Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 1

SAINT LOUIS CHRISTIAN COLLEGE

1360 Grandview Dr. / Florissant, MO / 63033 / 314-837-6777

INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE GEN220nFall 2008

Professor Lay

MISSION STATEMENT

Saint Louis Christian College equips men and women as leaders who impact the world for Christ.

DESCRIPTION

This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of literary study. Students will focus on the interpretation, criticism, and worldview of fiction and poetry. Emphasis is on producing written analysis of selected works.

RATIONALE

A study of a sampling of literature will assist students to better understand the diverse culture they live in and to prepare them for ministry in a global environment.

OBJECTIVES

Educational: Engage modern global, pluralistic, diverse cultures from the standpoint of a robust Biblical worldview. Therefore the SLCC curriculum aims to integrate thought and life across a broad range of knowledge.

Divisional: Given instruction in the communication skills, the student will demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively and will be able to use a variety of research and documentation techniques.

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 2

Upon completion of the study of humanities, the student will be able to analyze major components of culture and will be able to understand the differences between Christianity and other worldviews.

Course: Introduce the entertainment value of literature—the short

story and poetry. Present literary works from diverse perspectives—gender,

race, culture, religion, and generation. Understand fiction using seven levels of literal and inferential

comprehension. Identify six major elements of literature-plot, point of view,

characterization, symbol, style, and tone. Identify the six substructures of a poem-paraphrasable,

rational, image, metrical, sound and syntactical. Evaluate a work of literature according to its contextual

elements-biographical, literary, historical, ideological, and reader.

Analyze the worldviews of fiction and poetry and compare and contrast it with the students’ Christian world-view.

REQUIRED MATERIALS

Gioia, Dana, and R. S. Gwynn. The Art of the Short Story. New York: Pearson

Longman, 2006.Sire, James. How To Read Slowly: Reading for Comprehension. 2nd Ed. Wheaton, IL:

Harold Shaw, 1978.Trott, James H. ed. A Sacrifice of Praise: An Anthology of Christian Poetry in English from

Caedmon to the Mid-Twentieth Century. 2nd ed. Nashville: Cumberland, 2006.

REQUIREMENTS

Reading Journal Entries You are to read each day’s reading assignment and record the amount of reading you did for each day’s assignment (0, ¼, ½, ¾, All) next to your name on the reading journal. Then you are to write a journal entry for each class period. For most of them, you are to examine each of the short stories and poems. You are to

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 3

follow the guidelines on the worksheet and answer the statements for each work. For a few others, follow the instructions in the syllabus. The journals are to be typed.

Fiction Essay Produce a critical analysis (2,000+ words) of a short story by one of the author’s in the textbook not discussed in class. The professor will provide a list. Provide an analysis of the paper, focusing on several of the elements discussed. The paper is to include at least three sources. The paper will be assessed according to the Fiction Guidelines and the Essay Assessment located in the syllabus.

Creative ProjectProduce an original work of literature—poem(s). Develop a creative way to display the work. Analyze the work, following the model for the fiction essay. Present the work to the class in an oral presentation.

Classroom Discussion You are to read each assignment and be prepared in class to answer questions from the professor and to ask quality questions based on the text for that day. Also, you will participate in occasional small group projects in class. Unexcused absences will affect the discussion grade.

ASSESSMENT

Reading Journals (180 pts / 18 @ 10 points each)

Grade

Points

Description

A 10 1. Read the entire assignment.2. Answered all of the questions.3. Gave detailed, specific, and extended information.

B 9 1. Read the entire assignment.2. Answered almost all of the questions.3. Gave adequate and general information.

C 8 1. Read the entire assignment.2. Answered some of the questions.3. Gave adequate and general information.

D 7 1. Read part of assignment.2. Answered few of the questions.3. Gave adequate and general information.

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 4

F 5 1. Read part of the assignment.

2. Answered very few or none of the questions.3. Gave minimal or incorrect answers.

F 0 1. Did not submit the journal

Fiction Essay (100 points)

Trait A B C D FContent

40 36 32 28 0

Style 30 27 24 21 0Grammar

20 18 16 14 0

Format 10 9 8 7 0Total 100 90 80 70 0

Refer to the Essay Assessment Guide for a more specific description of each trait.

Original Poetic Work (100 pts)

Grade

Points

Description

A 100 1) Meets the 150+ words/ 1500+ words.2) Includes an extensive analysis of the work.3) Analysis exhibits the 4 criteria of an A essay (Content, Style,

Grammar, Format)4) Copies provided for every student. 5) Oral presentation: Speaks clearly, presents the explanation

clearly and concisely.B 90 1) Meets the 150+ words/ 1500+ words

2) Includes a proficient analysis of the work3) Analysis exhibits the 4 criteria of a B essay (Content, Style,

Grammar, Format)4) Copies provided for every student.5) Oral presentation Speaks clearly and presents the poem

clearly and concisely.C 80 1) Meets the 150+ words/ 1500+ words

2) Includes an adequate analysis of the work3) Analysis exhibits the 4 criteria of a C essay (Content, Style,

Grammar, Format)4) Copies provided for every student.5) Oral presentation: Speaks semi-clearly and presents the poem

adequately.D 70 1) Meets 100 words of the length requirement / 1300 + words.

