American Romanticism:
Transgression, Transcendence, and Transformation.
Dr. Lori Wilson Snaith
Tu, Th 11:00-12:15 p.m., Pafford 305
(After you carefully read the following class policies and requirements, click here to jump to our weekly schedule .)
Where did the America we know today—so different in its fundamental views about almost every aspect of life as to be unrecognizable to our countrymen of two centuries ago—really come from?
What forces eventually enabled our nation to see slavery as morally abhorrent and unequivocally wrong, when we had once passed a law permitting the capture and return of escaped slaves who managed to make their way to the "free" North?
How did the struggle for women's rights—not just for the right to vote but also to have control over their own aspirations and destinies—gain the momentum to unleash changes still felt today?
Why did the once-unassailable power wielded from the pulpit begin to weaken in the 1800s? Why did certain theologies become more liberal and increasing numbers of people choose less dogmatic expressions of faith—or even no faith at all?
What are the roots of our love for nature, of the near-spiritual experience so many of us now find in the ripple of a stream in the morning sun or the thunderous roar of ocean waves?
Finally, what is the source of our distinctly American way of experiencing ourselves—confident in our value as individuals, certain of our ability to discover personal truths in the natural world, self-reliant in the face of uncertainty and change?
In "Amercan Romanticism: Transgression, Transcendence, and Transformation," we will encounter a diverse group of intellectual activists, literary figures, and social reformers whose ideas, often considered radical in the decades before and after the Civil War, who will remake American society.
Text: Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume B, Seventh Edition. (1820-1865) 7th edition. NY: W.W. Norton, 2007.
Supplemental Readings (pdf versions will be available from this website); you must print out, read, and bring all these texts to class.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
This semester, we'll work together to:
--explore American Romanticism and its historical, intellectual, and literary contexts.
--become familiar with and be able to analyze the work of the major writers of this period.
--identify the ways in which American Romantics transgressed, influenced, and transformed the institutions, sensitivities, and orthodoxies of their forebears.
--make connections between the ideas and movements surrounding American Romanticism and contemporary American culture.
--observe, interpret, and posit arguments about the major ideas of American Romantic literature and the ways in which they are still relevant.
--hone skills crucial written communication skills by fulfilling the objectives of the Discipline Specific Writing program, specifically--
>to practice writing as a method of self-aware inquiry.
>to recognize research questions and write reflectively about them in order to identify and focus in on a viable topic for short and long essay-writing.
>to follow the college-level writing process of developing ideas that arise in reading and discussion into a cogent, focused, well-researched formal long essay.
>to develop and master the skills of college-level writing in Standard English, adhering strictly to the formatting requirements of the discipline.
>demonstrate a command of academic English and the tenets of sound composition by means of thesis-driven analytical prose.
Course Requirements and Grading
1) Brief Essays—3 @ 16.6% each = 50% total.
Three brief (2 to 3 pages for undergraduates; 3 to 4 for graduate students) analytical responses to our discussion and readings--you may approach these responses in an informal, inquiring tone, but I'll expect that you do so in standard academic English. Every essay should be a focused examination an image, character, theme, or idea that has caught your interest in recent readings. Your task in these brief essays is to analyze your topic with respect to course texts and secondary readings, and should posit a thesis based on your interpretation of your observations of these texts. I will accept optional revisions of TWO of these essays.
Your papers must adhere strictly to MLA formatting, including Works Cited pages; please STAPLE your essays in the top left corner. I will not accept papers that do not comply with these instructions.
You must turn in THREE of these during the course of this semester, and I won't prescribe specific due dates, but you must make sure to submit your essays according to the following timetable:
Essay #1: no later than September 15th at the beginning of class
Essay #2: September 20th though October 11th at the beginning of class
Essay #3 October 18th through November 10th at the beginning of class.
You may only submit one essay class period, and I will not accept any essay submitted after its deadline.
You have the option to revise Essays #1 and #2 under the following two conditions: 1) you must submit your revision no later than one week after I return the graded original to you; 2) you must follow these revision instructions precisely. **I won't accept revisions that do not meet these criteria.**
2) In-Class Reflective Writing = 5%
(You'll need a dedicated notebook for this assignment):
As a springboard to the day’s discussion, I will ask you to do focused free-writing on a general topic or question for 5-10 minutes each day, and to be prepared to share your writing with the class. Periodically, I will collect your Reflective Writing notebooks and assess them with respect to the evidence they provide of your class preparation, your engagement with the primary AND secondary texts, and the level of complex thinking that your writing reveals.
