Course Syllabus

Welcome to what I expect will be an enriching experience for all of us.  Our examination of almost five hundred years’ worth of American literature will be in the company of many of the finest writers ever to put ink to paper.  We can’t help but learn a great deal from them, and, of course, from one another.  Your success in the course, though, and the benefits you derive from it, will depend largely on your engagement and dedication.   

In English 10h you will immerse yourself in literature and ideas—and some history, too.  You will read and listen closely, think broadly and deeply and be receptive to new perspectives.  You will make relevant, discuss and write about what you conclude.  You will hone your powers of perception and self-expression.  You will respect and support your classmates in our adventure together.  Without relent, you will give your responsibilities your best effort.  

The writers we’ll study will include John Smith, William Bradford, Anne Bradstreet, Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Phillis Wheatley, William Cullen Bryant, Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Richard Henry Dana, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Charles W. Chesnutt, Bret Harte, Sarah Orne Jewett, Gertrude Simmons Bonin, Stephen Crane, Jack London, Sarah Perkins Gilman, Edith Wharton, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Robert Frost, Willa Cather, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sara Teasdale, Amy Lowell, Langston Hughes, e.e. cummings, T.S. Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sterling Hayden, Zora Neale Hurston, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Dorothy Parker, William Saroyan, John Steinbeck, Irwin Shaw, Ernie Pyle, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Budd Schulberg, Flannery O’Connor, J.D. Salinger, John Cheever, Jack Kerouac, Sylvia Plath, Allen Ginsberg, E.L. Doctorow, Jane Kenyon, Mary Oliver, Richard Wilbur, Billy Collins.                          

Expectations  

You will be courteous to and respectful of others, as well as open-minded, receptive and responsible.   You will come to class on time and prepared.  This includes having with you your notebook, something to write with and the pertinent text.  Cutting class will not be tolerated.   

Your work will be a product of your best effort and appropriate for an honors level course.  

You will meet deadlines for all reading and writing assignments.  If you anticipate a problem meeting a deadline let me know.  Excuses after the fact will fall on unsympathetic ears.  One late waiver a quarter is available for out-of-class written work to those who need it.  

You will adhere without fail to the tenets of academic and personal integrity.  The consequences of any transgression--which includes, of course, any use of AI--will be severe.

Assignments  

You can expect an average of about forty pages of reading in preparation for each class meeting.  Anticipate unannounced quizzes as well as other exercises to encourage and assess your mastery of what you’ve read as well as the craft of writing.  Absent students are responsible for making up promptly the work they missed.  Do not expect reminders from me.  

Grading   Grading will be based on a point system.  Your grade will be determined by what percentage the points you earned are of the total possible during each grading period.  The significance of an assignment will be reflected in the number of points it is worth.  Papers, DEs and in-class essays will comprise about 60% of your grade; quizzes and worksheets will comprise about 20%; engagement (participation, conscientiousness, diligence, receptiveness) about 20%.        

Discussion Essays and Papers  

Discussion essays should be not less than 200 words, formal papers not less than 750.  Each is due at the beginning of class the day it appears in the syllabus.  Late DEs will not be accepted for credit except with the use of a late waiver, of which you get one a quarter.  Late papers will be assessed a ten percent penalty a day.  All out-of-class written work must be word-processed in a conventional font, double-spaced, with one-inch margins.  DEs must be more than just a single paragraph.  To get full credit for a DE you must define the word that appears in parentheses with each assignment.  Papers must be accompanied by an assessment sheet.  In-class essays will be hand-written.  

Office Hours  

I’m available every morning from 7:00 to 8:30, as well as purple, tan and blue blocks.  I can also meet after school if we make arrangements in advance.   

My email address is mcculloughd@wellesleyps.org. 

8/27                 Welcome to English 10h.        

8/28                 Today we’ll talk a bit about nuts and bolts and what to expect--and what to aspire to--this                                        year, then tackle a questionnaire.  

8/29                 In-Class Essay One: Behold the Dreamers.  

9/2                   Discussion: Louis Agassiz’s fish, Robert Frost’s “The Pasture,” and Walt Whitman’s “When I                                       Heard the Learned Astronomer.”  

9/4                   Read Richard Wilbur’s “Hamlen Brook” and Jane Kenyon’s “Otherwise.”  

                         DE1: (pensive) Explain how “Hamlen Brook” could be read as a response to “Otherwise,” or                                       “Otherwise” to “Hamlen Brook.”                           

9/5                   Read John Smith’s “The General History of Virginia.”  

9/9                   Read the excerpt from William Bradford’s “Of Plymouth Plantation;” Anne Bradstreet’s “To My                                 Dear and Loving Husband” and “Here Follows Some Verses Upon the Burning of Our                                                 House;” and the excerpt from Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry                                                   God.”  

9/10                 In-Class Essay Two: Smith and the Puritans.  

