E212: British Literature since 1760

Spotlight Response Instructions

Al Drake | 520 Hum. M/W 12:00-1:00 | ajdrake@ajdrake.com

Each class, several students will offer informal responses to a different study question about the text/s we are discussing that day. Early in the semester, students will sign up in advance for two different study questions, each on a different author, and will discuss those questions on the appropriate day. Responses need not take more than about 2-3 minutes, not including time for others' remarks. There is no need to turn in anything, but it might be useful to write an outline or make notes.Your assessment of the author's claims is always a valid addition to the question. If you come to an office hour or email me beforehand, I can offer suggestions.

This component will be worth 10 % of the course grade. I am not going to judge responses finely, provided that you have put some effort into them. It's important that you attend class on the days for which you sign up. Logistics make it impractical to do a makeup with the original response, though you can do another response later. Below is a list containing three things for each session: the authors we will discuss, the particular study questions I've chosen for discussion (with short description), and the names of the responders. The author hyperlinks below send you to the study question pages for the respective authors--they contain the full version of questions.

WEEK 1

Th. 08/26. Blake. Songs of Innocence. (The author hyperlinks refer you to full questions.)

Blake Q.3 (Childhood/adult limitations) Carole Mackie.
Blake Q.11 (Chimney Sweeper's view of his situation) Kristen Dostalik .
Blake Q.14 ("Holy Thursday" as innocent?) Judy Hall.

WEEK 2

Tu. 08/31. Blake. Songs of Experience.

Blake Q.24 ("Holy Thursday" speaker's changed view) Justin Werth.
Blake Q.30 (The nurse's perspective in "Nurse's Song") Julie Hyde.
Blake Q.37 (The speaker's progressive view of the tyger in "The Tyger") Eric Burke.

Th. 09/02. Wordsworth. "Preface to Lyrical Ballads," "Expostulation and Reply," "The Tables Turned," "Tintern Abbey."

Wordsworth Q.2 (Humble and rustic life--why?) Carole Mackie.
Wordsworth Q.5 ("Savage Torpor") David Quattrocchi .
Wordsworth Q.7 (Defining the poet) Justin Werth.

WEEK 3

Tu. 09/07. Wordsworth. "She dwelt among the untrodden ways," "A slumber did my spirit seal," "Lucy Gray," "Three years she grew," "Resolution and Independence," "I wandered lonely as a cloud," "My heart leaps up," "The Solitary Reaper," "Sonnet composed upon Westminster Bridge, 1802," "Intimations of Immortality."

Wordsworth Q.17 (Religion of nature in "Tintern Abbey") Adrianna Crowell.
Wordsworth Q.24 (Speaker and his sister in "Tintern Abbey") Tammy Ornelas.
Wordsworth Q.26 (Stars/flowers in "She dwelt among the untrodden ways") Adrianna Crowell.
Wordsworth Q.45 ("Solitary Reaper"--speaker contrasted with Highland Lass) Candice Quiroz.

Th. 09/09. Coleridge. Biographia Literaria, Lectures on Shakespeare; The Statesman's Manual, "The Eolian Harp."

Coleridge Q.3 (Secondary imagination) Iraida Perales.
Coleridge Q.13 (Laws of genius and Shakespeare) Greg Palmerino.
Coleridge Q.16 (Speaker's gifts in "The Eolian Harp") Jennifer Matos.

WEEK 4

Tu. 09/14. Coleridge. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," "Kubla Khan," "Frost at Midnight," "Dejection: an Ode."

Coleridge Q.17 (Superstition's value in "Rime of the Ancient Mariner") Judith Hall.
Coleridge Q.20 (The albatross' meaning in "...Ancient Mariner") Brian Grimmett.
Coleridge Q.24 ("Kubla Khan" speaker's source of vision) Greg Palmerino.
Coleridge Q.31 (Speaker and nature in "Dejection: an Ode") Tammy Ornelas.

Th. 09/16. Shelley. "A Defence of Poetry," "Mutability," "To Wordsworth," "England in 1819," "Ozymandias." [Journal due]

Shelley Q.3 (Poetic language in "A Defence") Teresa James.
Shelley Q.5 (Poet's authority in "A Defence") Keri Kimes.
Shelley Q.10 (Ruins as statement in "Ozymandias") Crystal Alcantar.

WEEK 5

Tu. 09/21. Shelley. "Mont Blanc," "Ode to the West Wind," "To a Sky-Lark."

