Syllabus for
ENG 2013

Credit: 3 Hours / Founders 221
January 2005 Mondays through Fridays
Time: 11:30 am-01:40 pm

Dr. Rearick's Office: Founders Hall 214
(Within 219: Lit., Lang., & Comm. Dept.)
Office Hours: Daily 12:30-1:30 or by appointment
Office Ext. 3508
Home Phone 392-3738
(but please do not call after 8:00--Andy and Laura are hopefully in Bed)
email: anderson.rearick@mvnu.edu
(checked twice, daily)

Course Index:

• Course Description
  • [procedure] [purpose] [tools] [why so many books?] [texts] [grading] [grading scale] [attendance] [participation] [journal] [tests] [final] [extra credit] [Lit. on the Web]
• Class Schedule
  • [Week One] [Week Two] [Week Three][Week Four]
• Example One: Journal Table of Contents
• Example Two: Journal Entry
• First Handout: "Literature. . .Now What Do You Suppose They Mean by That?"

Course Description:

The purpose of ENG2013, Introduction to Literature, As Described by the Online Catalogue: "A study of literary genres through representative readings. Prerequisite: ENG1053G." This class will meet five times a week for three weeks to discuss the nature of literature using as raw material the readings listed as well as a series of handouts to be dispersed during the semester. Discussions will center on some of the common themes that have haunted the human mind and heart throughout western history..

Class Procedure:

ENG2013 Introduction to Literature:  This class will meet daily for three weeks to discuss the nature of literature using the below reading list as raw material as well as a series of handouts to be dispersed during the semester. Discussions will center around the some of the common themes which have haunted the human mind and heart throughout western history.

The following reading list is not exclusive and, in fact, many important works (probably including your favorites) have been excluded. This class can only function as an introduction, not an exhaustive study. I encourage you to think of the texts for this class not as a single resource but a series of inexhaustible treasure chests, capable of refreshment and inspiration time and time again.

Students will be evaluated by a series of three tests, three journal collections, and a final.  Also the option for extra credit will made available for those who are willing to do extra work.

The purpose of this course is. . .

1. to expose the student to a wide range of literary genres: poetry, drama, novel and short story

2. to introduce the student to a wide ranger of authors of different cultures, genders and ages.

3. to encourage the student to consider what makes a work of literature worthy--how should the cannon be formed?

4. to introduce some of the important common issues which authors--in spite of their different backgrounds, cultures, and mediums--often examine.

Tools:

You must purchase a Loose-leaf Notebook divided into three (3) parts

A-Handouts, B- Class-notes, C-Journal

Actual Reading Texts

I know at times you may feel like this fellow below but stay with it.

A Note on the texts:  The central purpose of this class is to enrich your life.  This is not a vocational training session in which the question of what information is actually applicable to one's present or future job is central to the class's worth.  In point of fact most companies have programs to deal with that need.  The purpose of this course is to broaden the student's understanding of the human condition, to widen his or her understanding of how people think, and develop their own sense of what is worthwhile and beautiful.  Thus these texts have value long after the student completes this class and should be looked upon as the beginning of what may become a treasure trove of future reading.  One final note, readings listed on a day in a syllabus are expected to be completed by that day.

Criticism

Cambridge University Press; Rep edition (January 31, 1992)
ISBN: 0521422817
List Price: $16.99
Required

The Anthology:

Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense

Edited by Thomas Arp and Greg Johnson. 

Hardcover: 1522 pages List Price: $85.95

Harcourt College Pub (Thomson) 

ISBN: 0155074946

Autobiographical

A Grief Obscured by C.S. Lewis 

HarperSanFrancisco
ISBN: 0060652381
List Price: $9.95
Required

Plays: 

• Othello by William Shakespeare
• Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
• Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
• Shadowlands by William Nicholson
• Henry V by William Shakespeare

Please note that except for Othello which is in The Perrine's Anthology all the others on on web sites.

