 2; Hamlet, Act I; oral reports

                                 Abrams—revenge tragedy, soliloquy.

 

Th 1/30    Class:       Paper 1, draft 2 due; Hamlet, Act I; background; oral reports

                Home:      Hamlet, Acts II and III

 

Week 5

T 2/4        Class:       Hamlet, Acts II and III

                Home:      Hamlet, Acts IV and V

 

Th 2/6      Class:       Hamlet, Acts IV and V

                Home:      M. Butterfly; oral reports

 

Week 6

T 2/11      Class:       M. Butterfly; oral reports

                Home:      M. Butterfly e-mail discussion

 

Th 2/13    Class:       M. Butterfly film

                Home:      Paper 2, draft 1

 

UNIT 3: FICTION

Week 7

T 2/18      Class:       Paper 2, draft 1 due; revising strategies for Paper 2; edit groups

                Home:      Paper 2, draft 2; Chopin, “The Story of an Hour” (on computer);

                                 write ending; Abrams—fiction, point of view, narrator.

 

Th 2/20    Class:       Paper 2, draft 2 due; fiction; Chopin, “The Story of an Hour”

                Home:      Beloved, 3-105

 

Week 8

T 2/25      Class:       Beloved, 3-105

                Home:      Beloved, 106-204; Abrams—historical novel.

 

Th 2/27    Class:       Beloved, 106-204

                Home:      Beloved, 205-275

 

Week 9

T 3/4        Class:       Beloved, 205-275

                Home:      Paper 3, draft 1

 

Th 3/6      Class:       Paper 3, draft 1 due; revising strategies for Paper 3; edit groups

                Home:      Paper 3, draft 2

 

Week 10

T 3/11      Class:       Paper 3, draft 2 due; review; preparation for final exam

                Home:     

 

Th 3/13    Class:       Review

 

Final Exam: Friday 3/21, 8:00-11:00 a.m.