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AMERICAN LITERATURE to 1900
(Fully Online)
AMERICAN LITERATURE to 1900
(Fully Online)
Complete
online orientation in BConline starting Thursday, June 27th, 8:00 am
by Monday, July 1st, 5:00 p.m. Students not completing online
orientation by that date and time will be dropped from the course.
Welcome to American Literature to 1900.
Learning the history and studying the writings of Americans from the colonial period to 1900 is a
fundamental part of our lives. Literature reflects the human ideas and beliefs of a society. The writings of Americans have
played a crucial part in shaping a distinct yet fundamental presence in the world. When we read literature, we discover common human ways of understanding our lives and the lives of those around us. This course will examine
poems, essays, fiction, short stories, narratives, and other literary texts that will help us gain a greater knowledge of the American culture.
This course promises to be an exciting and writing intensive journey into the written word of the American writer.
Course Description
Students will be introduced to works which represent the diverse literature emerging from America up till 1900. Works may be selected from authors such as Anne Bradstreet, James Fenimore Cooper, Kate Chopin, Emily Dickinson, Frederick Douglass, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Jacobs, Thomas Jefferson, Sarah Orne Jewett, Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Rowlandson, Nat Turner, Mark Twain, and Walt Whitman. A student must earn a grade of “C” or higher to meet the requirements of
the Gordon rule.
the Gordon rule.
This
course will examine fiction and poetry that has attempted to shift
African American experience from the literary margins into a place of
undeniable cultural prominence. This course attempts to answer the
question: How does an African American writer articulate African
American identity?
Methods of Instruction
Methods of Instruction
This is a 3 credit hour course that meets fully online for 6 weeks. You will engage in structured online activities. The course will include online discussions, reading responses, and final assessment. Once the course begins, you will have access to a course schedule for a detailed description of learning activities and assignments. Students are responsible for regularly reviewing the course schedule and completing all required in and out of class assignments.
General Course Outcomes
- The student shall be able to identify and distinguish key literary devices and recognize the purpose and cultural context of major literary forms.
- The students shall be able to analyze the cultural perspectives of the Native Americans and compare to those of the European Settlers as expressed in the literary works of this period.
- The students shall be able to analyze the Enlightenment ideals as conveyed in literary works during the era of the American Revolution.
- The students shall be able to analyze works of non-fiction and fiction during the period following the American Revolution through the early decades of the New Republic.
- The students shall be able to analyze the perspectives conveyed about race, social class, and individual liberty in the literary texts produced within the period before and during the Civil War.
- The students shall be able recognize the emergence of new voices in American literature, including the emergence of female perspectives and the growing influence of regional writers and the westward movement in the development view of a unique American literary identity. Students will also be able to analyze the impact of these texts on attitudes about relevant social topics of this period.
- The students shall be able to analyze critically the major works of the American Renaissance to 1900, including (but not limited to) both the Transcendentalist movement and the emergence of popular American poetry.
- The students shall be able to write a structured paper in which he or she engages in an analysis of the works of an author or series of authors, a key literary movement, or a key theme as presented in the works of American Literature before 1900.
Required Materials
- Reading materials and links to the reading materials are located within the course
Recommended Text
- A Writer's Reference 7th Edition by Diana Hacker
