Course Description: This is a composition course using literature as a background for improving writing skills. Students discuss the general nature and elements of literature and literary criticism by reading and analyzing representative works of fiction, drama, and poetry. Based on this subject matter, students are required to write a variety of critical papers, including a research paper, comprising at least 6,000 graded words. This course is designed for transfer students and is suitable for those students interested in literature and in developing strong critical and analytical writing skills.

Student Learning Outcomes: Upon successful completion of the course the student will be able to
1. Read, summarize, and critically interpret literary works of fiction, drama, and poetry
2. Write clear and coherent essays on expository and argumentative topics related to literature, using the elements and characteristics of that literature
3. Interpret representative examples of the standard literary genres and analyze them according to basic literary theories
4. Read academic expository and argumentative literary criticism related to literary topics for main points, interpretation, meaning, and structure, and summarize, interpret, and analyze this criticism
5. Write college research papers that demonstrate both proper documentation and adequate library research
6. Evaluate and apply critical thinking in the process of reading and writing as well as in class discussion
7. Interpret influence of literary context, including historical, social, political, and cultural perspectives

Evaluation: Evaluation: Grades will be based on measures of performance which may include, but are not limited to, the following: essays; in-class writing assignments; exams & quizzes; homework assignments; class participation; effort & improvement in work; presentations in class; research projects. Assignments, attendance, participation, effort, improvement, etc. are all included in computation of grades.

Outstanding Essay ("A") • Insightfully presents and convincingly supports an opinion on the issue or a critique of the argument • Ideas are very clear, well-organized, and logically connected • Shows superior control of language: grammar, stylistic variety, and accepted conventions of writing; minor flaws may occur • Demonstrates excellent thought, organization, and style•  Uses a thoughtful organizational strategy, with clearly developed paragraphs arising from a clear thesis •  Ideas themselves should be engaging and show illuminating insights into the work being studied •  Supports claims with textual evidence (not necessarily quotations) •  The few errors in style, diction, or mechanics do not distract the reader or inhibit comprehensibility

Strong Essay ("B") • Presents well-chosen examples and strongly supports an opinion on the issue or a critique of the argument • Ideas are generally clear and well organized; connections are logical • Shows solid control of language: grammar, stylistic variety, and accepted conventions of writing; minor flaws may occur • Good ideas that are not completely developed • Ideas may be somewhat limited by some problems of organization and style • Offers fewer or less valuable insights than an A paper.

Adequate Essay ("C") • Presents and adequately supports an opinion on the issue or a critique of the argument • Ideas are fairly clear and adequately organized; logical connections are satisfactory • Shows satisfactory control of language: grammar, stylistic variety, and accepted conventions of writing; some flaws may occur • Shows competent understanding of the assigned topic, but the insights usually do not go beyond the obvious points • Inconsistent, with some excellent insights but which the writer fails to develop ideas into a unified whole

Weak Essay ("D") • Succeeds only partially in presenting and supporting an opinion on the issue or a critique of the argument • Ideas may be unclear and poorly organized; logical connections are deficient • Shows unsatisfactory control of language: contains significant mistakes in grammar, usage, and sentence structure • Does not respond to topic or assignment • Strengths outweighed by weaknesses  • Some good ideas inhibited by unclear writing or clear writing expressing undeveloped ideas that demonstrate a lack of engagement with the work being studied.

Inadequate Essay ("F") • Shows little success in presenting and supporting an opinion on the issue or a critique of the argument • Ideas lack clarity and organization • Meaning is impeded by many serious mistakes in grammar, usage, and sentence structure • Does not respond to topic or assignment • Weak either because it is poorly written throughout or because its ideas show no insight into the work being studied, or because it is a completely unacceptable paper obviously written in haste without thought or effort.

Use this helpful internet resource for grammar information: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/gr ammar/.
Use this helpful resource for MLA style information: http://owl.english.purdue.edu

Bring syllabus, notebook, and textbook to every class meeting.

