Recommended additional texts:**

Bloom, Harold. How to Read and Why. New York: Scribner, 2000. (Available starting at $4.96 at Amazon.com***)

Boose, Lynda E. and Richard Burt. "Totally Clueless? Shakespeare Goes Hollywood in the 1990s" from Shakespeare, The Movie: Popularizing the Plays on Film, TV, and Video. London and New York: Routledge, 1997. 8-21. (Available starting at $4.00 at Amazon.com***); reprinted in Film and Literature: An Introduction and Reader. Ed. Timothy Corrigan. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999. 340-356. (Available starting at $11.00 at Amazon.com***)

Casagrande, June. Grammar Snobs are Great Big Meanies: A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite. New York: Penguin, 2006. (Available starting at $5.93 at Amazon.com***)

Cohen, Paula Marantz. "Shakespeare Goes to the Movies." DOJ: The Drexel Online Journal.

Crystal, David. Words, Words, Words. New York: Oxford U P, 2006.

Denby, David. Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. (Available starting at $1.37 at Amazon.com***).

Feldman, Gail M. "Adapting Shakespeare to Film." Inside Film Magazine Online.

Haig, Matt. The Dead Father's Club: A Novel. New York: Viking, 2006 (Available used starting at $4.67 at Amazon.com***).

Kliman, Bernice W. Hamlet: Film, Television, and Audio Performance. Rutherford, NJ: 1988. (Available starting at $40.00 at Amazon.com***)†

*Note: All of the individual stories, poems and plays to be read and discussed are available online; these are indicated on the schedule (below) as hyperlinks. However, students are still strongly cautioned that they must purchase the textbook for class use, as well as for the supplemental materials included. One additional poem (Linda Pastan, "love poem") is not included in the textbook, but should be accessed through the link provided. Please bring hardcopy (printout) of this poem on the day indicated on the schedule.

** Recommended additional texts are not required purchases, and have not been ordered for the course; however, they provide alternative readings, historical and cultural backgrounds, criticism, personal literary responses, or entertaining (irreverent, possibly sacrilegious) revisions. Students who find themselves becoming deeply interested in one or more of the required readings may find these interesting and/or useful. When indicated with a dagger (†), texts are only provisionally recommended, as I have not read these works yet, although they have received excellent reviews or recommendations.

*** Prices listed at Amazon.com do not include shipping, and are accurate as of posting date only; no guarantees of prices or availability are express or implied§.

Back to Top

CLASS POLICIES:
Attendance:
Students must not only attend every class, but also be on time, be prepared, and take an active part in class (see Participation, below). According to the College Catalog, "Students are expected to attend all class, clinical, laboratory, and studio sessions for the full duration of each instructional session."  Moreover, once you get to class you are expected to stay in the classroom until the class is over. Leaving class early or getting up in the middle of class is considered disruptive behavior and should happen only in extreme emergencies. Students may be required to sign in each class session to verify their attendance. Students unable to attend class should contact the instructor regarding their absence in advance or as soon as they return to school.

Plagiarism and Cheating:
Plagiarism includes copying or paraphrasing another's words, ideas, or facts without crediting the source; submitting a paper written by someone else, either in whole or in part, as one's own work; or submitting work previously submitted for another course or instructor. Plagiarism, cheating, or other forms of academic dishonesty on any assignment will result in failure (a grade of zero) for that assignment and may result in further disciplinary action, including but not limited to failure for the course and expulsion from the College. Please refer to the Burlington County College Student Code of Conduct in your Student Handbook for additional information regarding plagiarism and College regulations.

Homework/Essay Submission:
All writing assignments must be received by the instructor on or before the due date, by the beginning of the class period, as indicated on the schedule, below. In the event of an unavoidable absence the day an assignment is due, the work may be emailed. Only work submitted as an email attachment, in MS Word format, and received before the end of the normal class period will be accepted.

Make-up Exams/Late Work:
All assignment deadlines and scheduled exam dates are provided at the beginning of the semester; therefore, late papers will not be accepted nor will make-up exams be offered, except under extraordinary circumstances with appropriate documentation. Excuses such as “crashed computers,” “lost disks,” or “empty printer ink cartridges” will not be accepted. It is suggested that all computer work be saved both on your computer’s hard drive and again on disk or removable storage device.

Back to Top

ASSIGNMENTS:
Attendance and Participation (10 points):
As this class will combine both lecture and discussion, students are expected both to attend every session and to take an active part in class—joining in discussions and raising questions. Discussion is one of the best ways to clarify your understandings and to test your conclusions. Open discussion always involves personal exposure, and thus the taking of risks: your ideas may not be the same as your fellow students’ or even the instructor’s. Yet as long as your points are honest and supportable, they will be respected by all of us in the classroom. Questions, discussion, disagreement, and laughter are all encouraged in this class (However, ridicule or scoffing is never tolerated).

Essays (3 @ 15 points):
Students will complete three essays during the semester: literary analyses of works of fiction, poetry, and drama, on topics selected from the list of suggestions provided (see Essay Topics) or developed in consultation with the instructor. Essays must be at least five to seven (5-7) pages, typed (12-point Times New Roman), double-spaced, with a cover page and Works Cited page (cover page and Works Cited do not count toward the five-page requirement); include a minimum of three authoritative sources, properly documented (utilizing MLA format for documentation); and be stapled when submitted. Essays should be grammatically correct, free of errors in mechanics, grammar, usage, spelling, and documentation, and will be evaluated according to the Model for Evaluation of Student Writing. Please refer to Writing a Literature Paper and Getting an A on an English Paper as well as the Paragraph Outline or Essay Outline and Revising and Editing Checklist for additional assistance.

