DR. SUSAN SPENCER - ENG 2653 (CLA) CRN 24762, TR 9:30 a.m. in LAR 133 - [email protected]
English Department, University of Central Oklahoma College of Liberal Arts
British Literature from 1800 - Spring 2017
Office: LAR 105H
Office hours: TR 11:00-12:00 and 2:00-2:30, and by appointment.
Phone: 974-5629 (office), 974-5550 (English department - leave message), 974-3811 (fax).
Textbook: Damrosch, David, et al., eds. The Longman Anthology of British Literature. 3rd ed. Vol. 2.
See pages 10-12 of this syllabus for a day-by-day schedule of reading and writing assignments.
Course Description
ENG 2653 is a survey of British literature and culture of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Grade breakdown: homework assignments, 25%; two midterm exams, 15% each; research paper(s)
20%; final exam, 20%; active class participation, 5%. Active means active: you will not receive a high
score in this area if you show up regularly but you never say anything or are clearly unprepared.
Grading scale: 900-1000 points (90% or above), A; 800-899 points, B; 700-799 points, C, 600-699 points, D.
General Policies and Procedures
The deadline for out-of-class written work is at the start of the class period on the due date. Please do
not wait until the last minute to print or e-mail/fax an assignment, then disrupt class by coming in late
because you had technical problems: the assignment will be considered late and so will you (see below).
If you turn in a homework assignment on the deadline date but after the start of class at 9:30 a.m.,
that assignment will lose 20% of its potential point value (the equivalent of two letter grades) unless you
have a documented excuse such as a note from a doctor or accident report. This document must be turned
in within a week of the original due date. An assignment that is due Thursday at 9:30 a.m. but is turned in
at any time after 9:30 sharp on Friday, without a documented excuse, is two days late and will lose 40%
of its value. Weekend days are included in this equation; if turned in Sunday before 9:30, it loses 80%.
If you turn in a research paper on the deadline date but after the start of class, your paper will lose
10% of its potential point value (equal to one letter grade) unless you have a documented excuse.
If you must miss a scheduled exam, please get in touch with me as soon as possible--preferably, before
the exam takes place in the classroom--so we can set up an alternate date and time. Please keep in mind
that if anybody takes a midterm late, the entire class may be delayed in reviewing the exam and going
over significant points, so you should only miss an exam in the case of sudden emergency or illness. If
you do not have a documented excuse for missing the exam, you may be required to take a slightly
different--and slightly more difficult--exam from the rest of the class.
If you know you will be absent on the day a written assignment is due, turn it in early or see if you
can find someone who will turn it in on your behalf. Do not slip anything under my office door or try to
put anything directly into my departmental mailbox. There have been some rare cases of papers getting
lost that way. It's safer to tape it to my office door, LAR 105H. The deadline is at the start of the
class hour whether or not you are in class on that day, so if you use the tape-it-to-the-door method,
make sure it's on the door before 9:30 a.m. I have an office hour in the morning so I will see it there.
If you e-mail or fax an assignment to me it is at your own risk whether I receive the file intact or not.
Attached files that are corrupted, or that I can't open for any reason, are your responsibility: if you have
to resend because there was a problem with the file, the time stamp on the unreadable version will not be
valid. Your assignment was officially turned in when a readable file arrived in my inbox.
ENG 2653, Spring 2017 - 2
Attendance and In-Class Participation Grade - 5% or up to 50 points total
I expect everyone to attend every class session except in the case of illness or extraordinary emergency,
such as an accident on your way to campus. In a 75-minute class so compressed as this survey--over two
centuries of material squeezed into sixteen weeks--regular attendance is especially important. If you miss
a day or two, you are likely to miss an important author or movement altogether, and you will certainly
miss some connections between works or authors. To get the most out of this or any class, it should be
treated like a job: although everyone gets sick or has emergencies, taking too many sick days is likely to
lead to having one’s wages docked, or even termination of employment (or in our case, a suggestion that
you drop the class and try again another semester when you will be able to give the class more attention).
Rather than a policy of "excused" or "unexcused" absences, everyone will have two "sick day"
absences: think of this as being similar to a new employer’s policy of a week’s sick leave. After those
two freebies, however, your grade will be docked 20 points for each additional day you are not present.
Please let me know in advance, if possible, if you will not be able to get to class on a given day.
Because there is no such thing as an excused absence you are not required to explain to me or to
anyone else, at any time, your reasons for being absent, unless your absence means you will miss a
deadline and you need to provide a documented excuse to avoid a late penalty on an assignment. Your
private life is just that--private!
If you are late for class or if you leave early, or if you distract the rest of the class by fiddling with
your jacket or notebook, loading up your backpack, etc., before class is over or while the class is trying to
concentrate on a video, 5-10 points may be docked from your participation grade, depending on just how
disruptive your behavior is. One person stuffing books into a backpack or walking around can make an
entire classroom feel anxious and unable to concentrate, especially since this semester we have such a
small group of students enrolled. If you know in advance that you must leave early, please sit as close
to the door as possible so you can leave unobtrusively. I'd appreciate it if you let me know in advance,
too, so I'll know you aren't just walking out.
Repeated incidents of tardiness will result in incrementally increased penalties. If it becomes a
significant and habitual problem, I reserve the right to dock more than the ten points mentioned above. It
is up to you to keep track of how many points you have lost through tardiness or leaving early. You can
ask me at any time and I will tell you, but don't count on me to keep you updated on your record unless
you actively ask.
