English The Literary Imagination: Introduction to Literature. Basic Info. Course Description. Required Texts

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1 English The Literary Imagination: Introduction to Literature Basic Info Instructor: Seanse Ducken Office: L&L 403-I Office Hours: MTW: 11:00-12:00, or by appointment Classroom: L&L 243 Class Time: M/T/W/F 1:00-1:50 Course Description This general education breadth course concerns human experience as imagined, interpreted, and made significant in the poetry, fiction, and drama of major writers of the world. In the context of our course readings, you will learn about basic literary elements such as plot, setting, theme, character, figurative language, pacing, point of view, and more. Course readings and class discussions will reinforce these elements and help you develop your critical and analytical reading and writing abilities. Ultimately, the goal in having you read, discuss, and write about these texts is to help you understand how literature is tool with which writers have been and are able to bring important issues into focus. We will also take into consideration contemporary and modern reactions to these pieces of writing and try to understand why or how we react to certain pieces of literature in certain ways. Required Texts Please be sure to buy these exact editions and bring them to class in accordance with the reading schedule. Course Outcomes Students will read and respond to literary works from a variety of cultures and from a range of historical periods.

2 Students will read literary works from diverse cultural perspectives, including those from underrepresented groups, and respond to the ways the works contend with issues of race, class, and gender privilege. Students will read and respond to literary works of poetry, fiction, and drama; they may also read nonfiction, view films, and/or attend performances, depending on the organization and orientation of class materials. Students will demonstrate an understanding of how literary elements such as character development, setting, and figurative language relate to literary meaning. Students will demonstrate an ability to read, interpret, and analyze the literary works in their historical and cultural contexts. Students will submit at least seven pages of writing that is assessed for content and mechanics (grammar, spelling, punctuation, and organization), in accordance with the General Education Writing Requirement. Academic Adjustments If you have a disability and wish to set up academic adjustments in this class, please give me a copy of your Confirmation of Eligibility for Academic Adjustments as soon as possible. If you do not have this form, contact the Disability Services, Hogue 126 (ds@cwu.edu, ). Canvas and Outlook Canvas is an online tool that helps you track your grades, assignments, and documents for this class. Any messages I post on Canvas will be sent to your CWU account. The same is true of any messages I send you individually on Canvas, so be sure that you are able to access you CWU account. Also, please keep in mind that, while I try to check my CWU account frequently, I am also teaching other classes on campus and may be away from my for various reasons. Please be aware that it may take me up to 24 hours to respond to an and plan accordingly. If you do not receive a reply from me within that 24-hour time frame, feel free to follow up with a polite reminder. Grade Breakdown Your grade in this course will be broken down as follows: Participation 200 pts. Literary Essay #1 250 pts. Literary Essay #2 250 pts. Response Homework 200 pts. Final Assignment 100 pts. Total 1,000 pts. Grading Scale: A A B B B C C C D D D F

3 Due Dates for Major Assignments We usually have something due every day of class. However, the most important due dates are those for the major papers. They are as follows, but please be aware that they may change: Literary essay #1: Monday, October 24 Literary essay #2: Tuesday, November 22 Final assignment: Tuesday, December 6 (finals week) A Note on Graded Elements Participation: There is a note about participation in the following section of the syllabus (Class Policies and Expectations), but please be aware that class-wide discussions are a major component of this course, and it is absolutely necessary for you to come to class prepared to talk about what you ve read. This is true also of peer review. I know how you feel about peer review. Trust me, but we re doing it anyway. Please come prepared for these sessions. If you take them seriously, they can be extremely helpful, and I do expect you to take them seriously. Literary Essays: I will have more detailed handouts about these essays closer to the due dates. For now, just be aware that these essays will require you to draw upon what you ve learned from the assigned readings as well as class discussions and daily homework. These are also a good way for you to explore a concept that interests you or stands out to you in our readings, so take notes as you read. What are some similarities between the writings? How are they different? Why are they different? Are there themes that seem to keep coming up? Asking these kinds of very basic questions is a great way for you to get into the process of literary analysis. Response Homework: Because I tend not to give quizzes, I like to make you write to me about what you re reading. This allows you to express how you ve reacted to a piece of literature, and these response pieces are also a good opportunity for you to get some work done on your essays ahead of time. You ll need to make specific references to the reading as you work on your responses. Don t generalize point to specific passages that you found intriguing or frustrating or confusing. You ll be asked to write a variety of things for this response homework in order to encourage you to think about these pieces of literature from different perspectives. Final Assignment: This will count as your final for the course, and you will receive more information about the form this will take closer to the end of the quarter. Class Policies and Expectations Attendance: Since participation is 20% of your course grade, you need to attend class. But I know that the unexpected happens. Because of this, you are allowed four penalty-free absences: in-class work administered in your absence will not be counted against you, and there will be no penalty on your participation grade. Be wise: you should save these free absences in case you get sick, have to take a sport- or school-related trip, have a family emergency, or get bogged down with work for other classes. These penalty-free absences are for those situations when life happens. You will not be given any more. Starting with your fifth absence, 10% per absence

