Phil Nel's English 102 (Spring 2000)

Dr. Philip Nel Office location is on the syllabus handed out in class. Office hours: MW 10-11 am, Th 3-5 pm, & by appointment. Virtual office hours: ~~nelp@cofc.edu~~ philnel@ksu.edu. Office phone: 953-5785 ENGLISH 102: Tues. & Thurs. Sec. 43 (12:15-1:30) Sec. 57 (1:40-2:55) Education Center 110 On-line: http://www.cofc.edu/~nelp/
English 102: Composition and Literature

Required Texts | Official Description | Objectives | Grading | Requirements | Writing Lab | Assignments

Required Texts: Meyer, Michael, editor. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Fifth Edition. Bedford Books, 1999. Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. 1593-94. Signet, 1998. Hacker, Diana. The Bedford Handbook for Writers. 5th Edition. Bedford Books, 1998. A Guide to Freshman English (a booklet, available at the college bookstore). Class Pack (available at SAS-E, Inc., 79 Wentworth St., at some point TBA). Some photocopied materials (to be handed out). A good dictionary. 1 pocket folder (for your critical papers).
Official Course Description (from the Undergraduate Bulletin):
Continued study of expository and argumentative writing and of the preparation and writing of research papers. Plays and poetry are used for composition topics.

Objectives:
The goal of this class is to develop critical skills for reading, thinking, and writing about drama and poetry. As we read plays and poems from antiquity to the present day, we will develop a vocabulary for talking about drama and poetry by studying their formal elements and by investigating the persistence of some recurring themes. We will talk about writing in class, through peer reviews, and in individual conferences.
In this class, education will not be a passive experience: I expect discussion, debate, and exchanges of ideas. This requires that you not only be present but that you be an active presence.

Grading:
Paper #1 Paper #2 Midterm Exam (Paper #3) Paper #4 Paper #5 Quizzes (10) Class Participation Final Exam (includes Paper #6) Total Points 100 100 150 100 100 100 150 200 1000 Due Draft: 1/25. Final: 2/4. Draft: 2/15. Final: 2/21. In class: 2/29. Draft: 3/23. Final: 3/31. Draft: 4/13. Final: 4/21. In class: 4/28 (#43) or 5/5 (#57)
Requirements: Papers | Corrections | Sources | Quizzes | Class Participation and Attendance | Computing | Conferences | Assignments

Papers:
During the semester, you will write a total of six papers. Papers must: be typed (preferably word-processed) and double-spaced; include a title, your name, and the date; and have numbered pages that are stapled or paper-clipped together (see "Essay Format," A Guide to Freshman English, p. 3). Clearly write your name on the outside of a pocket folder. Keep all of your papers in this folder, and hand in this folder each time you hand in a new paper. Any paper not meeting these requirements will not be accepted. Also, since you are responsible for maintaining a complete folder of your writing, make sure to save your papers on a back-up disk and to keep a hard copy of every piece of work you turn in to me. Late papers will be penalized one grade (e.g., B+ to C+) for each day late.

Corrections:
I mark your papers according to the "Keys to Structure and Style" sheet attached to this syllabus. Following the "Correction Guide" in A Guide to Freshman English (p. 4), complete all of the "style" corrections, and attach them to the essay. Corrections must be handed in when you turn in your next paper. If they are not satisfactory, I will drop that paper's grade by 10% (e.g., B to C).

Sources:
Use the MLA method for documenting sources. And don't plagiarize. When you turn in a paper, you pledge that you have faithfully abided by the guidelines for documenting sources. Always remember: you must cite the sources of any ideas that are not your own. If you quote, paraphrase, or use another's ideas, you must give credit to the person whose ideas you are using. Both A Guide to Freshman English and The Bedford Handbook provide guidelines for documentation. If you have any questions, please ask. If you plagiarize, you will automatically fail this course.

Quizzes:
Approximately 12 times during the semester, there'll be a quiz. Sometimes the quiz will be announced, and sometimes it won't. But it will always address the reading for that day. Because everyone can have a bad day, I'll drop the lowest quiz grade.