Use of Electronic Devices
Unless you have a documented medical reason that requires you to use a laptop, computers and phones
should remain stashed away during class. Please turn your phone off before entering the classroom.
Regents' Statement on Homework Expectations: It is expected that a full-time college student will spend a minimum
amount of time each week in class attendance and study out of a class approaching a 40-hour work week. A person
employed on a full-time basis should not simultaneously expect to maintain a full-time academic schedule. At the
undergraduate level, this means that for each hour in class, a student is expected to spend at least two to three (2-3)
hours doing homework. For a three-credit class, a student is expected to spend six to nine (6-9) hours a week doing
homework.
Please keep the Regents' Statement in mind as you plan your weekly schedule.
Detailed guidelines about university-wide policies, deadlines and important contact information can
be found here: http://www.uco.edu/academic-affairs/files/aa-forms/StudentInfoSheet.pdf
ENG 2653, Spring 2017 - 3
Homework Assignments - 25% or up to 250 points total
Homework assignments will come in different varieties, depending on what kind of work they are
designed to support. Some will take the form of reading journal entries, a relatively open type of
reflective writing in which I will ask for your opinion on a work, author, or period. Others will be more
tightly focused, requesting you to answer specific questions or consult a particular outside source.
These assignments are due at 9:30 a.m. on the deadline, whether or not I collect them at that time. If
you arrive late for class, your assignment has come in late along with you, and the assignment will be
graded down. If it is inevitable that you will be late due to some unforeseen circumstance, I'd suggest that
you e-mail or fax an electronic copy of the assignment before you leave home, and bring a hard copy with
you. As long as the electronic copy arrived intact and time-stamped before the deadline, it was on time.
Unless specified otherwise, homework assignments should be typed, double-spaced, in 12-point Times
New Roman or Courier font, with margins no wider than 1.25" on each side. Unless specified otherwise,
the minimum length is one full page. Entries that do not conform to these physical requirements will be
docked anywhere from 5-20 points, depending on how out of conformity they are.
The work that you produce as homework will come in handy when it's time for the midterm or final
exam, so hang on to all of your assignments once they are handed back to you, and review what you
wrote (along with my feedback) before a test. You might also want to keep a copy on your hard drive or
a flash drive in case of loss.
Exams - 50% or up to 500 points total
The two midterm exams will be identical in format. Each will consist of two essays. The final exam
will include two essays and a short-answer portion. Each exam will focus on one volume of the textbook:
the Romantics and their Contemporaries, the Victorian Age, and the Twentieth Century.
Each midterm will have two sections: identifications of key terms, worth up to 60 points, and an essay
portion based on a quotation from one of the authors covered in class, worth up to 90 points. I will issue
more detailed information about the exams on a study guide that I will hand out before the first midterm.
You may not use your textbook or any notes during an exam. All you will be permitted on the table in
front of you will be blank paper--or, if you prefer, a blue book--and writing utensils. I strongly suggest
that you bring two writing utensils, and place them on the table in front of you. Just as it seems a printer
will always run out of ink right when a big paper is due, pens have a devious way of running out of ink
and pencils of breaking right in the middle of an exam. I will not lend you a writing utensil if yours fails,
nor will I provide you with paper if you run out, and your classmates do not want to be interrupted when
they are in the middle of taking an exam, so come prepared!
How to calculate a letter grade for 150 points
Technically, no one assignment earns a letter grade, since all points will go into a grand total at the
end of the semester. But if you just want to get a general feel for how you would have done in a
letter grade situation, try this formula:
A (90-100%): 135-150 points
B (80-89%): 120-134 points
C (70-79%): 105-119 points
D (60-69%): 90-104 points
ENG 2653, Spring 2017 - 4
Your Research Paper
You have two options for research papers: two short papers, 4-5 pages each, or one longer paper, 8-10
pages long. If you choose the short papers, each is worth 10% of your grade. The long paper is worth
15% of your grade, with an additional 5% of your grade dependent on a rough draft.
Short Paper Option
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10% + 10% or up to 200 points total
If you would prefer to write two short papers, I will ask you to write one paper on a Romantic work and
one on a Victorian work. They will be due on Tuesday, February 14, and Tuesday, April 11. Please see
the "General Requirements," which apply to either option. You'll find them on the next page of this
syllabus.
You must touch base with me at some point at least two weeks before each paper is due, no later
than February 1 in the case of the first paper, to discuss what you will want to write about and how you
will go about it.
I would strongly suggest that if you think you might want to research one of the younger Romantics (e.g.,
Byron, one of the Shelleys, or Keats), you should watch the Peter Ackroyd documentary on "Infinity" that
is posted on our class D2L website. If you like the ideas behind Romanticism but you don't know much
about the younger generation, yet you think you'd like to write about one of these younger-generation
authors, I'd be happy to talk with you in my office or after class to discuss which one of them, and which
one of their works, would be the best fit for you.
Because the short papers need to be very tight in focus, please stick to one literary work only, or at most
two very closely connected and very short works (such as, for instance, one of Blake's Songs of Innocence
and its counterpart in Songs of Experience). Make sure your thesis concentrates entirely on an analysis of
that work only, and does not wander off topic into unrelated biographical facts about the author, or ideas
about the work that are interesting but do not fit in with your central thesis. The thesis should be an
exploration of how one idea--and one idea only!--is developed in the work you have chosen to write on.
