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English 207 Course ScheduleKey: Norton= The Norton Anthology of American Literature (Shorter Eighth Edition: Vol. 1 Beginnings to 1865)HW = Homework due for next classCourse website: drjlavcenglish.**Please note: Depending on the progress of the class, some of the assignments may change as the semester unfolds. Please be aware that it will be your responsibility to keep track of any changes to the syllabus. Week One:M 2/6Course introduction and syllabus reviewHW: Read and Annotate “Why Walt Whitman Called America the ‘Greatest Poem’” and Langston Hughes’ “I, Too” and “Let American Be America Again” (these three readings are posted online on our course website: drjlavcenglish.)Complete Evidence/Interpretation Notetaker and write at least three entries for each reading (E/I Notetaker is posted online on our course website)*Buy required textbook asapW 2/8American Literature and America as Literary Subject (Whitman and Hughes)HW: Read in Norton “Beginnings to 1700” (3-19), Iroquois Creation Story (20-23), Columbus (24-26)Journal 1: Iroquois Creation Story: Construct a visual “map” or interpretive sketch of the events of the Iroquois Creation Story. How is the process of “creation” described in the story? Make a list of all the characters in the myth and determine each one’s participation in the creation. *Buy required textbook asapWeek Two:M 2/13Creation Stories and Early Encounters: Iroquois Creation Story / ColumbusIntroduce Essay 1HW: Read in Norton Cabeza de Vaca (28-35) and Smith “A Description of New England” (57-71)Journal 2: Cabeza de Vaca: What moments do you find in Cabeza de Vaca’s Relation that suggest unorthodox thinking for his time and culture? To what extent is Cabeza de Vaca interested in women and understanding and communicating with various American native groups? Smith: Smith’s explorations unfolded during a golden age of English theater. What hints of theatrical thinking do you see in Smith’s account of his own adventure?W 2/15Creation Stories and Early Encounters: Iroquois Creation Story, Cabeza de Vaca, and SmithHW: Read in Norton Bradford “Of Plymouth Plantation” (72-89, 89-90) and Mather (149-155)Journal 3: Bradford: What does the writing of the Mayflower Compact indicate about the importance of divine authority?How do these excerpts from Of Plymouth Plantation recall later moments or patterns of thought in American history, even in our own time? Compare Book I, Chapter IV with Book II Chapter XXXII as early attempts to rationalize colonial life. Where do we see Bradford’s logic come under pressure? Mather: In Wonders of the Invisible World, read aloud the sentences beginning “We know not, at least I know not, how far the delusions of Satan” (within [A People of God in the Devil’s Territories]) and comment on their reasoning and tone. In modern retrospect, Mather is often represented as a depraved witch hunter. But he was also a scholar and a scrupulous logician. Is there convergence or conflict here of different motives and habits of thought?Week Three: M 2/20Presidents’ Day Holiday – NO CLASSW 2/22New England Puritan Writing: Bradford / MatherEssay 1 Rough Plan w/ thesis dueHW: Read in Norton Bradstreet poems (110-122) and Rowlandson “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of…” (126-143)Journal 4: Bradstreet: Read aloud “The Author to Her Book,” a poem that employs a metaphor that is downright dangerous, especially in a poem from a colony where women could be severely punished for adultery. Why might Bradstreet make that choice – and how does tone and the context of the poem provide some validation and protection?Rowlandson: What do the poems of Bradstreet and the Narrative of Rowlandson, when looked at together, suggest about the fears and anxieties of women in Puritan society?Week Four:M 2/27Women in the New World: Bradstreet and RowlandsonHW: Read in Norton Knight “The Private Journal of a Journey…” (170-177) and Edwards “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (209-220) and “Introduction to American Literature 1700-1820” (157-169)Journal 5: Knight: What insights does Knight offer about different cultures flourishing in what we now regard as close proximity and about the challenge of forging one nation out of these differences and the attendant mutual suspicions?W 3/1 Puritanism in the Eighteenth Century: Knight and EdwardsEssay 1 due + all prewriting + Works Cited page (MLA format)HW: Read in Norton Native Americans: Contact and Conflict (221-222), Pontiac (222-223), Occom (224-226), Jefferson (227-228), Red Jacket (229-230), and Tecumseh (231-233)Journal 6: Pontiac, Occum, Jefferson, Red Jacket, Tecumseh: Choose one of the narrative American speeches in this section and explain how the speech specifically speaks “on behalf of resistance, whether religious or military” (Baym 221). How does the speech you selected deal with prejudice against Native peoples?Week Five:M 3/6Native Americans: Contact and Conflict: Pontiac, Occom, Jefferson, Red Jacket, and Tecumseh HW: Read in Norton Franklin “The Way to Wealth” (234-242) and “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America” (244-247), and Paine from “Common Sense” (323-331)W 3/8Federalism, Deism, and Enlightenment Spirit: Franklin and Paine HW: Read in Norton Jefferson “The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson” (337-344) and Hamilton/Madison “The Federalist No.1” and “The Federalist No.10” (345-353)Journal 7: Jefferson / Hamilton/Madison: How does reconsidering the Declaration of Independence as a literary work that helps to invent “an American polity and identity” change the ways in which we can read