Class Participation and Attendance:
Read everything, and come to class prepared to talk about what you have read. On the first day of class discussion for each assignment, you must have finished the reading and be ready to discuss it. For plays, this means the entire play; for poems, this means all the poems for that day. This class will be based on discussion, so class participation is expected, and will count for 15% of your final grade. Class attendance is required. Since the class meets three times a week, you are granted three absences, but more than three will lower your final grade by one grade increment for each absence (e.g., B+ would become B). I appreciate your offering explanations for absences; however, the only way to excuse an absence is to provide me with an official letter from the dean. You cannot earn credit for work missed in class. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to discover what went on that day. "I didn't know because I wasn't in class" is never an acceptable excuse.

Computing - the Internet and Email:
The Internet: For your reference, a hyperlinked version of this syllabus is on-line. Go to http://www.cofc.edu/~nelp/ and click on "Courses." When possible, I have linked authors' names to relevant webpages, collected links related to drama and poetry at the bottom of this page and I plan to provide a link from each paper to its paper assignment.
Email: Send me an email message by Wednesday, January 19th. My email address is nelp@cofc.edu. If you need help establishing an email account and learning to use email, please visit Academic Computing to find out what you have to do. Although I will not require you to use email again, I encourage you to use email as a way of touching base with me about your writing. You can send me queries, your thesis statement, an outline for an essay, or anything else that could be handled with a quick exchange of messages. I tend to check email several times a day, but please keep in mind that I am not on-line at all times. You can access email and the web from the library and various computer labs around campus.

Conferences:
I want you to succeed in this course and am happy to meet with you to discuss your writing. To that end, I expect you to meet with me after your first paper, and I encourage you to see me about future ones. Indeed, if you need to see me for whatever reason, please do. My office is at 72 George Street, Room 201. Either stop by during office hours, or make an appointment. For your convenience, keep in mind that I also hold "virtual office hours": email me at nelp@cofc.edu.

The College Writing Lab:
The Writing Lab is located at 216 Education Center, and their hours are: 9 am to 4 pm and 6 pm to 8 pm, Monday through Thursday, and 9 am to 12 noon, Fridays. They're there to help you, and ready to answer your specific questions.


Schedule of Assignments
(subject to change)

[X] = Xerox copy (handed out in class). [CP] = Class Pack. [R] = Reserve.

Remember: bring to class the texts under discussion, including any Xeroxes.

January

Th 13

Introduction to Drama. David Ives, Sure Thing (1988).

T 18

Th 20

Tragedy: 985-87; Sophocles, Oedipus the King (c. 430 B.C.).

Oedipus the King. Thesis, Introduction, and Outline of Paper #1 DUE

T 25

Th 27

WRITING WORKSHOP: Draft of Paper #1 DUE.

NO CLASS: Work on Paper #1.

February

T 1

Th 3

F 4

Comedy: Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew (c. 1593-94).

The Taming of the Shrew

Paper #1 DUE in my office by 3 p.m. (Slip it under the door if I'm not there.)

T 8

Th 10

Realism: 1137-39; Glaspell, Trifles (1916).

Hwang, M. Butterfly (1988).

T 15

Th 17

WRITING WORKSHOP: Draft of Paper #2 DUE.

M. Butterfly.

M 21

T 22

Th 24

Paper #2 DUE in my office by 3 p.m. (Slip it under the door if I'm not there.)

Introduction to Poetry. William Carlos Williams, "This Is Just to Say"; cummings,

"l(a"; Shakespeare, Sonnet 73 ("That time of year thou mayest in me behold").

NO CLASS: Prepare for your exam.

March

T 29

Th 2

Mid-Term Examination (Paper #3).

Tone and Diction: 570, 572-73, 576; Jonson, "Still to Be Neat"; Swift, "A

Description of the Morning" [CP]; Atwood, "You Fit Into Me," "Variations on

the Word Love" [CP].

SPRING BREAK

T 14

Th 16

Imagery and Figurative Language: 600, 619, 624, 635; Pound, "In A Station of

the Metro"; William Carlos Williams, "The Red Wheelbarrow"; Roethke, "Root

Cellar"; Keats, "To Autumn" [CP]; Dickinson, 280 ("I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain")

[CP] Randall Jarrell, "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner"; Langston Hughes,

"Harlem."