For a short paper, you must use at least three academic sources, in addition to our textbook and class
lecture/discussion. Please see Page 6 of this syllabus, "General Requirements for the Research Paper or
Papers," for an explanation of what is meant by the term "academic source." Or, if in doubt, ask me.
The abovementioned page on "General Requirements for the Research Paper or Papers" includes a
number of required elements for research papers in this class, including some that are a bit quirky, so
make sure you read it and familiarize yourself with the expectations before you begin writing.
Transformative Learning Statement
This class addresses the following aspects of the central six tenets of transformative learning, a
holistic process that places students at the center of their own active and reflective learning
experiences:
• Discipline Knowledge, Problem Solving (Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities), and
Global and Cultural Competencies through the study of British authors' worldwide influences
and impact.
ENG 2653, Spring 2017 - 5
Long Paper Draft and Final Copy
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5% + 15% or up to 200 points total
About the topic
For the subject of the longer research paper (8-10 pages), either choose a favorite homework assignment you have
already completed or choose a topic related to one of the other, later works on the syllabus that we haven't yet
studied by April 4. You will be expected to write a homework assignment on this work at some point before you
turn in the final draft of your paper. Staple the original homework assignment you turned in, or a photocopy, to
the rough draft. If you want to base your research on a later work, you will need to look ahead toward future
homework assignments. Meet with me in my office at least a week and a half before the April 4 deadline for the
draft, if you want to write about one of these later works.
A rough draft of the long paper, due on or before Tuesday, April 4, is worth 5% of your overall grade.
The final draft, due on or before Thursday, April 27, is worth an additional 15%. Aim for turning the
paper in before the deadline if you want extensive written feedback on the final draft. The final draft of
the paper must have an arguable thesis. That is, it should address a genuine research question and
concentrate on finding an answer, rather than merely stating facts or giving excessive plot summary.
Unlike the final draft of your research paper, the rough draft does not have a specific page limit, and you
will not be graded down if your rough draft does not have an arguable thesis. You will, however, be
graded down if the "draft" is just a random assemblage of facts and quotations with no connecting thesis
at all, or if it's just a few random paragraphs that you obviously sketched out in a hurry. I'm looking for
something that at least resembles a completed paper. However, there may be areas where you know more
research is required (if so, please indicate that) or where you haven't quite worked out how to move from
one part of the paper to the next, or where you're unsure whether certain information ought to be included.
What the Rough Draft Should Accomplish
I'd suggest that you try to do as thorough a job as possible in mapping the paper out in your rough draft,
since this is your chance to get my suggestions… which might affect how you choose to polish up the
final draft. The more I have to work with, the better guidance I can offer. In the past, more thorough
drafts have tended to produce the papers that received the best grades, though that correlation might be
due to the fact that students who produced strong early drafts tended to be more organized to begin with.
I would also suggest that, if at all possible, you should already have your arguable thesis in place by the
time you turn in the rough draft. Again, this is a useful opportunity to get feedback before you turn in an
assignment that is going to be worth 15% of your overall grade in the class. The thesis may benefit from
a little tweaking. If that's the case, you'll want to find out as soon as possible, right?
If you're stuck with some minor writer's block difficulties in some areas of your paper, the rough draft is
a good chance to get feedback on which direction you might want to take on the blocked portion(s).
However, if you are suffering from a case of that paralyzing kind of writer's block that everybody gets
from time to time--that type where you just keep staring at the page and no ideas are coming at all--you
have a more serious problem and you should come talk with me in my office so we can get it worked out.
Just don't wait until the last minute, or we'll be really limited in what we can accomplish on that front.
I would also suggest that, if at all possible, you should already have your arguable thesis in place by the
time you turn in the rough draft. Again, this is a useful opportunity to get feedback before you turn in an
assignment that is going to be worth 15% of your overall grade in the class.
The rough draft must include a Works Cited list, though there may be some changes to that list,
especially in the case of additional sources, by the time you complete your final draft.
ENG 2653, Spring 2017 - 6
General Requirements for the Research Paper or Papers
The research assignment has a couple of special requirements, whichever option you choose:
Connect your paper topic with our class. Somewhere in the body of the final draft of your paper--and
this would also be a good idea for the rough draft--you must cite either a class lecture or discussion or
some of the introductory material or notes in our textbook. You may use an example you already used in
a homework assignment. Or, if you prefer, you may bring in a new example. This last is especially likely
if you choose to write about something we studied very early, but your thinking about it has evolved since
you did the assignment, or if you want to write about a work we haven't discussed yet.
For a short paper, you must use at least three academic sources, in addition to our textbook and class
lecture/discussion. For the long paper, you must use at least five.
Printed or online books and academic articles of ten pages or more count as an academic source. Book
reviews do not count. Google Books and web sites on the internet--as opposed to articles accessed on the
web through the library database--do not count, unless you have cleared the web source with me in
advance. Audiovisual sources, such as movies or music, also do not count unless they are cleared in
advance, even if they are documentaries located in the UCO library. Clearance to use an audiovisual
source or a website must be received a week or more before the short paper or rough draft is due.
You are free to use reviews and other shorter articles, websites (including Wikipedia), popular magazines,
encyclopedias, unapproved audiovisual sources, and other non-academic sources, as long as you cite
them correctly; they just won't count toward your three or five required academic sources. Materials
that do not qualify as academic sources should be used only as ancillary research, not as your main source
of information: if your ideas and citations come more heavily from these non-academic or
unapproved sources than from your academic sources, your grade will suffer for it.
