ENGL 2120: British Literature

Dr. Margaret E. Mitchell

MWF 9-9:50 Hum 207

Office: TLC 2235

Email: mmitchel@westga.edu

Website: http: //www.westga.edu/~mmitchel

Phone: 678.839.4852

Office Hours: MW 3-5, T 10-1

And by appointment

 

Required Texts:

(followed by required editions)

Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. Seamus Heaney, Translator. (Norton)

Wuthering Heights. Emily Brontë (Bantam Classic)

King Lear. William Shakespeare. (Penguin: Pelican)

Dubliners. James Joyce. (Dover Thrift)

Selected Canterbury Tales. Geoffrey Chaucer. (Dover Thrift)

Moll Flanders. Daniel Defoe. (Modern Library Classic)

The Grass is Singing. Doris Lessing. (Perennial Classics)

English Romantic Poetry: An Anthology. Ed. Appelbaum. (Dover Thrift)

17th Century poetry: handout.

20th Century poetry: handout.

---Additional readings will be distributed as handouts or made available online throughout the semester.

 

Course Description:

Our sweeping survey of British literature will take us from the medieval poem Beowulf to Doris Lessing’s novel The Grass Is Singing. Rather than pursuing a strictly chronological path, we will move swiftly back and forth across the centuries, juxtaposing important works of literature from all the major periods in unconventional and suggestive ways.  We will look for connections, patterns, and trends that enable us to begin to define a national literature, paying attention to the historical and political contexts out of which these texts arose. Throughout the history of British literature we will trace a preoccupation with the social order: how it is established and maintained, what threats it faces, and to what extent the existing order may be challenged. We will pay attention to how the social order is represented in these works, and consider its relationship to the literary works that not only reflect it but arguably both reinforce and undermine it.

 

Course Requirements:

This course requires a considerable amount of reading, and it is essential that you keep up with it. Classes will be largely discussion based, and I expect everyone to come to class prepared to participate. I will often distribute reading questions in advance, and these will serve as taking-off points for class discussions. I strongly encourage you to take notes on the reading with these questions in mind, perhaps sketch out rough responses, and make a note of one or two passages in the text that strike you as relevant to the questions I have posed. I’ll expect you to be ready to bring specific passages to the attention of the class in order to focus and deepen our discussions. There will also be frequent, unannounced quizzes and in-class writing assignments. You’ll write two five page essays, one in the first half of the semester and one in the second half. Each student will also be responsible for a short presentation in which you illuminate the historical, political or social context of a particular text; a separate handout will outline the guidelines for these presentations in detail. You’ll also turn in a carefully structured, thesis-driven two-page version of your oral presentation due exactly one week later. There will be a mid-term and a final exam (identifications and short essays).

 

Grading:

Essays: 30% (1st: 10%, 2nd: 20%)

Presentations (including written versions): 20%

Quizzes: 20%

In-class work, participation: 10%

Exams: 20%

 

Policies:

Your active presence is essential to the success of the class. Quizzes and in-class writings cannot be made up. Papers will drop a third of a letter grade for each day they are late (from a B to a B-, for instance)—including weekends. Papers will be accepted only in class; please don’t email them to me or leave them in my mailbox unless I specify otherwise. In other words, your grade is likely to suffer whenever you miss a class.  If you miss 7 classes, you will not pass. If extraordinary circumstances arise that affect your attendance, please meet with me as soon as possible to discuss your options.

 

You are required to have all relevant texts with you at each class. Make sure you have the correct edition of the required works. These are available from the university bookstore and from other sources (Amazon, for example); there will be no acceptable excuses for failing to obtain texts on time.

 

Please do not disrupt the class by arriving late or leaving early unless you have a very compelling reason. Three late arrivals/early departures will count as an absence.

Lateness may also affect your ability to complete quizzes or in-class writings within the amount of time allowed. Cell phones and other electronic devices must be turned off and removed from your desk during class. Text messaging will not be tolerated.

 

I expect you to preserve an atmosphere of courtesy, respect, and intellectual maturity in the classroom, to take your own work and that of the other students seriously. Very little is less respectful than napping: if you fall asleep, you will receive one warning; the second time you will be asked to leave and counted as absent.

 

If you have special needs of which I should be aware, please meet with me as soon as possible to discuss satisfactory arrangements.

