ENGL212 - 0201 1/25/11 Jamison Kantor TTh 11-12:15. Hornbake 2208 ENGL212 – English Literature 1800-Present: Romanticism and its Revolutions

Over three-and-a-half months we will read and discuss some of what Matthew Arnold might have called “the best of what has been thought and said.” We will read with analytical focus, looking closely at the form of each assigned piece, and trying to understand the arguments and meaning produced by it. We will also read for a sense of the culture reflected and created by this literature. With these goals in mind, I begin with a hypothesis: the Romantic era, whose authors and historical concerns we will continually look back to, had a similar concern to ours. They ask whether we can set aside an exclusive space for art, or whether that space will inevitably be informed by historical conditions. “Shelley at the Baths of Caracalla” by Joseph Severn. Let’s test this hypothesis together. Our class’s reading will be divided into seven different units, each with varying length. These units will provide a light frame to our inquiry and discussion. While they emphasize certain historical or contextual similarities about the assignments, each unit also corresponds with one another. We are reading a wide variety of authors this semester. Hopefully, these units will make our discussions more connected and more nuanced. They should make it easier for us to recollect many different voices across nearly two hundred years. “Revolutionary Politics and Romantic Sentiments” focuses on the poetry and non-fiction directly following the French Revolution, a major date for politics and literature. Here, our authors—called Romantics—ask deep questions about human nature and governance. They combine ideas about political revolution with those of artistic revolution. Some will gain aesthetic inspiration through political speech, through nature, and even through intoxication. “Beauty and Truth, Truth and Beauty” paraphrases its title from John Keats’s famous poem. In this unit, we will look to the “second-generation” of Romantic authors. Writing in the wake of the revolutionary conflict, these authors explored new avenues for expression, expression which some have said deliberately removes itself from history, and sets aside a rarefied place for art. “Hideous Progeny: Frankenstein” will be a unit dedicated to the single novel we read in the course. Mary Shelley’s book has been read as an outgrowth of and a reaction to the Romantic movement. We will try to understand both sides. "The Romantic Hangover and Victorian Society/Sobriety" encapsulates those authors called Victorians. Writing during Queen Victoria’s long reign, these authors look back to their Romantic predecessors. But they also look Holmes and Watson. forward, articulating new forms of expression and identifying their environment’s growing urbanism and mass culture. "Decadents and Detectives: The Fin de

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Siècle" will be an epilogue to the Victorian era, a unit marked by controversial verse and perhaps the first modern super-hero, Sherlock Holmes. "Modernism: Romanticism Renounced or Redeemed?" returns us to questions about art and society. Through an investigation of their manifestos and poetry, we will ask whether Modernists reject Romantic art or whether they subtly re-write it, calling for artistic revolution and responding to the conditions of their time. Finally, “Contemporary Voices and Colonial Responses” looks at our most recent British authors. In particular, we will read authors who have written back from former British colonies, and look at those who address old conventions and new developments in a more global, inclusive literary canon. Texts: 1.) Abrams, M.H. and Stephen Greenblatt, eds.. The Norton Anthology of English Literature — Eighth Edition: Volume D, E, F. NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 2006. ISBN: 0393928349 2.) Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus: The 1818 Text. Ed. Marilyn Butler. NY: Oxford, 1998. ISBN: 0192833669 3.) Handouts as needed. ~ Grade Categories: Participation, including reading quizzes……….…20% Commonplace Book……………………………...10% Paper 1……………………………………...... 20% Paper 2……………………………………………30% Final Exam..………………………………………20%

Learning Outcomes This course fulfills the General Education requirements for Humanities courses. At the completion of this course, students will be able to: 1) Demonstrate familiarity and facility with fundamental concepts in the study of various literary genres—poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. 2) Demonstrate how to apply those fundamental concepts to the analysis of different texts. 3) Describe how literature can be seen as both universal and historical. 4) Demonstrate the ability to formulate an argument, and to support that argument strongly with evidence from the text.

Assignment Schedule Note: The following assignments are subject to change. You, the student, are responsible for all of these changes. If you are not in class, or are unclear about an announced change, please contact a fellow classmate to fill you in. For everyone’s convenience, I have created a Google Calendar listing all of the assignments. Everyone in the class can access it. If you have not already done so, sign up for a Google account using the email address you officially provided to the university. If you access Google Calendar you will see our class as a green-highlighted option on the left. Click on it, and assignments should appear across the calendar.