Drafts which do not show evidence of thoughtful revision (that is, drafts which are essentially identical) will be considered first drafts rather than subsequent or final drafts and will be considered incomplete work.

Final drafts must be typed in 16 point sans serif font, not bold. (Go to FORMAT… FONT: TAHOMA; FONT STYLE: REGULAR; SIZE: 16 to format according to specifications.) If  homework is not properly formatted it will not be accepted and will be considered late.

Keep all essays and exams in a porfolio and turn them all along with the research paper Week 15.  Instructor will examine entire corpus for evidence of improvement.  Portolios will be returned.

Plagiarism is the act of using a source without giving proper credit (MLA style). Plagiarism is stealing. Any student who engages in plagiarism will automatically receive an F . Proper attention to MLA rules can protect you from receiving an F. All essays are to be written in proper MLA form. Use this helpful resource for MLA style information: http://owl.english.purdue.edu

Attendance will be taken at the beginning of class and after break. Absence is noted in 15 minute increments. More than six hours’ total absence will result in failing grade for course.

Office hours: every Tuesday, in T101/102, for several hours before class starts.  Please email instructor anytime during the course of this class with questions or comments or to schedule office hours.

N.B.: This syllabus contains information important to your success in this class. All students are responsible for understanding the instructions contained in this syllabus; homework will be graded in accordance to the instructions contained in this syllabus. Ask questions if you don’t understand any of the instructions. Although the instructor reserves the right to make possible minor changes to the following weekly schedule of activities, the planned course will progress according to the following weekly schedule:

"Greek tension heightened shortly after 441 B.C when Sophocles released Antigone to the public....  It has been a long period of civil war [and the play Antigone reflects] the desire for order.  

"In this worried plot, Antigone is a shadow of individual desires while Creon represents public duty.  Each respective character has a different focus.  Antigone begins with, My own flesh and blood, while Creon commences with, My countrymen, the ship of state is safe.  These are two different focuses on the world around them.  In an act of individual rebellion, Antigone buries her brother.  Both end in tragedy with Antigone losing her life and Creon losing those he loves (his son and wife). 

"This tension, embodied by imperfect characters, is never resolved.  The question of who should be the victor is never answered, leaving the public to muddle for an answer themselves."

Antigone mentions Niobe, whose fate was to be turned to stone and to weep for her seven sons and seven daughters (variously, 12 sons & 12 daughters) who were slaughtered by Apollo and Diana in punishment for her sin of hubris.

When discussing the ineluctability of fate, the Chorus mentions Danae, who was locked away in a room of bronze, but nonetheless visited by Zeus in a shower of gold coins (resulting in the birth of Perseus).

The Chorus also mentions Dionysus (or Bacchus), the Greek god of the theater, of mystery, of wine and intoxication, and his worshippers, the Maenads ("the raving ones").

"Col Tiempo ["with Time"], Portrait of an Old Woman" (1508) oil painting by Giorgione (c. 1477 — 1510), mysterious artist of the Venetian High Renaissance.

Review simple, compound,
complex, & compound-complex
sentence types

Read before class &
discuss in class
Techniques for Poetry Analysis

Read before class &
discuss in class
A Framework for Responding to Poetry

Explicate Sonnet 19:
Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,
And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws,
And burn the long-liv'd phoenix, in her blood;
Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleet'st,
And do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed Time,
To the wide world and all her fading sweets;
But I forbid thee one most heinous crime:
O! carve not with thy hours my love's fair brow,
Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen;
Him in thy course untainted do allow
For beauty's pattern to succeeding men.
Yet, do thy worst old Time: despite thy wrong,
My love shall in my verse ever live young.

Explicate Sonnet 60:
Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end,
Each changing place with that which goes before
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
Nativity, once in the main of light,
Crawls to maturity, wherewith, being crowned,
Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight
And Time that gave, doth now his gift confound.
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth,
And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,
Feeds on the rarities of natures truth,
And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow;
And yet, to times, in hope, my verse shall stand,
Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.

