Color Coding: Handouts to read found on EN102 Blog:
DUE DATES; Required Events; Holidays; Introduction to New Module; Essential Poetic Terms; 1
EN102
Literature
Spring Term, AY 11-12
Course Director’s Message and Outline of EN102 Philosophy
The overarching theme of the plebe literature course this year is knowledge: its forms and modes, its historical
evolution, the uses and causes it serves. EN102 has been designed to arm you with knowledge and skills that will serve
you throughout your military career and in life. The entire course—text selection, assignments and activities, and daily
classroom discussion—is animated by the principle that EN102 should foster in you the attributes of deep attention,
intellectual courage, and creativity.
EN102 begins for the Class of 2015 with an examination of lyric poetry and of the archaeology of knowledge
found in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a narrative poem of ancient mythology. The course then moves to an examination of
Shakespearean drama. You will engage with Shakespeare through reading and performance. Finally, you will explore a
particular text—novel, play, or nonfiction prose—as you synthesize the various themes and concepts introduced over
throughout the semester. The course encourages inventive, interdisciplinary approaches to the ideas found in literary
texts. It invites you to bring your own knowledge and interests to bear. Moreover, the course will leave you with skills
you can continue to use as you pursue professional development in various contexts during your West Point experience
and beyond.
Elizabeth D. Samet
Professor of English, EN102 Course Director
EN102 Goals, Objectives, Assessment Measures
EN102 contributes to elements of several USMA Academic Program Goals, which are represented in the quoted
language below. The course challenges plebes:
1. To “think and act creatively” through textual interpretation, dramatic performance, and creative
writing.
2. To “recognize moral issues” as they are represented in literature by examining complex, ambiguous
situations in which characters are confronted with difficult choices.
3. To “listen, read, speak, and write effectively” by engaging in dialogue with peers and faculty, by
memorizing and performing a speech from Shakespeare, and by writing about language and literature.
4. To cultivate “the capability and desire to pursue progressive and continued intellectual development”
by sharpening tools of textual analysis, learning to become more judicious interpreters of evidence, and
reviving a USMA tradition of taking away from the course a volume of Shakespeare to which they can
return in future years.
5. To broaden and deepen a knowledge of “culture,” “history,” and “human behavior” as these domains
are represented in literature.
Color Coding: Handouts to read found on EN102 Blog:
DUE DATES; Required Events; Holidays; Introduction to New Module; Essential Poetic Terms; 2
Course Objectives: The overarching theme of the plebe
literature course is knowledge: its forms and modes, its
historical evolution, the uses and causes it serves. EN102 has
been designed to arm cadets with knowledge and skills that
will serve them throughout their military career and in life. The
entire course—text selection, assignments and activities,
course conduct, and daily classroom conduct—is animated by
the idea that EN102 should foster in cadets the particular set of
skills and attributes outlined below—skills that allow them to
make use of their newfound practical and theoretical
knowledge about literature.
1. Rigorous thinking; patience with ambiguity; the faculty of
deep attention: Cadets cultivate powers of patience,
observation, reflection, and introspection; demonstrate the
ability to set aside preconceived notions while thinking
logically and precisely about ideas; learn the difference
between emotional and rational response while refining skills
of analysis and synthesis. Cadets manifest a capacity to work in
conditions of uncertainty and ambiguity without insisting on
formulaic solutions; develop a capacity for uninterrupted
concentration and an ability to ignore technological and
human distractions as well as to distinguish information from
noise.
2. Creativity; a nimble imagination; a supple, resilient mind;
the willingness to take risks: Cadets demonstrate the
willingness to take intellectual risks; confront new ideas with
resourcefulness and invention; cultivate powers of memory
and imagination.
Assessment Measures: Course assignments, events,
and activities may address several objectives at once;
however, they are listed next to those objectives with
which they are most closely associated.
Close Reading
Shakespeare Essay
Dramatic Reading
Term-End Examination
Classroom Discussion (Instructor Points)
Creative Writing Assignment
Supplementary Creative Assignments (Instructor
Points)
Dramatic Reading
3. Ability to communicate clearly and persuasively: Cadets
demonstrate the ability to express their ideas about literature
in discussion and in writing with clarity, professionalism, and
grace; cadets utilize appropriate scholarly conventions,
understand and apply documentation principles, present
substantive claims supported by thorough analysis and
pertinent evidence.