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"Revolutionary Politics and Romantic Sentiments" Tu, 1/25: Introduction, syllabus overview, course policies and expectations.

Th, 1/27: Olaudah Equiano (1745-97) From The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano…(Handout) Anna Letitia Barbauld (1743-1825) “Epistle to William Wilberforce” (32-5), “The Rights of Woman” (35-6)) William Blake (1757-1827) “The Little Black Boy” (84)

Tu, 2/1: William Blake “A Song of Liberty” (121-2) Edmund Burke (1729-97) From Reflections on the Revolution in France (152-8) Thomas Paine (1737-1809) From Rights of Man (163-7)

Th, 2/3: William Wordsworth (1770-1850) From Book 9-10 of The Prelude (368-74), “We Are Seven” (248-9), “The Tables Turned” (251-2) Tu, 2/8: William Wordsworth “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey…” (258-62), “Ode: Intimations of Immortality…” (306-12) Th, 2/10: Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (430-46)

Tu, 2/15: Samuel Taylor Coleridge “Kublah Kahn” (446-8) Thomas de Quincey (1785-1859) From Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (559-69)

"Beauty and Truth, Truth and Beauty" Th, 2/17 George Gordon Lord Byron (1788-1824) “She Walks in Beauty” (612), From Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage – From Canto 3: Waterloo and Napoleon” (622-8) Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) “England in 1819” (771), “Ode to the West Wind” (772-5)

Tu, 2/22 John Keats (1795-1821) “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” (880), “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (905-6)

"Hideous Progeny: Frankenstein" Th, 2/24 Mary Shelley (1797-1851) Frankenstein: Volume 1

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Tu, 3/1 Mary Shelley Frankenstein: Volume 2 and 3

Th, 3/3 Mary Shelley Frankenstein

"The Romantic Hangover and Victorian Society/Sobriety" Tu, 3/8 Felicia Dorethea Hemans (1793-1835) “The Homes of England” (870) Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-92) “Mariana” (1112-4), “Ulysses” (1123-5) Paper 1 due at 11am.

Th, 3/10 Elizabeth Barret Browning (1806-61) “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point” (1085-92), From Aurora Leigh – From Book 5: Poets and the Present Age (1104-6) Tu, 3/15 Robert Browning (1812-89) “My Last Duchess” (1255-6), “Andrea del Sarto” (1280-6)

Th, 3/17 Friedrich Engels (1820-95) From The Great Towns (1565-72 Matthew Arnold (1822-88) From Culture and Anarchy (1398-1404) Commonplace Book due at 11am.

Tu, 3/29 Christina Rossetti (1830-94) “Goblin Market” (1466-78)

"Decadents and Detectives: The Fin de Siècle" Th, 3/31 Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909) “Hymn to Proserpine” (1496-8) Michael Field (1846-1914, 1862-1913) “Maids, not to you my mind doth change” (1638)

Tu, 4/5 Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) “The Red-Headed League” (Handout)

Th, 4/7 Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray (1697-8), From De Profundis (1740-3)

"Modernism: Romanticism Renounced or Redeemed?" Tu, 4/12 William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” (2025), “No Second Troy” (2029), “Easter, 1916” (2031-3) Th, 4/14 T.E. Hulme (1883-1917) From Romanticism and Classicism (1998-2003)

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Ezra Pound (1885-1972) “A Few Don’ts by an Imagiste” (2004-7), “In a Station of the Metro” (2008) T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) “The Metaphysical Poets” (2325-32)

Tu, 4/19 T.S. Eliot “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (2289-93)

Th, 4/21 Mina Loy (1882-1966) “Feminist Manifesto” (2015-9), “English Rose” (Handout)

Tu, 4/26 W.H. Auden (1907-73) “The Shield of Achilles” (2437-8) Stevie Smith (1902-71) “Thoughts About the Person from Porlock” (2375-7)

“Contemporary Voices and Colonial Responses” Th, 4/28 Phillip Larkin (1922-85) “Church Going” (2566-8)

Tu, 5/3 Claude McKay (1889-1948) “Old England” (2463-4) Jean Rhys (1890-1979) “The Day They Burned the Books” (2357-61) Paper 2 due at 11am.

