See MyHeritage Assignments page for all weekly quiz and forum due dates (subject to change as needed).

Early American Literature (Beginnings to 1820)-Puritanism

Week 1
Introduction to the course and My Heritage virtual campus. Read Introduction to this period and Timeline (3++): Beginnings to 1700. Begin Native American Oral Lit (29+). Iroquois Creation Story (31+).

Forum posts due Thursday; forum responses and quiz due Sunday.

Week 2
Continue Native American Oral Lit (29+). Iroquois Creation Story (31+). Winnebago Trickster Cycle (35+). Poetry (41++).

Anne Bradstreet selections (112++): Intro. "The Prologue." "The Author to Her Book," "Before the Birth of One of Her Children," "To My Dear and Loving Husband."

Forum posts due Thursday; forum responses and quiz due Sunday.

Week 3
Review Intro section and timeline for American Literature 1700-1820 (3+).

Read Jonathan Edwards (166++): "A Divine and Supernatural Light": the first section (8-9 paragraphs) and this following under Doctrine, section I. item 2 (and think of this when you read/view The Crucible). "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

Supplemental for English Language Arts students: Become familiar with Arthur Miller's The Crucible and/or view the DVD (Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder).

Forum posts due Thursday; forum responses and quiz due Sunday.

American Literature 1820-1865 (Romanticism)

Week 4
Read Introduction to this period and see the Timeline (489++).

Washington Irving (511++): "Rip Van Winkle."

James Fenimore Cooper (527+): Last of the Mohicans Vol. 1, Ch. III (ENGLA students also see Project Gutenberg online for free full text to become familiar with the text and/or see the DVD with Daniel Day-Lewis).

William Apess (543+): "An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man."

Forum posts due Thursday; forum responses and quiz due Sunday.

Week 5 Romanticism/Gothic
Nathaniel Hawthorne (651++): "Young Goodman Brown." ENGLA students should become familiar with The Scarlet Letter (read selections online and/or view DVD w/Meg Foster).

Edgar Allan Poe (731++): "The Raven," "Annabel Lee," "The Tell-Tale Heart," and "The Cask of Amontillado."

Forum posts due Thursday; forum responses and quiz due Sunday.

Week 6 Romanticism/Transcendentalism
Ralph Waldo Emerson (550++): "Nature" (esp. Intro & Ch. 1), "Self-Reliance" (esp. Para. 1-14).

Henry David Thoreau (900++): "Resistance to Civil Government" (Para. 1-7 & last 21 paragraphs); selections from Walden.

Forum posts due Thursday; forum responses and quiz due Sunday.

Week 7
Walt Whitman (1070++): Selections from "Song of Myself" (1-6, 15, 21, 24, 32, 48-52); "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd."

Forum posts due Thursday; forum responses and quiz due Sunday.

Week 8
Midterm exam. Due 10/16.

Week 9
Herman Melville (1154++): "Bartleby the Scrivener." ENGLA students should become familiar with selections from Moby Dick online and/or view DVD w/Gregory Peck).

Slavery, Race, and the Making of American Literature (815-16).

Frederick Douglass (996++): Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas (Ch. I, VI, VII, IX, X). "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?"

Douglass and related topics will be covered in Week 10 forums and quiz.

Forum posts due Thursday; forum responses and quiz due Sunday.

Week 10
Harriet Beecher Stowe (838++): Uncle Tom's Cabin (selections from text).

Emily Dickinson (1246++): Read all selections, esp. 67, 130, 214, 216, 249, 258, 303, 341, 441, 449, 465, 712, 754.

Forum posts due Thursday; forum responses and quiz due Sunday.

American Literature 1865-1910-Realism (In Vol. Two)

Week 11
Read Introduction to this period and see the Timeline (Vol. 2, 3++).

Mark Twain: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Ch. 1-16) and selected critical articles.

Forum posts due Thursday; forum responses due Sunday. No quiz this week.

Week 12
Paper on racism in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (OR see me for other options, particularly if you are enrolled in Eng 450/550 Literary Theory this semester). Due 11/13. No forums or quiz this week.

Week 13 Realism/Regionalism
Review Introduction and Timeline (3++) on Realism and Regionalism.

Charlotte Gilman (509++): "The Yellow Wallpaper," "Why I Wrote 'The Yellow Wallpaper'?"
Kate Chopin (441++): "At the 'Cadian Ball," "The Storm," "Desiree's Baby," "Story of an Hour."

Forum posts due Thursday; forum responses and quiz due Sunday.

Week 14 Realism/Naturalism
Introduction to Realism and Naturalism (578+).

Jack London (639++): "To Build a Fire."

Stephen Crane (611++): "The Open Boat"; ENGLA students should become acquainted with Red Badge of Courage (read and/or view DVD with Audie Murphy).

Forum posts due Thursday; forum responses and quiz due Sunday.

Week 15
Final Exam. Due 12/4.
Course Evaluations.