Lightness and Weight

If every second of our lives recurs an infinite number of times, we are nailed to eternity as Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross. It is a terrifying prospect. In the world of eternal return the weight of unbearable responsibility lies heavy on every move we make. . . . If eternal return is the heaviest of burdens, then our lives can stand out against it in all their splendid lightness. But is heaviness truly deplorable and lightness splendid? The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But . . . the heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become.

Conversely, the absolute absence of a burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar to the heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant.

What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness?

Parmenides posed this very question in the sixth century before Christ. He . . . responded: lightness is positive, weight negative.

Was he correct or not? That is the question. The only certainty is: the lightness/weight opposition is the most mysterious, most ambiguous of all.
(Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, 5-6)



Required Texts:

Thomas R. Arp, ed. Perrine's Story and Structure, ninth ed. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1998.

Bertolt Brecht. The Caucasian Chalk Circle, trans. Eric Bentley. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1999.

Frederick Crews. The Random House Handbook, sixth ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992.

David Grene and Richmond Lattimore, eds. Sophocles I. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1991.

R.S. Gwynn. Poetry (A Longman Pocket Anthology). New York: Longman, 1997.

Milan Kundera. The Unbearable Lightness of Being. New York: Harper and Row, 1984.

William Shakespeare. Hamlet, ed. William Farnham. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 1970.

John Trimble. Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing, second ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2000.

Required Work:

(1) Reading assignments to be completed before the dates for which they are assigned (i.e. in time for class discussion).

(2) Prompt and regular attendance at all class sessions, including two tutorials, two plays, one film, and two on-campus literary events (dates as shown on schedule below). Make plans now for evening events! If you must miss a class, you should get class notes from another student and include them in your notebook with proper acknowledgment. (Roll will be taken, and final grades dropped one step--e.g. from a B to a C--for each absence after the first two. Thus six absences will be regarded as grounds for failure of the course.)

(3) A portfolio of polished, out-of-class writing, to be submitted on the dates due as listed on the syllabus and resubmitted at the end of the semester. This final portfolio must be submitted in an appropriate folder, and will contain:

          (a) Two papers (between 1,000 and 2,000 words): one on a lyric poem or small group of poems;
          one on a short story not discussed in class. Both papers will have a research as well as an
          interpretive component, and will be drafted in stages in consultation with the professor.

          (b) Five short reviews (about 2 pages): (1) of the film version of Hamlet; (2) of one Whittier College
          Theater production (March 12-16 or April 30-May 4); (3-4) of two poetry or fiction readings of your
          choice; and (5) of any on-campus cultural event, including the Whittier College Choir Home
          Concert. (Except for self-selected events, these reviews will be due as noted on the schedule
          below. In all cases, reviews are due within one week of the event.)

          (c) A letter of self-appraisal, in which you analyze the written work you have submitted for the
          course and assess your areas of improvement and areas that need further work. Note
          that this is not an evaluation of the course, but rather of your written work in the course.

(4) Two exams with both identification and essay questions: a midterm (covering poetry and drama) and a comprehensive final.

Note: Late work will be accepted, but will be marked down one half grade for each class day after the due date. Under extraordinary circumstances, I will consider an extension without penalty-- provided that I am consulted in advance and that the circumstances seem serious enough to warrant such an extension.



Grading Factors:

           (1) Preparation and Discussion                        10
           (2) First Paper                                                15
           (3) Cultural Event Reviews (5% each)                25
           (4) Midterm Exam                                           15
           (5) Second Paper                                            15
           (6) Final Exam                                                20
                                                                                100%

Note: All work must be (1) satisfactorily completed and (2) resubmitted in your portfolio (even if it is turned in so late as to have fallen--theoretically--to an F), in order to result in a passing grade in the course.

Grading Options:

           (1) A - F
           (2) Credit/No-Credit (non-majors only)

Manuscript Style:

Papers are to be typed double-space in a 12-point font (this syllabus is typed in 12-point Times), and printed on a laser-quality printer. They should be handed in on separate sheets of 8 1/2 X 11 bond paper, stapled in the upper left-hand corner. Margins should be one inch; paragraphs are to be indented five spaces. Spaces should not be skipped between paragraphs. Your notes and/or bibliography must follow the MLA Handbook, copies of which are available in both the library and the bookstore. The form is also clearly explained, and examples given, in your Random House Handbook,180-184; 207-212.

