 English 311: Writing Literary Analysis
Dr. Steven Frye
On-Line (WebCT) Course
Winter 2010
Office Hours: 10:00-12:20 TR, and by appt.
Office: Faculty Office 315 at Antelope Valley
Office Phone: (661) 952-5095
E-mail: use WebCT email for this course on the site specified for English 473
Course Description
This is an upper-division writing course designed to insure that students are prepared to write
compelling and effective literary analyses in upper-division courses. Students will read
important works of poetry, drama, and fiction, and they will become acquainted with the practice
of reasoned literary analysis and the techniques and assumptions that govern the practice of
literary criticism. They will learn to incorporate the formal features of academic discourse and
rhetoric into well-constructed academic essays. The course will focus on the development of
critical reading and thinking skills and establish historical and paradigmatic contexts for the
study of literature. The course satisfies the GWAR requirement.
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This is an on-line course using WebCT. I will read postings beginning at 8:00 A.M.
on Monday and Wednesday mornings. The date in the schedule designates when
postings should ALREADY BE submitted.
Practically, this means you should be posting your comments on assigned works by
Sunday and Tuesday nights or earlier. You should then respond to your classmate’s
postings throughout the day on Mondays and Wednesdays, and I will post my
comments as well on that reading or topic.
I will probably post early in the morning but you should not consider my posting the
final word. Continue to comment and participate.
Though we will not meet regularly in class since the course is on-line, for those of
you who are local, you are encouraged to see me or call me during my office hours.
I am very willing to discuss the various works with individual students or groups at
those times. I understand that many of you are taking the course from great
distances and you need not worry that you are unable to come to my office. I am
certainly willing to answer your emails and/or talk to you by phone during my office
hours or at other times we arrange.
Given your various schedules, you are free to post in the discussion board any time
you like, as long as you post BEFORE the date the readings are due. Initial posting
should appear before that date or by 8:00 A. M., with responses to other postings
occurring during the day.
As we move into the topics poetry, drama, and fiction, post on the discussion boards
designated for those topics. Before we get to these areas, use the main discussion
board.
Course Goals and Objectives
This course prepares students to accomplish a portion of Goals/Objectives II and V under the
CSUB English department’s “Goals and Objectives for the B. A. in English.”
II)
Students should be able to analyze, interpret, and compare literary works in a written
argument, demonstrating a high level of understanding of textual form and theme.
Student writing should contain a cogent thesis as the core of a well-organized
argument.
V)
Students’ written work should demonstrate an understanding of the writing process as
well as an awareness of audience. Students should also display a mastery of standard
written American English.
Required Texts
The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Eighth edition (Full edition not the compact edition).
Michael Meyer.
Schedule
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All postings are due by 8:00 A.M. for the following readings on or before the
following dates. I will be doing most of my work for this course on Mondays and
Wednesdays. That is USUALLY when I will respond to postings.
However, I understand that your various schedules MAY make other days more
convenient. You may post on a text any time you like BEFORE the date that the
work is due AND, only in the case of responses to other’s postings, during the day
that it is due. See below for a description of the discussion board requirement.
Course Requirements
Students must complete all assigned work on time. Required work is due at the beginning of
class. Late work will not be accepted without significant penalties. Grading will be as follows:
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Portfolio, including drafts and revision of four essays 50%
Short dictionary of literary terms 15%
Final Examination 15%
Class participation on WebCT Discussion Board 15%
This course will be portfolio based. You will write a series of essays, revise them based upon
feedback from other students, and the instructor and submit them in a portfolio. The portfolio
will contain one draft and one final revision for four writing projects. Thus the portfolio will
contain eight items. The portfolio will then be graded holistically, receiving a single grade.
I will not comment on individual drafts throughout the quarter. I will read each draft and
make a general comment to the class on the issues and problems I think need to be
addressed in revision for the portfolio. The week before the portfolio is due, I will schedule
an office hour sessions at COC. During that session, if you choose you may bring me your
drafts and we can read them together and explore strategies for final revision. See the
schedule below for specific dates. The portfolio will contain the following assignments.
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Close Reading Poetry
Close Reading Drama
Close Reading Fiction
Research Essay
The following schedule identifies only the primary texts and textbook material to be read. In
addition, students are expected to read all author head notes and introductory material.
Week One: Introduction
1/7
Discussion Board (main): This response due by 8:00 A.M. on 7/10
 Consult the anthology and/or any other academic or reputable internet sources. What is
literature? What is its value? What does it contribute to our lives personally, culturally,
and socially? No right or wrong answers here. You are free to ponder the questions and
express your opinion.
 What is literary analysis? Also consult the anthology and/or other academic or reputable
internet sources. What do we accomplish we analyze literature closely? In what way
does it enhance our experience of the works we read? Does analysis detract in any way?
