Mary E Blockley

E 336E l British Literature: Beginnings through the Renaissance

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #:  35480

Semester:  Spring 2020

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description: This course introduces students to some of the earliest literary works produced in England before and after the Norman Conquest, particularly those important for their exploration of medieval ideas about love, honor, and the natural world, as well as about Englishness among competing literary traditions in the time when England was a multilingual nation, producing poetry and fiction in Latin, English, and French, as well as Irish and Welsh.  We will focus largely on the English materials produced on the island, moving from early lyric and romances, through the genre-establishing works of Chaucer, the Pearl-poet, and Malory to the poets and dramatists of the Renaissance. We will read a variety of popular genres and learn a bit about the history of our language with its literature.

Required texts: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, The Major AuthorsVOLUME 1only, TenthEdition ISBN: 978-0-393-60308-8; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Sir OrfeoTolkien, J. R. R., trans.(1975, 1980); New Oxford Shakespeare As You Like It, ed. Brissenden 2^nded.

Requirements and Grading: three in-class exams (20%: 30%; 40%) and classroom prep and participation (10%)

Attendance: Mandatory.  Two absences will go unnoticed.  Any further absences will result in a 5-point deduction on final grade. Five or more absences results in course failure.

E 374G l Beowulf

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #:  35635

Semester:  Spring 2020

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description: In this course we will read the 3,182-line poem looking as often as possible to the original Old English in an Old English: Modern English prose translation published in 2010 which sets the poem in its manuscript context. We will consider several hundred years of linguistic and critical tradition along the way. Students will develop and revise individual projects towards a final substantive research paper.

            http://ebeowulf.uky.edu/images/Opening-sml.jpg?1302304326

Texts:   R. D. Fulk The Beowulf Manuscript :Complete Texts and the Fight at FinnsbergDumbarton Oaks Medieval Library (2010); Liuzza, R., M.  Beowulf: Second Edition(2012) Broadview Press; Dictionary of Old English Corpus (available through Texas Libraries); A Thesaurus of Old English file:///Users/mevab/Desktop/2019 banned folder/(https:/oldenglishthesaurus.arts.gla.ac.uk)

(https://oldenglishthesaurus.arts.gal.ac.uk).

Requirements & Grading: Three 2-4-page written exercises in translation and corpus usage: 10% each; Presentation and bibliography on individual project 10%; Final revised research paper, 30%; Daily participation, including reading quizzes and translation into Old English:30%; Regular attendance is essential for participation and more than two unexcused absences will incur a gradepenalty.

E 314L  l 3-Banned Books and Novel Ideas

Instructor: Sharp, Z

Unique #:  34380

Semester:  Fall 2019

Cross-lists:  n/a

Prerequisites: One of the following: E 303C (or 603A), RHE 306, 306Q, or T C 303C (or 603A).

Description: Great works of literature often investigate (and sometimes create) ethical issues; one response to these troubling works of literature is to ban them, in effect sweeping those issues under the rug.  Whether it is Satan’s prominence as the “hero” of Paradise Lostor a fictional Hitler getting the last word in The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H., these books raise ethical questions that they largely refuse to answer.  In so doing, they ask us to look at literature in a novel way, as a type of art that asks us the questions we don’t want to be asked, and furthermore refuses to provide us with the answers that we don’t want the burden of providing.

The primary aim of this course is to help students develop and improve the critical reading, writing, and thinking skills needed for success in upper-division courses in English and other disciplines.  They will also gain practice in using the Oxford English Dictionary and other online research tools and print resources that support studies in the humanities.  Students will learn basic information literacy skills and models for approaching literature with various historical, generic, and cultural contexts in mind.

This course contains a writing flag.  The writing assignments in this course are arranged procedurally with a focus on invention, development through instructor and peer feedback, and revision; they will comprise a major part of the final grade.

Tentative Texts: Milton, Paradise Lost; Orwell, 1984; Steiner, The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H.

