INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE

Lecturer: mgr BARBARA BRAID

English Department, Szczecin University

2012/2013

The course is designed for the first year extramural students

DESCRIPTION

The course entitled “Introduction to Literature” focuses on the basic terminology, skills and awareness of the issues concerning the study of literature and literary theories. Its general objective is to prepare the students to further study of literature. It aims also at equipping students with the most important skills concerning the analysis and interpretation of literature. Throughout the course the students are going to read a variety of literary works to illustrate terminology characteristic for the study of literature.

OBJECTIVES

Knowledge:

• Definition of literature, characteristic features of literature, basic terminology concerning literature

• Forms of literatures and genres and their characteristic features

• Poetic language, prosody, stylistic devices

• The main contemporary theories of literature

Skills:

• Recognizing the features of a given form/genre in the examples

• Researching a topic (literary theory), preparing and delivering a presentation

• Critical reading of literature

• Discussing literature in pairs and groups

REQUIREMENTS

The students are required to:

• attend the classes (only 2 absences, including a sick leave, in a semester are permissible);

• read the assigned texts in advance and be able to discuss them;

• take active participation in discussions about the assigned texts;

• research, prepare and deliver a presentation on a chosen literary theory in small groups.

The lecturer may wish to assess the students' preparation for the class in for form of small introductory tests. The course will close with a written test at the end of the term; the test will cover the whole course, both the discussed works of literature and the handbook material.

REFERENCE LIST

Burzyńska, Anna and Paweł Markowski. Teorie Literatury XX Wieku. Społeczny Instytut Wydawniczy Znak, 2006.

Diniejko, Andrzej. Introduction to the Study of Literature in English. Kielce: Wydawnictwo Akademii Świętokrzyskiej, 2004.

Klarer, Mario. An Introduction to Literary Studies. Routledge: London, 1999.

Landy, Alice S. The Heath Introduction to Literature. 4th edition. Lexington, MA and Toronto: D. C. Heath and Co, 1992.

Meyer, Michael. Thinking and Writing About Literature. A Text and Anthology. Bedford/St Martin's: Boston and New York, 2010.

Whitla, William. The English Handbook: A Guide to Literary Studies. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

Wolfreys, Julian. Introducing Literary Theories: A Guide and Glossary. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2001.

COURSE OUTLINE

Topic	Literary texts	Handbook reading
Introduction: what is literature?	--	Diniejko 13-20; 27-35
Prose fiction: plot and characters, narration and setting; genres	Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes” (fragment) William Faulkner “A Rose for Emily” Charles Dickens, “Hard Times” (fragment) Katherine Mansfield, “Miss Brill” Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown” Ernst Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants” Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”	Meyer 137-160 Landy 29-41; 48-55; 88-101; 116-121 Klaren 9-28 Diniejko 99-1118
Style, tone, irony	Raymond Craver, “Popular Mechanics” Edwin Arlington Robinson “Richard Cory” Kenneth Fearing “AD” W. H. Auden “The Unknown Citizen” Adrienne Rich “Aunt Jennifer's Tigers”	Meyer 165-171 Meyer 249-251 Diniejko 37-48 Landy 413, 416-17;
Themes and motifs, symbolism and allegory	Emily Dickinson “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” John Donne “Holy Sonnet 10” Colette, “The Hand” Robert Frost, “Acquainted with the Night” Edgar Allan Poe, “The Haunted Palace”	Meyer 160-165, 171-174, 244-249 Diniejko 37-48 Landy 384-385; 488
Poetry: diction, word choice, rhyme, rhythm, meter	Randall Jarrell, “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” George Herbert, “The Collar” William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 29” Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven”*	Meyer 225-229 Landy 469-471; 475-476 Klaren 28-44 Diniejko 65-71 *separate copies of texts will be provided
Poetry: images, figures of speech, metaphor	William Shakespeare, “Macbeth” (fragment) Emily Dickinson “Presentiment”; “A Bird Came Down the Walk” Dylan Thomas, “The Hand that Signed the Paper” Janice Townley Moore, “To a Wasp” John Updike, “Player Piano” Robert Southey, “The Cataract of Lodore” (fragment) Gerard Manley Hopkins, “God's Grandeur” William Wordsworth, “My Heart Leaps Up” Thomas Steele “Waiting for the Storm”	Meyer 238 - 244 Meyer 251-265 Diniejko 37-50
Poetic genres and speaker (persona)	“Lord Randall” Dudley Randall “Ballad of Birmingham” Ezra Pound “In the Station of the Metro” Dylan Thomas, “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” William Shakespeare “Sonnet 130” e.e.cummings “in Just-“ John Keats “Ode to a Nightingale” Robert Browning “My Last Duchess”	Diniejko 53-64 Landy 359-360; 363-364; 377; 391-2; 401-2; 453-56 Meyer 841
Drama: plot, characterisation, setting, theme; genres	William Shakespeare, Hamlet	Meyer 284-286 Landy 541-545 Klaren 44-49 Diniejko 83-96
Theories of literature	STUDENTS' PRESENTATIONS

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