We will accomplish four important learning outcomes with these activities:
(1) to help you flesh out ideas or work through questions that the readings evoke;
(2) to help you prepare for insightful class discussion of the readings;
(3) to practice connecting your reading to the theories we’ll be discussing; and,
(4) to discover and develop your thinking as you prepare to undertake your research project.
3) Research Paper: 30%
An analytical essay (8-10 pages for Undergraduate students; 10-12 pages for Graduate students), carefully formatted according to MLA requirements.
This paper will represent a high level of college writing and critical thinking; I will assess it according to the English Department’s grading criteria for courses at the 2000-level and above. Make a point to meet with me during my office hours before October 6th in order to discuss your specific project.
Your rhetorical task is to write an analytical essay connecting any of our primary texts/other works of American Romantics to contemporary culture via secondary texts we discuss in class, those you find in the course of your own research, and your own critical thinking.
I will assess all your formal writing according to the English Department Grading Criteria for 2000-level classes and above .
4) Research Works-in-Progress Presentation: 15%
Each student will sign up to lead the class in a 15-20 minute presentation of his or her research project; this assignment is NOT a reading of your paper, but rather a presentation of your primary text, connections between your research and the rest of our class texts, and your conclusions about what the interaction of all these texts suggest about the questions we've been discussing regarding film as literature. Please prepare hand-outs and other visuals for your classmates, including any pre-reading you’d like us to do in advance of your presentation.
Students often prefer to use a PowerPoint format for presenting their research--this approach works very well, but ONLY as long as the text on each slide is at a bare minimum. Don't overload your slides with text! Show us pictures, and /or film clips, provide bullet points for your own reference, but TELL us about your project., don't read your slides to us.
Your presentation must cover on the following elements:
• Your primary text(s)
• Research questions/subquestions
• Secondary texts
• Your provisional thesis
As part of this grade, I will also expect you to listen closely to classmates’ presentations, and be prepared to ask insightful questions and engage in substantial discussion about his or her work.
I will assess your presentation according to the following criteria:
• Coherence of your analysis—thorough close reading and mastery of the text(s) about which you're writing.
• Basic presentation skills (i.e. can everybody hear you? Can you sustain eye-contact with your classmates? Can you overcome your nerves and deliver an interesting, informative, pleasant—maybe even fun—presentation, and lead the group in Q&A/discussion?
• Efficacy of any additional visual examples you bring to class (you’re welcome to use our classroom computer/projector if you want to add your own visuals—just let me know a day or two ahead of time).
• Integration of course concepts in your analysis.
LATE WORK
I will not accept late work. I know this policy is challenging, but I really do mean it, and I don't make exceptions. Being late with assignments hinders your progress—and often, that of the entire class.
Although it's far easier just to hand in your paper at the beginning of class on the due date, my definition of a late paper is one that you haven't placed in my hands before I leave campus on the day the assignment's due. While students often choose to meet me at the doorway before or after another of my classes, please NEVER interrupt a class in progress in order to submit an essay.
THE WRITING CENTER
The role of the Writing Center is to offer consultation in which tutors question, respond to, offer choices, and encourage revision in student essays. Tutors do not evaluate or prescribe solutions to problematic areas in student essays, and tutors are specifically trained to avoid appropriating the student's work. For more information, visit the Writing Center online at http://www.westga.edu/writing.
PLAGIARISM AND ACADEMIC HONESTY
The Department of English and Philosophy defines plagiarism as taking personal credit for the words and ideas of others as they are presented in electronic, print, and verbal sources; an equally dishonest practice is fabricating sources or facts; it is another form of misrepresenting the truth. I expect, therefore, that students will accurately and thoroughly credit sources in all their assignments. I will give an automatic "F" in this course to any student who plagiarizes or excessively collaborates on any assignment (quizzes, out-of-class essays, and timed writings), and report every such incident to the Office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs.. . no exceptions.