4. A foundational knowledge of literary genres and
terminology; an awareness of the influence of literary models
and archetypes on human behavior: Cadets acquire a
fundamental knowledge of imaginative literature and its
essential principles, elements, and functions; they learn about
the ways in which literary models reflect and shape human
interaction and shared understandings of (and expectations
about) social roles, including those of soldiers.
Literary Autobiography
Classroom Discussion (Instructor Points)
Close Reading
Shakespeare Essay
Term-End Examination
Literary Autobiography
Term-End Examination
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DUE DATES; Required Events; Holidays; Introduction to New Module; Essential Poetic Terms; 3
5. An understanding that college is not the end but the
beginning of a project of lifelong learning: Cadets cultivate the
ambition and skills required to pursue intellectual
development outside formal academic settings.
Literary Autobiography
Shakespeare Essay
Required Course Texts
The Norton Anthology of Poetry, shorter 5th ed., ed. Ferguson, Salter, and Stallworthy (Norton)
Ovid, Metamorphoses, trans. Charles Martin (Norton Critical Edition)
William Shakespeare, The Norton Shakespeare, ed. Stephen Greenblatt (Norton)
The Invention of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America, Steven Johnson (Riverhead)
Special Events
A Night at the Movies: Cadets will screen one of the following films: Vertigo, Rear Window, O Brother Where Art Thou,
Stranger than Fiction. These films complement the written texts we study by inviting a consideration of narrative,
literary allusion, and/or cultural context.
A Performance by the Jazz Knights: Members of the USMA Band will guide cadets through an examination of aspects of
the relationship between music and poetry. They will pay special attention to rhythm and meter, form, and structure.
Literary Biography Exhibit: The goal of this exhibit is to inspire cadets by means of a display of literary artifacts from the
USMA Library’s Special Collections. The exhibit demonstrates that a deep understanding of the inner lives of some
notable and less celebrated cadets can be revealed through an exploration of the words these figures read and wrote.
The event will prepare cadets to curate their own literary autobiographies, a project that challenges them to think about
what books have made the greatest impact on their lives by enriching and enlarging their thoughts and feelings and by
adding to their store of knowledge.
A Note on Online Resources
Please consult the course website for general information, helpful links, interactive features and contests:
http://literatureandknowledge.wordpress.com/. Online resources have become invaluable; however, users need to
think carefully about the reliability of the information provided on the web as well as the motivations and qualifications
of online content managers. We often use the sites listed on the website, but we urge you to remain vigilant—as you
would when reading any article or book—about the content therein. Nothing prohibits you from consulting other
sources, but some of them contain misinformation or are otherwise unacceptable as scholarly references. When in
doubt about a particular site, consult me.
Course Guidance and Expectations
Intellectual Honesty: Consistent with Academy culture as well as with that of institutions of higher learning across the
country and of honorable researchers and scholars everywhere, the Department of English expects that a spirit of
intellectual honesty will characterize classroom discussion and written work. The authors of The Craft of Research, a
guide to writing, offer the following thoughts about citation:
Color Coding: Handouts to read found on EN102 Blog:
DUE DATES; Required Events; Holidays; Introduction to New Module; Essential Poetic Terms; 4
Citations protect you from a charge of plagiarism, but beyond that narrow self-interest, correct citations
contribute to your ethos. First, readers don’t trust sources they can’t find. If they can’t find yours
because you failed to document them adequately, they won’t trust your evidence; and if they don’t trust
your evidence, they won’t trust your report or you....
[C]itations honor your sources. Few academic researchers get rich writing on topics such as
“Ohio education, 1825-1850.” Their reward isn’t money; it’s the reputation they earn for doing good
work and the pleasure they take in knowing that colleagues respect it enough to cite it—even in
disagreement. Your sources may never know you cited them, but that doesn’t matter. When you cite
sources, you honor them by acknowledging your intellectual debts.
