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Critical Writing about Literature
Course Prerequisite: Completion of 620:005, College Reading and Writing, or the equivalent. Objectives of Course: · To enjoy, discuss, analyze, and interpret a variety of literary texts in the English and American literary tradition. · To gain a basic sense of the formal elements of literature, of the conventions of three main literary genres, and of the vocabulary of literary study. · To begin learning to think about how literature is shaped by its historical and cultural context. · To develop the skills necessary to thinking critically about literature: reading closely, asking questions, making connections, researching secondary sources. · To develop the skills necessary to write critically about literature: generating significant questions and theses, drawing evidence from the text, incorporating secondary sources, developing logical arguments. · To practice the strategies of all clear writing: formulating well-focused paragraphs, composing sentences, large-scale revision, and editing prose to eliminate errors. Texts to Purchase: · Meyer, The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature, 5th Edition ·
Baker and Huling, A Research Guide for Undergraduate
Students ·
Murfin, The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary
Terms Useful Websites:
Class Preparation: Unless I specify otherwise, you are required to bring your anthology to every class. Of course you should also have paper and pen. Coming to class well-prepared will help you participate well in class discussion (which is a portion of your grade) and will help generate good discussions that will make better and more fun learning experiences for everyone. When you arrive in class, you are expected to have done the following: 1. Read the material assigned for that day, both the anthology discussion sections (if assigned) and all of the literary works presented in the discussion section (in the poetry section, read all the poems at least twice). Think about what they are saying and jot down whatever questions or concerns you have about that day's material. If you have time, I strongly recommend you read the entries for new terms introduced by the chapter you've read in the Bedford Glossary. 2. Read with special care the works I have assigned on the syllabus for that day, several times for poems and, if time permits, twice for stories and plays. If you don't have time to fully read a story twice you should at least skim over it a second time once you've reached the end, look closely at the beginning and end, reread key passages, etc., now that you have a sense of the plot. Underline or otherwise mark passages that you find especially important, striking, or perplexing. Note the year each work was published; if biographical information on the author is available, read it. Think about what difference this background information makes. As you reread/review the assigned texts (no one can do this on an initial reading): Think about what is going on in these work(s): How do you see the element(s) of literature discussed in the assigned chapter(s) operating in them? Other elements? What do you understand, or not understand, about how these texts are working, what they mean? How do you feel about each text? What shapes your response? How does each piece connect with or differ from other works we've read? What questions do you imagine are likely to come up in class discussion of these works? What would you say about these questions? What questions would you choose to raise in discussion? Jot down some notes about these matters so you remember them in class. 3. As you work through the process above, look up any words you don't understand in a dictionary. You can't understand what a piece of literature means if you are missing words, and waiting until class to find out is not doing your job! 4. At the close of a reading assignment is a good time to write in your journal. Remember that you are required to turn in at least one free-writing response for each week. The questions in #2 above will work well as the basis for such writing. 5. When class begins you should be prepared to tell me if there are particular points about the day's reading you want clarified and/or particular pieces or issues you would like to discuss. Reading journal, WebCT postings, three essays, final exam 1. Reading Journal: You are expected to make entries in this journal on a weekly basis through April 12; I will collect it three times during the semester. I expect to see a minimum of two entries per week, for a minimum of four typed pages per week (or the handwritten equivalent). Fulfilling the required minimum for the journal with writing of acceptable quality will probably produce a grade in the B-C range; to get a higher grade will require more entries as well as an above-average level of thoughtfulness and insight. Any specific in- or out-of-class journal assignments I give will be in addition to, not in substitution for, these two weekly entries on your own. I will give a collective grade to your journal writing for the semester when I return the third installment. More information about the journal, including grading criteria, can be found later in this syllabus. 