EASTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY
School of Arts and Sciences
Course Syllabus
English 205: Writers of the British Isles
4 Credit Hours--GE H/AH--UWR
Reference #90493
Spring 2004 MTRF 1-1:50 PM LH 116

Instructor: Nancy Knowles, Loso Hall 146, 962-3795, nknowles@eou.edu
Office Hours: M 3-3:50 PM, TR 12:00 - 12:50 PM and by appointment
Course Home Page: http://www2.eou.edu/~nknowles/spring2004/engl205.html

Prerequisite: WR 121 or 131, and any 100-level English course.

Catalog Description: Study of selected writers of the Britishisles.

Focus of this particular version of ENGL 205: 20th-century Irishliterature..

Required Texts available through the EOU Bookstore:

• William Butler Yeats. Selected Poems and Four Plays. Ed. M. L. Rosenthal.ISBN #0-584-82646-1.
• John P. Harrington. Modern Irish Drama. Norton Critical Edition.ISBN# 0393960633.
• James Joyce. The Dead. Ed. Daniel R. Schwarz. Bedford Case Studiesin Contemporary Criticism. ISBN #0-312-080073-5.
• Seamus Heaney. Opened Ground: Selected Poems 1966-1996. ISBN #0-374-52678-8.
• Roddy Doyle. The Commitments. ISBN #0-679-72174-6.
• Edna O'Brien. House of Splendid Isolation. ISBN #0452274524.

General Education Course Information:

• ENGL 205: Writers of the British Isles meets the mission of General Educationby challenging students to become critical, creative thinkers in reading,writing, and speaking.
• ENGL 205: Writers of the British Isles meets the GE Aesthetics and Humanitiescomponent. For outcomes and assessments, see below:

UWR Writing Intensive Outcomes:

• Students will produce at least 3,000 words (including drafts, in-classwriting, informal papers, and polished papers); 1,000 words of this totalshould be in polished papers which students have revised after receivingfeedback and criticism.
• Students will be introduced to the discourse forms appropriate to the disciplinethe course represents.
• Students will write at least one paper integrating information from atleast one source, employing the appropriate documentation style for thediscipline represented by the course.
• Students will draft, revise, and edit their formal written work.

Students will seek assistance from a Writing Tutor in the Writing Labwhen needed and when referred by the instructor.

Additional Outcomes:

1. Understand the methodology, practice, and controversies regarding the interpretationof Irish literature: identify the purposes and effects of poetic, dramatic,and prose genres, and situate Irish literature in its historical, cultural,and biographical context;
2. Read Irish literature critically in terms of genre and context; and
3. Write effectively about Irish literature as a means of discovery and ofsharing critical responses.

Means of Assessment and Grading:

• Participation in classroom discussion and activities, including group work(outcomes 1 & 2)--10%
• Generation of in-class writing as a means of exploring new ideas (outcomes1, 2, & 3)--10%
• Critical papers analyzing the readings (outcomes1, 2, & 3)--75%
• Final essay examination (outcomes 1, 2, &3)--5%

Course Requirements:

• Read all assigned readings by the date they appear in the syllabus.Bring text to class.

• Successful learning depends on active participation in class discussionand activities. Absence, lack of preparation, and unwillingness to shareideas or to work during class time detract from participation credit. Helpme help you to manage absences by contacting me in advance when absenceis necessary.

• I expect each participant to conference with me at least once outsideclass.

• In-class writing will function as open-book, open-note quizzes gradedon insight and depth of analysis not grammar.

• Deadlines for generative writing and rough drafts must be met. Latework will be penalized.

• Final drafts must be accompanied by earlier notes, outlines,and drafts demonstrating substantial revision, copies of all cited secondarymaterials, a works cited page, and a self-evaluation.

• I may require further revision or proofreading beyond the finaldraft, and I will accept any revisions you choose to make to the ShortPaper until the last day of class. All revisions must be accompanied bythe graded draft. Revision grades, if higher, will replace the initialgrade, but revision does not guarantee a higher grade.

• The final examination is an institutional requirement. Reschedulingthe final requires permission from the course instructor and the Dean ofArts & Sciences.