Requirements & Grading: There will be a series of 3 short essays, the first of which must be revised and resubmitted. Subsequent essays may also be revised and resubmitted by arrangement with the Instructor (80% of the final grade).  Other graded material may include: annotated bibliography entries, short reaction papers, daily discussion questions, and quizzes (20% of the final grade).

E 364M  l  History of the English Language

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #:  35160

Semester:  Fall 2019

Cross-lists:  LIN 364M

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description: In this course, we will survey the long history of what certainly is the most widely spoken language in the twenty-first century.  Beginning with its prehistory on the Continent over two thousand years ago, we will trace the fortunes of English from Anglo-Saxon times to its present manifestations across national boundaries.  We will learn the distinctions of sounds, inflectional endings, and sentence patterns that mark each major stage of the language.  Though the course will focus on the different forms of the language as they survive in various texts, we will pay some attention to the interaction between the internal history of English and the social and political contexts that define its external history. The goal is a better understanding of change in English and the signs of this change that can be seen everywhere from spelling to legal procedure.  No previous study of linguistics is required; a willingness to learn phonetic transcription early in the semester, however, is crucial.

Texts: David Crystal, The Stories of English(2004); John McWhorter, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English(2008), Harcourt,One Hundred Words Almost Everyone Mispronounces(2008).

Requirements & Grading: Three in-class blue-book exams and a final exam 75%; weekly reading quizzes and occasional homework exercises 15%; class participation and attendance 10%.

There will be no make-up quizzes.  Weekly reading assignments of 50-75 pages a week.

E 314L  Banned Books and Novels

Instructor: Kaitlyn Farrell

Unique #: 34920

MWF 12 – 1 PM (MEZ 1.212)  

Semester:  Spring 2018

Cross-lists:  n/a

Restrictions:  n/a

Computer Instruction:  No

Flags: Writing

Prerequisites: One of the following: E 303C (or 603A), RHE 306, 306Q, or T C 303C (or 603A).

Description:

How do you decide what to read and not to read? Do you believe there texts which “deserve” to be banned? In this course, we will examine texts, their contexts, and, in many cases, their current uncertain futures to understand the situations in which individuals, governments, and institutions have deemed a text to be somehow indecent, immoral, or dangerous. Students will be asked to analyze texts that range in genre (drama, film, prose), age, and content to determine how readers and societies engage with a variety of social issues, problematic portrayals, and fear. Tracking moments of legal and social censorship over the past four hundred years, we will attempt to determine how and why texts are banned, why certain texts may cycle in and out of favor, how adaptations of banned literary texts complicate existing censorship, and what it is about human nature that makes banned books so impossibly alluring.

The primary aim of this course is to help students develop and improve the critical reading, writing, and thinking skills needed for success in upper-division courses in English and other disciplines. They will also gain practice in using the Oxford English Dictionary and other online research tools and print resources that support studies in the humanities. Students will learn basic information literacy skills and models for approaching literature with various historical, generic, and cultural contexts in mind.   

This course contains a writing flag. The writing assignments in this course are arranged procedurally with a focus on invention, development through instructor and peer feedback, and revision; they will comprise a major part of the final grade. 

Tentative Texts: Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita(1955; including excerpts from the 1962 and 1998 films);Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice (1605; including excerpts from the 2004 film); Thomas, Angie. The Hate U Give (2017; including clips from the 2018 film); Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire (1947; including clips from 1951 film).

