Syllabus #7

English 231: American Literature to 1865
Spring 1991

Professor Carla Mulford
Pennsylvania State University

Texts:

The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Volume 1 (Paul Lauter, et al., eds.)

Lydia Maria Child, Hobomok and Other Writings on Indians (ed. Carolyn Karcher)

Class Schedule and Readings:
(except where noted, all readings are from the Heath Anthology)

Jan. 15

Introduction

Jan. 17

Cultural Considerations: 3-21 (Colonial Period to 1700)

Jan. 22

Native American Traditions: 22-25 (Native American Traditions); 25-26 (Winnebago and Pima poems); 26-40 (Zuni, "Talk Concerning the First Beginning"); 40-52 (Navajo, "Changing Woman and the Hero Twins"); 59-64 (Tlingit, "Raven and Marriage"); 64-66 (Tsimshian, "Raven Makes a Girl Sick and Cures Her")

Jan. 24

The Spanish and the New World: 67-69 (Literature of Discovery and Exploration); 69-80 (Columbus); 89-99 (Cabeza de Vaca); 120-131 (Villagra); 431-45 (Pueblo Revolt and Spanish Reconquest); 52-55 (Hopi, "The Coming of the Spanish and the Pueblo Revolt")

Jan. 29

English Settlements: 146-48 (Literature of European Settlement); 149-63 (John Smith); 164-72 (Wingfield); 173-76 (Frethorne)

Jan. 31

English Settlements: 210-32 (Bradford); 176-88 (Morton); 188-210 (Winthrop)

Feb. 5

Puritan Experience: 256-57, 258-59, 261-69, 276-77 (Bradstreet: "Prologue", "Contemplations", "Flesh/Spirit", "In Memory of My Dear Grandchild")

Feb. 7

Puritan Experience: 317-42 (Rowlandson)

Feb. 12

Puritan Experience: 342-46 (Taylor), 347 (Psalm 19 Paraphrased), 363 ("Huswifery"), 363-65 ("Upon Wedlock, & Death")

Feb. 14

Social Tensions: 448-69 (Colonial Period 1700-1800); 491-512 (Byrd); 472-91 (Knight)

Feb. 19

Social Tensions: 641-46, 669-77 (18th Century Women Poets)

Feb. 21

Cultural Tensions: 579-90 (Ashbridge); 590-610 (Woolman)

Feb. 26

Cultural Tensions: 512-16, 544-66 (Edwards, "Personal Narrative", "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God")

Feb. 28

Cultural Tensions: 728-30, 736-51 (Occom, "A sermon"); 750-56 (Aupaumut); 756-61 (Delgado); 762-70 (Palou, "on Serra")

Mar. 5, 7

Semester Break

Mar. 12

Political Tensions and Visions: 774-76 (Enlightenment Voices, Revolutionary Visions); 56-59 (Iroquois); 936-37, 940-51 (Paine); 957-60, 960-64, 978-81, 990-94 (Jefferson); 1007-1018 (Federalist); 821-22 (Franklin)

Mar. 14

Who (What) Are Americans?: 730-35 (Occom); 694-712 (Vassa/Equiano); 712-15, 718, 720-25 (Wheatley); 685-94 (Hall)

Mar. 19

Who (What) are Americans?, continued

First out-of-class essay due

Mar. 21

What Is An American? 890-95 (Crevecoeur)

Mar. 26

What Is An American?: 776-80, 823-81 (Franklin)

Mar. 28

Examination 1: First in-class essay examination

Apr. 2

Constructing American Identity: 1179-1213; 1024-26, 1032-39 (Murray); 1580-82, 1604-26 (Fuller); 1752-53, 1753-60 (Apes)

Apr. 4

Class Reading Day

Apr. 9

Constructing American Identity: Child, Hobomok

Apr. 11

Slavery and Abolitionism: 1825-34 (Angelina Grimké); conclusion of Child discussion

Apr. 16

Slavery and Abolitionism: 1637-1704 (Frederick Douglass)

Apr. 18

Versions of Transcendentalism: 1467-98 (Emerson); 1626-1636 (Fuller)

Second out-of-class essay due

Apr. 23

Versions of Transcendentalism: 1964-66, 1981-2016 (Thoreau)

Apr. 25

Responses to Transcendentalism: 2400-2431 (Melville, "Bartleby the Scrivener")

Apr. 30

Responses to Transcendentalism: 2065-2082 (Hawthorne, "My Kinsman, Major Molineux")

May 2

Responses to Transcendentalism: 2727-2778 (Whitman, "Song of Myself")

May 6-11

Examination 2: Second in-class essay examination, during finals week