Calendar

= Schedule of Readings and Assignments = Unless otherwise noted, all readings are from //Literature: A Portable Anthology//, 3rd ed.

I. The Elements of Narrative and Drama
**8/19:** Introductions

**8/21:** **Read** "Generic Expectations: How Readers of Narrative Know What to Expect" (pdf), Chopin, "The Story of an Hour" (59-61), and the poems [|"Lord Randall"] (449-450) and "Incident" (561). In each of these three narratives, what changes do you perceive? Who is the protagonist? Can you identify equilibrium and disequilibrium? **Write:** Make a list (a chronology) of all the happenings in your day for Monday or Tuesday. Bring this list to class.

**8/23: Read** "Understanding the Text: Plot" (pdf). Read Oates, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" (312-326) and Atwood, "Happy Endings" (326-329). Can you identify the five parts of plot in Oates? **Write:** Write a brief anecdote based on an event in the chronology you wrote for Wed. Also write a one-paragraph summary of "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"

8/26: **Read** Baldwin, "Sonny's Blues" (250-276).
 * Write**: Divide the story into sections and arrange them in chronological order.

8/28: **Read** "Trifles" (909-920)

8/30: **Read** [|Kate Chopin, "The Kiss" (online)] and Dialogue from "The Kiss" (pdf) - Bring both to class **Write** a response to "Trifles" in which you pinpoint places in the play where you see potential for tension and conflict. How much of the drama is conveyed through direct conflict or confrontation? How much is conveyed through silence and the looks that pass between the two women? What would actors have to do well to make a production of this play effective? **In Class**: In groups, we will transform "The Kiss" from a story into a play that is as complete as the original story. Before coming to class, sketch out some ideas for scene divisions and settings, stage directions, and any additions you would make to complete the play. Would you add more dialogue? A soliloquy? Would you add additional characters? A confidante, someone to whom a character can express her/his thoughts?

9/2: **Labor Day** 9/4: **Read** Wilson, //Fences// (1053-1111) 9/6: **Read** "Character Contests" (pdf); Be prepared to discuss your answers to questions 1-2, 7-9 on pp. 44-45 of the handout; in class we will examine scenes from Fences as character contests, focusing on the two confrontation scenes between Cory and Troy

9/9: **Read** Sophocles, //Oedipus Rex// (707-750); Watch [|An Introduction to Greek Theatre] and [|An Introduction to Greek Tragedy]; Be ready to discuss: How is //Oedipus Rex// most different from modern drama? Does modern drama have anything in common with Greek tragedy? Are there any similarities between //Oedipus Rex// and //Fences//? 9/11: **Read** [|"Aristotle's Ideas about Tragedy" (pdf)], [|Outline of Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy] ; Continued discussion of //Oedipus Rex// 9/13: **Write**: 1) A list of similarities and differences between the two texts you are writing your paper about; 2) 15-minute freewriting about your list

II. Narration, Point of View, and Theme
9/16: **Read** Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado" (14-19) and Alexie, "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" (402-407). How would you describe the narrator of each story as a character? What difference does it make, in each case, that the story is narrated in first person? Read the handout about special topoi. What questions do you have about it? 9/18: **Read** Tillie Olsen, "I Stand Here Ironing" (223-229) and Amy Tan, "Two Kinds" (382-390). Here we have two stories about mothers and daughters, one from the mother's point of view and one from the daughter's.

9/20: **Read** Hemingway, "Hills Like White Elephants" (212-216), Marquez, "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World " (289-293), and Boyle, "Balto"

9/23: Continue discussion of stories from Friday, focusing on theme; **Essay 1 due** 9/25: ** Read ** Katherine Mansfield, "The Garden Party" (163-175) and the following: 1) "Narration and Point of View," 2) "Theme," and 3) "The Value of Argument" (pdfs below).





[[file:the Value of Argument.pdf]]
9/27: Read Toni Cade Bambara, "The Lesson," and Alice Walker, "Everyday Use" (330-343)

**9/30**: 1) Choose the story you are going to write about for Essay 2 and do at least two full pages of "pre-writing" about it. You can use the tips in the handout on "Theme" or the list of topics for literary criticism in "The Value of Argument" handout as prompts; you can freewrite or brainstorm a list of questions about the story (or any combination of these approaches). Try to generate ideas for a claim you can make about theme in the story. Bring this writing to class. I will check that you have done it. 2) Begin your bibliography that is due on Friday. Bring a draft with at least three sources to turn in. **10/2**: ** Read ** //The Turn of the Screw//, Introduction through chapter 7 (1-59) **10/4:** ** Read ** //The Turn of the Screw//, chapters 8-16 (59-91); ** Practice Writing 1 due **

III. Critical Perspectives on //The Turn of the Screw//
10/7: ** Read ** //The Turn of the Screw//, chapters 17-24 (91-120); **Write**: Do 10 on 1 exercise with the most important example from the story you are writing about for Essay 2. 10/9: **Read** "A Critical History of The Turn of the Screw" (TOS 235-270) and //They Say, I Say//, Preface and Introduction (xvi - 15) 10/11: **Read** "Reader Response Criticism" (TOS 271-301) and //They Say, I Say//, Ch. 1-3 (19-51)

10/14: **Read** "Psychoanalytic Criticism" (TOS 302-332); **Essay 2 due** 10/16: **Read** "Gender Criticism" (TOS 333-359) and //They Say, I Say//, Ch. 4 (55-67); **Write** a response to Walton's essay that includes the following: 1) Give one example of the "I say/they say" strategy, explaining how it is used, 2) identify the literary topoi that Walton uses, and 3) write two questions about Walton's article. 10/18: **Read** "Marxist Criticism" (TOS 360-389) and //They Say, I Say//, Ch. 5 (68-77); **Write** a draft of Practice Writing 2 (minimum 3 citations)