Hand outs

Handouts will be given throughout the class. Unless specified by Dr. Rearick, such hand-outs should be considered required reading like any of the assigned texts. Click Here for the Word Document and Here for the Contents Page and Here for the Cover Page

Grading:

3. Tests 60%
Journal 20%
Final Exam 20%

Grading Scale:

• 91 to 100 is an "A"     Exceptional, a cut above-unusually good.
• 81 to 90 is a "B"         Well Done! A fine Job!
• 71 to 80 is a "C"         Good, a concrete understanding of the subject
• 60 to 70 is a "D"         Passing but weak
• 59 and below is an "F" Fell short of required understanding of material and or class participation (see below on attendance)

Attendance: Since we are functioning on an intensive schedule, it is vital that you be in class throughout the semester--even on days when a play is being shown in class.  Three absences will be allowed and then five points will be taken from the student's final score at the end of the term.  Students who are involved in a recognized activity for the school (Mandate weekends, traveling musical groups, athletes) need to see the instructor ahead of time so arrangements can be made.

Class Participation: Lecture will only play a part in the class activities.  Literature is meant to be talked about.  Students are encouraged to express their opinions and share their unique insights.  Each of us brings something special to a text that is ours alone.  Your comments are very important.  I have been known to add extra credit to students who show an exceptional willingness to participate in class discussion. Furthermore your online web home will have ongoing discussion questions 

Journal:

 Your journal is IMPORTANT!  You should write in it five times a week.  It is your personal repository for what you think about the works you are reading and about the material being covered in class.

I will be looking for the following in your journal:

1.  Six entries per week (totaling 17 by the end of the semester).  Going  beyond that 17 entries could indicate to the instructor the kind of student  who will achieve a high grade.  Please note that writing in your journal is  not connected with days in class.  In fact to reach beyond the required 17 entries you may have to write on weekends.  I am aware that this is a lot of writing but remember that students in the traditional semester must hand in a journal of 38 entries by semester's end.   Finally remember it is also allowable to write two entries on a day as long as both are adequately developed. Please note the following: 

 A. Periodic class checks may occur to determine the currency of your journal entries.   So, always bring your journal with you to class.

 B. Journals will be handed in three times during the semester:
Jan. 10 (5), Jan. 17 (10), and Jan. 26 (17).Pick Up at My Office Next Day = Final Exam Day

2. A table of contents made from the thesis sentence found in each entry.

3. Journal entries must be at least 2/3 of a page long.  Furthermore, if
 you are one of those individuals like St. Paul with BIG handwriting--

 "Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand"  (Gal. 6:11)

--then you should plan to write more than what I have  suggested.  I’ve seen some fill up 2/3 of a page with "I’ve been thinking  about our reading."  Typing is not required, but typing does get a leg up just like extra entires.

4. All entries should be numbered and dated:
 (For Example: Entry # 10; Jan 17, 2005).

5. Although I will not be grading the journal harshly concerning mechanics and restarts of thought (which require a single line to cross out some    material), I do expect the final product to be neat and legible. (Typing helps this)

6. Also you  should write full sentences within paragraphs--no fragmented stream of  consciousness experiments.  "Split from society--bad."  To be specific, I will be especially looking in your journal for. . .

A. Development of ideas.  Remember that it is not necessary to finish a work to have a good idea.  In fact waiting till you have finished can be   overwhelming. Keep your journal handy while reading.

B. Interconnectedness of journal entries.  This means that an idea you examine at one point in your journal might have relevance to another work discussed later. Works in literature should not be thought of in a vacuum.

A Journal is NOT. . .

1. A diary. Your entries should be a mixture of commentary concerning what  you read and what you discuss in and out of class about literature.  I do  not want to read (as I have in the past) what you had for lunch or who is  presently percolating your hormones.

2. A place for notes.  Class notes belong in the section provided for them in your loose leaf.  I should not see your actually writing in your journal  during class.  This also means that a journal is not a re-hashing of what is  covered in class ("today in class we talked about. . .etc etc.").

To see an example of a possible journal entry see text included at syllabus' conclusion.

REMEMBER:  Your journal accounts for 20% of your grade.  That’s the same as your final: DO NOT PUT OFF TO THE LAST MINUTE: DO NOT "BLOW IT OFF!"

