Syllabus

UNE Summer Session

ENG 116: Democratizing Literature: Writing and Revolution after 1800 – 6 Weeks

Credits - 3

Description

Can poetry be an expression of democracy? Can modern life be the subject of great writing. Who can claim authority to write and in what languages and forms? This survey of  British Literature begins with the Romantics in the early nineteenth century and brings us up to contemporary literature. It familiarizes students with some of the broad trends, genres, and issues of British Literature by focusing on the idea of revolution–both as abrupt change and as the return of ideas–that pervaded the late 18th century, could be felt throughout the 19th, and erupted again with two world wars and decolonization. At the same time, the course structures opportunities for students to develop close reading and critical thinking skills. Through independent reading, reading response, and class discussion, students learn to move from a text’s literal meaning to its symbolic significance and explore the way literature reflects, comments on, and shapes its cultural moment. Readings include works by Edmund Burke and Mary Wollstonecraft, William Wordsworth, the Brownings,  Virginia Woolf, Ngugi Wa-Tiongo and Derek Walcott, among others.

Materials

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

The CAS Core Curriculum
This course satisfies a Humanities Exploration requirement for the College of Arts and Sciences Core Curriculum. By exploring a topic, issue, or theme within the framework of a particular discipline, Exploration courses provide an introduction to the assumptions, methods, and terminology of that discipline. In Exploration courses, which encourage active learning, students acquire knowledge, develop skillful thinking, expand their expressive capabilities, and connect this learning to their broader experience.

Students who complete an Explorations Course will be able to:
1. Comprehend a particular disciplinary approach, including its assumptions, methods, and terminology
2. Employ techniques of active reading, critical reading, and informal reading response for inquiry, learning, and thinking
3. Communicate effectively in oral and written modes, and use writing as a tool of inquiry
4. Find, evaluate, and/or use information in a way that is appropriate to a particular discipline
5. Understand work done in their major fields within a wider intellectual and cultural context
6. Be prepared for more advanced work in the Core, thus experiencing the Core as an integrated whole through building skills and developing new ways of thinking

The English Major
This course also satisfies the British Literature II (post-1800) requirement for the English major and promotes these learning outcomes:
● Read texts closely and think critically e.g.by distinguishing between a text’s literal or factual content and its figurative, symbolic, or interpretive content.
● Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of literatures in English e.g. by demonstrating familiarity with major works and authors in the British tradition before 1800
● Communicate effectively e.g. by approaching writing as a recursive process that includes writing to learn, drafting, peer review, and revision of essays

Note for ENGLISH MAJORS: The Final Reflection essay is well-suited for inclusion in your ePortfolio. Along with samples of your reading response or short responses, these assignments may help you demonstrate the major’s learning outcomes.

Assignments

Reading & Preparing for Discussion: The majority of our readings are either short to begin with or have been excerpted for inclusion in the anthology. Just reading the number of pages for each class will not require much time, but annotating and thinking about them will take longer. Please figure out your “pph” (pages/posts per hour), or how long it takes you to complete a typical week’s reading assignment, and plan accordingly.

Reading Response Questions (RRs)
“Low stakes,” informal assignments intended to help you read actively, understand content, and build towards synthesis and interpretation. You’ll work on these independently, for each of our assigned readings, and submit them as homework. 

Discussion Boards
We’ll use discussion boards in two different ways each week to support two different kinds of engagement with our readings and with each other. 

Board A| Spotlights: This board type focuses on your independent responses to the reading. Here you’ll select a Reading Response you’ve written to elevate to group discussion and spotlight. 

Board B| Friday Forum (FFs): This board focuses on Friday Forum entries. Unlike the Reading Response Questions, these forum posts will focus on interpretation and synthesis. You’ll spend Fridays reading responses to your Spotlight question, answering others’ questions, and engaging with peers on the larger questions. 

Short Responses (SRs)
Each student will write two short response papers during the course of the semester. Longer than replies to reading response questions, these responses will be 3 typewritten pages (approx. 750 words) in length to allow you to develop a question in further depth. SRs are due on the day indicated by the syllabus. They should follow MLA format for page set-up and citation of sources.

Essential Questions Essay (Final Synthesis and Reflection)
Your final will be an essay that asks you to address key issues developed throughout the course. Please note that this essay will be due on the day scheduled for our final exam.

Grading Policy

Your grade in this course will be determined by the following criteria:

Grade Breakdown