English 250: Introduction to Literature

Instructor: Dr. M. Diane Krantz Office: SS 344/382  (626-6543; 626-8049)
home phone: 476-7136		 Office Hours: Tues. 10:30, Wed. 9:30; by appointment

 

Introduction

English 250 is an introductory course in literature with a writing component about what you read. We will read examples of each of the three important genres of imaginative literature: drama/film, fiction, and poetry. We will seek in each case to understand the fundamental qualities and characteristics of that genre. You will learn specific strategies to analyze and interpret literary texts, and will be encouraged to bring your own ideas and experiences to the texts and the class discussions. We will emphasize how different and often conflicting readings of a piece of literature can exist legitimately and simultaneously.

This is not a class in which you will sit passively and take a lot of notes. I will lecture on basic concepts and, of course, answer questions, but the bulk of the class time will be spent in group discussion.

 
Required Text Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense (Seventh Edition).
Other Supplies

  • A dictionary

  • Folders with loose-leaf for your class notes, paper drafts, final papers

  • A very cheap folder for journal entries

  • A small stapler

 
Reading Requirement We will read three plays, several dozen poems, and several short stories, literature spanning the period from the Golden Age of Greece to the 20th century.

 
Writing Requirement You will be asked to write journal entries on each reading (easy "A"). This is to be a half-page response to the reading--not summary or paraphrase. In addition, each student will take an in-class identification and explication midterm, write a two-page poetry explication and a 5-6 page analysis paper.

 
Class Policy (Another easy A). Not only does your attendance contribute to the community we make in this class, your contribution to class discussion shows me that you've read and thought about the assigned texts. I grade your participation according to the number of times you attend class during the quarter, working on the basis that you can't participate if you don't attend. Here's how it will work:
0-3 absences A
4 absences A-
5 absences B+
6 absences B
7 absences B-
and so on

There are 30 class sessions this quarter, and you have three "freebies" (a week of work). Your freebies are intended to cover such emergencies as the day you were sick, the day the baby sitter didn't make it, the day you couldn't find a parking space, the day the sun was finally shining and you didn't want to come to class, or the day you were playing the softball finals. After your three freebies, every absence counts against you in terms of your attendance and participation grade.

 
Grading

  • Out of class papers: 45 points

Paper #1 Poetry explication (2 pp) 10 points
Paper #2 Fiction or Drama analysis (5-6 pp) 40 points

  • Tests: 10 points

  • Midterm: 10 points

  • Participation: 15 points

  • Journal: 25 points

Your grade on Journaling begins as an A. You can only lower it by a) failing to hand it in on the day it is due or b) by inappropriate responses (summary rather than interpreting or critiquing). The half page is due each day of the course except for 4/13-4/16.

 

Notes

1) To pass this course, you must TURN IN every assignment.

2) All papers will be graded and returned to you one week from the day you hand them in. Journal entries are due during the class period for which the reading is assigned. The poetry explication, if submitted on the due date may be rewritten two weeks after it is handed back. Consultation with the instructor is mandatory before a rewrite. LATE PAPERS will be reduced 1/3 grade for each day of lateness including weekends; no rewrite is possible on these.

3) You are responsible for all reading and written work on the syllabus. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to contact me or a classmate to find out about additional assignments or handouts. In-class work may not be made up.

4) Reading assignments are due on the day they appear on the syllabus.

Back to Dr. Krantz

 

Course Syllabus -- Spring 1998

Week Date

Assignment
1 3/30 Introduction to course objectives; info sheets; writing sample.
  3/31 Poetry; explication; What is poetry? Reading poetry. pp578-87. Writing about Literature pp1444-1449 and 1477-1479.
  4/02 Poetry. Literature Ch 3, Denotation and Connotation pp 595-606. "Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock"; Explication assigned.
2 4/06 Poetry; Literature Ch 4, Imagery. pp 607-612, 615-617. "Those Winter Sundays" (39)
  4/07 Poetry Literature Ch 5 Figurative language. Pp 619-26; 633-37.
  4/09 "Those Winter Sundays" Come with a thesis for explication; Class does an explication.
3 4/13 Poetry Ch. 11 Musical Devices, pp 721-29. Discussion of poems read in various sections already covered. Come with questions and suggestions.
  4/14 Browning, "If Thou must love me" p 834; Plath, "Mirror" 592-93.
  4/16 Poetry Ch. 12 Rhythm and Meter, 735-50;,707. Jonson, "Song to Cecilia" p 863; Frost, "Desert Places," p 847; Yeats, "Leda and the Swan," p 687; Machan, "Leda's Sister and the Geese" p 688.
4 4/20 Finish discussions of poetry.
  4/21 Poetry explication due. Short fiction. Literature Ch 2. Plot pp 41-43, 45-49, Graham Greene, "The Destructors" pp. 49-61.
  4/23 Character Ch 3 pp 76-80. Eudora Welty's A Worn Path pp 437.
5 4/27 Modeling how to write a literary analysis.
  4/28 Short fiction; Ch 4 Theme Literature, pp 102-03, 107-09; Phillip Roth, "Defender of the Faith," 116-140.
  4/30 Ch 5 Point of View Literature, pp 148-154, Glaskill's A Jury of Her Peers 333-349.
6 5/04 Midterm discussion, Poetry and Short Fiction: Hints on writing an in-class paper. Writing hints 1449, 1451-1457, 1479-1482.
  5/05 Midterm. Poetry and Short Fiction.
  5/07 I will be out of town; library work today. Come in with the result of one search on a topic you might consider for your final paper.
7 5/11 Literature The Nature of Drama pp 909-914. Glaspel's Trifles
  5/12 Literature Realistic and Nonrealistic Drama pp 955-960 top. Begin Sophocles' Oedipus Rex 1086-1100
  5/14 Assign Paper 2, drama. Writing about Literature pp 1449,1457-77.
8 5/18 Tragedy and Comedy 1079-1100 Oedipus Rex
  5/19 Oedipus Rex 1100-1120
  5/21 Oedipus Rex 1120-1129; See parts of Film "Oedipus Rex"; discuss it.
9 5/25 HOLIDAY
  5/26 A Doll House 967-1006
  5/28 A Doll House 1006-1024
10 6/01 Group edit
  6/02 A Doll House Complete discussion
  6/04 Paper due. Paper discussed