The Practice of Criticism
English 170
MW 1:00-2:15
Newton 206
Dr. Rob Doggett
Office: Welles 217 B
Office Hours: M 11:30-12:30,
W 2:30-3:30 and by appointment (see below)
Office Phone: x5221
Email: Doggett@geneseo.edu
Teaching Assistant
Stephanie Iasiello
Office Hours: M 10:30-12:30
Welles 225A (see below)
Email: sci1@geneseo.edu
Course Overview
This is an introductory course in literary analysis for English majors, one that’s designed to
provide you with a foundation in literary studies before you move on to upper division courses.
In the first part of the semester, we will consider the various answers provided by literary
theorists to the basic and increasingly pressing questions: Why read literature? What is the value
of literature and literary study? What place does it have in the university and in the culture at
large? Later in the semester, we will meditate on the following questions: What is literature?
Who determines that a text is literature? How and what is the function of a literary canon? The
final part of the semester will be devoted to questions about how we read: What are the
interpretive strategies that have been brought to bear on literature in the 20th century? How do
they work? What are their objectives and implications?
In addition to focusing on these larger theoretical issues, the course will also offer practical
guidance in the study of literature. Thus, part of the semester is devoted to “close reading,” an
approach to literary analysis that underpins nearly all of the other approaches that we will
discuss, from New Criticism to feminist analysis. Moreover, we will spend a bit of time covering
the nuts and bolts of writing about literature, from selecting a topic, to conducting research, to
formulating and proving an interpretation. Finally, we will often practice literary analysis by
focusing on a novel and a substantial helping of poetry.
Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to:

formulate thoughtful answers to questions about why we read literature, what defines
literature, how we assess the importance of individual literary works, and how we
analyze literature.



demonstrate a basic understanding of the history of English as a discipline.
provide critical readings of poetry, fiction, and drama.
write thoughtful and well-supported arguments about poetry and fiction.
Books
The following books are available at the campus bookstore. Please be sure to buy the Norton
Critical Edition of Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness because it contains a number of additional
readings:
Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 9th edition. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, 2009.
Conrad, Joseph. The Heart of Darkness: A Norton Critical Edition, 4th edition. Edited by Paul B.
Armstrong. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005.
Eagleton, Terry. How to Read a Poem. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007.
Grades
You will be graded on a 100 point scale, with a number of possible points available for the
course components listed below. A total of 94 points is required for an A, a total of 90.5 is
required for an A-, 88 for a B+, 84 for a B, 80 for a B-, etc.
Participation
Quizzes
Essay One
Final Exam
Response Papers
Essay Two
Essay One Revised
Collaborative Exercises
15 possible points
10 possible points
20 possible points
15 possible points
15 possible points
20 possible points
5 possible points
P / F or Extra Credit
Participation
Since this is a course designed for English majors, active participation is assumed. You should
come to class having done the readings and having thought in detail about the readings. You
should also be prepared to answer questions, to raise your own questions, and to comment on the
ideas of others. Please note: if you miss class frequently or if you often come to class without
having done the reading, you will receive a low participation grade; in some extreme cases,
this will mean receiving 0 participation points. Note also: if you have to miss class
frequently for illness, family emergencies, work, or for any other reason, I will suggest that
you drop the class.
Scheduling an Appointment to Meet
If you would like to meet with Stephanie, email her or stop by her office hours on Mondays
between 10:30 and 12:30 in Welles 225A. Because Stephanie is also a teaching assistant for Dr.
Lima, she is holding office hours in Dr. Lima’s office.
The best way to schedule an appointment with me is to email. The best times for a meeting are
generally on Tu, Thur, and Friday afternoons. If I don’t respond to your email, please email
again. I get dozens of emails each day, so sometimes a student email can get overlooked. If I still
don’t respond after two email attempts, speak to me in class—sometimes student emails get
automatically filtered out.
Quizzes
There will be a total of 10 quizzes given during the semester. I have listed the questions for each
quiz on the syllabus. Please note, you cannot make up quizzes for any reason, so if you are
late or miss class, you will receive a 0 for that day.
