Eng. 207 (701)
Instructor: Marc Steinberg
Fall 2014
Online
Office Hours: MW, 8:30-10, 3:45-4:15
TR, 10-11 (online)
and by appointment, S118 (410-822-5400 (ext. 2235)),
Email (msteinberg@chesapeake.edu)
Course Description
This is a survey course covering major American authors and literary movements
from the Colonial Period to the Civil War. We will read, write about, and discuss
numerous works in various genres in order to analyze techniques, patterns, and issues.
Discussion will be a primary tool of analysis. Students are responsible for class
assignments, a midterm exam, a final exam, two essays, and class discussions.
Statement of Course Goals: The goals for the course are:
1. To describe the great diversity of styles, genres, and themes encompassed by
American literature in the time between Colonial America to the Civil War.
2. To demonstrate how American literature is a reflection of American culture,
including its history and values.
3. To enable students to synthesize their own interpretations with those of established
literary critics in analyzing works of American literature, both orally and in
writing.
4. To facilitate the development of an aesthetic appreciation of the best of American
literature.
5. To fulfill the requirement of a literature elective in any curriculum.
Common Core Learning Outcomes: At the completion of this course, the student will
be able to:
 identify and explain the significance of major figures, works, and trends in
American literature from Colonial America to the Civil War,
a. explain the relationship between the literature of the period and its historical
context,
b. demonstrate how writing in this period reflects American ideals,
 critically analyze various texts in American literature, and
 use literary criticism to support their interpretation of literary works.
Texts and Materials
The American Tradition in Literature: Volume 1. 12th edition. Eds. George Perkins and
Barbara Perkins.
Expectations
Students are expected to attend and be prepared for class meetings. No late
assignments will be accepted without prior permission. (Only in extraordinary
circumstances will an extension of the deadline be granted; late submissions are subject
to penalty.)
Grading
*Midterm
*Final
*Essay #1
*Essay #2
Class writings
Discussions**
15%
15%
20%
20%
20%
10%
*All of these must be submitted for a chance at passing the class.
**Students are expected to regularly participate in online discussions.
Students should try to post at least 2 responses per week.
Academic Instruction Emergency Management Plan
In the event that Chesapeake College needs to close for an extended period of time due to
a flu pandemic, severe weather event, or other emergency situation, consideration will be
given to the timing and duration of the closure as follows:
1. Closure during the semester for up to one week—there will be an opportunity to
make up work missed without significant alteration to the semester calendar.
2. Closure extending beyond one week (or in situations where classes are cancelled
on the same days/evenings over multiple weeks)—the College may extend the
length of the semester. Depending on the timing of the closure, scheduled breaks,
end of semester dates, and/or the processing of final grades might be impacted.
Students can acquire information about closures on the College website or by calling
410-822-5400 or 410-228-4360. Chesapeake College courses held at off campus sites
will follow the protocol of the host facility.
________________________________________________________________________
Schedule
Week One (8/25-8/31)
 Introductions
 “A Tale of the Sky World” (11-12)
 “Coyote and Bear” (14-15)
 “Snake the Cause” (16-17)
 “The Weaver’s Lamentation” (17)
 Samuel de Champlain—“From Voyages…” (31-34)
Week Two (9/2-9/7)
 Labor Day (9/1)
 Roger Williams—“From The Bloody Tenet…” (Ch. XCIII, 83-84)
 Samuel Sewall—“From The Diary of Samuel Sewall” (145-55)
 Edward Taylor—“Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children” (158-59)
Week Three (9/8-9/14)
 Anne Bradstreet—“The Flesh and the Spirit” (92-95)
 Bradstreet—“The Author to Her Book” (102)
 Bradstreet—“To My Dear and Loving Husband” (103)
 Bradstreet—“In Memory of My Dear Grandchild…” (105)
 Michael Wigglesworth—“From The Day of Doom” (108-18; stanzas 1, 14, 17,
31, 32, 166, 169, 219-24)
 John Winthrop—“The Trial of Margaret Jones” (167-68)
 Mary Towne Easty—“The Petition of Mary Easty” (169-70)
 Cotton Mather—“From Bonifacius: Essays to Do Good” (187-89)
Week Four (9/15-9/21)
 Jonathan Edwards—“Sinners in the Hands…” (262-63)
 Benjamin Franklin—“From Poor Richard’s Almanack” (316-23)
 Thomas Paine—“From The Age of Reason” (335-45)
 Philip Freneau—“To Sir Toby” (417-18)
Week Five (9/22-9/28)
 Washington Irving—“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (533-52)
 Essay #1 draft due
Week Six (9/29-10/5)
 Olaudah Equiano—“From The Interesting Narrative…” (Ch. 2, 392-96)
 Elizabeth Peabody—“Labor, Wages, and Leisure” (1399-1400)
 Elizabeth Cady Stanton—“Declaration of Sentiments” (1403-15)
 Sojourner Truth—“Ar’n’t I a Woman?” (1405-06)
 Fanny Fern—“Aunt Hetty on Matrimony” (1407-08)
 Margaret Fuller—“From Woman in the Nineteenth Century” (1386-97)
 Essay #1 Due
Week Seven (10/6-10/12)
 Henry David Thoreau—“Walden” (1412-1577; sections tbd)
 Midterm
Week Eight (10/13-10/19)
 Ralph Waldo Emerson—“Self-Reliance” (1334-50)
 Edgar Allan Poe—“The Tell-Tale Heart” (884-88)
 Poe—“Annabel Lee” (860-61)
Week Nine (10/20-10/26)
 Poe—“The Cask of Amontillado” (900-05)
 William Cushing—“Slavery Inconsistent with Our Conduct…” (1615)
 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow—“The Witnesses” (1618-19)
 Lydia Maria Child—“Reply to Margaretta Mason” (1622-24)
 Sarah Morgan—“From The Civil War Diary of Sarah Morgan” (1625-28)
Week Ten (10/27-11/2)
 Nathaniel Hawthorne—“Young Goodman Brown” (928-36)
 Harriet Jacobs—“From Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” (1735-47)
Week Eleven (11/3-11/9)
 Frederick Douglass—“Narrative of the Life…” (1748-98; sections tbd)
 Research review
Week Twelve (11/10-11/16)
 Herman Melville—“Bartleby the Scrivener” (1141-65)
 Essay #2 draft due
Week Thirteen (11/17-11/23)
 Walt Whitman—“Song of Myself” (1873-1912; sections tbd)
 Whitman—“When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” (1931-37)
 Essay #2 due
Week Fourteen/Thanksgiving (11/24-11/25)
 TBA
Week Fifteen (12/1-12/5)
 Emily Dickinson—“#280” (1955-56)
 Dickinson—“#288” (1956)
 Dickinson—“#465” (1960-61)
 Dickinson—“#712” (1966)
Finals Week
 Final (tba)