Supplemental handouts, to be distributed in class

A good college-level (paperback) dictionary (Available used starting at $0.01 at Amazon.com***).

Hacker, Diana. Rules for Writers, 7 ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin�s, 2012 (Available used starting at $39.99 at Amazon.com***), or another current college-level handbook including 2009 MLA updates. Note: The sixth edition of Rules for Writers with 2009 MLA Updates is also available, and quite a bit less expensive (Available used starting at $14.00 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 $3.94 at Amazon.com***)

---. Mortal Syntax: 101 Language Choices That Will Get You Clobbered by the Grammar Snobs�Even If You�re Right. New York: Penguin, 2008 (Available used starting at $6.61 at Amazon.com***).

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 $0.29 at Amazon.com***).

Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. [New York: Harper, 2008 ?].�

---. How to Read Novels Like a Professor. New York: Harper, 2008.

Lederer, Richard. Anguished English: An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon Our Language. Charleston, SC: Wyrick & Company, 1987 (Available used starting at $0.01 at Amazon.com***).

---. More Anguished English: An Expose of Embarrassing Excruciating, and Egregious Errors in English. New York: Dell, 1994 (Available used starting at $0.01 at Amazon.com***).

Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. New York: Gotham Books, 2004 (Available used starting at $2.70 at Amazon.com***).

Plagiarism and Cheating:
Plagiarism includes copying or paraphrasing another�s words, ideas, or facts without crediting the source; submitting work written by someone else, either in whole or in part, as one�s own; 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. See the English Department�s Statement on Plagiarism and the LaGuardia Community College Policy on Academic Integrity (.pdf).

Essay Submission (General Essay Instructions):
For each of the assigned essays and projects, a topic or list of topic choices is provided. Your work must be on one of the assigned topics for that assignment or developed in consultation with the instructor* or it will receive a grade of �F�. You must obtain prior approval to write on topics other than those listed below; speak to me before or after class to set up an appointment during my office hours. Approval must be obtained at least one full week in advance of the due date.

All work must be received by the instructor on or before the due date, at the beginning of the class period, as indicated on the schedule, below. Late work will not be accepted, nor will essays be accepted via email. Failure to bring the required essay will result in a zero for the assignment, without opportunity for revisions.

For each of the essays, select one of the topics to discuss in a well-developed, coherent, and thoughtful essay. Be sure to focus carefully on the topic, and remember that these are formal essays: they must have an appropriate, original title; contain an introduction, body, and conclusion; have a clear, explicit, assertive, objectively worded thesis statement (thesis statements must be underlined); and avoid use of contractions, slang, or I or you throughout. Note: Except where otherwise specified, these are not research essays; the only sources utilized or quoted should be the texts themselves. Use of secondary sources, whether credited or not, will be considered grounds for failure.

Essay 1 and Essay 2 must be at least 750 to 1000 words, the Final essay exam must be a minimum of 600 words, and the Research Essay must be at least 1500�2000 words (roughly six pages minimum). All at-home work must be typed in 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, and stapled when submitted. In-class work must be neatly printed in blue or black ink on composition paper or in bluebooks provided by the instructor and double-spaced^�. All 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. See also �Writing a Literature Paper� and �Getting an A on an English Paper� as well as the Essay Outline and Revising and Editing Checklist for additional assistance.

Revisions:
All failing essays, with the exception of the Final Essay, may be revised and resubmitted by the due dates announced, usually approximately one week after the graded essays are returned. Essays receiving a passing grade may also be revised and resubmitted, but only after the student has met with the instructor during office hours (by appointment only) to discuss revisions. Revisions must be substantially revised, not merely �corrected� versions of the original essay (revisions should be based upon the Revising and Editing Checklist and relevant information from class and the textbooks), and must be submitted with the original graded essay attached. Evidence of substantial revision may result in a better grade for the assignment. 

If you did not submit a completed essay on time, or if you submit a plagiarized essay, you will receive a grade of zero and may not submit a �revision.�

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 opportunities be offered, except under extraordinary circumstances with appropriate documentation. Excuses such as �crashed computers,� �lost flash drives,� or �empty printer ink cartridges� will not be accepted.; therefore, be sure to save your work in multiple forms (computer�s hard drive, flash drive, and cloud), and keep backup copies of all work submitted.

Attendance and Participation (10%):
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.

Quizzes and In-class Writing (10%):
With the exception of the first day, class may begin with a short (five-minute) quiz on the readings for the day, at the instructor�s discretion. Quizzes cannot be made up; if you miss a quiz due to absence or lateness, that grade will be recorded as a 0. At the end of the semester, the lowest grade will be dropped. Students may also complete a number of smaller in-class writing assignments, including summaries, exercises, or short responses. Total number of quizzes and writing assignments during the semester will determine the point value of each; that is, if 11 quizzes/writing assignments are given (lowest grade dropped), each is worth up to one full percentage point.