Response Papers
There are 15 response papers due during the course of the semester (each should be about one
typed page). See the schedule of readings below for topics and due dates. Exceptionally
thoughtful and well-written essays will receive 1 point. Average response papers will receive
between 7.5 and 8.5 points. Below average papers will receive 7 or fewer points. As a general
rule, I will not comment in great detail on these papers (unlike the major external essays, which I
will respond to at length); however, Stephanie will provide comments. Please feel free to speak
with either of us about your papers, especially if you would like help improving your grades.
Please note: I only accept a response essay in class on the day the essay is due—no
exceptions. Please do not email your response essays to me or attempt to turn in any
response papers at a later point in the semester.
Essays
You will write two essays for this class. I will explain the details of those assignments in class,
but, as a rule of thumb, the paper should make an argument about a given work and it should
prove that argument through detailed close reading. Please note: I will deduct one full letter
grade for each day an essay is late. You must turn in both essays to pass the class.
Collaboration Projects
In an effort to critique dialogue among English majors, we will be doing some collaborative
projects with another section of English 170, taught by Prof. Winrock. Details on those
projects—which will be graded either as pass / fail (i.e., you have to complete the project to pass
the course) or as extra credit—will be announced during the semester.
Laptops, Texting, and Classroom behavior
I realize that some students are more comfortable using laptops to take notes, and I do allow
laptops in my class. Please be advised, though, that it is extremely obvious to me when students
are using laptops to surf the web, chat with others, play around on Facebook, etc. If I see that you
are using your laptop for reasons not related to our class discussion, I will take note. If you do
this frequently, I will speak with you. In either case, your participation grade will suffer
dramatically, often to the point when you receive a zero for participation.
Over the past few semesters, I have been astonished by the number of students who see nothing
wrong with texting during class. As with surfing the web, it is obvious when someone is texting,
and I find it extremely distracting. Think about it this way: when you text in my class, you are
basically saying to me, “I don’t care about what you have to say right now, nor do I care what the
students around me have to say.” Needless to say, texting—like surfing the web in class—is rude
and disrespectful. If you text in my class, I will immediately tell you to leave the room and
you will not be permitted to return to class until you speak with me.
Perhaps I’m simply getting older, but I’ve also been surprised by other aspects of student
behavior in class, especially the tendency of students to walk out of class (sometimes more than
once!) during our discussion. Obviously, if there’s an urgent reason to leave, that’s fine. But
unless you have a serious physical problem, you should be able to stay in class for the required
amount of time.
Other Concerns
If you have a disability that might impact your classroom performance, please see me. I will
assume that all of the work you turn in for this class is your own. Taking language or ideas
from any outside source without proper attribution constitutes plagiarism. If you engage in
plagiarism, you will fail the assignment, may very well fail the course, and will be referred
to the college for disciplinary actions. We will go over MLA guidelines for quoting and
citing during the semester; if you are ever unsure about MLA guidelines for citing
particular works, please speak with me.
Reading Schedule
January
18
W
Course Introduction: Why We Do What We Do And How We Do It
Screening of Dead Poets Society in Welles 121 at 7pm
19
Th
Screening of Dead Poets Society in Welles 121 at 7pm
23
M
Discussion of Dead Poets Society
Response Paper #1: Provide a short analysis of one aspect of Dead Poets Society.
That is, formulate an argument about one aspect of the film, and then prove it by
referencing specific moments in the film.
25
W
Discussion of Dead Poets Society
Abrams: Aesthetic ideology (3-4); Aestheticism (4-5); Marxist Criticism (181187)
Eagleton: “The Rise of English” (MyCourse: Read only pp 15-32)
Quiz #1: Briefly explain what Eagleton means when he says, “Literature … is an
ideology.” How does Eagleton respond to the notion, popularized by F.R. Leavis,
that literature is worth studying because it makes us better people? In Marxist
Criticism, what is the difference between the “base” and the “superstructure”?
30
M
Discussion of Dead Poets Society
David Richter: “Why We Read: the University, the Humanities, and Province of
Literature” (MyCourse)
Helen Vendler: “What We Have Loved, Others Will Love” (MyCourse)
Gerald Graff: “Disliking Books at an Early Age” (MyCourse)
Quiz #2: According to Richter, when teaching literature, “There is no … neutral
stance, no knowledge that is value-free.” What, according to Richter, are the
implications of this statement on the way we approach literature? What, according
to Vendler, is the best way to get students to fall in love with literature? Why was
reading Huckleberry Finn in class so important for Graff?