2) Includes a minimal analysis of the work.3) Analysis exhibits the 4 criteria of a D essay (Content, Style,

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 5

Grammar, Format)

4) Copies were not provided for every student.5) Oral Presentation: Speaks unclearly and presents the poem

unclearly.F 50 1) Meets 75 words of the length requirement / 1000 + words.

2) Includes an unacceptable analysis or none at all.3) Analysis exhibits the 4 criteria of a F essay (Content, Style,

Grammar, Format)4) No copies provided.5) Does not orally present the poem.

Z 0 1) Poem and/or Analysis was not submitted

Classroom Discussion (20 points)

Grade

Points

Description

A 20 0-1 absences. Prepared to answer fully. Asks thought-out questions. Actively participates in small groups. Is not disruptive or distracted in class.

B 18 2 absence. Prepared to answer and ask questions adequately. Asks good questions. Participates in small groups. Is rarely disruptive or distracted in class.

C 16 3 absences. Answers questions minimally. Asks general questions. Minimally participates in small groups. Occasionally is disruptive or distracted in class.

D 14 4 absences. Not always prepared to answer questions. Usually does not ask questions or provide comments. Rarely participates in small groups. Is regularly disruptive or distracted in class.

F 0 5 absences. Or Rarely answers or asks questions. Dos not participate in group work. Consistently disruptive or distracted in class.

1 absence = one 50 min class. 6:00-6:50 or 7:00-7:50

Final Grade (200 Points)

A 192-200

B+

184-187

C+

168-171

D+

152-155

F 0-142

A- 188-191

B 176-183

C 160-167

D 144-151

B- 172-175

C- 156-159

D- 140-143

ESSAY ASSESSMENT GUIDEYour essay will be evaluated using four major categories—content, style, grammar, and format. Each of the categories is broken down into subcategories, each with specific traits. Each trait will be looked at and then

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 6

the entire category will be assessed according to these guidelines:

A Exceptional use of the trait with a minimal number of errors that make no distraction from the readability of the paper.

B Proficient use of the trait, with a few number of errors that mostly do not distract from the readability of the paper.

C Sufficient use of the trait, with many errors, yet only some of those errors distract from the readability of the paper.

D Minimal use of the trait with many errors that do distract from the readability of the paper.

F Unacceptable uses of the trait with an enormous number of errors that make the paper too difficult to read and understand.

Trait Description

CON

TEN

T

FOCUS Audience Addresses the target readers—their knowledge, interest, and motivation towards the thesis.

Voice Contains an effective point of view and your personal tone and perspective

IDEAS Purpose Utilizes the appropriate purposes—reflection, analyzes, information, or persuasive—to communicate the topic.

Thesis Includes an engaging and meaningful topic, displayed in a specific, manageable, and engaging declarative sentence that meets the objectives of the assignment.

Evidence Shows accurate, reliable, and effective sources--experiential and/or documented--to support the thesis, using a variety of summaries, paraphrases, and quotations.

STRUCTURE

Outline Exhibits a logical progression of thought, clear transitions between ideas, and discipline-specific structure to complement the support.

Patterns Organizes the ideas around appropriate paragraph patterns—narration, description, comparison/contrast, definition, examples, cause/effect, and classification/division to enhance the thesis.

STYL

E

PARAGRAPHS

Coherent Exhibits understandable and clear readability. Unified Demonstrates one main idea with an explicit or

implicit topic sentence.Complete Includes sufficient information yet varied

lengths.

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 7

Engaging Introduces the topic with an engaging

beginning. Strong Concludes the topic with a strong ending.

SENTENCES Varied Demonstrates a variety of lengths--short, medium, and long.

Diverse Exemplifies a diverse use of structures--simple, compound, complex, and compound/complex.

Parallel Contains equal or parallel wording, phrases, clauses, or sentences.

Transitional Incorporates significant transitions within and between sentences.

WORDS Appropriate Shows appropriate levels for the audience. Concise Incorporates as few words as possible.Specific Demonstrates precise and exact wording

including active verbs and descriptive nouns.

Inclusive Incorporates sensitive language when referring to gender, race, religion, occupation, economic status, and age.

Trait Description

GRA

MM

AR

SYNTAX Fragments Incomplete sentences. Run-On Two or more complete sentences without

proper punctuation. Comma Splice Two or more complete sentences

separated by a comma.Person Change

Interchanging first, second, and third person.

Subject-Verb Agreement

Subject and verb do not agree in number—singular or plural.

Pronoun Disagreement

Pronoun does not agree in number—singular or plural—with antecedent.

Past Tense/Past

Participle Mix

Past tense of a verb is substituted with the participle of a verb.

Verb Tense Shift

Multiple verb tenses within the same context.

Mood Shift Unnecessary change in mood—indicative, imperative, and subjunctive.

Adjective/Adverb Shift

Use an adjective as an adverb or an adverb as an adjective.

Dangling Modifier

A modifier has nothing to modify.

Passive Voice The subject receives the action of the verb.

PUNCTUATION Exhibits the acceptable usage of all punctuation marks.

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 8

MECHANICS Shows an accurate usage of

capitalization, italics, abbreviations, acronyms, and numbers. Uses proper spelling.

