ENGL 1011 - Literature and Composition II

Course Description

This course is the second part of first-year English and introduces you to poetry and drama. In the first half, the course briefly considers the major features of poetry and then looks closely at how a poem is organized, how thematic patterns emerge, how the work of a specific poet can be characterized according to style, and how specific subjects can be treated in different ways. Students will be studying a selection of modern and contemporary poems. In the second half of the course, students will study three plays, each of which introduces an important form of drama. Topics for consideration include dramatic structure, tragedy, comedy, characterization, theme, and expressionist theatre.

Learning outcomes

• Identify and explain major styles, components, and techniques of twentieth-century poetry and of a selection of plays, using specific examples from works studied in the course.
• Identify and discuss literary patterns in a poem or play.
• Identify and explain the contribution to the work as a whole of important passages selected from the plays and poems studied in this course.
• Explicate poems not included among the selections studied in this course.
• Evaluate and compare different authorial treatments of particular themes and subjects in poems from the course reading list. 
• Analyze dramatic structure, characterization, theme, and specific techniques in the plays studied in this course.
• Describe the purposes and most common techniques of a range of plays, including tragedy, comedy, and expressionist drama.
• Move from reading a play to imagining how it might be performed on stage.

Course topics

• Unit 1: Introduction to Poetry
• Unit 2: Understanding and Writing about Poetry
• Unit 3: Style and Subject in Poetry
• Unit 4: Introduction to Drama and Tragedy
• Unit 5: Comedy in Drama

Required text and materials

Students are responsible for purchasing the required materials on their own:

• Geddes, G. (2006). 20th-Century Poetry & Poetics. (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.
  Type: Textbook. ISBN: 9780915422092
• Shakespeare, W. (1998). Othello. (2nd Revised ed.). Penguin Books Canada. Signet Classic
  Type: Play. ISBN:  9780143128618 / 9780698410817

Note: This item can be purchased directly from the following link.

• MacDonald, A. (1998). Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet). (1st Vintage Canada ed.). Random House of Canada Limited. 
  Type: Play. ISBN: 9780676971699 / 9780307366337

Note: This item can be purchased directly from the following link.

• Abrams, M H. Harpham. (2012). A Glossary of Literary Terms. (11th. Ed). Thomson Wadsworth. 
  Type: Textbook. ISBN: 9781305194823 / 9781285974514

Note: This item can be purchased directly from the following link.

• For Print Students the study guide, course guide, readings, USB flash drive and assignment file are individual files.

Note: The above print files can be purchased through the Wolfie's Campus Store.

Additional requirements

Print students will need Internet access and use of a computer/laptop with a USB port.

Assessments

To successfully complete this course, students must achieve a passing grade of 50% or higher on the overall course, and 50% or higher on the final mandatory exam. 

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Prerequisites

English 12 or equivalent.

Recommended requisite(s)

An English course at the 1000-level (such as ENGL 1001) that includes the study of fiction and composition is strongly recommended.

Exclusions

This course satisfies the second half of the introductory English literature and composition requirement for degrees offered through TRU. Students with credit for ENGL 1031 or ENGL 1029 may not take this course for further credit. Students with credit for ENGL 1011 may not take ENGL 1061 or ENGL 1999 for further credit in some programs.

CMNS 1811

FRAN 1210