Tests: three tests based on the readings and class discussion will be given throughout the semester.  These should be kept since they will form the backbone of the final.  They will be held on the 7^th, 14^th, and the 21^st.

Final Exam: The final exam, which is scheduled for the last day of class, Jan.27^th, will be accumulative and based strongly on the tests given throughout the semester. Do not be surprised if part of the day is used to cover NEW material.  This class is so cramped I may need some time for some final readings.  The exam itself will not take more than an hour.

Extra Credit: Although there will be no papers required for this class, a student can add extra credit to his or her grade by writing a paper or papers on outside reading concerning any of the works or authors covered in class. Furthermore, another option for extra credit is to view or listen to and then write a review about tapes or video films on reserve in the library.  Credit will vary according to the assignment.  Extra points will be added directly to the final score for work handed in before or on the class just at the end of the third week, Friday Jan. 14. 

Literature on the Web:

As we make our way through the readings you may wish to visit my web page,
Dr. Rearick's Reading Corner, located at

http://nzr.mvnu.edu/faculty/trearick/english/rearick/readings/re_intro.htm

This address is reachable both on and off campus.  Those of you who are local and do not have a computer should remember that the Knox Public Library offers web access for a limited time, and--of course--the labs of the campus library and computer labs are available to you.

Other web pages relating to works of liteature which might be of interest to the student can be accessed from this index page by title, author, genre, sub-genre, time period, or nationality.

I have tried to place some ideas and even sometimes some test questions connected with our class readings within these files.  Also in several cases there are links to study guides, e texts, and even connections to relevant web pages on the net.

Note that every work is connected to a page which gives biographical information about the author taken from the Encyclopedia Britanica.

If you wish to make your way through the front door and see what other faculty
are up to check out the MVNU internal web page at http://mvnc.edu/nzr which for some reason comes up on my computer with the address of. . .

http://nzr.mvnu.edu/

One special point of note:  Please do not print off my pages until you find out how long the document is and have asked yourself if you really need a hard copy.  You can check the document size  by going into print preview and then zoom in so you can read the text.  At the bottom of the first page will be the page number in comparison with the total pages.  For example, my "Dickens’ Christian Carol in Prose" article has at the bottom  ‘1 of 13.’  This tells you that there will be 13 pages of text printed.  Not bad, but my Pride and Prejudice study guild developed by Monarch Notes is 75 pages.  Librarians and computer lab assistants have been dismayed to find piles of such text flowing from their printers.  Please do not abuse this resource!

Sample # 1

Remember that your journal should have a table of content page on which the big idea of each of your journal entries should be found.  It should look something like the following:

Contents

• Entry # 1    When I think of Literature, I think of Poems and Storeis which have been Judged Great.
• Entry # 2    What I like best in a work of Liteature, above anything else, is the story line.
• Entry #3    The Role of Nature in Rime of the Ancient Mariner Seems Important.
• Entry # 4   Making Hamlet be out of his mind seems to weaken the story.
• Entry # 5    I don't like thinking of scripture as something which has changed over time.

Sample # 2

Note that every entry should have the entry number, the date, and the opening statment.  Since one can not always know where one is going with a journal entry until it is finished, do not write the opening statement until you have written the entry.

Journal Entry # 3                                                                                                Jan 15, 2005

The Role of Nature in Rime of the Ancient Mariner Seems Important

In my latest reading of Coleridge "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" I noticed that even though the work is filled with supernatural elements, the hard edged description of nature itself also plays a dominate role in in the work in setting the mood and cueing the reader to what is going to happen.  What I mean is that as memorable as the the vampire-like woman who claims the narrator or the celestial beings who possess the dead crew members bodies are, there are also striking moments of natural beauty such as the storm which fills his water buckets and then clears to reveal a starry night.

