English 207 Survey of American Literature Dr. Julia Eichelberger Fall 2015, 10:50 TTh

The United States are themselves the greatest poem.

–Walt Whitman

Survey of American Literature This course is a survey, which means we look at a large number of writers and texts over a long span of time (1500s to the present). The course gives students a broader context for American writers that they may have studied before or will study in other classes.

!   For example, you may have already read some works by Edgar Allan Poe. In English 207, we’ll study him as part of a group of writers from the early 1900s.

!   Poe is considered a Romantic writer, similar in some ways to Nathaniel Hawthorne; his dark view of human nature and his approach to literature were quite different from earlier writers such as Benjamin Franklin or Phyllis Wheatley.

So we’ll study authors for their own sake and also as examples of “isms” and other historical trends or (for example, the Harlem Renaissance, the Vietnam war).

Who’s the course for?

!   This survey course is required for English majors, and it’s also open to non-majors.

!   It’s not as intense as a 300-level course, but we do cover a lot of ground. I focus on tests more than papers in this class, but tests include some short take-home essays as well as in-class essay questions.

What are the requirements?

!   3 tests

!   4 short exercises

!   1 critical analysis

!   Quizzes, homework, and attendance

!   Final exam

!   I use a combination of lecture and discussion to guide you through these writers and literary periods.

I love teaching this course because I enjoy introducing students to such a wide variety of writers, and I love talking about the recurring questions that they raise.

Big questions, like . . . .

What do we believe about God, Nature, and human nature?

!   How much freedom do individuals have, and how can we participate in American society?

!   What does it even mean to be an American?

!   What should a work of literature do to be successful, to be beautiful, to be true to human experience?