In short, when you cite sources fully and accurately, you sustain and enrich the sense of
community that gives written research both its scholarly and social value.1
You will find pertinent technical guidance in Documentation of Academic Work and in LBH. We will use the Modern
Language Association (MLA) style of parenthetical documentation. Depending on what kind of literary text you are
working with, it is sometimes appropriate to cite line rather than page numbers. We will discuss this and other
conventions in class. Your essays should be accompanied by a list of Works Cited and, when appropriate, an additional
notes page. All written work should also include a signed acknowledgment statement. It is most important that you
understand the principles behind citation. We will review them together in class. When in doubt, you should always feel
free to ask me.
In the Classroom: This course is invested in the exchange of knowledge and ideas. It therefore requires on the part of all
participants thorough preparation, consistent engagement, and intelligent contribution to discussion. The principle of
academic freedom animates the EN102 classroom, where a premium is put on free, open, and responsible debate; on
precise and thoughtful reasoning; and on respect for diversity of opinion and perspective.
Attendance: Class attendance is a military duty. Courtesy obligates you to notify me of authorized absences as far in
advance as possible.
Graded Attendance with Computers: Normally, I will not ask you to bring your computers to class; however, I will alert
you in advance of those occasions when you will need them. You will need laptops for the TEE. (For further information
on attendance at graded events with computers, see DPOM 4-1.)
Course Requirements (1000 pts.): Requirements are designed to assess Cadets’ success in achieving course goals.
Assignments and primary associated skills are outlined below. Please see below for full descriptions of all course
requirements.
Creative Writing Assignment: Critical Reading, Interpretation, Creativity (125 pts.)
Close Reading: Critical Reading, Interpretation, Analysis (150 pts. each)
Shakespeare Essay: Critical Reading, Interpretation, Analysis, Understanding of Human Behavior (175 pts.)
Dramatic Reading: Memory, Interpretation, Creativity, Communication (100 pts.)
Literary Autobiography: Critical Reading, Synthesis, Introspection, Reflection (100 pts.)
Instructor Points: Preparation, Communication, Judgment (100 pts.)
Creative Exercises: (50 pts.)
Term-End Examination: Memory, Interpretation, Analysis, Synthesis (200 pts.)
1
Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams, The Craft of Research, 3rd ed. (Chicago: U of
Chicago P, 2008) 195-96.
Color Coding: Handouts to read found on EN102 Blog:
DUE DATES; Required Events; Holidays; Introduction to New Module; Essential Poetic Terms; 5
On Writing: EN102 is not exclusively a writing course, but one of its goals is the further cultivation of written expression.
In service of that aim, I will read all drafts submitted to me far enough in advance of a particular suspense. I am happy to
discuss these drafts over e-mail or in person.
Successful writing persuades through the controlled expression of meaningful ideas. The Grading Standards document
issued to you in EN101 remains a valuable guide. I will evaluate your writing on its overall effectiveness, the substance
and organization of the ideas, the clarity and accuracy of the execution, and the style of expression. Satisfactory
performance will earn a C. Work earning a B gives a positive impression of general success in all standards. Essays
receiving an A demonstrate excellence in all respects. Certain conventions are associated with writing about literature;
they will be outlined class. The kind of writing we will do in EN102 asks you to make informed claims about the ways in
which particular texts do their work. The relationship between literary form and function will be paramount, and the
course will equip you with the requisite terminology and skills to analyze language and literature effectively.
Submission Guidelines: Essays are due either in hard copy at the start of class or electronically before class begins on
the dates specified. Unless otherwise directed, please plan to submit all essays via e-mail and to complete an online
acknowledgment statement for each document. The submission should consist of one document, which in addition to
the essay itself contains the title page, list of works cited, and any additional notes pages. If you are unable because of
network issues to submit your essay electronically, please bring a hard copy with you to class.
Late Work: The following rules apply for late papers: less than 8 hours = one-full-grade deduction; 8-24 hours = two-fullgrade deduction; more than 24 hours = F. Cadets must complete all requirements. The Course Director may approve the
awarding of less than sixty percent for work that is excessively late, incomplete, or extremely poor in quality.
Format: All essays must be formatted and documented in accordance with the guidance set forth in Documentation of
Written Work and LBH.
Writing Portfolios: Please preserve all graded work for the course electronically or in hard copy.
