COM 1102: WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE
Fall 2013
class time: M W F 10:00 am
office hours: M W 11:00-11:45 am; M 5:00-6:00 pm
and by appointment
office: 626 Crawford
phone: 321-674-8370
email: lperdiga@fit.edu
website: my.fit.edu/~lperdiga
turnitin.com course number: 7023849
turnitin.com password: Hangman
Class Schedule
9/11
E. Annie Proulx, “55 Miles to the Gas Pump” (87; 578-579)
Mark Twain, “The Story of the Good Little Boy” (615-619)
Due: Peer Review
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9/16
Tim O’Brien, “How to Tell a True War Story” (340-350)
9/13
9/18
Margaret Atwood, “Happy Endings” (online at my.fit.edu/~lperdiga)
9/20
Reading Poetry (755)
Writing About Poetry (793-795)
Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” (1107-1108)
Herbert R. Coursen, Jr., “A Parodic Interpretation of ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’”
(1117-1118)
Due: Choose two works of metafiction and make an argument about what they show us about
storytelling. How do they show us new ways of interpreting the process of reading and writing
fiction? (1-2 pages typed.)
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9/23
Richard Wakefield, “In a Poetry Workshop” (1371-1372)
Mark Halliday, “Graded Paper” (905-906)
Ezra Pound, “In a Station of the Metro” (860)
9/25
Billy Collins (1123-1130), “Introduction to Poetry” (776)
T.E. Hulme, “On the Differences between Poetry and Prose” (863-864)
Wilfred Owen, “Dulce et Decorum Est” (853-854)
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9/30
Word Choice, Word Order, Tone (801-806)
Mark Jarman, “Ground Swell” (online at my.fit.edu/~lperdiga)
Poetry and the Visual Arts (after page 1084, A-P; focus on H-J)
9/27
10/2
No class
10/4
No class
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10/7
Figures of Speech (865-875)
Sylvia Plath, “Mirror” (879-880)
Claribel Alegria, “I Am Mirror” (1326-1328)
10/9
Scott Hightower, “My Father” (886-887)
Symbol, Allegory, and Irony (888-894)
Jim Stevens, “Schizophrenia” (880-881)
Octavio Paz, “The Street” (1335)
The Literary Research Paper (2083-2100)
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10/14
Columbus Day—no class
10/11
10/16
Sounds (916-928)
Patterns of Rhythm (946-952)
Langston Hughes (1217-1219), “Lenox Avenue: Midnight” (1220-1221)
Harlem Renaissance Poets (1198-1203)
Due: Do some background research on Hughes and explain how what you learn helps influence
the way you read his work. (1-2 pages.)
Hughes, “Formula” (online at my.fit.edu/~lperdiga)
Poetic Forms (970-999)
Open Form (1000)
Louis Jenkins, “The Prose Poem” (1004)
Combining the Elements of Poetry: A Writing Process (1023-1033)
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10/21
Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (1219), “Harlem” (1224)
10/18
10/23
Poetry writing 101
Due: Essay #2
10/25
Reading Drama (1383-1385)
Elements of Drama (1401-1404)
Writing about Drama (1428-1430)
Richard Orloff, Playwriting 101: The Rooftop Lesson (1823-1829)
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10/28
Drama
10/30
David Auburn, Proof (1969-1996 [Act I]; online at http://my.fit.edu/~lperdiga/proof.pdf)
11/1
David Auburn, Proof (1996-2017 [Act II]; online at http://my.fit.edu/~lperdiga/proof.pdf)
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11/4
Drama
Due: Short writing assignment on Playwriting 101 and/or Proof. (1-2 pages typed.)