You can find the University policies for handling Academic Dishonesty in the following documents:
The Faculty Handbook, sections 207 and 208.0401 http://www.westga.edu/~vpaa/handrev/
Student Uncatalog: "Rights and Responsibilities"; Appendix J. http://www.westga.edu/handbook/
Excessive Collaboration
By the end of the term in both ENGL 1101 and 1102, students should demonstrate the ability to produce independent writing (writing without collaborative assistance of peers, writing tutors, or professionals in the field) that shows an acceptable level of competence. Although classroom activities and out-of-class assignments may highlight collaborative learning and collaborative research, excessive collaboration (collaboration that results in the loss of a student's voice/style and original claims to course-related work) is considered another form of academic dishonesty and therefore will not be permitted.
In order to be crystal clear on what I, the English Department, and the University expect of you in regard to academic honesty AND classroom deportment, please review the link below--I hold each of my students responsible for having read and understood these policies:
GENERAL CLASSROOM DEPORTMENT AND TECHNOLOGY POLICIES
While the overwhelming majority of my students are serious about their studies and know how to conduct themselves professionally in and out of class, I am including the following guidelines for behavior in order to be crystal clear on that I, the English Department, and the University expect:
I will dismiss from class any student who exhibits behavior that disrupts the learning environment of others. Such behavior includes—but is not limited to—arriving late for class, eating in class, allowing cell phones to ring, typing on a laptop, speaking disrespectfully to the instructor and/or to other students, checking email or surfing the web, and using personal audio or video devices. I'll count any dismissal of this kind as an absence and will apply it toward the attendance requirements policy.
Please read this
Classroom (N)etiquette
document thoroughly; they reflect the above English Department policy
as well as my own classroom rules, and I am very serious about all of us observing these rules of basic courtesy.
as well as my own classroom rules, and I am very serious about all of us observing these rules of basic courtesy.
ATTENDANCE
Our task this semester is to study the texts for this course, and continue to improve your critical thinking and college-level rhetorical writing. These skills are absolutely essential to your success in this class, and you simply must be consistent in your attendance and participation in class.
However, I know that occasional emergencies arise, so I allow THREE no-questions-asked absences—please use them wisely, and keep me informed! I make no distinction between "excused" and "unexcused" absences. If you must be absent, I expect you to keep up with the assignments; if you’re absent on the day an assignment is due, I will still expect you to make arrangements to get it to me on time.
NOTE: Arriving late to class is disruptive and disrespectful. In order to discourage chronic lateness, I count each tardy as 1/2 an absence...so arrive to class on time! If a student has only one actual absence but four late arrivals to class, he or she will still have reached the absence maximum. Each absence after three will result in a 5-point deduction from that student's semester average.
Fall 2011--IMPORTANT DATES
August 22-28: Drop/Add
September 5: Labor Day (No Classes)
October 14: Withdrawal Deadline (with a grade of “W”)
November 21-25: Thanksgiving Holiday (No Classes)
December 3-9: Final Instruction/Fall Examinations
December 12: Grades Posted no later than 8:30 a.m.
**Last day to withdraw with a “W”: October 14th** .
SEMESTER SCHEDULE
Note: each reading and written assignment is due on the date it appears on our schedule.
WEEK 1
08/23 Tu Welcome to American Romanticism! Discussion of class focus, texts, introductions, etc...the usual first-day-of-class stuff.
08/25 Th Discussion: Our theme for this semester: Transgression, Transcendence, and Transformation.
Print out, read, and bring to class: Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence.
Writing intensity! King: "Why and How to Avoid Passive Voice" and General Essay Notes
WEEK 2--Forces of History: The Call to Transcendence
08/30 Tu Print out, read, and bring to class: William Ellery Channing, "Unitarian Christianity."
09/01 Th Channing, continued.
WEEK 3
09/06 Tu Historical contextualization, continued: Norton Anthology, “Introduction.” The British Romantics. Guest speaker, Professor John Sturgis.
09/08 Th Romantic Poetry: William Cullen Bryant, “Thanatopsis" (1045) and “The Prairies" (1048);
Lydia Howard Huntley Sigourney, "Death of an Infant" (1029 and "The Suttee" (1030);
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “A Psalm of Life” (1497) and “The Jewish Cemetery at Newport” (1502).
