 
 |
UNION
COUNTY COLLEGE
ENG
206 British Literature II
Spring 2009
Weds. 5:40pm-8:30pm, L-313
Office: H-125
| Office Hours | |||
| M & W | 9:00am-11:00am | ||
| T & R | 1:00pm-3:00pm | ||
Office Phone (908) 709-7182
chewning@ucc.edu
Access ANGEL at http://ucconline.ucc.edu
|
|
UNION
COUNTY COLLEGE
ENG
206 British Literature II Spring 2009 Weds. 5:40pm-8:30pm, L-313 |
Dr.
Susannah Chewning Office: H-125
Office Phone (908) 709-7182 Access ANGEL at http://ucconline.ucc.edu |
||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
Course Description:
This
course will be a study of the major British and Irish poets and
prose writers from the pre-Romantic poets to the present, studied in their
historical context and in their aspects of enduring merit. Prerequisite:
ENG 101 (or ENG 112) and ENG 102.
Course
Objectives:
To provide a sense of chronology and historical continuity as a basis for the study of English literature, so that writers and their works may be observed within their cultural milieu and moment.
Through an examination of the literature and culture of England from the eighteenth through the twenty-first centuries, to obtain a broad understanding of the tradition of British literature.
To develop techniques of accurate and appreciative interpretation through the practice of critical thinking and writing.
To
examine the power and presence of British literature throughout the modern
period. We will be reading texts that will address such issues as heroism, human
relationships, spirituality, gender issues, justice, love, literacy, and
morality as they were represented in the literature of these periods in an
effort to make connections with the cultures of previous writers and our own
lives.
|
|
 |
 |
|
Required Texts: Please note: you must buy the books or borrow them from a library and bring them to class each week. They are not all available online. Purchasing the books is not optional.
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Richard J. Dunn. New York: WW Norton, 2000. Any edition of Jane Eyre will do.
Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. The Norton Anthology of English
Literature, volume 2. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007.
Hacker, Diana. A Writer's Reference. Sixth edition. Boston,
MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008.
Course
Requirements:
Reading assignments. Please make sure you read all the assignments on time. You will also be expected to discuss what you have read at length in class. Participation, which is 20% of your grade, includes being in class, taking quizzes, and being prepared to participate.
Four papers:
three shorter papers, of approximately 750 words, due February 18, March 25, and
April 15, and one longer paper of at least 1,200 words (five typed pages) due
May 15. Topics will be assigned and discussed at length in class. All papers
written for this class must be typed and must conform in style and format to the
MLA System of Style and Documentation. Late papers will not be accepted and
cannot be revised.
Response Papers: Weeklyshort response papers based on your
readings, each of at least two hundred words. These are informal papers in which
you discuss your response to the readings we do for class. It is the best way
for you to communicate with me and, at least on paper, participate with the
class in your discussion of what you have read. These papers will not be
accepted late and cannot be revised. Most days you will be reading more than
one text. You can write one hundred words on one text, on all of the
assignments combined, or on each text. You may write as many additional
response papers for extra-credit as you like, but please turn in the minimum
required. Please note that responses are not due on the days papers are due,
but you may turn them in for extra-credit.
Mid-term and final exams in class.
Breakdown of Grades: Participation 20%; Paper 50%; Exams and Quizzes 30%
Grading Scale:
100-92 A; 91-87 B+; 86-82 B; 81-77 C+; 76-70 C; 69-66 D+; 65-62 D; below that F.
Please see my handout on grading for specific rubrics for each grade.
Writing Expectations: This is not a writing class, but in a sense all
college English classes are writing classes. This is a class in which your
writing will be closely examined and in which you will be expected to express
your opinions of the texts we will read in writing. Thus I have fairly high
standards which I expect you to meet in your written work. All papers must
conform to the MLA System of Style and Documentation. They must also be free of
careless grammatical errors and typos. I strongly urge you to meet with me when
your papers are due--if necessary, to show me outlines, rough drafts, and other
pre-writing--so you can be sure that your writing is at the level that I expect
for this class. You are also strongly urged to pursue assistance from writing
tutors (available in the ALC office in the Library).