Class Schedule

At present it is impossible to give you an exact breakdown of what will be discussed, but there is a listing of the major works and some of the minor ones within the time frame I hope to cover them during this Summer.  Also there are several longer works which will be covered at the end of the class.  Although A Grief Observed and A Christmas Carol will not be overtly touched until then, the student will find recommended reading schedule throughout the schedule. Unless otherwise indicated all page numbers refer to the Perrine's text.

Week One: Jan. 4-7

The Nature of Literature and its depiction of Isolation

Terms: Here are some terms which you should know by the end of this section.
Look up the literary meaning for. . .

• allegory
• genre
• sub genre
• short story
• verisimilitude
• canon
• mimetic (in contrast from creative)

Note: this is not an Option; it is expected:  Remember to look at the Glossary available at  Dr. Rearick's Reading Corner under the heading: "Resources."

Tuesday: Jan 4

My Lecture on Pleasure: the Cornerstone of Literature

• Introduction
• The Natures of Literature: Welcome to the Wide World of Books!
• "There is No Frigate Like A Book" by Emily Dickinson 758 
• "This is My Letter to the World" by Emily Dickinson (Handout)
• "Literature; Now What the Heck. . .?" (Handout)

My Lecture on Isolation

• A Christmas Carol in Prose [online text] by Charles Dickens Stave One 1-28 (these pages refer to the Scholastic Classics edition)
• Othello [online text] by William Shakespeare  1361-1402 (Act One and Two)

My Lecture on Dickens' "Christian" Carol

Possible Journal Topics:

• What should be the requirements that guide a professor to include a work in an Introduction to Literature Class?

• Does Dr. Rearick's definition of literature change your original concept of the material to be covered?

• Few of us have had a dead albatross hung about our neck.  What aspect of the Mariner's experience from "Rime" is true to all readers?  How is it true to yours?

• Othello's isolation is complex.  Considering the different forces working against him, which do you think is the most profound?

Wednesday: Jan. 5

My Lecture on The Changing Canon

• An Experiment in Criticism Chap. One: "The Literary Reader"
• "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by S.T. Coleridge (Handout)
• "The Daffodils" or "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth

• Othello [online text] by William Shakespeare  1402 -1426 (Act Three)
• "The Most Dangerous Game" 57-76
• "Young Goodman Brown" Nathanial Hawthorne 316-329
• A Christmas Carol in Prose [online text] by Charles Dickens Stave Two 29-54

Possible Journal Topics:

• What makes a work of Literature Profane?  How much should the Christian reader rely upon his or her own awareness of being offended?

• Do you the reader find Wordsworth's claim that nature gives bounty to those who take time to look at her (which is especially useful when facing isolation or the faults of human society) makes sense or do you think he is projecting something into nature which is not there?

• According to Lewis' definition of readers are you a part of the majority (of nonliterary readers) or part of few (literary readers)?  What do you think about his categories?

Thursday: Jan. 6 

My Lecture on The Romantics and Two Young Men Who Turned the World of Poetry Upside down!

What is Going On in Kubla Khan?

• Paul's Case 245-262
• "Tinturn Abbey" by  William Wordsworth (Handout)
• "Kubla Khan" by Samuel T. Coleridge 1034
• A Christmas Carol in Prose [online text] by Charles Dickens Stave Three 55-88
• Othello [online text] by William Shakespeare  1426 -1445 (Act Four)

Possible Journal Topics:

• Do you think Othello has a "tragic flaw?"  Illustrate your point from the play.

• Do you the reader find Wordsworth's claim that nature gives bounty to those who take time to look at her (which is especially useful when facing isolation r the faults of human society) makes sense or do you think he is projecting something into nature which is not there?

Friday: Jan. 7 

• "I'm Nobody" by Emily Dickinson (Handout)
• "The Lady of Shalott" by [online text] Tennyson (Handout)
• Othello [online text] by William Shakespeare  1445-1462 (Act Five)
• A Christmas Carol in Prose [online text] by Charles Dickens Stave Four 89-112 and Stave Five 113-122

Test # 1

Possible Journal Topics:

• Have you ever felt isolated because of a talent God has given you?  Your the only one who thinks the choir could sound better.  The poem you wrote for the missionary society is not easily understood by everyone in the congregation.  What have you done about it?

