|
Introduction to Literary Analysis
Tuesday,
September 6: Thursday,
September 8:
Tuesday, September 13: Class: The role of the strange/unexpected word and the power of metaphor. We will discuss Louise Glück’s poem “The School Children” (copy handed out in class 9/8). What is happening in each of the stanzas? How do the various roles change through the poem? Which words and images does Glück use to make this happen? Pay attention to repetition of sounds and ideas and the way subtle changes in those repetitions change the way we experience the things in question. Also pay attention to unexpected words, the effects of enjambment, verb tense changes, and shifts in spatial relation of the events in the poem. Then look at e.e. cummings’ “in just—“ (copy handed out in class 9/8) and apply the same analysis to it. Homework: Based on our analysis of form in “in just—“, what is going on in the poem? As with the notion of the apple for the teacher in “School Children,” you will need to look outside of the poem for at least one of the images; however, attend very carefully to the words, sounds, and rhythms cummings selected and their overall effect. You goal is not to tell us what cummings “meant,” but to tell us what the poem seems to be “about”—what is going on? Offer an interpretation beginning with a statement about what seems to be going on in this poem. (If you are not sure how to write about and cite poetry correctly, see the guidelines at <www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/literature.htm>) Thursday, September 15:
Class: Context and images. We will begin with a discussion of your role as literary critics. How is it going? Do you like reading this way? Where is formalism frustrating? Where is it illuminating? Unless anyone wants us to revisit the poems that Vendler discusses, we will apply her comments to another poem that she does not discuss in the section you read, Gwendolyn Brook’s “We Real Cool” (Gwynn 280). Introduction of the topic for Paper #1 (Due March 11). Homework: Look at John Keats’ poem “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” (Gwynn 146) and Helen Vendler’s discussion of how to unpack it on pages 125-134 (copy handed out in class 9/8) and respond to this reading and the extent to which it works for you. What does it reveal about the poem? What does it reveal about reading poems? We will practice using this terminology in class on Tuesday, so think about how we might apply it (and the list on page 134) to another poem. Terminology review: relations (thematic, phonemic, grammatical, syntactic); word function (subject, predicate, nouns, verbs); meaning; emotional curve. 4:00: Lecture by Dr. Alam Payind on this year's common reading text, Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. Concert Hall, DOYO Thursday, September 22: Class: poetic structure (images in sequences) and speech acts. We will review the terms Vendler discusses on 125-34 (copy handed out in class 9/8) and then apply them (and the list on 134) to at least one poem, beginning by looking at speech acts in Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Oh, Oh, You Will Be Sorry for that Word” (Gwynn 245) and Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” (Gwynn 266). Then we will discuss speech acts and images in Mathew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” (Gwynn 182-3). Homework: In this response, select one of the poems we discussed in class today and use Vendler to help you comment on the poem in more depth. Again, look at what is “going on” in the poem. Who is the speaker in the poem addressing? Who does the poem itself seem to be addressing? What is the effect of these different audiences and speech acts (the audience internal to the poem and us, the readers; the speech acts within the poem and the poem itself)? Consider the effect these poets might have created if they had made different choices and say something about the impact of the choices they did make. In other words, I’d like you to respond as a literary critic, discussing the poet’s moves and how and why they do or do not work. Terminology review: meaning; emotional curve (skeleton); antecedent scenario; climax; agency; speech act.
