"Introduction to Poetry" by Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem                                                                     

                                          

and hold it up to the light

like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem

and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room

and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski

across the surface of a poem

waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do

is tie the poem to a chair with rope

and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose

to find out what it really means.

Welcome to British Literature!

Mission and Philosophy: 

We will be creating a literary community through reading, writing, and blogging; discovering classic literature from the past and present through voices from around the world.  I want you to learn how literature makes us know that we are not alone; we are spiritually connected and can feel safe.

How will we do this?

Survey of British Literature has traditionally been a preparatory course, culminating in an exam to be taken in the spring for college credit. However, to those of us who teach language arts, this course is more about teaching students to read and write with greater insight, as well as a chance to help students develop a genuine sense of empathy through literature.

This course hopes to re-examine the entire idea of “rigor” by implementing global citizenship into every aspect of the curriculum, making it a richer experience and creating a model for curriculum at Andover High School.  Each section of the unit will have three components:

1) Global Citizenship

2) Well-chosen literary selections which connect to the former and an element of fiction

3) Experiences where students find connections in literature to themselves and the world.

The framework of the course will consist of a series of existential questions from Dr. William Gaudelli’s research.  Each question, piece of literature, and overall learning experience will build on the next. Toward the end of term two, students will be having experiences where they combine all these elements and have direct contact with students from another country, students from an adjoining city, and share their work in a public forum.

In addition, I hope to rethink “grading” this year. I will reimaging my grading system focusing on the big picture, the student’s personal growth, enthusiasm, participation, authenticity, and passion for the ideas we discuss. 

I hope you enjoy the course, and I look forward to sharing in this journey with all of you.

Becoming Jane:  Why Fiction Matters

·       Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen           

·       “The First Hour” by Sharon Olds

·       “Happy Marriage” by Taslima Nasrin

·       “The Panic Bird” by Robert Philips

·       “Sonnet 116” by William Shakespeare

·       "Sonnet 292" from the Canzoniere by Francesco Petrarch, translated by Anthony Mortimer

·       “Barbie’s Ferrari” by Lynne McMahon

·       Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

·       Lady Susan by Jane Austen

·       “The Space Heater” by Sharon Olds

·       “Message: Bottle #32” by J. Allyn Rosser

·       Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)

·       Becoming Jane by Jon Hunter Spence

·       “Why Do We Hate Love” By Robert W Firestone Ph.D.

·       “Advice to the Newly Married Lady” by Samuel K. Jennings

·       “Everyday Life as a Learning Experience” by Sarah A. Chrisman

·       “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins

·       “Selecting a Reader” by Ted Kooser

·       “Ode to a Grecian Urn” by John Keats

·       “To You” by Kenneth Koch

·       “It’s Raining in Love” by Richard Brautigan

·       “Mrs. Midas” by Carol Ann Duffy

Shakespeare:  The Invention of the Human

·       Macbeth by William Shakespeare

·       Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

·       “Acting” by Suzanne Cleary

·        “Sax’s and Selves” by Mark Halliday

·       Selections from Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human by Harold Bloom

·       “Holy Sonnet X: Death be not proud” by John Donne

·       “Holy Sonnet V:  If poisonous minerals” by John Donne

·       “Unholy Sonnets” by Mark Jarman

·       “Morality as Anit-Nature by Friedrich Nietzsche

·       “Of the Dignity or Meanness of Human Nature” by David Hume

·       “The War Works Hard” by Dunya Mikhail

·       “Excerpt from the Prince” by Niccoló Machiavelli1

·       “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe

·        “My Life” by Joe Wenderoth

·       “The Tonya Harding Scandal” by Jessica McBirney

·       “The Yellow Wall-paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

·       “Advice from the Experts” Bill Knott

·       Selections from: Henry V, Titus Andronicus, and Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

·       “I Finally Managed to Speak to Her” by Hal Sirowitz

·       “Sonnet 147: My love is as a fever” by William Shakespeare

·        “After Us” by Connie Wanek

Aestheticism:  Life Imitates Art

·       The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

·       “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning

·       “A Hunger Artist” by Franz Kafka                        

·       “Nipple Jesus” by Nick Hornby

·       “iphoto” by Eric Pellerin

·       “Sonnet 94: A woman’s face” by William Shakespeare

·       “Sonnet 53: What is your substance” by William Shakespeare

·       The Decay of Lying: An Observation by Oscar Wilde

·       Phrases and Philosophies for the use of the Young by Oscar Wilde

·       A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated by Oscar Wilde

·       “The Selfish Giant” by Oscar Wilde

·       “The Happy Prince” by Oscar Wilde

·       An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde

·       “A Dialogue Between the Body and Soul” by Andrew Marvell

·       “When You are Old” by William Butler Yeats

·       De Profundis by Oscar Wilde

·       Selections from An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde

Humanism:  How the Brontë Sisters Reinvented the Novel

·       Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

·       Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

·       “No Return” by William Matthews

·       “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy

·       “Hope is a Thing With Feathers” by Emily Dickinson

·       “I’m Happiest When Most Away” by Emily Brontë

·       Selections from The Tennent of Wildfwell Hall by Anne Brontë

·       “On the Death of Anne Brontë” by Charlotte Brontë

·       “i know what happens when you die” by Eric Pellerin

·       “Love and Friendship “by Emily Brontë

·       “Sonnet 43” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

·       “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Browning

·       “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be” by John Keats

·       “I, Being Born a Woman, and Distressed” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Storytelling:  Defining Our Experience

·       Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney

·       Persepolis (2007)

·       “Mid-term Break” by Seamus Heaney

·       “Nuclear Winter” by Edward Nobles

·       “Waves” by Robin Robertson    

·       “The Death of a Toad” by Richard Wilbur

·       “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold

·       Excerpts from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

·       “Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep” by Mary Elizabeth Frye

·       “dive” by Eric Pellerin

Assessments:

Class Participation, Blogs, and Homework 70%:  Every night you will read a selection from the works above and compose a blog response. If you are absent, please view the blog and respond when you are able. Criteria and rubrics for the above will be made available. 

Writing & Major Assignments 30%:  This category includes all major writing assignments, in-class essays, and final projects.  Criteria and rubrics for the above will be made available.

Aspen:  Grades and progress reports will be consistently posted on Aspen.  It is your responsibility to track your progress.

Classroom Behavior:

Students must adhere to the rules of conduct outlined in the Andover High School Student Handbook 2018-2019 edition.   If you act like an authentic adult, you will be treated in kind.