ENGLISH 2800: GREAT WORKS OF LITERATURE I

Baruch College, FALL 2017

Tue/Thur: 2:55PM – 4:35PM

Professor Jeff Peer

Office: 7-290K      Office Hours: by appointment

Email: [email protected]

 

Required Texts: GET THESE EDITIONS

 

-If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, Translated by Anne Carson. New York: Knopf. 2002

– Norton Anthology of World Literature. Volumes A-C ONLY! Third Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 2012

 

Additional readings will be made available on the class website. Remember to check it!

Class website: http://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/lyricepictragedy2017

 

Lyric, Epic and Tragedy

 

Course Description

 

This course will review literature from around the world up until around the year 1600 C.E. Our readings will take us across great distances in time and space, beginning in the early era of written literature and ending at the threshold of the “modern” era. Readings will be drawn from cultures as diverse as New Kingdom Egypt (ca. 1500-1000 B.C.E.), Classical Greece (ca. 6^th – 4^th century B.C.E.), Tang Dynasty China (618-907 C.E.), pre-Hispanic Mexico (ca. 14^th – 15^th century C.E.), and Renaissance Europe (ca. 15^th – 16^th century C.E.).

Our journey through the literatures of antiquity will follow three threads, three distinct genres: lyric poetry, epic poetry, and tragedy. Each of these three genres has its roots deep in prehistoric traditions of oral literature. We will consider examples of each in historical context, keeping in mind the creative aspect of our interpretations; ultimately, these ancient, fragmentary texts belong to a distant and inaccessible world. Of particular interest for this course will be the role women play in these works.

Lyric poetry is named after the lyre, a stringed musical instrument played in Ancient Greece. “yes! radiant lyre speak to me/ become a voice,” wrote Sappho, the only female poet from antiquity whose work has survived.[1] Lyric poetry was originally composed to be sung, accompanied by music.

Epic poetry tells the story of a lost age of heroes. Once, humankind lived in an earthly paradise, the mythical Golden Age. The poets claim that humankind later passed through an “age of heroes.” During this era, the virtue, strength, courage, military valor and cunning of a few leaders and kings set the destiny of the people who would be descended from them.

Tragedy was first written for the yearly religious festival of Dionysus in the 5^th century in Greece. Each year, three poets were chosen to write plays that would be performed in outdoor theaters before the people of Athens, three tragedies followed by a comic “Satyr play.” The tragic plays told stories from Greek mythology and history, developing complex and ambiguous moral situations which always ended in violence, terror and death. After three days of performances, one of the poets won the competition.

Some goals for the semester will be to learn:

• How to develop a personal interpretation of what a literary text means – to you – by paying close attention to an author’s choice of detail, vocabulary and style;
• How to discuss literary genres, and the multicultural environments and complex historical moments from which they spring;
• Increased confidence in offering a critical evaluation and appreciation of a literary work’s strengths and limitations;
• Increased confidence in the oral presentation of ideas; and
• Increased ability to write critical essays employing a strong thesis statement, appropriate textual citations, and contextual and inter-textual evidence for your ideas.

 

Course Requirements

• Reading Responses/Quizzes: These will be given unannounced and can occur on any class day. Quizzes will always be given at the beginning of class. If you are absent or late, you will get a 0. No make-ups.
• Blog Posts: You will sign up to compose a blog post in response to one day’s reading, and also to launch the class discussion on that day. You will give a short, 3-minute presentation. You will also have to respond to four of your classmates’ posts over the course of the semester.
• First Essay: A detailed description of the assignment will be provided.
• Second Essay: A detailed description of the assignment will be provided.

Late work is not accepted. You are responsible for handing in any work assigned or due during any absence.

 

Attendance: Every absence beyond three will lower your course grade by one half step (an A- becomes a B+, a B+ becomes a B). If you know you will miss a class (e.g. for a religious observance or event of personal importance), let me know as much in advance as possible.

Class begins at the scheduled time. Two late arrivals count as an absence. Any time you are late or you depart early, you will be counted absent.

Students with more than four absences will be required to speak with me privately and will be subject to a WU grade.

From the official Baruch College attendance policy: “If a freshman or sophomore is absent in excess of twice the number of class sessions per week, the instructor must give the student a WU grade, which counts as an F. The instructor may give a junior or senior a WU grade if he/she has excessive absences. Attendance and lateness clearly play a role in class participation. Instructors have the right to weigh attendance, lateness, and class participation in determining grades.”

