CRITICAL APPROACHES TO LITERATURE IN ENGLISH I
Course Outline
Course Number: COMM62
'Critical Approaches to Literature in English I' introduces students to the excitement and
challenge of English and American literature from the Renaissance to 1922. Through a
series of encounters with both canonical and marginalized works, we will consider the
ways in which texts of different traditions and geographical locations embody and reflect
the concerns of their ages. At the same time, we will develop our writing, comprehension,
and analytical skills in order to engage critically with our own responses as readers.
Although works to be read will change from semester to semester, students should expect
to encounter at least one novel and one play in addition to a variety of short stories,
essays, and poems.
Learning Sequence:
Week
Week 1
Sep 5 - 8
Week 2
Sep 11 - 15
Week 3
Sep 18 - 22
Week 4
Sep 25 - 29
Week 5
Oct 2 - 6
Week 6
Oct 9 - 13
Week 7
Oct 16 - 20
Week 8
Oct 23 - 27
Week 9
Oct 30 - Nov 3
Topics/ Activities
Assessment
Course Introduction
1. What is a "critical approach?"
2. "Literature in English" vs. "English
Literature"
3. Selected readings
1. Peer review of critical essays
2. The Renaissance; selected poetry
and short non-fiction
3. Introduction to Marlowe's The
Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
The Tragical History of Doctor
Faustus continued
1. The Tragical History of Doctor
Faustus concluded
2. Short selections from Sidney,
Marvell, Herbert, Donne, and Jonson
1. The Enlightenment/18thC (16601770): Exploration & empire; science
2. Selected readings
1. Selected readings from the 18th
Century continued
2. Mid-term exam
Reading Week
The English Romantics;
Wollstonecraft, Wordsworth, the
Reading: one short
essay; selected short
poetry/prose
Journal One (2.5%)
Essay One (750
words) (15%)
Journal Two (2.5%)
Mid-term (20%)
Shelleys
Week 10
Nov 6 - 10
Week 11
Nov 13 - 17
Week 12
Nov 20 - 24
Week 13
Nov 27 - Dec 1
Week 14
Dec 4 - 8
Week 15
Dec 11 - 15
M. Shelley: Frankenstein
Journal Three (2.5%)
Frankenstein continued
1. Frankenstein concluded
2. The Victorian Age: Jane Eyre
Essay Two (1000
words)(25%)
Jane Eyre continued
1. Jane Eyre concluded
2. Victorians and moderns: Browning,
Journal Four (2.5%)
Hopkins, Tennyson; C. Rossetti;
Dickens (short story)
Towards Modernism: Joyce (one
short story from Dubliners), Yeats,
Final Exam (30%)
Pound (selections)
Learning Resources:
1. Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Penguin: New York, 1997.
2. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Dover Publications: New York, 1997.
3. Cuddon, J.A. Dictionary of Literary Terms & Literary Theory. Penguin: New
York, 1998.
Also: various short reading selections provided by the professor.
Assessment Plan:
Item/Date:
Percent:
Weeks 3 and
5
6
Week 5
15
Week 7
20
Weeks 10
5
and 14
Week 13
25
Week 15
30
Description:
Two response journals (300 words each)
Essay One (750 words)
Mid-term test
Two response journals (300 words each)
Essay Two (1000 words)
Final exam