Department of English Grading Scale:
A+/100-97
A/96.9-93
A-/92.9-90
B+/89.9-87
B/86.9-83
B-/82.9-80
C+/79.9-77
C/76.9-73
C-/72.9-70
D/69.9-67
F/66.9-0
Dr. D’s Variation Schedule of Lessons with Graded Assignments and Special Events
Subject to Change
Lsn.
Date
Topic
Assignment Due
1
9-10
Jan
Hero/ Culture/
Introduction; Blog http://en102drd.wordpress.com/; Syllabus; Course Overview; Superman; Super heroes;
Nonfictional Heroes; Monomyth; Gods, Goddesses and Heroes
Knowledge
Construction
PowerPoint: Superman and Monomyth
Introduction to Ovid: Super heroes, heroes, gods and goddesses: Handouts: “EN102 Run-up to Ovid’s
Metamorphoses”; Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth/ Hero’s Journey; Steve Persall’s “Move Over, Odysseus, Here
Comes Luke Skywalker”; “Gods, Goddesses and Heroes”
Color Coding: Handouts to read found on EN102 Blog:
DUE DATES; Required Events; Holidays; Introduction to New Module; Essential Poetic Terms; 6
See NPR “Truth, Jawlines and the American Way: The Changing Face of Superman”;
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/12/01/142935250/truth-jawlines-and-the-american-way-thechanging-face-of-superman
Watch:
“Look Up in the Sky: The Story of Superman” Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10RS3qUrvLI&feature=related
“Look Up in the Sky: The Story of Superman” Part 2 (note 5:45)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAs918N2QgI&feature=related
2
1112
Jan
Hero/ Culture/
Hero; Gods; Iconography; Narratives; Culture
Knowledge
Construction
Handouts: “EN102 Run-up to Ovid’s Metamorphosis”; NPR “Truth, Jawlines and the American Way: The Changing
Face of Superman”; Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth/ Hero’s Journey; Steve Persall’s “Move Over, Odysseus, Here
Comes Luke Skywalker”; “Heroes”
The Matrix – Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth/ Hero’s Journey:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AG4rlGkCRU or
Harry Potter and Star Wars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RstI-8z1qaM&feature=related
3
4
5
6
13,
17
Jan*
OVID
Metamorphoses
Ovid (What does this proto-hero teach us?) Ovid Book IX (Heracles/ Hercules)
18
JAN
A Night at the
Movies:
Narratives of Origin: Hesiod “Works and Days” (453-456); “The Creation” (5-19); Contexts for Culture and Hero
(What are the purposes of narratives of origin?)
1819
Jan
Ovid
Immortal-mortal conflict (Is it just?): “Jove and Io”; “Pan and Syrinx”; “Jove and Io[2]”
20,
23
Jan
Ovid
2425
Jan
Ovid
(Handout See Course-Wide Requirement #1 “Creative Writing Assignment: Myth”: DUE Lesson 7)
Search “Jove and Io” images on Google; Bring link to favorite “Jove and Io” art work to class on laptop.
Human/ Heroic Aspiration (Is it wrong?): “Phaeton” (29-43) “Daedalus and Icarus”
Search “Phaeton” images on Google; Bring link to favorite “Phaeton” art work to class on laptop.
Human/ Heroic “Nature” (Is it natural?): “Narcissus” (75-80); “Perseus” (112-116) ; “Tereus, Procne, & Philomela”
(157-166); “Nisus & Scylla”
Search for images on one of the above myths; Bring link to art work to class on laptop.
7
2627
Jan
Ovid
DUE: Creative Assignment/ MYTH
POETRY
Introduction to Poetry: Poetic Terms
Handout “EN102 List of Poetic Terms”; (Handout See Course-Wide Requirement #2 “Close Reading”: DUE Lesson
16)
Color Coding: Handouts to read found on EN102 Blog:
DUE DATES; Required Events; Holidays; Introduction to New Module; Essential Poetic Terms; 7
ELEGY: stanza Thomas Gray “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” (Are these heroes of “homely joys”?);
Annotated on-line text “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” with notes: http://www.thomasgray.org/cgibin/display.cgi?text=elcc
8
3031
Jan
Poetry
EPIC/ NARRATIVE accentual meter/ alliterative verse: Beowulf (excerpt) Hero in Community; Monster in Isolation
(What does Beowulf’s version of hero tell us about his culture?)