Sound, Meter, Rhyme: 666-68, 671-72, 687-91; Blake, "London"; Roethke, "My

Papa's Waltz"; Brooks, "We Real Cool"; Kinnell, "Blackberry Eating"; Chasin,

"The Word Plum."

T 21

Th 23

Poetic Forms. The Sonnet: 709, 711; Shakespeare, Sonnets 18 ("Shall I compare

thee to a summer's day?") and 130 ("My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun");

Billy Collins, "Sonnet" [CP]; Keats, "On the Sonnet" [CP]; Millay, "I, Being

Born a Woman and Distressed" [CP].

WRITING WORKSHOP: Draft of Paper #4 DUE

April

T 28

Th 30

F 1

Poetic Forms. Carpe Diem: Herrick, "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time";

Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress"; Donne, "Elegy XIX. To His Mistress Going to

Bed" [CP]; Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, "The Lover: A Ballad" [CP].

T. S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

Paper #4 DUE.

T 4

Th 6

Poetic Forms. Nonsense Verse: Carroll, "Jabberwocky"; Edward Lear, "The

Jumblies" [CP], "The Table and the Chair" [CP], "There was an Old Man with a Beard"

[CP]; Laura Richards, "Etelephony" [CP]; Gerard Benson, "The Cat and the Pig"

[CP]; Wendy Cope, "The Uncertainty of the Poet" [CP]

Dr. Seuss, art, Green Eggs and Ham [R], The Cat in the Hat [R], The Butter Battle Book

[R], Horton Hears a Who! [R]

T 11

Th 13

Dr. Seuss, WWII Cartoons [X], The Sneetches [R], Yertle the Turtle [R].

WRITING WORKSHOP: Draft of Paper #5 DUE.

T 18

Th 20

F 21

Poetic Themes. America: Whitman, "One Hour to Madness and Joy," "Beat! Beat!

Drums!" [CP]; Longfellow, from "The Building of the Ship" [CP]; Leonard

Cohen, "Democracy" [CP]. Video: "The American Dream" from The United

States of Poetry [X].

Vietnam: Selections from "What's Going On? An Incomplete List of Songs About

Vietnam" <http://www.cofc.edu/~nelp/vietnam_music.html>.

Paper #5 DUE.

T 25

Langston Hughes, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "Juke Box Love Song," "Old

Walt," "I, Too," "Theme for English B," "Let America Be America Again" [CP]

May

F 28

F 5

Final Exam (incl. Paper #6) for Section 43 (the "12:15" group). 12:00-3:00 p.m.

Final Exam (incl. Paper #6) for Section 57 (the "1:40" group). 12:00-3:00 p.m.

Required Texts | Official Description | Objectives | Grading | Requirements | Writing Lab | Assignments

Drama

ArtsNet at Carneige Mellon University

Alan Liu's Voice of the Shuttle: Drama, Theater and Performance Art Studies

Jack Lynch's Literary Resources: Theatre and Drama

Playbill On-Line

Rivendell's Drama Page

Lana Schwebel's Theater Things on the Net

Poetry

The Academy of American Poets' Home Page

Billy Collins' poem, "Introduction to Poetry"

Edward Hirsch's "How to Read These Poems" at DoubleTake magazine's website

Kenneth Koch's "The Language of Poetry" at the New York Review of Books website

Poetry Daily (featuring "a new poem every day")

The Writer's Almanac (Garrison Keillor's "daily program of poetry and history")

More Links: Literature | History | Search Engines
Go to "Keys to Structure and Style"

Department of English | College of Charleston

This page was last updated on 24 April 2000.