Requirements & Grading:There will be a series of 3 short essays, the first of which must be revised and resubmitted.  Subsequent essays may also be revised and resubmitted by arrangement with the Instructor (70%-80%of the final grade).  There may also be short quizzes, reaction papers, and/or in-class presentations(20%-30%of the final grade)

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #: 35640

Semester:  Spring 2019

Cross-lists:  LIN 364M

Restrictions:  n/a

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description: In this course, we will survey the long history of what certainly is the most widely spoken language in the twenty-first century.  Beginning with its prehistory on the Continent over two thousand years ago, we will trace the fortunes of English from Anglo-Saxon times to its present manifestations across national boundaries.  We will learn the distinctions of sounds, inflectional endings, and sentence patterns that mark each major stage of the language.  Though the course will focus on the different forms of the language as they survive in various texts, we will pay some attention to the interaction between the internal history of English and the social and political contexts that define its external history. The goal is a better understanding of change in English and the signs of this change that can be seen everywhere from spelling to legal procedure.  No previous study of linguistics is required; a willingness to learn phonetic transcription early in the semester, however, is crucial.

Texts: David Crystal, The Stories of English(2004); John McWhorter, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English(2008), Harcourt,One Hundred Words Almost Everyone Mispronounces(2008).

Requirements & Grading: Three in-class blue-book exams and a final exam 75%; weekly reading quizzes and occasional homework exercises 15%; class participation and attendance 10%.

There will be no make-up quizzes.  Weekly reading assignments of 50-75 pages a week.

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #:  35695

Semester:  Fall 2018

Cross-lists:  n/a

Restrictions:  n/a

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites:  Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description:  This course introduces students to some of the earliest literary works produced in England following the Norman Conquest, particularly those important for their exploration of medieval ideas about love, honor, and the natural world, as well as about Englishness among competing literary traditions in the time when England was a trilingual nation, producing poetry and fiction in Latin, English, and French.  We will focus largely on the English materials produced on the island, moving from early lyric and romances, with some attention (in translation) to the earlier Irish epic, The Tain as one of the influences on ideas about vernacular literature, through the genre-establishing works of Chaucer, the Pearl-poet, and Malory to the great poets and dramatists of the Renaissance.  We will read a variety of popular genres and learn a bit about the history of our language with its literature.

Required texts:  Norton Anthology of English Literature: Part A Medieval.

Texts and authors include:  The Tain, Marie de France, Sir Orfeo, Pearl, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Middle English lyrics, Chaucer, Le Morte d’Arthur, the Second Shepherd’s Play, Skelton, Wyatt, Surrey, Shakespeare (As You Like It) Marlowe, Ralegh, Herrick, Jonson, Marvell, Donne.

Requirements and Grading:  three in-class exams (20%: 30%; 40%) and classroom prep and participation (10%)

Attendance:  Mandatory.  Two absences will go unnoticed.  Any further absences will result in a 5-point deduction on final grade.  Five or more absences results in course failure.

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #:  35810

Semester:  Fall 2018

Cross-lists:  n/a

Restrictions:  n/a

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites:  Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description:  The earliest vernacular compositions in English, dating from the seventh century to some decades beyond the Norman Conquest in the eleventh, are our sources for Old English, a.k.a. Anglo-Saxon.  In this course, we will learn how to read them with healthy skepticism and an on-line concordance.  We will begin with the prose and read extracts from travelogues, chronicles, translations from Latin, and saints' lives.  We will do some transcription from facsimiles of manuscripts to discover what editors put in and leave out in producing texts.  We will spend most of the course reading the most-studied verse compositions, including The Wanderer and possibly The Seafarer, heroic poems like The Battle of Brunanburh, The Battle of Maldon, and The Dream of the Rood, possibly some riddles and Biblical epic.  Daily translation, homework exercises, grammar quizzes as necessary, a midterm exam covering the grammar of prepared translations, and a final exam.

Texts:  J. C. Pope and R. D. Fulk, Eight Old English Poems (Norton, 2001); P. S. Baker, Introduction to Old English, 3^rd ed. (Wiley Blackwell, 2012) and online; J. Clark-Hall Concise Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon (Toronto 1984); Dictionary of Old English online corpus.

Requirements & Grading:  Daily translation, quizzes, exercises, 55%; Midterm, 25%; Final exam, 20%.

No makeup quizzes, no more than two unexcused absences without penalty.