9
1-2
Feb
Poetry
LYRIC speaker; pastoral: Marlowe; allusion; figure: Ralegh-Donne poems in conversation; Hero in Love; Poet in
Competition (What understanding/ knowledge does reading poetic conversations provide us?)
10
3, 6
Feb
Poetry
LYRIC: allusion; sonnet; caesura; onomatopeia: W.B. Yeats’s “Leda and the Swan” and Handout early draft
“Annunciation” (with paintings); Poet in Process (What does comparison of early and final versions allow us to
discover about poetry and process?); allusion: W.B. Yeats’s “Second Coming”; How do shifting allusions (from
Judeo-Christian to Greco-Roman allusions) affect our reading of the poems? SESTINA: Ezra Pound’s “Sestina:
Altaforte” (Persona Bertran de Born)
See http://www.nli.ie/yeats/ for Irish National Library On-line Yeats Exhibit
Search “Leda and the Swan” images on Google; Bring link to favorite “Leda and the Swan” art work to class on
laptop.
For context on Bertran de Born, see note on use in Dante’s Inferno:
http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/circle8b.html#bertran
For a lighter version of troubadour poet Bertran de Born, see his “Horrible History”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud0Nn0YQdgw
11
7-8
Feb
Poetry
LYRIC: allusion W. H. Auden, “Musee des Beaux Arts”; Anne Sexton, “To a Friend Whose Work has Come to
Triumph”; enjambment, William Carlos Williams “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus”; Edward Field “Icarus” (w
paintings); Variations on a theme (How do different poets use the same narrative or allusions to a narrative to
emphasize different kinds of understanding/ knowledge?);
See: MUTE SOUND before seeing poems and a few paintings of Icarus together:
http://www.eaglesweb.com/IMAGES/icarus.htm
See “Imagery” explanation: http://www.frostfriends.org/imagery.html
Handout Poetic Terms in Edward Field’s “Icarus” (allusion; imagery; end-stopping; enjambment;
caesura; metaphor; synecdoche)
12
9-10
Feb
Poetry
LIBRARY EXHIBIT (Tentative)
(Handout See Course-Wide Requirement #4 “Audio or Video Recording of a Literary Autobiography”: DUE Lesson
19)
13
1314
Feb
Poetry
LYRIC: Open Form/ Free Verse; Persona: Eliot “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”; VILLANELLE: anaphora; Dylan
Thomas’s, “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”;
See: Villanelle explanation and additional examples for further reading:
Color Coding: Handouts to read found on EN102 Blog:
DUE DATES; Required Events; Holidays; Introduction to New Module; Essential Poetic Terms; 8
http://www.webexhibits.org/poetry/explore_classic_villanelle_examples.html
14
1516
Feb
Poetry
ODE: John Keats’s, “Ode on a Nightingale”; ODE; symbol;: Joy Harjo’s “Perhaps the World Ends Here”
SONNET
SONNET: Introduction: Sonnets
PowerPoint
Handout “The Sonnet” (English and Italian; Octave/ sestet; quatrains/ couplet); Meter: (accentual) iamb;
accentual-syllabic meter
15
1720
Feb
Federal Holiday
Sonnet (Is it addressed to someone “real” or someone “fictional”? Why does it matter?)
