One Last Thing

Given the number of papers, it would be helpful to me if you ARE going to come in, if you could let me know by email sometime today, that would be great.


Thanks!

Paper and Grade Pick Up

If you are interested in knowing grades BEFORE they actually show on the Clark website, you can drop by on Monday from 11-2.  I will be in my office happily (and probably a little sleepily) handing back papers and giving final grades.  This will get you your grade several days early.

Please note--I cannot send grades to you over email (this can be a federal offense), so if you want to know early, this is the one way to find out.

I will probably also have cookies.  To share.

If you don't come pick up papers, I will try to hunt you down next term--or you can still bring me a self addressed envelope (it needs to be one of the BIG ones that is full sheet size) and I can send them back to you.  That can be dropped off for me anytime in the main office, if it has my name on it somewhere.

Thanks! I hope that you are all enjoying the beginning of your breaks . . .

Office Hours

Now that classes are over, I have much more leisurely office hour time.  If you would like to 1)  pick up papers; 2) talk about grades; 3) see your grades for the final exam; 4) discuss the critical essay you are writing on; 5) discuss your critical essay response, I will be in my office at the following times:

Friday (12/9):  noon-4:45
Saturday (12/10):  11-4:45
Monday (12/12):  9:30-4:45
Wednesday (12/14):  9:30-4:45
Thursday (12/15):  8-noon

**Reminder:  your critical essay papers are due NO LATER than noon on Thursday, 12/15.  I will not be back to campus before grades are due, so you will fail the course if I don't have it by then.

**if you are planning to come see me, please just drop me an email and let me know so that I can be ready for you and not have 12 other people here at the same time.  Even a very approximate time is good. 

**If you come by Friday or Saturday, please remember that the door to the office suite is locked.  You'll need to knock loudly! and I'll come let you in.

Critical Essay Summary/Response

Your final assignment for the term will be to choose one of the following critical essays, read it, write a summary, and respond to the argument made in the essay.

CHOOSE AN ESSAY:  Following are six critical essays about six of the texts we have read this term.  Choose one to read carefully.  Take notes

"Bradstreet's The Author to Her Book" 
by Lisa Day-Lindsey
"Frederick Douglass' Narrative and the Subtext of Folklore"
by Kelly Rothenberg
"Mary White Rowlandson Remembers Captivity: A Mother's Anguish, a Woman's Voice"
by Parley Ann
"The "Bedeviling of Young Goodman Brown"
by Thomas F., BoswellWalsh Jr.
"`Now, gods, stand up for bastards': Reinterpreting Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography"
by William H. Shurr
"'The Cask of Amontillado' A Case for the Defense"
by Patrick White

SUMMARIZE:  Fully summarize the argument made by the critic.  When necessary for explanatory purposes, convey also the details/evidence used to support that argument.  This should take you a page and a half to two pages. 

EVALUATE:  Evaluate the essay based on the elements of 1) the credentials of the author; 2) the medium of publication; 3) the respectability of the publisher; 4) the currency of the source.  You will find further explanations of these criteria in Writing about Literature, page 114-115.  You may find that you have to do a little research to be able to complete this part of the assignment.  You can start by googling the author and/or the publication in which the essay has been published.  This should take you a well-developed paragraph.

RESPOND:  Do you agree or disagree with the writer?  Is there anything that you are confused about?  Is there something that you respond negatively to in terms of the presentation of the argument?  Is writer suggesting a different way of looking at the text than the way that we discussed it in class?  How does the writer's interpretation of the text compare to the class interpretation or your personal interpretation?  This should take you anywhere from 3-5 paragraphs. 

CONCLUDE:  Leave your reader with some kind of final statement.  Overall how useful did you find this critical essay?  Did it change or enhance your understanding of the text it was discussing?  Did you learn something from reading it?  Did you ultimately not find it helpful?  Why or why not?  Go beyond just summarizing what you have said previously in the paper--instead, try to synthesize the experience of reading this critical essay.