February
1
W
bell hooks: “Toward a Revolutionary Feminist Pedagogy” (MyCourse)
Gertrude Himmelfarb: “The New Advocacy and the Old” (MyCourse)
Response Paper #2: Make an argument in support of or critical of Hooks’ basic
teaching philosophy.
6
M
Eagleton: How to Read a Poem: “What is Poetry?”
Abrams: Semiotics (324-326)
Poetry for discussion: W.B. Yeats (MyCourse)
Response Paper #3: Using the ideas from Eagleton, identify the “moral
statement” in one of Yeats’s poems and then prove your assertion with evidence
from the poem.
8
W
Eagleton: How to Read a Poem: “Formalists”
Abrams: formalism (126-129); Linguistics (172-177)
Poetry for discussion: Selima Hill (MyCourse)
Quiz #3: What is “literariness”? What does it mean to say that poetry is
“overcoded”? What is the “incarnational fallacy? Briefly summarize the content
of one of Hill’s poems.
13
M
Eagleton: How to Read a Poem: “In Pursuit of Form”
Abrams: connotation and denotation (57-58); meter (194-199); sonnet (336-337)
Poetry for discussion: Thomas Hardy (MyCourse)
Response Paper #4: Analyze form in one of Hardy’s poems.
15
W
Eagleton: How to Read a Poem: “How to Read a Poem”
Poetry for discussion: Eavan Boland (MyCourse)
Quiz #4: Why isn’t poetry analysis purely objective? Why isn’t poetry analysis
purely subjective? What is the intentional fallacy?
20
M
No Class (I need to be out of town)
22
W
Poetry for discussion: Carol Ann Duffy and Simon Armitage (MyCourse)
Abrams: allusion (11-12); figurative language (118-22); form and structure
(125-26); genre (134-36); persona, tone, and voice (257-60); poetic diction
(269-70); rhyme (316-319); stanza (340-43); style (349-52)
Response Paper #5: Analyze one of the poems in terms of persona, tone, and / or
voice.
27
M
The Writing Process
Introduction to Essay One
Discussion of Duffy and Armitage continued.
Janet Gardner: “Writing About Poems” (MyCourse)
Abrams: alliteration (10-11); ballad (21-23); free verse (129-32); imagery (15052); setting (330); stanza (340-43)
Quiz #5: I will ask you specific summary questions about Gardner’s essay. I will
also ask you to define a few of the terms from Abrams.
29
W
Poetry for Discussion: Emily Dickinson (MyCourse)
The Writing Process
Janet Gardner: “The Writing Process” (MyCourse)
Discussion of essay structure (agents and actions, techniques, thesis, topic
sentences, evidence), MLA format, and common grammatical faults (comma
splice, semi-colon, pronoun agreement)
Practice creating thesis statements
Response Paper #6: Pretend you’re writing a longer essay on a poem by
Dickinson; write an introductory paragraph that culminates in a thesis about the
poem.
5
M
Draft Workshop: Prior to class, you should email to me (as an attachment) a draft
of the first paragraph for Essay One. Use the subject heading: “170 Introduction
(Your Last Name).” Completing this assignment will earn you 1 point for
Response Paper #7. No partial credit.
7
W
Draft Workshop: Please come to class with a printed copy of a draft of Essay One
(at least two pages). Completing this assignment will earn you 1 point for
Response Paper #8. No partial credit.
March
Spring Break
19
M
No Class (Gerald Graff will be on campus. Extra credit will be given for attending
one of his lectures / workshops).
20
T
Due: Essay One. Please turn in your completed essay to the box outside of my
office (217B Welles) by 5pm.
21
W
David Richter: “What We Read: The Literary Canon and the Curriculum after
the Culture Wars” (MyCourse)
Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar: “The Female Swerve” (MyCourse)
Toril Moi: From Sexual / Textual Politics (MyCourse)
Annette Kolodny: “Dancing through the Minefield” (MyCourse)
Abrams: “feminist criticism” (110-116)
Quiz #6: Summarize EACH of the readings for today (2-3 sentences per reading).