Extra Credit awarded for:

• Excellent participation
• Extra conferences with me
• Visits to the Writing Lab (submit blue form)

Grading information,rules, and guidelines common to all my syllabi

Schedule:

Week 1 Course introduction, Irish history, postcolonialtheory, poetry terminology, William Butler Yeats
3/29M	3/30T Yeats "The Stolen Child," "To the Rose upon the Rood ofTime," "The Rose of the World," "When You Are Old," "Who Goes with Fergus?""The Man Who Dreamed of Faeryland," "To Ireland in the Coming Times," "TheSong of Wandering Aengus," "He Bids His Beloved Be at Peace"	4/1R Yeats "No Second Troy," "September 1913," "The Wild Swansat Coole," "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death," "Easter 1916," "The SecondComing," "A Prayer for My Daughter," "A Meditation in Time of War"	4/2F Yeats "Sailing to Byzantium," "The Tower," "Nineteen Hundredand Nineteen," "Leda and the Swan," "Among School Children," "Byzantium,""Parnell's Funeral," "Lapis Lazuli," "Under Ben Bulben," "Long-Legged Fly,""The Circus Animals' Desertion," "The Death of Cuchulain"
Week 2 Drama terminology, Irish drama, Lady Gregory
4/5M	4/6T In Harrington Yeats's Cathleen Ni Houlihan, Watson'sexcerpt pages 414-20	4/8R In Harrington Gregory'sThe Rising of the Moon andcomment pages 432-33, Coxhead's excerpt pages 441-46	4/9F In Harrington Synge's Riders to the Sea, Skeltonexcerpt pages 447-50
Week 3 J. M. Synge, Sean O'Casey, discussion ofShort Paper
4/12M Harrington Irish Drama section pages 377-405	4/13T In Harrington Synge The Playboy of the Western Worldand Preface pages 451-52, Yeats article pages 460-62, Green excerptpages 466-70	4/15R In Harrington O'Casey Juno and the Paycock, Fallonexcerpt pages 499-503, Deane excerpt pages 509-12	4/16F
Week 4 James Joyce, literary theory
4/19M Generative writing for Short Paper due; Joyce The Deadpages 21-59	4/20T Selected theory section in Joyce text	4/22R Attend Future of EOU mini-conference during class	4/23F Three copies of complete Short Paper rough draft due
Week 5 Seamus Heaney
4/26M Heaney "Digging," "Death of a Naturalist," "Follower,""Mid-Term Break," "Outlaw," "The Forge," "The Wife's Tale," "A New Song,"The Other Side," "Tinder," "The Tollund Man," "Serenades," "Limbo"	4/27T Final Draft of Short Paper with supporting materials due;Heaney "July," "England's Difficulty," "Funeral Rites," "North," "BoneDreams," "Bog Queen," "The Grauballe Man," "Act of Union," "Hercules andAntaeus," "Whatever You Say Say Nothing," "Singing School"	4/29R NO CLASS	4/30F NO CLASS
Week 6 secondary research
5/3M Heaney "Oysters," "The Toome Road," "The Strand at LoughBeg," "Casualty," "The Skunk," "The Harvest Bow," "From the Frontier ofWriting," "The Haw Lantern," "From the Republic of Conscience," "Clearances,""The Mud Vision"	5/4T Heaney "Seeing Things," "Wheels within Wheels," "Mint,""Weighing In," "The Nobel Lecture"	5/6R Secondary article and précis due	5/7F
Week 7 Fiction terminology, Roddy Doyle, film terminology
5/10M Doyle first half	5/11T Doyle second half	5/13R	5/14F First generative writing for Long Paper due
Week 8 Continue discussing Long Paper
5/17M	5/18T Attend Spring Symposium during class	5/20R	5/21F Second generative writing for Long Paper due; bring allLong Paper materials
Week 9 Edna O'Brien
5/24M O'Brien to page 129	5/25T Three copies of complete Short Paper rough draft due withone copy of secondary materials	5/27R Complete O'Brien	5/28F
Week 10
5/31M NO CLASS	6/1T Course Evaluation	6/3R NO CLASS	6/4F Long Paper due with supporting materials
Final: Tuesday, June 8, 8-10 AM