English 107

Literature of the Western World:  Greek & Roman

Offered Fall Quarter    2009 -- MW 12 - 1.50

The Fall quarter of the World Literature sequence covers the literature of ancient Greece and Rome.  We will look at the epic, the origins of drama (tragedy and comedy), myth, and satire.  Since literature by its nature invites the study of the culture which produced it, we will be examining the values of Greek and Roman society as we discuss its literature.  Students should expect to develop a basic vocabulary for literary study alongside the vocabulary relevant specifically to classical texts.

While we can only touch on a select few texts as we whiz through 1000+ years, the goal is to develop your acquaintance with the forms of literary expression used by artists and thinkers in the ancient world. At times, this may seem like a history course, but we’ll examine the expression of human nature in the texts which transcends the historical context as well as try to understand the cultural differences. Literature teaches us about people, about ourselves as a species: in figuring out where to go, it helps to know where we’ve been. The reading this term is not always easy; I encourage you to ask questions, express frustrations, but also to share insights and that "a-hah!" experience which will occur. Don’t procrastinate or fall behind – that way madness lies!

Let me encourage you to explore some of the web sites I’ve linked to from my own site -- see the "Resources" page -- to supplement and expand on what we can cover in class. Several of the linked sites offer additional background to, for example, the Trojan War or the Greek gods, while others take you on a guided tour of Athens or invite you to view a theater mask inside and out. On this site, too, you will find study questions, handouts on reading hints, character lists, lists of terms (useful for review for the tests), and more. I’ve put the pages together to help you, not for my own benefit, so please explore what’s there and feel free to offer suggestions as to what else might be helpful. (And please let me know if any links go "dead"!)  

Assignments: You will be asked to fulfill a variety of short writing assignments over the term; some of these will be informal writing, assessed only on content, while with others I will expect polished, revised, edited prose. Some will be done in class with help from a group, others outside, yet others begun in class but finished (polished) outside. See the Syllabus for more details, but remember that whatever you write will require having the reading done on schedule.

You cannot make up work done during the class period, so extensive absences will automatically affect your grade (2-3 absences over the term will not by themselves hurt you). Late papers will be penalized.