English 104-A Section Syllabus
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I’d like our discussions to center around close reading: going over the poems (or prose pieces) line by line, if possible, paying attention to the innards of the thing. I want us to think about how devices like metaphor, irony, image, ambiguity, and paradox work. We will try to work from the inside out, so to speak, getting a handle on the artwork at hand before we connect it to external issues.
Granted, no work of art can/should be divorced from the historical, political, racial, sexual, socio-economic, et cetera contexts in which it was created, and in which it continues to be received. But if we don’t start out thinking of the poem as an art object, as something that transcends and translates these contextual issues, we miss the whole point of art, and cheat ourselves.
And, of course, the whole question of how we are to handle context vs. the art itself will be a focus of our talks.
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[edit] Assignments
(for Grading Parameters, see Prof. Huang’s syllabus)
- Papers:
Due December 1st, as stated on the syllabus. Specifications are the usual ones: double-space, size-12 font, Times New Roman or Garamond (no Arial or other big fonts), standard margins (use the MS Word or whatever defaults). No extensions, except in the case of an emergency, and no re-writes.
We will discuss possible topics as the due date gets closer. I will most likely allow you to design your own, with the caveat that you must do one thing: come see me during office hours before Thanksgiving, so we can discuss your plan.
- Midterm and Final Exams:
Midterm: Monday, November 6
Final: December 17
- Presentations:
The first week aside, each week I would like a group of students (2 to 4 people) to give a short (5-10 minute) presentation on one or more of the works we are reading that week. This doesn’t have to be especially formal, but it should be focused and should give us something meaty to begin talking about. I encourage you to use handouts (but keep them short, otherwise nobody reads them) and, if possible, multimedia elements.
We will decide on presentation teams during the first class session. I would like each week’s team to meet with me during the week before their presentation, preferably during my office hours, just so I know what you are planning on doing. You may also e-mail me with your plans. Just make sure that everyone in your group is on the same page, and that everybody contributes something to the show.
- Class Discussion:
This is a large part of your section grade. Do a lot of it. I understand that if you are a naturally shy person, this can be difficult at first. But if everybody talks, we will all have a much better time in class.
[edit] Attendance Policy
Once again, I refer you to Professor’s Huang’s syllabus. Now, if you have a personal, family, medical, etc. emergency, I am obviously willing to make exceptions, but you must e-mail me explaining the circumstances before class, or if that isn’t possible, as soon as you can. An emergency means contracting West Nile virus, not having a busted printer.
[edit] Plagiarism
The ins and outs of this are fairly simple. If you attempt to pass off someone else’s work or words as your own, without properly citing them, that is plagiarism. If you submit old work of your own without explaining it as such, that is self-plagiarism, also a cardinal sin. If you have any questions about UCSB’s official policies, please have a look at the “Academic Dishonesty” heading at kiosk.ucsb.edu/AcademicServices.
When it comes to citing sources in your paper, the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers is the uber-guide. The Sixth Edition is the most recent, and best; the Fifth is alright (and you can get copies for about $4 on Amazon), but it is not as helpful when it comes to citing web pages.
One other issue that may arise when you start writing is Wikipedia. The site is great fun, but I would advise you NOT to use it when you are conducting research: like all wikis, the information in it is not “quality-controlled.” Anyone can edit it. The English Department, and UCSB in general, are still formulating their official policies re: Wikipedia. In the meantime, stick to more traditional sources.
[edit] Optional Weekly Reading
- These texts are designed to complement the reading Professor Huang has assigned. If you'd like a photocopy, please see me after class. They can be quite useful when it comes to writing papers!
Monday, October 9: Biographical notes on Booker T. Washington in the Heath Anthology; Yvor Winters, “The Slow Pacific Swell”
Monday, October 16: Ezra Pound, “Ballad of the Goodly Frere”; Kingsley Amis, excerpt from Selected Letters
Monday, October 23: Seamus Heaney, “The Strand,”; Stein, excerpts from Tender Buttons
Monday, October 30: John Ashbery, “Paradoxes and Oxymorons”; T.S. Eliot on writing poetry (excerpt from Paul Fussell, Poetic Meter and Poetic Form)
Monday, November 6: No extras—midterm is today!
'Monday, November 13: excerpt from Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams, and The Golden Guides to North American Trees and Wildflowers (not by Henry Adams)
Monday, November 20: Robert Lowell, preface to Plath’s Ariel; excerpt from Ian Hamilton’s biography of Lowell; Philip Larkin, “Sad Steps”
Monday, November 27: Ted Hughes, “The Wolves Are Eating Your Mother”; Tom Wolfe, cartoons from The Purple Decades
Monday, December 4: John Berryman, “Dream Song #1”
