Also, this course will have an electronic mailing list (known as a
listserver) that will have all of our names on it. If you send a message
to gamer40@dept.english.upenn.edu, your message will go to everyone in
the class. This way, you will be able to do many things: 1) conduct
discussions outside of class, 2) ask for information on what we did in
class if you miss a meeting, 3) test paper ideas out on each other, 4)
brainstorm regarding the final exam, etc. On the first day of class, I
will, as part of our first assignment, get those of you who know about
e-mail to take twenty minutes to teach those of you who don't know about
e-mail how to use it. ALLEN AND I ALSO ARE MORE THAN WILLING TO SET UP
GROUP APPOINTMENTS WITH YOU IN ORDER TO TEACH YOU HOW TO USE THIS
TECHNOLOGY--so if you feel lost, you simply need to say so.
Your grade will be determined by three components: the quality of your
in-class performance (including the four paragraphs and six listserver
responses, 20% of your grade), your performance on the final exam (30% of
your grade), and the quality of the portfolio of work that you hand in at
the end of the semester (50% of grade). These various assignments are
listed and described below:
Sept 7: Opening Day of course. Anne Finch's "The
Bird and the Arras" and "Adam Posed".
Sept 12: Landscapes of Authorship: Anne Finch.
Reading: read all of the poems in the bulkpack by Anne Finch, Countess
of Winchelsea. For Discussion: "On Myself," "The Introduction," and
"The Apology." SHORT PARAGRAPH DUE H-P
Sept 14: Nature and Art. For Discussion: Anne
Finch, "The Apology," "A Nocturnal Reverie," and "The Nightingale."
SHORT PARAGRAPH DUE Q-Z
Sept 19: Landscapes of Epic and Gender. For Discussion: Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock. SHORT
PARAGRAPH DUE A-G
Sept 21: London High Life, 1700-1750: Two Views. Reading: read all
of the poems in the bulkpack by Jonathan Swift and by
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. For Discussion: "The
Lady's Dressing Room" and, from Montagu's Town Ecologues, "Saturday: The
Smallpox." SHORT PARAGRAPH DUE H-P.
Sept 26: Ruins, Monuments, and the Land of the Dead. Reading: Read
all the poems in the bulkpack by Thomas Gray. For
Discussion: "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College," "Ode on the
Death of a Favorite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes," and "Elegy
Written in a Country Churchyard." SHORT PARAGRAPH DUE Q-Z.
Sept 28: For Discussion: Thomas Gray, "The Bard,"
and any poems we did not get to on Sept. 26. SHORT PARAGRAPH DUE A-G.
Sept 29: ESSAY #1 DUE.
Oct 3: Landscapes of Economic Change I. For Discussion: Oliver Goldsmith, "The Deserted Village." SHORT
PARAGRAPH DUE H-P.
Oct 5: Hauntings. Reading: Read all the selections from Mary Robinson in the bulkpack. For Discussion: Joanna Baillie, "Night Scenes of Other Times"
(1790); Mary Robinson, "The Haunted Beach" and "The Savage of Aveyron"
(1800); Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
(1798); William Wordsworth, "Goody Blake and
Harry Gill" (1798). SHORT PARAGRAPH DUE Q-Z.
Oct 10, 12: Nature and the Evolution of the Romantic Sonnet. For
October 10th and 12th, we'll be reading sonnets in chronological order
byThomas Gray (1716-1771), Charlotte Smith (1784-1797),
Helen Maria Williams (1784-1797) William Bowles (1789), Samuel Taylor
Coleridge (1772-1834), William Wordsworth (1787-1806), Percy Shelley
(1815-1819), and John Keats (1795-1821). All of the poems for these
two class periods--even the ones that also appear in the various volumes
you've bought for the course--are located in order in the coursepack. We
will discuss as many of them as we can, and will attempt to organize them
thematically, as well as attempting to understand the various influences
operating within these communities of writers. On October 10, we'll
sequence that begins with Smith ("Sonnet 1") and ends with Keats ("Scorn
not the Sonnet"). On October 12, we'll concentrate on the sequence in the
packet that goes from Bowles ("To the River Itchin") to Shelley ("England
in 1819"). OCTOBER 10: SHORT PARAGRAPH DUE A-G. OCTOBER 12: SHORT
PARAGRAPH DUE H-P.