January	Th 13	Introduction to Drama. David Ives, Sure Thing (1988).
	T 18 Th 20	Tragedy: 985-87; Sophocles, Oedipus the King (c. 430 B.C.). Oedipus the King. Thesis, Introduction, and Outline of Paper #1 DUE
	T 25 Th 27	WRITING WORKSHOP: Draft of Paper #1 DUE. NO CLASS: Work on Paper #1.
February	T 1 Th 3 F 4	Comedy: Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew (c. 1593-94). The Taming of the Shrew Paper #1 DUE in my office by 3 p.m. (Slip it under the door if I'm not there.)
	T 8 Th 10	Realism: 1137-39; Glaspell, Trifles (1916). Hwang, M. Butterfly (1988).
	T 15 Th 17	WRITING WORKSHOP: Draft of Paper #2 DUE. M. Butterfly.
	M 21 T 22 Th 24	Paper #2 DUE in my office by 3 p.m. (Slip it under the door if I'm not there.) Introduction to Poetry. William Carlos Williams, "This Is Just to Say"; cummings, "l(a"; Shakespeare, Sonnet 73 ("That time of year thou mayest in me behold"). NO CLASS: Prepare for your exam.
March	T 29 Th 2	Mid-Term Examination (Paper #3). Tone and Diction: 570, 572-73, 576; Jonson, "Still to Be Neat"; Swift, "A Description of the Morning" [CP]; Atwood, "You Fit Into Me," "Variations on the Word Love" [CP].
		SPRING BREAK
	T 14 Th 16	Imagery and Figurative Language: 600, 619, 624, 635; Pound, "In A Station of the Metro"; William Carlos Williams, "The Red Wheelbarrow"; Roethke, "Root Cellar"; Keats, "To Autumn" [CP]; Dickinson, 280 ("I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain") [CP] Randall Jarrell, "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner"; Langston Hughes, "Harlem." Sound, Meter, Rhyme: 666-68, 671-72, 687-91; Blake, "London"; Roethke, "My Papa's Waltz"; Brooks, "We Real Cool"; Kinnell, "Blackberry Eating"; Chasin, "The Word Plum."

	T 21 Th 23	Poetic Forms. The Sonnet: 709, 711; Shakespeare, Sonnets 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?") and 130 ("My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun"); Billy Collins, "Sonnet" [CP]; Keats, "On the Sonnet" [CP]; Millay, "I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed" [CP]. WRITING WORKSHOP: Draft of Paper #4 DUE
April	T 28 Th 30 F 1	Poetic Forms. Carpe Diem: Herrick, "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time"; Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress"; Donne, "Elegy XIX. To His Mistress Going to Bed" [CP]; Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, "The Lover: A Ballad" [CP]. T. S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Paper #4 DUE.
	T 4 Th 6	Poetic Forms. Nonsense Verse: Carroll, "Jabberwocky"; Edward Lear, "The Jumblies" [CP], "The Table and the Chair" [CP], "There was an Old Man with a Beard" [CP]; Laura Richards, "Etelephony" [CP]; Gerard Benson, "The Cat and the Pig" [CP]; Wendy Cope, "The Uncertainty of the Poet" [CP] Dr. Seuss, art, Green Eggs and Ham [R], The Cat in the Hat [R], The Butter Battle Book [R], Horton Hears a Who! [R]
	T 11 Th 13	Dr. Seuss, WWII Cartoons [X], The Sneetches [R], Yertle the Turtle [R]. WRITING WORKSHOP: Draft of Paper #5 DUE.
	T 18 Th 20 F 21	Poetic Themes. America: Whitman, "One Hour to Madness and Joy," "Beat! Beat! Drums!" [CP]; Longfellow, from "The Building of the Ship" [CP]; Leonard Cohen, "Democracy" [CP]. Video: "The American Dream" from The United States of Poetry [X]. Vietnam: Selections from "What's Going On? An Incomplete List of Songs About Vietnam" <http://www.cofc.edu/~nelp/vietnam_music.html>. Paper #5 DUE.
	T 25	Langston Hughes, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "Juke Box Love Song," "Old Walt," "I, Too," "Theme for English B," "Let America Be America Again" [CP]
May	F 28 F 5	Final Exam (incl. Paper #6) for Section 43 (the "12:15" group). 12:00-3:00 p.m. Final Exam (incl. Paper #6) for Section 57 (the "1:40" group). 12:00-3:00 p.m.