Of course, essays should be formatted as requested in the syllabus and you should cite, correctly in MLA format, any sources that you use (including your critical essay and the original text, if you refer to it).

**There will be copies of the articles in folders next to my door for BORROWING (not enough for each of you to take them away for good) tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.

**Be sure to email me any questions or have them ready for me in class.

DUE:  Thursday, December 15th by noon.

Exam Checklist

This is not so much a guide, as a checklist.  You could be asked about anything from the course--on this list or not.  You should know the following information, at the very least.

WEDNESDAY:  Objective.  Matching.  Fill-in-the-blanks.  Quotation identification.  No notes.  No books.

THURSDAY:  Essay.  Short and longer answer essays.  Open notes and books.

Final Exam Study Checklist

YOU SHOULD KNOW THE NAMES OF ALL THE PIECES OF LITERATURE WE READ THIS TERM, WHO WROTE THEM, AND THEIR GENRE.

Be prepared to define (or give the important characteristics of) the following genres of literature. Also, be prepared to give examples of each.

Myth

Poem

Novel

Short Story

Sermon

Speech

Autobiography

Captivity Narrative

Letter (or Missive)

Essay

Be prepared to define (or give the important characteristics of) the following terms. Also, be prepared to give examples of each or explain how they relate to specific pieces of literature we've read.

Canon

Oral Literature

Puritan

Pilgrim

Geneva Bible

Plain Style

Old/Middle/Modern English

Great Chain of Being

Age of Enlightenment/Age of Reason

John Locke

French Revolution

Tabula Rasa

Deism

Nostalgia 

Unreliable Narrator

Double Consciousness

Parable

Be prepared to identify passages, as you were asked to do on the last quiz, and to 1) explain the context of the quotation; 2) discuss the significance of the quotation to the text specifically and/or to the work of the author generally. 

Answer these questions in short-answer form (4-6 thoughtful sentences). [These are examples. They may or may not show up on the actual exam.  This will be the content for the exam on Thursday]

What are three differences in Puritan and Deist theology or philosophy?

What are some of the changes that occurred in the literature toward the middle of the 19th century?

What were some of the factors that led to changes in literature toward the middle of the 19th century?

Discuss one text that we have read in which the writer seems to have some sense of nostalgia. What is the name of the piece? Who wrote it? And for what is he/she nostalgic?

What are some of the American institutions that were founded during the 18th century that still exist? How do these institutions reflect 18th Century values?

Compare and contrast the audiences and purposes that Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglass had in mind for their autobiographies. Do the autobiographies have anything in common?

Which of the texts written in the age of discovery most surprised you and why? Be specific. Give examples from the text.

What are some of the differences between oral and written texts? Why do you think that your editor (Giles Gunn, in this case) felt it necessary to include pieces of oral literature in a print anthology?

Be prepared to write about some of the "American" aspects or themes that we have seen in the literature this term.

Reading Response Due Tuesday, November 29th

This assignment is in lieu of a second explication paper.

Please choose one of the short stories we have read by Irving, Hawthorne, Melville, or Poe.  Write a reader response/reaction paper of about 3 pages.  For the sake of this assignment, you may assume that your reader knows the work you are writing about, so there is no need to summarize it at length.

Instead, you will examine your personal reaction to the text and then explain and defend that reaction.  While there is no "right response" or "wrong response" to a piece of fiction (at least not for the sake of this assignment!), there may be "weak responses" (ones that do not demonstrate a deep understanding of the text or are not well supported with evidence from the text) or "strong responses" (ones that show thoughtfulness about the text and use evidence from the text to support claims made).

Please write a thoughtful, organized, and well-supported (using direct evidence from the text) answer to the following three questions:

1.  What about this story stands out in your mind or strikes you either emotionally or intellectually?
2.  What in your background, values, needs, and interests contributes to your reaction?
3.  What specific passages in the work trigger that reaction?
4.  (Optional)  You may also want to consider whether this reaction is one that the author might have anticipated, or if it is one that his readers might have shared with you.