 

Grading: Your course grade will be based on a 1005-point scale. Points correlate to letter grades as follows:

930-1005 points = A

900-929 = A-

871-899 = B+

830-870 = B

800-829 = B-

771-799 = C+

730–770 = C

700-729 = C-

671-699 = D+

600-670 = D

Below 600 = F

 

You can earn up to 1005 points, according to the following breakdown:

• Reading Responses = 90 points
• Quizzes = 60 points
• Participation = 55 points
• Blog Posts = 100 points (60 points for your post; 10 points for each response to a classmate’s post)
• First Essay = 300 points
• Second Essay = 400 points

 

Completion of Work

DO NOT PROCRASTINATE on your writing assignments. Good essays are never written the night before they are due. Preparatory draft assignments will force you to begin the writing process early.

LATE WORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

Cheating and Plagiarism

Cheating and plagiarism are serious offenses.  The following definitions are based on the College’s Academic Honesty website:

Cheating is the attempted or unauthorized use of materials, information, notes, study aids, devices, or communication during an academic exercise. Examples include but are not limited to:

• • Copying from another student during an examination or allowing another to copy your work
  • Unauthorized collaborating on a take home assignment or examination
  • Using unauthorized notes during a closed book examination
  • Using unauthorized electronic devices during an examination
  • Taking an examination for another student
  • Asking or allowing another student to take an examination for you
  • Changing a corrected exam and returning it for more credit
  • Submitting substantial portions of the same paper to two classes without consulting the second instructor
  • Preparing answers or writing notes in a blue book (exam booklet) before an examination
  • Allowing others to research and write assigned papers (including the use of commercial term paper services)

Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research or writing as your own:

• • Copying another person’s actual words without the use of quotation marks and footnotes (a functional limit is four or more words  taken from the work of another)
  • Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledging them
  • Using information that is not considered common knowledge without acknowledging the source
  • Failure to acknowledge collaborators on homework or laboratory assignments

My policy is to give a failing grade to any assignment that has been plagiarized or an assignment on which you have cheated. On your second offense, you will fail the course. In addition, I am required by college policy to submit a report of suspected academic dishonesty to the Office of the Dean of Students. This report becomes part of your permanent file.

 

In-class behavior

You must read the assigned text and bring a paper copy of it with you to class. Every day. Every class. You may purchase or rent the textbooks in the library bookstore. Many of the readings will also be provided on the class website. You will have to print these out and bring them to class.

Take notes. Write discussion points. Be prepared to participate, have something to say. Participation is an important part of your grade.

I ask that you use your cell phones, tablets and laptops for good rather than evil. You may use them during class for research, but I will quickly realize if your phone is a distraction.

Never use your cell phone to do the readings. Print it out.

 

Class Website

It is your responsibility to make sure you have access to the class website. You must do this immediately, as you will find many of your reading assignments there. You will also post to the class blog there, and respond to your fellow students posts there.

If you cannot get access, please ask for help from the BCTC Help Desk (Library Building, 6^th Floor, North Alcove). Call them at (646) 312-1010, or email at: [email protected]

 

Disability Statement

Baruch College is committed to making individuals with disabilities full participants in the programs, services, and activities of the college community through compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. It is the policy of Baruch College that no otherwise qualified individual with a disability will be denied access to any program, service, or activity offered by the university. Individuals with disabilities have a right to request accommodations. If you require any special assistance or accommodation, please contact the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities at (646) 312-4590, and let me know as soon as you can, ideally during the first three weeks of the semester. I encourage persons with disabilities or particular needs that impact course performance to meet with me to co-design accommodations. For additional information see: http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/facultyhandbook/DisabilitiesInformation.htm

Baruch Writing Center and Student Academic Consulting Center (SACC):

 

All writers need feedback from many different readers. You will give and receive feedback from your classmates during and outside of class. You may also choose to visit the writing center or SACC. I strongly encourage that. The Writing Center offers free, one-to-one (in-person and online) and small-group workshop writing support to all Baruch students. They can help at any stage in the process, from brain-storming to editing. Schedule your appointment well in advance of when your writing is due, at: https://bc.mywconline.com/. Visit the Writing Center in NVC 8-185 or at the Newman Library Reference Desk, or log on to their website, writingcenter.baruch.cuny.edu.

 

Reading Schedule*

Reading: Readings will be discussed on the day they appear on the schedule. Always bring a paper copy of the reading with you to class. You must have a physical copy! No reading electronically.

*Readings may be changed. Always check the course website for assignment updates.

