English 5/4140-01W
American Romanticism:
Transgression, Transcendence, and
Transformation.
Dr. Lori Wilson Snaith
Tu, Th 11:00-12:15 p.m., Pafford 305
(After you carefully read the following class policies and requirements, click here to
jump to our weekly schedule .)
Where did the America we know today—so different in its fundamental views about
almost every aspect of life as to be unrecognizable to our countrymen of two
centuries ago—really come from?
What forces eventually enabled our nation to see slavery as morally abhorrent and
unequivocally wrong, when we had once passed a law permitting the capture and
return of escaped slaves who managed to make their way to the "free" North?
How did the struggle for women's rights—not just for the right to vote but also to
have control over their own aspirations and destinies—gain the momentum to
unleash changes still felt today?
Why did the once-unassailable power wielded from the pulpit begin to weaken in
the 1800s? Why did certain theologies become more liberal and increasing numbers
of people choose less dogmatic expressions of faith—or even no faith at all?
What are the roots of our love for nature, of the near-spiritual experience so many of
us now find in the ripple of a stream in the morning sun or the thunderous roar of
ocean waves?
Finally, what is the source of our distinctly American way of experiencing
ourselves—confident in our value as individuals, certain of our ability to discover
personal truths in the natural world, self-reliant in the face of uncertainty and
change?
In "Amercan Romanticism: Transgression, Transcendence, and Transformation,"
we will encounter a diverse group of intellectual activists, literary figures, and social
reformers whose ideas, often considered radical in the decades before and after the
Civil War, who will remake American society.
Text: Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume B,
Seventh Edition. (1820-1865) 7th edition. NY: W.W. Norton, 2007.
Supplemental Readings (pdf versions will be available from this website); you
must print out, read, and bring all these texts to class.
GENERAL CLASSROOM DEPORTMENT AND TECHNOLOGY
POLICIES
I will dismiss from class any student who exhibits behavior that disrupts the learning
environment of others. Such behavior includes—but is not limited to—arriving late for class,
eating in class, allowing cell phones to ring, typing on a laptop, speaking disrespectfully to the
instructor and/or to other students, checking email or surfing the web, and using personal audio
or video devices. I'll count any dismissal of this kind as an absence and will apply it toward the
attendance requirements policy.
Please read this Classroom (N)etiquette document thoroughly; they reflect the
above English Department policy
as well as my own classroom rules, and I am very serious about all of us
observing these rules of basic courtesy.
ATTENDANCE
Our task this semester is to significantly improve your critical thinking and college-level
rhetorical writing. These skills are absolutely essential to your success in college, and you
simply must be consistent in your attendance and participation in class.
However, I know that occasional emergencies arise, so I allow THREE no-questions-asked
absences—please use them wisely, and keep me informed! I make no distinction between
"excused" and "unexcused" absences. If you must be absent, I expect you to keep up with the
assignments; if you’re absent on the day an assignment is due, I will still expect you to make
arrangements to get it to me on time.
NOTE: I count "lates" (i.e. arriving after class has begun) as 1/2 an absence...so arrive
to class on time!
If a student has only one actual absence but four late arrivals to class, he or she will have
reached the absence maximum.
In accordance with the English Department FYW policy, I may administratively
withdraw or give a grade of F to students when they have accumulated more than three
absences.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
This semester, we'll work together to:
--explore American Romanticism and its historical, intellectual, and literary contexts.
--become familiar with and be able to analyze the work of the major writers of this period.
--identify the ways in which American Romantics transgressed, influenced, and transformed
the institutions, sensitivities, and orthodoxies of their forebears.
--make connections between the ideas and movements surrounding American Romanticism
and contemporary American culture.
--observe, interpret, and posit arguments about the major ideas of American Romantic
literature and the ways in which they are still relevant.
--hone skills crucial written communication skills by fulfilling the objectives of the
Discipline Specific Writing program, specifically->to practice writing as a method of self-aware inquiry.
>to recognize research questions and write reflectively about them in order to identify
and focus in on a viable topic for short and long essay-writing.
>to follow the college-level writing process of developing ideas that arise in reading and
discussion into a cogent, focused, well-researched formal long essay.
>to develop and master the skills of college-level writing in Standard English, adhering
strictly to the formatting requirements of the discipline.
>demonstrate a command of academic English and the tenets of sound composition by
means of thesis-driven analytical prose.
Course Requirements and Grading
1) Brief Essays—3 @ 16.6% each = 50% total.