Your essay must:

• Mention the title of the text and the author and provide a short (1-2 sentence) summary of what the text is about, in the introduction.
• Include a thesis statement that makes an argument that encompasses all the claims you make in the paper (in other words, the paper cannot be a laundry list of your reactions to the text--your claims about the text and your reaction need to be connected through a central thesis).
• Document your source with in text citations and a works cited page, as needed.
• Be well written and proofread.  Use Standard English.  Write in complete sentences.
• Follow the guidelines as listed in the syllabus--EXACTLY.  

If you have any questions, please email me over the weekend.  I would also be VERY HAPPY to look at rough drafts, if you send them no later than Sunday evening.  You might also look at this webpage, which has a great process for brainstorming ideas for a reaction paper. 

Please remember that this will be your only, graded draft of this paper.  Good luck.  I look forward to hearing what you come up with.

Links for End-of-Term Readings

We will spend more time on "Sleepy Hollow" next Tuesday, but also read:

"The Minister's Black Veil"
"Young Goodman Brown" 
Both by Hawthorne

And for Thursday it will be all Poe:

"The Cask of Amontillado"
and "The Haunted Palace"

The following week for Tuesday, please read the selections from Walden Pond
and from Emerson's Nature  (Selections are on the previous blog post.)

Please let me know if you have problems accessing any of these.

Discussion Questions--"Bartleby"

1.  Who, or what, is this story about? What is the evidence for your answer?

2.  How would you characterize the narrator of the story?  What kind of man is he?

3.  What is the function of the other employees in the story?  Why do you think they are described at such length?

4.  What is a dead letter office and why does the narrator mention it at the end of the story?

Reading for Week of November 15-17 AND November 22

You have a relatively modest reading assignment for next week but will have a writing assignment due on November 22.  I'll give you the details on Tuesday.

Tuesday:  We'll finish discussion Douglass and also talk a little about Wheatley and Equiano.

Wednesday/Thursday:  We'll begin discussing the American Renaissance writers.  Please read "Bartleby" by Melville.  We may also begin discussing "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Irving.

We will finish "Sleepy Hollow" on Tuesday the 22nd.

Reading Schedule for Nov. 8-10

On Tuesday we will discuss the end of Wieland (and anything else that you feel we didn't get to that might be important!) and we will talk about explications, pass back papers, etc.

On Wednesday and Thursday we will be discussing ALL of the Frederick Douglass autobiography.  You will likely find it to be the easiest and fastest reading of the term. Also, for Thursday, please read the section on Equiano (AEW 510-522) and Phillis Wheatley (AEW 565-569).  These are both fairly short.

Someone (thank you, Sydney!) reminded me that this is going to cause a disruption in discussion questions for next week.  Yes, it will.  So--everyone's discussion questions will be due on Thursday next week--after you have completed all of the readings for the week. 

I'll post in the next day or so with new deadlines for writing assignments.  Enjoy Douglass!  He's a fine, fine writer.

Readings November 1-3

Tuesday:  John Adams (EAW 461-471); Crevecoeur (EAW 472-483); Paine (EAW 484-494); Freneau (EAW 559 and "On the Emigration to America")

Wednesday:  Weiland (through page 139)

Thursday:  Weiland (through end)

Please remember NOT to discuss the novel with anyone until you know he/she is also finished with it.  Thank you!

Readings for October 25-27

For Tuesday:  Benjamin Franklin in EAW 348-349; 358-362; 364-374 and "The Speech of Polly Baker"

(Wednesday--we will still be catching up and discussing Franklin)

For Thursday:  Patrick Henry  and George Washington in EAW 417-429 and Thomas Jefferson "Declaration of Independence" and EAW 430-437 and 447-451

Readings for October 18-20

My apologies.  I've been reading papers all weekend and have neglected the blog.  Please read:

Tuesday:  Jonathan Edwards (311; from Personal Narrative 312-319; "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" 320-332)  and Cotton Mather (259-268).  I am not going to lie.  Cotton Mather is a bear.  But on Monday we'll compare Edwards, Mather and John Cotton.  And you'll be interested in what Mather has to say about William Bradford.

