I just learned that I may not have much access to the internet while I'm in Great Falls. I'll get online as much as I can, when it's doable. The information in the schedule should be enough to keep you going in my absence. Along with reading The Importance of Being Earnest, work on your book club presentations. If you have any questions, post them here or email me and I'll respond when, and if I'm afraid, I'm able.

If you can make sense of these passages, and do so without the book, you should do well on the final.

http://bleckblog.org/lit/files/w09248final.pdf

There is no class Friday (March 6) so you can work on your essays that are due on Tuesday. There will be just a single seminar, on Monday. Bring your essay, your book, and your brain in its best working order and come ready to discuss the importance of American literature from the Revolutionary War era to the Civil War era. What might this literature tell us about our nation, heritage and culture? How might we value this literature? What can it add to our lives, and the lives of all Americans were they to read and make sense of it? Be prepared to cite particular passages from your reading and research to back up any points (the lack of such citations was a weakness in the last seminar).

If you see that you have not posted at least 43 journals and responses combined, you have not met the 60 percent threshold for the journal requirement, which means you will be receiving an 'F' for the course. The assumption underlying the threshold of 43 is that all journals and responses have been posted in a way that earns full, rather than partial, credit. If you posted journals after class or missed classes but posted journals, you received partial credit. If you posted journals AFTER the day they were due, you received no credit, so the raw numbers represent only a best case scenario.If you are unsure whether this applies to you, you'll want to contact me.

The site was down and I thought it had been fixed last night (Monday night) but it didn't get taken care of until this morning, Tuesday. You can have until the end of the day (that would be midnight) to get the final journals and responses taken care of for credit.

Here are two notions of analysis it's good to keep in mind: “Analysis is the method we commonly use in thinking about complex matters and in attempting to account for our responses” (57) and "Critical thinking [like analysis] is a matter of separating the whole into parts, in order to see relationships” (Literature for Analysis 179). The question is, how do we do this? One way is listed here, the DROP method:

Details: Look for exact details in the text—identical or nearly identical words or details and list them.

Repetitions: Locate and list repetition of the same kind of detail or word (for example, war, struggle, conflict and strife are similar words). Similarities in style or structure can also be important, such as the author using four lines per stanza or beginning each paragraph with a question. Noting repetitions reveals emphasis.

Oppositions: Locate and list details or words or forms that suggest binary oppositions or things that contrast with one another. Look for the same sorts of things you looked at/for with the use of repetition.

Patterns of Significance: Choose what you think to be significant patterns of repetitions and/or binary oppositions and rank them in order of importance.

Having completed these steps, write a paragraph that explains your choice of one repetition or opposition (X), explain/describe what it does within the poem, and then explain what it means, why it is perhaps among the most significant elements of the poem or just worth examination. Do the above for each of the six assigned poems and respond to at least three journals from your classmates.

With Harriet Jacobs's "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl," we get an example of the female slave narrative, which differs in a number of ways from the male slave narrative. Give the material at these two links, one found in the glossary of our class site, the other provided by WSU professor Donna Campbell, a going over. For your journal, choose three elements of the male and female slave narrative that are either different or similar. The differing (or similar) element will be the 'X' of the journal. For instance, what might it mean that the female slave faces sexual exploitation/pressure while the male faces physical exploitation/pressure? Provide a passage to illustrate this point (or your other points), tell us what the difference/similarity in this instance does (to the reader, the character(s), the story, whatever) then tell us what you take the passage and difference/similarity to mean. Respond to three journals before class on Friday.

The second essay assignment draft is coming due next week. Click on the syllabus link and scroll down until you find it.

The big plan for Walt Whitman is to spend most of class reading the poem aloud. This doesn't mean don't read it before then because if you don't practice with the reading, you'll stumble all over yourself as you read the passages that come your way. For your journal, having read "Song of Myself," find three passages that you think to be quintessentially American (I'll let you decide what that means; this is your 'X') or Transcendental (we haven't discussed this, so you'll have to look it up yourself, try Wikipedia) in their perspective. What is it that these passages do and mean? Write about why you think this to be the case. Be sure to provide some of the poem. While Whitman is writing about himself in some respects, he is viewing himself as the embodiment of everything American. Keep this in mind as you write and while you respond to at least three journals. Just like him, you too are the America and Americans he is writing about.

EVERYONE is going to be reading all or part of the poem out loud in class, so you should give it at least a few practice readings before we meet. Keep in mind how Poe says the poem should be read, for what effect.

The editors of the text, in the introductory material on Poe, at the least imply that essays such as "The Philosophy of Composition" and quite possibly "The Poetic Principle" are done with tongue in check and are not to be taken too seriously. Nonetheless, the two essays provide some insight into understanding "The Raven" and Poe's other writings. For this journal, discuss "The Raven" in the context of at least one concept found and expounded upon in each of the two essays. What in "The Philosophy of Composition" and "The Poetic Principle" sheds light on "The Raven"? (the answer to this is 'X'). Discuss the poem in light of what these two essays have to say about composing in general and composing poetry in particular. For each point, provide the passage from the essay and a passage from the poem, write about what each means and why each matters. Respond to at least three journals by your peers.

I may not be able to attend on Monday due to the problem that kept me out Friday. Should I be unable to attend class at any time, journals are still expected and required.

"Billy Budd, Sailor" is rife with variant readings, which is a good thing. One reading pits Billy's initial berth on The Rights of Man against the Bellipotent, which means "Mighty in War." Such a reading often looks at the struggle between "justice" (the rights of man) and "law" (the need to be mighty in war). Examine the manner in which notions of justice and law work with and/or against each other in the story. Provide three examples of the conflict/confluence between the two from the reading. These examples will 'X' and should be illustrated with a passage from the text. What 'X' does and means could address why each conflict/confluence might be of concern today. Respond to at least three journals posted by your classmates.

Much of Monday's class will be a mock trial--the sentencing phase--of Billy, where some of the class will play the prosecution, some the defense. You will provide support for whichever team you find yourself on, either prosecuting or defending Billy. Come prepared!