Oct 19: The Conversation Poem 1: Reading: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "The Aeolian Harp" (in
bulkpack), "Reflections on Having Left a Place of Retirement" (in
bulkpack), "This Lime Tree Bower My Prison," "The Nightingale. For
Discussion: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Frost at Midnight"; William
Wordsworth, "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey," and
"Nutting." SHORT PARAGRAPH DUE Q-Z.
Oct 20: ESSAY #2 DUE.
Oct 24: Romance vs Real Life. Reading: William Wordsworth, "The Old Cumberland Beggar"
(bulkpack). For Discussion: William Wordsworth,
"Hart-Leap Well" and, if we have time, the poem under the "Reading"
heading. SHORT PARAGRAPH DUE A-G.
Oct 26: Creativity and Cognition. For discussion: William Wordsworth, "Expostulation and Reply," "The
Tables Turned," and "With ships the sea was sprinkled"; Percy Shelley, "Mont Blanc" (all in bulkpack).
Oct 31: Landscapes of Creativity and Desire I. For Discussion:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Christabel".
Nov 2: Landscapes of Creativity and Desire II. For Discussion: Percy Shelley, "Ode to the West Wind"; John Keats,
"Ode to a Nightingale"; Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
"Kubla Khan" (see version in bulkpack, since it contains his preface).
Nov 7: Landscapes of Creativity and Desire III. For Discussion:
John Keats, The Eve of St. Agnes; John Keats, "La Belle Dame Sans Merci;
"Ode on a Grecian Urn," and "To Fanny" (this last
poem is in the bulkpack). Long Paper Deadline #1: You must meet with
me--or e-mail me--to discuss what you will be doing your long essay on or
by this date.
Nov 9: Landscapes of Creativity and Desire IV. For Discussion: from
Felicia Hemans, Records of Woman (1828):
"The Memorial Pillar," "The Grave of a Poetess," and "Constanza".
Nov 14: Reading: Raymond Williams, "Introduction" to John
Clare: Selected Poetry and Prose. We will spend two class periods
on Clare. Per class, we will discuss two or three poems in depth. I
strongly recommend, however, that you simply read the Selected
Poems cover to cover, dipping in as you wish, and moving on if a
poem does not please you. Raymond Williams is perhaps the most important
materialist critic working in England in the last 40 years; his
introduction is excellent. The edition is littered with short prose
passages (in 'quotations marks' in the table of contents) written by
Clare that are very entertaining as well, and will give you a huge amount
of insight into this fascinating poet. For Discussion: "The Mores,"
"The Lament of Swordy Well" and "Remembrances."
Nov 16: For discussion: Clare cluster #2: "The Thrushes Nest," "The
Pettichaps Nest," "The Mouse's Nest," "The Badger," "The Fox." All of
these poems are superb, and to an extent speak to one another. If you
think that you want to write a paper on Clare's work, I strongly advise
that you read through all of the nest poems. They are short, and
fascinating. Long Paper Deadline #2: due today is a one-page prospectus
of what your long essay will argue.
Nov 21: For Discussion: Christina Rosetti, "Goblin Market".
Nov 28: For Discussion: Tom Stoppard, Arcadia.
November 30-December 7: For our remaining classes, we will be reading
from the poetry of Thomas Hardy, The Wessex Poems (1898). On
November 30th: due today are the drafts of your long essay.
Professor: Michael Gamer
WATU Tutor: Allen Grove
Class meets: Tues-Thurs, 3:00-4:30 pm
Office and Phone: 203 Bennett Hall, (215) 482-2156
Office Hours: Tues 12:00-3:00; Wednesday by appt.
Allen Grove's Office and Phone:
Allen Grove's Office Hours:
TEXTS: Available at Penn Book Center, 3726 Walnut, ph:222-7600.
BULKPACK: Available at Campus Copy Center, 3907 Walnut
Contains poems by Bowles, Coleridge, Finch, Gray, Goldsmith, Hemans,
Keats, Montagu, Pope, Robinson, Shelley, Smith, Swift, Williams, and
Wordsworth.
COMPUTER INFORMATION
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Back in the early nineteenth century, the famous reviewer and critic
Francis Jeffrey wrote in The Edinburgh Review that there were
"not thirty [poets] whose works are to be found in the hands of ordinary
readers--in the shops of ordinary booksellers--or in the press for
republication" (Contributions to the Edinburgh Review 289). At
that time, Jeffrey joked about wanting to stop the production of the
poets and the presses, if only for a decade, so that he could direct his
readers to the vast amount of good British poetry, either neglected or
forgotten, that he did not want to see die. Therefore, in this course,
we will do our best to do the impossible: sample British poetry from
1710 to 1900 in our own Grand Tour that hopefully will achieve an
understanding even about the authors that we will not have time to read.
