Introduction to Literature

Instructor: Ildikó Limpár; Email:

Date / Texts to be read / Homework assignments
Feb 11 / Introduction
2
Feb 18 / Poetry: Figurative Language
Sylvia Plath: “Metaphors”;
Emily Dickinson: “Because I could not stop for Death”;
Adrienne Rich: “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” /

Written homework: Choose two lines from Dickinson's or Rich's poem. Write cc. 200 words about them. (What is their meaning? What significance do they have in the poem?)

3
Feb 25 / The Drama:
Plot, Character, Setting, Symbol, Theme
Susan Glaspell: Trifles / Written homework: What is the significance of the dead bird in the drama? Write an essay of cc. 200 words about it.
4
Mar 3 / The Short Story:
Plot vs. Syuzhet, Character, Setting, Theme
Katherine Mansfield: “Miss Brill” / Written homework: Explain the importance of two chosen objects that suggest important features of the character that owns or uses it. Write an essay of cc. 200 words about it.
5
Mar 10 / The Short Story:
Point of View, Theme, Style, Setting
Edgar Allen Poe: “The Cask of Amontillado” / Written homework: Much of the story takes place in a catacomb. What is the significance of this place in the story? What is its role / function? How does it support the content / theme of the story? Write an essay of cc. 200 words about it.
6
Mar 17. / Speaking of Issues; Structure
Daniel Orozco: “Orientation”
Jamaica Kincaid: “Girl” / Preparation for class: Observe how one piece of information follows the other in the texts. Think about the order of the narrator’s statements in one of the texts. What effect does it have? What else is important in the syuzhet? (This is not a writing exercise to be handed in.)
Mar 24-31 / spring break
9
Apr 7 / Mid-term Test in class
10
Apr 14 / The Short Story: Point of View, Plot vs. Syuzhet, Character, Setting, Theme
William Faulkner: “A Rose for Emily” / Written homework: Find two examples (of one or several sentences) that show the relationship between Emily and the townspeople. Write down the quotes and explain briefly (ca. 100-100 words) what they show.
11
Apr 21 / Poetry: Form
Shakespearean Sonnets
Edna St. Vincent Millay: “Love Is Not All: It Is Not Meat nor Drink”
William Butler Yeats: “Leda and the Swan”
Langston Hughes: “Harlem” / Preparation for class: Check the definition of the sonnet in a lexicon of literary terms and take notes for classroom use. Note the difference between the Petrarchan and the Shakespearean sonnets.
Written homework: 1. Write down the rhyme scheme of Millay's sonnet and Yeat's sonnet. Decide what kind of sonnets they are and explain briefly why. 2. Choose one metaphor from any of the poems and explain its meaning.
12
Apr 28 / The Historical Sense
T.S. Eliot: “Tradition and the Individual Talent” (essay); excerpt from “The Waste Land” (on handout); “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock”;
William Butler Yeats: “Leda and the Swan” / Written homework: Hand in a short (one-page-long) outline of T.S. Eliot’s “Tradition and the Individual Talent.” Highlight (or underline) in your outline what you identify as the most important points. (An outline, in this case, is not a summary of the essay with complete sentences but an arrangements of the main points of the essay, showing the structure of the essay, too.)
13
May 5 / End-term Test in class
14
May 12 / Class not held due to conference participation.
The corrected test papers will be given back and marks for the course will be given the following week.

The aims and objectives:

·  This seminar aims to increase the students’ understanding and appreciation of literature by introducing them to the typical devices, or elements, that comprise a story, a poem and a play and to the way in which these elements relate to one another and to the work as a whole. Each seminar will consist of debating literary texts using the literary elements or tools discussed at the course.

Assignments:

·  Reading the assigned texts at home, get prepared for discussion;

·  Coming to class with the texts and your notes; (Please note that no smart phones are allowed to be used in class for checking text.)

·  Active participation in class;

·  Writing occasional quizzes at the beginning of the classes;

·  Handing in all the homework at the beginning of the classes they are due. If you may not be present in the class where we discuss the piece you have written about, you may hand in your written homework the next time you turn up, without any negative consequences. Not writing a homework assignment results in obtaining a “0” for that assignment (that is, worse than “1”). You needn’t use secondary sources for your homework; but if you use any, cite them properly or else you will be penalized for plagiarism..

·  Writing two in-class tests. (Not writing the mid-term test results in obtaining a “1” for a test.)

Information on Homework Assignments:

·  You need to hand in 5 written homework assignments of your choice.

·  If you may not be present in the class where we discuss the piece you have written about, you may hand in your written homework the next time you turn up, without any negative consequences – but only if you email the homework to me on the day it is actually due, before the class would begin.

·  You need to write at least 2 homework assignments in order to have the chance to pass the course. Not writing a homework assignment out of the 5 minimum results in obtaining a “0” for that assignment (that is, worse than “1”).

·  You needn’t use secondary sources for your homework; but if you use any, cite them properly or else you will be penalized for plagiarism. (I am aware that you may not have learned proper referencing. If you use a source, indicate in a footnote the author and the title and the edition of the publication; if you use an internet source, indicate author and title and the exact link. Do NOT use sources that have no identifiable author.)

·  All homework exercises are to be handed in as a typed and printed document. I do not accept handwritten homework. (Do not leave printing matters to the last minute – there can always emerge a technical problem... Do not arrive late for class because of your last minute efforts to print something.)

The student automatically fails the course in the following cases:

·  not writing the end-term test

·  not writing at least two of the homework assignments

·  if plagiarism is detected in your homework

·  missing the class more than three times

The final mark depends on:

Average of the midterm and end term tests: ca. 40%

Average of the homework essays: ca. 40%

Active class participation: ca. 20%

If you have any questions or problems, feel free to talk to me personally or to contact me via email.

I wish all of you a pleasant and useful semester.