Week 5___________________________
Tuesday, February 6–The Era of Reform
Readings
- Section Introduction, “American Literature, 1830-1865”: 484-497
- Sub-section Introduction, “The Era of Reform”: 503-511
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”: 555-573
- Tenets of Transcendentalism (in class)
Thursday, February 8–The Era of Reform
Readings
- Henry David Thoreau, “Resistance to Civil Government”: 648-665
- Frederick Douglass, from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself: headnote (700-703) + chapter 1 (710-713), 2 (713-716), 6 (721-726) and 7 (726-729)
Week 6___________________________
Tuesday, February 13–American Facts and American Fiction
Readings
- Sub-section Introduction, “American Facts and American Fiction”: 771-778
- Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener”: 876-904
- Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown”: 779-80 and 796-806
Thursday, February 15–New Poetic Voices
Readings
- American Contexts–The American Muse: Poetry at Midcentury. Read the prefatory material (944-945) and 2-3 poems of your own choosing. The goal will be to contrast these poems with those of Whitman and Dickinson.
- Walt Whitman, Author Introduction: 968-970
- “One’s Self I Sing”: 972
- Selections from “Song of Myself”: Sections 1-10
- Emily Dickinson:
- “Success is Counted Sweetest” (1047)
- “I Like the Look of Agony” (1049)
- I felt a funeral, in my Brain (1051)
- “After great pain, a formal feeling comes” (1052)
- “I dwell in Possibility–” (1059)
Week 7___________________________
Tuesday, February 20: Mid-Term Study Session and Reflection: Study Guide
Thursday, February 22: Mid-term Exam