English IV Syllabus for Spring Semester, 2013
Mrs. Carson - Room 6
January 22 – February 4: Unit 1 explores the beginnings of English Literature. The culture of
the Anglo – Saxons, including the oral tradition and the heroic ideal are presented in the context
of a developing national identity. Key concepts are Paganism, Christianity, Old English
Essential Questions – 1) What were the influences that
shaped Anglo – Saxon culture? 2) How is a “hero” defined at this point in time?
3) What have been the lasting effects of Anglo – Saxon culture and language?
Texts and materials: Beowulf, Grendel, Foundation by Peter Ackroyd, “The Seafarer,” Anglo
– Saxon Riddles,” Ballads, then and now. Multi-media presentations, including documentaries
The Celts, The Vikings, Castle.
There will be frequent checks, oral and written to gauge where students are in the learning
process.
February 4: 1st assessment – 60%
February 5 - February 18: Unit 2 presents a time of change and an attempt to organize an
increasingly complex social structure. The literature of this period illustrates the presence of
social hierarchies and the integration of multiple cultures within a developing nation. Key
concepts are feudalism, rise of the merchant class, chivalry, Middle English, Crusades, Medieval
church.
Essential Questions: 1) What makes a hero and how does chivalry help define it? 2) What
impact did social and economic changes have on society? 3) How did Christianity shape
Medieval life?
Texts and Materials: The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer,
Le Morte Darthur by Sir Thomas Mallory, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Mallory
by
, Gunpowder, Weapons and Steel by
, “Lord Randall,” “Edward,
Edward,” Appalachian ballads, songs by Celtic Woman, Gregorian chants
There will be frequent checks, oral and written to gauge where students are in the learning
process.
February 18: 2nd Assessment - 60%
February 19 – March 19: Unit 3 illustrates the renewed interest in classical
learning of the Greeks and Romans. The invention of the printing press allowed people of
varied social standing to gain access to information, allowing them to ponder their place in the
world and the world around them. This time period was marked by an explosion of an interest in
arts, science, and the humanities. Key concepts are humanism, Renaissance, Elizabethan
theater, royalty, King vs. Pope, formation of Anglican Church, rise of British power.
Essential Questions: 1) What makes a hero how did the renewed interest in classical thinking
shape this definition? 2) Who and what influenced profound changes in the English language
during this time? 3) How did inventions of this time help bring together people
of differing social classes in society?
Texts and Materials: Macbeth, Hamlet, Sonnets, by William Shakespeare, King James Bible
Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, Poetry by Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, John
Donne, Dante Alighieri, Elizabeth I, John Milton, Art and Music
There will be frequent checks, oral and written to gauge where students are in the learning
process.
March 19: 3rd assessment - 60%
March 19, 20, 21 Mid – Term Projects due – 60% x 2.
NO LATE SUBMISSISION ACCEPTED!
March 22 – 28: Unit 4 counters the main ideas of the Renaissance. Writers move to
conservatism, reason, and satire, eventually focusing on nature and simplicity. Journalism
makes its entrance as a valid profession. Key concepts are Restoration, wit, enlightenment/age
of reason.
Essential Questions: 1) How do concepts of reason and enlightenment affect the concept of
hero? 2) What was the impact of journalism on the growing middle class? 3) How did this time
period help produce the first Western European novels?
Texts and Materials: “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan
Swift, “Essay on Man” by Alexander Pope, The Diary of Samuel Pepys, “Vindication of the
Rights of Woman” by Mary Wallstonecraft, “The Rape of the Lock,” by Alexander Pope, To the
Ladies,” by Mary, Lady Chudley. Music by Bach, Hayden, Mozart, Pachelbel. Art by
Gainsborough, and various vintage book covers.
***********March 26: End of report period
There will be frequent checks, oral and written to gauge where students are in the learning
process.