26
M
Short story for discussion: James Joyce’s “Eveline” (MyCourse)
Abrams: character and characterization (42-44); plot (265-68); point of view
(271-76); short story (331-33), motif and theme (205); realism and naturalism
(302-303); symbol (358-61); gender studies (132-134) Celtic Revival (41-42);
Narration (208)
Response Paper #9: Analyze Joyce’s use of “free indirect” (see “narration”).
28
W
No Class (I will be giving a lecture at Fairfield University)
2
M
The Heart of Darkness: Book One (3-31); Preface to The Nigger of the
“Narcissus” (279-282)
Abrams: modernism and postmodernism (201-204); periods of American
literature (245-250); periods of English literature (250-257); postcolonial studies
(277-279)
Response Paper #10: Analyze Conrad’s narrative technique.
4
W
Heart of Darkness: Encyclopedia Britannica entries (99-119); Letters of King
Leopold and George Washington Williams (119-131); Roger Casement’s Congo
Report (131-160); Conrad’s diaries and letters (242-263)
Abrams: New Historicism (218-225)
Quiz #7: Select two ideas / facts / issues that emerge in the above readings and
briefly explain how they provide a context for reading the novel.
9
M
Heart of Darkness: Book Two (31-54); Edmund Morel’s “Property and Trade”
(160-171); Nineteenth-Century Attitudes Toward Race (208-241)
Response Paper #11: Quote and then provide a close reading of one section from
Conrad. Focus specifically on representations of race.
April
11
W
Heart of Darkness: Book Three (54-77); Contemporary Responses (307-325)
Quiz #8: Summarize the plot of book three.
16
M
Heart of Darkness: Chinua Achebe (336-349); Hunt Hawkins (365-376);
Marianna Torovnick (396-405); Edward Said (422-429); Andrew Roberts (455463)
Response Paper #12: The goal of this essay is to provide an objective overview
of the five critical readings listed above (Chinua, Hawkins, etc). Instead of
offering a chronological summary (essay one says X, essay two says Y), which
can be boring to read, identify the major issues that all of the critics address. In so
doing, focus on points of agreement and disagreement. The goal, in other words,
is to present a readable overview that identifies the points of agreement and
disagreement among the essays.
Introduction to Essay Two
18
W
Re-Read: Gardner: “The Writing Process” (MyCourse)
Practice writing thesis statements for Essay Two
Incorporating outside sources (MLA format)
Come to class having written out at least two possible thesis statements for Essay
Two. Completing this assignment will earn you 1 point for Response Paper #13.
No partial credit.
23
M
Draft Workshop: Prior to class, you should email to me (as an attachment) a draft
of the first paragraph for Essay Two. Use the subject heading: “170 Introduction
(Your Last Name).” Completing this assignment will earn you 1 point for
Response Paper #14. No partial credit.
25
W
Draft Workshop: Draft Workshop: Please come to class with a printed copy of a
draft of Essay Two (at least two pages). Completing this assignment will earn you
1 point for Response Paper #15. No partial credit.
30
M
Peter Rabinowitz: “Actual Reader and Authorial Reader” (MyCourse)
Stanley Fish: “How to Recognize a Poem When You See One” (MyCourse)
Abrams: humanism (144-148); author and authorship (18-21); deconstruction (6975); Poststructuralism (279-284); interpretation and hermeneutics (158-162)
Quiz #9: Explain Rabinowitz’s distinction between the actual reader and authorial
reader; what does Fish mean when he notes that, in poetry analysis, “the
opposition between objectivity and subjectivity is a false one”?
Quiz #10: Bring your laptop to class. At the end of class, you will be asked to
fill out the SOFI report for this course. You will receive one point for filling out
the report (Stephanie will keep the tally on this; as is always the case, neither
Stephanie nor I will see any SOFI comments until after final grades are
submitted).
May
1
T
Due: Essay Two. Please turn in your completed essay to the box outside of
my office (217B Welles) by 5pm
Final Exam: Tuesday, May 8, 12-3