English 121 (Vavra) 

Tentative Class Schedule (Spring 2017)
Click on the Week Number for the Details of Assignments

     Note: This is a tentative list of assignments. You may, if you wish, work ahead, but assignments may be changed. As of Monday morning of one week, the assignments for the following week become active. 
WWWebster Dictionary (on-line)
Week Monday/Tuesday WednesdayThursday
1 Jan. 9/10
Introduction
What Is Literature? 
Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken"		 Jan. 11/12
Writing about Literature
Taking Cornell Notes
2 Jan. 16/17
No classes on the 16th
Approaches to Literature		 Jan. 18/19
Critical Concepts:
Welty's "A Worn Path"
Jan. 27 - Last day to drop w/70% refund
3 Jan. 23/24
Chopin's "Story of an Hour"
Prep for MP # 1
(Grading Two Papers)
Style Penalty Points
Works Cited - The Purdue Owl		 Jan. 25/26
Updike's  "A and P"
Framing Sources (1)
4 Jan. 30/31
Faulkner, "A Rose for Emily"
Research -The Databases		 Feb. 1/2
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 
"Young Goodman Brown"
Framing Sources (2)
Paraphrasing and Quoting
Connolly's Article 
5 Feb. 6/7
Frank O'Connor's 
"Guests of the Nation"		 Feb. 8/9
Edith Wharton, "Roman Fever"
Essay Is Due
6 Feb. 13/14
Prep for MP #2
(Grading Two Papers)
Discuss in-class essays		 Feb. 15/16
Acts I and II of Ibsen's A Doll's House

Work on MP # 1
7 Feb. 20/21
Finish Ibsen's A Doll's House

Work on MP # 1

 Feb. 22/23
MP # 1: 1st Due Date
Shakespeare Hamlet, Act I
Intro to Hamlet
Lecture:  The Great Chain of Being
8 Feb. 27/28
MP # 1: 2nd Due Date
Hamlet, Acts II and III		 Mar. 1/2
Hamlet, Acts  IV and V
9 Mar. 6/7
Spring Break
no classes		 Mar. 8/9
Spring Break
no classes
Mar. 13-24: Fall 2017 scheduling advising period
10 Mar. 13/14
An Introduction to Sonnets:
Shakespeare's "Sonnet # 73"
Hopkins' "God's Grandeur"		 Mar. 15/16
Robert Frost's "Design"
Bring to class a draft of an essay on foils in either Hamlet or A Doll's House
11 Mar. 20/21
Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward
Assignment # 1
Prep for MP # 3
Discuss In-class Essays		 Mar. 22/23
Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward
Assignment # 2
Mar 27-31: Fall 2017 scheduling for current students
12 Mar. 27/28
MP #2 1st Due Date
Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward
Assignment # 3		 Mar. 29/30
MP #2 2nd Due Date
John Donne's "Holy Sonnet XIV"
Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward
Assignment # 4
Apr. 14: Last Day for "W" grades
13 Apr. 3/4
Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward
Assignment # 5		 Apr. 5/6
Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward
Assignment # 6
14 Apr. 10/11
WC for MP #3 Due
Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward
Assignment # 7		 Apr. 12/13
Donne, "Valediction"
Prep for MP # 4
15 Apr. 17/18
MP # 3 Due
William Wordsworth's "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge"		 Apr. 19/20
In-class essay on
Gerard Manley Hopkins's
"Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord"
16 Apr. 24/25
Arnold's "Dover Beach"
 Hecht's "The Dover Bitch"		 Apr. 26/27
Marvell's "Coy Mistress"
MP # 4 is due Wednesday, May 3 at 5 p.m. in or by my office.
Don't forget the electronic copy.
Final Exams and Office Hours: (Spring  2017)

      The final exam consists of two parts, the first of which is itself divided into two parts. In the first part, you will have approximately 20 minutes to define and give examples of some of the concepts we will have discussed in the course. After that, you will be given 16 passages from the works we have read. You can use your books and notes to identify the author of each passage, the work it is from, and the importance of the passage, either to the work or as an example of a concept we have studied. The second major part of the exam is an in-class essay about a sonnet that we will not have discussed in class. (You can bring a dictionary.)
     Each of the major parts counts as half of the final exam grade.