American Literature to 1800
ENGLISH BC3179x, Fall 200
7

SCHEDULE OF READINGS: (NA = The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 7th edition, Vol. A. W=online)

DATE ASSIGNMENT Supplemental materials
W 9/5 Introduction
M 9/10 ORIGINS I: Cusick, "The Iroquois Creation Story" (NA 17-21); Thin Leather and Lloyd, "The [Pima] Story of the Creation" (NA 21-31); Abbey and Williams, "The Bungling Host" (NA 86-91); Williams, A Key into the Language of America (excerpts in NA, 173-184); de las Casas, The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of the Indies (excerpts in NA, 35-39); Cabeza de Vaca, The Relation of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (excerpts in NA 40-48)

 

W 9/12 ORIGINS II: Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, chs. 1-14 (Modern College Library Edition pp. 1-154)

* DUE: WIKI ASSIGNMENT 1: CREATION OF YOUR WIKI PAGE AND POSTING OF AN INTRODUCTION.

M 9/17 ORIGINS II, continued: Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, chs. 15-22 (Modern College Library Edition pp. 154-277); Morton, New English Canaan (excerpts in NA 138-146)

 
W 9/19 ORIGINS II, continued: Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, chs. 23-36 (Modern College Library Edition pp. 278-385)
M 9/24 ORIGINS III: Winthrop, A Model of Christian Charity (NA 147-158); "[Winthrop’s Speech to the General Court]," from The Journal of John Winthrop (NA 164-167)

W 9/26 THE PURITAN SERMON: Hooker, The Soules Preparation (excerpts on W), Cotton, Christ the Fountaine of Life, sermons 1 and 3 (W); Shepard, The Parable of the Ten Virgins, chs. 1-6 (W)
M 10/1 PRIVATE PIETY: Thomas Shepard, The Autobiography, in God’s Plot, pp. 35-79.
W 10/3 PURITAN POETS I: Bradstreet, "The Prologue" (NA 188-189), "In Honor of That High and Mighty Princess Queen Elizabeth of Happy Memory" (NA 189-93); Contemplations" (NA 195-202), "The Flesh and the Spirit" (NA 202-204), "The Author to Her Book" (NA 204-205), "Before the Birth of One of Her Children" (NA 205-206), "To My Dear and Loving Husband" (NA 206), "A Letter to Her Husband Absent Upon Public Employment" (NA 206-207), "Another [Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment]" (NA 207-208), "Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House" (NA 212-213), "As Weary Pilgrim" (NA 213-214), "Meditations Divine and Moral" 38 (handout and online), "A Dialogue between Old England and New" (W), "To My Dear Children" (NA 214-217)

 

M 10/8 PURITAN POETS II: Bradstreet continued

 * DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF FIRST REACTION PAPER

 

W 10/10 PURITAN POETS II: Taylor, "Prologue" (NA 269-270), "Meditation 8 (First Series)" (NA 270-271), "Meditation 16 (First Series)" (NA 271-272), "Meditation 22 (First Series)" (NA 272-273), "Meditation 42 (First Series)" (NA 275-276), "Meditation 26 (Second Series)" (NA 276-277), "Meditation 150 (Second Series)" (NA 277-278), "The Preface" (NA 278-279), "The Soul’s Groan to Christ for Succor" (NA 279-280), "Christ’s Reply" (NA 280-283), "The Joy of Church Fellowship Rightly Attended" (W), "Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children" (NA 283-284), "Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold" (NA 284-285), "The Ebb and Flow" (W)), "Upon the Sweeping Flood" (W), "Meditation 3 (First Series)" (W); George Herbert, "Jordan (II)" (W)

* DUE: WIKI ASSIGNMENT 2: POST A REACTION PAPER TO THE WIKI, CREATING LINKS FROM THE APPROPRIATE AUTHOR  PAGE AND FROM YOUR WIKI PAGE.

