200A F21 Graham

English 200A: Survey of British Literature 1

Fall 2021                                                                     Prof. Ken Graham

Section 1                                                                     k2graham@uwaterloo.ca

Classroom meeting time: Thursdays 10:00-11:20, in HH 1102

Virtual meeting time (if necessary): Wednesdays 10:00-11:20

Office Hours: The Faculty of Arts has requested that office hours be held virtually. If you wish to meet with me, please let me know and I will schedule a meeting via WebEx.

Texts:

The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Major Authors, 10^th ed., Vol. 1 (Norton)

William Shakespeare, Henry IV Part One (Folger Shakespeare Library)

Jane Austen, Emma (Oxford World’s Classics)           

Aims of the Course

This class provides a broad overview of English literature from Beowulf to about 1800. We will read this literature’s “greatest hits” in order both to see what we think of them and to learn what they have to teach us about their cultures, their authors, and the literary traditions that they in part define. 

Methods and Requirements

The class will function primarily as a seminar, mixing class and group discussion with some lecture. We will spend most class time discussing the readings, and regular contributions to the conversation will be encouraged from everyone. Graded work comprises:

1. Class participation. I will expect you to attend conscientiously and to participate in an informed and productive manner. Quality is generally more important than quantity, but I am impressed by a willingness to go out on a limb. I am also as interested in the courtesy and respect with which you listen and respond to what others say as in the sharpness of your own perceptions. Attendance and punctuality count. It is your responsibility to inform me promptly of the reasons for an absence if you wish it to be excused. Weight = 10%
2. Response papers (5). In these informal 500-word papers you will ask an interpretive question about the day’s reading assignment and explore one or more possible answers to it. You might ask, for example, about a theme, a character, or some aspect of narrative structure or language. Your papers should be focussed and should refer to specific words and actions in the text, but they need not argue or take a position. Response papers are due at the start of class on the assigned dates. You will receive two points for every paper you turn in on time, and one for every paper you turn in no later than December 2. Papers significantly shorter than 500 words may not receive full marks. Weight = 2% x 5 = 10%
3. A closed-book test on Unit 1. Weight = 25%
4. An essay, 1500-1800 words. The assignment is on page 6 below. Weight = 30%
5. A 90-minute closed-book test on Unit 3, held during the Final Exam period. Weight = 25% Schedule

COVID-19

If case numbers continue to rise this fall, it may not be possible to conduct this class in its current format for the entire semester. If COVID-19 forces the University to cancel in-person classes temporarily or permanently, we will move online for the length of the cancellation, holding our weekly class meetings virtually in our (already-scheduled) Wednesday meeting time. In this case I will also set up an additional dropbox in LEARN so that you can submit your essay according to the course schedule, and tests will move to a 48-hour take-home format.  

Please note that the University has established the following COVID-19-related guidelines:

• Absence: Students shall not attend class if they are experiencing influenza-like illness, have been in close contact with someone who is ill, or have travelled outside of Canada within the past 14 days. In the event of absence due to influenza-like illness or required self-isolation, students shall submit an Illness Self-declaration. Students can find the Illness Self-declaration form in the Personal Information section of Quest. A doctor’s note for accommodation is not required.
• Face coverings: Wearing of face-covering/mask is a requirement in all common areas on campus, including all indoor instructional spaces. o    As such, no food is allowed to be consumed in instructional space. Beverages are allowed if a straw is used or if the mask is lowered only for a brief period. o          When a student asks or answers a question it may be difficult for them to be heard while wearing a mask. A student may briefly lower their mask to ask/answer the question and then the mask must be replaced.
• Hand hygiene: Students are expected to practice frequent hand hygiene (handwashing with soap and water or use of hand sanitizer), including immediately before coming into an instructional space
• Seating: Students are permitted to sit where they wish. For fall term, many classes have enrolments only up to 50% of seating capacity. Students are encouraged to sit with one seat left empty between them and other students when possible.

I will treat required self-isolation as an excusable absence.

Class and University Policies

While you will submit your response papers through the dropboxes in LEARN, you must turn in a paper copy of your formal essay to receive credit. Late essays will be accepted without penalty only if prior permission has been granted; otherwise, the penalty will be 2% per day, including weekends. Sending me an electronic copy of a late essay will stop the late clock, but a paper copy must also be turned in directly to me. Missed exams may be made up only with a valid medical excuse.

