Prof. Anthony Stocks

Office: Rice 124;

Office Phone X8575;

Home Phone 216-221-5061;

English Department Mailbox: Rice 130;

Email: fstocks@oberlin.edu

Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 1:30-2:45 PM and by appointment

Writing Tutor: Thom Donovan, OCMR _____, Phone

Required Texts (available at Co-op Bookstore):

Borroff, trans. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Norton)

Dickinson, Complete Poems (Little Brown)

Donne, Poetry and Prose (Oxford)

Eliot, Selected Poems, (Harcourt Brace)

Fussell, Poetic Meter and Poetic Form (Random House)

Keats, Poems and Letters (Oxford)

Markham, ed. Hinterland (Bloodaxe)

Optional Text:

Eliot: The Waste Land: A Facsimile (Harbrace)

Supplementary readings from Plato, Sidney, Howe, Arnold, Eliot, and Kwesi-Johnson will be distributed in class.

Sept. 3

Introduction to the Course

 

Sept 8

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Part I; Fussell, Chapter 1

Sept. 10

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Part II; Fussell, Chapter 2

 

 

Sept. 15

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Parts III and IV

Sept. 17

Plato: excerpts from Republic; Sidney: "A Defense of Poetry"

 

Sept. 22

Donne: Elegies and Satires; Fussell, Chapter 3

Sept. 24

Donne: Songs and Sonnets, Part I (pp. 89-108); Fussell, Chapter 4

 

Sept. 29

Donne: Songs and Sonnets, Part II (pp. 109-138); Fussell, Chapter 6

Oct. 1

Donne: Holy Sonnets

Draft of Paper #1, on Gawain, Sidney, or Donne due in class

 

Oct. 6

Keats: "To Lord Byron," "Written on the Day that Mr.Leigh Hunt Left Prison," "Oh Chatterton! How Very Sad Thy Fate," "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer," "Sleep and Poetry," "On Seeing the Elgin Marbles," "Lines on Seeing a Lock of Milton's Hair," "On Sitting down to Read 'King Lear' Once Again," "When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be"; Fussell, Chapter 7

Oct. 8

Keats: "The Eve of St. Agnes," "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," "Ode to Psyche," "If By Dull Rhymes Our English Must Be Chained," "Ode of Indolence," "Ode to a Nightingale"

Final Draft of Paper #1 due in class

 

Oct. 13

Keats: "Ode on a Grecian Urn,""Ode on Melancholy," "To Autumn," "Bright Star, Would I Were Steadfast As Thou Art," "This Living Hand, Now Warm and Capable"

Oct. 15

Keats: Letters: To Bailey, 11/22/17; To George and Tom Keats, 12/21,27/17; To Reynolds, 2/3/18; To Taylor, 2/27/18; To Reynolds, 5/3/18; To Woodhouse, 10/27/18; To George and Georgiana Keats, 2/14-5/3/19; To Brawne, 7/25/19; To Shelley, 8/16/20; To Brown, 11/30/20

 

 

Fall Break

 

Oct. 27

Dickinson: Complete Poems, pp. 1-100

Oct. 29

Dickinson: Complete Poems, pp. 200-300; Fussell, Chapters 8-9

 

Nov. 3

Dickinson: Complete Poems, pp. 400-500; reading from Susan Howe TBA

Nov. 5

Dickinson: Complete Poems, pp. 600-700

Draft of Paper #2 on Keats or Dickinson, due in class

 

Nov. 10

Arnold: "The Study of Poetry," Eliot: Prufrock and Other Observations

Nov. 12

Eliot: Prufrock and Other Observations, Fussell, Chapter 9

Final Draft of Paper #2, on Keats or Dickinson, due in class

 

Nov. 17

Eliot: "Tradition and the Individual Talent," "Ulysses, Order, and Myth," Poems, 1920

Nov. 19

Poems, 1920, Eliot: The Waste Land

 

 

Nov. 24

Eliot: The Waste Land

Nov. 26

No Class: Thanksgiving Holiday

 

Dec. 1

Selections from Hinterland: Louise Bennett, Martin Carter

Dec. 3

Selections from Hinterland: Derek Walcott, Edmund Kamu Brathwaite

 

Dec. 8

Selections from Hinterland: Linton Kwesi Johnson

Dec. 10

Last Day of Class

Paper #3, on Eliot, West Indian poets, or related topics due on Thurs. 12/17 in my office mailbox (Rice 130)

Introduction: This course aims to improve your abilities to read, think, and write about literature, and especially about that branch of literature known as poetry. During the course of the semester we'll read a medieval English romance (in translation), several canonical British and American poets of different eras, and a selection of contemporary West Indian poets. We'll also read several critical texts which attempt to define exactly what poetry is and how it should be read, and we'll use a book on prosody to deepen our understanding of the way that rhythm and meter work in poetry.

There will be three formal papers required and a number of informal writing exercises or "prep papers." Your grade will be based on the overall quality of your formal and informal written work, and your class attendance and participation.

Class Procedure: This class is a seminar, which means ideally that the class will talk more than the instructor. To this end, I expect you to come to class on time and prepared to offer your thoughts on the assignment of the day. As you read the assignment before class you should make every effort to retain the material either through marginal jottings or separate reading notes. If you don't write something down while you're reading, your retention of it will be tenuous at best. On the same principle, I also encourage you to take notes on class presentations and discussions. Since class attendance is crucial to your ability to learn, absence from more than two classes without a viable excuse (serious illness or some other emergency) will adversely affect your grade.

Formal Papers: You will write three formal papers over the course of the semester. I'll provide you with potential topics for each essay a few weeks in advance of the due date, but you should feel free to write on a text or topic of your own invention if the fancy strikes. I do ask that you let me know what you're planning to do to make sure the topic is appropriate. Papers must be typed or word processed, double spaced with sensible margins, and should be carefully proofread. They must be turned in on time unless you have a legitimate excuse for lateness (make sure you contact me before the deadline). Papers that are turned in late without such an excuse will be penalized half a grade for each day they are late.

Informal ('Prep') Papers: These are short (1-2 page) exercises designed to prepare you for class discussion. They need not be typed but they must be legible. These papers will not be graded, but they are required and I will keep them on file. Not turning them in could hurt your grade; doing an especially good job on them could raise your mark.

Writing Tutor: Thom Donovan will serve as the peer writing tutor for this class. He has been specially trained to help you with any questions or problems that may arise regarding your writing this semester, from topic selection to polishing your style. I encourage you to meet with her regularly to discuss your writing.