How to reach me: Phone: (908) 709-7182. E-mail
chewning@ucc.edu. ANGEL:
http://www.ucconline.ucc.edu . Regular mail:
Plagiarism
and Academic Integrity: The
first instance of plagiarism or cheating will result in
failure of the assignment. A
second instance of academic dishonesty will result in failure of the class and
possible censure, or dismissal from the College. Plagiarized papers cannot be revised. Please see the
attached handout
for more specific
expectations.
Please bring a pen (or other writing implement), paper, and your book to every class. Let me know if you lose your syllabus or other course materials so I can get you additional copies.
Schedule
of Assignments:
In addition to these assignments, there may be homework given in class.
If you miss a class, you should speak to a classmate (not me) or consult
the web board to get the
assignment. Not being in class is
no excuse for not completing an assignment--please keep in touch with me,
especially if you have to miss a class.
|
|
||
| W | 1/28 |
Introduction to class. Film: The History of Britain, episode 7. Thomas Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.” Handouts: William Blake, “The Lamb,” and “The Tyger.” Robert Burns,” To a Mouse” and “A Red, Red Rose.” Mary Wollstonecraft, "A Vindication on the Rights of Woman,” pp. 174-189.
|
| W | 2/4 |
“The Revolution Controversy and the ‘Spirit of the Age.’” Read excerpts from Richard Price, "A Discourse on the Love of Our Country"; excerpt from William Blake's "The French Revolution" and Blake's "London"; William Blake, “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” “The Sick Rose,” and “The Garden of Love.” Anna Letitia Barbauld, “The Rights of Woman.” Response due. Please look at Blake's artwork at http://www.blakearchive.org/blake/ |
| W | 2/11 |
William Wordsworth, pp. 274-77 and 305-306; "Descriptive Sketches" last 100 or so lines; "The Excursion," ll. 706-799; “Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge, from "Religious Musings," ll. 295-408 and “Frost at Midnight.” Option 1: William Wordsworth, Preface to Lyrical Ballads, pp. 263-274. Option 2: Dorothy Wordsworth, all selections. Option 3: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Khan.” |
| W | 2/18 |
Required: Edmund Burke, “On the Sublime and the Beautiful.” Choose either The Byronic Hero or The Gothic from WWNorton Online. Option 1: Matthew Gregory Lewis, Anonymous, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, pp. 595-606. Option 2: Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto and Anne Radcliffe, all selections. Option 3: Thomas de Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium Eater. Paper 1 due. Citation Examples.
|
| W | 2/25 |
Required: Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Mutability,” “To Wordsworth,” “Ozymandias,” “England in 1819,” “Ode to the West Wind,” and “Mont Blanc.” Option 1: Percy Bysshe Shelley, from A Defence of Poetry. Option 2: George Gordon, Lord Byron, “She Walks in Beauty” and “When We Two Parted”; John Clare, “I hid my love.” Option 3: George Gordon, Lord Byron, Manfred. Response due. |
|
|
||
| W | 3/4 |
Required: John Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale” and “When I Have Fears,” Letters, "Ode on a Grecian Urn.” Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, chapters 1-10. Response due. |
| W | 3/11 |
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, chapters 11-23. Response due. Mid-term Examination in class. |
| W | 3/18 | Spring Break, no class. |
| W | 3/25 |
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, chapters 24-38. Response due. Paper 2 due. |
| W | 4/1 |
Required: Robert Browning, pp. 1253-1256. Option 1:John Stuart Mill, “What is Poetry?” and Robert Browning, “Andrea Del Sarto.” Option 2: John Stuart Mill, “The Subjection of Women” and Robert Browning, “Porphyria’s Lover” and “Love Among the Ruins.” Option 3: John Stuart Mill, from Autobiography and Robert Browning, “Caliban Upon Setebos.” Response due.