2122
Feb
Poetry
JAZZ KNIGHT ENSEMBLE
Handout: Ballads: “Variations on the Theme of Unrequited Love”
Listen: Bob Dylan’s “Barbara Allen”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rys7X2Fjo8Q
Listen: Tim O’Brien’s “Fair Margaret and Sweet William”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQECanGoQnE
Listen to Emmylou Harris’s “Barbara Allen”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeeONGiAZo&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL8A47349203AF3986
16
2324
Feb
Poetry
DUE: Close Reading of Poetry
Dramatic
Reading
Introduction: Dramatic Reading/ Monologue Project
Handouts: Dramatic Reading/ Monologue Project (Handouts See Course-Wide Requirement #3 “Dramatic
Reading”: DUE Lesson 29 or 30); Required Preparation for Dramatic Reading: Lesson 1 with Reading; Lesson 2
with Reading; Lesson 3 with Reading; Dramatic Reading Criteria Sheet)
17
2728
Feb
Poetry
Sonnets TBD
18
29
Feb1
Mar
Shakespeare:
Sonnets
Sonnets TBD
19
2, 5
Mar
Literary Bio
DUE: Literary Biography (Audio or Video Recording)
SHAKESPEARE:
Play
Introduction: Drama/ Shakespeare Othello or Midsummer
Color Coding: Handouts to read found on EN102 Blog:
DUE DATES; Required Events; Holidays; Introduction to New Module; Essential Poetic Terms; 9
Shakespeare:
Sonnets/Play
DRAMATIC: Othello Act 1; Midsummer Act 1
Poetic feet: iamb/ iambic pentameter a.k.a. blank verse; accentual-syllabic meter;
Seek: allusion; anaphora; caesura; end-stopping; enjambment; figure; imagery; metaphor;
metonymy; onomatopoeia; persona; personification; simile; synecdoche; symbol;
20
6-7
Mar
Dramatic
Performance
Workshop
Othello Act 2; Midsummer Act 2
21
8-9
Mar
Shakespeare:
Sonnets/Play
Modified schedule for PPW
1018
Mar
Spring Leave
22
1920
Mar
Shakespeare:
Play
Othello Act 3; Midsummer Act 3
23
2122
Mar
Shakespeare:
Play
Othello Act 4; Midsummer Act 4
24
23,
26
Mar
Shakespeare:
Play
Othello Act 5; Midsummer Act 5
25
2728
Mar
Shakespeare:
Sonnets
Sonnets TBD
26
2930
Mar
Shakespeare:
Sonnets
Sonnets TBD
27
2-3
Apr
Dramatic
Reading Dress
Rehearsal
Practice Performance
28
4-5
Apr
Dramatic
Reading Dress
Rehearsal
Practice Performance
29
6, 9
Apr
Dramatic
Reading
Performance
Performance
30
1011
Apr
Dramatic
Reading
Performance
Performance
Color Coding: Handouts to read found on EN102 Blog:
DUE DATES; Required Events; Holidays; Introduction to New Module; Essential Poetic Terms; 10
31
1213
Apr
Creative
Nonfiction
Introduction: Creative Nonfiction
32
1617
Apr
Creative
Nonfiction
Invention of Air(30-61)
33
1819
Apr
Shakespeare
DUE: Shakespeare Essay
Creative
Nonfiction
Howard Gardner’s “Multiple Intelligences” (in class); Take Survey:
Invention of Air (4-30) (Actual Hero)
http://www.bgfl.org/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/index.htm
or
http://literacyworks.org/mi/intro/index.html
34
20,
23
Apr
Creative
Nonfiction
Invention of Air(67-99)
Watch Steven Johnson’s TED Talk “Where Good Ideas Come From”:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from.html
“Chance favors the connected mind” (17:46).
35
24,
26
Apr*
Creative
Nonfiction
Invention of Air(100-130)
Watch Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talk “Schools Kill Creativity”:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
36
27,
30
Apr
Creative
Nonfiction
Invention of Air(135-158)
Watch Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED Talk “Nurturing Creativity”:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html
“Even I have brushed up against that thing” (12:15).
37
1-2
May
Creative
Nonfiction
Invention of Air(158-188)
Watch Malcolm Gladwell’s TED Talk “The strange tale of the Norden bombsight”:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/malcolm_gladwell.html
3
May
Projects Day
Academy Idol
38
4, 7
May
Creative
Nonfiction
Invention of Air(188-219)
39
8-9
May
Creative
Nonfiction
Invention of Air(219-240)
40
1011
May
Conclusions
Review for TEE
(Handout See Course-Wide Requirement #5 “Term-End Exam”: DUE on TEE Day)
Color Coding: Handouts to read found on EN102 Blog:
DUE DATES; Required Events; Holidays; Introduction to New Module; Essential Poetic Terms; 11
Color Coding: Handouts to read found on EN102 Blog:
DUE DATES; Required Events; Holidays; Introduction to New Module; Essential Poetic Terms; 12
EN102
Description of Requirements
1. Creative Writing Assignment: Myth*
[M]yths operate in men’s minds without their being aware of the fact.
