Studies in Fiction, Poetry and Drama

Upon completion of any first-year English literature course, the successful student should be able to

1. read receptively and reflectively, with sensitivity to the subtleties of language;
2. recognize and understand literary devices;
3. practice writing as a process involving pre-writing, drafting, revising and editing;
4. write an essay of literary analysis that develops an interpretive thesis supported by appropriate and correctly cited evidence; and
5. give and receive constructive criticism on written work.

Upon completion of English 1109, the successful student should be able to recognize and understand,

1. in reading fiction,
• different strategies of narrative development in fiction;
• elements of fiction, such as plot, setting, character, and point-of-view;
• the features and concepts of genre in fiction; and
• the interpretive elements of themes in fiction.
2. in reading poetry,  
• common poetic forms, such as the ballad or sonnet;
• emotional tone, including irony;
• figurative language, such as metaphor and symbolism;
• diction, including the differences between denotative and connotative meaning;
• prosody, including sentence rhythms, metre and rhyme;
• sentence level details of grammar and syntax;
• the difference between poet and speaker; and
• literary allusions.
3. in reading drama,
• the nature of character;
• components of structure, including plot and sub-plot, exposition and conflict;
• dialogue, monologue and soliloquy;
• stagecraft;
• performance; and
• the influence of an audience on the play.