Th, 5/5 Kamau Braithwaite (1930-) “Nation Language” (2523-7) Derek Walcott (1930-) “A Far Cry from Africa” (2587-8)

Tu, 5/10 Carol Ann Duffy (1955-) “Warming her Pearls” (2874), “Anne Hathaway” Commonplace Book due at 11am.

Th, 5/12 Final Exam. 8am, HBK 2208.

Imbibing and rebelling from tradition: George Gordon Lord Byron, Mina Loy, and Kamau Braithwaite.

5 ENGL212 - 0201 1/25/11 Jamison Kantor TTh 11-12:15. Hornbake 2208 Course Policies and Expectations One of the aims in this course is to spark your appreciation for language itself. Perhaps the best way to cultivate that appreciation is to practice close reading, to patiently and repeatedly engaging with a text in order to highlight its complexities and ambiguities. Think about close reading as a conversation between you and the poem, the short story, or even the non-fiction piece. It is way to engage with, expand upon, and question the language in front of you. But close reading can and will be difficult. For this reason, our in-class conversations will supplement the one you have with our assignments To prepare for our weekly conversations and written assignments, you must read the assignment in full. I have assigned a lot of poetry. This means most of our class meetings don’t require you to read that many words. Consequently, everyone should read each poem not just once, but two or even three times. This is a requirement. For prose, I ask that you revisit important sections. You may want to take some light notes on passages you want to engage. Note your reasons for engaging them. This will prepare you to offer commentary and interpretation.

Evaluation: Quizzes, Commonplace Books, and Papers Come to expect a short quiz every week. The quizzes will be unannounced. Some weeks I may not give you a quiz. But you should prepare like they will always occur. This will simply assure that you have been keeping pace with the reading—and taking your time with it. A small part of your grade will be determined by these quizzes. Never fear: you may drop the two lowest quiz grades at the end of the course (this includes missed quizzes, which count as a 0). Our commonplace book will be a semester-long, portfolio-style assignment. Please be diligent about it. You will receive an assignment sheet today. Your first paper will address a single work of literature from the first six weeks of class. It will require approximately 1000 words (or 3-4 pages). Your final paper will address two works of literature from across fourteen weeks of study. It will require 1500-2000 words (5-7 pages). I will hand out individual assignment sheets for major papers as needed. Adhere to the guidelines on those sheets unless we make changes as a class, or discuss alternatives. Stick to a single paper format across the semester: twelve-point Times New Roman with one-inch margins and double spacing. You must include a full header for your papers. The header should include your name (obviously), my name, the class mnemonic (ENGL212), your section number (0201), and the date. Number your pages, please. Take the time to spell check, grammar check, and content check your work. This means going beyond the requisite MSWord operation (click! done!). Carefully read through each paper twice before submission, marking errors and making changes. To some this may sound excessive. But it usually means an entire letter-grade difference. For your convenience, I do electronic submission of work. All of your assignments should be turned in electronically to my email address ([email protected]). Submit them as an attachment to an email. Do not provide me with an additional hard copy. The arrangement saves both of us time: you don’t have to go through the extra step to print, and I can give you more comprehensive feedback and turn papers around quickly. Always include your name as the first part of the filename when you save the assignment (i.e., “Jamison Kantor – Paper1.doc”). This way, there will be no confusion about submission. The name on the file is the name on the assignment. If you do not include it, I have effectively been given an anonymous paper—you may not get your assignment back for a while.

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This next part is super-important: For absolutely every email you send to me regarding this class—especially your emails containing assignments and absence notices—you should include the word ENGL212 in the subject heading. That means ENGL212 spelled exactly that way, all caps, no spaces. This allows the email to filter to a special folder for our class. You can include other words in the subject heading as well. Just make sure you type in ENGL212. Don’t freak out if you forget to include that line in the subject heading. I will still get the email. But it will float amongst a sea of other email, and I will likely pass over it. And I certainly don’t want to miss an important paper or any last-minute, burning questions you might have.

