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SyllabusUniversity of Massachusetts Boston English 201 Five British Authors Fall 2008 Course Syllabus
Professor Louise Penner Office: W-6-88 Office Phone: 287-6724 Email: louise.penner@umb.edu Office Hours: 3:30-4:30 TR, and by appointment
Course information: English 201 is a required entry-level course for English Majors, but is open to any student who has completed the first-year writing requirement. For students in the College of Arts and Sciences this course satisfies a requirement in the category of Philosophical and Humanistic studies; for students in the Colleges of Nursing and Management this course fulfills a Humanities requirement. Our five writers range from the late fourteenth century to the late nineteenth century and their works include poetry, drama, and fiction. While the language of some texts is challenging, the amount of reading in the course is modest, and we will discuss the texts patiently and in detail.
Course Goals:
2. to increase your ability to understand how writers contribute to, influence, and reflect society and culture in their works. 3. to help you best express your observations, comprehension, and views of these works in your contributions to class and your formal writings. Texts: Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (Penguin) William Shakespeare, The Sonnets (Signet/NEL) William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (Signet/NEL) Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (Broadview Press) Charles Dickens, Hard Times (W.W. Norton) Eavan Boland, Outside History (W.W. Norton)
Course Assignments: Paper #1 on Chaucer 25% Mid-term take home exam on Twelfth Night 15% Paper #2 35% Group Projects 10% Attendance and Participation including quizzes 15% and short assignments
Notes on Attendance and Participation: Reading: One of this course’s most important goals is to teach and encourage students to read carefully, giving all of the readings a great deal of attention and thought. Your performance in discussions and in written work will depend on your having read the course materials with such care by underlining, highlighting, and/or taking notes on significant details in your texts. To be successful in this class, and (as important as being successful) to enjoy this class and the great works we will be studying, you will have to stay on top of the reading.
Regular attendance: Because our discussions of texts are crucial to the class, and to our understanding and enjoyment of the texts, attendance is required. Missing more than three classes will lower your grade. If you know you will have to miss a class, contact me ahead of time. If you have conflicts that make your attendance difficult, see me immediately.
Frequent and thoughtful class participation: Classroom discussions depend on students having carefully and thoughtfully read for class. It is through discussing a work that we learn how to do the kind of critical thinking that will open up a text and will allow us to enjoy and understand it. Participation is thus a part of your grade for this class. Please see me right away if you are someone who usually has a hard time speaking in class and I will work to incorporate your ideas into class in other ways.
Active participation can take many forms: posing questions, bringing to our attention places in a text that you find confusing, offering answers to the questions of others, adding to or qualifying another class member’s or my comments or questions.
Your contributions and questions are vital to this class!
WEEK 1 T Sept 2: Course Introductions
T Sept 4: Chaucer, General Prologue Interlinear Translation: http://courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/gp-par.htm
WEEK 2 T Sept 9: Add/Drop Ends Chaucer, Prologue to Wife of Bath’s Tale Interlinear Translation: http://courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/wbt-par.htm
R Sept 11 Chaucer, Wife of Bath’s Tale Interlinear Translation: http://courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/wbt-par.htm
WEEK 3 T Sept 16 Chaucer, Oxford Scholar’s Prologue and Tale ** The Oxford Scholar is called The Clerk in some translations** Interlinear Translation: http://icg.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/clkt-par.htm Source Material for Oxford Scholar’s Tale: Petrarch’s Tale of Griselda http://icg.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/special/authors/petrarch/pet-gris.html
R Sept 18 Chaucer, Prologue to Miller’s Tale and Miller’s Tale Interlinear Translation http://icg.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/milt-par.htm
WEEK 4 T Sept 23 Chaucer, The Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale Interlinear Translation http://icg.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/pard-par.htm
R Sept 25 Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 1
WEEK 5 T Sept 30 Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 2
R Oct 2 Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 3/ Paper 1 Due
WEEK 6 T Oct 7 Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 4
R Oct 9 Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 5
WEEK 7 T Oct 14 Shakespeare, Sonnets
R Oct 16 Shakespeare Sonnets/ Mid-term Take Home due
WEEK 8 T Oct 21 Shakespeare Sonnets
R Oct 23 Austen, Sense and Sensibility
WEEK 9 T Oct 28 Austen, Sense and Sensibility
R Oct 30 Austen, Sense and Sensibility
WEEK 10 T Nov 4 Dickens, Hard Times
R Nov 6 Pass/Fail and Course Withdrawal Deadlines Dickens, Hard Times
WEEK 11 T Nov 11: Veteran’s Day—No Class
R Nov 13 Dickens, Hard Times
WEEK 12 T Nov 18 Dickens, Hard Times
R Nov 20 Boland, Outside History
WEEK 13 T Nov 25 Boland, Outside History
R Dec 27 Thanksgiving Break
WEEK 14 T Dec 2 Boland, Outside History
R Dec 4 Group Projects/ Final Papers due
WEEK 15 T Dec 9 Group Projects
R Dec 11 Group Projects Last Class Day
** A note on Academic Integrity** Academic integrity is central to the mission of this institution. Without honest effort, a learning community has no substance or validity. All students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic honesty. No excuses will be accepted for plagiarism, cheating, or any other act that suggests that you have not fulfilled your academic responsibilities in this course. Plagiarized assignments will receive an “F” and will almost certainly result in the student failing the class. ----For more, including sanctions for academic dishonesty, see your Student Handbook sections on academic dishonesty pp. 150-158.
**A Note on the Reading Schedule** Though the course requirements and grading criteria listed on this syllabus are fixed, other aspects of this syllabus (reading schedule, paper due dates) are subject to change.
**A Note on Late Papers** No late papers will be accepted unless arrangements have been made with me prior to the Due Date.
For a printable version, click [HERE]
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