• Should Christian artists accept isolation as just the price to pay for being aesthetically developed?

  Did the Lady of Shalott make the right choice?  Is it better to love and lose than to never love at all?

Week Two: Jan. 10-14

Gender Difference and Cultural Expectations

Learn the literary meaning for. . .

• themes
• motifs
• symbols
• patriarchy
• negative capability
• willing suspension of disbelief
• marginalized
• antifeminist literature
• misogynist

Remember that there is a Glossary available at
Dr. Rearick's Reading Room under the heading: "Resources."

Monday: Jan 10

First Journal Check (5 entries expected)

My Lecture on Shakespeare

• "If" by Rudyard Kipling Handout
• "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner 281-290
• "A Jury by Her Peers" by Susan Gadspell 406-426
• The Wife of Bath’s "Prologue" [online text] by Geoffrey Chaucer Handout
• "The Wife" by Emily Dickinson Handout
• The Taming of the Shrew [online text] by William Shakespeare

Tuesday Jan. 11

My Lecture on Gender Differences
Shakespeare's Bad/Good Woman & Good/Bad Woman

• The Wife of Bath’s Tale" by Geoffrey Chaucer Handout 
• "Roman Fever" by Edith Wharton 427439
• The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
• An Experiment in Criticism Chap. Three: "How the Few and the Many use Pictures and Music" by C.S. Lewis
• A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis 1-9

Here is a helpful Study Guide on the Taming of the Shrew

Love and Marriage

Wednesday Jan. 12

Literature and Love

• "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell 803
• Pygmalion, [online text] by George Bernard Shaw
• "The Gilded Six-Bits" by Zora Neale Hurston 631-641
• A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis  10-17

Thursday Jan. 13

• Pygmalion, [online text] by George Bernard Shaw
• "Sonnet to a Friend" by Samuel Coleridge Handout
• "We Outgrow Love" by Emily Dickenson Handout
• A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis 18-28
• "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning 849-451 
• The River Merchant's Wife" translated by Ezra Pound  Handout

Friday Jan. 14

• Pygmalion, [online text] by George Bernard Shaw
• A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis 28-39

Dickens In Love

• Test # 2

Week Three Jan. 17-21

Terms you should learn about Lit and Love:

• Poetry
• Lyrical Poetry
• Metaphor
• Carpe Dieum
• Courtly Love

• Bildungsonroman
• Romance
• Marginalized
• Culture
• Drama

Note: this is not an Option: it is strongly recommended.  Web pages have been created with further information, study guides and sometimes even sample questions at Dr. Rearick's Reading Room

Monday Jan. 17, 2005

Second Journal Check (10 entries expected)
My Lecture on Culture

• Pygmalion, [online text] by George Bernard Shaw
• "Meeting at Night" Robert Browning 772
• "Parting at Morning" Robert Browning 773
• An Experiment in Criticism  by C.S. Lewis: Chap. Four: "The Reading of the Unliterary"

• "The White Man's Burden" Rudyard Kipling  (Handout)
• "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker 173-182
• "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" Stephen Crane 617-628

 Possible Journal Topics:

Very likely you found "The White Man's Burden" problematic. However, included in that mind set was the great missionary works of the time (like David Livingston).  Since Christendom (countries where Christianity was strongest) was populated by mostly white people, did it suggest a burden?  Has the missionary movement changed since then?

How Does Society Treat  and Perceive its Young and its Old?

• "The Whipping" by Robert Haydem 727
• "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden  781-782
• "My Son, My Executioner" Donald Hall 1055
• "The Drunk" by Frank O'Conner 342-352
• A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis 40-50

 Possible Journal Topics:

Various works within this section examine the family and the relationships between parents and children.  What do you see as being of special concern among our authors?

In "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" what is the significance of the sheriff getting married?  What kind of society will be replaced in Yellow Sky? 

Tuesday Jan. 18, 2003

My Lecture on Charles Dickens

What is it like to be Marginalized by Society?