Explicate Sonnet 73:
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed, whereon it must expire,
Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.

Sentence surgery: read student papers aloud & discuss Essay #1.
Assign Essay #2 (700 word essay): explication of an Elizabethan sonnet. See Shakespearean Sonnets & Shakespeare's Sonnets for sonnet texts in addition to those found in your textbook.

Thee, thou, thy, and thine: Information about English personal pronouns and a useful explanation and handy chart of the second person pronouns in Early Modern English, plus the information displayed another way.

Read aloud & discuss in class:

If when the sun at noon displays
                          His brighter rays,
              Thou but appear,
He then, all pale with shame and fear,
                          Quencheth his light,
Hides his dark brow, flies from thy sight,
              And grows more dim,
        Compared to thee, than stars to him.
If thou but show thy face again,
When darkness doth at midnight reign,
The darkness flies, and light is hurl'd
Round about the silent world :
So as alike thou driv'st away
Both light and darkness, night and day.

Read this for more info on the Cavalier Poets

5

6

7

Read aloud & discuss in class Hamlet (p179), weeks 5-7

Read aloud & discuss in class T. S. Eliot's 1922 essay
"Hamlet and His Problems"

Visit Shakespeare's Life and Times

"Hamlet & the Ghost of his Father"
etching by British artist
Henry Fuseli (1741 - 1825)

DVD 792.1/HAMLET
Title : Hamlet [videorecording] / a BBC Television production in association with Time-Life Television.
Series Title : Complete dramatic works of William Shakespeare
Description : 1 videodisc (222 min.)
Performers : Derek Jacobi, Claire Bloom

The Wheel of Fortune is another medieval concept found in Hamlet. ( See Hamlet's Wheel Motif.)  Lady Fortune, who turns the Wheel of Fortune, is a central character in Boethius' Late Classical masterpiece of Stoicism, The Consolation of Philosophy. 

In Hamlet, Act II, scene 2, Hamlet expresses a Stoic precept in the line, "There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so," but it is in the character of Horatio that we find Boethian Stoicism personified.  The modern school of Stoicism is known as cognitive behavioral psychology:

What is Antigone's great flaw?  Considering Antigone and Creon, can you see a family resemblance in "the stamp of one defect"?  Can you see a similar family tendency in Hamlet, Gertrude, and Claudius?  How does this relate to Stoic philosophy? 

ESSAY #3 DUE

Read before class & discuss in class “Formalism/New Criticism” (p1510)

Read before class & discuss in class
How To Do a Close Reading

Read before class & discuss in class
“Materials for Students: Writing in the Humanities: Writing about Film”

The Ruin

Wrætlic is þes wealstan; wyrde gebræcon,
burgstede burston, brosnað enta geweorc.
Hrofas sind gehrorene, hreorge torras,
hrungeat berofen, hrim on lime,
scearde scurbeorge scorene, gedorene,
Aeldo undereotone. Eorðgrop hafað
waldendwyrhtan, forweorone, geleorene
heard gripe hrusan, oþ hund cnea
werþeoda gewitan. Oft þæs wag gebad,
ræghar and readfah, rice æfter oþrum,
ofstondem under stormum; steap geap gedreas.
Mod monade, myne swiftne gebrægd;
hwætred in hringas, hygerof gebond
weallwalan wirum wundrum togæedre.
Beorht wæeron burgræced, burnsele monige,
heah horngestreon, heresweg micel,
meodoheall monig mondreama full,
oþþæt þæt onwende, wyrd seo swiþe
Crungon walo wide, cwoman woldagas
swylt eall fornom secgrofra wera;
wurdon hyra wigsteal westenstaþolas
brosnade burgsteall. Betend crungon,
hergas to hrusan. Forþon þas hofu dreorgiað
and þaes teaforgeapa tigelum sceadeð
hrostbeages hrof. Hryre wong gecrong
gebrocen to beorgum þær iu beorn monig
glædmod and goldbeorht gleoma gefrætwed,
wlonc and wingal wighyrstum scan,
seah on sinc, on sylfor, on searogimmas,
on ead, on æht, on eorcanstan,
on þas beorhtan burg bradan rices.
Stanhofu stodan, stream hate wearp
widan wylme; weal eall befeng
beorhtan bosme þær þa baþu wæron,
hat on hreþre; þæt wæs hyðelic.
Leton þonne geotan ......................
ofer harne stan hate streamas
under............ ....................
oþþæt hringmere, Hate..............
................ þær þa baþu wæron.