FORM

AT

LAYOUT Margins One-inch marginsSpacing Double spacing

Font 12-pointIndent

ParagraphOne-half inch

Page # Last name / Page number / Half inchTitle Title of the essay

Title Page MLAPaper 8.5 x 11

IN-TEXT DOCUMENTATIO

N

Summary One or two sentence overview of the author’s ideas in your own words.

Paraphrase

Longer summary of the author’s ideas in your own words.

Quotation Use a lead-in of the author’s last name.Block Quote

Indent one-inch with no quotation marks over four lines long.

Style Place the author’s name in a variety of positions in the quote.

Parenthetical

(Author’s last name page number).

WORKS CITED PAGE

MLA Books, Journals, Online.

Any form of plagiarism will not be tolerated. Intentional plagiarism will result in an F for the class. All other forms of plagiarism will result in an F for the assignment.

Any essay requiring a minimum number of words will be reduced 1% for every 100 words short.

Any essay requiring a minimum number of sources will be reduced 3% for every source short.

SCHEDULE

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 9

Oct 6M Introduction to Literature

Read Chapters 1,3,4,5 of Sire. Answer the following questions:

1. Describe your reading habits from as a child to the present. 2. Describe your attitude towards reading fiction/poetry.3. Describe the most significant work you have read.4. Describe reasons, if applicable, why you do not enjoy reading literature.5. Look in the table of contents of the Short Story book and list any of the

short stories you have already read and indicate which ones you enjoyed and did not enjoy.

6. Describe your position on this question: Should Christians read non-Christian literature and why or why not?

Type your answers, using MLA formatting. Write 500+ words.

Oct 13 M Gender

Read Kate Chopin: The Storm (p153) and Author’s Perspective Read Song of Songs (The Message) Journal 1 The Storm (#1-22) Read Bobbie Ann Mason: Shiloh (p 577) and Author’s Perspective Journal 2: Shiloh (#1-22)

Oct 20 M Race

Read James Baldwin: Sonny’s Blues (p26) & Author’s Perspective Journal 3: Sonny’s Blues (#1-22) Watch a video on Youtube.com of Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker. Read Alice Walker: Everyday Use (809) Journal 4: Everyday Use (#1-22) Read Isaiah 50-53 (Message)

Oct 27 Worldviews

Read: “Worldviews” by Jerry Solomon (Part 1) Web Source: http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/w-views.html Read Ernest Hemingway: A Clean-Well Lighted Place (p370) & Author’s

Perspective Journal 5: A Clean-Well Lighted Place (#1-28) Read Franz Kafka: Before the Law (466) Journal 6: Before the Law (#1-28) Read Ecclesiastes 1-12 (Message)

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 10

Nov 3 Worldviews

Read Flannery O’Connor: A Good Man is Hard to Find (p 677) & Author’s Perspective

Journal 7: A Good Man is Hard to Find (#1-28) Read Young Goodman Brown (347) and Author’s Perspective Journal 8: Young Goodman Brown (#1-28) Read Romans 1-8 (The Message)

Nov 10 Seventeenth Century (1603-1660)

Read Trott: Chapter Four (pages 147-150) Read Donne, John (151) & Holy sonnets x and xiv (152) Read Jonson, Ben (157) & A Hymne to God the Father (158) Read Herrick, Robert (191) & all poems (194-197) Read Herbert, George (203) & Easter Wings (210) Read Bradstreet, Anne (225) & Upon the Burning of our House (226). Read Marvell, Andrew (245) & The Coronet (246) Read German Hymns (258-265) Journal 9:Donne Sonnet XIV (1-30)1. Journal 10: Luther A Mighty Fortress is Our God (1-30)

Nov 17 Eighteenth Century (1660-1776)

Read Trott: Chapter Five (266-269) Read Watts, Isaac (290) & All poems (290-295) Read Pope, Alexander (304) & Ode on Solitude (305) Read Wesley, John (311) & all poems (311-312) Read Wesley, Charles (313) & all poems (313-322) Read Newton, John (340) & all poems (340-343) Read Toplady, Augustus Montague (350) & Rock of Ages (350) Read Eighteenth Century Hymnody (352-358) Journal 11: Watts The Cross (293) (1-30) Journal 12: Montague Rock of Ages (350) (1-30)

Nov 24 Romantic Age (1776-1837)

Read Trott: Chapter Six (359-364) Read Wheatley, Phyllis (370) & On Being Brought From Africa to

America (371) Read Adams, John Quincy (377) & Lord of all Worlds (378-379) Read Wordsworth, William (383) & For Inspiration (383) & Hymn—Blest

Are the Moments, Doubly Bles (383) Read Heber, Reginald (412) & Holy, Holy, Holy (413)

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 11

Read Browning, Elizabeth Barrett (438) & Comfort & Bereavement

(439) Read Hymns of the Romantic Period (454-458) Journal 13: All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name (455) (1-30) Journal 14: Holy, Holy, Holy (413) (1-30)

Dec 1 Victorian Period (1837-1861)