—Claude Lévi-Strauss2
Discussion: If myth is as central as many commentators suggest, we should be able to strip bare the myths of
Ovid and clothe them anew in contemporary clothing—characters, dialogue, setting, and the nature of the
metamorphosis itself. Remember, that’s precisely what Ovid did: these myths were already old when he got
around to playing with them.
Choose one of the myths we have read in class (or another myth in Metamorphoses that catches your eye)
and recast it in modern terms and times. The success of this assignment hinges on a persuasive interpretation of
Ovid’s text and a plausible justification for updating it in a particular way.
Before writing your own version of the myth, you will have to figure out exactly what Ovid is doing in his
version of events. Ask yourself a few questions: Exactly what happens and why? What points does Ovid
emphasize? What are the most important themes and ideas expressed? Next, think about how your rewriting of
the myth breathes twenty-first-century life into the original. Your myth must include the metamorphosis of a
human being into something else. Consider carefully what this shape-changing episode signifies.
*Note: You may substitute your own assignment here as long as it involves narrative and an act of cultural translation.
There will be additional instructor points devoted to creative work, and you may use them to focus on other genres.
Many instructors have had great luck with poetry assignments and can share their ideas with you.
2
The Raw and the Cooked, trans. Doreen Weightman, Mythologiques, vol. 1 (Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1983) 12.
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DUE DATES; Required Events; Holidays; Introduction to New Module; Essential Poetic Terms; 13
2. Close Reading
During the writing of the poem the various elements of the poet’s being are in communion with each
other, and heightened. Ear and eye, intellect and passion, interrelate more subtly than at other times;
and the “checking for accuracy,” for precision of language, that must take place throughout the writing
is not a matter of one element supervising the others but of intuitive interaction between all the
elements involved.
In the same way, content and form are in a state of dynamic interaction; the understanding of
whether an experience is a linear sequence or a constellation raying out from and into a central focus or
axis, for instance, is discoverable only in the work, not before it.
—Denise Levertov3
Discussion: Ideas undergo a kind of compression and distillation in the tight confines of lyric poetry. The restrictions of
form, as well as of meter and rhyme, necessarily reshape themes and arguments that might appear very different in the
more expansive world of a short story, play, or novel.
This assignment and the next take a microscope to the relationship between form and function in poetry. Choose
any poem from The Norton Anthology or from the sonnets in The Norton Shakespeare as the subject of what is called a
close reading. This is a process of explication whereby readers anchor the impressions and feelings they take away from
poetry in an analysis of the specific language, imagery, figures, and form the poet uses to make meaning.
The goal of a close reading is to clarify. As the authors of one of the best poetry handbooks around explain, its
“aim is to help a puzzled reader understand a literary work, on the presumption that such understanding should deepen
the reader’s response to the work and enable her to make a more intelligent evaluation. Without understanding,
evaluation is [worthless].” Logical “reasoning” and textual “evidence” will turn your close reading into something more
than a catalogue of “subjective associations and personal impressions.”4
Knowledge of the component parts of poetry as well as of appropriate concepts and terminology is an essential
part of the process of understanding (and helping others to understand) the poem you’ve chosen.
3
“Some Notes on Organic Form,” (1965); available from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/poeticsessay.html?id=237852; accessed 19 December 2009.
4
The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, ed. Alex Preminger and T. V. F. Brogan (Princeton:
Princeton UP, 1993) 395.
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3. Essay: Explore the Role of Knowledge in Shakespearean Drama
Knowledge is a state or condition of mind; and since cultivation of the mind is surely worth seeking for
its own sake, we are thus brought once more to the conclusion that ... there is a knowledge which is
desirable, though nothing come of it, as being of itself a treasure, and a sufficient remuneration of years
of labor.
—John Henry Newman5
Discussion: This essay invites you to think about the different sources and types of knowledge on which individuals rely
and the motivations behind its pursuit. Some theorists have advocated the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, while
others have sought out knowledge as a foundation of power or of liberty. Some view contemplation and action as
intimately related. Identify and describe the kinds of knowledge found (valued, used, abused, etc.) in this play.
5
The Idea of a University (London, 1891) 114.
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4. Dramatic Reading
Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you—trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as
many of your players do, I had as lief the town-crier had spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too
much with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and as I may say
whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it
offends me to the soul to hear a robustious, periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags,
to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb
shows and noise. I would have such a fellow whipped for o’erdoing Termagant. It out-Herods Herod.