Your initial point of view is fine here. Use sources only if they help.
Week Two: Literary Terminology, Principles of Writing
1/11
Anthology, Introduction
Discussion Board (main): The Writing Process and How You’ve Done it Before
 What does “writing as a process” mean and why is it important?
 What does it mean to read critically and what practical tactics might we employ to read
critically?
 What does writing critically mean and how might critical writing be different in various
writing genre such as personal narrative, academic writing, or social commentary?
 How might you distinguish between revising and editing?
 Post an account of your writing process. Provide a narrative description of how you go
about writing an essay. Be honest about those areas where you think you cut corners and
don’t do as you should. Consider the productive and valuable aspects of your process
and the characteristics of your process you think could use improvement.
 Post a general response to other students’ accounts. What might they improve or modify?
What might you now borrow from their processes and use in your own?
 What is a thesis statement? What are the characteristics of an effective thesis?
1/13
Discussion Board (main): Literary Terms
 Consult any credible source you choose, preferably a handbook of literary terms. In 250
words each, define two of the following terms: metaphor, simile, imagery, meter, theme,
or any other formal literary devices you choose.
Week Three: Poetry
1/18 Anthology: Reading Poetry
Shakespeare: Sonnets, “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day,” “My Mistress’ Eyes are
Nothing Like the Sun”
Discuss Board (poetry):
 Respond freely to the introductory material about reading poetry
 Respond freely to the poetry
 Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings
1/20 Marvell: “To His Coy Mistress”
Discussion Board (poetry):
 Respond freely to the poem
 Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings
Week Four: Poetry
1/25 Anthology: Writing About Poetry
Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” “Ode to a Nightingale”
Discussion Board (poetry):
 Respond freely to the poetry
 Compose a thesis statement for Essay #1. Write the first paragraph of literary analysis
supporting that thesis
 Respond to at least two of your classmates’ thesis statements. Are they argumentative,
specific, clear, and concise?
1/27 Hopkins, “Pied Beauty
Whitman, “When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” “I Heard You Solemn Sweet Pipes of the
Organ”
Discussion Board (poetry):
 Respond freely to the poetry
 Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings
Due: Essay Draft #1
Week Five: Poetry
2/1 Yeats, “Sailing to Byzantium,” “Leda and the Swan”
Discussion Board (poetry):
 Respond freely to the poetry
 Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings
2/3 Frost, “Birches,” “After Apple-Picking”
Lowell, “The Pond
H. D., “Heat”
Olds, “Rite of Passage”
Discussion Board (poetry):
 Respond freely to the poetry
 Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings
Week Six: Drama
2/8 Anthology: Reading Drama
Shakespeare, Hamlet (you must have the play finished by this date)
Discussion Board (drama):
 Respond freely to the introductory material that concerns itself with reading drama
 Begin responding freely to the play
 Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings
2/10 Shakespeare, Hamlet
 Continue responding freely to the play
 Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings
Week Seven: Drama
2/15 Anthology: Writing About Drama
Williams, The Glass Menagerie (you must have the play completed by this date)
 Respond freely to the play
 Compose a thesis statement for Essay #2. Write the first paragraph of analysis
supporting your thesis.
 Respond to at least two of your classmates’ thesis statements. Are they argumentative,
specific, clear, and concise?
2/17 Williams, The Glass Menagerie
 Continue responding freely to the play
 Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings
Due: Essay Draft #2
Week Eight: Fiction
2/22 Anthology: Reading Fiction
Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener”
Discussion Board (fiction):
 Respond freely to the introductory material that concerns itself with reading fiction
 Respond freely to the story
 Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings
2/24 Chopin, “The Story of an Hour”
 Respond freely to the story
 Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings
Due: Essay Draft #3
Week Nine:
3/1 Anthology: Writing About Fiction
Joyce, “Araby”
Discussion Board (fiction):
 Respond freely to the story
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Compose a thesis statement for Essay #3. Write the first paragraph supporting your
thesis.
 Respond to at least two of your classmates’ thesis statements and paragraphs. Are the
thesis statements argumentative, specific, clear, and concise? Do the paragraphs support
the thesis through careful analysis?
3/3 Hemingway, “Soldier’s Home”
Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily”
Discussion Board (fiction):
 Respond freely to the stories
 Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings
Due: Essay Draft #3
Week Ten: Fiction
3/8 O’Connor, “Good Country People”
Discussion Board (fiction):
 Respond freely to the story
 Compose a thesis statement for your research essay. Write the first paragraph supporting
your thesis.
