English 202:British Literature since 1800
Professor Carens Office: 26 Glebe St., #302 Hours: M 12-2, T 3-4, and by appointment |
Tel: 953-5658 Email: carenst@cofc.edu |
Course Goals
This course has two closely related purposes. The first is to introduce you to some interesting works of British poetry (and one novel) written since 1800. The second is to enhance your ability to read literary works by developing your interpretive skills. We will spend much of our time in class performing “close readings” of literary language. Because a deeper understanding of the contexts from which these works emerge enables a fuller understanding of them, the course also devotes some attention to social and cultural movements.
Attendance
Attendance is mandatory. I do not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences. Every absence after the third one will lower your grade one “notch” (e.g., from B+ to B). If you arrive after class has begun, I will count it as a half-class absence. You are responsible for keeping track of the number of classes you have missed and for information covered and assignments due.
I expect to be able to reach you through the college email account that you have been issued.
Course Requirements
Essays. The course requires three short essays (see attached assignments). I will consider requests for extensions submitted by the class preceding the due date. Late essays will receive a lower grade.
Exams. There will be a mid-term and a final exam, which will be comprehensive.
Participation. Please come to class, with your text, prepared to discuss assigned reading. I will give some unannounced quizzes to test your comprehension of assigned reading and I will also periodically ask you to respond to interpretive questions via email.
Independent Analysis This is not a research class. The anthology we use in class provides succinct background information, which you are required to read. But assignments are designed to help you develop your ability to interpret literary language. In this class, I am only interested in your ideas, not in ideas published by a professional literary critic or discovered on some web site.
Plagiarism constitutes grounds for failing the class. See the Student Handbook for a definition of plagiarism: http://www.cofc.edu/studentaffairs/general_info/studenthandbook.html) . |
Grade Distribution
Essay #1= 15%; Essay #2=20%; Essay #3=20%; Midterm = 10%; Final = 20%; Participation = 15%
Required Texts
The Norton Anthology of English Literature. (Either vols. D, E, and F or Vol. 2. Old editions are fine).
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein
Course Schedule
Complete all assigned reading in the right hand column by the date in the left column. Read actively, with a pencil in hand.
The anthology’s introductory sections to periods, writers, and select works are part of the assigned reading.
T Aug 26 |
Course Introduction. Blake. |
R Aug 28 |
Blake. “The Romantic Period” (1-18) All selections from Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Familiarize yourself with the appendix on literary terminology, particularly the sections on diction and rhetorical figures (A74-8) Interpretive email #1 due by the beginning of class. Access assignment via the online version of this schedule. |
T Sept 2 |
Wordsworth. Preface to Lyrical Ballads; Simon Lee; We Are Seven; Lines Written in Early Spring |
R Sept 4 |
No class Interpretive email #2 due by 10:50 am. Access assignment via the online version of this schedule. |
T Sept 9 |
Wordsworth. Expostulation and Reply; The Tables Turned; “Tintern Abbey” Coleridge. Eolian Harp |
R Sept 11 |
Coleridge. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; Kubla Khan Begin reading Frankenstein |
T Sept 16 |
Coleridge |
R Sept 18 |
Essay #1 Due Shelley, P. B.. Ozymandias; A Song: Men of England; England in 1819; To Sidmouth and Castlereagh; Hymn to Intellectual Beauty; Ode to the West Wind |
T Sept 23 |
Shelley, P. B. Continue reading Frankenstein |
R Sept 25 |
Keats. First two letters (940-3); The Eve of St. Agnes Potential quiz on vol. 1 of Frankenstein (1-68) |
T Sept 30 |
Keats. Ode to a Nightingale; Ode on a Grecian Urn; To Autumn |
R Oct 2 |
Mid-Term Exam |
T Oct 7 |
ShelleyI suggest that you completeFrankenstein by this class. Read at least through Vol. 2 (128) |
R Oct 9 |
Shelley Interpretive email #3 due by the beginning of class. Access assignment via the online version of this schedule. |
R Oct 16 |
Tennyson. “The Victorian Age” (979-99).Mariana; The Lady of Shalott; The Lotos-Eaters; Ulysses |
T Oct 21 |
Essay #2 Due. Tennyson. |
R Oct 23 |
Arnold. Isolation. To Marguerite; To Marguerite--Continued; The Buried Life; Dover Beach |
T Oct 28 |
Browning. Porphyria’s Lover; Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister; My Last Duchess |
R Oct 30 |
Browning. The Bishop Orders his Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church |
T Nov 4 |
C. Rossetti. Goblin Market |
R Nov 6 |
Hopkins. God’s Grandeur; Spring; The Windhover; Pied Beauty; Carrion Comfort; I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark, Not Day |
T Nov 11 |
Hardy. “The Twentieth Century and After” (1827-47); Hap; Neutral Tones; Drummer Hodge; The Darkling Thrush; Channel Firing; The Convergence of the Twain; The Voice; In Time of “The Breaking of Nations” |
R Nov 13 |
Essay #3 due. Hardy |
T Nov 18 |
Yeats. The Rose of the World; No Second Troy; The Wild Swans at Coole; September 1913; Easter 1916; The Second Coming |
R Nov 20 |
Yeats. The Lake Isle of Innisfree; Sailing to Byzantium |
T Nov 25 |
Siegfried Sassoon. They; The Rear-Guard; Glory of Women; On Passing New Menin Gate Wilfred Owen. Anthem for Doomed Youth; Miners; Dulce et Decorum Est; Strange Meeting |
T Dec 2 |
Eliot. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock |
R Dec 4 |
Auden. On This Island; Spain 1937; Musée des Beaux Arts; Lullaby; In Memory of W. B. Yeats |
Final Exam |
Sat Dec 13, 8:00-11:00 am |