The Ruin (translated by Alexander, M., The Earliest English Poems, 1966)

Well-wrought this wall: Wierds broke it.
The stronghold burst...
Snapped rooftrees, towers fallen,
the work of the Giants, the stonesmiths,
mouldereth.
Rime scoureth gatetowers
rime on mortar.
Shattered the showershields, roofs ruined,
age under-ate them.
And the wielders & wrights?
Earthgrip holds them - gone, long gone
fast in gravesgrasp while fifty fathers
and sons have passed.
Wall stood,
grey lichen, red stone, kings fell often,
stood under storms, high arch crashed -
stands yet the wallstone, hacked by weapons,
by files grim-ground...
...shone the old skilled work
...sank to loam-crust
Mood quickened mind, and man of wit,
cunning in rings, bound bravely the wallbase
with iron, a wonder.

Bright were the buildings, halls where springs ran,
high, horngabled, much throng-noise;
these many meadhalls men filled
with loud cheerfulness: Weird changed that.

Came days of pestilence, on all sides men fell dead,
death fetched off the flower of the people;
where they stood to fight, waste places
and on the acropolis, ruins.
Hosts who would build again
shrank to the earth. Therefore are these courts dreary
and that red arch twisteth tiles,
wryeth from roof-ridge, reacheth groundwards...
Broken blocks...

There once many a man
mood-glad, gold-bright, of gleams garnished,
flushed with wine-pride, flashing war-gear,
gazed on wrought gemstones, on gold, on silver,
on wealth held and hoarded, on light-filled amber,
on this bright burg of broad dominion.

Stood stone houses; wide streams welled
hot from source, and a wall all caught
in its bright bosom, and the baths were
hot at hall's hearth; that was fitting...

............ Thence hot streams, loosed, ran over hoar stone
unto the ring-tank...
...It is a kingly thing
...city...

The Ruin (translated by Hamer, R., A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse, 1970)

The city buildings fell apart, the works
Of giants crumble. Tumbled are the towers
Ruined the roofs, and broken the barred gate,
Frost in the plaster, all the ceilings gape,
Torn and collapsed and eaten up by age.
And grit holds in its grip, the hard embrace
Of earth, the dead-departed master-builders,
Until a hundred generations now
Of people have passed by. Often this wall
Stained red and grey with lichen has stood by
Surviving storms while kingdoms rose and fell.
And now the high curved wall itself has fallen.
..............................................
The heart inspired, incited to swift action.
Resolute masons, skilled in rounded building
Wondrously linked the framework with iron bonds.
The public halls were bright, with lofty gables,
Bath-houses many; great the cheerful noise,
And many mead-halls filled with human pleasures.
Till mighty fate brought change upon it all.
Slaughter was widespread, pestilence was rife,
And death took all those valiant men away.
The martial halls became deserted places,
The cities crumbled, its repairers fell,
Its armies to the earth. And so these halls
Are empty, and this red curved roof now sheds
Its tiles, decay has brought it to the ground,
Smashed it to piles of rubble, where long since
A host of heroes, glorious, gold-adorned,
Gleaming in splendour, proud and flushed with wine,
Shone in their armour, gazed on gems and treasure,
On silver, riches, wealth and jewellery,
On this bright city with its wide domains.
Stone buildings stood, and the hot streams cast forth
Wide sprays of water, which a wall enclosed
In its bright compass, where convenient
Stood hot baths ready for them at the centre.
Hot streams poured forth over the clear grey stone,
To the round pool and down into the baths.