Three brief (2 to 3 pages for undergraduates; 3 to 4 for graduate students) analytical responses
to our discussion and readings--you may approach these responses in an informal, inquiring
tone, but I'll expect that you do so in standard academic English. Every essay should be a
focused examination an image, character, theme, or idea that has caught your interest in recent
readings. Your task in these brief essays is to analyze your topic with respect to course texts
and secondary readings, and should posit a thesis based on your interpretation of your
observations of these texts.
Your papers must adhere strictly to MLA formatting, including Works Cited pages; please
STAPLE your essays in the top left corner. I will not accept papers that do not comply with
these instructions.
You must turn in THREE of these during the course of this semester, and I won't
prescribe specific due dates, but you must make sure to submit your essays according to
the following timetable:
Essay #1: no later than September 15th at the beginning of class
Essay #2: September 20th though October 11th at the beginning of class
Essay #3 October 18th through November 3rd at the beginning of class.
You may only submit one essay class period, and I will not accept any essay
submitted after its deadline.
You have the option to revise Essays #1 and #2 under the following two conditions: 1) you
must submit your revision no later than one week after I return the graded original to you; 2)
you must follow these revision instructions precisely. **I won't accept revisions that do not
meet these criteria.**
2) In-Class Reflective Writing = 5%
(You'll need a dedicated notebook for this assignment):
As a springboard to the day’s discussion, I will ask you to do focused free-writing on a general
topic or question for 5-10 minutes each day, and to be prepared to share your writing with the
class. Periodically, I will collect your Reflective Writing notebooks and assess them with
respect to the evidence they provide of your class preparation, your engagement with the
primary AND secondary texts, and the level of complex thinking that your writing reveals.
We will accomplish four important learning outcomes with these activities:
(1) to help you flesh out ideas or work through questions that the readings evoke;
(2) to help you prepare for insightful class discussion of the readings;
(3) to practice connecting your reading to the theories we’ll be discussing; and,
(4) to discover and develop your thinking as you prepare to undertake your research project.
3) Research Paper: 30%
An analytical essay (8-10 pages for Undergraduate students; 10-12 pages for Graduate
students), carefully formatted according to MLA requirements.
This paper will represent a high level of college writing and critical thinking; I will assess it
according to the English Department’s grading criteria for courses at the 2000-level and
above. Make a point to meet with me during my office hours before October 6th in order to
discuss your specific project.
Your rhetorical task is to write an essay connecting any of our primary texts/other works of
American Romantics to contemporary culture via secondary texts we discuss in class, those
you find in the course of your own research, and your own critical thinking.
I will assess all your formal writing according to the English Department Grading
Criteria for 2000-level classes and above .
4) Research Works-in-Progress Presentation: 15%
Each student will sign up to lead the class in a 15-20 minute presentation of his or her research
project; this assignment is NOT a reading of your paper, but rather a presentation of your
primary text, connections between your research and the rest of our class texts, and your
conclusions about what the interaction of all these texts suggest about the questions we've been
discussing regarding film as literature. Please prepare hand-outs and other visuals for your
classmates, including any pre-reading you’d like us to do in advance of your presentation.
Students often prefer to use a PowerPoint format for presenting their research--this approach
works very well, but ONLY as long as the text on each slide is at a bare minimum. Don't
overload your slides with text! Show us pictures, and /or film clips, provide bullet points for
your own reference, but TELL us about your project., don't read your slides to us.
Your presentation must cover on the following elements:
• Your primary text(s)
• Research questions/subquestions
• Secondary texts
• Your provisional thesis
As part of this grade, I will also expect you to listen closely to classmates’ presentations, and
be prepared to ask insightful questions and engage in substantial discussion about his or her
work.
I will assess your presentation according to the following criteria:
• Coherence of your analysis—thorough close reading and mastery of the text(s) about which
you're writing.
• Basic presentation skills (i.e. can everybody hear you? Can you sustain eye-contact with
your classmates? Can you overcome your nerves and deliver an interesting, informative,
pleasant—maybe even fun—presentation, and lead the group in Q&A/discussion?
• Efficacy of any additional visual examples you bring to class (you’re welcome to use our
classroom computer/projector if you want to add your own visuals—just let me know a day or
two ahead of time).
• Integration of course concepts in your analysis.
Fall 2011--IMPORTANT DATES
August 22-28: Drop/Add
September 5: Labor Day (No Classes)
October 14: Withdrawal Deadline (with a grade of “W”)
November 21-25: Thanksgiving Holiday (No Classes)
December 3-9: Final Instruction/Fall Examinations
December 12: Grades Posted no later than 8:30 a.m.
**Last day to withdraw with a “W”: October 14th** .
SEMESTER SCHEDULE
Note: each reading and written assignment is due on the date it appears on our
schedule.