WEEK 4--Emerson!!
09/13 Tu Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self Reliance” (1163); AND (print out, read, and bring to class): “Circles.”
09/15 Th Emerson, continued. "The Poet" (1180).
WEEK 5--Whitman Research Paper Proposal Guidelines (due Oct. 6)
09/20 Tu Walt Whitman, “Preface to Leaves of Grass” (2195-2209); Emerson, “Letter to Walt Whitman” (1251). Whitman, “Letter to Ralph Waldo Emerson” (2289).
09/22 Th Whitman, "Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in Hand: (2261); "Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Rocking" (2267); "When Lilacs Last in the Door Yard Bloom'd" (2282).
WEEK 6--More Whitman!
09/27 Tu Whitman, "Song of Myself" (2210)
09/29 Th Whitman, concluded. "A Persian Lesson" From "Pent Up, Aching Rivers" (2254); "A Woman Waits for Me" (2255); "Spontaneous Me" (2257)
Student selections of Emily Dickinson poems due on Thursday, 10/6).
WEEK 7--Romantic Women
10/04 Tu Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, "On the Death of my Son William Henry" (1059); "Sweet Willy" (1060); "My Lover is Tall and Handsome" (1064).
Fanny Fern, "Aunt Hetty on Matrimony" (1794); “Male Criticism on Ladies’ Books” (1799); “A Law More Nice Than Just” (1802);
Emily Dickinson--student selections due today.
10/06 Th Margaret Fuller, "The Great Lawsuit: Men versus Women; Women versus Women" (1640); "Fourth of July" (1675).
Research Project Proposal due today.
WEEK 8
10/11 Tu Fern and Fuller, concluded.
"Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions Woman's Rights Convention, Held at Seneca Falls, 19-20 July 1848"
Student Research Paper Works in Progress Presentations sign-ups
10/13 Th Emily Dickinson: poem numbers--
109, 133, 194, 207, 236, 249, 258, 263, 269, 280, 303, 320, 341, 435, 448, 479, 591, 712, 754, 777.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Emily_Dickinson_poems
Further reading in case you're interested: From The Woman's Bible, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Commentary on Genesis 3 .
Exciting News!! Check out these Writing Center Workshops --
They're FREE, and they'll help you improve your writing tremendously.
***October 14th: Last day to withdraw with a “W.” ***
WEEK 9--Thoreau and the Individual
10/18 Tu Emily Dickinson, continued. ALSO: Henry David Thoreau, from Walden:
“Where I Lived and What I Lived For” (1914-1924), “Solitude” (1940-1945), “Conclusion” (2038-2046).
10/20 Th No class meeting today; read ahead for Weeks 10 and 11.
WEEK 10--Voice of the Voiceless: Slavery and Race
10/24 Tu Thoreau, "Resistance to Civil Government" (1857-1872).
10/26 Th "Slavery, Race, and the Making of American Literature” (1682-1698);
Sojourner Truth, “Speech to the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, 1851” (1695-1696).
WEEK 11
11/01 Tu Frederick Douglass, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro: Speech at Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852” (2140-2143),
“The Heroic Slave” (2143-2170).
11/03 Th “Native Americans: Removal and Resistance” (1252-1272); William Apess, “An Indian’s Looking Glass for the White Man” (1051-1058).
WEEK 12-- Student Research Works-in-Progress Presentations
11/08 Tu Aluko, Vancoeur
11/10 Th Lyons, Purser, Tolbert.
Please look at Solin Saleh's WIP outline, and respond to her via e-mail no later than 11/17
WEEK 13--Student Research Works-in-Progress Presentations
11/15 Tu Nsirim, Jones, Brooks
11/17 Th Mitchell, Sellers, Ratcliff.
WEEK 14--Thanksgiving Break; no classes this week!
WEEK 15
11/29 Tu Davenport, Key, Roach.
12/01 Th Ozier, Weeks, Sickles, Buchanan.
WEEK 16--Conclusion: American Romanticism's Legacy and Contemporary Culture
12/06 Tu Research Essay Due at the beginning of class.
AND PIZZA--bring drinks and cookies!