You must quote each of your academic sources directly at some point in your paper. You will find
examples of how to incorporate quotations into your writing on the next page of this syllabus. Ancillary
sources should be cited at the end because you consulted them, but you do not have to quote from them.
Don't forget to cite all ideas or facts that you use from a given source, not just the material you quoted.
Failure to cite any idea that didn't come directly out of your own head is plagiarism, a serious academic
offense. You also need to give the source for any facts, including dates: among other benefits, this will
cover your back if it turns out the source you used included a mistake. You won't get blamed for it!
SPECIAL REQUIREMENT: photocopy or print any sources that you cite, outside of the textbook.
This goes for both academic and non-academic sources. Highlight any quoted portion or any fact or idea
that you used, and staple the copy to the back of your paper. You do not need to include a copy of the
entire article or book chapter, only the cited portions.
Use Modern Language Association style for your citations. Please consult the notes on MLA Style
and the sample Works Cited list included in this syllabus throughout the semester as you turn in
assignments. It will save you a lot of time at the end, when you come to the research paper: obviously, it
will be good to have a copy of one or more sources cited properly in an earlier assignment, as it saves
time later on, and the practice in proper citation will make that final Works Cited list a great deal easier.
Your Works Cited list at the end of the paper does not count toward the 4-5 (short paper) or 8-10
(longer paper) page requirement.
REMEMBER: A serious case of writer's block, one of those debilitating cases where you just can't seem
to get started at all and you haven't even got any ideas for a general topic, is something you should discuss
with me in person during my office hour long before the rough draft is due. The sooner the better!
ENG 2653, Spring 2017 - 7
A Sample Works Cited List
The Works Cited list goes at the end of your research paper. It lists any and all sources that you consulted for ideas,
whether or not you directly quoted them in your essay. Each type (or genre) of source has a very specific way in
which it should be cited in the Works Cited list. Below are some examples of those most commonly used.
If you need to cite a type of source that is not listed here, see me or a tutor, or check one of the many websites
available on line devoted to MLA style. You do not need to number your sources. List them in alphabetical order
by author. If a work is anonymous, alphabetize it by the next item in order--that is, by the title. Note the double
spacing and "hanging indentation," which indents all lines after the first (the opposite of what you do with a
paragraph in an essay, where the first line is indented and the others aren't). This list may look quite different
from what you're used to! MLA changed its format over this past summer, so there are changes since last year.
Works Cited
Ackroyd, Peter. Blake: A Biography. Alfred A. Knopf, 1995.
Book by one author. If you are used to the former style of MLA citation, note that you no longer need to cite the
city of publication and you do not include the words "Print" or "Web" at the end of a citation.
Bennett, Betty T. and Stuart Curran, editors. Mary Shelley in Her Times. Johns Hopkins UP, 2003.
Edited book, with essays by several different contributors. "UP" stands for "University Press." Note that you
reverse only the name of the first author (this also goes for a book that was written by two authors). List names in
the same order as on the cover, even if they aren't listed in alphabetical order. If you are using just one or two
essays from this book, list the book itself and then, separately, list the two essays by their authors in the same way
the Coleridge example is listed below:
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, "Frost at Midnight." Damrosch et al., pp. 576-577.
Primary text taken from The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Cite primary texts by the authors' names,
not the names of the editor(s)! The form you see here is called cross-referencing, a handy technique where you
can cite multiple works from a single anthology or collection without having to cite the anthology every single time.
The complete citation for the Damrosch et al. anthology is right below this example. Cite it once only, then crossreference the individual short works.
Something new to notice: MLA now includes "pp." to designate page numbers on the Works Cited list, though
"pp." is still not required for parenthetical citations in the body of your essay.
Damrosch, David, et al., editors. The Longman Anthology of British Literature. 3rd ed., Vol 2A: The
Romantics and Their Contemporaries. Longman, 2006.
Book by several authors and editors (et al. means "et alia," Latin for "and others") from which you used more than
one part. This includes any collection of poetry, short stories, or essays by multiple authors. Individual sections or
works by one person are cited separately and under the name of their author, like the Coleridge example above.
Use this citation for secondary information in the Longman Anthology, for instance one of the introductory
essays to a section or individual author. Don't forget to add the volume number and letter (2A, 2B, or 2C).
Something new to note: the abbreviation "ed.," which in the old MLA style was used for both editor and edition, is
now used only to refer to an edition. The word editor, or editors, is now spelled out.
Humphries, Simon. "Introduction." Christina Rossetti: Poems and Prose, edited by Humphries, Oxford
UP, 2008, pp. xviii-xxxvii.
Unlike the old MLA style, you don’t need to include the editor's first name twice; just give the last name on the
second mention. You do that within the body of a research paper, too: just mention the first name once. You do
need to write out the words "edited by," instead of just using the old abbreviation "ed."
Does the prefatory material or introduction have no title? Just put Preface, without using any quotation marks.
ENG 2653, Spring 2017 - 8
Hammer, Joshua. "Existential Hero: Why is Albert Camus Still a Stranger in His Native Algeria?"
Smithsonian, October 2013, pp. 31+.