Shelley Q.13 (Glaciers and civilization in "Mont Blanc") Jonathan Gush.
Shelley Q.16 (The Wind's powers in "Ode to the West Wind") Ashley Thompson.
Shelley Q.19 (Shelley on expression in "Ode to the West Wind") Brian Grimmett.
Shelley Q.27 (Speaker's confidence in "To a Sky-Lark") Julie Hyde.

Th. 09/23. Keats. "Ode to a Nightingale," "Ode on a Grecian Urn," "To Autumn," "Letters" 889-95.

Keats Q.3 (Visionary limits in "Nightingale") Angela Hayes.
Keats Q.10 ("Grecian Urn's" truth/beauty claim) Kristen Dostalik.
Keats Q.19 ("Chamelion poet" reference in letters) Rachel Kaplan.

WEEK 6

Tu. 09/28. Byron. Manfred.

Byron Q.1 (Manfred and reconciliation) Lani Yan.
Byron Q.2 (Nature's role in Manfred) Jonathan Gush.
Byron Q.7 (Why does Manfred resist the devils? ) Keri Kimes.

Th. 09/30. Hazlitt and Lamb. Hazlitt: "On Gusto," "My First Acquaintance with Poets." Lamb: "Christ's Hospital Five-and-Thirty Years Ago."

Hazlitt Q.2 (Art and criticism hierarchy in "On Gusto") Teresa Fisher.
Hazlitt Q.5 (Hazlitt on Coleridge in "My First Acquaintance...") Cristi Fetters.
Lamb Q.3 (Lamb as stylist in "Christ's Hospital") Tammy Finger.

WEEK 7

Tu. 10/05. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park. (film)

Th. 10/07. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park. (film)

WEEK 8

Tu. 10/12. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park. (discussion)

Austen Q.1 (Fanny Price--is she appealing?) Marta Chanez.
Austen Q.2 (Film versus novel) Monique Montoya.
Austen Q.3 (Austen as conservative apologist?) Laura Bourgeois.

Th. 10/14. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park. (discussion)

Austen Q.4 (Theatrical interlude--why important?) Nicole Cramer.
Austen Q.5 (The narrative style of Mansfield Park) Julie Revollo.
Austen Q.7 (Fanny and Edmund as a couple) Crystal Alcantar.

WEEK 9

Tu. 10/19. Thomas Carlyle. Sartor Resartus. [Journal due]

Carlyle Q.9 (Dr. T. and the Russian smuggler) Tammy Finger.
Carlyle Q.14 (The everlasting yea) Lani Yan.
Carlyle Q.17 (Human nature redefined; time and space as traps) Marta Chanez.

Th. 10/21. Thomas Carlyle. The French Revolution; Past and Present.

Carlyle Q.21 (Chaos and the French Revolution) Rosalynda Serrano.
Carlyle Q.25 (Carlyle on "liberty in Past and Present ) Melissa Brown.
Carlyle Q.27 (Carlyle's Captains of Industry in Past and Present ) Tara Donzella.

WEEK 10

Tu. 10/26. J. S. Mill. Autobiography, On Liberty.

Mill Q.1 (Mill's depression in Autobiography--why?) Iraida Perales.
Mill Q.7 (Mill on Carlyle's feudalism in On Liberty) Cristi Fetters.
Mill Q.10 (The agent of change in On Liberty) Nicole Cramer.

Th. 10/28. Matthew Arnold. "Dover Beach," "The Buried Life," "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time."

Arnold Q.1 ("Dover Beach" as mini-Greater Romantic Lyric) Jennifer Matos.
Arnold Q.7 (Language and feeling in "The Buried Life") David Willsey.
Arnold Q.11 (Critical power and creation in "Function of Criticism") Melissa Brown.
Arnold Q.16 (Arnold's vision--how will things change? RE "Function of Criticism") Tara Donzella.

WEEK 11

Tu. 11/02. Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning. Tennyson: "The Lady of Shalott"; "The Lotos-Eaters"; "Ulysses"; "Mariana"; "The Eagle." Browning: "Porphyria's Lover," "My Last Duchess," "The Bishop Orders His Tomb," "Caliban upon Setebos."