 

M 10/15 PURITAN POETS II: Taylor, continued.  
W 10/17 PURITAN POETS III: Wigglesworth, The Day of Doom
 
M 10/22 CAPTIVITY NARRATIVE: Rowlandson, A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson (NA 235-267)
W10/24 JONATHAN EDWARDS AS SCHOLAR AND THEOLOGIAN: "A Divine and Supernatural Light" (NA 404-417), "[The Beauty of the World]" (W), excerpts from Images or Shadows of Divine Things (W)
M 10/29 EDWARDS AND THE GREAT AWAKENING: Edwards, "Personal Narrative" (NA 386-396) "[Sarah Pierrepont]" (NA 396-397), "Letter to Rev. Dr. Benjamin Colman" (NA 417-425), "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (NA 425-436); Charles Chauncy, "Enthusiasm Described and Caution'd Against" (excerpts, W)
W 10/31 QUAKER PIETY AND ABOLITION: Woolman, The Journal of John Woolman (23-192, 297-8)

* NOTE:  Starred on-line versions are NOT the same text as the scholarly edition we'll be using in class.
F 11/2 * DUE: WIKI ASSIGNMENT 3: USE THE WIKI'S COMMENTS FEATURE TO POST A ONE-PARAGRAPH RESPONSE TO A CLASSMATE’S POSTED REACTION PAPER.  
M 11/5 ACADEMIC HOLIDAY-- NO CLASS  
W 11/7 QUAKER PIETY AND ABOLITION: Woolman, continued.

 

 
M 11/12 DECLARING INDEPENDENCE I: Franklin, The Autobiography (NA 472-587)
W 11/14 DECLARING INDEPENDENCE I: Franklin, continued. Paine, The Age of Reason (excerpt in NA 643-649)

* DUE: WIKI ASSIGNMENT 4: POST A SECOND REACTION PAPER TO THE WIKI, CREATING LINKS FROM THE APPROPRIATE AUTHOR  PAGE AND FROM YOUR WIKI PAGE.

M 11/19 DECLARING INDEPENDENCE II: Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (excerpts in NA 674-709)
W 11/21 DECLARING INDEPENDENCE III: Paine, Common Sense (excerpts in NA 630-637); Jefferson, The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson (excerpts in NA 649-657); Adams and Adams, The Letters of John and Abigail Adams (excerpts in NA 616-629), Murray, "On the Equality of the Sexes" (NA 724-733)
M 11/27 AMERICAN NEOCLASSICISM AND PUBLIC POLEMICAL VERSE:

Wheatley, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" (NA 753-753), "To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth, His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for North America, &c." (NA 754-755), "To the University of Cambridge, in New England" (NA 755-756), "On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield, 1770" (NA 756-757), "Thoughts on the Works of Providence" (NA 757-760), "To His Excellency General Washington" (NA 761-762), selected letters (NA 763-764);

Freneau, "On the Emigration to America and Peopling the Western Country" (NA 743-744), "The Wild Honey Suckle" (NA 744-745), "The Indian Burying Ground" (NA 745-746), "To Sir Toby" (NA 746-748), "On Mr. Paine's Rights of Man" (NA 748-749), "On the Religion of Nature" (NA 749-750), "Literary Importation" (handout , use link, or see file in class files section of Courseworks)

W 11/28 AMERICAN AND ENGLISH CULTURE: Barlow, The Hasty Pudding (W); Tyler, The Contrast (NA 764-805)
 
M 12/3 THE NOVEL IN THE EARLY REPUBLIC I: Foster, The Coquette (NA 806-904)

* FINAL DEADLINE FOR FIVE-TO-SIX-PAGE PAPER

W 12/5 THE NOVEL IN THE EARLY REPUBLIC II: Brown, Wieland  Crèvecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer (excerpt in NA 595-605).  (Note:  Memoirs of Carwin, printed with Wieland in the Penguin edition, is not assigned.)
M 12/10 THE NOVEL IN THE EARLY REPUBLIC II: Brown, Wieland, continued, and CONCLUSION
* FINAL REACTION PAPERS DUE
* REACTION PAPER PORTFOLIOS DUE
W 12/12 OPTIONAL REVIEW SESSION

FINAL EXAMINATION as scheduled by the registrar, currently projected  for Monday, December 17 at 9 am in Milbank 202

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