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Upper-Division Course Rotation
Prerequisites English 111 and 112 or their equivalents
305-001 Advanced Composition TR 1-2:15 CRN: 21099
505-001 CRN: 21100
David Carithers
From student editorials in The Pacer to academic essays written by college professors, much of what we read and write is expository prose, or non-fiction writing that attempts to explain something. Students in English 305/505 will study the principals of the various modes of expository composition. As we will discover together, there is plenty of room for creativity within these modes of writing. The primary text for this course is student writing, which we will work on together through in-class free-writes, workshops, and revision sessions. We will also read and discuss several collections of expository prose, including the essays of Michel de Montaigne and anthologies of current writers.
315-001 Poetry Workshop TR 11-12:15 CRN: 20957
515-001 CRN: 20958
Leslie LaChance
Poetry Workshop is designed for students interested in developing their creative and intellectual abilities through the craft of poetry writing. The course addresses all aspects of the poetry writing process from the genesis of a poem through early drafts, critique, revision and manuscript submission. Since the course is a hands-on workshop, much of our time will be devoted to writing and discussing students’ original poems. Students will write and revise a substantial body of original work for portfolio-based evaluation and publication. To better inform the creative process we will study selected poetic forms including free verse, sonnets, blues poems, ballads, haiku, renga, and performance poems. Selected readings from various poetic traditions will be required, as will a short research project, weekly written homework, attendance and participation in live readings, and an interdisciplinary poetry assignment.
325-001 Technical Communication TR 8-9:15 CRN: 20963
325-002 TR 9:30-10:45 CRN: 20964
Trisha Capansky
In this course, Technical Communication is another term for business communication – it is the way we communicate at work. Many people, when they hear the term Technical Communication, think of that horrid manual that came with the lawnmower. And yes, that is a form of Technical Communication – but it is by far not the only kind. Technical Communication can be written or spoken. It can consist of sentences or graphics or a combination of both. It can be static – a book – or it can be interactive – a website with animation and sound. The overall objective of Technical Communication is to present information in a way so that people can understand it easily, and use it safely, effectively, and efficiently. This course will prepare you to do just that. You will be provided with skills and strategies to help you address a variety of communication tasks in workplace environments and will learn how to understand the symbiotic relationships among form and content, and audience and purpose. My goal for this course is to prepare you to communicate effectively, ethically, responsibly, and professionally in the career path of your choosing.
345-001 Black Writers in America (“The Black Power Mixtape”) MWF 9-9:50 CRN: 20980
Melvin Hill
The African-American experience spans four hundred years, from the initial settlement of the American continent by Europeans and the establishment of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and down through the present day. Throughout their sufferings and ordeals, the people of African descent who were brought involuntarily to this country found the courage and creativity to "make themselves." They constructed their own unique rituals, traditions and symbols; a distinct spirituality, music, art, dance and folklore; a rich cultural heritage, kinship and community; and a complex body of political and social ideas about the contradictory nature of American democracy and the position of black people within it. In effect, black Americans made their own history, although not always in the manner in which they chose, because they were encumbered by the constraints of institutional racism and white privilege.
This introductory course in the African-American experience is largely constructed
around the voices and language used by black people themselves. The course is organized
chronologically, with an emphasis on the ideas of black social thought, political protest and efforts to initiate social change. About one half of the course covers the historical foundations and background to the modern black experience, from the struggle against slavery to the Harlem Renaissance. The second half of the course focuses on the past seventy years, from the Great Depression to the twenty-first century.
395-001 Literature & Film: Hitchcock and Kubrick MW 3—4:15 CRN: 21004
595-001 CRN: 21006
Lab: T 4-6:00 395
Lab: T 4-6:00 595
Jeffrey Longacre
Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick were two of the most important and influential filmmakers of the twentieth century, and many of their films regularly appear on lists of the greatest films of all time. Their list of films include such familiar titles as Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, and The Shining. In this class, we will use the films of these two auteurs as case studies to explore the relationship between literature and film—and by extension the relationship between word and image—through the theory and practice of adaptation. We will spend a great deal of time discussing and writing about the evolution of ideas, characters, methods, and themes as they move from page to screen. Along the way we will explore key concepts of adaptation theory such as genre, intertextuality, authorship. This course will also serve as a general introduction to cinematic terminology and important historical and theoretical concepts to the study of film. In the process, students will become more adept at analyzing and appreciating various literary and cinematic styles through the works of these master filmmakers. Be warned, however, you may never want to take a shower or stay at a strange hotel again!