• "The Ransom of "Red Chief" [online text] by O. Henry (Handout)
• Pygmalion, [online text] by George Bernard Shaw
• A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis pp. 50-59

•  "The World is Too Much with Us: Later and Soon" by William Wordsworth  (Handout)
• "The Cross" by Langston Hughes
• "We Are Seven" by William Wordsworth  (Handout)
• "Anecdote for Fathers" by William Wordsworth (Handout)
• "My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold" or "The Rainbow" by William Wordsworth (Handout)  
• "Resolution and Independence" by William Wordsworth  (Handout)
• "Frost at Midnight" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge  (Handout)
•  "The Lottery"[online text] by Shirly Jackson 263-272
• An Experiment in Criticism Chap. Five: "On Myth"

Wednesday Jan. 19, 2005

• An Experiment in Criticism Chap. Seven: "On Realisms"
• Pygmalion, [online text] by George Bernard Shaw
• A Grief Observed pp. 59-67

Dickens In Love

A Grief Observed pp. 68-71 

Friday Jan. 21, 2005

Dickens' "Christian" Christmas Carol

Test #3

Week Four Jan. 24-27

Learn the literary meaning for. . .

• Eulogy or Elegy
• Biography
• Autobiography

Be sure to look up definitions for these terms in the Glossary provided by Prof. Rearick and linked and from his Readers' Corner.

Monday, Jan. 24

Lecture on Grief

• Lewis A Grief Observed// Shadowlands
• A Grief Observed pp. 71-80
• An Experiment in Criticism Chap Nine: "Survey"
• Shadowlands

Poems on Death

• "On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough" by John Milton
• "On His Deceased Wife" by John Milton 
• "When_Lilacs Last in the Doorway Bloom'd" by Walt Whitman
• "On My First Son" by Ben Jonson 764
• "The Lost Baby Poem" by Lucille Clifton 1033
• "Oh Captaiin! My Captain! " by Walt Whitman
• "Thanatopsis" by William Cullen Bryant
• "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray 

Tuesday, Jan. 25

Death and Consolation Continued a Bit. . .

• In Memorium [Online Text] by Alfred Tennyson

• A Grief Observed pp. 80-89

• Shadowlands

• "Crossing the Bar " by Alfred Lord Tennyson 886
• "Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night" by Dylan Thomas 968
• "There's Been a Death in the Opposite House" Emily Dickenson 748

On the nature of Death

• "Dover Beach " by Matthew Arnold 892
• "Death be Not Proud" by John Donne 971
• "Because I Would Not Stop for Death " by Emily Dickinson 938
• "Hope" by Emily Dickinson   
• "I Never Saw A Moor" by Emily Dickenson 871
• "Bereft" by Robert Frost 787
• "Is My Team Plowing?" by A.E. Housman 744
Be able to talk about these poems 

Chivalry and War

Learn the literary meaning for. . .

• Romance (review)

• Heroic

• Chivalry

• Realistic

Be sure to look up definitions for these terms in the Glossary provided by Prof. Rearick and linked and from his Readers' Corner.

• "The Battlefield" by Emily Dickinson
• "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Tennyson 
• "Gunga Din" by Rudyard Kipling 
• "Boots" by Rudyard Kipling 
• "The Man He Killed" by Thomas Hardy 739
• "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Own 722
• "Anthem for Doomed Youth" Wilfred Owen 953

A Grief Observed pp. 81-89

Wednesday, Jan. 26

  Third Set of Journals (17 Entries Expected)

Lecture on War and Chivalry

• Henry V William Shakespeare
• War Poems (Handout)
• "Drum Taps" from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
• An Experiment in Criticism Chap Ten: "Poetry"
• "The War Prayer" by Mark Twain (Handout)
• "Four Days in Dixie" by Ambrose Bierce

Thursday, Jan. 27

• Students should remember that each day in a January class is like two days in a semester.  We can not afford to lose a day, so come to class expecting to cover the last material about War and Chivalry.  Do not ask to leave class early.

• Henry V William Shakespeare (Clips)

• Final

Last Updated Jan. 4, 2005