Essays (2 @ 20%):
Students will complete two at-home critical essays during the semester, on topics selected from the list of suggestions provided (see Essay Topics) or developed in consultation with the instructor. Essays must be at least 750 to 1000 words, typed (12-point Times New Roman), double-spaced, and stapled (once, upper-left corner) 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.

In-Class Essay: Final Exam (15%):
Students will also complete an open-book in-class Final essay exam of at least 600 to 750 words, drawing upon their knowledge of material studied during the previous six weeks, including critical reading and analysis of poetry. Students will be allowed to use textbooks and a dictionary and/or thesaurus for the essays.

Research Essay (25%):
Students will also complete an argumentative (persuasive) Research Essay of at least six pages (at least 1500�2000 words), using up to five primary sources and a minimum of three to five secondary sources, correctly documented utilizing MLA-style citations, with a cover page and Works Cited page (cover page and Works Cited do not count toward the six-page requirement). The research essay must be submitted in a folder, including copies of all sources used. See additional details below.

Extra Credit (possibly various opportunities, at 1�2 points each):
Students may be notified of additional opportunities for extra credit during the semester, including attendance at various cultural events related to the class. 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 may receive up to two points per event added to their final average. As a general rule, extra credit only helps if you have already completed all of the assigned work, and will not make up for missing an essay (or two, or three). Extra credit opportunities will be announced in class, and they will also be posted online, so do not ask at the end of the semester for �extra credit� to bring up your average.

Poetic Recitation (up to five 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 to improve and reinforce student�s skills of reading lines carefully and making judgments about how particular passages can be interpreted. A successful (perfect) recitation is worth 5 points extra credit; an incomplete, partial, or flawed recitation will earn one to four points. Students must sign up to recite in advance, as sufficient time must be allocated for everyone wishing to attempt one. Note: No more than two students may attempt to recite any one of these poems.

Selections for Recitation:

 Auden, �Funeral Blues [Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone]� (16): 16 lines

 Cullen, �Yet Do I Marvel� (433): 14 lines

 Dickinson, �Because I Could Not Stop for Death� (531): 24 lines

  Hopkins, �God�s Grandeur� (552): 14 lines

  Olds, �Sex Without Love� (139): 24 lines

  Owen, �Dulce et Decorum Est� (310): 28 lines

  Shakespeare, �[Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer�s Day?]� (173): 14 lines

  Tennyson, �Ulysses� ll. 44-70 (576): 26 lines

  Yeats, �The Second Coming� (594): 22 lines

Additional Extra Credit Opportunities may be announced.

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. Several selections are not included in The Norton Introduction to Poetry. They will be made available as handouts, and can also accessed through the links provided, below. Additional readings may also be assigned.

Readings from The Norton Introduction to Poetry are identified below by author and title as well as page numbers, e.g.,  William Shakespeare, �[Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer�s Day?]� (173)
 or, where the text�s critical apparatus and additional information are intended, by title and page number, e.g., �Poetry: Reading, Responding, Writing� (1-16).

Red text indicates important dates or links to assignment descriptions; 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 [email protected]).

Note: This schedule is subject to revision according to the instructor�s discretion, the Academic Calendar for the semester, school closings due to inclement weather or other reasons, and the progress of the class. Additions or changes will be announced in class, and they will also be posted here as well as on the class Announcements page.

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ESSAY TOPICS:
For each of the assigned essays and projects, a topic or list of topic choices is provided. Your work must be on one of the assigned topics for that assignment or developed in consultation with the instructor* or it will receive a grade of �F�. You must obtain prior approval to write on topics other than those listed below; speak to me before or after class to set up an appointment during my office hours. Approval must be obtained at least one full week in advance of the due date.

See General Essay Instructions, above.

Essay 1: Due Monday, 8 July Tuesday, 9 July
Select one of the following topics to discuss in a well-developed, coherent, and thoughtful essay of at least 750 to 1000 words. Your essay should not be limited to repetition of ideas from class discussion, but should include independent thought and insight and demonstrate careful analysis. Your essay should explore the poems� tone, speaker, language (including figurative language or imagery, diction, and allusions) and structure (including meter and rhyme scheme, or the lack of them), and explain how these are interrelated and how they shape or influence meaning. Support your answers with specific references to the work(s): include evidence or examples from the specific text(s) that you are writing about, but do not retell the story, and do not copy directly from the  poems except when quoting. Remember to incorporate sources correctly, whether quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing: use signal phrases and document with parenthetical citations.. Note: This is not a research essay; the only sources utilized or quoted should be the texts themselves. Use of secondary sources, whether credited or not, will be considered grounds for failure.

Update: Your poems do not have to be from the textbook; however, if you choose poems or song lyrics that are not in the textbook, you must include copies of the poems (or lyrics) with your essay. Also, if you are trying to find poems with which to work, select a pair of poems from �Some Provocative Pairings� on the Literature: A Portable Anthology website, or try one or more of the links below, and be sure to use only works from professional, recognized poets (or lyricists).

