HUM 211: Western Humanities Tradition: Continuity
Spring, 2004, Section 02 MWF 9:30, FH 508
Dr. Jean Lorrah
FH 7B-15
Tel. 762-4720
e-mail jean.lorrah@murraystate.edu
Office Hours:
MW 10:30-1:30
F 10:30-12:00
TTh 11:00-1:30
Website: http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/jean.lorrah/
Catalogue Description:
An exploration of humanistic themes as reflected in literary and philosophical works prior to the 20th century.
Required Texts and Materials:
The Bedford Anthology of World Literature, Beginnings – 1650 (Package A)
Purpose:
Course Objectives: Upon completion of HUM 211, students should be able to do the following:
- To examine specific human themes from a variety of perspectives.
- To improve students' ability to read, analyze, and compare literary and philosophical works and to discuss and write about the questions they suggest.
- To introduce students to significant literary and philosophical works and the historical and cultural traditions from which they emerged.
Content Outline:
- Identify significant ideas in western thought prior to 1789;
- Demonstrate an understanding of the diverse positions expressed in the works read in
- course;
- Critically analyze a variety of literary and philosophical works;
- Communicate their understanding of literature and philosophy in both clearly-written essays and oral presentations.
The course readings are divided into three units: The Ancient World, The Middle Period, and The Early Modern Period.
Instructional Activities:
Class activities include discussion of readings and background lectures.
Field, Clinical, and/or Laboratory Experiences:
Students are required to participate in the Humanities 211 Forum on Blackboard. Films and forums may be provided. Students are encouraged to use the world and the Internet as their laboratory as well.
To enter Blackboard: Go to Dr. Lorrah's website and click on the Blackboard link, or enter directly if you have the Blackboard page bookmarked. Login with your first initial and last name and the last four digits of your social security number in this format: jsmith1234. Once you have logged in, change your password to something you can remember. If you used Blackboard for a previous class, your old password may still be in effect. If you want to go there right now, click here.
Resources:
There are numerous free computer labs on campus where students may do word processing, access email, or do research on the Internet. There is a schedule on Blackboard. If you absolutely cannot get to a computer at least twice a week, ask around for a section of HUM 211 that does not require it, and drop and add. Your instructor may occasionally provide audio or video material. Don't forget the university library!
Written Work:
There will be two examinations during the semester, and a final examination. There will be an original 750-word paper on an interpretive, analytic, or comparative topic. Papers must be typed. Use the free computer labs if you don't have your own computer. There will be five quizzes, unannounced. If you are not in class the day of a quiz, or arrive more than ten minutes late, you miss the opportunity to earn 20 points.
Attendance Policy:
You are expected to attend each class meeting. Your course grade will be lowered ten points for each unexcused absence over 3.
Academic Honesty (from Undergraduate Bulletin, p. 11):
Cheating, plagiarism (submitting another person's material as one's own), or doing work for another person which will receive academic credit are all impermissible. This includes the use of unauthorized books, notebooks, or other sources in order to secure or give help during an examination, the unauthorized copying of examinations, assignments, reports, or term papers, or the presentation of unacknowledged material as if it were the student's own work. Disciplinary action may be taken beyond the academic discipline administered by the faculty member who teaches the course in which the cheating took place.
Note: Faculty reserve the right to invalidate any examination or other evaluative measures if substantial evidence exists that the integrity of the examination has been compromised.
Makeup Policy:
Missed quizzes may not be made up. Points for Internet forum participation are limited to ten per week and a maximum of 100 for the semester. If you begin to participate when there are only three weeks left in the semester, the maximum number of points you can earn is 30. The paper drops 10 points per day that it is late (that is per day, not per class meeting—a paper due Wednesday, turned in the following Monday, has lost 50 points). The next day begins at the end of each class meeting. Talk to me (telephone, e-mail) before you miss an exam, not afterward. I am very easy about making arrangements for any sensible reason as long as you let me know ahead of time. After you miss, you must provide evidence of illness, hospitalization, or some equal emergency in order to make up the exam. Oversleeping is not an emergency. Your roommate's emergency is not your emergency.
Grading Procedures:
Papers earn up to 100 points, calculated as follows: Idea 10, Thesis 10, Content 20, Organization 20, Mechanics 20, Clarity 10, Originality 10.
You have the opportunity to earn 600 points in this course, as follows:
5 quizzes @ 20 points 100 3 exams @ 100 points 300 1 papers @ 100 points 100 Forum @ 100 maximum 100 TOTAL 600
FINAL GRADES:
530+ A 285+ D 440+ B Below 285 E 370+ C
Schedule of Work
Read the assignments before we discuss them in class.
Unit One: The Ancient World
Jan. 12 Monday Introduction to the themes of the course: self, other, and community
Unit Two: The Middle Period
Jan. 14 Weds. Introduction to the Ancient World, Homer, Odyssey Jan. 16 Fri. Odyssey Jan. 19 Mon. Holiday—no class Jan. 21 Weds. Intro to Sophocles Oedipus cycle Jan. 23 Fri. Intro to Sophocles Antigone Jan. 26 Mon. Antigone Jan. 28 Weds. Antigone Jan. 30 Fri. Aristophanes, Lysistrata Feb. 2 Mon. Sappho and Catullus Feb. 4 Weds. Plato, Allegory of the Cave Feb. 6 Fri. Allegory of the Cave and Phaedo (excerpts)\ Feb. 9 Mon. Aristotle Feb. 11 Weds. Hebrew Texts, Genesis Feb. 13 Fri. PAPER, Bhagavad Gita Feb. 16 Mon. Confucius Feb. 18 Weds. EXAM I
Feb. 20 Fri. Intro, Sermon on the Mount Feb. 23 Mon. Sermon on the Mount Feb. 25 Wed. Arabian Nights Feb. 27 Fri. Arabian Nights March 1 Mon. Capellanus, The Art of Courtly Love March 3 Weds. Marie de France, Chevrefoil March 5 Fri. Dante, Inferno March 8 Mon. Dante, Inferno March 10 Weds. Boccaccio, Decameron March 12 Fri. Chaucer, Intro, General Prologue March 22 Mon. Chaucer, Prologue March 24 Weds. Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale March 26 Fri. EXAM II
Unit Threee: The Early Modern Period
Final Exam: Tuesday, May 4, 8:00-10:00am
March 29 Mon. Intro to Early Modern Period March 31 Weds. Poems, Petrarch, Shakespeare April 2 Fri. Machiavelli, The Prince April 5 Mon. The Prince April 7 Weds. Cervantes, Don Quixote April 9 Fri. Don Quixote April 12 Mon. Shakespeare, The Tempest April 14 Weds. The Tempest April 16 Weds The Tempest April 19 Mon. Poetry, Donne, Bradstreet, Indian Devotional, etc. April 21 Weds. Poetry April 23 Fri. Milton, Paradise Lost April 26 Mon. Paradise Lost April 28 Weds. Paradise Lost April 30 Fri. Review, Catchup
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