I will normally reply to email messages within 24 hours, weekends excepted. In the case of emails requiring lengthy replies, I may recommend a WebEx meeting. Laptop computers, tablets, smartphones, and other portable electronic devices may become distractions both to the user and to others and so may not normally be used in class. Speak with me if you believe you require an exemption from this policy.

All sources of information that you use in your written work in this class must be cited fully and scrupulously. If I suspect that you have committed an academic offense, including plagiarism, I will report it to the Associate Dean; if the offense is confirmed, the normal result is a failing grade on the assignment and a further five marks off the course grade.

Academic Integrity

In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. See the UWaterloo Academic Integrity webpage, https://uwaterloo.ca/arts/current-undergraduates/studentsupport/ethical-behaviour, for more information.

Discipline

Students are expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offenses, and to take responsibility for their actions. Check the Office of Academic Integrity, https://uwaterloo.ca/academic-integrity/, for more information. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration, should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 - Student Discipline. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/policies-proceduresguidelines/policy-71. For typical penalties check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties, https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat/guidelines/guidelines-assessment-penalties.

Grievance

Students who believe that a decision affecting some aspect of their university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4, https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/policies-proceduresguidelines/policy-70. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant, who will provide further assistance.

Appeals 

A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. Students who believe they have a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72 - Student Appeals, https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/policies-procedures-guidelines/policy-72.

Note for Students with Disabilities 

The AccessAbility Services office (https://uwaterloo.ca/accessability-services/), located on the first floor of the Needles Hall extension (1401), collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the AS office at the beginning of each academic term.

Mental Health Support

On Campus

• Counselling Services:  counselling.services@uwaterloo.ca/ 519-888-4567 xt 32655
• MATES:  one-to-one peer support program offered by Federation of Students (FEDS) and Counselling Services
• Health Services Emergency service: located across the creek form Student Life Centre

Off campus, 24/7

• Good2Talk:  Free confidential help line for post-secondary students. Phone: 1-866-9255454
• Grand River Hospital: Emergency care for mental health crisis. Phone: 519-749-433 ext. 6880
• Here 24/7: Mental Health and Crisis Service Team. Phone: 1-844-437-3247
• OK2BME: set of support services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning teens in Waterloo.  Phone: 519-884-0000 extension 213

Full details can be found online at the Faculty of Arts website (https://uwaterloo.ca/arts/getmental-health-support-when-you-need-it).

English 200A – Essay Assignment

Write a well-organized essay about one of the following poems: Fulke Greville, Caelica #38; Ben Jonson, “An Ode”; Hester Pulter, Poem #40. (The poems are on page 7 below.) Describe it, analyze it, evaluate it. That is, say what you think needs to be said about it, organizing your response in the form of an argument. Considering some or all of the following questions may provide support for your argument:

• What is the poem’s subject?
• What appears to be the author’s attitude toward this subject?
• Who appears to be speaking? If it isn’t the author, does the speaker’s perspective seem to be different from the author’s? Is there more than one speaker?  Is a particular audience implied?
• Is a dramatic situation implied?
• How is the poem organized? Is there an argument?
• What sort or sorts of language are used in the poem?
• What is the syntax, or word order, like?
• Is there figurative language in the poem? 
• What is the poem’s metre? Its rhyme? Of what importance are these? Are there significant metrical variations?
• What is the poem’s tone? What gives it this tone? Does the tone change?

If it will support your argument, you may also consider interpretive questions of an historical nature, whether biographical, political, religious, or literary historical.

Your essay must argue a clear thesis, and it must take the form of a unified and well-structured defence of your thesis. Your grade will be based on the strength and originality of your thesis, on the quality, clarity, and coherence of your supporting arguments, on the appropriateness and thoroughness of the textual evidence it cites in making those arguments, and on the felicity and correctness of your expression. The essay must be 1500-1800 words in length, typed, and double-spaced, and follow a consistent documentation format (e.g. MLA Handbook, Chicago Manual of Style). Please use 12-point type and Times New Roman font, set one-inch margins, and number your pages. Late essays will be accepted without penalty only if prior permission has been granted. Otherwise, the penalty will be 2% per day, including weekends. 

It is not necessary to consult secondary sources to write this essay, and doing so could hinder your creativity. If you do make use of such sources, however, be sure that they do not control or determine your argument; rather, your critical engagement with them, whether it takes the form of agreement or disagreement, must serve to advance, and must be clearly subordinate to, your own original thesis. Also be sure to cite all use of such sources fully and scrupulously

DUE DATE: November 18, 10:00 a.m.