Introduction to Literature
Syllabus
Fall 2007
Three credits
Bro. N. Koss
E-mail 001193@mail.fju.edu.tw
Office hours: Tuesday 8:00-10:00 Thursday 9:00-11:00
Course Description
One important purpose of this course is to develop your English ability in terms of
reading, writing and speaking. Through reading the works of English and American
literature selected for this course you will enhance your English vocabulary. At the
same time, you will learn much about Western culture and its values. You will then
be able to compare your own culture with another culture. This course will also
introduce a variety of ideas about life and its meanings.
PART ONE: FICTION (SHORT STORIES)
Tuesday, September 18
Introduction to plot, narration and point of view,
character, setting, symbols, and theme. “The End of
Something” by Ernest Hemingway.
Thursday, September 20
Discussion of “The End of Something” by Ernest
Hemingway.
Tuesday, September 25
Thursday, September 27
Holiday
“Two Kinds” by Amy Tan. Plot, theme, point of view.
Tuesday, October 2
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. Setting, symbol,
irony. Video of “The Lottery”
Discussion of “The Lottery.”
Thursday, October 4
Thursday, October 11
“Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather. Characterization,
setting, and theme. Video of “Paul’s Case.”
Discussion of “Paul’s Case.”
Tuesday, October 16
“Araby” by James Joyce
“
Thursday, October 18
Araby.”
Discussion of “Araby.”
Tuesday, October 23
“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner.
Review in preparation for examination.
Discusson of “A Rose for Emily.”
Review in preparation for examination.
Tuesday, October 9
Thursday, October 25
Initiation, setting.
Video of
Tuesday, October 30
Examination I
PART TWO: DRAMA
Thursday, November 1
Introduction to Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw.
Tuesday, November 6
Thursday, November 8
Pygmalion. Act One.
Video of Act One. Discussion of Act One
Tuesday, November 13
Thursday, November 15
Pygmalion. Act Two.
Video of Acts Two and Three.
Tuesday, November 20
Thursday, November 22
Pygmalion. Act Three.
Discussion of Act Three.
Tuesday, November 27
Pygmalion. Act Four. Discussion of Act Four.
Video of Act Five.
Pygmalion. Act Five.
Thursday, November 29
.
Tuesday, December 4
Discussion of Act Two
Video of Act Four.
Examination II
PART THREE: POETRY
Thursday, December 6
Lyric and Tone
Lee Li-Young, “I Ask My Mother to Sing”
Gwendolyn Brooks, “We Real Cool”
Tuesday, December 11
Thursday, December 13
Play context
Lyric and Tone
Robert Hayden, “Those Winter Sundays”
Theodore Roethke, “My Papa’s Waltz”
Langston Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”
Tuesday, December 18
Diction & Figurative Language1
William Wordsworth, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
Richard Wilbur, “A Simile for Her Smile”
Sylvia Plath, “Metaphors”
Emily Dickinson, “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?”
Thursday, December 20
Emily Dickinson, “I Felt a Funeral in My Brain”
Adrieene Rich, “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers”
Tuesday, December 25
Thursday, December 27
Holiday
Poetry III: Figurative Language 2
Ezra Pound, “In a Station of the Metro”
Langston Hughes, “Harlem”
Thomas Hardy, “Neutral Tones”
Robert Frost, “Mending Wall”
Wallace Stevens, “Disillusionment of Ten O’clock”
Tuesday, January 1
Holiday
Thursday, January 3
Poetry IV: Sound & Sense
Elizabeth Bishop, “One Art”
William Carlos Williams, “The Dance”
W. H. Auden, “Musee des Beaux Arts”
Robert Herrick, “Upon Julia’s Voice”
Wallace Stevens, “Anecdote of a Jar”
Tuesday, January 8
Poetry V: Poetic Form
William Shakespeare, “That Time of Year…”
Thursday, January 10
Tuesday, January 15
E. E. Cummings, “l(a”
Walt Whitman, “When I Heard . . . ”
Walt Whitman, “A Noiseless Patient Spider”
Dylan Thomas, “Do Not Go Gentle . . .”
Thomas Hardy, “The Convergence of the Twain”
Examination III
EXPLANATIONS
At the start of each class there will be a short writing practice on the vocabulary and
content of the assigned readings.
The final grade will be based on the three major examinations (50%); the writing
practices each week (30%); and attendance and class participation (20%).
Students are expected to attend class. If some one is unable to come to class, for an
excused absence, please e-mail the day before class. It will be difficult to pass this
course if you have two unexcused absences.