Always keep hard-copies of all your work. Documents can get lost--both from my desk and from your disk, whether hard or floppy. Should this occur, I will expect you to be able to produce a copy immediately; otherwise, I will be forced to count the paper as late beginning with the day of your failure to do so. (See above for general policy on late papers.)

Note: Electronically submitted work will not be accepted. It is your responsibility to leave enough time to submit a clean hard copy for evaluation.

Academic Honesty:

Plagiarism occurs whenever the true author of a piece of prose, of an idea, or of a line of thought is not the person who claims to be the author. Plagiarism can occur in varying degrees, and will be penalized--in this class as in all others at the College--in proportion to its severity. Papers in which plagiarism is sufficiently serious will receive an F, and student's name will be turned in to the Dean of Students. A repeated act of plagiarism will result in an automatic F in the entire course, in addition to any action taken by the Office of Student Life (which can include suspension from the College). A number of such serious sanctions have been imposed in recent years.

A particularly common and egregious form of plagiarism is the down-loading of materials from papers posted by others on various web sites. Please be aware that faculty have the tools to identify any work unfairly borrowed from the web--as well as other sources.

If you are in doubt about the need for documentation of borrowed material, please feel free to consult me or any other professor on campus. Also be sure that you have mastered the material in the 2001-2003 College Catalog, 25-28. Ignorance of this material will not be regarded as an excuse.

ADA Policy:

If you have any disabling condition that may require some special arrangements in order to meet course requirements, please begin by contacting the Office of Learning Support Services. I will be happy to provide any accommodations regarded by the Director as appropriate, but am not in a position to offer such accommodations independently. Short of actual accommodations, however, please feel welcome to talk with me about anything I can do to help you succeed in the course.

Office Hours and Writing Center:

A huge component of growth in writing is having a sympathetic and critical audience for our work. George and I are dedicating ourselves to act in that role for each of you this semester, and will be able to help you to the extent that you take advantage of our expertise. Both of us will hold required tutorial sessions with each of you, to see drafts of every paper and review and to offer suggestions for revision. In addition, we both will be available for consultation outside these scheduled times.

My office hours (listed at the top of your syllabus as well as on my office door) are set aside for the express purpose of seeing students. So please come by to talk about your work in the course--or anything else you'd like to discuss. If you want to talk to me but can't come by at one of my scheduled hours, see me after class to make an appointment. (That's what "and by appt." means.)

George will also be available during the week to help you with every phase of your writing process
--or to talk with you about any problems you may be having in the course.

Another resource--for this course and for all your courses--is the Writing Center, located in the basement of Hoover Hall. Not only is the center equipped with Macintosh computers; it is also staffed with friendly, skilled, and experienced writing tutors, whose purpose--like ours--is to help you with every stage of the writing process. George, as this class's co-instructor, will be able to help you the most. But if you need additional assistance--or can't find George--other Writing Center tutors are also qualified and ready to help.

You will gain the most from their expertise, however, (1) if you go to the center well before an assignment is due; (2) if you take a copy of the assignment with you to show the tutor what is expected, as well as relevant texts and whatever notes or drafts you have made so far; and (3) if you do not expect him or her to serve as either a ghostwriter or a proofreader. Like your instructors, tutors are there to help you; but ultimately you are responsible for your own work.

The Final Exam:

The final examination will be given only at the published time (Friday, May 16, 10:30 to 12:30), so plan your departure for the summer accordingly. Plane tickets purchased by students not consulting the schedule (or not informing their families of the schedule) will not be accepted as an excuse for missing (or rescheduling) the exam. If you should find yourself scheduled for three final exams on a single day, you are (as the catalogue notes) entitled to request an adjustment from your professors.


The Schedule (subject to change as necessary):


Feb.         7     Introduction to the course. "The Secret," by Denise Levertov.


                10     Poetry (1): Introduction. Read Gwynn Introduction, 1-14; "Western Wind," 37;
                Shakespeare, Sonnet  73, 46; Ben Jonson, "On My First Son," 55; Hopkins, "Pied Beauty,"
                152; Yeats, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," 158; Frost, "Stopping by Woods," 172; Li-Young
                Lee, "Eating Together," 339; Marianne  Moore, "Poetry," 187.


                12     Poetry (2): Imagery; Figurative Language, Symbol, Tone. Read Gwynn, 14-22; Wyatt,
                40; Surrey, 41; Donne, Holy Sonnet 14 and "Valediction Forbidding Mourning," 43-54;
                Marvell, 63.Also read Trimble (Writing with Style), v-viii, and 3-24 (chapters 1 and 2).