420-001 History of the English Language TR 11-12:15 CRN: 21009
620-001
CRN: 21011
Daniel Pigg
In Troilus and Criseyde, Chaucer wrote “in the form of speech is change.” That is exactly what English 420 attempts to examine. How did the English language develop? How has the English language changed? What are the connections between culture and language? What is standard English? How did our understanding of modern English and modern English grammar develop? We will attempt to answer these questions and a host of others in English 420 as we examine the historical and linguistic development of English. We will look at the current trends in English as a world language as well. To study the English language involves an examination of the lived experience of spoken and written discourse. It can and will be a valuable experience for anyone interested in our language.
425-001 Advanced Grammar MWF 11-11:50 CRN: 20983
625-001 CRN: 20986
Jenna Wright
Would you like to know more about the English language—basics of grammar, use of standard English, an overview of how people learn language through both structured and inherent processes, and the relationship of grammar to the process of writing? Discover the system and pattern implicit in the English language—basic sentence patterns, inflections, determiners, parts of speech, expansions, complementation, and usage—while exploring social and economic implications of grammar, the significance of dialects and regionalisms, grammar demons, grammar software, and the effects of technology on language. This course will encourage and help you to undertake an analysis of grammar as it relates to your professional field and your career aspirations.
440-001 Southern Literature TR 2:30-3:45 CRN: 21012
640-001 CRN: 21973
John Glass
Students in English 440 will read a selection of works in different genres by major Southern writers,—among them Faulkner, Warren, the Fugitive-Agrarians, Hurston, and O’Connor—and consider questions of what, if anything, defines the literature of the American South. Is there a such a thing as a regional identity or southern perspective we can point to as readers to account for America’s broad and continued fascination with the region the rest of the country once went to war to defeat?
Students will have the opportunity in April to attend the 2013 Robert Penn Warren Conference at Western Kentucky University.
460-001 Early English Literature MWF 1-1:50 CRN: 20993
660-001 CRN: 20996
Daniel Pigg
Beginning with Beowulf and ending with Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur, English 460 surveys the range of literature written in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland from approximately 750 to 1485. What did medieval British people think, feel, and know? What were their hopes, dreams, and fear? A study of their literature will tell us much about them and how we share almost all of their concerns about a world in the midst of global change. All texts will be read in modern English translations. We will concentrate on various literary forms such as the epic, romance, saint’s legend, lyric, allegorical narrative, lament, and autobiography. We will investigate how they move from an oral-based culture to a written-based culture and will look at the way literacy had an impact on early British history and literature. Several of the texts we will examine are regarded as some of the “best” in English literary history; these include Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Piers Plowman, The Book of Margery Kempe and Le Morte D’Arthur as well as an Irish saga. We will also investigate a number of other texts that tell us a great deal about medieval culture as we investigate them as important literary texts. We will consider how these texts established certain “norms” of gender, race, and social class, even at the same time that they were challenging those “norms.”
470 -001 British Novel to Joyce MWF 2-2:50 CRN: 21000
670-001 CRN: 21002
Lynn Alexander
The focus of the class will be issues of identity, with special attention to the concept of the English gentleman. During the 200 years covered by this course, great changes were occurring in Britain, and we will be looking at how novelists took advantage of the new form, the novel, to examine new ideas about what it meant to be English, British, Irish, Scottish, and how the concept of the “gentleman” shifted from an issue of birth to one of deeds. We will be looking at changes and similarities in theme, as well as in structure, as the form evolves. We will read works such as Robinson Crusoe, Pride and Prejudice, John Halifax, Gentleman, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
490-001 Seventeenth Century English Literature MWF 10-10:50 CRN: 20988
690-001 CRN: 20990
Chris Hill
A course focusing on lyric and epic poetry of the Seventeenth Century in England (primarily during the reigns of James I and Charles I, and during the Commonwealth period). Poets under consideration will include Ben Jonson, John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell, and John Milton, with a significant amount of attention paid to Milton's long poems. The course will involve discussions of political, religious, and aesthetic concerns unique to the period, including the proper constitution of political and poetic authority; the claims of the classical past; and the impact of both skepticism and the Protestant Reformation. Students can expect to do a significant amount of formal and informal writing.
