Anoka Ramsey Community College
English 2230: American Literature to 1865
Course Description:
This course focuses on American literature from its beginnings (c.a. 1600) to approximately 1865. Readings may include autobiographies, journals, sermons, and essays, as well as poetry and fiction. Students will gain a sense of the historical and cultural significance of the literature and will analyze, interpret, and evaluate the literary works. (Successful completion of ENGL 1121 is recommended.)
Learner Outcomes:
At the conclusion of this course, you, the student / writer, should be able to:
Read, discuss, analyze, interpret, and evaluate selected works of American literature from its beginnings to approximately 1865.
Understand how the selected works of American literature studied reflect the characteristics and values of the people and times in which they were written.
Recognize the important historical events and socio-political movements in the United States from the 1600s to the 1860s.
Recognize race, ethnic group, gender, and class differences in the United States and how these have reshaped the "traditional" American literature canon.
Understand the literary characteristics and trends of the Colonial Period, the Age of Reason and Revolution (the Enlightenment), and the Romantic Period.
Place selected American authors within one or more literary periods.
Recognize how writers who have been considered to be "minority" or "diverse" both resist and fit into the commonly accepted literary periods and appreciate what these writers contribute to the American literature canon.
Understand the literary meanings of such concepts as Puritanism, Nature, Reason, Deism, Classicism, Gothic, Romanticism, and Transcendentalism.
Appreciate the ways in which American literature helps us understand ourselves, other people, and the world around us.
Analyze and discuss specific works of American literature using appropriate literary terminology to describe the technical elements of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, and drama.
Select and apply a critical approach (such as historical criticism, biographical criticism, reader-response criticism, feminist criticism, psychoanalytic criticism, etc.) to analyze, interpret, and evaluate selected works of American literature.
Read selected works of American literature and present, through activities such as group discussion, journals, response papers, critical essays, reviews, and examinations, a personal interpretation and evaluation of the selected works of literature.