Reading Fiction, Poetry and Plays

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

1. read analytically and reflectively with attention 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 argumentative thesis supported by appropriate, correctly integrated and 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,
• the features of genre in fiction;
• different strategies of narrative development in fiction;
• elements such as plot, setting, character, and point-of-view; and
• the development of themes in fiction.
2. in reading poetry,  
• poetic forms (open/free verse versus closed or constraint-driven forms, such as the ballad or sonnet);
• the difference between poet and speaker;
• tone, including irony;
• figurative language, such as metaphor and symbolism;
• diction, including the differences between denotative and connotative meaning;
• syntax and other details of grammar and style, such as enjambment; and
• prosody and sound effects, such as alliteration, rhythm, and rhyme.
3. in reading plays,
• character;
• components of structure, including plot and sub-plot, exposition and conflict;
• dialogue, monologue and soliloquy; and
• performance and staging.