 

Academic Honesty:

Presenting the language or ideas of someone else as your own constitutes plagiarism--whether your source is a friend, a relative, or a critic; whether the uncredited material is a phrase, a paragraph, or an entire paper; whether it is a formal or an informal assignment. Plagiarism will result in a failing grade for the class, and may have consequences at the university level. If you are ever concerned about what constitutes plagiarism, please consult me. You may also see the English Department website for more details.

 

Schedule:*

M 8/22 Introduction.

W 8/24 Beowulf. 1-61

F 8/26 Beowulf. 61-125

 

M 8/29 Beowulf. finish

W 8/31 Wuthering Heights 1-47

F 9/2 Wuthering Heights 47-101

 

M 9/5 Labor Day—no class

W 9/7 Wuthering Heights 101-159

F 9/9 Wuthering Heights 159-198

 

M 9/12 Wuthering Heights 198-260

W 9/14 Wuthering Heights finish

F 9/16 Dubliners “The Sister,” “An Encounter,” “Araby,” “Eveline”

 

M 9/19 Dubliners “After the Race,” “Two Gallants,” “The Boarding House,” “A Little Cloud”

W 9/21 Dubliners “Counterparts,” “Clay,” “A Painful Case,” “A Mother,” “Grace”

F 9/23 Dubliners “The Dead”

 

M 9/26 The Canterbury Tales “The General Prologue”

W 9/28 The Canterbury Tales The Wife of Bath’s “Prologue” and “Tale”

F 9/30 The Canterbury Tales.  The Miller’s “Proogue” and “Tale”. First essay assignment distributed.

 

M 10/3 17th Century Poetry (TBA)

W 10/5 17th Century Poetry (TBA)

F 10/7 Draft workshop, essay # 1.

 

M 10/10 Midterm

W 10/12 King Lear Act I

10/13 last day to drop with a W

F 10/14 King Lear Act II

 

M 10/17 King Lear Act III

W 10/19 King Lear Act IV and V

F 10/21 Romantic Poetry (selections TBA)

 

M 10/24 Romantic Poetry

W 10/26 Romantic Poetry

F 10/28 Romantic Poetry

 

M 10/31 Moll Flanders 1-41 (inc. preface)

W 11/2 Moll Flanders 41-92

F 11/4 Moll Flanders 92-136

 

M 11/7 Moll Flanders 136-196

W 11/9 Moll Flanders 196-236

F 11/11 Moll Flanders 236-275

 

M 11/14 Moll Flanders finish

W 11/16 The Grass is Singing 1-50

F 11/18 The Grass is Singing. 50-89. Essay #2 topics distributed.

 

M 11/21 The Grass is Singing 90-142

W 11/23 Thanksgiving—no class

F 11/25 Thanksgiving—no class

 

M Nov 28 The Grass is Singing 143-191

W Nov 30 The Grass is Singing  finish

F Dec 2 Draft Workshop, essay #2

 

M Dec 5 20th Century Poetry

W Dec 7 20th Century Poetry

Th Dec 8 Review, Conclusion

 

Final Exam. Papers due.

*I may make adjustments to the schedule as the semester progresses; please make a note of any changes I announce. You will also have access to a regularly updated version of the syllabus on my website.

 

Course Goals

Students will develop the ability to recognize and identify significant achievements in British literature.

Students will understand the relevant social, historical, and aesthetic contexts of these literary works.

Students will appreciate the implications of theoretical and critical approaches to such literature.

Students will develop enhanced cultural awareness and analytical skills.

Students will demonstrate their command of academic English and of the tenets of sound composition by means of thesis-driven analytical prose.

Program Goals

Oral and written communication will be characterized by clarity, critical analysis, logic, coherence, persuasion, precision, and rhetorical awareness (Core Curriculum learning outcomes I)

Cultural and Social Perspectives: Cultural and social perspective will be characterized by cultural awareness and an understanding of the complexity and dynamic nature of social/political/economic systems; human and institutional behavior, values, and belief systems; historical and spatial relationship; and, flexibility, open-mindedness, and tolerance. (Core Curriculum learning outcomes III)

Aesthetic Perspective: Aesthetic perspective will be characterized by critical appreciation of and ability to make informed aesthetic judgments about the arts of various cultures as media for human expression (Core Curriculum learning outcomes V)

This course fulfills the Area C.2 requirement in the core for all students.

Area C (Humanities/Arts) Learning Outcomes:

1. To develop the ability to recognize and identify achievements in literary, fine and performing arts;
2. To have an appreciation of the nature and achievements of the arts and humanities; and
3. To develop the ability to apply, understand, and appreciate the application of aesthetics criteria to “real world circumstances.