Course Description:
This course offers an introduction to the development of literary styles and genres spanning the early European exploration of America through the Civil War. The course will examine individual authors and the motivating impulses for their writings, along with the broader contexts in which those authors wrote. Students will not only gain understanding of the literature itself, but also will gain a general sense of American political, cultural and social history. Readings will be drawn from a diverse selection of writers within the time period, and will include a diverse selection of types: personal writing, autobiography, historical exposition, poetry, correspondence, political oratory, religious oratory and fiction. Students will read selections in chronological order to strengthen their historical understandings. Coursework also includes significant discussion. Written work includes informal personal response (a reading journal), formal personal response (short essays), critical response and research writing using secondary critical materials.
This course fully meets the General Education requirement in Humanities.
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