 Respond to at least two of your classmates’ thesis statements and paragraphs. Are the
thesis statements argumentative, specific, clear, and concise? Do the paragraphs support
the thesis through careful analysis? Does the introduction and the first paragraph place
the thesis in the context of research sources.
Due: Research Essay Draft
3/10 Porter, “The Witness”
Oates, “The Lady with the Pet Dog”
Discussion Board (fiction):
 Respond freely to the stories
 Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings
Office hours at COC: Time to be announced
Week Eleven:
3/15 Portfolio and Final Examination Due through WebCT email
Writing Assignments
Close Reading Essay #1: Poetry. In this essay, you will perform a close reading of a poem of
your choosing, paying specific attention to formal features. Be careful to select a poem of
sufficient depth and complexity. Easy poems are hard to analyze with any originality and
insight. Compose a thesis that links theme to form and/or literary device. Then explicate the
poem demonstrating how the poem makes use of poetic techniques to communicate theme.
Make sure to have a highly focused thesis statement and a tightly organized essay that addresses
and supports the thesis. Three pages. Draft Due: 1/28
Close Reading Essay #2: Drama. In this essay, you will analyze a work of drama, taking a
detailed look at both form and context. Select a dramatic work from the two we have read, or
another that you have read, subject to my approval. Place the work within the context of literary
history. Considering the history of dramatic literature that we discussed in class, how does the
play you selected reflect the features of drama during that period? Consider such issues as plot,
character, language use, theme, and staging. Three pages. Draft Due: 2/11
Close Reading Essay #3: Fiction. In this essay, you will perform a character analysis, selecting
any story you have been assigned. Pay attention to the character types identified by E. M.
Forster in Aspects of the Novel (1927). Is the character round, flat, static, or dynamic? Is he/she
a foil or a stock character? Are there any mythic qualities embodied? Thoroughly explore the
character’s motivation. Make sure to have a highly focused thesis statement and a tightly
organized essay that addresses and supports the thesis. Three pages. Draft Due: 2/25
Research Essay: Text in Context. In this essay you will explore the relationship between a work
of literature and the context or contexts that inform it. Select any work of literature from our
anthology other than the ones we have read. How is the work of literature informed by the
historical and cultural context from which it emerges? Consider the cultural and social values or
issues of the time, historical events that defined the period, or the major intellectual currents of
the age. Begin by consulting the Dictionary of Literary Biography. In addition, you will
perhaps want to use biographies, general histories, and histories specific to the culture and/or
politics of a particular age. Make sure to have a highly focused thesis statement and a tightly
organized essay that addresses and supports the thesis. Your essay must have at least seven
sources and must be documented using MLA style. All items that appear in the Works Cited
list must be cited in the essay you write, either as quotes, paraphrases, or as notes
(footnotes or endnotes). Your grade will be reduced if items appear in your Works Cited
list that are not cited in your essay. Documentation must be precise and correct. Inadequate
attention to proper documentation format will result in a reduction in your grade. Draft Due: 3/4
Essay Recommendations and Format
In this class (and in virtually all your literature classes), you will write academic essays. Your
essays should be formal. They should have tight structure: clear introductions with
argumentative thesis statements, sets of paragraphs that directly support main ideas, and
conclusions that effectively synthesize major points. The essays should contain detailed analyses
of the texts in question. You should quote judiciously, never allowing your quotes to overwhelm
your analysis. Attempt to move beyond class discussion and discover something about the work
that isn’t immediately obvious, even to an intelligent reader. Consider form and literary device
as well as theme.
Your essays should be printed clearly on 8 ½ x 11 inch paper, in a standard font at 10 or 12
points. You should have one inch margins top and bottom, right and left. On a title page,
include your name, the title of the paper, the course title, number, the professor’s name, and the
date.
You must carefully and correctly document all your sources using MLA format.
A word about plagiarism. Failure to acknowledge the work of other scholars constitutes an
egregious breach of ethics and is a violation of civil law. You must in all cases do your own
work, acknowledge your sources, and document them appropriately. Any incidents of plagiarism
will result in an “F” for the course. Also, the sanctions imposed by the University Catalog will
be applied. If you have any questions about plagiarism, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Examination
The final examination will cover many of the required readings. Your performance will be
enhanced by doing all the required reading carefully, answering the study questions thoroughly,
and participating enthusiastically in the discussion board. The following are the final
examination questions. You must respond to both:
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Consider a work of poetry of no less than fourteen lines. Perform a close reading
(explication), paying particular attention to literary devices and form. Scan the poem
identifying the rhythm and meter. What kind of poetic line is being used and how is it
being modified. If the poem is in free verse, how would you describe the nature of the
line. In terms of literary devices, are there symbols, metaphors, similes, imagery, tone
that are a part of the poem? How do all of these things blend to orchestrate theme?
