Literature of War
Couse Overview:
In the
20th century, war became a horror, evil, something soldier's barely came back
from, body and mind. This is not to say that war was not these things in the
19th century or in ancient Greece or Rome, but modern, 20th century reactions
to the horror of war are markedly different from earlier, even 19th century
takes on war. How (and why) did the ancient Greeks love war and battle despite
how brutal and savage it was, while in the 20th century writers, artists, and
soldiers came to see it as an evil, a necessary evil, but an evil nevertheless.
We will try to examine the shifting ideas about war by looking at selections
from ancient world (Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey) in order to
contrast them with literature written in response to more modern wars (The
Red Badge of Courage and the Civil War, Slaughterhouse-Five and
WWII, and The Things They Carried and the Vietnam War). While each of
these works represents an individual’s
particular view of war, by putting them next to each other, we can hope to gain
a greater appreciation for the frequent horror and sometimes glory of war. We
will also look at artistic responses and representations of war, as well as
some films devoted to the eternal theme.
Essential Questions:
1. What does War reveal about man?
2. How do writers depict and respond to War?
3. What role does literature play in relation to War?
4. Can War be translated into art?
Texts:
· Selections from Homer’s Illiad & Odyssey
· Selections from Virgil’s Aeneid
· The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane
· Selections of various WWI poets
· Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
· The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien
Major Projects & Portfolio Pieces:
· Artistic response to ancient epics
· Added chapter/character to Red Badge of Courage
· Comparison essay of WWI and Iraq war poetry
· In-class thesis based analytical Slaughterhouse-Five essay
· “What I Carry” personal-narrative
Risk-Taking:
Many of the texts we will be examining in class are difficult, often with complex themes that are not always clearly discernable. Advancing a hypothesis about a text, film, or piece of art and being ‘wrong’ is central to the learning process. I hope we can use the risk-taking of the writers and artists we are studying in class as an inspiration, and try to push ourselves in order to enhance our thinking skills and impact how we see the world around us.
Policies:
Academic Honesty: Plagiarism is a serious offense in this classroom as it involves theft and dishonesty. Intellectual integrity is central to learning, so I implore you to engage in original thought and cite sources when they are used (including Sparknotes and Schmoop). Work that is plagiarized, either from a fellow student or from an online source, will receive a zero with no chance to make it up, your parent or guardian will be contacted, and the office will be notified.
Revision: Revision is central to the writing process; no one that writes professionally turns something in they have not revised themselves and had others revise for them. We will follow this same professional behavior towards the written word in class, using class time to revise what we write in order to improve ourselves as writers. Additionally, work turned in will be revisable as my feedback on it is meant to improve your abilities as a writer.
Timeliness: If a student is not able to turn in a major assignment on time, he or she must make arrangements with the teacher within 24 hours of the due date. At the discretion of individual teachers, students may be provided extra time to receive partial credit on major assignments. Make-up assignments must be submitted within 7 calendar days (1 week) from the original due date. Assignments submitted before the 7 day window will receive a lower grade in the Work Habits strand (5 points lost for every day late) but fully assessed in all other strands. Assignments turned in after the 7 day window will be graded as a zero in all strands. Late homework must be turned in by the next class.
Honors: Honor in English is an opportunity to challenge yourself and enrich your experience of the literature we will read in class. The goal of honors is to challenge you in order to advance your independence, time management, and self-direction, and to strengthen your compositional and analytical skills. It is open to all students, but there is a good deal of independent, supplemental work involved. In order to qualify for honors credit, you must:
· Maintain a grade of 80 or higher in all strand areas.
· Read and respond to one piece of literary criticism for each text.
· Complete an honors version of each project.
· Evidence the characteristics of a classroom leader, socially and academically, including: being regularly prepared for class, speaking respectfully while advancing the tone and terroir of class discussions, assist other students when appropriate, and evidence the characteristics of good scholarship in English.
The honors assessments will supplement the cumulative assessment for each unit, and will provide an opportunity to enhance your understanding of the text. Upon completion of all the honors requirements, your semester grade will be raised by 0.5 points. Should you choose to pursue honors in English and later reconsider, the honors work you do complete will be graded for extra credit, but your semester grade will receive no additional points.
Grading Policy:
Composition (25%) Composition is synonymous with writing, and will take the form of analytical paragraphs, in class responses to the text, analytical essays, and creative writing pieces.
Analysis (35%) Analysis represents critical thinking about a text and can take the form of study questions and other assessments where you have to think about and analyze a text. It is also embedded in many of the composition assignments, so when you write an analytical paragraph, the analysis is the thoughts you have about the text, whereas the composition is how you express those thoughts. How fluidly you embed a textual quotation would fall under composition while what you have to say about that quotation and how it contributes to a theme in the text is analysis.
Oral Presentation (10%) Oral presentation may take the form of student presentations, participation in class discussions, participation in small group discussions, and other forms of vocalizing one's ideas in class, formally or informally.
Work Habits (30%) Work habits are the study skills necessary to gain mastery over the curriculum. It might take the form of reading quizzes, book annotation checks, revisions of essays, and self-reflections.
