Catalog Description

Prerequisite: Eligibility for ENGL 1A
Hours: 54 lecture
Description: Survey of English literature from the Anglo-Saxon period through the mid 18th century. Study of selected major authors and texts of each period as well as significant or representative minor authors and texts. Incorporates analysis of the development of literary forms, developments and transformations of central themes, and developments in the historical, socioeconomic, and cultural contexts of the literature. Students may begin with either 46A or 46B. (C-ID ENGL 160) (CSU, UC)

Course Student Learning Outcomes

  • CSLO #1: In writing, analyze and evaluate major themes of Anglo-Saxon through mid-late 18th Century literature in historical and cultural terms.
  • CSLO #2: In writing, analyze and evaluate formal developments in Anglo-Saxon through mid-late 18th Century literature.
  • CSLO #3: Conduct and evaluate critical research on individual writers and texts to be included in a written literary analysis.

Effective Term

Fall 2017

Course Type

Credit - Degree-applicable

Contact Hours

54

Outside of Class Hours

108

Total Student Learning Hours

162

Course Objectives

A student completing English 46A will be able to:
1. Identify, interpret and analyze English literature from the Anglo-Saxon era through the mid-eighteenth century in thematic, literary, cultural, social, political, and critical terms.
2. Identify and analyze the major features of different genres, types, and eras of English Literature.
3. Analyze the relationships between culture and literary form and content.
4. Identify central literary devices of each writer and era and apply this knowledge to the interpretation, analysis, and evaluation of individual works of literature and authors, including major authors and selected minor authors from each historical period.
5. Identify, interpret, and analyze the themes of individual texts and authors in context: e.g., history and historical processes, politics, culture, philosophy, religion, science, and literary trends and relationships.
6. Identify, interpret, analyze, and evaluate significant historical and cultural issues central to each historical period, including ideologies of class, gender, religion, political systems, and national identity.
7. Conduct independent research in the historical and cultural contexts of individual authors and texts.
8. Interpret, analyze, and evaluate primary and secondary sources in literature.
9. Synthesize and generalize about themes and forms of literature across various historical periods, aesthetic developments, and works by various authors.
10. Communicate analyses, interpretations and critiques of single works or several works by the same author, or to several closely related texts in class discussion and in required essays and exams.

General Education Information

  • Approved College Associate Degree GE Applicability
    • AA/AS - Literature & Language
  • CSU GE Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU approval)
    • CSUGE - C2 Humanities
  • Cal-GETC Applicability (Recommended - Requires External Approval)
    • IGETC Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU/UC approval)
      • IGETC - 3B Humanities

    Articulation Information

    • CSU Transferable
    • UC Transferable

    Methods of Evaluation

    • Classroom Discussions
      • Example: Students will write responses to occasional questions in class and use these responses as a basis for discussion. On-line courses would address these questions in a discussion board. Responses generally receive full credit if the response is accurate and complete; evaluation measures participation. Example: As you can probably tell, disguise is a central motif and theme of "King Lear"; choose one of disguises central to the action of the play: what is it, why does the character adopt it, and how would you interpret it in psychological or social terms (after a brief presentation on the concepts).
    • Essay Examinations
      • Example: Student will respond to questions requiring comparison/contrast of selected works, analysis of themes in selected works in historical context, evaluation of critical interpretations of an era or selected texts, and analysis of literary types. Tests will measure performance in application of concepts, interpretation, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Sample question: Assume for the purposes of this question that Piers Plowman, The Canterbury Tales, and Utopia all engage in some sort of social criticism, but that this criticism may take significantly different forms and have different purposes. For each work a) describe the central direction or purpose of this criticism (i.e., what they condemn or criticize, and why) and b) address the following question: what is the relationship between the concerns of each writer and his times. Support your claims about by reference to significant details from each work. @ 400-450 words.
    • Objective Examinations
      • Example: Students will address a limited number of objective questions on the midterm, final, or both. Questions will ask students to identify details of individual major works, including references to character, quotations, and other identifiable elements of the works. Answers will generally involve some interpretation. Sample questions: a) In an early sequence in her diaries, Francis Burney is mentored by a famous English writer. Who is he and what advice does he give her? b) In which Pope poem would you find the phrase “The eternal sunshine of the spotless mind,” who speaks it, and how is it significant?
    • Projects
      • Example: Research paper: Students will conduct independent research in contexts and criticism, related to one or two assigned major works/writers, and write an essay reflecting the results of the research. Essay will be analytical/argumentative in focus. Grade will assess skills in identification, interpretation, analysis, application of concepts/information, synthesis, and evaluation of sources. Example: A research paper on "King Lear" and "Utopia" in terms of their exploration of the nature of power.
    • Reports
      • Example: The instructor will form student groups or students will form their own groups to lead discussion for a selected day in class. In class, they will report on the works assigned for the day, present the material in whatever ways seem useful (Power Point, writing on the board, handouts) and will address questions after the formal presentation. Evaluations address coherence, clarity, accuracy; students receive a group and individual grade. Incidentals (e.g., speaking skill) are not assessed. Example: A group presentation on "The Way of the World" (the text for one class day) analyzing plot, character, and theme and contextualizing the work in terms of the writer's life and/or the social conditions of the time reflected in the action of the play.