Read Trott: Chapter Seven (459-462) Read Tennyson, Lord Alfred (471) & St. Agnes’ Eve (473) Read Browning, Robert (477) & Hymn: I Intend to Get to God (479) Read Bronte, Anne (507) & The Doubter’s Prayer (508-509) Read MacDonald, George (521) & All poems (522-523) Read Clephane, Elizabeth (546) & Beneath the Cross of Jesus (547) Read Baring-Gould, Sabine (570) & Onward Christian Soldiers (570) Read Brooks, Phillips (571) & O Little Town of Bethlehem (572) Read Havergal, Frances Ridley (573) & On the Lord’s Side (574) &

Consecration Hymn (577-578) Read Spirituals (585-586) & Were You There (587) & Nobody Know the

Trouble I’ve Seen (587) Journal 15: Onward Christian Soldiers (570) (1-30) Journal 16: Consecration Hymn (577) (1-30)

Dec 8 Victorian Period (1861-1918)

Read Trott: Chapter Eight (595-599) Read Hopkins, Gerard Manley (599) & God’s Grandeur (601) Read Chapman, Wilbur (623) & One Day (623) Read Johnson, James Weldon (652) & Go Down, Death (655) Read Dunbar, Paul Laurence (657) & We Wear the Mask (658) Read Chesterton, G.K. (662) & The World State (663) Read Late Victorian Hymns (667-689) Journal 17: God’s Grandeur (601) (1-30) Journal 18: We Wear the Mask (658) (1-30)

Dec 15

1. Oral Presentations of Projectsa. Public reading of original poem

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 12

RESOURCES

Burt, Daniel S. The Literary 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Novelists, Playwrights, and Poets Of

All Time. New York: Checkmark, 2001. Clarke, John Henrik, ed. Black American Short Stories: A Century of The Best. New York: Hill

and Wang, 1996.Cone, James H. A Black Theology of Liberation. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1998.Cowan, Louise and Os Guiness, Ed. Invitation to the Classics: A Guide to Books You’ve Always

Wanted to Read. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998.Fadiman, Clifton and John S. Major. The New Lifetime Reading Plan: A Classic Guide to

WorldLiterature, Revised and Expanded. 4th ed. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.Franklin, John Hope. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans. New

York:McGraw-Hill, 1988.Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. New York: Quill, 2003.Gallagher, Susan V. and Roger Lundin. Literature Through the Eyes of Faith. New York:

Harper and Row, 1989.Glaspey, Terry W. Book Lover’s Guide to Great Reading: A Guided Tour of Classic and Contemporary

Literature. Downers Grove, ILL: InterVarsity, 2001.Hart, James D. The Concise Oxford Companion to American Literature. New York: Oxford

Press, 1986.Holman, C. Hugh. A Handbook to Literature. 3rd ed. Indianapolis: Odyssey Press, 1978.Hughes, Langston, Milton Meltzer, C. Eric Lincoln, Jon Michael Spencer. A Pictorial History

Of African Americans: From 1619 to the Present. 6th Ed. New York: Crown Publishers, 1995.Jerome, Judson. The Poet’s Handbook. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 1980.Kochman, Thomas. Black and White: Styles in Conflict. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,

1981.

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 13

Langston Hughes. The Ways of White Folks. New York: Vintage Classics, 1962.Lopez, Tiffany. Ed. Growing Up Chicana/o: An Anthology. NY: William Morrow, 1993.Miller, Perry. Ed. The American Transcendentalists: Their Prose and Poetry. Garden City, NY:

Doubleday Anchor Books, 1957.Perkins, John. With Justice For All. Ventura, California: Regal Books, 1982.Peters, Thomas C. Simply C. S. Lewis. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1997.Polonsky, Marc. The Poetry Reader’s Toolkit. Lincolnwood, Ill: NTC, 1998.Rodriguez, Max, Angeli R. Rasbury, and Carol Taylor. Sacred Fire: The QBR 101: Essential

Black Books. NewYork:John Wiley and Sons, 1999.Ryken, Leland. ed. The Christian Imagination. Colorado Springs: Shaw Books, 2002.---. Triumphs of the Imagination: Literature in Christian Perspective. Downers Grove, IL:

InterVarsity, 1979.---.Windows to the World: Literature in Christian Perspective. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock,

2000.Sire, James. How to Read Slowly. Wheaton, IL: Harold Shaw, 1989.Strouf, Judie L.H. Literature Lover’s Book of Lists. Paramus, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998.Thurman Howard. Jesus and the Disinherited. Boston: Beacon Press, 1976.Trout, James H. ed. A Sacrifice of Praise: An Anthology of Christian Poetry in English fromCaedmon to

the Mid-Twentieth Century. Nashville: Cumberland, 1999.Veith, Gene Edward, Jr. Reading Between the Lines: A Christian Guide to Literature. Wheaton,

IL:Crossway Books, 1990.Whitherington, Ben III and Christopher Mead Armitage. The Poetry of Piety. Grand Rapids:

Baker, 2002.Vendler, Helen. Poems, Poets, Poetry. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997.

WEB SITES

1. General Information covering a variety of areas of interest for African Americans

www.everythingblack.com 2. A Guide for Writing Research Papers Based on MLA

http://cctc.commnet.edu/mla.htm3. Guide to Grammar and Writing

http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 14

4. Research Paper Information

www.Researchpaper.com 5. Librarian’s Index to the Internet

www.lii.org6. Library of full text of books, journals, magazines, and newspapers.

www.questia.com7. Quality Educational Resources

www.academicinfo.net8. Writing Assistant

www.powa.org

COURSE COVENANT: STUDENTS

As a student at Saint Louis Christian College and in Introduction to Literature, I commit to . .

