WORLD LITERATURE II (ENG 252)

Unit 2

Dr. Diane Thompson, NVCC, ELI

Do not start Unit 2 until you have taken Exam 1. If you post Unit 2 work before completing Exam 1, you will need to repost the work after I have received your Exam 1. 

Complete Unit 1 before beginning work on Unit 2. Two of the readings are required: Rousseau and Goethe; you may select readings from among the romantic poets group, based on the question you select for Activity 4.

SUMMARY OF TASKS FOR UNIT 2:

1  Read Rousseau and Romanticism Study Guide or watch the Romanticism Video (directions on course home page)
2  Read Rousseau's Confessions
3  Select, prepare and post Activity 3
4  Read Group of Romantic Poets, a Japanese story of enchantment, and some Urdu Lyrics
5  Select, prepare and post Activity 4
6  Read Faust Study Guide or watch the Faust Video (directions on course home page)
7  Read Faust
8  Select, prepare and post Activity 5

Interesting Optional WWW Sites for Unit 2

OBJECTIVES:

In this Unit you will study an excerpt from The Confessions by Rousseau, a group of romantic poems from France, Germany and England, a Japanese short story about enchanted love, a few lyric poems from India, and Faust by Goethe. You will consider the connections between political and cultural revolution and how the industrial revolution stimulated the longing for nature and the "simple" life as well as the desire for exotic experiences, deep emotions, and far away places. Above all, you will learn about the changing, expanding role of the individual during the romantic period.

TASK 1. Read the Rousseau and Romanticism Study Guide or watch the Romanticism Video (directions on course home page), which will give you background information on the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century mixture of political turmoil and focus on the individual.

TASK 2. Read Rousseau's Confessions (Volume E, 662-678).

TASK 3. Read through all the Rousseau and Romanticism Activities. Then, select one of these questions to answer for Activity 3, and post it to the Blackboard Activity 3: Rousseau Forum.  Worth up to 50 points.

TASK 4. Look at the Activities for Romantic Poetry. Decide which one you want to write about, and then read the corresponding authors. Select from this group (all are in Volume E): Coleridge (811-818); Shelley (819-825); Keats (825-834); Heine (844-846); Hugo (850-856); and Ghalib (1064-1068). Another excellent choice (for comparing with Keats' "Belle Dame") is Akinari's "Bewitched" (Volume D, 629-648).

TASK 5. Read through all the Activities for Romantic poetry. Select, write and post Activity 4 to the Blackboard Activity 4: Romantic Poetry Forum.

TASK 6. Read through the Faust Study Guide or watch the Faust Video (directions on course home page). This will give you background information on Goethe's life and times and history of the Faust play.

TASK 7. Read Goethe's Faust (Volume E, 678-780).

TASK 8. Read through the Faust Activities. Then select one of these questions to answer for Activity 5, and post it to the Blackboard Activity 5: Faust Forum. Worth up to 50 points.

If you have not submitted (and had accepted)  all of Units 1 and 2, including  Exam 1-- by your Withdrawal date, you will be automatically dropped from the course. Keep in mind that I only accept one piece of work at a time and I do not accept work that I consider "not college level" (see Course Guide).

Go on to Unit 3.

(c) Diane Thompson: 2/26/1999; updated: 03/02/2011