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English 202, Win 2025

MWF 10:30-11:20 

Smith Hall 205

Professor Charles LaPorte

Office: A508 Padelford Hall

LaPorte Office Hours: M-W 11:30-12:20

Email: laporte@uw.edu

TAs: Anne Duncan (aduncan1@uw.edu), Yixuan Jiang (yixuanj@uw.edu)

Course Description: Why study English? Why study literature? Are literary power or poetic beauty truly accessible to analysis? Does impassioned rhetoric move us because of its passion or because of its rhetoric? And whatever can it mean that various books or poems or writers are so often called great? Great for what, exactly?

This course is a "gateway" introduction to the English major. You need to take it if you are to be an English major (though you may also take it without any such intentions). It is designed to introduce students to the historical, cultural, and critical contexts of literature and literary study. Among other things, it will entail the reading and discussion of poetry, fiction, drama, and non-fiction. And it will introduce students to the kinds of debates that surrounded the creation of the first English departments in the nineteenth century, when the serious academic study of anglophone literature began. It cannot introduce you to every aspect of the English major (e.g., we will probably do no creative writing), but it will leave you with a broad sense of the field, with some grasp of major critical vantages such as historicism or feminist theory, and with real training in the bread-and-butter parts of the discipline: genre analysis and explication de texte, or close reading. In it, I promise at least a little impassioned rhetoric and a lot of great reading.

Lastly, please plan on in-person classes for both lecture and section throughout the quarter.

Learning objectives for this course will include the following:

To gain a deeper insight into and appreciation for anglophone literary and cultural

expression, including fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. 

To experience some of the Seattle literary scene, including the scene right here at UW.
To see how literature both shapes and is shaped by political and cultural movements and systems of power.
To better appreciate the importance of history (or competing histories) for the creation and reception of literary

and cultural works.

To be able to produce a close reading (explication de texte) of a given literary object.
To enhance analytical, interpretative, and argumentative skills for discussing and

writing about cultural objects.

Books: Please note that I would like you to have paper copies of all course texts, and bring these to class. The UW Bookstore (4326 University Way NE) has or will soon have copies of the following:

*William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Cambridge ed (ISBN 9781316606735) or Simon and Schuster ed (ISBN 978074347712)

* Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, Norton Library ed (ISBN 9780393870800)

* The Norton Anthology of Poetry, sixth edition (ISBN 9780393283280)

Additionally, please pick up a 202 Coursepack @ EZ Copy & Print

Class Participation: Your attendance is required at all sections (led by your TAs) and recommended for all lectures (led by me). The course concerns the evolution of cultural ideas, and I wish to give each of you ample opportunity to share your ideas about art and culture. (Don't worry if you feel like you don't have any such ideas to share; as we progress you will find that you have plenty!) Accordingly, I reward with high participation marks those who contribute to the classroom learning experience as a whole.

Kindly let your section leader know in advance if you'll miss a section. That said, do not feel compelled to relate to us any reason behind a given absence. We trust your judgment, and do not wish to be the arbiters of legitimate and illegitimate excuses. Simply remember that the quarter is long, and that your participation points at the end of the term depend upon your contribution to the class. In order to get good marks in participation, you will want to be visibly engaged.

The Midterm and Final Exam times are non-negotiable. If you know that you will not be able to make the midterm or final, please drop this class and enroll in English 202 next term. (The English department offers it every Aut/Win/Spr Qtrs.)

On Electronic Devices: Unless you are using a laptop as a disability accommodation, I ask that you put away any laptops and phones during lectures and discussion sections. I realize that some students prefer to take notes on screens, but this convenience is counterbalanced by the fact that they distract others. They also tempt users to multi-task (further distracting others). Before class, then, please put away your laptop (likewise your cell phone, etc.). You will get a better participation grade if you are visibly engaged in the discussions. I want you to have a pen and paper on hand anyway, as I often pose literary questions in class, and sometimes collect your responses.

Literary Activity Write-Up: One crucial piece of writing I will have you do for 202 is a short report on a literary activity that you will do outside of class.[1] You will have discretion in picking what you would like to do for this activity.

