This course’s overall objective is to introduce you to the discipline of literary studies in English. On the one hand, it should enable you to become familiar with representative works of prose, poetry, and drama from various historical periods; on the other hand, it should offer you the opportunity to acquire the tools needed to read and write about these texts critically. The course promises to help you learn to recognize literary forms and stylistic devices, understand their importance, and to use critical terms and techniques accurately. It also offers substantial practice in the composition of formal, analytical essays. I invite you to join the intellectual community that this class will become in order to meet these objectives.

I will help you to achieve the course’s objectives in the following ways. First, I will ask you to read and think carefully about texts that I find particularly engaging; I have selected texts that I find interesting and that are representative of their historical period or genre. Second, I will provide instruction by conducting lectures and by making myself available for consultation in person, by email, and by telephone. Third, I will ask you to communicate your ideas about the texts you read to your classmates and me; I will provide a forum for the exchange of ideas by facilitating seminar discussions and setting written assignments designed to help you to develop and demonstrate your communication skills. Finally, I will assess the progress of your learning by evaluating your written assignments, providing you with feedback concerning the style and content of your writing.

You can help yourself and others to achieve this course’s objectives by participating in lectures and seminar discussions, by consulting me outside the classroom for clarification or to challenge yourself further, and by using discussions and written assignments to refine your analytical skills and demonstrate your ability to apply them.

I ultimately hope you find the texts studied during this course as engaging as I do, and that they may provide a strong foundation for the reading you do throughout your life. I also hope that this course will help you to improve your ability to communicate clearly and, above all, to think critically. [back to top]

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Peterborough: Broadview, 2002. ISBN: 1551110288

Barnet, Sylvan, et al. A Short Guide to Writing about Literature, 2nd Canadian ed. Toronto: Pearson, 2005. (Abbreviated in the Schedule of Required Reading as SGWL). ISBN: 0321105699

Cancopy Course Pack. (See Bookstore)

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. London: Bloomsbury, 1997. ISBN: 155192398x

Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993. ISBN: 0743482816

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Trans. J. R. R. Tolkien. Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 1991. ISBN: 0261102591.

Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005. ISBN 0-393-92753-9. [back to top]

1. Attendance: Please make yourself familiar with the University’s policy on attendance in the General Calendar (p. 26, Section 6.1). I believe that attendance includes being prepared for classes by having read the material and thought about appropriate questions or comments. I expect you to bring along a copy of the text under discussion as well as A Short Guide to Writing About Literature.

2. Late Assignments: I hope not to deduct marks for late papers. I expect you to organize your time in order to submit papers in class (i.e., not by email or after class) on or before their due date. You may set a new date by writing to me—and having me confirm it with you in writing—up to one week before the assignment’s original due date. Papers handed up to three working days late will be assessed a half-grade penalty (e. g. B + becomes B); papers handed in more than three working days late will be assessed a further half-grade penalty (e. g. B + becomes C +) and will receive limited comments. Papers will not be accepted following the last day of class. Penalties will be adjusted or waived in the case of emergencies, but you must provide appropriate documentation (e. g. a doctor’s note) in such cases.

3. Plagiarism: Please make yourself familiar with the University’s policy on plagiarism and cheating in the General Calendar (pp. 26-27, Section 7). The common penalty in Arts for plagiarism in a written assignment, test, or examination is F on the paper and F for the course. For the most serious acts of plagiarism, such as the purchase of an essay or cheating on a test or examination, the penalty can also include suspension for a period of up to five years from registration in courses taught in a particular department in Arts or from all courses taught in this Faculty. The Faculty also reserves the right to submit student work that is suspected of being plagiarized to Internet sites designed to detect plagiarism.

4. Grades: Please consult the description of Letter Grades in the General Calendar (p. 23, Section 3.1). For an explanation of what these grades mean when they apply to a written assignment in this course, please see page 3 of the outline.[back to top]

Type of Work	Value	Date
A. Contribution to Intellectual Community (through WebCT)	20 %
1. Participation	10 %	Ongoing
2. Quizzes, Surveys, and Written Responses	10 %	Ongoing
B. Graded Writing Assignments	30 %	Draft / Final
1. Paper 1 (750 words)	5% = 2% (Draft); 3 % (Final)	6 July / 10 July
2. Paper 2 (750 words)	5% = 2% (Draft); 3 % (Final)	17 July / 20 July
3. Paper 3 (1000 words)	20% = 2 % (Draft); 18 % (Final)	16 August / 17 August
C. Examinations	50 %
1. Mid-Term Examination (2	10 %	30 July
2. Final Examination (3 Hours)	40 %	24 August, 900-1200
	Total 100%

Notes:
A.1. Active participation is vital to the success of our class. I expect you to be prepared by having read and thought about the texts, especially when questions have been set for you. This aspect of your mark not only considers how you contribute to discussions, but also your ability to listen actively. I encourage you to learn from your classmates and to act in a way that enables others to learn.