10/21: ** Fall Break ** 10/23: **Read** "Combining Perspectives" (TOS 390-405) and // They Say, I Say //, Ch. 6-7 (78-91) 10/25: **Write** three-five sentence summary of the article that you plan to use for Essay 3 ; ** Practice Writing 2 due **

IV. Poetry and the Critical Conversation
10/28: **Write** believing and doubting exercise for both articles you plan to use for Essay 3 (worksheet below); **Poetry slam!** Bring a poem to read aloud (any poem--it does not have to be from our book). Be ready to say why you like the poem. (Wear black.) 10/30: **Read** "The Sounds of Poetry" (pdf). Read two poems about winter: Frost, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" (540), and Oliver, "First Snow" (620); and three poems about spring: Housman, "Loveliest of trees, the cherry now" (528), Williams, "Spring and All" (543), and cummings, "in Just-" (556). **Write** a response to either the winter or the spring poems in which you notice at least five differences between the poems. Pick the difference you think is most important and explain why. 11/1: **Continue** with "The Sounds of Poetry" (pdf); **Write**: Use the poem profiler to profile two poems of your choice (list every quality that you ranked 8 or higher). You don't have to explain your rankings.

11/4: Meter and rhythm

11/6: ** Essay 3 due. ** Nonmetrical poetry and line breaks.

11/8: **Write**: Choose any free-verse poem from our text and copy it as a prose paragraph (no line or stanza breaks). Then write a paragraph reflecting on what you notice about line breaks and organization of the poem. **Read:** John Keats, "When I have fears that I may cease to be"; Thomas Hardy, "The Convergence of the Twain"; Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken"; Frank O'Hara, "The Day Lady Died"; Rita Dove, "Fifth Grade Autobiography"; and Martin Espanada, "Late Night at a Pawn Shop."
 * Iyou consider these poems as the words of someone speaking in the context of a specific life situation, what has recently happened to the speaker? What has prompted the speaker to say these words?
 * What aspects of his or her life has the speaker been thinking about? Is this a private life situation (a family death) or a public situation (a historical event)?
 * How much does the speaker tell you about his or her feelings?
 * Each of these poems has strong and visible structures. How does each poem begin? Does it begin at the outset of its narrative, or does it begin in the middle? (In other words, how would you describe the poem's "plot"?)
 * Thomas Hardy's poem about the Titanic begins in the present, with the sunken ship. Where does it end? How else could it have begun?
 * How does the structure of Frost's poem reinforce the contrast between the two roads?

11/11: **Draft of Practice Writing 3 due.** Comparison: John Donne, "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning" (455); Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself," section 6 (508); Emily Dickinson, "Because I could not stop for Death" (523); Langston Hughes, "Mother to Son" (559); Sylvia Plath, "Metaphors" (608); Larry Levis, "The Poem You Asked For" (647); Jane Hirshfield, "To Drink" (681). What comparisons/similes/metaphors do you notice in these poems? Which of the metaphors are "difficult"? Which are easy to understand? Why do you think poets use comparison so often?

11/13: Comparison: **Read** Kenneth Koch, "The Inclinations of the Poetry Language" (pdf) and David Brooks, [|"Poetry for Everyday Life"] (New York Times)

11/15: ** Practice Writing 3 due. ** Personification and apostrophe. Read John Donne, "Death, be not proud" (457); William Blake, "The Lamb" and "The Tyger" (473-474); John Keats, "To Autumn" (493); Denise Levertov, "Talking to Grief" (584); Allen Ginsberg, "A Supermarket in California" (588-589); Sylvia Plath, "Daddy" (609-610); Quincy Troupe, "A Poem for Magic" (643-645)

11/18: **Read** three sample research papers. The first is in our textbook; the other two are pdfs below: Sample Research Paper (1261-1266), "Sample Research Paper" ("Keeping the Sabbath Separately," pdf), and "The Writing Process" ("Five Views of Yeats's 'Sailing to Byzantium,' pdf). **Write** a respons e explaining which of the three essays you think is the best and explain why. Also, in your response, identify the special topoi used in each of the three essays.

11/20: **Read** the casebook on Plath, "Daddy" (pdf below). **Write** a response to Sylvia Plath's "Daddy" (609-610) before reading the criticism about it. For your response, use the "Checklist for Exploring Poems" handout, responding to numbers 1-3, plus one other number of your choice. Include at least one quote from the poem in your response in order to practice quoting poetry in MLA style.



11/22: **Read** Frost, "The Road Not Taken" and the [|criticism of the poem here]. There is no writing assignment, but be able to discuss the issues raised in the criticism, points of disagreement, and differences in approach to interpreting the poem.

11/25: ** Practice Writing 4 due. **Come to class with the poem or poems that you are going to write about for Essay 4 and two sources about your poem. Be prepared to share your poem and your research question/plan with the class.

11/27: ** Thanksgiving ** 11/29: ** Thanksgiving **

12/2: **Write** a 1-2 page, typed research report/proposal that explains your thinking so far and your plans for completing the project. In your proposal 1) identify your poem(s), 2) explain your topic and your source of interest in the topic, 3) identify an issue or issues that are open for debate, 4) your current position on the issue, and 5) the research you have done so far and/or that you plan to do.

12/4: No class meeting - conferences (early draft due at conference): Turn in revision of Practice Writing 4 at conference

12/6: No class meeting - conferences (early draft due at conference): Turn in revision of Practice Writing 4 at conference

12/9: Course evaluations. Writing workshop (late draft due, with copies for group).

12/11: ** Essay 4 due, **** Wed., 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. **