2. WebCT discussion postings: The class has an associated web-site and will have an online discussion component to supplement our in-class discussions. There will be an orientation session early in the semester in which I will show you how to access and use WebCT. The site has a number of features which I believe you will find useful and enjoyable, such as a calendar, course-e-mail, and a course chat-room. Crucially, however, it has a discussion board, on which you will be expected to post comments (and read others' comments) a minimum of ten times during the semester. There will be several ongoing topics, and in addition, every week I will indicate a selection from, or question about, the assigned reading as a topic for discussion. Your posts need to be on a relevant topic and at least a short paragraph (3-4 sentences) in length to count. If you fulfill 10 satisfactory posts during the semester, and post on a reasonably regular basis (i.e. you don't let it go until the end then post 10 times in the final week!) you will get the full 50 points allotted to this course element; if you post more or especially well, I will give you extra points. 3. Three Essays: Three analytic essays, two based only on the source material and one revising one of the first two essays with material from secondary critical sources. You will have considerable freedom in choosing works/writers to focus on for the first two papers; try to choose topics you have some genuine interest in, since you will have be spending extended time with one of them. Before turning in each assignment for grading, you will have a required conference with me on your draft. Poetry Essay: This should be either an explication of one fairly short poem or an analysis of how some poetic element (or possibly two elements you think are significantly related) works in one or two poems by the same author. I will give you a list of suggested poems for this assignment as the time approaches, but you are entirely welcome to do others. The length is minimum five pages; if you're doing a thorough job you might well find you need more space than that. I do not want you to consult secondary (outside) sources for this essay, beyond a dictionary, a literary handbook such as the Bedford Glossary, and (if you wish) a straightforward reference source for biographical information about the author, such as an encyclopedia, or the anthology web site. Fiction Essay: You are free to develop your own topic for this assignment. We will be collecting topic suggestions together as a class. Your essay should, however, involve analyzing one of the stories or the novel assigned for class, or (after consultation with me) another story in the anthology. Again, I do not expect you to consult secondary (outside) sources for this essay. The length is minimum four to five pages. Researched Essay/Revision: As your final project for the semester, you will choose one of your two previous papers to revisit and expand. (If you wish, as your research progresses you may choose to include one or additional poems or stoies by the same writer.) This project will have two stages: A. Annotated Bibliography. Following an in-class introduction to literary research in the library and research time on your own, you will assemble a bibliography of ten sources (books, essays published in books, or articles in critical journals) related to the topic of either your poetry or fiction essay. No more than two of these sources may be from the Web. These should be sources that seem relevant and useful for the project you are working on, although you may include one or two entries for items where you question the helpfulness (they must still be relevant). An annotated bibliography is a list of sources, cited correctly in MLA form, followed by a brief summary and evaluation of each source. B. Argumentative Essay with Sources. You will expand your earlier paper in a way that will give you an opportunity to incorporate and respond to selected sources from your annotated bibliography. You will not simply be adding material but revising and strengthening your argument, since your paper will now be informed by an awareness of the academic "conversation" about critical issues in or related to the text(s) or author you are writing about, and your sense of what you want to say about the work(s) in question will have developed further and possibly in new directions. You will be expected not just to use sources to support what you are saying but to disagree with, qualify, or add to the argument made by at least one of your sources. The target length for this paper is around 7-10 pages. Final Exam: The exam will be held in the scheduled period during finals week. It will consist of two sections: A definition/short-answer section, which will test your knowledge of the basic terminology of literary study. By the end of the semester you should be able to define most of the terms listed inside the back cover of the anthology (only terms we have actually used in class will be on the exam). As the semester progresses I urge you to study the entries for terms used in class in the Bedford Glossary as well as the definitions in the anthology for a fuller or clearer understanding. An essay section, which will focus on the works read in the drama section of the course, although you may be asked to make connections to other readings as well. There will be at least one question asking you to compare and contrast two works. Your course grade will be determined by the percentage of points that you earn, minus any demerits from absences, weak participation, or late papers. Especially strong class participation may strengthen your overall final grade if your grades for written work do not seem to me to fully reflect your performance in the course. The total number of points possible for the semester may vary slightly from this estimate. Journals (total of 3): 100 pts. WebCT discussion: 50 pts. Poetry Paper: 100 pts. Fiction Paper: 100 pts. Annotated Bibliography: 50 pts. Researched Essay: 100 pts. Final Exam: 100 pts.