Participation and Classroom Etiquette I expect you to attend every discussion section and for everyone to participate. Come to class instilled with ideas, those you had during your quiet reading hours, or that you couldn’t quite fit in to the class before. A good participation strategy is to make sure you have prepared at least one thing to contribute to each discussion. Here’s the rub: participation does not just mean being in a seat. I know this can be especially tough towards the halfway point of the semester. But we will actively engage in classroom discussion. And, yes, there is such a thing as negative participation. I think we all know what this means—texting, dozing, facebooking, ipoding, chatting in person or on the internet, eating chips, crunching ice, generally zoning out. Devote our seventy-five minutes to positive participation, and active discussion. Those who are simply “present” each week might be shocked later on to see a very mediocre participation score. Turn off your cell phone. Turn off your cell phone. Turn off your cell phone. We don’t even want to hear vibrations. No laptops. I’m not anti-technology: I feature multi-media during many of our classes. But it’s simply become too difficult to ascertain what and what is not a learning device (laptop, cellphone, tablet?). New technology has also wired us to multitask. We just can’t help having open multiple windows. We’re going to avoid temptation altogether. I have a liberal two-absence policy. This means everyone can miss two classes. You may do so unexcused, without worrying about any impact it may have on your grade. The third absence will require an email with legitimate circumstances received at least a day in advance. These circumstances include illness, religious observance, and family emergencies. All other absences will adversely affect your participation. All other absences will adversely affect your participation. If you happen to be absent for one of our classes, it is entirely your responsibility to find notes for that day. Please contact a classmate to fill you in. I’m always more than happy to answer questions about our discussion, but I’m very hesitant to recap the day’s events. If you are feeling ill, it is especially important that you do not come to class. Please write me a short email before class if you think you’re not well enough to attend. Unfortunately, if I receive your email after class begins, you will not be excused. Again, I expect everyone will have to miss a single discussion section for this reason. So it’s good policy to save your absences. We’ll talk if you start missing frequently, or haven’t adequately informed us of your absences. But, please don’t sacrifice your health or the health of those around you for participation. Students with disabilities should see me during the first week of class with the appropriate paperwork. We have a single “Major Scheduled Grading Event”: our final. Be there. Be prepared.

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Late Work Turn your work in on time, before class that day. This should be made all the easier because of electronic submission. Don’t forget to backup your work on a portable drive, or send it to yourself over email. If there are extraordinary circumstances prohibiting you from turning in assignments, send me something in writing within a reasonable amount of time. If you have made a concerted effort to contact me, and provided good reasons, I will try to provide a very short extension. If it is clear you have made little to no effort to contact me, you have no tenable excuse, or you are dragging your feet on an extension, I will start deducting points. For every three days the assignment is overdue, I will deduct 10% (and 3% for one day, 6% for two days, etc.). There is no grade “floor.” If you turn in a paper two weeks late, you start with a 58%. Please be responsible. I promise to turn assignments around efficiently, if you promise to do your work on time.

Intellectual Honesty Although I always encourage discussion of ideas outside of class, your written work must be entirely your own. Lazy plagiarism occurs when you have unintentionally missed a citation or paraphrase. Please work to accurately cite your papers. Citational proficiency is part of the technique in writing a good paper. If you have citation questions, please consult the MLA style manual online (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/), in print, or talk to me. Best rule: if there is any doubt whether something should be cited, err on the side of caution—cite it. Intentional plagiarism, which is deliberately passing off another entity’s words or ideas as your own, is entirely prohibited and entirely discreditable. Assignments found to be intentionally plagiarized will result in course dismissal and further disciplinary action. Please consult the University’s honor council website for more information: (www.studenthonorcouncil.umd.edu.).

Grades Your assignment grades will always be posted on elms, so you shouldn’t need to ask about them. I also don’t discuss grades arbitrarily, ever. However, I love to discuss the contents of the course and how you can improve your writing and thinking about literature. I am always open to that. If you have an imminent grade concern, make sure you have calculated your grade accurately, and framed your concern positively and proactively. Remember: grades are earned, not assigned.

Office Hours and Contact I will hold office hours on Wednesdays from 11-1, in Tawes 2200. Feel free to come talk with me about the reading, your commonplace books, or other college conundrums. If you want me to review an assignment with you, please make sure you come in prepared to talk about specific issues in that assignment. Be prepared to lead our discussion when you have something specific to review. If you want to informally discuss readings or chat about collegiate/academic life, no such specificity is necessary. I recommend that you stop by at least once this semester. My email address is [email protected]. I will try to promptly respond to emails. Please give me at least a day to turn them around.

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