Attend every class period and arrive on time. If I am going to be absent for any reason, I will inform the professor by email or phone. I will explain which class I will miss, the day, and the reason. I understand if I miss 3 class periods—regardless of the reason—I will be automatically withdrawn from the class with an F.

Submit all of my work on time. For school walks, I will submit my work before I miss the class. If I am absent for unforeseen circumstances (illness, weather, death in the family), I will contact the professor. He, however, reserves the right not to accept my late work.

Do my own work. If I commit any act of plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, or deception, I will automatically receive a zero (0) for the assignment, or I will receive a zero (0) for the class. Any cases of plagiarism, etc. will be reported to the academic dean. Additional consequences may apply.

Conduct myself in the classroom in a mature, respectful, and honorable manner. If I engage in any disruptive or inappropriate behavior, I will be asked to leave the classroom, and I will be counted absent.

COURSE COVENANT: PROFESSOR

As a professor at Saint Louis Christian College and of Introduction to Literature, I commit to . . .

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 15

Arrive to class on time, be prepared for each class, be present during my office hours, and return assignments in a timely fashion.

Follow the syllabus. If I need, however, to modify this course plan by changing topics, due dates, or even an assignment, I will not add to your current workload, and I will notify you well in advance of the changes.

Treat you in a fair, honest, and respectable manner as a student, as an adult, and as a fellow Christian brother or sister.

Provide academic assistance to best accommodate your learning styles and prayer support for your spiritual growth.

LEARNING DISABILITY

If you have a diagnosed learning disability, please see the professor privately to discuss assessment measures that would enhance your ability to learn.

INSTRUCTOR

Office Hours: Tue 8:30-10:30Wed 8:30-10:30Thu 8:30-10:30Fri 8:30-10:30

Campus Phone: 314-837-6777 Ex. 1514 Campus E-Mail: dlay@slcconline.edu

DISCLAIMER

Please understand that the Professor reserves the right to modify this course plan by changing topics, due dates, or even and assignment as long as it does not add to the learners’ workload.

Reading LiteratureObserving the Obvious to Uncover the Unobservable

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 16

As you begin the journey of reading fiction/poetry, be prepared to take your time, to enjoy the process as much as the “finishing the story.” Begin reading the story/poem through a first time, simply to get an overall picture of the work. Afterwards, complete this sentence: The story/poem is about ……

Next, go back to the story/poem a second time, this time with a pen/pencil in hand. Reading slower this time, begin to observe, identify, and describe these elements of a story—plot, characters, ideas, point of view, objects, setting, mood, allusions, and style. Use the statements below to help guide your investigation. You may want to focus on only one of the elements at a time.

INSIDE THE TEXT

1. PLOT: Describe the order of events—what happened first, second, third, etc.—and identify any flashbacks or flash forwards.

2. CHARACTER: Identify the main characters and describe them as explained in the story—name, age, sex, personality, education, religion, marital status, etc. Do the same with the minor characters. Describe the relationships the main and minor characters have with the other characters in the story—family, friends, enemies, co-workers, neighbors, boss, employee, etc.

3. SETTING : Describe the place, the time, the location, and any other information stated in the story.

4. IDEAS: Describe any ideas specifically mentioned—political, religious, racial, cultural, economic, philosophical, etc. and identify which ones appear the most in the story.

5. POINT OF VIEW: Identify the type of narrator in the story—first or third person and describe the type of narrator (Omniscient—Editorial or Objective or Limited—Major or Minor character).

6. MOOD: Describe the moods displayed in the story—anger, sadness, depression, joyful, contentment, doubt, unbelief, courage, fear, forgiveness, bitterness, greed, compassion, etc.

7. OBJECTS/EVENTS : List any concrete objects or events that are mentioned, especially if they are repeated (water, flag, church, holidays, geography, season, weather, disease, dates, everyday objects (rocks, table, tree, etc.) and indicate their possible reference.

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 17

8. STYLE” Describe the sentences in the story—long, short, simple,

complex, reflective, factual, etc. Describe the words in the story—formal, informal, sophisticated, professional, slang, regional, cultural, etc.

9. METER (Poetry): Identify and describe the type of syllables in the poem—number of syllables per line, which syllables are emphasized, etc.

10.SOUND (Poetry): Describe the type of sounds in the poem—rhyming from one line to the next, repeated sounds, etc.

OUTSIDE THE TEXT

10. BIOGRAPHY: Examine the author’s background—family, birth, education, personality, occupations, life goals, accomplishments, disappointments, reputation, lifestyle, religious and political views, death.

11. HISTORY: Examine the historical setting of the work—the date of the story’s setting, the history of that time era including political, religious, social, and racial issues.

Examine the historical setting of the era the author wrote the story, including the political, religious, social, and racial issues.

12. LITERARY: Examine the other genres of literature the author composed—essays, novels, short stories, poetry, drama, etc and describe the types of literature composed by the author.

