• Plato’s Republic: Book X Notes
• Plato’s Phaedrus: Talk of Love
• Aristotle’s Poetics of Purging
• Plato Revisited: Augustine’s Confessions
• Pope: Essay on Critical Man
• On Kant’s “Aesthetic Judgment”
• Shelley’s Defense of Poetry
• Arnold’s Disinterested Critic

If we look at a work of literature, we might place it in its historical context to teach us something about the culture that produced the work; or we might look at the ethical systems at work in the text to make determinations about its representation of morality. Yet, while these approaches offer interesting insights into a work, reader-response allows us to read ourselves into the text and pick out components that speak to us as individual members of a community. Since the center of the text’s meaning is located in the reader, this fact will hopefully motivate the reader to understand herself better through the text as part of a larger community.

In approaching a text using a reader-response interpretation, you will rely on your “forestructure” i.e., your accrued life experience: memories, experiences, and beliefs constitute your forestructure and are unique to each person. When your forstructure meets a text, often it finds comfort in that the text meets your expectations. However, often, especially when looking at the group of texts that we call “literature,” our expectations are not met, and we struggle to make sense of the work. This experience causes us to either (1) throw the book out the window, or (2) question our expectations. Since the former choice is not an option in college if you want to succeed, the latter is frequently necessary as we encounter new texts.

When approaching a work for the first time, don’t think about its strangeness. Instead, consider what parts of it talk to you: what aspects of the work can you locate in your own experience? What aspects of your forestructure are represented within the text? Chances are, you can find something, however small. If not, look harder, and turn off that TV.

Literature, like all art, is our attempt to bring order to our lives by representing that which we as human beings find important to how we live as individuals and as members of a larger community. Bring your experience to the text: energize the text with yourself, but also use this process as a chance to question yourself, to learn more about what makes you unique. Interact with the text; don’t push it away. Find something of yourself within the text to grasp onto or grapple with. We are all trying to do the same thing. You’re not alone.

Once you find something that interests you in the text, you need to convince others to see it as well. The first step involves your individual encounter with the literature, but the second step brings it into the discussion: you must convince others that your particular point of view has credibility. To do this, use persuasive language, presented in a well-organized fashion that refers directly to the text through illustrations or evidence. Your interpretation may mean something to you, but you must be able to articulate it to others, even if it is only to your professor.

So, when approaching a work for the first time or revisiting one of your favorites, think about what speaks to you and what doesn’t about the text, then ask yourself why? We read literature not to understand the text itself, but to better understand the values of the cultures that produce(d) that literature. Remember, what’s important is your interpretation of the text and convincing others that your point of view has merit. This should be the starting point for all of your responses in this class.

1. A biographical sketch of of the author, including a list of works
2. A brief summary of the work’s action, divided by sections or chapters, if applicable
3. Works cited for each section containing strong critical sources: i.e., books and scholarly articles. You may use web sites, but they will be used in addition to the strong sources. Be sure use use correct MLA citation method. Please clear questionable secondary materials with me before using them
4. A commentary that acknowledges key themes, symbols, motifs, passages, etc. in each section
5. Explanatory notes that clarify confusing phrases, words, artifacts, references, etc. Think of these as extended editorial glosses for each section
6. Links to external resources that are applicable to the specific scene you are working on. General links should be included on the work’s main entry
7. A list of study questions that would help students like yourselves figure out the important aspects of each section.

This is a research project. You need to begin any project like this by collecting information on your primary text. Use the first week to read the primary text and spend some time in the library researching your topic before you begin writing anything. All references must be cited according to MLA.

Your job here is to increase your knowledge of the author and the text while at the same time providing resources for others studying the work. Consider Section 1 of Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s as a template for your entries; try to keep as close to that as possible, though it might have to be changed depending on the work you’re annotating.

This is an excellent portfolio submission to work on with several classmates.

1. To develop and enrich the students’ knowledge of modern western literature, its cultural, intellectual, philosophical, educational, socio-political-historical contexts, its continuing contemporary relevance, and its influence on the history of British and American literature, other literature, and the arts.
2. To develop and enhance the students’ critical and analytical ability to read and understand the literature of these writers, their contexts and significance, through and variety of pedagogical strategies.
3. To develop and enhance the students’ ability to think critically and creatively and to write and to speak effectively about literature.
4. To develop an expanded and enlightened vision as to meaningful critical approaches to these writers and the western literary culture based on specific study of literary production and on a broad understanding of their significance to contemporary and later intellectual thought.
5. To develop an appreciation for the diversity of ideals, values, perceptions, and expectations, exemplified not only within the texts of these writers and the societies reflected in their works, but also as represented by the course participants.

This course is beneficial for students wishing to enrich and deepen their knowledge of early western literature and how it influenced subsequent literary and cultural thought. It will be valuable for students with a variety of general and specific interests, e.g., literary and cultural contexts; social, educational, religious, political, philosophical, and intellectual history; generic development of various types of literature. This course is also essential for prospective teachers of English and American literature. This course will require active student involvement, close consideration of the primary texts, the compilation of a portfolio which meets the course standards and requirements, and the fulfillment of all other requirements as specified on the syllabus and under course policies.

The projected outcome of this course is that, based on an enhanced knowledge of western literature’s progenitors and a broad understanding of their cultural contexts and subsequent importance, an expanded an enlightened vision will emerge as to meaningful approaches to early western literary discourse and tradition. Moreover, the course subject and approach is intended to

• Nurture a general love for learning
• Empower students with positive sense of competency and skill
• Encourage a curious, investigative spirit and creative, independent thinking
• Foster a deepened and expanded understanding an appreciation of literature as a humanistic discipline

1. Identify and discuss one or two of the conventional story-telling elements in the work(s) we’re reading. (E.g., protagonist, symbols, themes, point of view.)
2. How important are gender and racial relations and identity portrayed in the work? How is this treatment important to the narrative?
3. What are the elements of ambiguity in the work? I.e., what theme, plot point, or symbol remains unclear by the work’s end?
4. Identify and discuss one major theme in the work.
5. Consider how this work relates to another we have read. How does making this connection help your understanding of both works?
6. Course content, requirements, and expectations as stated on the syllabus.
7. Any aspect of the lecture presented by the professor.
8. Any aspect of the reading assigned for a particular class.
9. Any aspect of the in-class group work or class discussion.
10. A more extensive treatment of a topic written on during the in-class writing portion of the class session.
11. Select a 10-20 line portion or more of a poem you read for a class session for your critical/analytical response.
12. Write a poem which imitates the style and content of a poem you were assigned to read for a particular class.
13. Write a response to the events of the writer’s life as described in a textbook headnote or in other reading you have done.
14. Select a significant prose passage in an assigned reading and analyze its meaning and relevance to the work as a whole.
15. Discuss the relevance of a piece a literature read for the class to an article on a contemporary issue from a newspaper or magazine.
16. Discuss the relevance of a work beyond the discipline of literature.
17. Discuss how you would “teach” a particular work if you were the professor.
18. Select a work by an author you really disliked and describe the reasons why you disliked it.
19. Select a work by an author you really liked and describe the reasons why you liked it.