    Repeatable

    No

    Methods of Instruction

    • Lecture/Discussion
    • Distance Learning

    Lecture:

    1. Following or preceding lectures, instructor asks students in groups to respond to "Paradise Lost" and "The Faerie Queene," comparing the texts in terms of context, structure, and theme (in particular, religious and political themes). Instructor will facilitate discussion of student responses regarding the religious and political ideas of both texts.

    Distance Learning

    1. Instructor requires students to respond individually to questions concerning the depiction of slavery in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko; is the novel anti-slavery or not? What other political or social concerns might Behn engage in her story? Students compare responses in groups and present conclusions to class exploring the question of the political and social themes of the novel.

    Typical Out of Class Assignments

    Reading Assignments

    1. Read the selections from "The Canterbury Tales" to prepare for class discussion of character types and discourse to Chaucer's exploration issues of class, gender, status, and the Catholic Church. 2. Read the selections by Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth in "Women in Power" (a section in the Norton Anthology) in relationship to previous discussions of political power and authority in 16th century England.

    Writing, Problem Solving or Performance

    1. A written informal response assignment in class or on Canvas. Is the following statement accurate? Why or why not? "Because Chaucer's narrator takes an objective stance toward the pilgrims, and presents them dramatically, as if he is merely reporting what he sees, we can rarely determine Chaucer's attitude towards his creations, and therefore have difficulty determining his moral, ethical, or other beliefs, even when we take into account the cultural context of the Tales." Support your written response by at least two specific character descriptions from the text; one should be the Wife of Bath, the other is up to you. 2. A discussion board or in-class response (or a potential question on a midterm) Sir Philip Sidney's "Defense of Poetry" makes a claim for the superiority of literature to philosophy for expressing truth; at the very least, he defends poetry against the charge that it wastes time or deludes its audience. Respond to the following discussion question in which you a) present a brief summary analysis of Sidney's argument and its basis and b) examine one other work or group of works to see in what ways, if any, the text takes on the task of exploring truth in Sidney's terms. In developing your thesis and conclusion, consider the following question: what are the apparent goals—the truths—that the literature attempts to express (remember that these truths are created by culture and context) and how does the literature express or hinder the expression of these concepts?

    Other (Term projects, research papers, portfolios, etc.)

    1. Research project. Students write a research essay addressing one or two major works assigned for the class. The research will explore all or some of the following, contextual information, literary theory, and/or peer reviewed analysis/interpretation of the individual works and their author.

    Required Materials

    • The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1
      • Author: Stephen Greenblatt, et al., eds.
      • Publisher: W.W. Norton
      • Publication Date: 2012
      • Text Edition: 9th
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:
    • The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Vol. 1
      • Author: David Damrosch, et. al., eds.
      • Publisher: Longman
      • Publication Date: 2009
      • Text Edition: 4th
      • Classic Textbook?:
      • OER Link:
      • OER:

    Other materials and-or supplies required of students that contribute to the cost of the course.