Total 600 pts. Your semester grade will be based on the following percentage scale:
Format for Submitting Class Work: All essays must be word-processed/typed in a plain, average-sized font, double-spaced, with approximately 1" margins on all sides, on 8 1/2" x 11" plain paper. I recommend Times Roman 12-pt. font (as in this syllabus) or something similar. No title page is necessary. At the top of the first page of your paper (I don't care which corner[s]), include your name, the name of this course, the date, and an indication of which assignment this is (e.g. "Poetry Essay"). Centered beneath that, give your paper a title that gives some idea what it is about – do not use just the title of the work you are writing about. Double-spacing between the title and the beginning of the text makes it easier to read. Also, please number your pages -- do so by hand if you forget to do it on the computer. In a separate page at the end of your paper, list all the texts you have used in the paper in correct MLA style. All quotations from the text or direct references to passages in the text of the work(s) you are writing about must be followed by references: for poems, cite line numbers; for stories, cite page numbers. I expect both prose and poetry to be quoted in the correct form(s). We will review these conventions in class; for more information about them, see the "Documenting Sources" section in the anthology (pages 1566-72), the MLA Handbook, or, for examples of form handled correctly, the sample student papers included in the anthology. Proofread your paper carefully (spell-checkers help but won't do the hole job [see?]); numerous typos and other errors you could easily have fixed make you look careless or indifferent and will detract from your grade, probably more than one or two honest mistakes in syntax will. Attendance: Expected and required. I generally take attendance. Legitimate reasons for missing class include your own illness; a death or medical emergency in your immediate family; your required attendance at an official University-sponsored event; or dangerous driving conditions. If one of these pertains to you, please notify me by e-mailing me or leaving a message on my office voice-mail, if possible before the class you will miss. If a situation arises that will cause you to miss a number of classes, notify me as soon as you reasonably can so that we can discuss how we will handle it. Deadlines Papers are due on the date specified. They are normally due at the beginning of class, but I will not penalize you so long as they are in by 5 p.m. on that day. (Do not skip class because you're having trouble with your printer!) There will be subtractions from your grade for late papers, increasing with the length of time the paper is late. In those cases I will give the paper a "merit grade" which lets you know how I responded to the paper in itself, and the official "recorded grade" which factors in the lateness. I am willing to negotiate extensions requested at least one class in advance. Revision Policy: You are allowed to do a regular revision of the essay that you do not choose to expand for the final paper. If I give the revision a higher grade, it replaces the old grade. However, you are required to meet with me first to go over my comments and your revision plans. I expect substantial rethinking/rewriting in a revised paper; except in special, mutually-agreed-upon cases, I will return unmarked revisions that contain only mechanical or sentence-level changes. When you submit a revised essay, you must also attach the original copy of the first version with my comments and the grade sheet. I will accept revisions of the first essay until the second essay is due,
and revisions of the second essay until it is time to begin working on the
final essay. Academic Ethics: All students are expected to abide by the University's official policy on academic ethics. You can review this policy at http://www.uni.edu/pres/policies/301.html. We will also be discussing in class how to work with secondary sources in a literature paper; I am assuming you have covered the basics of documenting research in 620:005. If you have any question about what would constitute plagiarism in relation to your use of a particular source, please consult with me or, if I am not available, another faculty member. Keep a record of the sources you consult while doing research for a piece of writing; you should be able to produce all the sources you have consulted if an issue should arise. Any work you submit that appears intentionally plagiarized (you attempt to pass off language, ideas, or a complete text from another source as your own, assuming or hoping I won't be able to tell) will be graded F and you will have to redo the assignment from the beginning on another topic, under close supervision. Final essays that are plagiarized cannot be redone. You will receive no points for either the researched essay or the annotated bibliography. In addition to the above penalties, I reserve the right to automatically fail any student from the course for wholesale or repeated plagiarism. Back to Top
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on the Reading / Writing Journal Requirement: The minimum requirement is two entries per week, for a minimum total of four pages per week (handwritten pages, assuming average-sized handwriting etc.). Journals will be collected three times during the semester – see the syllabus for dates. I will grade each set of journals and then average the three grades into the final overall journal grade, which will factor into your semester grade. Format: You may handwrite the journal in blue or black ink, or type it if you are used to composing on the computer (or a mix of the two), and turn it in to me neatly stapled, clipped, or in a simple folder -- spiral or bound notebooks will NOT be accepted (too heavy; I'll send you back to xerox the pages). Journals will be evaluated for content, not for spelling, grammar, etc. or for neatness; unless your dog, cat, or roommate has done unspeakable things to the pages, don't waste time recopying them! Please make a reasonable effort to be legible, though -- if you know you have terrible handwriting you might give extra consideration to typing the journal. Date each entry. If you are doing a specific writing exercise (see #1 below), indicate the page number of the anthology it is on and which exercise it is, as well as which piece of literature you are writing about. A sentence to describe the goal of the exercise would be helpful, so I don't have to check the book for each one. If you are doing free-writing on a particular piece (see #2 below), indicate the author, title, and page number of the piece. Content: I want to see two kinds of entries each week: 1. At least one entry: Respond to at least some of the "Considerations for Critical Thinking and Writing" that come at the end of every selection in our anthology. Or, apply some of the questions listed on pages 564-65 about poetry, 41-43 about fiction, or 975-76 about drama. 2. At least one entry: Do a piece of free-writing about one of the works assigned for class that week. Free-writing means of course that you are free to take any approach you want to; start responding, keep thinking and looking at the piece you're writing about, and see where it takes you. Try to stay with the piece/writing for a sustained block of time, to give yourself a chance to get beyond your preliminary impressions. Some ideas to get you going:
I may sometimes give the class other journal assignments, for example
writing about pieces we don't have time to discuss fully in class. Here's the basis of how I will grade your journal:
Again, I am not grading your writing itself in terms of grammar, style, coherence etc. I am looking to see you thinking in written words, noticing things, staying with a piece and with the process of writing long enough for thoughts and perceptions to develop. Do not clog your journal with summaries of what pieces are about or with. Do not try to write briefly about every piece you've read.
