ENGL 605–American Renaissance (Fall 2009)

Thursday 6:30-9:15 Owens 209

 

Dr. John Bird

Office:  260 Bancroft

Phone:  323-3679

birdj@winthrop.edu

birdj1@peoplepc.com

Web Page: http://faculty.winthrop.edu/birdj

Class Website: http://engl605.ning.com

Office Hours: 2:00-3:30 MW

2:00-6:00 R

or by appointment

 

DESCRIPTION:

A study of the American Renaissance, with attention to authors, works, themes, movements, historical relationships, and criticism.  The class will be conducted as a seminar, with students contributing a great deal of the content.

 

GOALS AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Student Objectives: Content Knowledge. The student will demonstrate knowledge of:

1.                               various forms of written texts (including fiction, poetry, drama, essay, and other literary genres)

2.                                major periods in the history of American literature in terms of cultural contexts, styles, dominant genres, language, and subject matter

3.                                major similarities and differences among British, American, and other national literatures

4.                                professional standards of grammar, mechanics, and usage accepted in the scholarly community

5.                                standard reference tools, methods, and forms of documentation used in scholarly research

6.                                the standard terminology of literary analysis used in scholarly writing

7.                                various critical perspectives such as the formalist, structuralist, and post-structuralist approaches

8.                                writers from different cultural, ethnic, and minority backgrounds

Student Objectives: Skills in Analysis, Writing, and Communication. The student will

1. present orally the findings of research and critical analysis
2. demonstrate the correct use of standard reference tools, the proper handling of primary and secondary sources, and proper documentation of all sources
3. write research papers and critical analyses on appropriate topics from language, literature, or pedagogy
4. demonstrate a publishable level of critical, creative, or pedagogical materials
5. sustain a high standard of written expression in lengthy critical or creative works (including but not limited to theses)
6. demonstrate synthesizing skills through a comprehensive final examination 

 

 

REQUIREMENTS:

 

·        attendance and participation

·        keep up with all reading

·        oral presentations

·        two 4-6 pp. papers (20% each; 40% total)

·        one 10 p. seminar paper (35%)

·        weekly blog posts and participation in discussion forums (10%)

·        final exam (15%)

 

ATTENDANCE: Attendance is crucial in a seminar such as this one, where the students are responsible for much of the course content.  Except for emergencies, you should not miss any classes, but if you find that you must, please let me know, beforehand if possible. 

 

TEXTS:

The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 7^th ed.  (Vol. B)

Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (Norton Critical Edition, 2^nd ed.)

 

SYLLABUS (students are responsible for any changes):

AUGUST
R 27	Introduction
SEPTEMBER
R 3	Introduction (929); Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature (1110); “The American Scholar” (1138); “Self-Reliance” (1163); “Each and All” (1244); “The Snow-Storm” (1245)
R 10	Henry David Thoreau, “Resistance To Civil Government” (1857); Walden, or Life in the Woods (1872); Emerson, “Thoreau” (1231)
R 17	Thoreau
R 24	Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (2064); “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” (2140);  Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (selections) (1809);  Thoreau, “Slavery in Massachusetts (2046)
OCTOBER
R 1	Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass: “One’s Self I Sing” (2209); “Song of Myself” (2210); “Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in Hand” (2261); “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” (2263); “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” (2267); “When I Heard the Learned Astronomer” (2274); “Cavalry Crossing a Ford” (2276); “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” (2282); “A Noiseless Patient Spider” (2288); Emerson, “The Poet” (1180) (paper #1 due)
R 8	William Apess, “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man” (1051); Lydia Marie Child, “Letters From New York” (1081); Margaret Fuller, From The Great Lawsuit: “Man versus Men. Woman versus Women” (1640); “Summer on the Lakes, in 1843” (1659); Review of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1673); “Fourth of July” (1675); Sojourner Truth, Speech to the Women’s Rights Convention (1851); Fanny Fern, all selections (1794)
R 15	Nathaniel Hawthorne, “My Kinsman, Major Molineaux” (1276); “Young Goodman Brown” (1289); “The Birth-Mark” (1320); “Rappaccini’s Daughter” (1332); Melville, “Hawthorne and His Mosses” (2308); The Scarlet Letter (1352)
R 22	Hawthorne
R 29	Edgar Allan Poe, “Sonnet–To Science” (1532); “To Helen” (1532);“Israfel” (1533); “The City in the Sea” (1534); “Annabel Lee” (1542); “Ligeia” (1543); “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1553); “William Wilson” (1566); “The Black Cat” (1593);“The Purloined Letter” (1599); “The Philosophy of Composition” (1617) (paper # 2 due)
NOVEMBER
R 5	Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” (2363); “The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids” (2389);  Moby-Dick
R 12	Melville,  Moby-Dick
R 19	Melville,  Moby-Dick
R 27	No class–Thanksgiving
DECEMBER
R 3	Seminar paper presentations; Conclusions
M 7	Seminar paper due
T 8	Study Day
R 10	Final Exam–6:30 p.m.