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This course is a senior capstone course, designed for
students completing their last semester of college work.
The primary aim of the course is to crown your undergraduate education by
helping you become more independent learners.
By the end of the term you will: |
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Use the library and electronic resources to gather
information on broad and focused topics in English;
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Make a formal academic presentation on a
"revolutionary" book;
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Lead and participate in lively and challenging class
discussions;
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Write a 15-20-page argumentative research paper
characterized by unity, organization, and support; appropriate style and
documentation; and standard usage and mechanics;
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Have a
sense of the ways a book may be considered revolutionary.
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I assume that you have had a number of English classes and
have completed all the British and American literature survey courses, that you
know the basic rules and guidelines of MLA documentation, that you can write an
argumentative essay on a literary topic, that you know basic literary terms for
poetry and fiction (plot, symbol, metaphor, etc.), that you expect to have your
work criticized so that you can improve, that you want to learn more about
literature and are willing to work hard to do so, and that you will seek help
from me if you ever have problems in the course.
This course will require a great
deal of initiative, discipline, dedication, independence, maturity, and hard
work on your part.
As individuals you will drive the discussions and conversations in our
class, probably more than in any other class you've had.
There are two formal assignments: a
team presentation on one of our books and an argumentative research paper. At the beginning of the course, I will outline the formal
expectations, make all of the assignments, give you a review of the research
tools available in our library, and meet with you individually. The
second week of class I will demonstrate a sample presentation on Wordsworth and
Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads, and then we will discuss the collection for
two or three days. Weeks four and
five will be devoted to research and conference time with me on your
presentations. |
The rest of the course will be made of two-week segments beginning with a
team presentation, followed by two days of discussion on the works, and ended
with a day devoted to the individual research projects.
Generally, segments of the research project will be due on these days,
and we will often engage in peer review. In addition, our class will have
optional meetings outside of class to view film versions of some of our books,
listen to music influential to one of our writers, celebrate days important to
literary history, and other such activities.
The theme of the course is
Revolutionary Books, and we will use this topic as a loose way to organize and
draw connections between the texts. We
will look at different connotations of the label and consider different ways a
work might be considered revolutionary, whether from a technical/formal,
Marxist, political-historical, feminist, or cultural perspective.
I do not want the word to guide all of our
discussions (boring!), but it should be in the back of your minds as we read,
think about, and discuss the books. My
hope is that by the end of the term you will have toiled to produce two pieces
of work on which you will look back and feel proud.
Attendance:
You're seniors now. I expect you to
attend all classes and to have read all assignments. Students who are not prepared for class and who do not attend
regularly will not pass the course.
Books (in chronological order)
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Wordsworth,
William & Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Lyrical Ballads. 1798. Ed. R.L. Brett and A.R. Jones. 2nd
Edition. New York: Routledge, 1991. 0415063884
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Whitman,
Walt. Leaves of Grass.
1855. Ed. Malcolm Cowley. New
York: Penguin, 1976. 0140421998
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Woolf,
Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. 1925. New York: Harcourt, 1990. 0156628708-
Hughes,
Langston. Fine Clothes to
the Jew. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1927. [photocopy]
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Plath,
Sylvia. Ariel. 1966. New York: Harper Perennial, 1999. 0060931728
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Fowles,
John. The French
Lieutenant's Woman. 1969. New York: 1998. 0316291161
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The sixth
or seventh edition of The Bedford Handbook.
Senior Honors
Students who have earned a 3.5 GPA in their English classes are eligible to
submit their senior theses for departmental honors consideration. I will
notify you if you are eligible, and you will have a somewhat earlier deadline
for your final paper.
SYLLABUS
IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

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