Dr. Vöő Gabriella
Wednesday 12-2 p.m., G/516
ANG 071005, ANGA 052302
Fall 2007
Early and Romantic American Poetry
Discussion schedule and required primary readings
1.
4 Sept.
2.
11 Sept.
3.
18 Sept.
4.
25 Sept.
5.
2 Oct.
6.
9 Oct.
7.
16 Oct.
8.
7 Nov.
9.
14 Nov.
10..
21 Nov.
11.
28 Nov.
12.
6 Dec.
PRIMARY READING
Introduction to the course
CRITICISM
Anne Bradstreet: The Prologue, The Author to Her
Book, Before the Birth of One of Her Children, To
My Dear and Loving Husband, Upon the Burning of
Our House
Edward Taylor: Huswifery, Upon a Wasp Child
with Cold;
from Preparatory Meditations: Meditation 8
F. Murphy: “Anne Bradstreet and Edward
Taylor”
Phillis Wheatley: On Being Brought from Africa to
America, On Imagination, To S.M. A Young African
Painter, To His Excellency, General Washington
Philip Freneau: On the Emigration to America, The
Wild Honey Suckle, The Indian Burying Ground, On
Mr. Paine’s Rights of Man, On a Honey Bee, On the
Uniformity and Perfection of Nature
William Cullen Bryant: To a Waterfowl,
Thanatopsis, A Forest Hymn, To the Fringed
Gentian, The Prairies
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: A Psalm of Life,
Nature, The Cross of Snow
Deadline for choosing an essay topic and
preparing a bibliography
Edgar Allan Poe: To Helen, “The Philosophy of
Composition” (essay); The Raven, Ulalume, “The
Fall of the House of Usher” with The Haunted
Palace; Ligeia with “The Conqueror Worm”
Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The American Scholar,”
“The Poet” (essays); The Rhodora, Each and All,
Uriel
Walt Whitman: the 1855 “Preface” to Leaves of
Grass, Song of Myself, Facing West from
California’s Shores, There Was a Child Went Forth,
Passage to India
Walt Whitman: Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, Out of
the Cradle Endlessly Rocking, When Lilacs Last in
the Dooryard Bloom’d
Deadline for the final draft of the essay (optional)
Emily Dickinson: selections
Emily Dickinson: selections
F. Murphy: “Anne Bradstreet and Edward
Taylor”
K. Keller: “Preparatory Meditations: Towards
a Wilderness Baroque.”
C. Herron: “Early African American Poetry”
J. McWilliams: “Poetry in the Early
Republic”
T. Wortham: “William Cullen Bryant and the
Fireside Poets”
D. Gioia: “Longfellow in the Aftermath of
Modernism”
J. Meyers: “Edgar Allan Poe.”
R. Polonsky: “Poe’s Aesthetic Theory“
L. Buell: “The American Transcendentalist
Poets”
D. Pease: “Walt Whitman’s Revisionary
Democracy”
David S. Reynolds: “Science, Philosophy, and
Religion”
M. Kinkead-Weekes: “Walt Whitman Passes
the Full-Stop by. . . .”
D. S. Reynolds: “Sex, Gender, and
Comradeship”
C. Griffin Wolff: “Emily Dickinson”
S. Juhasz and C. Miller: “Performances of
Gender in Dickinson’s Poetry”
Deadline for the essay
End-term test
Course Requirements
1. Primary Reading: Students are kindly requested to come to class having read and prepared the text(s) assigned in the
reading and discussion schedule. Also prior to the discussion of a given author or period, they are expected to read the
introductions to individual authors from the anthologies of American literature (Harper or Norton) as well as the section
introductions.
2. Criticism: Essays indicated in the “Critical reading” section are compulsory reading, class discussion will rely on
both primary and secondary material.