and interpret the work. Consider “the way it ‘invents’ history, as Franklin invents his own life in The Autobiography.Week Six: M 3/13Jefferson and Hamilton/Madison Introduce Essay 2HW: Read in Norton Crevecoeur “Letters from an American Farmer” (308-322) Journal 8: Crevecoeur: How does Crevecoeur respond to his own question “What is an American?” What does he mean by “American?” How does he define “American”?W 3/15 Slavery, Identity, and Personal Ethics: CrevecoeurHW: Read in Norton Equiano “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” (354-386)Journal 9: Equiano: How does Equiano conceive of the relationship between freedom and the individual’s power to attain freedom? Describe the role of the merchant in Equiano’s narrative. Week Seven:M 3/20Equiano HW: Read in Norton Wheatley (401-411)Journal 10: Compare Wheatley with Bradstreet as poets on public subjects. What explains the absence of personal voice in Wheatley? Is Wheatley’s emulation of eighteenth-century British poets a kind of performance or does this poetic style allow her both to achieve and to evade a distinct literary voice?W 3/22Wheatley Essay 2 Outline + thesis due HW: Bring an LAVC greenbook to class on M 3/27 for the Midterm exam AND Journals 1-10Week Eight:M 3/27Midterm Exam / Journals 1-10 are dueHW: Read in Norton “Introduction to American Literature 1820-1865” (445-466), “Native Americans: Removal and Resistance” (584-602), Cooper “From The Last of the Mohicans” (485-490), and Apess (498-504) “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man”Journal 11: Apess: How does Apess’s experience as a Native American shape the pattern of his narrative, especially in comparison to Puritan narratives. Does Apess imbue the word “heathen” with connotations different from the meanings Puritan writers would have attached to it? How so?W 3/29Narratives of Western Expansion & Native American Resistance: Cooper and Apess Essay 2 + all prewriting + Works Cited page (MLA format) dueHW: Read in Norton Emerson “Nature” (509-520, 530-532), “Self-Reliance” (549-566)Journal 12: Emerson: If we read Emerson as a declaration of complete intellectual independence, then in what spirit should we read Emerson – or anybody else who offers wisdom or values? In other words, is rebellion against Emerson himself, moment to moment or overall, a supremely Emersonian act?Th 3/30-F 3/31Cesar Chavez HolidayWeek Nine: SPRING BREAK (4/3-4/7)Week Ten:M 4/10Transcendentalism and the New American-ness of American Literature: Emerson Introduce Essay 3HW: Read in Norton Hawthorne “Young Goodman Brown” (619-628) and “The Minister’s Black Veil” (636-645)W 4/12 Hawthorne HW: Read in Norton Poe “The Raven” (688-691), “Annabel Lee” (691-692), “The Tell-Tale Heart” (714-717)Journal 13: Hawthorne/Poe: Can we read any if Poe’s stories allegorically, as we might read Hawthorne? To what extent can we read these stories and poems as being fundamentally about the mind, mental states, and/or emotions?Week Eleven: M 4/17Hawthorne / PoeHW: Read in Norton Poe “The Raven” (688-691), “Annabel Lee” (691-692), “The Tell-Tale Heart” (714-717)W 4/19Poe HW: Read in Norton “Slavery, Race, and the Making of American Literature” (761-778) and Jacobs “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” (818-838)Journal 14: Jacobs: In Chapter XXI, Jacobs uses the intriguing metaphor of the loophole; explain how a metaphor works and then explain Jacob’s use of the loophole metaphor. What do we learn about the specific condition of enslaved women in Jacobs’ narrative?Week Twelve:M 4/24Essay 3 Rough Plan OR Outline + thesis due Literature of Slavery and the Civil War: Jacobs HW: Read in Norton Thoreau “Resistance to Civil Government” (843-858)W 4/26Thoreau HW: Read in Norton Douglass “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave” “Preface” (938-943), Ch. V, VI, VII, VIII (957-968) and “What to the Slave is Fourth of July?” (1002-1005)Journal 15: Douglass: Choose two emotionally intense passages from the Narrative or “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” and describe the defining and recurring characteristics of Douglass’ voice.Week Thirteen:M 5/1Essay 3 Introduction paragraphs with thesis and at least 2 body paragraphs (minimum of 3 typed pages) dueDouglassHW: Read in Norton Douglass “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave” “Preface” (938-943), Ch. V, VI, VII, VIII (957-968) and “What to the Slave is Fourth of July?” (1002-1005)W 5/3Douglass HW: Read in Norton Whitman “Song of Myself” 1, 2, 3, 15, 21, 22, 24, 30, 31, 43, 51, 52 (1024-1067) and from “Children of Adam” “Spontaneous Me” (1067-1069)Week Fourteen: M 5/8Essay 3 Rough Draft Peer Review (bring 2 typed copies to class)WhitmanHW: Read in Norton Whitman “Song of Myself” 1, 2, 3, 15, 21, 22, 24, 30, 31, 43, 51, 52 (1024-1067) and from “Children of Adam” “Spontaneous Me” (1067-1069)W 5/10WhitmanHW: Read in Norton Melville “Bartleby, the Scrivener” (1102-1128)Week Fifteen:M 5/15Essay 3 is due at the beginning of classMelville HW: Read in Norton Melville “Bartleby, the Scrivener” (1102-1128)W 5/17Melville HW: Read in Norton Dickinson Poems 259, 260, 320, 340, 347, 355, 372, 373, 409, 479, 591, 598, 764 (1189-1212)Week Sixteen:M 5/22American Transcendentalism & Women’s Voices: DickinsonHW: Read in Norton Dickinson Poems 259, 260, 320, 340, 347, 355, 372, 373, 409, 479, 591, 598, 764 (1189-1212)W 5/24Dickinson **M 5/29Memorial Day Holiday – NO CLASS**FINAL EXAMS: 5/30 – 6/5**Our FINAL EXAM day is Monday, June 5 from 9:30 am to 11:30 am in our regularclassroom. Please bring an LAVC greenbook to the exam. ................
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