Houston Community College Department of English, Central College ENGL 2323 British Literature: Romanticism to Present Spring 2012 / CRN 77270 Fine Arts Center (FAC) - Room 315, 2:30-4 p.m. 3 hour lecture course / 48 hours per semester / 16 weeks Professor: Ranjana Varghese, Ph.D. Professor contact information: 713-718-6671 / ranjana.varghese@hccs.edu Prof. s office location, hours: FAC 206 Mon/Wed 4-5.30 p.m. and by appointment Course description: A critical study of major British writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This course requires substantial reading, writing, and research. Students may take ENGL 2322 and ENGL 2323 in any order. Core Curriculum Course. Course prerequisites: Completion of ENGL 1302 Student learning outcomes: The student will be able to (1) Explain and illustrate stylistic characteristics of representative works of major British writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Romanticism through the present). (2) Connect representative works of major British writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to human and individual values in historical and social contexts. (3) Demonstrate knowledge of various works of major British writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. (4) Analyze critical texts relating to major British writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. (5) Critique and interpret representative literary works of major British writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Course Calendar / 16 weeks WEEK 1: Jan 18 Course intro; Diagnostic Essay; Critical Analysis (Midterm) WEEK 2: Jan 23 Introduction to Romanticism; Charlotte Smith ( To Sleep, To Night, On Being Cautioned ) Jan 25 William Blake (Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience) WEEK 3 Jan 30 Mary Wollstonecraft (A Vindication of the Rights of Woman); Research Essay and Proposal Feb 1 William Wordsworth ( She dwelt among the untrodden ways, Lucy Gray, I wandered lonely as a cloud, My heart leaps up, Ode: Intimations of Immortality, The Solitary Reaper, The world is too much with us ) WEEK 4
Feb 6 William Wordsworth; Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan ) Feb 8 George Gordon, Lord Byron ( She walks in beauty, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage ); Len Cazares WEEK 5 Feb 13 Percy Bysshe Shelley ( Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, To a Sky-Lark ) Feb 15 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley ( The Mortal Immortal ) WEEK 6 Feb 20 President's Day Holiday Feb 22 Research Proposal Due; John Keats ( Bright Star, Ode on a Grecian Urn, Ode on Melancholy, To Autumn ) WEEK 7 Feb 27 Midterm Exam Review Feb 29 Midterm Exam WEEK 8 Mar 5 Introduction to Victorian Literature; John Stuart Mill (The Subjection of Women); Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Sonnets from the Portuguese; Aurora Leigh) Mar 7 Alfred, Lord Tennyson ( The Lady of Shalott, The Lotos-Eaters, Ulysses ) WEEK 9 SPRING BREAK WEEK 10 Mar 19 Robert Browning ( Porphyria's Lover, My Last Duchess, The Lost Leader, Love among the Ruins ) Mar 21 Christina Rossetti ( Goblin Market ); Evolution, Industrialism, Gender and Identity, Nation and Identity WEEK 11 Mar 26 Preliminary draft of research essay due; Gerard Manley Hopkins ( God's Grandeur, Spring, Spring and Fall: to a young child ) Mar 28 Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest) WEEK 12 Apr 2 Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest); Introduction to Twentieth Century Literature; Thomas Hardy ( A Broken Appointment, The Ruined Maid, Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave? )
Apr 4 Hardy; Siegfried Sassoon ( 'They', Glory of Women, Memoirs of an Infantry Officer); Wilfred Owen ( Anthem for Doomed Youth, Dulce Et Decorum Est, Owen's Letters to His Mother) WEEK 13 Apr 9 William Butler Yeats ( The Lake Isle of Innisfree, When You Are Old, No Second Troy, Easter, 1916, The Wild Swans at Coole, The Second Coming, Leda and the Swan ) Apr 11 Virginia Woolf (A Room of One's Own) WEEK 14 Apr 16 James Joyce (The Dead) Apr 18 D. H. Lawrence ( Odour of Chrysanthemums, Snake ) WEEK 15 Apr 23 Research Essay Due; T. S. Eliot ( The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ); Presentations Apr 25 Katherine Mansfield ( The Garden Party ); W. H. Auden ( Musee des Beaux Arts, The Unknown Citizen ); Presentations WEEK 16 Apr 30 Salman Rushdie ( English Is an Indian Literary Language ); A.K. Ramanujam ( Self-Portrait ); Seamus Heaney ( Digging, Punishment ); Eavan Boland ( Fond Memory, The the Science of Cartography is Limited ); Presentations May 2 Final Exam Review May 9 Final Exam: 2-4 p.m. Student Assignments: All major assignments must be turned in in order to pass this class. Major out-of-class essays must be double-spaced and typed in standard Times New Roman 12-point font. They must be stapled in the upper left-hand corner, and must contain your name, final word count, and an original essay title (not Analysis Essay!). Papers must be turned in to me in class on the day they are due (and not left in mailboxes, under my office door, in the main English office, etc.). In addition to reading assignments to be prepared for each class meeting and brief written homework and in-class assignments, students will complete one analytical essay (midterm), one longer essay project requiring research, one presentation, and a final exam. While there is a specific due date for the research essay, it should be an ongoing project throughout the semester as it requires research. The sooner you start thinking about and working
on it, the less stressed and more successful your project will be. Assessments (grade values of assignments): Journal: 10% Participation: 10% Midterm: 20% Research: 30% Presentation: 10% Final: 20% Instructional materials: Textbook: Abrams, M. H., et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th ed. New York: Norton, 2000. Vols. D, E, F. Note: These volumes may be sold separately, or bound together in one large volume. In any case, you are required to get all three volumes in either format. Tutoring: For free assistance on any of the writing requirements for this course, visit the English Department Writing Lab in FAC 321-B. Check the sign posted on the door there to determine specific hours of operation during the current term. (It s generally open mornings through early evenings, Monday through Thursday, plus half a day on Friday. Open Computer Labs: Computers are available for word processing in FAC 302, SJAC 204A, JDB 203-204, the library, and elsewhere on campus. Check those sites for open hours. Services to students with disabilities: Any student with a documented disability (e.g. physical, learning, psychiatric, vision, hearing, etc.) who needs to arrange for reasonable accommodations must contact the Disability Services Office at the beginning of each semester. For more information, please contact the disability counselor on campus (or call 713-718-5165). Academic honesty: Students are expected to be familiar with the HCC policy on academic honesty (as detailed in various HCC publications) and are responsible for conducting themselves with honor and integrity in fulfilling course requirements. HCC officials may initiate penalties and/or disciplinary proceedings against any student accused of scholastic dishonesty (which includes, but is not limited to, cheating on a test, plagiarism, and collusion). Should you have any questions about proper handling of source material for your writing, consult the MLA guidelines, your professor and/or a tutor (FAC 321-B). Evidence of plagiarism results in a grade of 0 for that assignment. Attendance: Students must attend class regularly and submit assignments on time to pass this course. HCC policy establishes that a student may be administratively withdrawn from a course upon missing more than 12.5% of the scheduled sessions (i.e. more than four class sessions). Course withdrawal: If you elect to withdraw formally from any HCC class and thereby receive a W on your grade transcript, you must contact a HCC counselor or your professor prior to the withdrawal deadline for the current semester to initiate the process. If you do not do so and simply cease to attend, you will receive a final grade by default (quite likely F ) based on your course average in relation to the full slate of required assignments. Classroom decorum: No cell phones or electronic communication devices may be used without permission. No disruption (behavioral, electronic, or otherwise) of class is acceptable. Please be
courteous and respectful of others. Grading scale: 90-100 = A, 80-89 = B, 70-79 = C, 60-69 = D, 0-59 = F. NOTE: At her discretion, the professor may announce necessary changes in this syllabus and assignment calendar at any time during the term.