British Literature and Composition 2015-2016
Instructor:
Michael Thornton
email:
michael_thornton@dpsk12.org
voicemail:
720.424.1794
room: 223
office: 222
Office hours: Tuesday, Thursday – 2:40-3:20 pm
website:
http://dsapresents.org/staff/michael-thornton/british-literature-andcomposition/
This language arts course explores the literature of the English-speaking world, especially
works from Great Britain and its colonies (excluding America). The class will focus on
the major literary movements in British Literature, not necessarily in chronological order.
Materials, Products, and Expectations
Notebook (three-ring binder or divided notebook, brought to class daily):
 handouts from class
 class writing assignments
 literary terms and vocabulary
 reading journal
Class Reading and Writing: discussions and writing exercises
 follow handouts and read during class
 participate in discussions and writing forums
Independent Reading and Writing:
 Expository Essay
 Presentations
 Reading Journal
 Critical Research Paper
Typical products for specific assignments include the following:
 Brainstorming and prewriting notes, diagrams, quotes, research
 Typed final draft with bibliography, MLA format
Expectations: In this class we will read poetry, short stories, plays, novels and
nonfiction. These pieces will provide the basis for our discussions in class and models
for writing. Much of the work will be done in class, but the independent reading and
writing will also demand out-of-class work. You will have to borrow books from the
library or purchase books. More detailed assignments on the independent reading and
writing will be distributed throughout the semester. All assignments will be posted on
the class website, with links to downloads. If you miss a class, you are responsible for
making up missed material. In-class essay questions and quizzes on required reading
should be made up before the next class period after returning to school. If you miss a
class presentation by a group you are a member of, upon returning to class you must
make an appointment with the instructor to decide on a makeup assignment. Late work
will be penalized 10% of the grade on the assignment – if the work is turned in after the
end of the first quarter each semester, only 50% of the credit will be available.
Plagiarism found in any assignment will result in a grade of 0% for the assignment,
parental contact, and a conference tab entry. Any exceptions to these rules require the
instructor’s permission in advance. Process and product tasks are weighted 35 and 55%
respectively, accounting for 90% of the semester grade. The semester final counts 10%.
In order to receive Honors credit for this class, you will be asked to (1) read at least one
extra novel per semester; (2) write a synthesis argument essay focusing on this extra
novel; (3) complete the Regular class assignments, including a research paper; and (4)
choose from a limited and challenging list of novels for the research paper. If you receive
a D or F, or don’t complete the major assignments as part of the Honors section, you will
be placed in the Regular section for the first and/or second semester.
Tentative Schedule for Fall Semester
LITERATURE
HISTORY, ART, MUSIC
th
st
Introduction to 20 & 21
Literary Canon: Why Certain
Century:
Books are Important
Storytelling and Narration
Modern Music; BritLIST Items
Weeks 2-4:
Heart of Darkness by Joseph
Literary Terms List;
August 31Conrad in class by Week 2;
Presentations on British
September 18
Things Fall Apart by Achebe
Colonialism, Expressionism,
Existentialism, The Grail legend:
Commonwealth Stories
plot, imagery, narrative structure
Analysis; Expository Essay and
weekly themes on Conrad;
Whatever Works, Apocalypse Now,
Synthesis Argument Essay for
Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant
Honors credit
Weeks 5-6:
Joyce’s Dubliners and excerpts
Psychoanalysis
September 21from Ulysses; T.S. Eliot, and
Modernism and Photography
October 2
Hayden’s Middle Passage
Language as a Virus
Weeks 7-9:
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf English Landscapes
October 5-23
The Hours
Weekly Quizzes
Mrs. Miniver
Reading Journal
Weeks 10-11:
“The First Year of My Life”
Irish Rebellion
October 26Yeats; World War I Poets
Bloody Sunday
November 6
In the Name of the Father
War Unit Assignment
Weeks 12-14:
Contemporary Playwrights:
Modern British Theatre history
November 9Beckett and Pinter
Beckett on Film
December 4
Modern British Novel history:
Research Paper and Digital
focus on plot, imagery, narrative
Presentation on Contemporary
Novel: Cloud Atlas*, Time’s
structure, characterization
Arrow, Nights at the Circus, White
Teeth*, Atonement*, July’s
People, Midnight’s Children*, A
Fine Balance - * designates
Honors
Weeks 15-16:
Postmodernism
Contemporary Drama Script
December 7-18
Stoppard’s EGBDF, Churchill,
Victorian Web site
Modern British Poetry and Stories
Victorian Novel List, and Spring
Semester Research Paper
The scope and sequence of some of the included topics may be expanded, reduced or
shifted to accommodate class needs.
The grading scale for this class is defined by the school district:
A = 93-100%
C+ = 77-79%
A- = 90-92%
C = 73-76%
B+ = 87-89%
C- = 70-72%
B = 83-86%
D = 60-69%
B- = 80-82%
F = 0-59%
CLASS WEEK
Week 1:
August 25-28, 2015
2
Tentative Schedule for Spring Semester
CLASS WEEK
LITERATURE
HISTORY, ART, MUSIC
Weeks 1-3:
Victorian Novel Research Paper BritLIST selections
January 6-22, 2016 Charlotte and Emily Brontë,
Publication of Victorian Novels
Dickens, Hardy, Eliot, Thackeray
British Nationalism
discussion groups
Victorian Web site
Focus on plot, characterization,
Victorian Novel Research draft
Research Articles for discussions
setting, tone
Week 4:
Victorian Language
Group Presentations on novels:
January 25-29
Gothic (Jane Eyre and Wuthering My Fair Lady
Heights*), Realist (A Tale of Two
Cities and Hardy*), Psychological
and Satiric (Middlemarch* and
Vanity Fair* - * designates
Honors)
Peer Review of papers
Victorian Novel Research final
Week 5:
Introduction to Oscar Wilde
Aestheticist Movement
February 1-5
Dorian Gray; Importance of Being Ruskin on Painters; William
Earnest Worksheet on Earnest
Morris
Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories
Impressionism and J.M.W. Turner
Weeks 6- 8:
Novel of Manners (or Social
Austen Novel Analysis: Solo
February 8-26
Classes – before Realism)
Digital Presentations on novels;
Social Classes and Britain’s
Chapter Essay
Gerard Manley Hopkins
“Poor”
Weeks 9-11:
Romantic Poets and Frankenstein English Painters and Gardeners
March 1-18
Poetry Analysis Test
Synthesis Argument Essay for
Honors credit
Weeks 12-14:
Milton’s Paradise Lost
"The Story of English"
March 21 – April
The Dictionary and the Academy
Free Will Assignment
15
Johnson and Boswell, Addison,
Newspapers and the Middle Class
Wollstonecraft
Spring Essay
Swift’s Modest Proposal
Week 15:
English Ballads
The Ghost of Shakespeare debate
April 18-22
Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Will in the World
Weeks 16-18:
Richard III
Richard III by Ian McKellan
April 25-May 13
Looking for Richard
Richard III Adaptation
Shakespeare’s Theatres
The Street King
Weeks 19-21:
Chaucer and the Chaucerians
The Black Death
May 16 – June 2
A Knight's Tale
Chaucer’s “Prologue”
Adaptation
The scope and sequence of some of the included topics may be expanded, reduced or
shifted to accommodate class needs.