American Literature I 1

Course Identifcation
EN 250 & EN 250-L
American Literature I
3 or 4 credit hours
8-8:50 MWF
Mohler 231
Instructor
Bruce Clary
Deans Suite
242.0506 (Ext. 2506)
claryb@mcpherson.edu
Offce Hrs.: By appointment
Requirements Met
English major or minor
Language Intensive (if
enrolled for 4 hours)
7-12 teaching certifcation
in English.
Course LMS
mcph.acck.edu/ics
Required Texts
Paul Lauter et al., eds.
The Heath Anthology of
American Literature. Vols.
A and B. 6th ed. Houghton
Miffin: 2010.
Hannah Webster Foster. The
Coquette. 1797. Ed. Cathy
Davidson. Oxford UP,
1986.
Literature I
American
A Syllabus for EN 250 & EN250-L
McPherson CollegeFall 2014
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The principal goal of this course is to advance and diversify stu-
dents knowledge of American literature, 1500-1865, its social
and cultural contexts, and its historical development. Class time
will also be devoted to techniques of critical reading, apprecia-
tion of aesthetic achievements, and learning literary and critical
terminology.
COURSE OUTCOMES AND INDICATORS
In commonplace entries, class discussions, exams, and essays,
students will
1. Demonstrate knowledge of American history and Ameri-
can social structures in the period 1500-1865 by describing
changes in social conditions, institutions, and basic concep-
tions of the individual.
2. Analyze the tensions inherent within American society
created by its emphasis on individualism (as revealed in
the literature) by (a) describing conficts between personal
freedom and social responsibility embodied in individual lit-
erary works, the works of an individual author, and particular
historical moments or literary traditions; (b) drawing paral-
lels between situations experienced by authors or characters
in the literature with contemporary American situations; and
(c) identifying and discussing writers and/or characters whose
position(s) on self and society most nearly express/contradict
their personal view.
3. Demonstrate knowledge of the historical development of
American literature, 1500-1865, of the roles played in that
development by some of the major authors, and of works
representing landmarks in the history of American litera-
ture by (a) referring knowledgeably to the historical develop-
ment of American literature as a context for understanding
individual writers and works; (b) making informed arguments
for the place of authors and their works in the development
of American literature; and (c) accurately dating, identifying,
2 EN250 & EN250-L
describing, and/or defning i) authors and their works, and ii)
important developments in the history of American literature.
4. Demonstrate that they read carefully and critically by
(a) comprehending and recalling important textual and con-
textual details; (b) summarizing, paraphrasing, questioning,
interpreting and evaluating assigned readings; (c) explicating
passages and explaining their connection to larger artistic/
thematic concerns; and (d) correctly using critical and literary
terms to discuss and describe the assigned works.
5. Demonstrate that they write effectively and purposefully
by (a) responding to the readings, effectively summarizing,
paraphrasing, interpreting, and questioning the texts, and
(b) producing focused commonplace entries and essays that
clearly, economically, and adequately develop a thesis that
displays active, informed engagement with the readings.
COURSE STRUCTURE
The course is organized chronologically and divided into weekly
themes or subjects. It is more blatantly focused on major authors
of the 18001865 period than any course I have taught for the
past 20 years. This opens me to criticism that I am enshrining
the work of Dead White European Males, to the exclusion of
minority voices. Students will fnd, however, that the course
regular references the voices critical of Americas Eurocentric
culture and values, even if those voices are thinly represented in
the reading list. My main motivation for adopting this structure
is twofold: (1) to provide more time to explore major authors in
depth and (2) to avoid the fragmentation of course material that
derives from including so many disparate voices.
REQUIRED WORK
Commonplace book. You will maintain a literary commonplace
throughout the semester. Commonplacing holds a storied and
honorable place in the history of American letters. In the last
250 years of the time covered in this course (1500-1865), many
literate Americans kept commonplaces as records of their
reading and of their intellectual life. By adopting the practice of
commonplacing, you will be engaging with the assigned works
in much the same way that the works contemporary readers
might have done.
Each day, you will select and copy no fewer than three
quotations from the assigned reading into your commonplace,
adding some refective comments about each passage. The
passages appearing there, and your accompanying comments,
will become the basis of much of our class discussion on the
Christopher Columbus
Holy Scripture testifes that Our
Lord made the earthly paradise
in which he placed the Tree of
Life. I believe that the earthly
Paradise lies here, which no
one can enter except by Gods
leave. I believe that this land
which your Highnesses have
commanded me to discover
is very great. I do believe,
however, that, distant though it
is, these waters may fow from
there to this place which I have
reached.
Then with the true God, the true
Dios,
came the beginning of our
misery.
Mayan poem.
American Literature I 3
work(s) in question as well as the basis of much of your course
grade and the source material for your comprehensive essay.
Detailed instructions for the commonplace assignment are at-
tached as an addendum. They are also available on the course
LMS: mcph.acck.edu/ics.