March 28: 4th assessment – 60%
April 8 – 26: Unit 5 explores the great political, economic, and social changes taking place in
England and Western Europe during this time period. Writers responded to the French
Revolution as well as the Industrial Revolution by examining the significance of the individual,
the imagination, and the importance of nature as influences that shaped human society. The
exploitation of children through labor and the harsh living conditions of the working class
prompted writers to question the progress made during this time. Key concepts are the French
Revolution, Industrial Revolution, Romanticism, child labor, progress, Gothic literature.
Essential Questions: 1) How is the hero redefined during this time? 2 How did the Romantic
Ideal stand in regard to technology and the Industrial Revolution? 3) How was writing used as a
form for public protest?
Texts and Materials: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility by Jane
Austen, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, Les
Miserables by Victor Hugo, Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas, Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Anderson, Wuthering Heights by Emily
Bronte, Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte, Poetry by Robert Burns, William Blake, William
Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, Art of
the age and music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Hector Berlioz, Johann Strauss,
Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner,
Johannes Brahms.
There will be frequent checks, oral and written to gauge where students are in the learning
process.
April 26th: 5th assessment – 60%
April 29 – May 10: Unit 6 continues the questioning of progress and change that was
characterized in the Romantic Age. The Victorian Age focuses on growth, prosperity, and
progress in England and Western Europe. The confidence in progress of the Victorians
led writers to question whether all progress and change is good and whether traditional values
should be accepted uncritically or examined more closely. Key concepts areVictorian, progress,
values, transcendentalism, skepticism.
Essential Questions: 1) What characteristics make up a Victorian hero? 2) How did peace and
prosperity affect the literature of the age? 3) How did the examination of traditional values
manifest in the writings of the Victorian age?
Text and Materials: Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, Various works by Charles
Dickens, Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, Alice in
Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Importance of
Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, “The Mark of the Beast”
by Rudyard Kipling, “The Jewels” by Guy de Maupassant, War of the Worlds by HG Wells,
“ Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad, “The Secret Sharer” by Joseph Conrad, Dracula by
Bram Stoker, Poetry by Rudyard Kipling, Tennyson, Robert Browning, Christina Rosetti,
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, GM Hopkins, Matthew Arnold, AE Housman, Thomas Hardy, Art
of the Age, Music by Strauss, Operettas, and Vocal Music.
There will be frequent checks, oral and written to gauge where students are in the learning
process.
May 10th: 6th assessment – 60%
May 13 – 24: Unit 7 explores the chaos and conflict that marked the end of the prosperity and
stability of the Victorian Age. New theories in science, psychology, and politics led to the
questioning of deeply held beliefs. Two world wars and a major economic depression weakened
social and political structures that had defined England and Western Europe for centuries. In
response to these weakened structures, writers created new, experimental forms of
expression, writing and creating art for the sake of beauty. Key concepts: art, social structure,
political structure, depression, modernism, postmodernism, magical realism.
Essential Questions: 1) How is the modern hero defined? 2)How have great changes affected
literary norms? 3) How is the idea of multi-culturalism incorporated into modern literature?
Texts and Materials: Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence,
Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence, “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence, 1984 by
George Orwell, Animal Farm by George Orwell, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
by Mark Haddon, The Stranger by Albert Camus, The Plague by Albert Camus, To the
Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, 20,000 Leagues Under
the Sea by Jules Verne, “Survival in Auschwitz” Primo Levi, “The War” by Marguerite Duras
“Araby” by James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, “Once Upon a
Time” by Nadine Gordimer, Poetry by Wilfred Owen, T.S. Eliot, Siegfried Sassoon, W.H.
Auden, Dylan Thomas, William Butler Yeats, Rupert Brooke, Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney,
Stevie Smith, Art of Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, Edouard
Manet, Vincent van Gogh (Don McClain – “Starry, Starry Night), August Renoir.
There will be frequent checks, oral and written to gauge where students are in the learning
process.
Final Projects are due May 28, 29, 30. Late submissions are not accepted!
Exams May 31, June 1, June 2, June 3