For instance, you might choose to attend any of the following: Paramount Theatre’s production of the musical Kimberly Akimbo (Jan. 7-12) or Hamilton (Feb 4-Mar 2) ; Percival Everett’s reading at Seattle Arts & Lectures (Jan 23), or the poets Naomi Shihab Nye (Feb 6) or Maggie Smith (Feb 27); the SAL "Murmurations" reading (Mar 5); the Seattle Rep’s productions of Blues for an Alabama Sky (Jan 30-Feb 23); the Seattle Shakespeare Company's Romeo and Juliet Education Tour (Feb 21-23 or the ACT Theatre's production of Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years (Feb 8-March 16). Seattle Opera is putting on The Magic Flute (Feb 22-Mar 9). And there are probably a dozen smaller playhouses in Seattle. Go see the UW School of Drama production of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale (Feb 13-23). Capitol Hill's Hugo House always has good reading events, as do Elliott Bay Bookstore, the Seattle Public Library, the UW Bookstore, and even our own English Department MFA program. You might attend a joint reading, like the poets Gabrielle Bates, Catherine Bresner, Bill Carty, and Paul Hlava Ceballos at Elliott Bay on Feb 27th. You might join spend an afternoon reading a play with the folks from Seattle's Shakespeare Meet-up Read-through Group: http://www.meetup.com/shakespeare-50/. And while I do not count attending mainstream/Hollywood films for this activity, I will give you credit for attending something like the Seattle Theatre Group's Silent Movie Mondays, which perform historic films with an old organ). Finally, you may get a bit of extra credit for doing more than one event, should you like, before the end of term. Also you should know that most live theater and lecture halls give steep discounts for students. Write-Ups will be posted on a big discussion board on Canvas.

In addition to writing ONE Write-Up, we ask you to comment on one other student's write-up 50-100 words. To facilitate such comments, we are asking students to finish their write-up by the first week of March!]

On UW English Values:

The UW English Department aims to help students become more incisive thinkers, effective communicators, and imaginative writers by acknowledging that language and its use is powerful and holds the potential to empower individuals and communities; to provide the means to engage in meaningful conversation and collaboration across differences and with those with whom we disagree; and to offer methods for exploring, understanding, problem solving, and responding to the many pressing collective issues we face in our world—skills that align with and support the University of Washington’s mission to educate “a diverse student body to become responsible global citizens and future leaders through a challenging learning environment informed by cutting-edge scholarship.”

As a department, we begin with the conviction that language and texts play crucial roles in the constitution of cultures and communities. Our disciplinary commitments to the study of language, literature, and culture require of us a willingness to engage openly and critically with questions of power and difference. As such, in our teaching, service, and scholarship we frequently initiate and encourage conversations about topics such as race, immigration, gender, sexuality, and class. These topics are fundamental to the inquiry we pursue. We are proud of this fact, and we are committed to creating an environment in which our faculty and students can do so confidently and securely, knowing that they have the backing of the department.

Towards that aim, we value the inherent dignity and uniqueness of individuals and communities. We aspire to be a place where human rights are respected and where any of us can seek support. This includes people of all ethnicities, genders, religions, national origins, political views, and citizenship status; LGBQTIA+; those with disabilities; nontheists; veterans; and anyone who has been targeted, abused, or disenfranchised.

Religious Accommodations: Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at this website: Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the act of presenting another’s work as your own. The University of Washington does not condone plagiarism – please consult the Faculty Resource on Grading Website if you have any questions about this: <http://depts.washington.edu/grading/ issue1/honesty.htm>.

Campus Writing Centers: The Odegaard Writing and Research Center (OWRC) offers free, one-to-one, 45-minute tutoring sessions for undergraduate, graduate, and professional writers in all fields at the UW. We will work with writers on any writing or research project, as well as personal projects such as applications or personal statements. Our tutors and librarians collaborate with writers at any stage of the writing and research process, from brainstorming and identifying sources to drafting and making final revisions. For more information or to schedule an appointment, please see our website or come visit us in person on the first floor of Odegaard Undergraduate Library.

The CLUE Writing Center offers free one-on-one tutoring and workshops, and is open from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday to Thursday in Mary Gates Hall and virtually throughout the regular school year (Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters). CLUE also offers tutoring on a range of other subjects, including math, science, and so on. Read more on their website.

Health and Wellness: Health & Wellness provides support, advocacy, consultation, and education to the University of Washington campus community. Services are free for UW students, faculty, and staff. You can work with advocates on your behalf or on behalf of someone you know. Programs include Alcohol & Drug Consultation and Education, Suicide Intervention, Sexual Assault, Relationship Violence, Stalking and Harassment Advocacy, and Student Care Program. For more information: http://depts.washington.edu/livewell/

Grade Distribution:

Midterm Exam: 15%

Writings for Sections: 20%

Literary Activity Write-Up: 15%

In-Class Responses [ca.10%]

& Other Participation [ca. 15%]: 25%

Cumulative Final Exam: 25%

Schedule[2]:

Part I: Why Study Poetry?