Comprehensive essay. You will write an essay of 2,0002,500
words tracing a theme or pattern of interest that emerges from
the readings and discussions throughout the semester. The
essay should draw upon your commonplace entries as well as
several carefully selected secondary sources. The matter of the
comprehensive essay and possible themes and patterns will
arise frequently in class. A timeline for submitting a proposal,
a preliminary draft, and the fnal essay can be found in the
Schedule of Initial Readings and Assignments.
Midterm and fnal exams. Two exams will be administered,
one at midterm and one during fnals week. The exams will
consist primarily of essay questions, but some objective
questions may be included that will ensure accountability for
basic chronological knowledge of works, authors, and historical
contexts.
STUDENT EVALUATION
Commonplace book (40 percent of fnal grade). I will collect
commonplace entries at two-week intervals, give or take a week.
I will evaluate each daily commonplace as follows:
4 Demonstrates especially provocative and thoughtful engage-
ments with the assigned readings.
3 Demonstrates adequate, thoughtful engagements with the
assigned readings.
2 Suggests adequate, thoughtful engagements with the as-
signed readings.
1 Demonstrates less than adequate acquaintance and/or
thoughtful engagement with the assigned readings.
The standard by which your fnal commonplace grade will
be determined is 3.5 points per entry. In other words, it is my
expectation that all your entries should meet the 3-point standard
but that only about half will attain the 4-point standard. I will
drop your three lowest commonplace scores at the end of the
semester.
I expect you to come to each class prepared to share your entries
from that days readings. If it becomes clear during class discus-
sion that you have not completed your commonplacing for the
day, I will record a zero for that days entry.
Freedom is perhaps the
most resonant, deeply held
American value. In some
ways, it defnes the good in
both personal and political
life. Yet freedom turns out to
mean being left alone by oth-
ers, not having other peoples
values, ideas, or styles of life
forced upon one, being free
of arbitrary authority in work,
family, and political life. What
it is that one might do with
that freedom is much more
diffcult for Americans to
defne. And if the entire social
world is made up of individu-
als, each endowed with the
right to be free of others
demands, it becomes hard
to forge bonds of attachment
to, or cooperation with, other
people, since such bonds
would imply obligations that
necessarily impinge on ones
freedom.
Robert Bellah
Capt. John Smith
If a man worke but three dayes
in seaven [in New England],
he may get more than hee can
spend, unlesse he will be exces-
sive.
4 EN250 & EN250-L
Comprehensive Essay (30 percent of fnal grade).The rubric
for evaluating the researched essay will be distributed around
midterm along with the assignment guidelines.
Midterm exam (10 percent of fnal grade).
Final exam (20 percent of fnal grade).
Grading scale. A = 91100%; B = 8190%; C = 7180%;
D = 6170%; F = 60below.
POLICIES
Attendance. I do not distinguish excused from unexcused
absencesmaking such a distinction puts me in a role I do
not care to play. If you know ahead of time that you will be
absent from class, you can submit your commonplace entries
before class for full credit. I do not accept for credit any work
that is late due to absence.
If you accumulate four absences, we will have a discussion
about your future in the course. If you accumulate seven ab-
sences, you will fail the course, barring extraordinary circum-
stances.
Disability Services. Students who, because of disability, may
require reasonable accommodations to meet course require-
ments should contact the instructor or access coordinator,
Carole Barr (ext. 2506), as soon as possible.
Academic Services. The Royer Center for Academic Develop-
ment (Miller Library, main level) is open to all students who
need academic assistance in any class.
Disclaimer: This syllabus is subject to modifcation. The
instructor will communicate all substantial modifcations both
to the Chief Academic Offcer and to students enrolled in the
course, prior to enacting these modifcations.
SPECIAL INJUNCTION
You are responsible for seeing that this syllabus does not in-
terfere with your education. You can always do more work or
different work (within reason) than the syllabus requires. Con-
sult with me if you wish to explore the possibilities for better
adapting this course to your needs.
John Winthrop
God Almightie in his most holy
and wise providence hath soe
disposed of the Condicion of
mankind, as in all times some
must be rich some poore, some
highe and eminent in power and
dignitie; others meane and in
subjeccion.
Benjamin Franklin
What maintains one Vice,
would bring up two Children.
American Literature I 5
Schedule of Initial Readings & Assignments
M Aug 25 Introduction to course
Seneca, The Origin of Stories (5557)
Weeks 12 First Peoples, First Encounters
W Aug 27 Beginnings to 1700 (111)
Native American Narrative (1922)
Lakota, Wohpe and the Gift of the Pipe (5254)
Ojibway, Mans Dependence on Animals
(6265)
Tlinglit, Raven and Marriage (6872)
F Aug 29 NO CLASS: BOT Retreat
M Sept 1 NO CLASS: Labor Day
W Sept 3 Ritual Poetry, Song, and Ceremony (8082)
Native American Oral Poetry (10423)
F Sept 5 America in the World/The World in America
(12430)
New Spain (13137)
Christopher Columbus (13749)
Caveza de Vaca, Relation (15770)
Chesapeake, (25355)
John Smith (27387)
Yuchi, Creation of the Whites (73)
Lenape, The Arrival of the Whites (7477)
Handsome Lake, How America Was
Discovered (82527)
Week 3 The Puritan Mission, the Puritan Aesthetic
M Sept 8 Beginnings to 1700 (1115)
New England (31418)
Winthrop, Christian Charity (33248)
W Sept 10 Preface to the Bay Psalm Book (44751)
Tillam, Uppon frst sight (56970)
Bradstreet, poems (41821, 42637)
F Sept 12 Taylor, poems (492520)
Week 4 What Is an American?
