Materials . . .

American Literature 1, Summer 2009

Here is the syllabus.

The value of frequent classroom low-stakes quizzes

Quizzes work for me, so I enjoy reading about scholarship that concludes they are a good idea. All students might benefit from David Glenn's May 1, 2009 article, "Close the Book. Recall. Write it down," for the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Early UA materials found

For the Akron Beacon-Journal, Colette M. Jenkins reports on the discovery of archival materials for the Unitarian Universalist Church of Akron, which oversaw Buchtel College until 1913. It contains some details that might amuse current students:

The Universalists administered the college until 1913, with ministers of the Akron church serving as its presidents. That year, it became a municipal college, which is now the University of Akron.

A Buchtel Leaflets publication that was among the documents in the box reveals that college tuition was $40 in 1885. Room rent was $10 to $30. Steam heating and gas was $12. The college offered three courses of study and required candidates for the freshman class to pass exams in Greek, Latin, math, drawing and English.

American Literature 1, Spring 2009

Here is the syllabus.

Whitman and Dickinson, Spring 2009

Here is the syllabus.

American Literature 1: The books

This is all you need for my section of American Literature 1 in Spring 2009:

Nina Baym, general editor. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Seventh edition. Package 1: Volumes A & B. Norton, 2007. ISBN13 978-0393929930. Note: Earlier editions will not work for you. Make sure you get the seventh edition.

Whitman and Dickinson: All the texts

Here are the texts that I ordered for the course. You do need these particular editions.

Dickinson, Emily. The Poems. Ed. R.W. Franklin. Reading edition. Cambridge: Belknap, 1999. ISBN 0674676246. There are multiple published versions of all of her poems, and we will work only with these Franklin versions.

Walt Whitman, Franklin Evans, or The Inebriate: A Tale of the Times. Ed. Christopher Castiglia and Glenn Hendler. Durham: Duke University Press, 2007. ISBN13 978-0822339427.

For Whitman's poetry, we will read in the Whitman archive. Mainly from links on this page, which gives you the full text (with page images) of all seven American editions of Leaves of Grass.

We will also read a lot of this book. I will explain more on the first day of class.

Emily Dickinson's love life

For Slate, Christopher Benfrey summarizes biographical scholarship by Carol Damon Andrews, Brenda Wineapple, Genevieve Taggard, and George F. Whicher on Dickinson's early love, George Gould.

American Literature 1, Fall 2008

Here is the syllabus.

American Literature 1, Fall 2008, All the words

Here are all the beautiful words.