|
| W | 4/8 |
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, pp. 1079-1085. Option 1: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, "Mother and Poet” and “Poets and the Present Age.” Option 2: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “To George Sand: A Desire” and “To George Sand: A Recognition.” Option 3: Emily Brontë, all selections. Response due. |
| W | 4/15 |
Required: Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach” and “Isolation: To Marguerite.” Gerard Manley Hopkins, “God’s Grandeur,” “Spring,” “The Windhover,” and “Pied Beauty.” Option 1: Matthew Arnold, Preface to Poems and “Culture and Anarchy.” Option 2: George Eliot, all selections and William Morris, “The Defence of Guenevere.” Option 3: Thomas Henry Huxley, all selections and Lewis Carroll, “Jabberwocky.” Paper 3 due. |
| W | 4/22 |
The Woman Question, pp. 1581-1607. Oscar Wilde, “The Selfish Giant.” Option 1: Oscar Wilde, “The Critic as Artist” and Preface to The Picture of Dorian Grey. Option 2: Oscar Wilde, from De Profundis and selected poems from Alfred Douglas. Option 3: Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Response due. |
| W | 4/29 |
Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Acts 2 and 3. Thomas Hardy, “Hap” and “Neutral Tones.” AE Housman, all selections. William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming.” Option 1: William Butler Yeats, “A General Introduction for My Work.” Option 2: William Butler Yeats, “Leda and the Swan” and “The Sorrow of Love.” Option 3: “An Imagist Cluster,” pp. 2007-2018. Response due. |
| W | 5/6 |
James Joyce, “Araby.” DH Lawrence, “Piano” and “Tortoise Shout.” Rupert Brooke, “The Soldier.” Wilfred Owen, “Dulce et Decorum Est,” Thomas Hardy, “The Man He Killed.” TS Eliot, “The Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock.” Option 1: TS Eliot, “Tradition and the Individual Talent.” Option 2: Virginia Woolf, “Professions for Women” and “A Sketch of the Past.” Option 3: James Joyce, “The Dead.” Response due. |
| W | 5/13 |
Final Examination, 5:00pm-7:30pm. Final paper due. |
|
|
||
|
||
ENG 206-001 British Literature II Paper Topics
Paper 1, due February 18: No secondary sources for this paper: just you and the text(s).
(a) Choose one or more of the poems we’ve read so far and discuss them giving them a close reading, discussing the meaning, interpretation, and explanation of the poem as thoroughly as possible.
(b) Discuss the nature of the Gothic and how it is expressed in one or more works we have read.
Paper 2, due March 25. Choose one of the following topics and write a paper of at least 750 words; include meaningful quotations from Jane Eyre and at least one other secondary source (not from the Internet). Include a list of Works Cited and document your sources using the MLA Style.
(a) Choose a character from Jane Eyre and write a paper of at least 750 words (approximately three pages) in which you discuss that character's role in the novel and her importance to Bronte's overall theme. Use at least two sources besides the novel, including one electronic source, such as a library database.
(b) Discuss the presentation by Bronte of Romanticism and Victorianism in Jane Eyre. Choose two characters, two places, two themes, or the discussion of two issues (or the same issue two ways) and explain how one is Romantic and one is Victorian. You should begin by defining both terms and both literary concepts and then explaining how Bronte presents them in the novel. You might also want to show how you see Romanticism and Victorianism in two other works (such as poems) to explain your understanding of the concepts).
(c) Compare and contrast two characters from Jane Eyre discussing at least three major points of comparison and demonstrating both similarities and differences in the comparison. Use one of these outline forms for this paper.
Paper 3, due April 15. Choose a topic from The Victorian Age on WWNorton Online: Industrialism, Progress or Decline; The Woman Question; The Painterly Image in Poetry; or Victorian Imperialism. Then chose a topic from the Explorations section of that part of the site – there are dozens to choose from. Please remember to cite your sources carefully.
Paper 4, due May 13: This will be a
research paper in which you discuss an issue of interest to you that has been
presented in/by one or more of the texts or authors we are reading in this
class. Some suggestions: Romanticism or Victorianism, female authorship,
heroism, colonialism, good vs. evil, industrialism, sexuality (heterosexual or
homosexual), the relationship of literature to film (films such as Jane Eyre,
Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Joyce’s “The Dead,” Virginia
Woolf and The Hours, or others that focus on texts from 1750 to 1950,
such as those made about Jane Austen or Charlotte Bronte’s works or lives, ie
Becoming Jane or Devotion). In this paper you will discuss the issue
upon which you wish to focus and then apply the texts and/or authors you will
use to support your opinion. This paper must include the use and documentation
of at least five sources (including one from the Internet
if you like, but only from sites ending in .gov, .org, or .edu) and must be at
least four pages in length. Remember: you must pass this paper with a grade of C
or higher in order to pass this class. Click here
for possible topics.
