English III Honors Syllabus 2011-2012
Henderson
Unit I: The Bildungsroman and the transition to modernism
Approximate dates: 9/12 – 10/21
Unit II: Engaging the text: Heart of Darkness
Approximate dates: 10/24 – 11/28
Essential questions:
 What constitutes the hero’s journey in a bildungsroman?
 How does a work communicate the anxieties of its age?
 What are basic tenets of Freudian theory?
 How does “metafiction” change the relationship between author
and reader?
Essential questions:
 How can principles of impressionism be applied to language?
 How does a text “evolve”?
 How can we apply Post-Colonialist theories to our reading of a
text?
 How does Orientalism psychologically shield us from our own
failings and shortcomings?
Concepts, terms, and themes:
Archetypes, light/dark dichotomy, phallic and yonic symbols, the natural
world vs. the mechanized world, psychosexuality, the Oedipus Complex,
structuralism
Texts:
Lawrence, Sons and Lovers
Lawrence, “The Snake”
Lawrence, “The Rockinghorse Winner”
Lawrence, “The Blind Man”
Lawrence, “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter”
Lawrence, “Gladiatorial”
Lawrence, “Sex versus Loveliness”
Maugham, Of Human Bondage
Concepts, terms, and themes:
Ambiguity, light/dark dichotomy, impressionism, delayed decoding,
orientalism, narrative framing, allusion, deconstruction (if time allows)
Texts:
Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Achebe, “A Vision of Africa”
Eliot, “The Hollow Men”
Coppola, Apocalypse Now (Movie night!)
Additional resources:
PowerPoint, “Literary Theory”
PowerPoint, “Impressionism in Heart of Darkness”
Film, King Leopold’s Ghost
Handout, “Impressionism and Narrative Techniques in HoD”
Research in library [3 days (11/7 – 11/9)]
Additional resources:
Powerpoint, “Freud and Modern Thought”
Powerpoint, “Literary Theory”
Powerpoint, “Structuralism and Semiotics”
Various fine arts resources
Handout, “An Incomplete List of Archetypes”
Handout, “Structuralism warm-up”
Assessment*
_____ Comprehension test (50 pts)
10/28 In-class essay (50 pt)
11/16 Critical research project presentations (50 pts)
12/1
Heart of Darkness analysis essay (100 pts)
Assessment*
9/12
Comparative essay on Sons and Lovers & OHB (100 pts)
_____ Short story panel (30 pts)
_____ Pirate paper (30 pts)
_____ In-class essay on “Sex vs. Loveliness” (50 pts)
* All due dates are tentative and subject to change.
English III Honors Syllabus 2011-2012
Henderson
Unit III: Old English, ancient heroes: Beowulf
Approximate dates: 11/28 – 12/21
Essential questions:
 What are the traits of an Epic Hero?
 How do mythical monsters reflect very human notions?
 Where do the sacred, the secular, and the profane meet in this
poem?
Concepts, terms and themes:
Syncretic texts, predator/holdfast/avenger, poetic devices in Old English,
epic heroic cycle,
Texts:
Unknown author, Beowulf
Additional resources:
Video lecture, “Beowulf: the monsters”
Handout, “A wee bit of Old English”
Research in library [4 days (12/1 – 12/6)]
Concepts, terms, and themes:
Frame tale, poetic devices in Middle English, the Great Vowel Shift, the
Three Estates, allegory, satire, genres
Texts:
We will be reading the following tales:
General Prologue
The Knight’s Tale
The Miller’s Tale
The Prioress’s Tale
The Wife of Bath’s Tale
Chaucer’s retraction
Literature circle tales:
The Reeve’s Tale
The Nun’s Priest’s Tale
The Pardoner’s Tale
Chaucer the Pilgrim’s Tales
Additional resources:
Handout, “Studying elements of The Canterbury Tales”
Handout, “The Knight as Storyteller”
Handout, “Approaching The Canterbury Tales”
Film, The Black Death
iTunes U Pocast, “Introduction to Geoffrey Chaucer”
Assessment*:
12/13 – 12/20
Beowulf presentations (50 pts)
12/12 Poetry Out Loud Classroom Contest (50 pts)
1/1
Beowulf blogs (30 pts)
Assessment*:
1/17
Pilgrim Portrait (50 pts)
2/21
Original tales (50 pts)
3/2
Canterbury Tales analysis essay (100 pts)
Unit IV: Party like it’s 1399: The Canterbury Tales
Approximate dates: 1/3 – 2/29
Essential questions:
 How do you live in an era defined by death?
 What constitutes a good story?
 Why is storytelling essential to humanity?
 What does it mean to be virtuous?
 How do power struggles manifest themselves?
* All due dates are tentative and subject to change.
English III Honors Syllabus 2011-2012
Henderson
Unit VI: Is he just messing with us? The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Approximate dates: 4/16 – 5/4
Unit V: Hamlet
Approximate dates: 3/5 – 4/5
Essential questions:
 Why is Hamlet such a canonical work of literature?
 How does Shakespeare’s use of subjectivity inaugurate the
“modern man”?
 To what intended effect does Shakespeare employ linguistic and
stylistic ambiguity?
 What is existentialism, and how can it be applied to Hamlet?
Concepts, terms, and themes:
Subjectivity, ambiguity, entropy (personal, filial, political), existentialism
and “being”, framing (play within a play), the “free artist of himself”,
objective correlative, negative capability, aesthetic distance, memento mori,
gallows humor
Essential questions:
 How does “metafiction” change the relationship between author
and reader?
 How is Fowles’ work a response to earlier Victorian literature?
What commentary is making about modern man?
 How can feminist theory be applied to the novel?
Concepts, terms, and themes:
Narrative conventions (and the breaking of them), the psychic trauma of
Darwinism, the bourgeois struggle in fiction
Texts:
Fowles, The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Additional resources:
Library resources
Texts:
Shakespeare, Hamlet
Additional resources:
Film, Hamlet (1990)
Film, Hamlet (1996)
Film, Hamlet (2000)
Film, The Lion King
Powerpoint, “Origins of Hamlet”
Powerpoint, “Character and Modernity”
Prezi, “Existentialism (and kittens)”
Handout, “Alas, Poor Yorick”
Passages from Richard III, Henry V, Antony and Cleopatra
Assessment:
_____ In-class essay on The French Lieutenant’s Woman (50 pts)
_____ FLW group podcast (50 pts)
TDB:
Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Zenith Projects!
Assessment*
3/5
Hamlet Comprehension Test (50 pts)
_____ Group productions (100 pts)
4/5
Hamlet analysis essay (100 pts)
* All due dates are tentative and subject to change.