Prof. FordOffice: 530 PLC
English 245-34954Hours: T/Th 3:30-5:00
Room 248 Gerlinger HallPhone: 346-1314
T/Th 2:00-3:20
English 245: Topics in African American Literature
AFRICAN AMERICAN POETRY
Spring 2004
TEXTS:
Gates & McKay,The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, second edition
1English 311 Course Packetavailable at The Copy Shop, 539 E. 13th, 485-6253
ATTENDANCE:
Punctual, regular attendance is a requirement; your grade will be dropped one full letter, without warning, for everyfourabsences.
READINGS:
You will note that on the Course Syllabus, every day the class meets is identified, with every reading you are responsible for listed.Readings will be from theNorton Anthologyor theCourse Packet(designated as1).We will sometimes begin class with a quiz to encourage everyone to keep up on the readings and to generate discussion.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Assignments and instructions appear in yourCourse Packet, and I will explain them further in class.Out-of-class work must by typedsingle sidedon standard, white paper (no onion-skin or erasable paper and no xeroxes) and must be handed in on time.The due dates for assignments are listed on the syllabus.Submit your papersat my office on the due dates by 5:00 p.m.Unless we have made arrangements well in advance of the due date, I will not accept late papers.Keep a copy for yourself in case the original is lost.No secondary reading is required or encouraged; however, if you choose to use sources, they must be properly documented.Please review the University policy regarding academic dishonesty (in theSchedule of Classes), which will be strictly enforced in this class.Plagiarism will result in failing the course not just the assignment.All written work must be prepared according to the “Format Instructions” (1) and will be graded for form as well as content, so be sure to get help on writing (mechanics, argument, and style) and essay form in plenty of time if you need it.
·Assignment #1:A mechanical exercise on poetic forms; detailed instructions in1
·Assignment #2:A refutation of a bad reading; see handout
·Assignment #3:A comparison of two poems; see handout
·In-Class Examinations:An 80-minute midterm and a 120-minute final exam covering literary terms, literary history, readings, lectures, and discussions; see study guide in1
·Recitations:Each student will recite (not memorize)fourpoems from our readings, in class or in my office.Recitations of a particular poem must occur during the week the poem is on the syllabus; one recitation per student per week.Guidelines for preparing recitations in1.
GRADING:
Assignment #110%
Assignment #215%
Assignment #315%
Midterm Examination25%
Final Examination25%
Recitations10%
·Incompletes will be given fordocumentedmedical emergencies only.
·Please note the exam dates: The midterm examination will be held during the regular class period on Tuesday, May 5.The final examination for this class has been scheduled by the University for Monday, June 7, from 1:00-3:00 p.m.There will beno alternate or make-up exams.
·If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please make arrangements to meet with me soon and request that the Counselor for Students with Disabilities send a letter verifying your disability.
