ENGLISH 241 SYLLABUS
AMERICAN LITERATURE I
PROFESSOR BARBARA MARX
REQUIRED TEXTS: Perkins and Perkins, The American Tradition in Literature, Vols. I & II, 9th Edition (Vol. I includes The Scarlet Letter, Billy Budd, and Walden, which everyone will read)
To supplement the texts, as part of the required reading, background sheets will be distributed in class, including material on Calvinism, Puritanism, Neo-Classicism and Romanticism, Nature, Rationalism, Deism, and Transcendentalism.
PREREQUISITE: Successful completion of ENG 111 and 112 (one year of Freshmen Composition), or the equivalent, or special permission of the instructor.
PERFORMANCE MEASURES AND GRADING SYSTEM: Three exams and one paper are required, in addition to good attendance (see Course Requirements and Policies). If the student writes an additional optional paper, extra credit will be given provided it is of satisfactory quality. A student who writes an optional paper is required to consult with the instructor both prior to choosing the topic and writing the paper. No make-up on the 3rd exam and no grade of Incomplete are given.
ATTENDANCE
The following points are deducted for each week of absence and subtracted from your final grade average.
0 points—1 week of absence
2 points—2 weeks of absence
5 points—3 weeks of absence
10 points—4 weeks of absence
If you miss more than four weeks (25% of the course), you will not receive credit for the course. Your grade will be F unless you have excellent justification for a W (Withdrawal), which must be arranged with me under these circumstances.
MAKE-UP TESTS
For any test not taken with the class at the scheduled time, ten percentage points will be deducted from your score. A make-up test will then be left for you at the Testing Desk (AA 332) which must be taken at the latest within a week of the original date of the test.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE:
SURVEY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM COLONIAL LITERATURE TO THE CIVIL WAR: EARLY WRITING, THE RISE OF ROMANTICISM, AND THE 19TH-CENTURY AMERICAN RENAISSANCE
WEEK 1:
THE PURITAN CULTURE IN ITS EARLY, MIDDLE, AND LATE PHASES: 17th- AND 18th-CENTURY REPRESENTATIVE PURITAN WRITERS
Introduction in class to the course, readings, requirements, goals, and procedures. From Exploration to a New Nation (1-10).
Read background sheets on Calvinism & Puritanism, and Week 1 Study Guide.
William Bradford [1590-1657] (45-47): from Of Plymouth Plantation (47-60).
Optional: Thomas Morton [c.1579-1647] (60-61): from New English Canaan, The Third Book, "Of the Revels of New Canaan" (63-64).
Anne Bradstreet [1612?-1672] (82-84): "To My Dear and Loving Husband" (97), "Another [Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment]" (98-99), "The Author to Her Book" (96).
Edward Taylor [1642?-1729] (151-52): "The Preface" (152-53), "Meditation I, First Series" (154), "Huswifery" (156), "The Glory of and Grace in the Church set out" (157-58), "Meditations 142 and 146, Second Series" (164-65).
Samuel Sewall [1652-1730] (140-41): from The Diary of Samuel Sewall (141-51).
Cotton Mather [1663-1728] (166-67): from Essays to Do Good (187-95), optional, "The Trial of Bridget Bishop" (169-73).
Jonathan Edwards [1703-1758] (222-24): "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (230-40), Personal Narrative (240-49).
WEEK 2:
OTHER 18th-CENTURY OBSERVERS OF THE EARLY AMERICAN SCENE: NON-PURITAN TRANSITIONAL WRITERS REPRESENTING NEW, DIVERSIFYING INFLUENCES
Read background sheets on Neo-Classicism and Romanticism, and Nature.
Sarah Kemble Knight [1666-1727] (195-96): from The Journal of Madame Knight (196-202).
William Byrd [1674-1744] (216-17): from The History of the Dividing Line and A Progress to the Mines (217-222).
John Woolman [1720-1772] (257-59): from The Journal of John Woolman (259-71). (Note any material provided, including footnotes, about the beliefs of the Quakers, who call themselves the Religious Society of Friends.)
Phillis Wheatley [1754?-1784] (423-24): "To the University of Cambridge, in New-England" (424-25), "On Being Brought from Africa to America" (425), "An Hymn to the Evening" (426-27).
St. Jean de Crevecoeur [1735-1813] (271-72): from Letters from an American Farmer (272-87), from Sketches of Eighteenth Century America (287-92).