M Sept 15 Eighteenth Century (589605)
Voices of Revolution and Nationalism (83537)
Crvecouer, Letters from an American Farmer
(95489)
W Sept 17 Franklin, The Way to Wealth (83746)
Autobiography (90919)
F Sept 19 Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia
(1022-42)
Frederick Douglass
Americans! your republican
politics, not less that your re-
publican religion, are fagrantly
inconsistent. You boast of
your love of liberty, your supe-
rior civilization, and your pure
Christianity, while the whole
political power of the nation is
solemnly pledged to support
and perpetuate the enslavement
of three millions of our country-
men. You hurl your anathemas
at the crowned headed tyrants
of Russia and Austria, and pride
yourselves on your Democratic
institutions, while you your-
selves consent to be the mere
tools and bodyguards of the
tyrants of Virginia and Carolina.
6 EN250 & EN250-L
Week 5 Freedom and Responsibility
M Sept 22 Jefferson, Letters to Madison (104246)
Federalist and Anti-Federalist Contentions
(1059-73)
Jefferson, correspondence with John Adams
(101822)
W Sept 24 Royall Tyler, The Contrast, Acts III (135071)
F Sept 26 The Contrast, Acts IIIV (137193)
Week 6 The 18th-century American Novel
M Sept 29 Hannah Webster Foster, The Coquette (354)
W Oct 1 The Coquette (55108)
F Oct 3 The Coquette (10869)
Week 7 18th-century American Poetry
M Oct 6 Eighteenth-Century Anglo-American Poetry
(74346)
Murray, On the Equality of the Sexes (1245
47, 125359)
Turell, poems (78890)
Fletcher, poems (handout)
Stockton, poems (79599)
Anonymous poems by women (82123)
Wheatley, poems (12971314)
W Oct 8 Midterm Exam
F Oct 10 no class: Fall Break
Week 8 Race, Slavery, and the Invention of the South
M Oct 13 Race, Slavery, and the Invention of the South
(198182)
Walker, Appeal (198293)
Garrison, editorial (199497)
Grimk, Appeal (201827)
Fitzhugh, from Southern Thought (214252)
W Oct 15 Frederick Douglass (203537)
What to the Slave Is Fourth of July? (210220)
F Oct 17 Harriet Beecher Stowe, from Uncle Toms Cabin
(25732614)
Week 9 Nathaniel Hawthorne
M Oct 20 Hawthorne (23982401)
Alice Doanes Appeal & Young Goodman
Brown (24142430)
W Oct 22 Ministers Black Veil & The
Birthmark (243150)
F Oct 24 Rappaccinis Daughter (2451-70)
Harriett Beecher Stowe
When President Lincoln met
her, he allegedly said, So this
is the little lady who wrote the
book that made this war.
Walt Whitman
He called his poetry
barbaric yawp.
American Literature I 7
Week 10 Edgar Allan Poe
M Oct 27 Poe (248486)
Ligeia & The Fall of the House of
Usher (24872510)
W Oct 29 The TellTale Heart (251720) & The
Purloined Letter (252739)
F Oct 31 Philosophy of Composition and selected
poems, TBA (254671)
Week 11 Hermann Melville
M Nov. 3 Melville (264750)
Bartleby, the Scrivener (265177)
W Nov 5 Billy Budd (275382)
F Nov 7 Billy Budd (2782811)
Week 12 The Transcendentalists
M Nov 10 Ralph Waldo Emerson (170406)
from Nature: Nature (170710) &
Language (171418)
Self-Reliance (174662)
W Nov 12 Henry David Thoreau (185962)
Resistance to Civil Government (186276)
F Nov 14 from Walden (18771911)
Last date to submit comprehensive essay proposal
Week 12 Walt Whitman
M Nov 17 Whitman (299295)
Emerson, The Poet (176379)
Song of Myself (301054)
W Nov 19 Song of Myself (cont.)
F Nov 21 Selected poems TBA
Weeks 1314 Emily Dickinson
M Nov 24 Dickinson (312529)
Higginson, letters (218284)
Selected letters TBA
Selected poems TBA
T Nov 25 Last date to submit comprehensive essay draft
M Dec 1 Selected poems TBA
W Dec 3 Selected poems TBA
F Dec 5 Selected poems TBA
Week 15 Final Exams
W Dec 10 8 a.m. Final exam period
Th Dec 11 Last date to submit comprehensive essay
Emily Dickinson
Im Nobody! Who are you?
Are youNobodytoo?
Then theres a pair of us!
Dont tell! theyd banish us
you know!