9/11                 Read the first five chapters of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.  (If you’d prefer, you can skip the                                  introductory chapter, “The Customs House.”)  

9/15                 Read chapters six through nine of The Scarlet Letter.  

9/16                 Read chapters ten through thirteen of The Scarlet Letter.  

                          DE2: (resolute) What is the source of Hester’s strength, and why is Dimmesdale so lacking of                                    it?  

9/18                 Read chapters fourteen through nineteen of The Scarlet Letter.  

9/19                 Finish reading The Scarlet Letter.  

9/22                 In-Class Essay Three: The Scarlet Letter.

9/25                 Read the excerpts from Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography.  

9/26                 Read the Declaration of Independence.  

9/30                 Read Phillis Wheatley’s “On Being Brought From Africa to America,” “To the University of                                          Cambridge, in New England,” and “To His Excellency General Washington.”  

10/1                 Paper #1: An expanded and polished In-Class Essay One, Two or Three, or DE1 or DE2.  

10/3                 In class we’ll discuss William Cullen Bryant’s “Thanatopsis.”  

10/7                 Read Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle.”                          

                          DE3: (indolent) What--or who--is to blame for Rip’s predicament?  

10/9                 Read Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee” and “The Raven.”                        

10/14               Read the excerpt from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance.”                  

10/15               Read Emerson’s “Nature.”  

10/16               Read the excerpt from Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden.”  

                          DE4: (arcadian) From what you’ve learned of his thinking from the excerpt, what would                                              Thoreau have to say about how you’re living your life, your aspirations and what you                                                  value?            

10/20               Read the excerpt from Thoreau’s “Resistance to Civil Government.”                       

10/21               In-Class Essay Four: Bryant, Irving, Poe, Emerson, Thoreau.  

10/23               Read Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener.”  

10/24               Read the excerpt from Richard Henry Dana’s Two Years Before the Mast.  

10/27               Read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Jewish Cemetery at Newport” and “A Psalm of                                          Life.”  

                          DE5: (adjure) For what is Longfellow advocating in “The Jewish Cemetery at Newport”                                              and why is it important?  

10/29               In-Class Essay Five: Melville, Dana, Longfellow.  

10/30               Scrutinize and become an expert on your Emily Dickinson poem. 

11/3                 Today we’ll continue our study of Dickinson’s poetry.  

11/4                 Read Walt Whitman’s “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking.”  

11/6                 Read Whitman’s “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.”                          

                          DE6: (ebullience) “...there is perfection in you also...”  Explain.  

11/10               Read the excerpt from Frederick Douglass’ memoir.  

11/12               Read Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.  

11/14               Paper #2:  An expanded and polished DE3, DE4, DE5, or DE6; or an expanded and polished                                        In-Class Essay 4 or 5.  

11/17               Read Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through chapter 7.  

11/18               Read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through chapter 13.  

11/20               Read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through chapter 18.                          

                          DE7: (rapport) Explain the evolution of Huck’s relationship with Jim.    

 11/21              Read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through chapter 23.                        

11/25               Read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through chapter 29.  

12/2                 Read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through chapter 35.  

12/4                 Finish reading Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.                          

                          Today will be In-Class Essay Six: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.                                               

12/8                 Read Bret Harte’s “The Luck of Roaring Camp.”  

12/9                 Read Charles W. Chesnutt’s “Hot-Foot Hannibal.”  

12/11               Read Sarah Orne Jewett’s “A White Heron.”             

12/12               Read Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat.”  

12/15               Read Jack London’s “To Build a Fire.”                          

                          DE8: (hubris) How might “To Build a Fire” be read as an allegory of man’s                                                                     condition in the universe?  Explain.  

12/17               In-Class Essay Seven: the Harte, Chesnutt, Jewett, Crane and London stories.  

12/18               Read Edwin Arlington Robinson’s “Richard Cory” and “Miniver Cheevy.”  

12/22               Read Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case.”                          

                          DE9: (quotidian) What, finally, is Paul trying to escape?  

12/23               Vocabulary Olympics.                        

1/5                   Today we’ll get started on Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome.  

1/8                   Read Ethan Frome through chapter four.  

1/9                   Read Ethan Frome through chapter seven.                          

                          DE10: (laconic) By what is Ethan imprisoned?  

1/13                 Finish reading Ethan Frome.  

1/14                 Today we’ll begin our study of John Madden’s film version of Ethan Frome.  

1/15                 Today we’ll finish and discuss the Madden film.  

1/20                 Read Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-paper.”                          

                         DE11: (oppress) How is “The Yellow Wall-paper” a story of protest?  

1/21                 Paper #3: An expanded and polished DE7, DE8, DE9, DE10 or DE11; or an expanded and                                       polished In-Class Essay Six or Seven.  

1/26                 Read E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime through chapter 7.  

1/27                 Read Ragtime through chapter 14.  

1/28                 Read Ragtime through chapter 21.  

1/30                 Read Ragtime through chapter 29.