Pray you avoid it. . . . Be not too tame, neither; but let your own discretion be your tutor. Suit the action
to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance: that you o’erstep not the modesty of
nature. For anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now,
was and is to hold as ‘twere the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own
image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.
—Hamlet’s advice to the Players (Hamlet 3.2.1-13, 15-22)
Discussion: Choose one of the several recommended passages from the Shakespeare play your section is reading this
semester. (Passages from another play will be approved by exception.) Engaging the passage both emotionally and
intellectually, you will first memorize it and then perform it for your peers. It is therefore a piece of language you will
know inside and out by the time you finish the course.
Dramatic performance demands trust, discipline, creativity, and a willingness to take risks. You will have the
opportunity to participate in a workshop with professional actors from the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and to
rehearse your passage in front of peers. These activities will prepare you for your performance toward the end of the
course. All performers will compete for a spot in the semifinals. Semifinalists will compete for a place in the Academy
Idol competition, which occurs on Projects Day.
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5. Audio Recording of a Literary Autobiography
I could not sit in my room doing nothing. There is a fine library connected with the Academy from which
cadets can get books to read in their quarters. I devoted more time to these, than to books relating to
the course of studies. Much of the time, I am sorry to say, was devoted to novels, but not of those of the
trashy sort. I read all of Bulwer’s then published, Cooper’s, Marryat’s, Scott’s, Washington Irving’s works,
Lever’s, and many others that I do not now remember.
—Ulysses S. Grant6
Discussion: Inspired by personal archives such as the literary commonplace book and the music playlist, this assignment
asks you to create your own autobiography in books. What ten books have made the greatest impact on you thus far in
your lives—have increased your store of knowledge, enlarged your thoughts and feelings, altered your understanding of
the world, or just plain bowled you over? You may reserve up to three of your ten selections for music or film.
The model for this exercise is the BBC Radio 4 Program “Desert Island Discs.” The show’s premise is that a celebrity
guest selects the music, together with the book and luxury item, that he or she would most desire if stranded on a
desert island. Perhaps few among us have been island castaways, yet we’ve all imagined some variation on the thoughtexperiment of figuring out whatever is most essential to the life of our minds. You can listen to past programs here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs. Another model is the playlist. This link takes you to one
created for the Pitchfork website by the singer/songwriter Andrew Bird: http://pitchfork.com/features/guest-lists/6014andrew-bird-ten-songs-or-albums-that-still-bust-my-bunker/. Bird explains in his introduction to this autobiography in
song that he “consumed records for years not just for pleasure but with the idea of learning and absorbing the
language.” He then goes on to provide brief discussions of the ten selections that have stayed with him even after he
had amassed an encyclopedic knowledge of music. They are the songs or albums of which he never tires.
Your literary autobiography should include both a general introduction, brief remarks on each selection, and a
sample passage from the book that means most to you.
6
Personal Memoirs, ed. Mary Drake McFeely and William S. McFeely (1885; New York: Library of America,
1990), 32.
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6. Term-End Examination
This will be a closed-book examination.
Part 1: Close Reading
Several poems that you have not discussed in class will be provided. You will be asked to choose one and to explicate it
using the concepts and vocabulary you have acquired over the course of the semester:
1. Poetic Categories: lyric, dramatic, narrative/epic
2. Primary Verse Forms: villanelle, sestina, pantoum, sonnet, ballad, blank verse, heroic couplet,
stanza
3. Primary Poetic Forms: elegy, pastoral, ode, open forms/free verse
4. Meter and Prosody: meter (accentual, syllabic, accentual-syllabic)
5. Poetic Feet: iamb, anapest, trochee, dactyl, spondee
6. Other Related and Frequently Used Poetic Terms: allusion, anaphora, caesura, end-stopping,
enjambment, figure of thought, figure of speech, imagery, metaphor, metonymy,
onomatopoeia, persona, personification, simile, synecdoche, symbol
Part 2: Essay
Essay questions will be designed independently by faculty members for their own sections. Questions should focus on
the fourth course text but also invite cadets to draw connections and to synthesize course material.