202 English: British Literature since 1800 (Fall 2016)
Official Course Description:
A study of major works of representative writers from the Romantic period to the present. Emphasis on close reading and literary history.
Course Objectives:
This course has two objectives, one concerning knowledge and the other practice. It should familiarize you with a canon of nineteenth- and twentieth-century British literature through your direct experiences of representative works. You will also learn and practice techniques of literary analysis and interpretation.
General Education Student Learning Outcomes:
- Students analyze how ideas are represented, interpreted or valued in various expressions of human culture.
- Students examine relevant primary source materials as understood by the discipline and interpret the material in writing assignments.
Books:
The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Vol. 2
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
Moleskin-type notebook
Grading:
Your final grade will be determined according to these percentages:
First Exam 15%
Final Exam 25%
Explication paper 10%
Interpretation Paper 25%
Reading notebook 10%
Homework/quizzes 15%
| A | 93-100 | C | 73-76 | |
| A- | 90-92 | C- | 70-72 | |
| B+ | 87-89 | D+ | 67-69 | |
| B | 83-86 | D | 63-66 | |
| B- | 80-82 | D- | 60-62 | |
| C+ | 77-79 | F | 0-59 |
I will give make-up tests only under extraordinary circumstances and only if those circumstances are communicated to me before the test. If you miss an exam without contacting me beforehand, you will receive a zero. Late papers will be penalized 5pts. for each day they are late.
Attendance:
I make no distinction between “excused” and “unexcused” absences. You are allowed three absences during the semester without any justification, but you are responsible for material you’ve missed. Do not come to my office and ask, “What did I miss?” Ask your fellow students.
For each absence over three, I will lower your final grade two points.
If you arrive at class after I’ve taken role, you are late. I count every third tardy as an absence. It is your responsibility to find me after class so I can change your “absent” to a “tardy.”
Preparation:
You must come to class prepared, which means more than just having read the material for that day. Though the number of pages I require you to read is fairly low for an English class, we will talk about some difficult works of literature this semester. Even the short poems take a lot of time to understand. I do not expect you to have mastered each poem before class, but I do expect you to have a good idea what you think the writer is saying. You should be able to tell me who the speaker and audience of a poem are; you should be able to paraphrase any part of each poem or identify which parts give you the most difficulty; you should look up any words that you do not know. In other words, you do not have to know all the answers, but you should at least come to class with the questions.
You must keep a reading notebook that records your experience of the texts. Anything at all related to the reading is fair game for this notebook—questions, quotation of lines that appeal to you, drawings, musings, observations, arguments, opinions. You must have at least one page of notebook for each day of class, dated at the top for easy reference. You are allowed four lapses. I will collect your notebook at the Midterm exam and at the last day of class. I am not grading on brilliance: I am grading on whether or not there is evidence you have made a good-faith effort at reading and understanding each day’s texts. You should compose these entries before each class.
I might give quizzes, if I see the need for them. A missed quiz cannot be made up—they reward those who attend class regularly and regularly do their reading.
I will give homework on an ad hoc basis. These assignments will not appear on the syllabus. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to check the course webpage to see if homework has been assigned for the following class meeting.