Here is the syllabus.
American Literature 1
The University of Akron
Spring 2009 • 3300:341:001
Tuesday & Thursday 1:45-3:00pm • JAR 150
Jon Miller, Associate Professor of English
(Ph.D., U. of Iowa, 2000)
Find me at 330-972-5717 (office and voice mail), mjon at uakron dot edu (email), or 301b Olin Hall (office). My office hours are Monday through Friday, 9:30pm to 1:30pm, and by appointment. Since I handle all the undergraduate advising and have other responsibilities as assistant chair, I recommend signing up for an appointment if you want to meet for half an hour or more during my regular office hours. I can be booked up or not available some days. Finally, you can find this syllabus and other course-related materials on my website, jonmiller.org.
Course Description
This is an undergraduate-level survey of American literature and literary history to 1865.
Textbooks
Nina Baym, general editor. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Seventh edition. Package 1: Volumes A & B. Norton, 2007. ISBN 0393929930. Please note that we will use the seventh edition and not the sixth edition.
Vocabulary
To read, comprehend, and write persuasively about older literature, you must better know the language of older literature. I will provide a list of words and definitions, with a few key literary terms, for you to study. This vocabulary provides a context that will help you, especially on a first reading, to better understand and anticipate the developments in plot and theme which first made these works compelling.
Dates
You need (at least) a set of dates to serve as reference points in your survey of literary history. You will be given a small list of dates to memorize.
Quizzes
We'll have at least one brief quiz for every class. These will vary in format. You may be asked questions about the day’s reading. You may be asked to name words by definition, to date events, or to define words. The lowest 20% of quiz scores will be dropped. You cannot make up quizzes that you miss because of absence or tardiness.
Two papers
You will write two three-page (750 word) works of literary criticism.
On plagiarism
Plagiarism is a moral and ethical offense and, more narrowly, a violation of the scholarly and professional ethics to which you, the student, are bound. Students who falsely represent scholarly work as their own, at any stage of an assignment’s course of submission and re-submission, will receive, as the minimum punishment, a grade of zero for that assignment. Students can also expect to have the case reported to University authorities. This may result in further and more severe consequences. Please note too, that ignorance of this academic law is no excuse for its violation. All students have a responsibility to study and clearly understand the full range of scurrilous behaviors which constitute plagiarism.
Attendance policy
(1) Missing 20% of class warrants failure. This course meets 29 times. If you miss six classes, you should expect to fail the class. (2) All reasons to miss class – personal or academic – are equally good. (3) I do not require an explanation for an absence. If you miss class, I will assume that you missed class for a good reason. I respect your privacy and do not need to know why. On the other hand, I will be concerned and curious. If you care to explain, I will listen. (4) Any lateness to class will be marked as half an absence. (5) Any early departure from class will be marked as half an absence. (6) Habitual tardiness or early departure warrants a failing participation grade. (7) I will keep a careful record of the number of times you are absent, late, or leaving early, but I will not bring this to class. And I will not be able to provide an accurate, up-to-the-minute total of time missed on demand. You are responsible for keeping your own record. (8) Your attendance record cannot be improved by additional writing assignments or other kinds of extra-credit work.
Attendance and participation
All students are expected to respect the worth and contribution of everyone in the classroom. Your attendance grade is the percentage of classes that you attend. Your participation grade reflects your day-to-day contribution to the class. Your attendance and participation grade is the product of these grades.
Two Exams
There will be a midterm and a final exam.
Final Grade
This is the formula for the final grade: Quizzes 30%, Papers 35%, Exams 25%, Attendance & Participation, 10%. All assignments receive a numeric grade. Grades will be awarded as follows: 92.5, A; 90, A-; 87.5, B+; 82.5, B; 80, B-; 77.5, C+; 72.5, C; 70.0, C-; 67.5, D+; 62.5, D; 60, D-; below 60, F.