13. IDEOLOGY: Examine the ideas and philosophies of the author—religious, political, social, cultural, racial—and describe how they affected the author’s perspective of this work.

OVER THE TEXT

14. EXPECTATION: Describe your attitude and expectation towards the work before you read it.

15. STRATEGY: Describe how you read the work—straight through, stages, at night, alone, with others, etc.

16. REACTION: Describe your initial reaction to the work—joy, sadness, denial, etc.

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 18

17. OPINION: Describe what areas of the work you were in agreement and disagreement and why?

18. REFERAL: Describe if you would recommend the work or not and why.

UNDER THE TEXT

19. MONOMYTH: Describe the one story in the work, showing how the work illustrates it.

20. MOTIFES: Describe the major motif(s) in the work, explaining how they are represented in the work.

21. ARCHETYPES: Describe the major archetypes in the work and their references.

22. BORROWING: Describe any similarities with the work and other works of literature.

AROUND THE TEXT

23. REALITY: What is the ultimate nature of reality in the story and of the author?

24. HUMANITY: What is the origin and nature of humanity?

25. DEATH: What happens after death?

26. MORALTY: What is the basis for morality?

27. KNOWLEDGE: How is knowledge obtained?

28. HISTORY: What is the meaning of history?

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 19

UNDERSTANDING LITERATURELITERAL AND INFERED COMPREHENSION OF LITERATURE

LITERAL COMPREHENSION

1. Basic Stated Information:Fundamental stated information dealing with who, what, where and when.

2. Key Details:Information important to the twists and turns of the plot. These details usually appear at key junctures in the plot and bear some causal relationship to the plot.

3. Stated Relationships:Information specifically stated existing between at least two pieces of information (two characters, two events, a character and an event).

INFERENTIAL COMPREHENSION

4. Simple Implied Relationships:Information not explicitly stated existing between at least two pieces of information (two characters, two events, a character and an event).

5. Complex Implied Relationships:Inferred information involving a large number of details from many different pieces of information.

6. Author’s Generalization:Implied information based on the whole literary work as it relates to situations outside of the work.

7. Structured Generalizations:Examine how parts of the work operate together to achieve certain effects. It requires a reader to deal with the arrangement of certain parts of the work and to explain how the structure works in supporting certain effects.

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 20

Hillocks, George Jr. “Toward a Hierarchy of Skills in the Comprehension of Literature.” English Journal. 69:3, 54-59.

THE LITERARY 100:A Ranking of the Most Influential Novelists, Playwrights, and Poets of All Time

By Daniel S. Burt

“What makes a literary artist great? How can we measure and compare that greatness? I have been guided by my sense of which authors have exerted the greatest influence over time in fundamentally establishing or altering the way we see the world through literature. The degree to which each writer shaped his or her literary tradition through the imagination and genius helped determine the ranking…all of the writers in this ranking helped redefine literature, establishing a standard with which succeeding generations of writers and readers have had to contend” (xiii-xiv).

Rank Author Date Country Major Work1 William Shakespeare 1564-1616 English Plays2 Dante Alighieri 1265-1321 Italian The Divine Comedy3 Homer 750 BC Greek Iliad, Odyssey4 Leo Tolstoy 1828-1910 Russian War and Peace,

Anna Karenina5 Geoffrey Chaucer 1340-1400 English The Canterbury Tales6 Charles Dickens 1812-1870 English A Tale of Two Cities,

Oliver Twist,David Copperfield,Pickwick Papers

7 James Joyce 1882-1941 Irish Ulysses,A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man

8 John Milton 1608-1674 English Paradise Lost9 Virgil 70-19 BC Italian Aeneid10 Johann Wolfgang Von

Goethe1749-1832 German Faust

11 Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

1547-1616 Spanish Don Quixote

12 Murasaki Shikibu 978-1030 Japanese The Tale of Genji13 Sophocles 496-406 BC Greek Oedipus Rex14 William Faulkner 1897-1962 American The Sound and the Fury,

As I Lay Dying15 Feodor Dostoevsky 1821-1881 Russian Crime and Punishment,

The Brothers Karamazov16 T. S. Eliot 1888-1965 American The Waste Land17 Marcel Proust 1871-1922 French Remembrance of Things Past18 Jane Austen 1775-1817 English Sense and Sensibility,

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 21

Pride and Prejudice

19 George Eliot 1819-1880 English Middlemarch,Adam Bede

20 William Butler Yeats 1865-1939 Irish Cathleen in Houlihan,A Vision

21 Alexander Pushkin 1799-1837 Russian The Prisoner of the Causcasus,The Robber Brothers

22 Euripides 480-406 BC Greek The Trojan Women,Hippolytus

23 John Donne 1572-1631 English Holy Sonnets24 Herman Melville 1819-1891 American Moby Dick25 John Keats 1795-1821 English “Ode on a Grecian Urn”26 Ovid 43 bc-17 ad Italian Metamorphoses27 Tu Fu 712-770 Chinese Poetry28 William Blake 1757-1827 English Songs of Innocence29 Aeschylus 525-456 BC Greek Agamemnon,