WEEK 3:
THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENLIGHTENMENT, THE AGE OF REASON, AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Read background sheets on Rationalism and Deism.
Benjamin Franklin [1706-1790] (293-95): from The Autobiography (296-324—note especially 316-19), from Poor Richard’s Almanack (325-31), "The Speech of Polly Baker" (331-33), "Letter to Peter Collinson" (337-38), "To Madame Helvetius" (339-40), "Letter to [Thomas Paine]" (343-44), "Letter to Ezra Stiles" (344-46), about his religious views—"Speech in the [Constitutional] Convention" 346-47).
Thomas Paine [1737-1809] (347-49): from Common Sense (349-57), The American Crisis (358-63), about his faith and religious views—from The Age of Reason (363-39).
REQUIRED PAPER: Begin working on the required paper, due in Week 6.
For OPTIONAL PAPER, see specifications in the handout you received and read the specifications given for Week 9. In preparation for selecting your paper topic, begin skimming The Scarlet Letter, Billy Budd, and Walden (these are in your textbook) to decide which one of these works you will read for your paper and choose a paper topic from. (Complete this skimming by the end of Week 4.) Ask the instructor for the handout on writing the paper preview and the paper. The instructor will be glad to discuss further with you what type of paper is desired so that you won’t waste time and effort.
WEEK 4:
TRANSITIONAL EARLY & DEVELOPING ROMANTICISM IN 18th- AND 19th-CENTURY POETRY: FRENEAU AND BRYANT
Philip Freneau
[1752-1832] (440-41): "On Mr. Paine’s Rights of Man" (444-45), "The Wild Honey Suckle" (445), "The Indian Burying Ground" (445-46), "On a Honey Bee" (446-47), "On the Universality and Other Attributes of the God of Nature" (449).
WEEK 5:
TRANSITIONAL EARLY AND DEVELOPING ROMANTICISM IN 19th-CENTURY FICTION: IRVING AND COOPER
The Romantic Temper and the House Divided (511-21)
Washington Irving [1783-1859] (553-54): from A History of New York, by Diedrich Knickerbocker (555-61), "Rip Van Winkle" (563-74), "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (574-92).
James Fenimore Cooper [1789-1851] (592-94): from The Pioneers (595-766—
Chapters I, III, V, VII, XXII, and XLI only), Preface to The Leather-Stocking
Tales). (768-70).
Complete your review of notes and readings for the Week 6 1st Exam, including background sheets and the overview provided in class and in the textbook (1-10).
REQUIRED PAPER DUE IN WEEK 6: Complete work on it and check that it meets the specifications listed in the handout.
Begin thorough reading for your OPTIONAL PAPER, due in Week 10.
WEEK 6:
THE HIGH TIDE OF ROMANTICISM IN 19th-CENTURY POETRY AND SHORT STORY: POE
REQUIRED PAPER DUE: Don’t postpone taking the exam if an emergency has prevented you from completing the paper; arrange a brief extension with your instructor.
For the OPTIONAL PAPER: At the beginning of class, turn in a sheet of paper with 3 tentative paper topics listed on it. Discuss these alternatives with your instructor at the break or after class.
1st EXAM: Bring black pen. For the make-up test policy, see p. 5. Items on Poe will be on the second exam.
Edgar Allan Poe [1809-1849] (1236-38): "To Helen" (1245-46), "The City in the
Sea" (1246-47), "To One in Paradise" (1248-49), "The Raven" (1251-53),
"Ulalume" (1253-56), "The Bells" (1256-58), "Annabel Lee" (1258-59), "The
Fall of the House of Usher" (1269-81), "The Masque of the Red Death" (1281-
85), "The Purloined Letter" (1285-96), "The Cask of Amontillado" (1297-1301).
(Note Poe’s use of symbolism in "The Fall of the House of Usher." Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville are often referred to as the dark romantics because of their awareness of evil in man, nature, and the universe. They reject the extreme optimism of the Transcendentalists. The high tide of romanticism, with the remarkable writings of Poe, Hawthorne, and Melville, and Emerson and Thoreau, marks the first or 19th-century American Renaissance. The second American Renaissance occurred in the early decades of the 20th century.)