Reading Schedule
Please note: when class is cancelled (for any reason), so are the readings for that class. We stay on schedule.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
(class no. 1)
Syllabus, introductory lecture
Thursday, January 15, 2009
(class no. 2)
Emily Dickinson (poems TBA)
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
(class no. 3)
Walt Whitman, biography and "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," 2190-95, 2263-67
Thursday, January 22, 2009
(class no. 4)
Herman Melville, biography and "The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids," pp. 2304-08, 2389-2404
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
(class no. 5)
Frederick Douglass, biography and "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?," pp. 2060-64, 2140-43, plus Sojourner Truth, "Speech to the Woman's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, 1851," pp. 1695-96
Thursday, January 29, 2009
(class no. 6)
Henry David Thoreau, biography and "Slavery in Massachusetts," pp. 1853-57, 2046-56
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
(class no. 7)
Reading TBA (handout)
Thursday, February 5, 2009
(class no. 8)
Ralph Waldo Emerson, biography and "Experience," pp. 1106-10, 1195-1211
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
(class no. 9)
Edgar Allan Poe, biography, "The Black Cat," and "The Masque of the Red Death," pp. 1528-32, 1585-89, 1593-99
Thursday, February 12, 2009
(class no. 10)
Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Nature," pp. 1110-38
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
no class – President’s Day
Thursday, February 19, 2009
(class no. 11)
Nathaniel Hawthorne, biography and "Wakefield," pp. 1272-76, 1298-1304; paper #1 due
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
(class no. 12)
William Apess, "An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man," pp. 1051-58; Caroline Stansbury Kirkland, biography and selections from "A New Home," pp. 1068-78
Thursday, February 26, 2009
(class no. 13)
Edgar Allan Poe, poems, pp. 1532-43; William Cullen Bryant, biography and poems, pp. 1044-51
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
(class no. 14)
Lydia Sigourney, biography and poems, pp. 1028-44; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, biography and selected poems, pp. 1495-1506
Thursday, March 5, 2009
(class no. 15)
midterm exam
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
(class no. 16)
Washington Irving, biography and "Rip Van Winkle," pp. 951-65; Catharine Maria Sedgwick, short story TBA (handout)
Thursday, March 12, 2009
(class no. 17)
Hannah Webster Foster, The Coquette, pp. 806-839
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Spring break – no classes
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
(class no. 18)
Hannah Webster Foster, The Coquette, pp. 839-873
Thursday, March 26, 2009
(class no. 19)
Hannah Webster Foster, The Coquette, pp. 873-end
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
(class no. 20)
Royall Tyler, biography and The Contrast, Acts 1 and 2, pp. 764-84
Thursday, April 2, 2009
(class no. 21)
Royall Tyler, The Contrast, Acts 3 and 4, pp. 784-99
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
(class no. 22)
Royall Tyler, The Contrast, Act 5, pp. 799-805
Thursday, April 9, 2009
(class no. 23)
Olaudah Equiano, biography and some of his Interesting Narrative, pp. 674-93; paper #2 due
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
(class no. 24)
Jane Colman Turell, Annis Boudinot Stockton, Sarah Wentworth Morton, Mercy Otis Warren, Ann Eliza Bleecker, and Margaretta Faugères, poems, 710-24
Thursday, April 16, 2009
(class no. 25)
J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, biography and passages from Letters from An American Farmer, pp. 595-616
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
(class no. 26)
Benjamin Franklin, biography, "The Way to Wealth," and "Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One," pp. 449-63
Thursday, April 23, 2009
(class no. 27)
Jonathan Edwards, biography and "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," pp. 384-86, 425-37
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
(class no. 28)
Mary Rowlandson, biography and part of her Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration, pp. 235-67; William Byrd, biography and pages from his secret diary, pp. 378-84
Thursday, April 30, 2009
(last day of class: class no. 29)
Thomas Harriot, biography and part of "A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia," plus John Smith, biography and passages from his General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles, pp. 48-72
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