Article in a monthly magazine. The + sign instead of a range of pages means the article was interrupted by an ad or
another article so pages were discontinuous. You don't always have to include the subtitle in the case of magazine
articles (sometimes their subtitles are really long!), but I did it in this case because I noticed that the online version
of this one has dropped the original "Existential Hero" title and is using the subtitle only at the top of the page.
Miller, Christopher R. "Shelley's Uncertain Heaven." ELH, vol. 72, no. 3, 2005, pp. 577-603.
An article in an academic journal. "72" refers to the volume number and "3" to the issue number. Most literary
journals publish four issues: spring, summer, fall, and winter. Miller's article is from the Fall 2005 issue of ELH.
Years ago, the title of this journal was English Literary History, but the editors officially changed it to just the
acronym. Use the same title they do.
This citation is identical for an article in the library database, or a print copy that you found on the shelf in
the periodicals room at the library. You no longer need to specify "Web" or "Print." If you're using a PDF
version you can use the same parenthetical documentation within your essay to cite individual pages, since you will
be able to see the page numbers clearly. For this reason, always use the PDF instead of the HTML version if there is
a PDF version available. Some HTML versions, however, do indicate where one page ends and the next begins,
using page numbers inside brackets.
"A New Chapter." The Economist, 23 Jun. 2007, p. 63.
Anonymous one-page article in a weekly newsmagazine. Without an author, alphabetize this piece by the title, but
ignore the definite article ("A" or "The"). So this example is alphabetized by the word "New." Because it is only
one page, you use "p." (page) instead of "pp." (pages).
Royce, James. "Evelyn Waugh’s Pathetic Fallacy." Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by
David Pope, vol. 25. Gale, 1988, pp. 399-402.
Essay in a book of essays by a number of different authors, in this case a hardbound annual journal, which is why
there is a volume number but no issue number. Some of these annual journals, especially those published by Gale,
can also be found in the library databases. Many of the online databases don't go as far back as 1988, so if you're
looking for something that old you will probably have to make a trip to the library and access the print edition.
Spencer, Susan. ENG 3213 lecture, 22 Jan. 2017.
Lecture without a title. Lectures with a title, such as workshops or advertised guest lectures, or lectures that are part
of a speaker's series program, should give the title of the lecture inside quotation marks instead of the class number
and word "lecture."
Citation standards for electronic sources, such as web pages, blogs, and YouTube videos, vary depending
on the source's format. For up-to-the-minute information about citation for both print and electronic
sources, including the latest on MLA style, please check Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL)
website: owl.english.purdue.edu
The OWL site is also an excellent resource for suggestions about research paper style, including what to
do if you are suffering from writer's block, or if your paper-writing skills are a little rusty.
If you are suffering from serious writer's block and the OWL site isn't helping, please see me as soon
as possible. I might be able to help you get past whatever is blocking you.
ENG 2653, Spring 2017 - 9
A couple of notes about MLA style when quoting a source in the body of an essay:
According to MLA style, all direct quotations should be parenthetically cited within the text, and so
should any information or ideas taken from outside sources.
The minimum information needed, if author and title are clear from context, is the page number from
which you are quoting. For citations in the body of your essay, put the page number in parentheses
without a preceding "p." or "pg." Leave a space between the closing quotation mark and the parentheses
(lots of people forget to do this!).
Omit the ending punctuation mark of the material you are quoting, unless it is an exclamation point
or a question mark, in which case your reader needs it to make sense of the sentence. For example,
William Wordsworth claims in his preface to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads that "all good
poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (410).
Place a period after the parentheses to indicate that the quotation and the citation go together, unless
your own sentence continues (in which case you simply use a comma instead of a period). For example,
Aphra Behn's anonymous narrator praises Oroonoko's nose for being "rising and Roman" as
opposed to "African and flat" (2140), thus betraying her racial biases even as she attempts to deny them.
Note that you put the parentheses at the end of the idea, whether or not that's the end of your sentence.
This tells your readers where the source leaves off and your original ideas begin.
Notice also that in the example above Behn's name has been left out of the citation within the parentheses,
since I included her name in the sentence itself in such a way that the author is obvious. Remember, you
only need the minimum amount of information to make your citation clear.
The difference between prose and poetry:
When quoting a block of poetry, divide the lines and indent where the author does, and cite line numbers
instead of pages, as in this selection from John Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn":
What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe of the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? (Keats 5-8)
Quotations of less than four lines can be incorporated into your sentence and divided with slash marks:
"What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape / Of deities or mortals, or of both, / In Tempe of the
dales of Arcady?" (Keats 5-7).
Notice that because this second example is all a single sentence, again the period comes after the
parentheses instead of right after the quotation. Leave a space on either side of the diagonal slash mark.
Plays are cited by act and scene number. If the play is in poetry, such as Byron's dramatic blank verse
poem Manfred or the verse passages in Shakespeare's plays, include line numbers: Manfred remarks that
"Powers, passions, all I see in other beings, / Have been to me as rain unto the sands" (Byron 1.1.23-24).
In the case of inclusion of both author and title, a comma is used to divide the names of the author and
the title. So an example from Lord Byron's dramatic poem Manfred might also be cited as (Byron,
Manfred 1.1.23-24).
Wordsworth's Prelude, which is composed in several "books," should be cited by book and line number.
So should Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh, which uses the same structure. Use a similar format for
Tennyson's In Memoriam, which is composed of over a hundred short poems rather than books.