A.2. The surveys, quizzes, and written responses are designed to help both you and I to assess our progress throughout the course. The surveys will help me to evaluate my contribution to the intellectual community and for you to reflect on your role in it. The responses and quizzes will provide you with the opportunity to ponder, digest, and respond to the material we are considering in class. They should provide you with a resource for writing papers and preparing for examinations. They will also help me to identify areas of achievement or in need of improvement.

B. 1-3. I do not accept drafts or final essays by email. You must submit your draft with your final paper to receive credit for it. By writing drafts you will be able to develop your ideas and receive feedback about matters of style, convention, and content in your writing before the final paper is due. You will receive full credit (2 % of your final grade) for each one that is handed in on time and makes a reasonable effort to accomplish the assigned task. You will also be expected to participate fully in workshops on days in which the drafts are due. The late policy for papers does not apply to drafts: late submissions may receive comments if time allows, but they will receive no credit. [back to top]

Week 1		What is Literature?
03-Jul		Dave Eggers, “She Needed More Nuance”
		SGWL 1-11 (Reading and Responding, Meaning and Significance)
04-Jul		Gilles Vignealt, “The Wall”; Thomas King, “Borders”
		SGWL 12-30 (Writing a Draft)
05-Jul		Margaret Atwood, “Marrying the Hangman”; Ovid, “Pyramus and Thisbe”
		SGWL 31-51 (Explication and Analysis)
06-Jul	B1 (D)	Paper 1 (Draft) Due. Writing Workshop.
		SGWL 65-76(What is Literature?); SGWL 254-285 (Grammar, Syntax, Style, and Format)
Week 2		What is Criticism? (Part 1)
09-Jul		J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
		SGWL 77-103 (What is Interpretation? What is Evaluation?)
10-Jul	B1 (F)	J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
		SGWL 104-125 (Writing About Literature: An Overview)
11-Jul		Katherine Mansfield, “The Garden Party”; James Joyce, “Araby”
		SGWL 139-155 (Plot and Character; Foreshadowing, Setting and Atmosphere)
12-Jul		Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour”; E. A. Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart”
		SGWL 155-176 (Point of View; Theme); Review of Explication and Analysis
13-Jul		Robert Browning, “My Last Duchess”; Christina Rossetti, “In an Artist's Studio”
		SGWL 205-211 (The Speaker and the Poet: Diction and Tone)
Week 3		What is Criticism? (Part 2)
16-Jul		John Keats, “Chapman’s Homer”; Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ozymandias”
		SGWL 211-217 (Figurative Language)
17-Jul	B2 (D)	Robert Herrick, “Upon Julia's Clothes”; John Donne, “The Flea”
		SGWL  217-227 (Structure, Irony, Paradox; Explication)
18-Jul		Samuel Johnson, from The Idler No. 81; Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal”
		SGWL 129-138 (Writing About Essays)
19-Jul		Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, “Love That Doth Reign”; Lady, Mary Wroth, “Am I Thus Conquered?"
		SGWL 227-239 (Versification and Rhythm)
20-Jul	B2 (F)	William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Act 1)
		SGWL 184-189 (Types of Plays)
Week 4		Putting it All Together: The Magic of Early-Modern England
23-Jul		William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
		SGWL 189-196 (Aspects of Drama, Part 1)
24-Jul		William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
		SGWL 196-204 (Aspects of Drama, Part 2; Conventions)
25-Jul		Marie de France, Laustic
		SGWL 351-353 (Essay Examinations)
Week 4	(Continued)
26-Jul		No Class. Examination Period.
27-Jul		No Class. Examination Period.
Week 5
30-Jul	C1	Mid-Term Examination
		Casebook 1. Medieval “Mervayles”
31-Jul		Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
01-Aug		Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
02-Aug		Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
03-Aug		Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Week 6		Casebook 2. Romantic Revolutions
06-Aug		Municipal Holiday
07-Aug		Jane Austen, Pride and  Prejudice
08-Aug		Jane Austen, Pride and  Prejudice
09-Aug		Jane Austen, Pride and  Prejudice
10-Aug		Jane Austen, Pride and  Prejudice
Week 7		Casebook 3. Victorian Virtues and Vices
13-Aug		Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
14-Aug		Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
15-Aug		Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
16-Aug	B3 (D)	Writing Workshop
		SGWL 254-285 (Grammar, Syntax, Style, and Format)
		Casebook 4. Whose Tradition?
17-Aug	B3 (F)	John Cleese and Graham Chapman, from Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Week 8
20-Aug		William Butler Yeats, “Leda and the Swan”; Virginia Woolf, “The Mark on the Wall”
		T. S. Eliot, “Tradition and the Individual Talent”
21-Aug		Derek Walcott, “A Far Cry from Africa”; Dionne Brand, “At the Lisbon Plate”
		Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. “from Decolonizing the Mind.”
22-Aug		Nadine Gordimer, “The Moment Before the Gun Went Off”
		SGWL 351-353 (Essay Examinations)
24-Aug	C2	Final Examination [back to top]