Introduction to American Literature I

Course Code:

ELIT 203

Semester:

Fall

Course Type:

Core

P:

3

Lab:

2

Laboratuvar Saati:

0

Credits:

3

ECTS:

8

Course Language:

English

Course Objectives:

The course aims to introduce the student to the literature developed in northern America from the Colonial era up to the American Civil War. Students are also exposed to terminology and modes of approach to the study and analysis of literary texts with the aim of developing skills necessary for students of literature.

Course Content:

In addition to theoretical knowledge offered as overview for each historical and literary period under study, selected samples from the works of authors of the period will be studied and analysed chronologically. The readings will be of texts written in English between 1620 and 1860. These texts—histories, autobiographies, poems, plays, and novels—illuminate the complexity of this period of American culture. These tell stories of pilgrimage, colonization, and genocide; private piety and public life; the growth of national identity (political, cultural, and literary); Puritanism, Quakerism, and Deism; race and gender; slavery and the movement towards its abolition. The course aims to develop an awareness of the ways that these stories overlap and interconnect to display a rich tapestry, shaping texts of different periods and genres.

Course Methodology:

1: Lecture, 2: Question-Answer, 3: Discussion, 9: Simulation, 12: Case Study

Course Evaluation Methods:

A: Testing B: Presentation C: Homework

Vertical Tabs

Course Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes	Programme Learning Outcomes	Teaching Methods	Assessment Methods
1) To provide a historical and cultural background of a literary period and to introduce literary trends, movements, authors and texts pertaining to each period.	1-2 5-10	1,2,3	A,C
2) To equip the students with knowledge of the development of American literature under the influence of social, political, spiritual and economic forces and various literary trends, schools and movements.	1-2 5-10	1,2,3	A,C
3) For the students to gain knowledge in each literary period and to become acquianted with the concepts and terminology used in the identification and analysis of sample literary texts for each genre and sub variants.	1-2 5-10	1,2,3	A,C
4) To equip the students with the necessary critical faculties, analytical approach, interdisciplinary vision and analytical, interpretative and inference skills for a successful understanding of literature in various genres and forms.	1-2 5-10	1,2,3	A,C
5) To read, study, analyse and evaluate texts representative of various literary periods and genres.	1-2 5-10	1,2,3	A,C

Course Flow

Week	Topics	Study Materials
1	Introduction to the course, explanation of course objectives and materials, course requirements and assessment, pacing schedule and obtaining materials	Materials for the course provided by instructor
2	Colonial Period; English Colonists in Virginia and the Puritan Mission in New England: American Literature up to 1700: Historical Background of 17th century Early American Literature Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) Letters John Winthrop (1588-1649) A Model of Christian Charity (The Arbella Sermon) William Bradford (1590-1657) History of Plymouth Plantation
3	Puritan Poetry; Captivity Narrative; Diary Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) The Prologue; To My Dear and Loving Husband Michael Wigglesworth (1631-1705) The Day of Doom (Still Is the Night) Colonial Period 1700-1800--Varieties of Eighteenth-Century Religious Experience Mary Rowlandson (1636-1711) A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson Edward Taylor (1642-1729) God’s Determinations; Samuel Sewall (1652 - 1730) The Selling of Joseph; Diary
4	American Literature 1700-1820: Historical Background of 18th cent.; Religious Revival Cotton Mather (1663-1728) The Wonders of the Invisible World; (The Devil in New England) Sarah Kemble Knight (1666-1727) Private Journal William Byrd (1674-1744) The Secret Diaries of William Byrd of Westover
5	Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Poor Richard’s Almanac; Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America J. Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur (1735-1813) Letters From an American Farmer Thomas Paine (1737-1809) Common Sense; The Rights of Man
6	Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) The Declaration of Independence Olaudah Equiano (1745?-1797) Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African American Romanticism Philip Freneau (1752-1832) “To A Honey Bee”; “The House of Night”
7	Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Poor Richard’s Almanac; Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America J. Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur (1735-1813) Letters From an American Farmer Thomas Paine (1737-1809) Common Sense; The Rights of Man
8	Phillis Wheatley (c.1753-1784) Poems: “On Being Brought from Africa” The Connecticut Wits (The Hartford Wits) The New Republic and the Beginnings of the Novel; Drama; Poetry; Early American Romanticism; Summary up to War of Independence; MIDTERM EXAM
9	American Literature 1820-1865; Historical Background; The New York Knickerbocker Group Washington Irving (1783-1859) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) “Abraham Lincoln” Early Nineteenth Century - American Transcendentalism Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) “Self Reliance”
10	Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) “Young Goodman Brown” Fireside Poets / Schoolroom Poets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) “A Psalm of Life” John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) Snow-Bound, A Winter Idyl
11	Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) “Annabel Lee”; “The Raven”; “The Tell-Tale Heart” Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) Prologue to a Play Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) Uncle Tom’s Cabin
12	Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897)—Linda Brent— Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) Walden
13	Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave Emergence of new American Poetic Voices James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) A Fable for Critics; “An Autograph”
14	Herman Melville (1819-1891) Moby Dick Walt Whitman (1819-1892) Leaves of Grass; Song of Myself; “O Captain, My Captain”
15	Fitz James O'Brien (1828-1862) The Demon of the Gibbet; Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) “I Like a Look of Agony”; “I’ve Seen a Dying Eye”; “Apparently with No Surprise”; “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” ----------------

Recommended Sources

Textbook	Norton Anthology of American Literature
Additional Resources

Material Sharing

Documents
Assignments
Exams

Assessment

IN-TERM STUDIES	NUMBER	PERCENTAGE
Mid-Term	1	30
Class Performance	1	40
Final Exam	1	30
Total		100
CONTRIBUTION OF FINAL PAPER TO OVERALL GRADE		30
CONTRIBUTION OF IN-TERM STUDIES TO OVERALL GRADE		70
Total		100

COURSE CATEGORY

Expertise/Field Courses

Course’s Contribution to Program

No	Programme Learning Outcomes	Contribution
No	Programme Learning Outcomes	1	2	3	4	5
1	The ability to apply knowledge of English, literature and social sciences to topics including culture, society, ethics, politics etc.			X
2	The ability to review, analyse and apply the relevant literature/genre.				X
3	The ability to carry out interdisciplinary reading and analysis.		X
4	The ability to utilise the basic concepts and issues of literary theories in developing life strategies		X
5	Awareness of professional ethics and responsibility				X
6	Effective communication skills.			X
7	A sufficiently broad education to understand the global and social impact of literary movements.			X
8	An awareness of the importance of lifelong learning and the ability to put it into practice.			X
9	A knowledge of issues in contemporary literature and of the cultural issues of the period.				X
10	The ability to use sources and modern tools in order to carry out research in the areas of literature and aesthetics.			X

ECTS

Activities	Quantity	Duration (Hour)	Total Workload (Hour)
Course Duration (Including the exam week: 15x Total course hours/week)	15	3	40
Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice, review/week)	15	6	90
Homework	16	4	64
Total Work Load			194
Total Work Load / 25 (h)			7.76
ECTS Credit of the Course			8

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