WEEK 1
08/23 Tu Welcome to American Romanticism! Discussion of class focus, texts,
introductions, etc...the usual first-day-of-class stuff.
08/25 Th Discussion: Our theme for this semester: Transgression, Transcendence, and
Transformation.
Print out, read, and bring to class: Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of
Independence.
Writing intensity! King: "Why and How to Avoid Passive Voice" and General
Essay Notes
WEEK 2--Forces of History: The Call to Transcendence
08/30 Tu Print out, read, and bring to class: William Ellery Channing, "Unitarian
Christianity."
09/01 Th Channing, continued.
WEEK 3
09/06 Tu Historical contextualization, continued: Norton Anthology, “Introduction.” The
British Romantics. Guest speaker, Professor John Sturgis.
09/08 Th Romantic Poetry: William Cullen Bryant, “Thanatopsis" (1045) and “The
Prairies" (1048);
Lydia Howard Huntley Sigourney, "Death of an Infant" (1029 and "The Suttee"
(1030);
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “A Psalm of Life” (1497) and “The Jewish
Cemetary at Newport” (1502).
WEEK 4--Emerson!!
09/13 Tu Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self Reliance” (1163); AND (print out, read, and bring
to class): “Circles.”
Research project proposal discussion (due October 6th).
09/15 Th Emerson, continued. "The Poet" (1180).
WEEK 5--Whitman
09/20 Tu Walt Whitman, “Preface to Leaves of Grass” (2195-2209); Emerson, “Letter to
Walt Whitman” (1251). Whitman, “Letter to Ralph Waldo Emerson” (2289).
09/22 Th Whitman, "Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in Hand: (2261); "Out of the
Cradle, Endlessly Rocking" (2267); "When Lilacs Last in the Door Yard Bloom'd" (2282).
WEEK 6--More Whitman!
09/27 Tu Whitman, "Song of Myself" (2210)
09/29 Th Whitman, concluded. "A Persian Lesson" From "Pent Up, Aching Rivers" (2254);
"A Woman Waits for Me" (2255); "Spontaneous Me" (2257)
Student selections of Emily Dickinson poems due on Thursday, 10/6).
WEEK 7--Romantic Women
10/04 Tu Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, "On the Death of my Son William Henry"
(1059); "Sweet Willy" (1060); "My Lover is Tall and Handsome" (1064).
Fanny Fern, "Aunt Hetty on Matrimony" (1794); “Male Criticism on Ladies’
Books” (1799); “A Law More Nice Than Just” (1802);
Emily Dickinson--student selections due today.
10/06 Th Margaret Fuller, "The Great Lawsuit: Men versus Women; Women versus
Women" (1640); "Fourth of July" (1675).
Research Project Proposal due today.
WEEK 8
10/11 Tu Lydia Maria Child, from Letters from New York .(1081); Emily Dickinson
[student selections].
10/13 Th Emily Dickinson [student selections].
***October 14th: Last day to withdraw with a “W.” ***
WEEK 9--Thoreau and the Individual
10/18 Emerson, “Thoreau” (1231-1244); Henry David Thoreau, from Walden, “Economy”
(1872-1914).
Thoreau, from Walden; “Where I lived and What I lived For” (1914-1924), “Reading”
(1924-1930), “Sounds” (1930-1940)
“Solitude” (1940-1945), “The Bean-Field” (1953-1959), “The Ponds” (19631977), “Conclusion” (2038-2046).
10/20 Th
Thoreau, concluded.
WEEK 10--Voice of the Voiceless: Slavery and Race
10/24 Tu "Slavery, Race, and the Making of American Literature” (1682-1698);
Harriet Jacobs, from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (all selections ).
10/26 Th Frederick Douglass, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro: Speech at
Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852” (2140-2143),
“The Heroic Slave” (2143-2170).
WEEK 11
11/01 Tu
1695);
Angelina Grimke, from Appeal to the Christian Women of the South (1692-
Sojourner Truth, “Speech to the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio,
1851” (1695-1696).
11/03 Th “Native Americans: Removal and Resistance” (1252-1272); William Apess, “An
Indian’s Looking Glass for the White Man” (1051-1058).
WEEK 12--Student Research Works-in-Progress Presentations
11/08 Tu [student names here]
11/10 Th [student names here]
WEEK 13--Student Research Works-in-Progress Presentations
11/15 Tu [student names here]
11/17 Th [student names here]
WEEK 14--Thanksgiving Break; no classes this week!
WEEK 15--Conclusion: American Romanticism's Legacy and Contemporary Culture
11/29 Tu
12/01 Th
WEEK 16
12/06 Tu 11:00-1:00 [student names here]
Research Essay Due at the beginning of class.