4 will be deducted from your final participation grade at the end of the quarter. (In other words, if your participation is an 85%, it will drop to a 75% if you have a fifth absence, to a 65% if you have a sixth absence, and so on.) Tardiness: If you arrive late to class, speak with me after class is over. If you are consistently late to class, you will not receive full credit for participation. Finally, if, because of your tardiness, you miss a quiz or other in-class work, you will not be able to make those up. Participation: Participation, added to your grade at the end of the quarter, is a holistic score used to reflect your involvement in the course as a whole. A 75% indicates satisfactory participation, 85% is effective participation, and so on. There are many ways to participate in class, such as joining in class discussions, listening to the instructor, taking notes, joining in small group work, maintaining a respectful attitude toward your prof and peers, asking relevant questions, being prepared for class, meeting with the instructor, using the Writing Center, giving useable feedback during peer review, and generally being engaged in this course. Disruptive Behavior: Students whose conduct is disruptive or disorderly (e.g., talking out of turn or using cell phones and other electronic devices in class) will be reprimanded. A student who is consistently disruptive will be asked to leave the class, and the incident will be reported to the Dean of Student Success. Electronics: You are more than welcome to use your phones, tablets, Kindles, etc. to access any online reading materials we have for this class. That being said, please use these devices wisely and do not distract your classmates or otherwise inhibit the classroom environment by playing games or music or watching videos on your devices. I understand that emergencies come up, and you may need access to your phone, but the volume must be turned down and your attention must be on what is happening in class. Late Work: Late assignments will not be accepted unless prior arrangements have been made. Conferencing: At least once this quarter, you will be required to attend a one-on-one conference with me in my office. A missed conference will count as an absence. Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty: Academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, will result in a failing grade for the assignment and may result in a failing grade for the course. Academic dishonesty is defined in the student conduct code ( Withdrawing from a course does not excuse academic dishonesty. In cases where academic dishonesty is confirmed, a W can be replaced with a letter grade.

5 Course Schedule: Be aware that this schedule may change. I have left it a bit sparse intentionally, so know that much of the response homework and day-to-day details are not on here. WEEK 1 Sept 21-23: Introductions, Texts, Syllabus; Aristotle s Six Elements Homework: Ch It s All Greek to Me from How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. Read Sappho, canvas WEEK 2 Sept 26-28: Elegies: Greek, Latin, and English; Greek plays; Medea Homework: Read Blake, Greek and Latin Elegies; for response homework, make a list of differences between these poems. Read Medea. WEEK 3 Oct 3-7: Sonnets and why they matter. Or England and Poetry. Introduction to Shakespeare; Grief and madness in Elizabethan England; Gender expectations. Homework: Sonnets: Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton; Hamlet WEEK 4 Oct Wrap up of Hamlet: the role of the revenge; Introduction to Romanticism; Byronic heroes Homework: Hamlet; Poems: Byron, Shelley, Coleridge WEEK 5 Oct 17-21: Transition to Gothic Romanticism; watch Vincent ; Female Gothic writers read excerpts in class. The gothic in American Literature; Victorianism and the new role of literature. Homework: Poe short stories and poems; TBA; Peer review WEEK 6 Oct 24-28: (Literary essay #1 due) Advent of Detective fiction. Later gothic writing and how detective fiction develops. Detective stories and disillusionment with the Police. Homework: Short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Raymond Chandler, available on Canvas or as handouts.

6 WEEK 7 Oct 31-Nov 4: Modernism and its subgenres; elements of modernist writing and how it evolved from as a response to, or against, earlier genres. Homework: T.S. Eliot The Waste Land ; V. Woolf Kew Gardens ; TBA WEEK 8 Nov 7-11 Other genres of the first half of the 20 th century, focusing especially on Southern Gothic and the Harlem Renaissance. In-class: watch PBS excerpt on the Harlem Renaissance. Homework: Poetry TBA; Richard essay How Bigger was Born ; Wright s Big Boy Leaves Home; Southern Gothic TBA Nov. 11 Veterans Day (No Class) WEEK 9 Nov Narrators. Foreshadowing Themes, character development, point of view discussion. Female gothic revisited. Discuss how this might be considered a gothic novel. Homework: We Have Always Lived in the Castle; Revise essay Nov. 18 Peer review WEEK 10 Nov (Literary essay #2 due) Finish We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Discuss modern(ish) poetry. Global poets of the 20 th century: political activists. Homework: Read How to Read Poetry; Plath, Bishop. Nov. 23 Thanksgiving Break (No Class) Nov. 25 Thanksgiving Break (No Class) WEEK 11 Nov 28-Dec 2: Wrap-up discussions of confessional poetry; read and discuss contemporary fiction and poetry. Homework: TBA WEEK 12 Dec. 6 Finals Week: Final assignment due