                17     Poetry (3): Meter, Rhythm, and Poetic Forms. Read Gwynn, 22-33;
                Southwell, 44; Shakespeare, 46-48; Milton, "How Soon Hath Time," 60 and "When I
                Consider," 61; Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn," 106; Dylan Thomas, 221.
                Also read Trimble, 25-52 (chapters 3-5).


                19     Poetry (4): Poetic Forms (cont.). Read Wordsworth, 83-84; Christopher Smart, 75-78;
                Walt Whitman, 142-43; Matthew Arnold, 143-44; Dickinson, 147; Hopkins, 152-53; Pound,
                “In a Station of the Metro,” 181; e.e. cummings,
                200-201. Also read Trimble, 53-81 (chapters 6-7).


                24     Poetry (5): Frost, "After Apple Picking," 167; Williams, 179-80; Eliot, 189-90; Hughes,
                204-205; Auden, “Musee des Beaux Arts,” 211; Gwendolyn Brooks, 225-26; Robert Hayden,
                218; Dudley Randall, 218-19. Also read Trimble, 82-101 (chapters 6-11).
 

                26     Poetry (6): Ferlinghetti, 230; Richard Wilbur, 235-36; Larkin, 236-37; Levertov, 244;
                Adrienne Rich, “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers,” 271; Derek Walcott, 277; Sylvia Plath, 282; Seamus
                Heany,  “Digging,” 296-97; Yusef Komunyakaa, 319-20; Rita Dove, 331; Timothy Steele, 322-                23. Also read Trimble, 105-132 (chapter 12).


Mar.         3     Tutorials for Poetry Analysis Paper. (Come to my office at your scheduled time
               only.) Bring a poem--or pair or group of poems--from the Gwynn anthology and
               as many notes toward your analysis as you have been able to gather. Reading: Trimble,
               133-161 (chapters 13-16) plus "Writers Talking Shop," 165-89. Pick a 
               favorite quotation and come prepared to tell me what it is and why you like it.
               (Review Trimble chapters as needed and appropriate, not only for the remainder of
               the course, but for the remainder of your life!)


               5     Drama (1): Sophocles, Oedipus the King.


               10     Oedipus.


               12     Drama (2): William Shakespeare, Hamlet.


               12     It Is So If You Think So (through March 16); required event. 8:00 p.m. Robinson
               Theater, Ruth Shannon Center. (Review optional if you choose to review Midsummer Night's
               Dream.)


               17     Hamlet.


               19     Hamlet. Poetry Analysis due.


               19     Required viewing of Kenneth Branaugh Hamlet. 7:00 p.m. Media Center, Platner
               202.


Spring Break, March 22-30.


               31     Drama (3): Bertolt Brecht, The Caucasian Chalk Circle. So if You Think So review due
               (optional if reviewing Midsummer Night's Dream).


Apr.         2     The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Hamlet film review due.


               7     Midterm Exam, covering Trimble, poetry, and drama.


               9     Short Fiction: (1) Plot. Read Perrine Introduction, 1-7, 41-49; Greene, 49-61;
               Galsworthy, 73-75.


               14     Short Fiction: (2) Character. Read Perrine Introduction, 76-80; Walker, 90-97;
               Mansfield, 97-101.


               16     Short Fiction: (3) Point of View. Read Perrine Introduction, 148-54; Cather, 154- 169;
                Hemingway, 170-74.


                21     Short Fiction: (4) Theme. Read Perrine, 102-109; Albert Camus, 190-200; Eudora
                Welty, 437-43,


                 23     Tutorials for Short Story Analysis Paper. (Come to my office at your scheduled time
                 only.) Bring your selected story (from the list on your prompt), and any notes
                 you have been able to gather toward your analysis.


                 28 Novel: Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being.


                 30 Unbearable Lightness of Being.


                 30     A Midsummer's Night's Dream (through May 4); required event. 8:00 p.m. Robinson
                 Theater, Ruth Shannon Center. (Review optional if you already reviewed It is So if You Think
                 So.)


May           5     Unbearable Lightness of Being. Short Story Analysis due.


                 7     Unbearable Lightness of Being. Midsummer Night review due.


                 12     Last day of class (Monday); review for final. Portfolio due.


May           16     (Friday) 10:30-12:30, Final Exam (comprehensive). Your portfolio and final will be
                  returned to your campus mailbox. If you would prefer to have it sent to your
                  home, please provide a large self-addressed envelope with enough postage to cover
                  mailing.