Exams (3 @ 10 points):
Students will also complete three in-class exams. The exams will evaluate the students' knowledge of material studied during the previous weeks, and will cover short fiction (Exam 1), poetry (Exam 2), and drama (Exam 3), including specific texts, themes, and literary terminology. The exams may combine objective questions and short essay answers, and students may be entitled to use notes or textbooks for the essay portion of the exams.

Quizzes/Writing Assignments (15 points):
With the exception of the first day, class may begin with a short (five- to ten-minute) quiz or writing assignment on the reading(s) for the day, at the instructor's discretion.  In-class quizzes or writing assignments cannot be made up; if you miss a quiz due to absence or lateness, that grade will be regarded as a 0. At the end of the semester, the lowest grade will be dropped. In addition, students may be required to complete at-home quizzes on assigned readings, to be taken on the Lit21 CD-ROM that accompanies the textbook, and email the completed quizzes to the instructor according to the directions on the CD-ROM; these will be announced in class as homework before the day they are due.

Total number of quizzes and writing assignments during the semester will determine the point value of each; that is, if 16 quizzes/writing assignments are given (lowest grade dropped), each is worth up to one full point.

Poetic Recitation (2-4 points Extra Credit): Students may select and memorize one of the selections below to be recited in front of the class for extra credit. Memorization serves the student’s skills of reading lines carefully and making judgments about how particular passages can be interpreted. A single recitation is worth 2 points extra credit; a second or third recitation will earn one additional point each. There will be opportunities for recitation three times during the semester, on each of the three exam dates; students must sign up for these dates at least one week in advance, as sufficient time must be allocated for completion of the exam.

Selections for Recitation:
 Dickinson, "Because I could not stop for Death—": 24 lines
 Frost, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening": 16 lines
 Hopkins, "God's Grandeur": 14 lines
 Owen, "Dulce et Decorum Est": 28 lines
 Shakespeare, Sonnet XVIII: "[Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?]": 14 lines
 Shakespeare, Hamlet III.1.63-97 ("To be, or not to be"): 34 lines
 Shelley, "Ozymandias": 14 lines
 Tennyson, "Ulysses" ll. 44-70: 26 lines
 Yeats, "The Second Coming": 22 lines

Extra Credit (various opportunities, at 1–2 points each):
In addition to Poetic Recitation, above, students will be notified of opportunities for extra credit, including attendance at various cultural events related to the class ("Recommended Fieldtrips"). If students attend one or more of these events, and provide evidence of attendance (ticket stub, program, et cetera) along with a typed one- to two-page personal response  (review, analysis, reflection, critique, et cetera), they can receive up to two points per event added to their final average. Recommended Fieldtrip/Extra Credit opportunities thus far include:

The Wooster Group presents Hamlet at St. Ann's Warehouse, 38 Water Street, Brooklyn, NY
Feb. 27-April 2
718-254-8779

I Hate Hamlet at the Nutley Little Theatre, 47 Erie Place, Nutley, New Jersey
Friday, April 13, 2007 through Saturday, April 28, 2007
http://www.nutleylittletheatre.com
nltboard@nutleylittletheatre.com
(973) 667-0374

Shakespeare in Washington (January-June 2007): Many events eligible for Extra Credit, including:

Back to Top

GRADING:
Final grades will be determined as follows:

Total Points earned (Final Average) will determine the grade received for the course, as follows:

The standards for the above numerical/letter grades are as follows:

A: Meeting course goals by demonstrating perceptive understanding of readings and course concepts; excellence and originality in compositions; superior scores on exams and other assigned work; active participation in class discussion and small groups; and compliance with attendance and assignment requirements.

B: Meeting course goals by demonstrating mastery of subject and concepts; above average quality in compositions and exams; good participation in class and small groups; and compliance with attendance and assignment requirements.

C: Meeting course goals by demonstrating a satisfactory level of understanding of subject material and concepts; acceptable quality in compositions and exams; adequate participation in class and small groups; and compliance with attendance and assignment requirements.

D: Not meeting all of the course goals; minimal knowledge of subject material and concepts; marginal quality in compositions (poor quality of development, support, or grammar); poor performance on exams; passivity in class and small groups; non-compliance with attendance and assignment requirements.

F: Not meeting course goals; unsatisfactory progress in understanding and applying subject material and concepts; incomplete or unacceptable work in compositions (gross grammatical, developmental, and structural errors); failure of exams; non-compliance of attendance and assignment requirements.

Back to Top

OUTLINE:
Projected Schedule of Readings and Assignments

Note: All readings below are required, and must be completed by the day indicated; the only exceptions are those indicated with an asterisk (*), which are recommended additional readings or resources.

Wednesday only classes: Each week's readings include the material from two sessions. That is, the first class includes all of the material from Sessions 1 and 2, and so on.

Note: This schedule is subject to revision according to the Academic Calendar for the semester, school closings due to inclement weather or other reasons, and the progress of the class.

KEY: (e) indicates that the reading selection is available as an e-text on the Lit21 CD;
(A) indicates that the selection is available as an audio file on the CD;
(V) indicates an accompanying video
Blue text indicates links to assignments, resources, or online versions of  texts (Note: While every effort is made to verify the accuracy and usefulness of these links and their contents, no guarantees are made. Please notify me of any broken or outdated links at bmurphy@Brian-T-Murphy.com).

Back to Top

Back to Top

Last Revised: Tuesday, 28 August 2007
Site maintained by Brian T. Murphy
Main page: www.Brian-T-Murphy.com