ENG 2653, Spring 2017 - 10
Reading schedule for ENG 2653, SPRING 2017. To facilitate class discussion, I will expect you to have read all
assigned selections before class meets on the day that they are listed below.
WEEK ONE - January 9-13
T 10
In-class introduction to the course and to the Romantic period. Introduction to Blake.
R 12 Longman introduction, pages 3-4. Blake introductory material on 150-152 and 156-157 and
selections from Songs of Innocence and Experience 158-183, including the selection from Charles Lamb's
essay on 167-169. Wollstonecraft introduction, 279-281. Selections from A Vindication of the Rights of
Woman 281-283 and 288-301 (from Chapters 2 and 3).
WEEK TWO - January 16-20
T 17 The French revolution: Longman introduction 10-[top of] 15. Wordsworth, introduction to the
Prelude and selections from Prelude page 495 (including the passage from Book Ninth, describing the
state of the French countryside in 1792) to page 502, up through line 727 of Book Tenth. "I travell'd
among unknown Men" on page 520 and "I wandered lonely as a cloud" on 526, and Wollstonecraft's
letter from Paris to her publisher, Joseph Johnson, on 121. Blake, "Proverbs of Hell," 187-189.
Homework assignment #1 is due today.
R 19 Longman introduction, pages 17-20. Wordsworth, selections on 385-404, the "Lucy poems" and
other short poems on pages 421-428, and the famous "Intimations Ode," 527-533.
WEEK THREE - January 23-27
T 24 Wordsworth, "Tintern Abbey," 404-408. Selections from the Preface to the Second Edition of
Lyrical Ballads, 408-420. Homework assignment #2 is due today.
R 26 Coleridge, introduction and conversation poems, 570-577. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,"
580-595. See also Coleridge's remarks at the bottom of 597.
WEEK FOUR - January 29-February 2
T 30 Byron, introduction and Manfred 656-677 (through Act 2, Scene 2). Read Coleridge's reaction to
the Byronic hero on 701-702, and Southey's even more overwrought reaction to the Byronic hero, 709710. Homework assignment #3 is due today.
R1
Manfred Act 3, 684-695 (the scenes between Tuesday's assignment and this one are optional).
Photocopied handout: Byron, "Darkness." M. Shelley, "Transformation" and introduction to the 1831
edition of Frankenstein. P.B. Shelley, introduction and sonnet "To Wordsworth," 814-817. Read also
P.B. Shelley's "Sonnet: England in 1819" on page 824 and "Ode to the West Wind," 835-837. "The
Mask of Anarchy," which lies between, is a much more topical and angrier poem, and it's optional--some
readers find it fascinating but others find it frustrating.
WEEK FIVE - February 6-10
T 7
616.
P.B. Shelley, "Ozymandias," 823, and "To a Sky-Lark," 837-839. Coleridge, "Kubla Khan," 614-
R 9
P.B. Shelley, "Mont Blanc" and "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty," 817-823. I strongly recommend
that you do the homework assignment before you tackle these poems! Once you understand that Shelley
is using Platonic ideas here, it makes a lot more sense. Homework assignment #4 is due today.
WEEK SIX - February 13-17
Keats. Introduction to "the Odes of 1819," "Ode to Psyche," "Ode to a Nightingale," and "Ode on
T 14
a Grecian Urn," 950-957."
If you plan to take the two-paper option, your first research paper is due today, February 14.
R 16
Midterm exam #1. Next week, switch to Volume 2B as we begin our study of the Victorians.
ENG 2653, Spring 2017 - 11
WEEK SEVEN - February 20-24
We begin the Victorian period with the man who was probably its most popular author, Charles
Dickens. Start reading A Christmas Carol, at least through "Stave Two"--that is, up to page 1486.
T 21
R 23
Finish A Christmas Carol. Read also Dickens' journalistic piece of "A Walk in a Workhouse"
and the recollections of Dickens on pages 1518-1521. Homework assignment #5 is due today.
WEEK EIGHT - February 27-March 3
T 28 Tennyson, "Mariana," "The Lady of Shalott," and "Locksley Hall" (1250-1256).
Suggested but not required: Florence Nightingale, from Cassandra, 1607-1625.
Note: Alfred, Lord Tennyson is generally considered the other quintessential Victorian author: if Dickens was the
undisputed king of prose fiction, Tennyson ruled in the poetry department. In Memoriam, a long poem that is really
a series of short poems written over the course of several years as Dickens struggled with grief after the death of his
best friend at the age of 22, is the work that really put him on the map (and, not incidentally, moved Queen Victoria
so much it put him on the path of becoming the poet laureate and Lord Tennyson despite his middle-class birth).
Longman introduction, "The Age of Doubt" 1105-1106. Selections from In Memoriam, 12601291. Read also the introduction to Tennyson on 1230-1232. I think it will make more sense at this
point, after some discussion, than if you'd read it for Tuesday. Homework assignment #6 is due today.
R 2
WEEK NINE - March 6-10
T 7
E.B. Browning, 1196-1229. The shorter poems are pretty self-evident, but Aurora Leigh is much
more complex and difficult. If you have to budget your time, start with that one first while you are fresh.
"Religion and Science," 1376-1390. Arnold, 1657-1660 and these two poems: "To Marguerite-Continued" and "Dover Beach," 1661-1662. "Isolation. To Marguerite," which is on pages 1660-1661,
isn't nearly as good a poem as the other two, so that one is optional. If you don't like it, skip it.