Week 1

Tue Aug 29

† Introduction

Ancient Lyric Poetry

Thur Aug 31

• “The Turning Sky,” by Susan Brind Morrow
• “Egyptian Love Poems,” Norton Anthology pp. 77-81

 

 

Week 2

Tue Sep 5

• If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, Translated by Anne Carson
• “Sappho,” introductory essay from Norton Anthology pp. 635-637

 

Thur Sep 7

• If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, Translated by Anne Carson
• Sappho, translated by Mary Barnard

! Reading Response #1 Assignment: The Fragmentary Past

 

The Homeric Epic

Week 3

Tue Sep 12

† Class will attend a performance: 3pm – Mason Hall – 17 Lex

• The Odyssey, Books One, Four, and Five from Norton Anthology
• Suggested: “Homer” from Norton Anthology pp. 222 – 229

 

Thur Sep 14

‼ Reading Response #1 Due

• The Odyssey, Books Six, Seven and Eight from Norton Anthology
• from “The World of Odysseus,” by M.I. Finley

Week 4

Tue Sep 19

† Assignment Introduction: Essay #1

• The Odyssey, Books Nine, Ten, Eleven, and Twelve from Norton Anthology pp.
• from “Greek Religion”

 

Thur Sep 21

*** NO CLASS ***

 

Week 5

Tue Sep 26

‼ Essay #1 Proposal due

• The Odyssey, Books Fourteen, Sixteen, Seventeen and Nineteen from Norton Anthology pp.

 

Thur Sept 28

• The Odyssey, Books Twenty-One through Twenty-four

Classical and Medieval Lyric Poetry

Week 6

Tue Oct 3

‼ Essay #1 First Draft Due (uploaded to website by class time)

• Metamorphosis, by Ovid, from Norton Anthology pp. 1076 – 1083

Thur Oct 5

† Essay Workshop (You will be required to read and comment on two student papers)

 

Week 7

Tue Oct 10

• “Tang Poetry,” from Norton vol B pp 1015 – 1018
  • “Li Po,” and “Tu Fu,” From New Directions Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry

 

Thur Oct 12

• Jalaloddin Rumi, Norton vol B pp. 351-354
• Hafez, pp. Norton vol B 363 – 365
• “The Songs of King Nezahualcoyotl,” and other Ancient Nahuatl Poetry (see website)

 

Fri Oct 13

‼ Essay#1 Second Draft Due at 10:00pm

 

Greek Tragedy

Week 8

Tue Oct 17

• Agamemnon, from the Norton, pp. 655
• “Ancient Athenian Drama,” from the Norton Anthology vol a pp. 645

 

Thur Oct 19

• Agamemnon
• “Aeschylus,” from the Norton Anthology vol a pp. 650-654

 

Week 9

Tue Oct 24

‼ Reading Response #2 Assigned

• Oedipus the King, from the Norton, pp. 707
• “Sophocles,” from the Norton Anthology vol a pp. 701-707

 

Thur Oct 26

• Oedipus the King

‼ Reading Response #2 Due

 

Week 10

Tue Oct 31

• Medea, from the Norton pp. 786 –
• “Euripides,” from the Norton Anthology vol a pp. 783 – 786

Thur Nov 2

• Medea
• Simon Critchley on Tragedy

 

Renaissance Tragedy

Week 11

Tue Nov 7

• Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Acts One and Two, Norton Anthology vol C pp 656 -696
• “William Shakespeare,” from Norton Anthology vol C pp.653

Thur Nov 9

‼ Reading Response #3 Assigned

• Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act Three, pp. 696-718

 

Week 12

Tue Nov14

‼ Reading Response #3 Due

† Assignment Introduction in class: Essay #2

• Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act Four, pp. 718 – 735

 

Thur Nov 16

‼ Essay #2 Proposal Due

• Hamlet Prince of Denmark, Act Five, pp. 735 – 751

 

Week 13

Tue Nov 21

*** NO CLASS ***

Thur Nov 23

*** NO CLASS ***

 

Renaissance Lyric Poetry

 

Week 14

Tue Nov 28

‼ Essay #2 – First Draft Due (uploaded to website)

† Close reading exercises – we will do these in class

• Francis Petrarch 164 – 171
• “Song,” and “The Flea,” by John Donne
• Garcilaso de la Vega pp 172 – 173

 

Thur Nov 30

† Essay Workshop

 

Later Epic

Week 15

Tue Dec 5

• Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes, Chapters I-V pp 391 -411

 

Thur Dec 7

• Hesiod’s Works and Days, lines 64 – 153, Norton vol A pp 46 – 47
• Don Quixote, Cervantes, Chapters 7 and XI, “The Golden Age” speech

 

Week 16

Tue Dec 12

*** NO CLASS ***

† One on one meetings scheduled during class time

 

Fri Dec 15

‼ Essay #2 – Second (final) Draft Due at 10:00pm

 

 

 

 

[1] Translated by Anne Carson, If Not, Winter. Knopf: New York. 2002. pp. 241