High School 2009-2010

American Literature

“The fondest dream of
every American boy
is to go to work and use
his father’s typewriter”
                        Frank O’Hara

This is a literature course designed for students who are currently taking the American History course.  The work of this class will introduce the students to many seminal works in the literature of the United States, exploring a wide-range of ideas about American identity and character.  What kinds of stories do Americans tell?  What is American diction and how has it changed over time?  How has the history of this country shaped its literature, and how, in return, has literature changed the face of this nation?  In addition, this course is structured to help students become stronger independent prose readers and to familiarize them with the canon of American poetry. Probable authors include: Hawthorne, De Tocqueville, Whitman, Dickinson, Wharton, Crane, Cather, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, O’Neill, Hughes, Larsen, Williams, Moore, Lowell, Bishop, Baldwin, Capote, O’Connor, Faulkner, and others.

Chaucer

The Chaucer course is intended to acquaint students with Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales as well as Chaucer’s “Middle” English, the direct forerunner and ancestor of our own language.  Extensive, collaborative analysis of primary texts will be the norm; enjoyment and understanding are our twin goals.  Accordingly, students and teacher alike will read through the bulk of the Canterbury Tales with attention to poetic form and genre as well as to the contours of Chaucer’s English.  The course begins with the “General Prologue” and proceeds from Chaucer’s shorter and more accessible tales to his lengthier works. 

Previous Offerings

The Gothic Novel (2008-2009)

This course explores the rise of the English novel through a study of Gothic Romantic texts.  Students will become familiar with the major ideas that took hold during the Romantic era and will examine how those ideas influenced later British fiction.  They will explore novels that deal with universal themes: spirituality, love, passion, obsession, hatred, jealousy, good versus evil, and the nature of mankind.  In addition to creative writing, the students are expected to work on expository assignments that respond to what they are reading.  Possible works include: Lewis’ The Monk, Austen’s Northanger Abbey, Shelley’s Frankenstein, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Collins’ The Woman in White, and Stoker’s Dracula.

Russian Literature (2007-08)

When Alexander Pushkin wrote Evgeny Onegin, his novel in verse, he ushered in one of the richest literary traditions of the western world: the Russian novel.  This course introduces students to two centuries of Russian literature, giving them a foundation in the many social, political, and cultural ideas that arose during this time.  Much of Russian literature captivates readers because of its blend of deep philosophical thinking and an abiding folklore.  From Gogol’s bizarre Saint Petersburg tales to Dostoevsky’s examination of evil to Chekhov’s contributions to modern drama, the power of Russian literature is undeniable.  Possible authors include: Pushkin, Gogol, Lermentov, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Leskov, Turgenev, Chekhov, Bulgakov, and Solzhenitsyn.

Poetry and the Novel (2008-09)

This course examines the elemental relationship between poetry and prose in English and American literature while focusing on understanding themes of alienation from modern society. Prose selections for this course include: Tess of the D’Urbervilles , The Great Gatsby and Frankenstein. Verse texts include: Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey,” Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Mont Blanc”, Books I-III of Paradise Lost, selections of Hardy’s later poetry, Eliot’s The Waste Land and Four Quartets and Hamlet. Student writing for this course includes analyses of Hardy’s characters; expositions of conflict between Nature and the pursuit of scientific knowledge; and philosophical investigations into Eliot’s poetry. In addition, students memorize poetry, keep journals on their reading, and write creative sketches and poetry.