Wednesday:  Anne Bradstreet (176-192--"Contemplations" and "To My Dear Children" are OPTIONAL.)  But read all the shorter poetry aloud.  It will make a lot more sense.

Thursday:  Ann Hutchinson (159-169) and Mary Rowlandson (217-230).  I'm not going to give anything away, but I think you are likely to enjoy both these ladies.

REMINDER:  2nd draft explications will be due a week from Tuesday, on October 25th. 

Please email with questions.

Explicatons

I am really looking forward to beginning to hear some of your voices in these papers!  Whoo hoo!
Your first explication paper will be due on Tuesday, October 11. You may write on any of the Native American myths or on any of the discoverer pieces.  This will be a first draft--do your best, but know that you will get feedback before it is graded.  Bring two copies with you to class on Tuesday.
An explication paper is a very short (2-3 page) attempt to close read a passage from a larger work and to use that passage to make a small and focused argument about the meaning of that text as a whole. You will want to:

1. Choose a few key paragraphs (or lines, or pieces of dialogue) of one of the works above on which to focus your analysis.

2. Examine the selection for interesting patterns or features. You may look for metaphors, similes, comparisons, word choice, tone, and organization.

3. Use the patterns or features to draw conclusions about the author’s style or rhetoric; the text’s relationship to a specific period in history or type of culture; or the meaning of a repeated theme, symbol or motif.  (Consider that the Native American myth comes from a predominately oral culture/tradition.  Consider the audience to whom the discoverers are writing, and the purpose for the writing.)

In order to closely read a text (and to prepare yourself to write a paper like this) you may want to ask yourself the following questions. You will probably NOT write a paper entirely based on your answers to any one or several of these questions, but answering them will probably lead you to an interesting topic for your explication.

What is the work about?

What is the purpose of the work? (To inform? To entertain? To persuade?)

Is the writing formal? Informal?

What is the overall vocabulary used? (A lot of long, polysyllabic words? Short, simple words?)

What types of words are used? Do the words follow a pattern?

What types of sounds are used? Are words or sounds repeated?

What do the sentences look like? Are any rules of grammar broken?

What works for you as a reader? Are there any phrases that stick out as being memorable? Why? What do you like? What don’t you like?



Please keep in mind the following:

1. Papers need to be formatted as requested in the syllabus. See my notes on your first explication papers, the syllabus formatting guidelines, and the sample MLA-style papers in Rules for Writers or Writing about Literature. There is no excuse for ANY explication NOT being formatted perfectly.

2. Please punctuate your titles correctly. Book, magazine, television show, album, film titles should be italicized. Poem, short story, episode, song, painting titles should be place in quotation marks.

3. Do not forget that you need to provide in-text citations (page numbers or line numbers for poetry) for any direct quotations you use in a paper.

4. Write about literature in the continuous present tense, and watch that you do not slip back and forth between past and present tense when it is not appropriate.

5. Format all long quotations (4 or more lines) as block quotes. Do not end paragraphs with quotations (you should ALWAYS comment on quotations before you move on). Quotations should not do work for you—you are interpreting the literature. Use quotations as evidence for your interpretation.

6. Try to write as if you are NOT answering a prompt for a school assignment. Eliminate phrases like “I chose to write about _________” or “like we discussed in class.” These phrases keep you from producing sophisticated prose.

7. Beware of totalizing generalizations like “everyone knows” or “it is human nature” or calling something “OUR culture.” These phrases are overly general and assumptive. Not to mention intellectually lazy.