Class: Narrative & Lyric poems and Sonnets. We will briefly discuss Mathew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” (Gwynn 182-3) and Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” (Gwynn 266) and the difference between "lyric poems" and "ballad" or narrative poems. Then we will briefly discuss one narrative poem, "Bonny Barbara Allan" (Gwynn 59) or perhaps Robert Burns' "John Barleycorn" (Gwynn 114). What makes the ballad form work and how does it differ from the lyric? What makes "My Papa's Waltz" a ballad? How is "Dover Beach" different? What is a poem anyway? (Just checking to see if you are paying attention.) See Gwynn p. 9-12 if you want another explanation of all this. How about the sonnet form? There are several kinds of sonnet (sonnetto’s, "little songs"): Most notably Shakespearean (English) and Italian (Petrarchan). We will discuss examples of each in class, including Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 "My Mistress’ Eyes" (Gwynn 71) and John Keats’ "On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer" (Gwynn 146-7) again. Then we will look back at Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Oh, Oh, You Will Be Sorry for that Word” (Gwynn 245) and see whether reading it as an English Sonnet helps us to understand anything we missed last week. Terminology review: content genres, autobiography, love-poem; speech acts, confessional narration, meditation; outer form, octave, sestet, quatrain, couplet, thematic break Homework: Find the words of a song that meet the definition of either a lyric poem or a ballad, print them out and bring a copy to class Thursday. WARNING: this is not as easy as it sounds. The first three songs you think of won't work. You need to be able to apply the terms Vendler discusses on p. 125-34 of the handout (copy handed out in class 9/8) and the list on p. 134 and come up with something more interesting than "blah blah blah." Hint: if the lyrics for your poem sound as if they would work in a Hallmark card it isn't a poem--and it will bring on my allergies and make me sneeze! 7:00pm: Public reading by Daphne Kalotay, author of Calamity and Other Stories. Founder's Room, Mead Hall Thursday, September 29: Class: Politics and places. How do poets use identity and voice for political purposes in their poems? We will look at a poem in which the author adopts an identity different than his own, William Blake’s "The Little Black Boy" (Gwynn 111); one in which the author uses his own identity, and mistaken identity, to make a point, Sherman Alexie’s "On The Amtrak from Boston to New York City" (Vendler 251-2--available in class), and Lorna Dee Cervantes "Poem for a Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-Read Person Could Believe in the War Between the Races" (Vendler 415-416--also available in class). Homework: Read Wilfred Owen’s poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" (Gwynn 246) and respond to the way he uses form to add power to content. The form, like that of Blake’s "Little Black Boy," is "heroic quatrain." Use your notes from class today to help you think about the ways that a poem is so much more than just words. Virtual Class: Use this chance to say anything you wanted to say about the poems we discussed in class today but did not have chance to say . . . Reviewing terminology: heroic quatrain, universal speaker, pathos, persona, Preparation for Paper #1: Review what Gwynn says about poetry in her introduction (1-45) and what Vendler said in the handout we've been using in class and use this to do a reading of the song you selected Tuesday. Don't listen to the music--try to forget that there is music--just focus on the words. Don't worry about the terminology in Gwynn either (especially feet and meter). What I want you to do is to get a sense of how poetic language works, the moves poets make, the clues they leave, and the options you have as readers. Tell me what is going on in your song and how you know that. This may form a rough draft of paper #1 if you do it well enough.
Tuesday, October 4: Thursday, October 6:
8p.m.
Thursday, October 6th at 8:00 pm thru
Saturday, October 8th, and at 2:00 p.m. Saturday
"The Diary of Anne Frank" by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett; newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman Thomas H. Kean Theatre, Dorothy Young Center for the Arts. $7/ticket; $6 on Thursday. Call 3030 for reservations. (You may write about this performance for paper #2 if you like) Field trip in place of class: Sometime in the next three weeks (before November 1), go see S.K.Thoth’s "Festad" in Central Park. Go in groups of four or five (24 is too many). You can find directions at his website and it really is easy. The website will also tell you whether he will be performing on a given day--although sometimes he does not show up, especially if the weather turns cold or it looks as if it might rain. It is best to go Thursday-Sunday to be sure he will be there. This is FREE performance art, not professional theatre! You can find his website at <www.skthoth.com/SKTHOTH/Home_Pagex.html> Aim to arrive at about 2 pm. If Thoth isn’t there, observe what else is going on in that part of the park. Are there other performers? What are they doing? How are the people watching them behaving? If you want to make a day in the city, go see a Broadway show! Show up at the theatre an hour before the show is due to start and you can generally get tickets for about $25. Go for something interesting like "Hair Spray" rather than something everyone has already seen! Or go see an Off-Broadway production-- check out the Village Voice to see what is playing and where. Never been to NYC? Well, now is the time to go. This is homework!!! You can write paper #2 about Thoth if you want to do so.
