SYLLABUS
COURSE TITLE
FACULTY/INSTITUTE
AMERICAN LITERATURE
FACULTY OF PHILOLOGY/INSTITUTE OF ENGLISH
STUDIES
COURSE CODE
DEGREE PROGRAMME
FIELD OF STUDY
DEGREE LEVEL
English philology
FORMA
MODE
STUDIÓW/STUDY
BA studies
full time studies
BASIC CONTENT
2 year, summer semester
COURSE FORMAT
YEAR AND SEMESTER
NAME OF THE TEACHER
dr Elżbieta Rokosz-Piejko, dr Agnieszka Kallaus
COURSE OBJECTIVES
This is the first semester of a two-semester course. Its objective is to familiarize students
with a selection of texts coming from the colonial period, the American Enlightenment,
American Romanticism, realism and naturalism. Social and historical background will be
provided to give the students a wide perspective for understanding the literary phenomena
discussed. The lectures are compatible with American literature classes which include
analyses of a selection of literary texts by the 18th and 19th century American authors.
Both lectures and the classes are obligatory. The course is aimed at making the students
interested in American literature, as well as stimulating them to independent critical
thinking and expressing their own opinions about the texts read.
PREREQUISITES
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upper-intermediate level of English.
KNOWLEDGE:
 The student identifies and defines the main trends and
movements in the 17th, 18th and 19th-century American
literature and identifies their representatives
 The students knows and understands the basic methods of
analysis and interpretation of literary works and their historical
character
 The student shows his or her knowledge of the texts included
in the reading list.
SKILLS:
 The student analyses and critically evaluates the texts selected,
 The student interprets the literary works included in the
reading list in their literary and historical context as well as in
terms of the formal qualities.
FINAL COURSE OUTPUT - SOCIAL COMPETENCES

The student can evaluate his or her own knowledge and
understands the need for further development
The student accepts and respects opinions of other people
 The student understands the significance and role of American
literature in the world literature
COURSE ORGANISATION –LEARNING FORMAT AND NUMBER OF HOURS
LECTURE – 15 HOURS
CLASSES – 30 HOURS
COURSE DESCRIPTION

Lectures
1. Literature of the colonial period
2. The Enlightenment
3. The beginnings of national literature (Irving, Cooper)
4. Transcendentalism (Emerson, Thoreau)
5. Dark romanticism (Poe, Hawthorne, Melville)
6. Romantic poetry (Brahmins, Whitman, Dickinson)
7. The beginning of realism; regionalism (Twain, Harte)
8. Late 19th-century realism (James, Howells, Wharton)
9. Naturalism (Crane, London, Dreiser, Norris)
Classes
1. Benjamin Franklin – “The Way to Wealth”, Autobiography - excerpts
2. Washington Irving Rip Van Winkle,
3. Edgar Allan Poe “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Black Cat”
4. Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The American Scholar”, “Nature”, “Self-Reliance”
5. Henry David Thoreau Walden (extracts)
6. Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass (Song of Myself)
sections: 1,2, 5-8, 15, 16, 17, 21, 24, 46, 48, 51, 52
7. Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter, Penguin Popular Classics, 1994
8. Emily Dickinson – selected poems: 49, 67, 185, 241, 328, 465, 712, 986
9. Mark Twain The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Penguin Popular Classics, 1994
Selected chapters: 1-16, 19, 31, 33, 40, 42
10. Henry James “Daisy Miller”
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION
REQUIREMENTS AND ASSESSMENTS
GRADING SYSTEM
lecture/discussion/group work
Lecture: Participation in the lectures and passing the final
test (True/False).
Classes: Participation, taking part in class discussion,
passing two written tests (open questions).
The final grade depends on the result of the final tests and
class participation.
Grading in the written tests:
60% - dst, 70% - +dst, 80% - db, 90% - +db, 95% - bdb
TOTAL STUDENT WORKLOAD
NEEDED TO ACHIEVE EXPECTED
LEARNING OUTCOMES EXPRESSED
IN TIME AND ECTS CREDIT POINTS
Lectures: 15 hours
Classes: 30 hours
Preparation for the classes: 15 hours
Preparation for the tests (classes): 10 hours
Preparation for the final test (lectures): 5 hours
Hours total: 75
ECTS credit points: 2
LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION
INTERNSHIP
MATERIALS
ENGLISH
N/A
PRIMARY OR REQUIRED BOOKS/READINGS:
Rokosz-Piejko, E., Niedziela B. The Highlights of American
Literature.
Rzeszów,
Wydawnictwo
Uniwersytetu
Rzeszowskiego, 2012.
VanSpanckeren K. Outline of American literature, U.S.
Information Agency.1994
Ruland, R. and M. Bradbury. From Puritanism to
postmodernism : a history of American literature. New
York: Penguin, 1992
The texts listed in the Course Description. Most can be
found in:
The Norton Anthology of American Literature vol. 2, [ed.]
Nina Baym et al. New York: W.W. Norton and Company
[1979], 1994