English 212-01, Major British Authors: Romantic to Modern, Spring 2012
Dr. James Evans (3107 MHRA; 334-3282; james_evans@uncg.edu)
Office hours: Tuesdays & Wednesdays, 2:00-3:30
Student Learning Goals:
After completing the course, you should be able to
– read selected texts from British literature (1789-1939) with careful attention and recognize
literary techniques in them;
– understand better how authors and readers create meaning in these texts;
– understand this literature better in terms of major periods and authors;
– understand better such genres as the lyric poem and the short story;
– understand better the relationship of these texts to selected historical and cultural issues.
Required Text:
Stephen Greenblatt et al., Norton Anthology of English Literature, Major Authors, Vol. B
Blackboard texts = B
Readings for class discussion:
Part 1
Romantic Period
January 10
Introductions
January 12
Smith, “Written in the Church-Yard at Middleton,” “On Being Cautioned against
Walking on an Headland,” “The Sea View”; Burns, “A Red, Red Rose,” “For a’
that”; “Green Grow the Rashes” [B]
January 17
Blake, “Introduction,” “The Lamb,” “The Little Black Boy,” “The Chimney
Sweeper,” “Holy Thursday” from Songs of Innocence
January 19
Blake, “Introduction,” “The Tyger,” “The Chimney Sweeper,” “London,” “The
Garden of Love,” “A Poison Tree” from Songs of Experience
January 24
Equiano, selections from Interesting Narrative [B]; Wollstonecraft, A Vindication
of the Rights of Woman (Introduction & Ch. 2 [pp. 1462-65, 1476-77])
January 26
Wordsworth, “We Are Seven,” “Lines Written in Early Spring,” “Lines
Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey”
January 31
Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, “Kubla Khan”
February 2
Coleridge, “Frost at Midnight”; Wordsworth, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,”
“The World Is Too Much with Us”
February 7
Keats, “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer,” “Ode on a Grecian Urn,”
“Ode to a Nightingale”
February 9
Keats, The Eve of St. Agnes, “Bright Star”
February 14 Exam 1
Part 2
Victorian Age
February 16 Tennyson, “The Lady of Shalott”; selections from In Memoriam (7, 27, 50, 55,
56, 95, 124, 130)
February 21 Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “The Cry of the Children,” Sonnets from the
Portuguese (22, 43), “To George Sand” [B]
February 23 Robert Browning, “My Last Duchess,” “Fra Lippo Lippi”
February 28 Rossetti, Goblin Market, “No Thank You, John”
March 1
Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
March 6, 8
March 13
March 15
March 20
March 22
Part 3
March 27
March 29
April 3
April 5
April 10
April 12
April 17
April 19
Spring Break
Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
Kipling, “The Man Who Would Be King,” “Recessional” [B]
Exam 2
Early Twentieth Century
Hardy, “The Darkling Thrush,” “The Convergence of the Twain,” “Channel
Firing,” “In Time of ‘The Breaking of Nations’”; Owen [B] “Anthem for Doomed
Youth,” “Strange Meeting,” “Dulce et Decorum Est”
Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” “Easter 1916,” “The Second Coming,” “Leda
and the Swan,” “Sailing to Byzantium”
Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” “The Hollow Men”
Joyce, “The Dead”
Lawrence, “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter”; Mansfield, “The Garden Party”
Woolf, selections from A Room of One’s Own, Ch. 3; “The Legacy” [B]
Forster, “The Other Boat” [B]
Exam 3
Course Grade: Exams, 67%; essays, 33%.
Exams: At the end of each part of the course (dates indicated above), you will have a short
answer exam, in which you discuss some quotations and other items. More details will follow.
Essays: You will write two short critical essays. More details will follow.
Course Policies:
I expect your regular attendance, your timely reading of assignments, your participation
in discussion, and your respect for others’ ideas. Attendance means more than physical
presence, so I expect you to be attentive and involved. Turn off your cell phones and close you
laptop computers. Bring your textbook each day and be prepared to read passages aloud and
discuss assignments. Active participation will improve your course grade and will be a
determining factor in borderline grades.
After you miss the class two times (for any reason), your course grade will be reduced for
each additional absence (from A to A- to B+, for example). I expect you to arrive on time and to
remain for the full 75 minutes. If you arrive late, you are responsible to inform me at the end of
class. If you are late more than twice during the semester, subsequent tardiness will count as
absences.
You should be familiar with the UNCG Academic Integrity Policy, especially regarding
cheating, plagiarism, and appropriate penalties. If you cheat or plagiarize, you will receive a
grade of F on the assignment. I expect you to include and sign this statement on all your work:
“I have abided by the Academic Integrity Policy on this assignment.” However, I encourage you
to take advantage of the University Writing Center for assistance with your own work.