The Libation Bearers,The Eumenides

30 Gustave Flaubert 1821-1880 French Madame Bovary31 Franz Kafka 1883-1924 Czech “The Metamorphosis”32 Moliere 1622-1673 French Tartuffe33 William Wordsworth 1770-1850 English Lyrical Ballads34 Aristophanes 450-385 BC Greek Acharnians35 Thomas Mann 1875-1955 German The Magic Mountain36 Henrik Ibsen 1828-1906 Norwegian A Doll’s House37 Anton Chekhov 1860-1904 Russian The Seagull,

The Cherry Orchard38 Henry James 1843-1916 American The Portrait of a Lady,

Daisy Miller39 Vladimir Nabokov 1899-1977 Russian Lolita40 Walt Whitman 1819-1892 American Leaves of Grass41 Honore De Balzac 1799-1850 French The Human Comedy42 Jonathan Swift 1667-1745 Irish Gulliver’s Travels43 Stendhal 1783-1842 French The Charterhouse of Parma44 Thomas Hardy 1840-1928 English The Mayor of Casterbridge45 George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950 English Major Barbara46 Ernest Hemingway 1899-1961 American A Farewell to Arms,

For Whom the Bell Tolls,The Old Man and the Sea

47 D. H. Lawrence 1885-1930 English Sons and Lovers48 Charles Baudelaire 1821-1867 French Poetry49 Samuel Beckett 1906-1989 Irish Finnegans Wake50 Virginia Woolf 1882-1941 English To the Lighthouse51 Alexander Pope 1688-1744 English Poetry52 Francois Rabelais 1494-1553 French Gargantua and Pantagruel53 Francesco Petrarch 1304-1374 Italian Poetry54 Emily Dickinson 1830-1886 American Poetry55 Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1849 American The Fall of the House of Usher,

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 22

The Tell-Tale Heart,“The Raven”

56 Henry Fielding 1707-1754 English Tom Jones57 Joseph Conrad 1857-1924 Polish Heart of Darkness58 Robert Browning 1812-1889 English Poetry59 Albert Camus 1913-1960 Algerian The Stranger,

The Plague60 Charlotte Bronte 1816-1855 English Jane Eyre61 Emily Bronte 1818-1848 English Wuthering Heights62 Jean Racine 1639-1699 French Phedre63 Mark Twain 1835-1910 American The Adventures of Huckleberry

Finn64 August Strindberg 1849-1912 Swedish Miss Julie65 Emile Zola 1840-1902 French Therese Raquin66 Jorge Luis Borges 1899-1986 Argentinean The Garden of Forking Path67 Cao Xueqin 1715-1763 Chinese Dream of the Red Chamber (The

Story of the Stone)68 Giovanni Boccaccio 1313-1375 Italian Decameron69 Voltaire 1694-1778 French Candide70 Laurence Sterne 1713-1768 Irish Tristram Shandy71 William Makepeace

Thackeray1811-1863 English Vanity Fair

72 Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792-1822 English Poetry73 Eugene O’Neill 1888-1953 American The Iceman Cometh74 Wallace Stevens 1879-1955 American Poetry75 George Gordon, Lord

Byron1788-1824 English Poetry

76 Gabriel Garcia Marquez 1928- Columbian One Hundred Years of Solitude77 Walter Scott 1771-1832 English The Lady of the Lake78 Pablo Neruda 1904-1973 Chilean Poetry79 Robert Musil 1880-1942 Austrian The Man Without Qualities80 Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809-1892 English Idylls of the King81 Flannery O’Connor 1925-1964 American Wise Blood82 Catullus 84-54 BC Italian Poetry83 Federico Garcia Lorca 1898-1936 Spanish Mariana Pineda84 Nathaniel Hawthorne 1804-1864 American The Scarlet Letter85 Theodore Dreiser 1871-1945 American Sister Carrie86 Ralph Ellison 1914-1994 American Invisible Man87 Anthony Trollope 1815-1882 English Chronicles of Barsetshire88 F. Scott Fitzgerald 1896-1940 American The Great Gatsby89 Victor Hugo 1802-1885 French Les Miserables90 Rabindranath Tagore 1861-1941 Indian Poetry91 Daniel Defoe 1660-1731 English Robinson Crusoe92 Gunter Grass 1927- German The Tin Drum93 Lu Xun 1881-1936 Chinese Diary of a Madman94 E. M. Forster 1879-1970 English A Passage to India95 Isaac Bashevis Singer 1904-1991 Polish The Family Moskatt96 Tanizaki Jun’ichiro 1886-1965 Japanese Some Prefer Nettles

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 23

97 Richard Wright 1908-1960 American Native Son98 Gertrude Stein 1874-1946 American Three Lives99 Zeami Motokiyo 1363-1443 Japanese Fushikaden100 Oscar Wilde 1854-1900 Irish The Happy Prince and Other

TalesBurt, Daniel S. The Literary 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Novelists, Playwrights, and Poets of all Time. New York: Checkmark Books, 2001.