3. Test and essay: There will be an end-term test as well as an essay of about 3000 words length required for this
course. The essay is due by week 11 of the semester (28November), and will be devoted to some aspect of the authors
and works discussed (titles will be suggested along the discussions). Please note that your argument must be supported
by at least 4 critical works, which must be cited as references. You can use the critical material listed in the syllabus, or
you may do some individual research in the library or in the Literature Online (Chadwyck) database (‘Criticism and
Reference’ section). All reference material should be properly credited.
Format of the essay: MLA (please consult the MLA Style Crib Sheet at http://www.docstyles.com/mlacrib.htm or
http://www.arthes.com/composition/mla.html
Presentation: Each student must be actively involved in 3 in-depth discussions of authors, poems or themes.
Assignments will be given to students individually.
Late paper policy: Essays coming in late will lose a mark each weekday.
Grading will be based on students’ accomplishments in the test (40%), the essay and class work (30-30%).
Attendance: No more than two absences are acceptable without excuse.
Reference
Lee, Robert A. (ed.) Nineteenth-Century American Poetry. London: Vision and Barnes and Noble, 1985.
Ruland, Richard and Bradbury, Malcolm. From Puritanism to Postmodernism. A History of American Literature. New
York: Viking, 1992.
Vendler, Helen (ed.). Voices and Visions. The Poet in America. New York: Random House, 1984.
Anne Bradstreet
Murphy, Francis. “Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor.” Parini, Jay and Millier, Brett C. (eds.). The Columbia History of
American Poetry. New York: Columbia UP, 1993. 1-15. COOSPACE
Edward Taylor
Keller, Karl. “Preparatory Meditations: Towards a Wilderness Baroque.” The Example of Edward Taylor. Amherst: U
of Massachusetts P, 1975. 161-88. COOSPACE
Phillis Wheatley
Herron, Carolivia. “Early African American Poetry.” Columbia History. 16-32. COOSPACE
Philip Freneau
McWilliams, John. “Poetry in the Early Republic.” The Columbia Literary History of the United States. Ed. Emory
Elliott. New York: Columbia UP, 1987. 156-167. COOSPACE
William Cullen Bryant and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Meyer, Kinereth. “Landscape and Counter-Landscape in the Poetry of William Cullen Bryant.” Nineteenth-Century
Literature. Vol. 48, Nr. 2 (Sept. 1993). 194-211. PHOTOCOPY
Wortham, Thomas. “William Cullen Bryant and the Fireside Poets.” Columbia Literary History. 278-88. COOSPACE
Gioia, Diana. “Longfellow in the Aftermath of Modernism.” Columbia History. 64-96. COOSPACE
Edgar Allan Poe
Meyers, Jeffrey. “Edgar Allan Poe.” Columbia History. 173-202. COOSPACE
Polonsky, Rachel. “Poe’s Aesthetic Theory.“ Hayes, Kevin J. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe.
Cambridge, Cambridge UP, 2002. 42-56. COOSPACE
Weekes, Karen. “Poe’s Feminine Ideal.” Cambridge Companion 148-63. COOSPACE
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Buell, Lawrence. “The American Transcendentalist Poets.” Columbia History. 97-119. COOSPACE
Walt Whitman
Pease, Donald E.: “Walt Whitman’s Revisionary Democracy.”Columbia History. 148-71. COOSPACE
Reynolds, David S. “Science, Philosophy, and Religion.” Walt Whitman. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. 76-100. COOSPACE
—. “Sex, Gender, and Comradeship.” Walt Whitman. 101-22. COOSPACE
Kinkead-Weekes, Mark. “Walt Whitman Passes the Full-Stop by. . . .” Lee, Robert A. (ed.) Nineteenth-Century
American Poetry. London: Vision and Barnes and Noble, 1985. 43-59. PHOTOCOPY
Emily Dickinson
Griffin Wolff, Cynthia. “Emily Dickinson.” Columbia History. 212-47. COOSPACE
Juhasz, Suzanne and Christianne Miller. “Performances of Gender in Dickinson’s Poetry.” Cambridge Companion 10728. COOSPACE
The Chadwyck (Literature Online) database is a very useful resource. Students are kindly requested to use the
“Knowledge Notes” section as well as the Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century.