1. Select two poems from the textbook that are not on the syllabus, about Love, Age, Death, or Mourning, written or published at least fifty years apart, and compare and contrast the way the two treat the topic. Your analysis should establish a clear connection between the two poems, beyond merely �They both discuss love� or �both refer to death�; rather, the connection should be based on similarities in situation, structure, language, imagery, theme, et cetera. For example,

   Randall Jarrell�s �Death of the Ball Turret Gunner� and Emily Dickinson�s �[Because I could not stop for Death]� both feature first-person narrators who recount the circumstances of their own deaths; however, while the former poem presents an image of death as violent and pointless, the latter suggests that death may actually be a welcome end to the struggles and obligations of life.

2. Select a poem from the textbook that is not on the syllabus, about Love, Age, Death, or Mourning, and a set of lyrics from a song (ca. 1960-2013) on the same topic, and compare and contrast the way the two treat the topic. As above, your analysis should establish a clear connection between the poem and the song you choose, beyond merely �They both discuss love� or �both refer to death�; rather, the connection should be based on similarities in situation, structure, language, imagery, theme, et cetera.

3. Select a poem from the textbook that is not on the syllabus and analyze how it challenges or calls into question our culture�s beliefs or myths about �Art� or poetry, love, marriage or relationships between men and women, or aging, death, or mourning.

Essay 2: Due Thursday, 18 July
Answer one of the following questions in a well-developed, coherent, and thoughtful essay of at least 750 to 1000 words. Your essay should not be limited to repetition of class discussion, but should include independent thought and insight and demonstrate careful analysis. Your essay should explore the work�s (or works�) tone, speaker, language (including figurative language or imagery, diction, and allusions) and structure (including meter and rhyme scheme, or the lack of them), and explain how these are interrelated and how they shape or influence meaning. Support your answers with specific references to the work(s): include evidence or examples from the specific text(s) that you are writing about, but do not retell the story, and do not copy directly from the  poems except when quoting. Remember to incorporate sources correctly, whether quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing: use signal phrases and document with parenthetical citations. Note: This is not a research essay; the only sources utilized or quoted should be the texts themselves. Use of secondary sources, whether credited or not, will be considered grounds for failure.

Update: Your poems do not have to be from the textbook; however, if you choose poems or song lyrics that are not in the textbook, you must include copies of the poems (or lyrics) with your essay. In addition, you may use poems that are listed on the syllabus, so long as they have not been covered in class before the paper is due.

1. Select two poems from the textbook that are not on the syllabus, about War, Race, or Gender, written or published at least fifty years apart, and compare and contrast the way the two treat the topic. Your analysis should establish a clear connection between the two poems, beyond merely "They both discuss love" or "both refer to death"; rather, the connection should be based on similarities in situation, structure, language, imagery, et cetera.

2. Select a poem from the textbook that is not on the syllabus about War, Race, or Gender, and a set of lyrics from a song (ca. 1960-2013) on the same topic, and compare and contrast the two. Your analysis should establish a clear connection between the poem and the song you choose, beyond merely "They both discuss war" of "both refer to gender"; rather, the connection should be based on similarities in situation, structure, language, imagery, et cetera.

3. Select a poem from the textbook hat is not on the syllabus and analyze how it challenges or calls into question our culture�s beliefs or myths about the nature of religious experience, the nature and causes of war, race and culture, or gender roles.

1. Select any one of the authors from the syllabus, and find at least three to five short poems (up to  30 lines each) or at least two longer poems (30�45 lines or longer, each) by that author but which are not listed on the syllabus. For example, if you enjoyed reading Robert Frost�s �Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,� select several other poems by Frost (but not �The Road Not Taken�!). Do not randomly select works by that author, however; browse through his or her works, either online or in your textbook, and find poems that can be constructively connected. Select poems that utilize  similar (or contrasting) imagery, or speakers, or themes, or that demonstrate evolution or change over time. Your essay should be a close, critical analysis of the works, including an argumentative thesis. Do not provide a biography of the author or a summary of the texts; instead, your thesis must be a claim about the work or works that represents your interpretation and that is supported with textual evidence. Your project  must address specific appropriate elements including (but not limited to) plot or dramatic structure, setting, characterization, point of view, speaker or narrator, language (including figurative language or imagery, diction, and allusions), structure (including meter and rhyme scheme, or the lack of them), intended audience, and theme, as appropriate.

2. Select any one of the topics from the syllabus, and find at least three to five short poems (up to  30 lines each) or at least two longer poems (30�45 lines or longer, each) addressing that topic, each written by a different author. As above, the poems you select may not be from those listed on the syllabus. Be sure to select poems that can be constructively connected, that utilize  similar (or contrasting) imagery, or speakers, or themes, or�an especially fruitful approach when selecting authors from different time periods�that demonstrate evolution or change over time.