Schedule of Readings and Assignments 9 Introduction: What is "Literature"? 11 Introduction: What is "Reading"? Read Meyer's introduction, 1-6, Hawkins, 1517- 1519, Dickstein, 1520-21; Shakespeare, "When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes," 903; another text of your choice (assignment will be described on 1/9) Poetry 16 Chap. 14, Reading Poetry, 531 ff. For class focus on two poems about people and animals: John Updike, "Dog's Death," 533; Elizabeth Bishop, "The Fish," 542; be sure to read "Suggestions for Approaching Poetry," 549-551. 18 Chap. 17, Images, 600 ff. For class focus on Theodore Roethke, "Root Cellar," 604; Jimmy Santiago Baca, "Green Chile," 606, Robert Frost, "Out, Out--" 796 WebCT instruction 23 Chap. 16, Word Choice, Word Order, and Tone, 570 ff. For class focus on "Diction and tone in four love poems" section, 580-588 25 Chap. 18, Figures of Speech, 617 ff. [Someone else will be teaching the class today; stay tuned for details] 30 Chap. 20, Sounds, 662 ff. Focus on xeroxed exercises I will provide, Gerard Manley Hopkins "God's Grandeur," 673, Edgar Allan Poe, "The Bells," 674 1 Chap. 21, Patterns of Rhythm. Focus on scansion instruction, Robert Herrick, "Delight in Disorder," 696, Theodore Roethke, "My Papa's Waltz," 701, Edward Hirsch, "Fast Break," 703. First Journal installment due 6 Chap. 25, Critical Case Study: T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (just focus on the poem itself). Also read Chap. 37, Reading and Writing, 1523 through 1546, especially the description of writing an explication, 1541-46, which is what you are about to begin doing. 8 Chap. 25, focus on Perspectives section as well as
poem. You must tell me the poem
you've chosen for your explication essay by this date. 13 Group work /
individual conferences 15 Group work/
individual conferences Fiction: focus on 20th C. American
women writers 20 Poetry Essay Due. Chap. 1, Reading Fiction; focus on Kate Chopin, "The Story of an Hour," 10-12 22 Chap. 3, Plot; Read introduction, then focus on Alice Munro, "An Ounce of Cure" (364-372) as story 27 Chap. 4, Character, Chap. 5, Setting (introductory discussions); focus on Bharati Mukherjee, "The Tenant" 1 Chap. 6, Point of View; read introduction, then focus on Flannery O'Connor, "Revelation" as story (340-354) 6 Chap. 7, Symbolism; Chap. 8, Theme; think about these elements in relation to O'Connor. Also read Toni Cade Bambara, "The Lesson" (159-165); Dorothy Allison, "Don't Tell Me You Don't Know" (xerox). Second journal installment due 8 Chap. 9, Style, Tone, and Irony; focus on Susan
Minot, "Lust," 256; also read Jamaica Kincaid, "Girl"
438 Library orientation for literary
research (attendance will be taken!) 13 Spring Break 15 Spring Break 20 Flannery O'Connor, focus on background (317-20) and "A Good Man is Hard to Find" (328-339); read description of analysis as essay form, 1546-1551 22 Flannery O'Connor, focus on Perspectives, 354-360 (also review "Revelation") Drama: focus on the genre of
tragedy 27 Reading Drama, 941-973; focus on Susan Glaspell, Trifles;
Individual conferences 29 Group work /
individual conferences 3 Fiction Essay Due. Shakespeare, Othello, Act I 5 Othello, Acts II-III 10 Othello, Acts IV-V 12 Othello criticism: Perspectives on Shakespeare, 1130-1136, plus Carol Neely article (xerox). Third and final journal installment due 17 Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman, focus on class on Act I (but you should have read the whole play by today) Annotated Bibliography Due. 19 Death of a Salesman, focus on Act II, Requiem, Perspectives 1379-82 24 Individual
Conferences 26 Individual Conferences. In class: final exam review session 27 (Friday) Final Essay Due by 5 p.m. 2 (Wednesday) Final Exam 1:00-2:50 |
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