Class: Introduction to drama as performance. Bring your copy of Shakespeare’s Tempest to class. How does one imagine a play and bring it to life on the stage? We will read the first scene of The Tempest aloud and discuss reading plays as a performance (see handout available in class and via the K;drive “Resources” folder). Homework: Read The Tempest. We will work through it as performance in class next Tuesday, but you need to have read it through once and worked out what is going on! Thursday, October 13: Class: Reading day--no classes. Use the time wisely (work on paper #1 perhaps, or read The Tempest) Friday October 14, 6pm: Paper #1 due at my office (S.W.Bowne 118) Friday, October 14, 7:00PM, BBC performance of Shakespeare's Tempest on Drew TV, channel 36 Saturday, October 15, 4:00PM, BBC performance of Shakespeare's Tempest on Drew TV, channel 36 Watch the BBC version of The Tempest on Drew T.V. on Friday and Saturday, or in the library whenever you prefer. If you are a commuter, make friends with a student who lives on campus. Offer to bring popcorn or soda in return for hospitality! You may want to get together and watch it as a group and share the experience. Or, alone or in small groups, you can pick it up from the Library Reserve Desk and watch it in the library. This is a rather dated performance of Shakespeare. Think of it as a performance and consider the moves the director made. What effect do they have? What effect do you think he is going after? Look at costume, movement, and characterization. What do they tell you about the interpretation this performance is advancing? How might you have done things differently? What effect would your choices have made? You may also view one of the other versions of The Tempest on reserve for this class in the library (if you are interested in performance you may want to watch more than one version and compare them for paper #2). Virtual Class: By Tuesday 18, post your comments on the BBC version of The Tempest and any other version you watched.
Virtual Class: By Tuesday 18, post your comments on the BBC version of The Tempest and any other version you watched. Tuesday, October 18: Class: Discussion of characterization in The Tempest and our imaginations of it. Different images of Caliban, Ariel, Miranda, and Prospero. How does this change our understanding of the play? Homework: Continue to work through The Tempest considering it first as performance. Virtual Class: Respond to The Tempest. What do you think? What themes do you see? Where did you get lost? What questions do I need to answer in class on Thursday? What scenes do we need to discuss? Thursday, October 20: Class: Responding to The Tempest (1). In class we will read and discuss difficult parts of the play. Which scenes were hardest to understand? How might blocking them and imagining the characters, their movement, and the way they speak help you to understand? Class divided into groups, each group reads an extract from the Arden Shakespeare version of The Tempest assigned for this class. and presents the reading in class on Oct 25, Oct 27, or Nov 1. Briefly summarize the essays or extracts you read, respond to issues raised in this reading, and generate discussion intended to help us all gain a deeper understanding of the play. (See list of groups and readings here and in the "Reserve" folder of the k:drive for this class). All presentation notes due in class Tuesday, November 1. Homework: Write a performance discussion for one of the passages discussed in class today (or another if you prefer), use the description and model of how to do this in the handout (given out in class on 9/8). Everyone read "Introduction" p.1-23 and 36-54 (in the Arden Tempest) Virtual Class: Share the notes you make as you break down and block a specific scene (identify the scene!)