Top 100 Novels

Rank Author Date Novel1 Miguel de Cervantes 1605,1615 Don Quixote2 Leo Tolstoy 1869 War and Peace3 James Joyce 1922 Ulysses4 Marcel Proust 1913-1927 In Search of Lost Time5 Feodor Dostoevsky 1880 The Brothers Karamazov6 Merman Melville 1851 Moby-Dick7 Gustave Flaubert 1857 Madame Bovary8 George Eliot 1871-72 Middlemarch9 Thomas Mann 1924 The Magic Mountain10 Murasaki Shikibu 11th Cent. The Tale of Genji11 Jane Austen 1816 Emma12 Charles Dickens 1852-53 Bleak House13 Leo Tolstoy 1877 Anna Karenina14 Mark Twain 1884 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn15 Henry Fielding 1749 Tom Jones16 Charles Dickens 1860-61 Great Expectations17 William Faulkner 1936 Absalom, Absalom18 Henry James 1903 The Ambassadors19 Gabriel Garcia Marquez 1967 One Hundred Years of Solitude20 F. Scott Fitzgerald 1925 The Great Gatsby21 Virginia Wolf 1927 To the Lighthouse22 Feodor Dostoevsky 1866 Crime and Punishment23 William Faulkner 1929 The Sound and the Fury24 William Makepeace Thackeray 1847-48 Vanity Fair25 Ralph Ellison 1952 Invisible Man26 James Joyce 1939 Finnegan’s Wake27 Robert Musil 1930-31 The Man Without Qualities28 Thomas Pynchon 1973 Gravity’s Rainbow29 Henry James 1881 The Portrait of a Lady30 D.H. Lawrence 1920 Women in Love31 Stendhal 1830 The Red and the Black32 Lawrence Sterne 1760-67 Tristram Shandy33 Nikolai Gogol 1842 Dead Souls34 Thomas Hardy 1891 Tess of the D’Urbervilles35 Thomas Mann 1901 Buddenbrooks36 Honore de Balzac 1835 Le Pere Goriot

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 24

37 James Joyce 1916 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man38 Emily Bronte 1847 Wuthering Heights39 Gunter Grass 1959 The Tin Drum40 Samuel Beckett 1951-53 Molly, Malone Dies, the Unnamable41 Jane Austen 1813 Pride and Prejudice42 Nathaniel Hawthorne 1850 The Scarlet Letter43 Ivan Turgenev 1862 Fathers and Sons44 Joseph Conrad 1904 Nostromo45 Toni Morrison 1987 Beloved46 Theodore Dreiser 1925 An American Tragedy47 Vladimir Nabokov 1955 Lolita48 Doris Lessing 1962 The Golden Notebook49 Samuel Richardson 1747-48 Clarissa50 Cao Xueqin 1791 Dream of the Red Chamber51 Franz Kafka 1925 The Trial52 Charlotte Bronte 1847 Jane Eyre53 Stephen Crane 1895 The Red Badge of Courage54 John Steinbeck 1939 The Grapes of Wrath55 Audrey Bely 1916/1922 Petersburg56 Chinua Achebe 1958 Things Fall Apart57 Madame de Lafayette 1678 The Princess of Cleves58 Albert Camus 1942 The Stranger59 Willa Cather 1918 My Antonia60 Andre Gide 1926 The Counterfeiters61 Edith Wharton 1920 The Age of Innocence62 Ford Madox Ford 1915 The Good Soldier63 Kate Chopin 1899 The Awakening64 E. M. Forster 1924 A Passage to India65 Saul Bellow 1964 Herzog66 Emile Zola 1885 Germinal67 Henry Roth 1934 Call It Sleep68 John Dos Passos 1930-38 U.S.A. Trilogy69 Knut Hamsun 1890 Hunger70 Alfred Doblin 1929 Berlin Alexanderplatz71 Abd al-Rahman Munif 1984-89 Cities of Salt72 Carlos Fuentes 1962 The Death of Artemio Cruz73 Ernest Hemingway 1929 A Farewell to Arms74 Evelyn Waugh 1945 Brideshead Revisited75 Anthony Trollope 1866-67 The Last Chronicle of Barset76 Charles Dickens 1836-37 The Pickwick Papers77 Daniel Defoe 1719 Robinson Crusoe78 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1774 The Sorrows of Young Werther79 Voltaire 1759 Candide80 Richard Wright 1940 Native Son81 Malcolm Lowry 1947 Under the Volcano82 Ivan Goncharov 1859 Oblomov83 Zora Neale Hurston 1937 Their Eyes were Watching God

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 25

84 Sir Walter Scott 1814 Waverley85 Kawabata Yasunari 1937,1948 Snow Country86 George Orwell 1949 Nineteen Eighty-Four87 Alessandro Manzoni 1827, 1840 The Betrothed88 James Fennimore Cooper 1826 The Last of the Mohicans89 Harriet Beecher Stowe 1852 Uncle Tom’s Cabin90 Victor Hugo 1862 Les Miserables91 Jack Kerouac 1957 On the Road92 Mary Shelley 1818 Frankenstein93 Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa 1958 The Leopard94 J.D. Salinger 1951 The Catcher in the Rye95 Wilkie Collins 1860 The Woman in White96 Jaroslav Hasek 1921-23 The Good Soldier Svejk97 Bram Stoker 1897 Dracula98 Alexandre Dumas 1844 The Three Musketeers99 Arthur Conan Doyle 1902 The Hounds of the Baskervilles100 Margaret Mitchell 1936 Gone with the Wind

Burt, Daniel S. The Novel 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Novels of All Time. New York: Checkmark Books, 2004.

Introduction to Literature / Fall 2008 Professor Lay 26