Week 1: 

Jan 6: Course intro; Alice Walker, "We Alone" [screenshot/handout] 

Jan 8: William Wordsworth, "We Are Seven" [screenshot/handout], "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey," "Resolution and Independence," "It is a Beauteous Evening," "Nuns Fret Not" [Norton Anthology (hereafter NA)]; Elizabeth Bishop, "Filling Station," "In the Waiting Room" [NA]

Jan 10: Walt Whitman, from Song of Myself (from NA), "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" "A Noiseless Patient Spider" [NA]; Emily Dickinson #39, 112, 202, 340, 372, 620, 1263, 1489, 1773, 1788 [NA];

Week 2:

Jan 13: Gwendolyn Brooks, all from NA; Terrance Hayes, "The Golden Shovel" [NA]; Joy Harjo, "An American Sunrise" (Coursepack: hereafter CP); Theodore Roethke (all from NA)

Jan 15:   Arnold, "Dover Beach," (NA); Anthony Hecht "The Dover Bitch," (NA); Daljit Nagra, from Look We Have Coming to Dover! (CP), from British Museum (CP)

Jan 17: Thomas De Quincey: from Letters to a Young Man Whose Education Has Been Neglected (CP)

[***SPECIFICALLY, please read the opening of Letter 1 (pgs40+41) and Letter 3 (pgs 60-74). The introductions to those sections will be helpful in describing what De Quincey is doing.]

Part II: Why Study Drama? 

Week 3:

Jan 20: No Class! Happy MLK Day

Jan 22: Shakespeare, Hamlet Act I

Jan 24: Shakespeare, Hamlet Act II

Week 4:

Jan 27: Shakespeare, Hamlet Act III

Jan 29: Shakespeare, Hamlet Act IV

Jan 31: Shakespeare, Hamlet Act V

Week 5:

Feb 3: Shakespeare, Sonnets #18, 55, 138 (NA); John Donne, Holy Sonnets #5, 7, 10 (NA); T. S. Eliot, from The Sacred Wood [CP]

Feb 5: Roland Barthes, The Death of the Author [CP]; Eliot, "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" [NA]

Feb 7: *Midterm Examination* [Required]

Part III: Why Study the Novel?

Week 6: 

Feb 10: Brontë Jane Eyre I-VIII

Feb 12: Brontë Jane Eyre IX-XIV

Feb 14: Brontë Jane Eyre XV-XX

Week 7:

Feb 17: No Class. Happy Presidents' Day

Feb 19: Brontë Jane Eyre XXI-XXVII

Feb 21: Brontë Jane Eyre XXVIII-XXXIII

Part IV: Why Study English? 

Week 8: 

Feb 24: Brontë Jane Eyre XXXIV-end

Feb 26: Career Center Presentation for English Majors

Feb 28: Curtis Sittenfeld, The Prairie Wife (CP)

Week 9:

Mar 3: Ted Chiang, The Tower of Babylon (CP)

Mar 5: Shawn Wong, from Aiiieeeee! (CP); David Shields, from Reality Hunger: A Manifesto (CP)

Mar 7: Louis Chude-Sokei, from Floating in a Most Peculiar Way (CP), Maya Sonenberg, ‘The Arches, Our Home” (CP); Rae Paris “Swing Low Suite” (CP)

Week 10: 

Mar 10: Richard Hugo (all from NA); Denise Levertov (all from NA); James Wright (all from NA); Richard Kenney (all from NA); Heather McHugh (all from NA)

Mar 12: Pimone Triplett "Round Earth's Corner," "Spieden Island, San Juans," "Real Estate," "Recital for Mixed-Race Player" (CP); Andrew Feld, "Quarters," "On Fire" (CP); Frances McCue, "Along with the Dead Poet Richard Hugo," "Gentrification Wedge," + related poems (CP); Ricardo Ruiz, from We Had Our Reasons (CP)

Mar 14: Hannah Sanghee Park, from the same-different (CP); Ada Limón from The Hurting Kind (CP) 

Cumulative Final Exam:

Monday, March 17, 2025, 830-1020, SMI 205 [required!]

[1] I would like this to be a literary experience that you would not normally have: a live performance, a visit to a gallery or exhibit. Watching netflix in your PJs is also a literary experience, but pursue something more ambitious. Shoot for more than a mainstream movie. Arthouse films seen in the cinema would maybe be acceptable, or a documentary. Challenge yourself (and your friends) to have a literary date. You'll like it.

[2] This schedule is my best approximation of how the class ought to move along. I have attempted to negotiate between assigning too much reading and giving you insufficient exposure to the field. I reserve the right to change the order of works as seems best to suit our needs as a learning community. --CPL