R 9
Week Ten: SPRING BREAK
WEEK ELEVEN - March 20-24
T 21 R. Browning introduction on 1408-1411, poems on pages 1411-1416 ("Porphyria's Lover,"
"Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister," and "My Last Duchess"), "House" (photocopy), and "Memorabilia"
(1424). Homework assignment #7 is due today.
D. G. Rossetti, introduction and poems 1712-1718 ("The Burden of Nineveh" is optional; it's an
interesting poem, but not in Rossetti's usual style). C. Rossetti, 1723-1747.
R 23
Goblin Market was published as a book for children--in the first edition, with whimsical illustrations by
the poet's brother Dante Gabriel. Do you think you'd read this poem to your kids?
WEEK TWELVE - March 27-April 1
Perspectives: Imagining Childhood, 1819-1850. Kipling, selections from Just So Stories, 18741882. Caution: When reading Kipling, please keep in mind that certain expressions that are extremely
offensive in modern American society were commonplace among British Victorians. You'll know what I
mean when you see it. Hopefully that won't turn you off Kipling altogether. Consider it a cultural
difference that tells us something about the attitude of an English author enmeshed in an aggressively
colonial culture. Homework assignment #8 is due today.
T 28
R 30
Longman introduction 1099-1102 and "The Woman Question" 1110-1112. Selections from
"Victorian Ladies and Gentlemen," 1626-1637, and Queen Victoria's letters and journals, 1651-1656.
Read also the selections from Mary Kingsley's account of her Travels in West Africa, 1928-1935. Gaskell,
introduction and "Our Society at Cranford," 1522-1537. Gaskell's success started through her association
with Charles Dickens, but later she became famous in her own right.
ENG 2653, Spring 2017 - 12
WEEK THIRTEEN - April 3-7
T 4
Hopkins, Volume 2B 1791-1802, and Hardy, Volume 2C 2295-2307.
These two authors are usually classified as Victorians, but in fact they're kind of a bridge between the Victorian and
the Modern period. As the introduction remarks, Hopkins is "the most modern of Victorian poets," and most of
Hardy's poetry was written in the 20th century. In fact, you'll need to switch over to our third book to get to the
Hardy poems, and I'll have to ask you to bring both of them to class with you today. Sorry about that.
Hardy's a Victorian novelist, but a Modern poet, and the Longman classifies him that way. One century does not fit
all! If you want to see an example of Hardy's prose and find out about his role as a fiction writer, read the
introductory material and his creepy short story, "The Withered Arm," on 1538 ff. of Volume 2B. You may have
read one of his novels before, such as Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Far from the Madding Crowd, or the supremely
depressing Jude the Obscure.
The rough draft of your long research paper, if you are writing one, is due today, April 4.
R 6
Midterm exam #2.
WEEK FOURTEEN - April 10-14: AT THIS POINT, WE SWITCH TEXTBOOKS TO VOLUME 2C.
T 11 "Perspectives" section on The Great War: introduction on page 2308 and all poems on pages
2343-2352, including Brooke's "The Soldier" at the top of 2343. Read also the photocopied short stories
by "Saki" (H.H. Munro) and the attached analysis of Sassoon’s poem "The Rear-Guard."
If you took the two-paper option, your second research paper is due today, April 11.
R 13 Longman introduction 2116-2121. Yeats, introduction and all selections, with special attention to
"The Lake Isle of Innisfree," "No Second Troy," "September 1913," "Easter 1916," "The Second
Coming," and "Sailing to Byzantium." See also the poem "Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop," which is
perhaps the most obvious example here of William Blake's influence (note the use of binary opposites and
Crazy Jane's attitude toward traditional organized religion). It was Yeats who reintroduced Blake to the
British reading public and popularized him in the twentieth century.
WEEK FIFTEEN - April 17-21
Joyce general introduction, 2431-2434, and short stories from Dubliners, 2434-2445. Read the
introduction to Woolf, 2549-2552, and the introduction to her novel Mrs Dalloway, but do not begin Mrs
Dalloway at this point. Homework assignment #9 is due today.
T 18
R 20 Mrs Dalloway, pages 2555-2574. This novel is written in a highly unusual style, which you will
probably find offputting at first, so think about the video we watched Tuesday and, most important, make
sure you carefully read the instructions for the homework assignment before you start reading.
Homework assignment #10, part 1, is due today.
WEEK SIXTEEN - April 24-28
T 25 Continue Mrs Dalloway to page 2608. This is about more pages than Tuesday's reading
assignment, but by this time you should have caught on better to Virginia Woolf's style. Homework
assignment #10, part 2, is due today.
R 27
Finish Mrs Dalloway. Class wrap-up.
The final draft of your long research paper, if you took the single-paper option, is due on or before
Thursday, April 27. You may, of course, choose to turn it in earlier than that, but April 27 is the final
deadline. If you turn it in on an earlier date, just hand it to me in class.
Our final exam will be on Tuesday, May 3, at 9:00 a.m. Please note that that is a half hour earlier than
the time our class usually starts!
ENG 2653, Spring 2017 - 13
Homework assignment on William Blake, due Tuesday, January 17
The famous aphorisms of a single line or two that Blake calls "Proverbs of Hell," which you will find on
pages 187-189 of the Longman Anthology, are miniature summations of the poet's philosophy. The word
"proverb" simply means an expression or folk saying, such as our familiar proverbs "an apple a day keeps
the doctor away" or "absence makes the heart grow fonder." While you will find some of the Proverbs of
Hell confusing, others will probably strike you as remarkably true, or even profound.