WEEK 7:
THE HIGH TIDE OF ROMANTICISM IN THE 19th-CENTURY NOVEL: HAWTHORNE
Nathaniel Hawthorne [1804-1864] (1323-25): "The Minister’s Black Veil"
(1355-63), "The Ambitious Guest" (1350-55), "The Birthmark" (1370-79),
the complete novel The Scarlet Letter (1423-1554). (Note Hawthorne’s use of allegory and symbolism, and their blending in his writings.)
WEEK 8:
THE HIGH TIDE OF ROMANTICISM IN THE 19th-CENTURY NOVEL: MELVILLE
Herman Melville [1819-1891] (1555-57): from Hawthorne and His Mosses
(1557-63), the complete novel Billy Budd, Sailor (1664-1715), "The Portent"
(1652), "Shiloh" (1654-55), "Malvern Hill" (1655), "The Good Craft ‘Snow-
Bird’" (1658), "Old Counsel" (1658), "Monody" (1663), "Art" (1663-64).
For the OPTIONAL PAPER, re-read the handout "Comments on the Pending Paper." The Paper Preview, due in Week 8, should consist of
Be sure to discuss the paper preview with the instructor after you submit it.
WEEK 9:
THE HIGH TIDE OF ROMANTICISM IN 19th-CENTURY PHILOSOPHICAL PROSE: THE TRANSCENDENTALISTS—EMERSON
Read background sheets on Transcendentalism.
Ralph Waldo Emerson [1803-1882] (868-70): "Nature" (871-97—read the Transcendentalist concepts of nature expressed in the opening and closing pages, Introduction, and Chapters I and VIII only), "The American Scholar" (897-909), "Self-Reliance" (920-35), "The Rhodora" (987), "The Apology" (1000), "Fable" (1007), "Brahma" (1007-8), from Journals and Letters (1010-22).
Read at least one-half of the Thoreau assignment listed for Week 10 so that you can free more of Week 10 for your review for the 2nd exam.
Due in Week 10: OPTIONAL PAPER, consisting of 1000-1500 words, discussing one aspect of one of the assigned books by Hawthorne, Melville, or Thoreau. Include the Paper Preview in your submission.
WEEK 10:
THE HIGH TIDE OF ROMANTICISM IN 19th-CENTURY PHILOSOPHICAL PROSE: THE TRANSCENDENTALISTS—THOREAU
Henry David Thoreau [1817-1862] (1034-36): Walden (1039-1197—read carefully at least "Economy" {1040-78}, "Where I Lived and What I Lived For"{1079-88}, "Sounds" {1093-1102}, "Solitude" {1102-7}, "The Village" {1120-23}, "The Ponds" {1123-36}, "Higher Laws" {1140-46}, "The Pond in Winter" {1173-80}, and "Conclusion" {1190-97}, skimming the rest unless you are writing an optional paper on Walden), "Civil Disobedience" (1197-1211).
COEXISTING CONVENTIONALIZED AND ATTENUATED ROMANTICISM: THE BRAHMIN WRITERS AND THE GENTEEL APPROACH
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [1807-1882] (1716-18): "The Skeleton in Armor" (1719-22), "Nature" (1756-57), "A Psalm of Life" (1718-19).
John Greenleaf Whittier [1807-1892] (1759-61): "Telling the Bees" (1770-71), "Snowbound" (1773-89—lines 1-211 and 590 to the end of the poem only).
Oliver Wendell Holmes [1809-1894] (1793-95): "My Aunt" (1797-98), "The Deacon’s Masterpiece" (1799-1802), "The Chambered Nautilus" (1798-99).
James Russell Lowell [1819-1891] (1881-83): from "A Fable for Critics" (1884-
95), from The Biglow Papers, Second Series, "The Courtin’" (1900-3—notice
Lowell’s expressive use of folk dialect).
SLAVERY AND ABOLITION: THE BLACK EXPERIENCE AND STARK REALISM
Frederick Douglass [1817?-1895] (1869): from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1869-81).
Complete your review of notes and readings for Week 11 2nd Exam, including background sheets and the overview provided in the textbook (511-21).
WEEK 11:
2nd Exam (includes reading questions on each of the following book-length works: The Scarlet Letter, Billy Budd, and Walden). Bring black pen; for policy on make-up tests, see p. 5.
YOU WILL NEED VOLUME 2 OF THE ANTHOLOGY FOR THE REST OF THE SEMESTER’S READINGS.
