Literature and Composition II
2019-2020 Tentative Course Overview
This syllabus is subject to revision  
                                              
Literature:
"The Tell-Tale Heart," by Edgar Allan Poe
"The Gift of the Magi," by O. Henry
"The Magic Shop," by H.G.Wells
​Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
​The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
The Invisible Man, ​by H.G. Wells
The Odyssey, ​by Homer (Ian Johnston translation/abridgment)
Watership Down, by Richard Adams
Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank 

Other required texts (tentative): 
Practice Voyage, Michael Clay Thompson

Partial List of Skills Taught:
Building on skills taught in L&C 1, students will:

Literature:
  • recognize updated fables 
  • broaden grasp of extended metaphor and epic simile
  • develop familiarity with the Homeric epic
  • understand political allegory 
  • recognize social commentary in fiction 
  • broaden understanding of irony (verbal, circumstantial) ​
  • understand mood in literature
  • understand tone of literature
  • recognize recurring plot lines in literature
  • compare/contrast stories read
  • discuss inferences and ideas drawn from elements of story in a group setting
Composition:
  • review L&C1 skills in narration, descriptions, and expository writing
  • improve sentence style through prose exercises drawn from Erasmus, Aristotle, and other classical rhetoricians
  • learn three-level outlining
  • ​learn and practice the basics of formal academic essay construction
  • become familiar with the MLA method of direct quotation and documentation
  • understand the relationship between grammar and composition 
Grammar:
  • the eight parts of speech
  • verbs: action verbs, linking verbs and verb tense
  • subject and predicate
  • subject/verb agreement
  • pronoun/antecedent agreement
  • direct objects, indirect objects, and subject complements
  • adjectives: degree
  • misplaced modifiers
  • punctuation as a function of grammar
  • verbals (gerunds, infinitives, participles)
  • independent clauses
  • dependent clauses 
  • phrases (prepositional, verbal, appositive)
  • sentence purpose (declarative, exclamatory, imperative, interrogative)
  • sentence type (simple, complex, compound, compound-complex)

Focus of work:
In class:  
-A balance of lecture and discussion focusing on literary analysis and literary appreciation. 
-Focused lessons on grammar and composition.
-Guided practice in composition.
-Review of weekly grammar homework.

Homework:
-Read assigned literature and prepare for discussion.  
-Complete weekly composition assignments. 
-Complete weekly grammar practice. 
-Complete multiple developed papers throughout the year.