AFRICAN-AMERICAN POETRY
Course Syllabus
DateReadingAssignment Due
COURSE INTRODUCTION & LITERARY HISTORY
3/30Terry, “Bars Fight” (186-87);
Wheatley, “On Being Brought from
Africa to America” (219-20)
4/1Wheatley (213-26); Horton (239-44);
Whitfield (483-90); Harper (491-505)
------
EIGHTEENTH & NINETEENTH CENTURIES
SLAVERY AND ABOLITION
4/6Spirituals (5-19); Gospel (19-25);
DuBois, “Of the Sorrow Songs” (758-66)
CD: “Go Down, Moses”
4/8Blues (48-64); Seculars (25-48)
CD: “Rosie,” “Backwater Blues”Recitation #1 due
------
TURN OF THE CENTURY
RECONSTRUCTION
4/13Dunbar (905-27)
4/15Dunbar
4/16Assignment #1 due in 530 PLC by 5:00
------
EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY
THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
4/20“First” Generation
McKay (1003-10); Cullen (1339-51);
4/22Grimké (968-70); Spencer (970-74),
“White Things” (1);G.D. Johnson (993-95);
Bennett (1266-69); H. Johnson (1352-54)Recitation #2 due
------
4/27“Second” Generation
Hughes (1288-1311)
4/29Brown (1248-66), “Puttin on Dog” (1),
“Slim in Atlanta” (1), “Slim in Hell” (1),
“Frankie and Johnny” (1)
4/30Assignment #2 due in 530 PLC by 5:00
------
MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY
5/4Midterm Exam
5/6Brooks (1623-28; 1632-49)
------
5/11Brooks, “Rudolph Reed” (1)
“the murder” (1)
5/13Brooks, “Satin-Legs Smith” (1628-32)Recitation #3 due
DateReadingAssignment Due
1960S & 1970S
Black Arts Movement
5/18Baraka (1937-46)
5/20Evans (1850-52); Knight (1909-11);
Sanchez (1963-67);Giovanni (2096-2101);
Rodgers (2122-26)
------
CONTEMPORARY
5/25Shange (2553-59), “no more love poems” (1);
Sanchez, “blk / wooooomen chant” (1),
“Short Poem” (1); Rodgers, “Last MF” (1);
Cortez, “Rape” (1)
5/27Knight, “Black Male as#1 Sex Object” (1);
Hemphill (2644-48)Recitation #4 due
------
6/1Harryette Mullen (2635-44)
6/3Mullen
6/4Writing Assignment #3 due in 530 PLC by 5:00
------
6/71:00-3:00 p.m. - Final Exam
BARS FIGHT
Lucy Terry
August, ’twas the twenty-fifth,
Seventeen hundred forty-six,
The Indians did in ambush lay,
Some very valient men to slay,
The names of whom I’ll not leave out:
Samuel Allen like a hero fout,
And though he was so brave and bold,
His face no more shall we behold.
Eleazer Hawks was killed outright,
Before he had time to fight,--
Before he did the Indians see,
Was shot and killed immediately.
Oliver Amsden he was slain,
Which caused his friends much grief and pain.
Simeon Amsden they found dead
Not many rods distant from his head.
Adonijah Gillett, we do hear,
Did lose his life which was so dear.
John Sadler fled across the water,
And thus escaped the dreadful slaughter.
Eunice Allen see the Indians coming,
And hopes to save herself by running;
And had not her petticoats stopped her,
The awful creatures had not catched her,
Nor tommy hawked her on the head,
And left her on the ground for dead.
Young Samuel Allen, Oh, lack-a-day!
Was taken and carried to Canada.1746
ON BEING BROUGHT FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA
Phillis Wheatley
‘Twas mercy brought me from myPaganland,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there’s a God, that there’s aSaviourtoo:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
“Their colour is a diabolic die.”
Remember,Christians, Negroes,black asCain,
May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.1773
THE SLAVE MOTHER
Frances E. W. Harper
Heard you that shriek? It roseHe is not hers, for cruel hands
So wildly on the air,May rudely tear apart
It seemed as if a burden’d heartThe only wreath of household love
Was breaking in despair.That binds her breaking heart.
Saw you those hands so sadly clasped—His love has been a joyous light
The bowed and feeble head—That o’er her pathway smiled,
The shuddering of that fragile form—A fountain gushing ever new,
That look of grief and dread?Amid life’s desert wild.
Saw you the sad, imploring eye?His lightest word has been a tone
Its every glance was pain,Of music round her heart,
As if a storm of agonyTheir lives a streamlet blent in one--
Were sweeping through the brain.Oh, Father! Must they part?
She is a mother, pale with fear,They tear him from her circling arms,
Her boy clings to her side,Her last and fond embrace.
And in her kirtle vainly triesOh! Never more may her sad eyes
His trembling form to hide.Gaze on his mournful face.
He is not hers, although she boreNo marvel, then, these bitter shrieks
For him a mother’s pains;Disturb the listening air:
He is not hers, although her bloodShe is a mother, and her heart
Is coursing through his veins!Is breaking in despair.1854