LITR 200 - American Literature I

Credit Hours: 3
Lecture Hours: 3
Laboratory (or Other) Hours: 0

General Education Code(s): 23HU
Prerequisite(s): ENGL 100 or ENGL 200
Corequisite(s): None
Restriction(s): None

This course surveys American literature from the Colonial Period to 1860. The focus is on major authors and historical movements with attention to recurrent themes, literary styles, and philosophic problems.

Student Learning Outcomes of the Course: The General Education requirement for Humanities is satisfied by LITR 200. To meet this General Education requirement, students will be able to:

demonstrate knowledge of the conventions and methods of at least one of the humanities; and
recognize and analyze nuance and complexity of meaning through critical reflections on text, visual images, or artifacts.

Course-specific SLOs for LITR 200 include:

After reading an assigned work of fiction, the student is expected to state the plot, conflict(s), major characters and theme(s) of the work. (See NOTE below.)
After reading an assigned poem, the student is expected to identify and discuss important elements of style, figurative language, prosody and theme.

After reading an assigned selection, and hearing lecture and discussion about it, the student is expected to:

analyze the structure of the work, showing the relation of any significant part to any other part and to the whole work;
compare and contrast the work with others by the same author, showing similarities and differences in the use of language, underlying attitude of the author, and theme;
compare and contrast the work with works by other authors, showing those relationships among authors and works which would place them in the same literary period;
identify and describe those theses and underlying attitudes which reflect one or more of the major areas of social, philosophical or ethical concern which recur throughout American literature prior to the Civil War.

NOTE:

The student is expected to enter this course with some basic knowledge of the techniques of interpreting fiction and poetry. Therefore, discussion of these techniques will be kept to a minimum. Any student who has difficulty reading and/or understanding the assigned selections is expected to seek additional help from the instructor.