494-001 Internship in English By arrangement CRN21014
Jenna Wright
The Internship in English is an opportunity for students to gain experience in the use of both written and oral communications in the world of work. This internship is not monetarily compensated. Course performance is based on an agreement between the interning student and the Chair of the Department of English and Modern Foreign Languages and includes a portfolio of work. See the UT Martin Catalogue for further information.
496-001 Celtic Twilight: Modern Irish Literature MW 12-12:50 CRN: 21093
696-001 (Travel Study) CRN: 21097
Jeffrey Longacre
In his poem “Easter, 1916,” William Butler Yeats, reacting to a failed uprising for the cause of Irish independence, wrote that all had “changed, changed utterly: / A terrible beauty is born.” This course will explore the themes of rebellion, identity, and the birth of a nation in the art, literature, and culture of Ireland from roughly 1885 to 1940 primarily through an intensive study of four major Irish writers: Yeats, Lady Augusta Gregory, J. M. Synge, and James Joyce. These authors provide the opportunity for students to learn about Irish myths, history, and culture through a variety of literary genres (poetry, drama, essays, travel writing, stories, and novels) and to learn about a complex, turbulent, and absolutely engrossing period of Irish history. In particular, this course will explore the role of Irish literature as a vehicle for articulating distinctive Irish identities. The major focus will be on the literature of the Irish Literary Revival (Celtic Twilight) and the Anglo-Irish tradition during the years of emergent nationalism and the formation of the modern Irish state. NOTE: This class is for students signed up for the May 2013 travel-study trip to Ireland only!
498-001 Persuasive Writing TTh 2:30-3:45 CRN: 21101
698-001 CRN: 21103
Heidi Huse
This course is for English majors & minors in the writing track, but anyone who has completed English 112 with a C or better is welcome, along with anyone with any reason to write persuasively (history or political science majors/minors, agricultural journalism students, or students considering law school for example) can benefit from the course. This semester our reading will center on the rhetorical strategies on and effective argument about war and violence. Our central textbook on effective persuasive writing will be Annette Rottenberg’s The Structure of Argument, which includes a variety of argument do’s & don’t’s in addition to samples of argument texts from diverse authors. Students will also be introduced to the basics of rhetoric from the book, Words Like Loaded Pistols: Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama and to elements of persuasion in the book Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga. Students will produce a variety of persuasive texts throughout the semester, from letters to critical analysis of visual texts, blogs, and extended audience-centered, research-based argument essays on assigned topics as well as topics of interest to the students. Course may include a service-learning component.
499-001 Capstone (1 credit hour) T 9:30-10:45 CRN: 21007
Charles Bradshaw
As the final course required of all English majors, Capstone gives you the opportunity to create a portfolio of your best writing as the culmination of your English studies. Constructed as a process-oriented class, Capstone will help hone critical thinking, research, writing, and editing skills as you expand and revise writing from previous classes, and it will help you craft a graduate-length paper project under the direction of department faculty. Whether you are preparing for graduate school, a career in teaching or writing, or if you’re looking to hone some of the skills you’ve developed over your college career, this course will give you some concrete evidence to show others what you’ve accomplished.
97-001 New England: American Literature and the Arts TBD CRN: TBD
CharlesBradshaw
Please contact Dr. Bradshaw (Humanities 131D; cbradshaw@utm.edu) if you are interested in a Spring 2013 course with a required two-week trip to New England from May 4-18th. Along with Dr. Lionel Crews' students, we'll travel to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C., visiting literary, historical, scientific, and cultural sites and museums. We'll eat where Alan Ginsberg ate, contemplate Walden from Thoreau's cabin (or where it used to be), see what the Hudson River school painted, reason where Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, and Madison reasoned, and dream where Martin Luther King Jr., Edgar Alan Poe, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Stephen Crane, Herman Melville, Margaret Fuller, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and many others dreamt. To receive credit, the student must participate in the two-week travel portion of the course.
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