We will do so by looking into a tradition of poetry--that of
landscape--that will allow us to see how present poet revise and
transform their predecessors in order to present their own ways of
seeing. Understanding the various topographies of British poetry,
furthermore, will allow us to examine how it constructs psychological and
political landscapes as well.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
You are required to have an electronic mail account
I do not require you to use the English gopher, the world wide web, or
any of the internet, but an electronic mail account--and checking it at
least a couple of times a week--is required. Until you send an
electronic mail message to me, I will not consider you registered for the
class, and I will drop those of you on the course lists who do not get
electronic mail accounts. I do this because I will use electronic mail
as my chief way of making course announcements, sending out reminders,
and communicating with you.
Attendance
Since I know that disasters happen unexpectedly during the semester, I
allow you two absences. In other words, there's no such thing in this
class as an "excused" absence. I don't want to know why you miss class;
these two absences are your business. Missing more than two classes is
equally your business, but it will significantly lower your grade, since
it will inhibit your ability to contribute significantly to our
discussions. You should count on 3-4 absences lowering your grade by 1/3
(B to B-, for example), 5-6 by 2/3 (B to C+, 7-8 by one full grade (B to
C), etc.
Participation
This class will conduct itself as a discussion rather than a lecture. I
say this now because I do not want anyone taking this class to expect it
to be a lecture class. I do sometimes lecture for 5-15 minute stretches,
but the bulk of our time will be spent in real discussion, and the topics
of our discussion will be determined as much by your intellectual
interests as by my own. This means that you should expect class periods
to be intense and fun, a place to test out your own ideas about what
we're reading. You can expect me to come in every class with 50 minutes
of my own agenda planned; in turn, I will expect the 25 of you to have at
least 25 minutes of questions, observations, and discoveries about the
reading. Students who do not participate in our discussions will most
likely see their final grade go down; the four or five students who end
up carrying much of the burden of discussion will probably see their hard
work reflected in their grade as well. Most importantly, you should
expect class discussion often to follow your interests and concerns as
you voice them. Usually, I will ask those of you who have written
paragraphs for that day to read your paragraphs aloud, as a way of
getting discussion going. I will expect the rest of you at least TO
BRING IN ONE QUESTION that you want to ask the rest of us--and you
should, when possible, choose interpretive questions ("I don't understand
how these two passages can be part of the same poem") rather than factual
questions ("When did Robinson write this?") In particular, I urge you to
pay special attention to those points where you don't understand
something in the reading--where you've tried to find out the answer for
yourself and failed--because they are the most important for the class.
Reading and Writing Assignments
As this course is an introductory survey course, I am assuming that you
have little or no experience in reading poetry. Consequently, the
reading load for this course is light (usually but not always less than 4
hours per week), and the writing load for this course is relatively heavy
(four short paragraphs, six listserv responses, two short essays, and a
longer essay with an annotated bibliography attached to it).
Instructions concerning all of these assignments are below.
The Three Essays
During the semester, I will ask you to hand in three essays 750-1750
words long. I will read and respond to these essays, and, beginning with
the second one, explain to you what kind of grade it would receive were
it to be handed in at the end of the semester in the portfolio. You can
consider these essays as dry runs for the portfolio, since for the
portfolio I will ask you to select your best work, revise it, and hand it
in for a grade. This way, you will have the opportunity to test ideas
and take chances without being immediately penalized for it.
GRADED WORK FOR THIS COURSE
Late Work and Extensions
During the semester, I do not accept late work. If you do not make a
deadline, it does not directly affect your grade; you simply lose that
opportunity for me to read your work and provide you with feedback. In
other words, if you miss the second paper deadline, you simply lose that
opportunity for me to read your work and help you with feedback. I do
this because I do not want anything to do with the hassles of students
asking for extensions, bringing excuses, etc. I will only read each
paper you write once before the portfolio. However, I am happy to
discuss work in progress with you during my office hours or by
appointment; and will be very happy to talk with you about an essay that
I've commented upon. It is a good idea to bring in a draft with specific
questions about it. It is much more instructive to discuss specific
questions and writing problems in a draft than general, abstract
questions concerning your writing.
Plagiarism
As I'm interested in what you think about this material, I do not like
reading plagiarized work, and will fail any student who hands in
plagiarized work for the course. If you have a question about whether
you are plagiarizing something, definitely err on the side of caution and
come ask me.
COURSE CALENDAR