Assign Essay #4 (essay or essays totaling 700 words): paying special attention to diction, closely read and explicate a short story from textbook.   Alternative assignment: critically watch a classic movie (e.g., any movie featuring actors of the caliber of Gary Cooper, Robert Mitchum, Burt Lancaster, Lawrence Olivier, Bette Davis, Patricia Neal, Shelley Winters, etc) and discuss some aspect of the film.  Essay on classic movie to be published in Internet Movie DataBase

Read before class & discuss in class
The Sociosemiotic Approach and Translation of Fiction

Review MLA (p1468)
MLA online resource: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

Read aloud & discuss in class:
"A White Heron" (p71)
"A&P" (p78)
“A Good Man is Hard to Find" (p111)
"The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World" (p1222)

Read & discuss: "Apollo" and "Green Man" vis-à-vis "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World."  Discuss Esteban's mythic and archetypal qualities.  Is he more like Apollo or the Green Man?  Note the conflation of apollonian and green-man motifs in the illustration (the laurel crown is an attribute of Apollo, the sun god).  What had the young women wanted to name Esteban?

Some ideas for essays:

The Venerable Bede (British saint, 672-735) used the allegorical image of a bird swiftly flying through a banqueting hall to illustrate the brevity of life.  Discuss one or more allegories or parables and explain how they offer concrete examples of abstract concepts.

The Elgin Marbles inspired Keats' lyric poem; Roman ruins inspired the elegy of the unknown 8th century British poet; Boulder Dam inspired Joan Didion's essay.  Have you been awed and inspired by nature, by art or architecture, or by an example of grand engineering?  What were your thoughts when you visited or when you saw a picture of the Grand Canyon? The Brooklyn Bridge? The Twin Towers? 

Why was Gotham City in the Batman movies designed to look as it did?  Are the Batman movies romantic? How do the Star Wars movies exemplify the heroic journey?

Fathers play significant roles in Star Wars and in Hamlet.  Discuss Annikin Skywalker's absent father in terms of the Christ story (the virgin birth, the child with special powers divinely chosen to change history, etc).  Discuss the role of Luke Skywalker's absent father Darth Vader (the former Annikin Skywalker) in relation to the role of Hamlet's deceased father, Claudius.  How do these characters express archetypes?

"A&P" presents us a snapshot of life 50 years ago.  What do you need to know to understand the story; what does it teach you about that place and that period; what does it teach you about your own perspective and worldview?  Could the theme of the story be treated nowadays?  Give particulars.

What are some of the problems attendant on translating fiction from one language to another?  Compare two translations (of Antigone, for example, or "The Ruin") and discuss the differences.  "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World" is translated from the Spanish.  Read it in the original Spanish and discuss the differences between the two versions.

What are some similarities and differences between the plight of Antigone and Hamlet?

Discuss the use of clothing symbolism in Hamlet and "A&P."  Could clothing be used nowadays to impart the message of madness or inappropriate behavior or just not "fitting in"?

Assign research paper proposal for 2,000 word MLA research paper (which may be expanded treatment of any Essay #5 prompt).

ESSAY #5 DUE
Sentence surgery
Review MLA
Writing workshop: work on research papers

Working bibliography & outline of research paper due
Review MLA
Writing workshop: work on research papers

Hear research projects: presentations of papers
Final exam

Topic: Discuss the myth of Apollo and Daphne as told by Ovid in Book I of The Metamorphosis. Mention Bernini's sculpture which shows Apollo seizing Daphne at the moment she is transformed into a laurel tree.  If you have never written about literature and visual art in one essay, use the article by Ashley Aull (in which she discusses another tale from Ovid, a painting by Breughel, and a poem by Auden) for ideas.

Apollo & Daphne retold by Bullfinch (at http://cyberspacei.com/mythbook/emyths/greek/fa bles/
bull3.html)

Ovid's story of Apollo & Daphne (from Metamorphoses, Book I)
(at http://classics.mit.edu/Ovid/metam.1.first.html)

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