The readings for Week 11 are not included in the 2nd Exam.
REALISM: ITS ROOTS AND VARIOUS MANIFESTATIONS OF ITS EMERGENCE LOCAL COLOR, FRONTIER HUMOR, AND REGIONAL REALISM
An Age or Expansion: 1865-1915 (1-9).
Sectionalism, Local Color, and Regionalism (read supplementary sheets).
Sentimentality, Melodrama, the Genteel Tradition, and the Victorian Influence in Literature (read supplementary sheets).
George Washington Cable [1844-1925] (618): "Belles Demoiselles Plantation" (618-28).
Joel Chandler Harris [1848-1908] (629): "The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story"
(630-631), "Mr. Rabbit Finds His Match at Last" (631-32).
Bret Harte [1836-1902] (604): "The Society upon the Stanislaus" (605), "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" (607-14).
Sarah Orne Jewett [1849-1909] (642-43): "A White Heron" (643-49).
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman [1852-1930] (732-33): "The Revolt of Mother" (733-43).
WEEK 12:
FRONTIER HUMOR: ITS DEVELOPMENT, SUBJECT MATTER, FORM, AND LANGUAGE
Read supplementary sheets. Examples of frontier humor will be read aloud in class; these are not in your textbook.
Differences and similarities between frontier humor and local color (refer to sheets on frontier humor).
Discussion of the frontier humor tradition (freedom, expansiveness, violence, earthiness, and comic exaggeration) versus the more refined East Coast tradition (genteel literature and the literature of subtlety and sensibility).
Differences and similarities between frontier humor and genteel literature.
TWAIN: REGIONAL AND SATIRIC REALISM
Mark Twain [1835-1910] (181-83): "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" (183-87), from Roughing It, [When the Buffalo Climbed a Tree] (187-89), three selections from Life on the Mississippi (189-206), and one-third of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (starts on p. 207).
Preview of important motifs to look for in Huckleberry Finn (read supplementary sheets).
WEEK 13:
TWAIN: REGIONAL AND SATIRIC REALISM (continued)
Mark Twain Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (finish the novel, 207-371), from Letters from the Earth, "Letter II" (400-2). (Notice the differences between Twain’s earlier writings and the dark pessimism of the later writings, exemplified by the last reading selection.)
WEEK 14:
NEW VOICES IN POETRY: GENTEEL-TRADITIONAL VERSUS INNOVATIVE APPROACHES IN POETRY
Sidney Lanier [1842-1881] (148-49): "The Stirrup Cup" (156-57), "The Marshes of Glynn" (157-59). (Traditional, with some innovations.)
Walt Whitman [1819-1892] (10-12): "Preface" to the 1855 Edition of Leaves of Grass (skim 13-25), "Song of Myself" from Leaves of Grass (25-62—read sections 1, 2, 4-11, 20-21, 23-25, 27-28, 31, 34-37, 44, 46, 48-52 only), "For You O Democracy" (63), "I Hear It Was Charged Against Me" (64), "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" (70-75), "When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer" (78), "The Dalliance of the Eagles" (78), "Look Down Fair Moon" (83), "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d" (83-89), from Specimen Days (119-26). (Highly innovative.)
Emily Dickinson [1830-1886] (126-28): [Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—]
(#1129), [There’s a certain Slant of light—] (#258), [I’m Nobody! Who are you?] (#288), [The Soul selects her own Society—] (#303), [Wild Nights—Wild Nights!] (#249), [Some keep the Sabbath going to Church—] (#324), [A Bird came down the Walk—] (#328), [After great pain, a formal feeling comes—](#341), [Much Madness is divinest Sense—] (#435), [This is my letter to the World] (#441), [I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—] (#465), [I had no time to Hate—] (#478), [I like to see it lap the Miles—] (#585), [I cannot live with You—] (#640), [Pain—has an Element of Blank—] (#650), [Because I could not stop for Death—] (#712), [A narrow Fellow in the Grass] (#986), [I never saw a Moor—] (#1052), [The Bustle in a House] (#1078), [Revolution is the Pod] (#1082), [A Route of Evanescence] (#1463), [Apparently with no surprise] (#1624), [My life closed twice before its close—] (#1732). (Highly innovative.)
WEEK 16:
3rd Exam. Bring black pen. No make-up exam & no grade of Incomplete given.