Choose one of the proverbs. Based on your reading and on the class discussions from the first week,
write a fully developed paragraph, not just a sentence or two, demonstrating how this particular proverb
ties in with an idea put forward in Songs of Innocence and Experience.
Include one or two quotations and/or concrete examples from Songs to illustrate the connection. How
does the poem (or poems) that you quoted help us better understand the proverb, or vice versa?
Next, write a second paragraph that directly connects something in one of Blake's proverbs (it does not
have to be the same one) to one of the works assigned for today by Wollstonecraft or Wordsworth. These
three authors knew each other, moved in the same radical circles, and were familiar with one another's
ideas. Do you see anything in the Vindication or the Prelude that seems to illustrate the idea that Blake
appears to be hinting at in his proverb?
In this second paragraph, too, include at least one quotation, this one from the new work that you are
bringing in to connect with.
Finally, write a third paragraph that explains how either one, or maybe both, of these two proverbs might
still be relevant today. Is there any aspect of our 21st-century society for which Blake's proverb seems to
ring true? Give me an example.
This assignment is worth up to 15 points.
For 5-10 points of extra credit, depending on how much depth you go into, consult an outside source and
include another paragraph somewhere in your essay that explains what you learned, and how it impacted
your understanding of Blake’s poetry or philosophy. You may consult any source you choose, including
internet sources.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS: When you quote or use an idea
from our textbook or from an outside source, you should always cite where it came from.
For examples of how to cite material in MLA (Modern Language Association) style, please see the pages
on the subject included in this syllabus. You will find here a page called "A couple of notes about MLA
style," which will show you how to cite poems within the body of an essay, and a sample Works Cited
list. You should include a Works Cited list for homework assignments, even if the only thing you
cited was the textbook. It’s excellent practice and you’ll need to learn how to do it eventually, as it will
be required for your research paper. It’s much easier to get into the habit of doing it now, before the
stakes are so high.
You probably learned MLA style in Freshman Composition, but the Modern Language Association made
some rather sweeping changes this year, so the Works Cited format is a bit different from what you might
be used to.
ENG 2653, Spring 2017 - 14
Extra Credit possibility
The videos described below present information that is parallel to the in-class lectures, with some
intersection, but their focus is different enough that if you watch them and retain the content, especially if
you take good notes, you'll understand the assigned material on a deeper level than you would have
through reading and lectures alone.
The assignment:
Ten years ago, the English historian Peter Ackroyd produced a series of three documentaries on Romantic
literature for the British Broadcasting Company. Ackroyd is a best-selling author who has written several
popular books, including a definitive biography of William Blake. Each documentary is approximately
one hour in length. I have posted videos of the three documentaries on our D2L class website.
What I'd like you to do is watch a video and write a one- to two-page (double-spaced) review of it. What
new thing did you learn? What did you find interesting? Did anything surprise you? Did something in
the documentary shed new light on one or more of the reading assignments for this class? If so, which?
Scoring:
You can do this assignment for any one of the videos, two of them, or all three. Each review is worth up
to 15 points. I will also accept just the notes alone if you don't get around to writing the review.
Each video divides roughly into three parts of about twenty minutes, so I'll be looking for information (in
both your review and your notes) related to material from the first third, the second third, and the final
third of the video. I will score the assignment accordingly. So if you find that you only have time to
watch the first twenty or forty minutes of the video, or you can take notes and/or write a review of only
part of it, you'll still get partial credit along with the educational benefit.
The videos (deadlines are the last day to receive full credit, but you may turn any review in earlier):
The production values for The Romantics are pretty high--except, for some mysterious reason, for the
distracting makeup, which makes all the actors and Ackroyd himself look like zombies from The Walking
Dead. But the effects are good. The settings, which include important locations, landscapes, and objects
associated with the history of the Romantic movement, give a great feel for the physical background in
which our authors lived and worked. Ackroyd updates the material and often connects it with modern
phenomena, so you might find that he helps you relate to it in a more contemporary way.
The first documentary, "Liberty," is about the French revolution and its effect on the first generation of
Romantic poets. Although the first part is almost entirely about France (any Dr. Who fans in this class?
If so, keep an eye out for David Tennant, who plays Jean-Jacques Rousseau), all that French background
does an excellent job of setting the stage for Ackroyd's point about how, and why, the British literary
revolution was more successful than the French political revolution. "Liberty" ties in with our reading
assignments in the second week of class. Deadline for full credit: Thursday, January 19.
The second documentary, "Nature," examines how ideas about the sublime qualities of nature evolved as
the Romantic movement continued, and especially how views of nature changed throughout the long
career of William Wordsworth. It shows how he was viewed by the younger generation of writers such as
Lord Byron and the Shelleys. "Nature" ties in with our reading assignments for weeks three through five.
Deadline for full credit: Tuesday, February 7.
The third documentary, "Infinity," gets more into more depth on the younger generation, so unless you
are binge-watching, or watching the video as research for a short paper on a younger Romantic author, I'd
recommend that you hold off on the third one until the fifth or even the sixth week of class. It would be
great preparation for the midterm exam, even if you just watch and don't write or take notes. Deadline
for full credit: Monday, February 16.