English 10B-1 - Fall, 2012

Literatures in English II: 1700-1900

Class Information

Instructor: Kilgore, John
CRN: 22247
Time: TR 1:40-3:00
Location: 141 Olson

Description

English 10B examines literatures written in English between 1700 and 1900. It also prepares you for upper division courses in the English major by teaching you two interrelated aspects of literary study: 1) understanding the historical emergence, development, and singularity of major literary forms and movements; 2) focusing carefully on key texts in every genre and learning strategies for interpreting them with a close attention to form and language. With an eye toward comparative national and hemispheric perspectives, we will look at how major transitions in English literary history from 1700 to 1900 reflect major transitions in British and American society, culture, and politics. This is a reading- and writing-intensive course designed to improve your ability to read closely, conduct literary research, and make insightful, methodologically sound arguments.

Grading

Participation: 10%
Midterm: 15%
Paper 1: 25%
Paper 2: 30%
Final Exam: 20%

Texts

Leaves of Grass: The Original 1855 Edition, Walt Whitman
Course Reader (with poems, essays, and stories)
The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, William Blake
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe
Life in the Iron-Mills, Rebecca Harding Davis