Course Description
American poetry, fiction, and prose written between 1820 and 1865. Writers may include Cooper, Poe, Caroline Kirkland, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Stowe, Harriet Jacobs, Douglass, Melville, Whitman, and Dickinson.
Athena Title
American Renaissance
Prerequisite
Two 2000-level ENGL courses or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 3000-level ENGL course) or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 2000-level CMLT course)
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
At the end of the course, students, having read a substantial body of work by American writers from the first half of the Nineteenth Century, will be able to discuss the assigned works (orally and in writing) with a considerable degree of critical sophistication, to read them with pleasure, to read and enjoy other works from the period, and to converse with fellow students about texts and issues related to the subject matter of the course.
Topical Outline
The choice and sequence of readings will vary from instructor to instructor and semester to semester. The topics for class discussion, oral reports, and writing assignments will consist of selected works by various authors to be read outside of class and discussed in class and to be examined individually and comparatively in the context of the times and the circumstances of their composition. Periodically during the semester, students will perform a number of graded tasks, including some combination of tests and out-of-class papers. A possible reading list for discussion and for writing assignments and/or oral reports might include work by: Cooper, Irving, Poe, Emerson, Hawthorne, Douglass, Melville, Thoreau, Stowe, and Dickinson.