American Literature 101 (Prose, Poetry & Novels)

Level: BS 8th
Course Code: ELL407

Course Description American literature has traversed and extended from pre-colonial days to contemporary times. Historical, Political, societal and technological changes—all had telling impacts on it. This course is designed to give an in-depth study of the American experience as portrayed in the works of major writers of American literature. The course focuses on both historico-political literary themes. Furthermore, it also emphasizes connecting the diverse Western movements such as Realism, Naturalism, Romanticism, Transcendentalism, Modernism, etc. as they influence multiple trends in American literary heritage and nationalism with reference to the representative writers chosen. It considers a range of texts - including, novels, short stories, essays, and poetry - and their efforts to define the notion of American identity. There may be several ways to access American literature---by either following simple chronology or connecting through themes and genres. This course aims at exposing the students to various literary trends in American literature by grouping them under different genres.

This course is under construction.... Topics are being added..

Module 1: Essays and Short Stories

1. Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
   
   
   1. Biographic Sketch
   2. Excerpts from Common Sense
   3. Analysis of Common Sense
2. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) Excerpts from the Declaration of Independence as Adopted by Congress (July 4, 1776)
3. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) Excerpts from Nature Self-Reliance
4. Walt Whitman (1819-1892) Excerpts from Preface to Leaves of Grass
5. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) My kinsman ,Major Molineux / Young Goodman Brown
6. Herman Melville (1819-1891) Bartleby, the Scrivener
7. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) The Fall of the House of Usher

Module 2: Poetry

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

1. Biographical Sketch
2. Success is counted sweetest
3. Because I could not stop for death
4. This is my letter to the world
5. I heard a Fly Buzz

Ezra pound(1885-1972)

1. Biographical Sketch
2. Mr. Housman's Message
3. Portrait D’une Femme
4. In a Station of the Metro
5. The River
6. Merchant’s Wife
7. The Letter

Robert Frost(1874-1963)

1. Mending Wall
2. The Road not Taken
3. Birches
4. Fire and Ice
5. After Apple Picking
6. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Edward Estlin Cummings(1894-1962)

) O Sweet spontaneous The Cambridge ladies who live in Furnished Souls Anyone lived in a pretty how town ● Hart Crane(1899-1932) From The bridge (To Brooklyn Bridge) Chaplinesque At Melville’s Tomb Voyages

Module 3: Novels

vel ● Harriet Beecher Stowe(1811-1896)/ Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) Uncle Tom’s Cabin/ excerpts from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas ● F Scott Fitzgerald(1896-1940) The Great Gatsby ● Ernest Hemingway(1899-1961) A Farewell to Arms ● William Faulkner (1897-1962) The sound and the Fury 4. Drama ● Eugene O’ Neill(1888-1953) Long Day’s Journey into Night ● Arthur Miller (1915-2005) Death of a Salesman/The Crucible

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