Tennyson. Q.4 (Art's relation to life in "The Lady of Shalott") Meghann Newell.
Tennyson Q.11 (Mariners as rhetoricians in "Lotos-Eaters") Sarah Steen.
Tennyson Q.13 (Ulysses view of Telemachus/Subjects in "Ulysses") Angela Hayes.
Browning Q.2 (Why are we interested in psychopathy? RE "Porphyria's Lover" Rosalynda Serrano.
Browning Q.12 (Caliban's understanding of Setebos in "Caliban upon Setebos") Rachael Miller.

Th. 11/04. D.G. Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, and William Morris. D.G: "The Blessed Damozel"; Christina Rossetti: all except "Goblin Market"; Morris: "The Haystack in the Flood."

D.G. Rossetti Q.1 (Speaker's representation of distance in "Damozel") Ashley Thompson.
C. Rossetti Q.3-4 (Forgetting/remembering in "Song: II ") Jennifer Hewett.
C. Rossetti Q.7-8 (Women in Pre-Raphaelite art, "In an Artist's Studio") Daisy Cabus.
Morris Q.4 (Preparation for violent end in "Haystack in the Floods") Carolyn Pailma.

WEEK 12

Tu. 11/09. G. M. Hopkins and Lewis Carroll. Hopkins: all selections; Carroll: "Jabberwocky" and "The Walrus and the Carpenter."

Hopkins Q.3 (How does "The Starlight Night" celebrate God's grandeur?) Monique Montoya.
Hopkins Q.10 ("Pied Beauty" as non-romantic lyric) Sarah Steen.
Hopkins Q.27 (Nature and the Resurrection in "That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire...") Julie Revollo.
Carroll Q.3 ("Walrus and Carpenter"--light poem or dark?) Jennifer Hewett.

Th. 11/11. Oscar Wilde. "The Critic as Artist."

Wilde Q.2 (Critic's superiority according to Gilbert) Lindsay Whitsitt.
Wilde Q.4 (Gilbert's anti-romanticism) Dan Rawe.
Wilde Q.5 (Critic's task--your own view) Laura Bourgeois.
Wilde Q.6 ("Lying"--your own view of its value) Lindsay Wilson.

WEEK 13

Tu. 11/16. George Bernard Shaw. Mrs.Warren's Profession. [Journal due]

Shaw Q.2 (Vivie's upbringing and view of her mother Kitty) David Willsey.
Shaw Q.4 (Mrs. Warren's self-defense and Vivie's reaction) Candice Quiroz.
Shaw Q.5 (Frank Gardner, Vivie's suitor--the younger generation) J. R. Glaser.
Shaw Q.9 (How to account for the play's impact, if it isn't "didactic"?) Daisy Cabus.

Th. 11/18. Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, and Robert Graves. Sassoon: "They," "The Rear-Guard," "The General," "The Glory of Women," "Everyone Sang," "On Passing the New Menin Gate"; Owen: "Anthem for Doomed Youth," "Apologia Pro Poemate Meo," "Miners," "Dulce et Decorum Est"; Graves: all Norton selections.

Sassoon Q.4 (Sorting out experiences in "The Rear Guard") Rachael Miller.
Sassoon Q.12 (Memorial words as lies--"New Menin Gate") Meghann Newell.
Owen Q.5 (Undercutting narratives of progress in "Miners") Julie Revollo.
Graves Q.7 (Seekers of the White Goddess) Carolyn Pailma.

WEEK 14

Tu. 11/23. Thanksgiving holiday--no class.

Th. 11/25. Thanksgiving holiday--no class.

WEEK 15

Tu. 11/30. Joyce. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. (film, Dir. Joseph Strick, 1977)

Th. 12/02. Joyce. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. (film, begin discussion)

Joyce Q.1 (Stephen at Christmas dinner--nationalism and religion) J. R. Glaser.
Joyce Q.4 (Stephen's punishment by Dolan and his reaction to it) Eric Burke.
Joyce Q.7 (Stephen's experience of adolescent sexuality) Lindsay Whitsitt.

WEEK 16

Tu. 12/07. Joyce. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. (discussion)

Joyce Q.9 (Fire and brimstone sermons and Stephen's response) Dan Rawe.
Joyce Q.14 (Stephen and the "Bird Girl" epiphany) Lindsay Wilson.
Joyce Q.18 (Stephen's aesthetic theory--Aristotle and Aquinas, etc.) Rachel Kaplan.
Joyce Q.22 (Stephen's status as young Modernist) David Quattrocchi.

Th. 12/09. Review.

FINAL EXAM WEEK

12/13-12/19. Will provide accurate date when it becomes available. Books and notes may be used only on the full-essay portion of the exam.