 Consider a work of fiction. Perform a character analysis. In what way is the main
character round and dynamic. How does character work to orchestrate theme?
Discussion Board Postings
Literature courses are naturally interactive in nature. They cannot be conducted effectively
without genuine interchange among students and between students and the professor. You will
be required to participate regularly in the discussion board (postings are due by 8:00 A.M. on
Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Practically, they should be done the night before). You
may post thoughtful questions, responses, or make claims that you would like to explore with the
rest of us. I will enter into the discussion board regularly to review your interactions and I will
post a comment on each day as well. Missing any days may affect your grade, but missing more
than two will affect your grade significantly. Your discussion board grade will be assessed based
on the enthusiasm and energy you put into the process. You may ask me specific questions via
email or in my office.
Use the discussion boards as they are identified in the schedule. There are four of them. They
are main, poetry, drama, and fiction.
I will assess whether you have done the reading by your participation in the discussion board.
Waiting List Policy
On a waiting list, you are eligible for a place in the class
1. if you come to every class and
2. if you turn in the work while you are there
Being on a waiting list does not mean you are guaranteed a place in the class. It simply means
you are welcome to wait for an opening in the class if you desire. If no one drops out of the
section you’re attending, no students can add.
As a result, you should be aware of the last day to add and have a back-up class chosen if you
need another class. This plan is especially important for financial aid recipients, who must carry
a full load to receive their financial aid. Being on a waiting list does not count as a class
toward your full load.
Instructor-Initiated Drop Policy
This course is subject to the policy on instructor initiated drops. If the class is full and has a
waiting list, I have the right to have you administratively dropped from the class by the end of
the second week of the term if you have missed three consecutive class sessions during the first
week of the term and have not contacted me with alternate plans. However, you should not
assume that you will be automatically dropped from the course due to non-attendance.
Grading Criteria as defined by the English Department, CSUB
An “A” paper—unusually competent
1. Avoids the obvious and thus gains insights on an analytical level that are illuminating and
stimulating to an educated reader.
2. Develops ideas effectively and purposefully with appropriate evidence, examples, and
illustrations.
3. Progresses by clearly ordered and necessary stages with paragraphs that are coherent and
unified.
4. Uses a variety of punctuation conventionally and purposefully.
5. Has sentences which are skillfully constructed, concise, forceful, effective, and varied.
6. Demonstrates a concern with the right words and a willingness to be inventive with words and
structures in order to produce a clearly identifiable style, even though at times the efforts may be
too deliberate or fall short of the writer’s intentions.
A “B” paper—demonstrably competent
1. Usually avoids the obvious and offers interesting interpretations, but lacks the imaginative
insights of the A paper.
2. Develops an idea with a clear and effective sense of order.
3. Progresses by ordered stages with paragraphs that are coherent and unified.
4. Uses mechanics and punctuation to help communicate the meaning and effect of the prose.
5. Has sentences which are correctly constructed with efficient use of coordination and
subordination; demonstrates an understanding of variety.
6. Draws upon words adequate to express the writer’s own thoughts and feelings and
demonstrates an understanding of alternate ways of expression as a means of making stylistic
choices possible.
A “C” paper—competent
1. Functions on the literal level, often depending on the self-evident.
2. Develops ideas minimally, often leaving the reader with unanswered questions.
3. Has a discernible, if mechanical organization.
4. Conforms to conventional grammar, mechanics, and punctuation.
5. Has sentences which are correctly constructed, though perhaps tending toward repetitious
patterns with minimal or mechanical use of coordination and subordination.
6. Works with a limited range of words and thus becomes dependent on the clichés and
colloquialisms most available; is also generally unaware of choices that affect style and thus is
unable to control the effects a writer may seek.
A “D” paper—lacking competence
1. Exploits the obvious either because of a lack of understanding, an inability to read, a failure to
grapple with a topic, or, in many cases, a lack of interest.
2. Wanders aimlessly because of a lack of overall conception or, in some instances, has a
semblance of form without the development that makes the parts a whole.
3. Has a plan or method that is characterized by irrelevancy, redundancy, or inconsistency.
4. Frequently lacks careful mechanical and grammatical distinctions although some papers
contain correct (if simple) sentences.
5. Has sentences which are not correctly constructed or which are monotonous or repetitious.
6. Is characterized by convoluted sentences that are close to the rapid associations of thought or
by “safe” words (ones the writer ordinarily speaks or can spell) and by excessively simple
sentence structures.
An “F” paper—incompetent
1. Doesn’t fulfill the assignment; is unclear overall.
2. Lacks specific development; tends to wander aimlessly
3. Lacks logical and coherent progression.
4. Co