English 122 - Poems, Songs, and Stories

This is a course about three of the most basic and ancient genres of verbal expression. They exist in every culture and they are a part of almost every person’s life. By thinking about each of those genres, one at a time, over the course of the semester, we will ultimately arrive at a more complex, nuanced understanding of the ways in which they both express and shape who we are. The readings and listenings will be wide-ranging and will consist partly of professor-provided works and partly of student-nominated works. Musical knowledge is useful but not necessary.

Limited to 20 students. Fall semester. Professor Sanborn.

How to handle overenrollment: First-year students will have priority

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Learning how to read closely and with emotional intelligence; learning how to augment the experience of reading through informal reflective writing and class participation; learning that all ideas are associatively connected to other ideas and that there are powerful alternatives to state-illustrate-restate arguments. There will be pre-class writing assignments, three short papers, and an emphasis on the quality of the contributions to class discussion. There will be no quizzes or exams.