Tuesday, October 25: Class: Responding to The Tempest (2): Introduction and sources -- Group presentations and discussion (groups 1,2,3,4 present). See list of groups and readings. Presentations briefly summarize the essays or extracts, respond to issues raised in the reading, and generate discussion intended to help us all gain a deeper understanding of the play. Topics: "Introduction" (p.1-23 and 36-54), Stachey (p.287-302), Montaigne (p. 303-314). Homework: Everyone read "Introduction" p.54-73 and "Perspectives on Imperialism" p. 98-108 (in the Arden Tempest) Virtual Class: Each group posts their notes onto the discussion board. Others respond to the class discussion, add ideas, comment on issues raised, or sat that thing you wanted to say in class but could not work out how to say. EVERYONE MUST POST SOMETHING. 7:00pm: Public reading by fiction writer Holiday Reinhorn, author of Big Cats Founder's Room, Mead Hall Thursday, October 27: Class: Responding to The Tempest (3): Interpretations and appropriations -- Group presentations and discussion (groups 5,6,7,8 present). See list of groups and readings. Presentations briefly summarize the essays or extracts, respond to issues raised in the reading, and generate discussion intended to help us all gain a deeper understanding of the play. Topics: "Introduction" (p.54-73), "Perspectives on Imperialism" (p. 98-108), Rodó's Ariel (p. 315 + p.325-31), Mannoni's Prospero and Caliban (p. 331-342)) Homework: Everyone read "The text" p.124-138, and "Characters" p. 23-36 (in the Arden Tempest) Virtual Class: Each group posts their notes onto the discussion board. Others respond to the class discussion, add ideas, comment on issues raised, or sat that thing you wanted to say in class but could not work out how to say. EVERYONE MUST POST SOMETHING. Homework: If you have not already done so, go see S.K.Thoth’s "Festad" in Central Park if you possibly can sometime before November 1. See week 5 above. You can find his website at <www.skthoth.com/SKTHOTH/Home_Pagex.html> If Thoth isn’t there, observe what else is going on in that part of the park. Are there other performers? What are they doing? How are the people watching them behaving? Never been to NYC? Well, now is the time to go. This is homework!!! You can write paper #2 about Thoth if you want to do so. Virtual Class 2: Post your response to Thoth. Why did I suggest that you go see this performance? What do you think of the world he creates and the story he performs? How does this connect to other things we have read so far this semester?
Tuesday, November 1: Thursday, November 3:
Tuesday, November 8: Class: Discussion of Blithedale Romance, pp. 40-78 (ch. 1-7). Homework: Read Blithedale Romance, pp. 79-123 (ch. 8-13) Pay attention to words, images, sentences. Is the style getting easier as you get used to it? Are you getting a better sense of this "modern arcadia"? What do you think of the place? What do you think of Zenobia? And Priscilla? And Hollingsworth? What do you make of Coverdale's relationship with them? How do you see it evolving? Virtual Class: Comments? What themes do you see now? What issues? What concerns? Answer any of the questions above--or all of them! What do you want to discuss in class Tuesday? What questions remain for you?
Tuesday, November 15: Thursday, November 17: Class: Discussion of Blithedale Romance, pp. 123-164 (ch. 13-20). Homework: Read Blithedale Romance, pp. 164-218 (ch. 21-end) Pay attention to words, images, sentences, the way the story develops and the way we learn more about the characters. Think about Moodie for example. Is he what you expected? What is his role in the plot? And Coverdale? Did the story end the way you predicted? What took you by surprise? Virtual Class: Comments? What questions remain for you? Answer any of the questions above--or all of them! What do you want to discuss in class Tuesday? What questions remain for you?
Tuesday, November 22: Thursday, November 23: Thanksgiving, no class. Eat, sleep, . . . and think about paper #3 and Paradise!
Tuesday, November 29: Class: Discussion of Paradise, pp. 81-138 Homework: Read Toni Morrison's Paradise, pp. 141-266. Virtual Class: Responses? Questions? Points of confusion? What do you need explained? What themes do you see developing?
Tuesday, December 6: 7:00 pm: Drew Student Fiction
Reading. Location t.b.a.--go hear what your peers can write, and be
impressed! Class: Discussion of Paradise, pp. 269-318 and cultural contexts.. Wrap up of the class, discussion of final paper, sign up for final deadlines and appointments to collect work and discuss grades. Homework: Work on paper #3, get some sleep, eat, take care of yourself.
Wednesday,
December
14: Paper
#3 is
due in the box outside my office by 6 p.m. today. |
|
|
Sandra Jamieson
Last updated: April 11, 2005