8. If you use an evaluative phrase, be sure to define or back up that evaluation. For example, if you note that a particular phrase in the text you are discussing is “interesting,” explain what is interesting about it. Or WHY you think it is interesting. Your reader can’t read your mind!

You may be tempted to Google the term "explication paper" to look for advice on how to write them. I suggest you don't do that. There is a lot of information out there that isn't very good. If you are looking for some good advice, I suggest you check out this handout from the Harvard Arts faculty. There are some good ideas there, and they are looking for the same sort of thing that I am.  I also suggest using the description and model in the Gardner book to help guide you.

I am going to be around this weekend, so don't hesitate to email if you have questions, frustrations, or if you want me to look at something.  I have a friend in from out of town, so I might be checking email a little less frequently than usual--but I WILL be checking and getting back to people.
Good luck.

Readings for October 11-October 13

We will be discussing the explorers on Tuesday, October 11th.  Refresh if you need to.  Also read John Smith in AEW (95-100) and, recommended (but not required) Montaigne's "On Cannibals" (55-60).  Explications due--please bring 2 copies to class with you.

On Wednesday, we will be discussing John Cotton and John Winthrop (101-106 and 107-118).

For Thursday, please read ALL of the William Bradford section (119-136).  I will also handout a chapter from Jay Parini's book Promised Land on Tuesday.  This section is about Bradford and is about 30 pages or so.  So make sure that you will be able to find time between Tuesday and Thursdays class to read it.

**Don't forget that you still have discussion questions due on Tuesday and Thursday as well.

The Original

Robert Southey's "The Story of the Three Bears"

Reading assignments for Tuesday, Oct. 4-Thursday, Oct. 6

Your first set of reading assignments.  Remember:  it might be easier to keep up if you try to have all of these done by Tuesday morning.

Tuesday:  Native American Myths (pg. 3-19 EAW)

Wednesday:  Columbus (pg. 25-31 EAW) and Vespucci (pg. 32-36 EAW)

Thursday:  de Vaca (pg. 42-47 EAW) and Gardner (pg. 43-47)

**Discussion questions on ANY of these readings will be due for students with last names from A-L on Tuesday and from M-Z on Thursday.  These discussion questions should be typed and formatted according to the guidelines on your syllabus.

Suggestions for Discussion Questions

For tomorrow, please write three sample discussion questions that pertain to the introduction you have read by Giles Gunn.  Think about these issues as you write:

These questions should accomplish three goals.  First, they should be specific enough to indicate that you have read the literature for the week.  Second, they should be a true reflection of topics that you would find interesting to have the class discuss.  Third, they should represent questions that you honestly have about the author or the literature.  That is, whenever possible, you should ask questions to which you really want to find or hear the answers.

Effective questions will

·         Stimulate conversation.

·         Focus on something specific.

·         Be understood easily by everyone (craft them well!).

·         Solicit answers beyond yes or no, or answers that can be easily answered by looking back to the text.  (That is, ask open-ended questions that provoke thought and/or a personal response or interpretation.)

·         Excite, interest, challenge your fellow students

If you are struggling to write questions you can:

·         Ask about a passage that confused or challenged you.

·         Ask about the motivations of particular characters.

·         Ask why the author made the choices he or she did (about plot, dialogue, imagery, metaphor, symbols, organization, genre, characterization).

·         Ask about the effectiveness of the author’s choices.

·         Ask about the themes or settings in the text.

·         Ask about how particular events or descriptions might signal the worldview of the author or the characters.

·         Ask about passages or themes you found uncomfortable or shocking.

(Not all of these suggestions pertain to a critical introduction--but you get the general picture!) 

Reminder

We will be moving into our permanent home of CTC 212 tomorrow morning.  See you there!

Welcome

You have found the blog for ENGL 268, American Literature I (Fall, 2011). Be sure to check back often for assignments, course updates, schedule changes, and helpful hints.  (Maybe also just things that I find that I think you might enjoy/be interested in.)

I'm glad to have you in class this term and look forward to getting to know you.