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #:  35085

Semester:  Spring 2018

Cross-lists:  LIN 364M

Restrictions:  n/a

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites:  Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description:  In this course, we will survey the long history of what certainly is the most widely spoken language in the twenty-first century.  Beginning with its prehistory on the Continent over two thousand years ago, we will trace the fortunes of English from Anglo-Saxon times to its present manifestations across national boundaries.  We will learn the distinctions of sounds, inflectional endings, and sentence patterns that mark each major stage of the language.  Though the course will focus on the different forms of the language as they survive in various texts, we will pay some attention to the interaction between the internal history of English and the social and political contexts that define its external history.  The goal is a better understanding of change in English and the signs of this change that can be seen everywhere from spelling to legal procedure.  No previous study of linguistics is required; a willingness to learn phonetic transcription early in the semester, however, is crucial.

Texts:  David Crystal, The Stories of English (2004); John McWhorter, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English (2008), Harcourt, One Hundred Words Almost Everyone Mispronounces (2008).

Requirements & Grading:  Three in-class blue-book exams and a final exam 75%; weekly reading quizzes and occasional homework exercises 15%; class participation and attendance 10%.

There will be no make-up quizzes.  Weekly reading assignments of 50-75 pages a week.

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #:  35090

Semester:  Spring 2018

Cross-lists:  n/a

Restrictions:  n/a

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites:  Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description:  The earliest vernacular compositions in English, dating from the seventh century to some decades beyond the Norman Conquest in the eleventh, are our sources for Old English, a.k.a. Anglo-Saxon.  In this course, we will learn how to read them with healthy skepticism and an on-line concordance.  We will begin with the prose and read extracts from travelogues, chronicles, translations from Latin, and saints' lives.  We will do some transcription from facsimiles of manuscripts to discover what editors put in and leave out in producing texts.  We will spend most of the course reading the most-studied verse compositions, including The Wanderer and possibly The Seafarer, heroic poems like The Battle of Brunanburh, The Battle of Maldon, and The Dream of the Rood, possibly some riddles and Biblical epic.  Daily translation, homework exercises, grammar quizzes as necessary, a midterm exam covering the grammar of prepared translations, and a final exam.

Texts:  

 J. C. Pope and R. D. Fulk, Eight Old English Poems (Norton, 2001)

 P. S. Baker, Introduction to Old English, 3^rd ed. (Wiley Blackwell, 2012) and online

 J. Clark-Hall Concise Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon (Toronto 1984)

 Dictionary of Old English online corpus.

Requirements & Grading:  Daily translation, quizzes, exercises, 55%; Midterm, 25%; Final exam, 20%.

No makeup quizzes, no more than two unexcused absences without penalty.

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #:  35495

Semester:  Fall 2017

Cross-lists:  LIN 323L

Flags:  Global Cultures

Restrictions:  n/a

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites:  Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description:  English has no equal for being the most widely used language, though this has not always been the case and will not always be so.  We will look at the steps that brought it to this position: at earlier English in competition with other languages, at what might be the core features of English and what alters or preserves them, and particularly at the role of English’s role as an intermediary of translation and as one lingua franca among others.  The focus of this course is on the description of the past and current varieties of the language, particularly grammar (and within grammar, sentence structure, inflection, and spelling), and, despite Greene’s subtitle, not on the politics of ESL or EFL use and planning.

Topics will include a review of the history of English as a second or official language; the distinctive features of English over time and space; defining characteristics of spoken and written varieties, their registers, and vocabulary; brief case studies of English from among the following environments:  The United Kingdom (including Irish English), Australia and New Zealand, West Africa (e.g. Ghana), India, English-based creoles such as Tok Pisin and Sranan, and English in China.

Texts:  

David Bellos, Is That A Fish in Your Ear? (Faber and Faber, 2011, ppb 2012)

Robert Lane Greene, You Are What You Speak (Random House, 2011)

Jennifer Jenkins, Global Englishes (2014)

J Nicholas Ostler, The Last Lingua Franca: English Until the Return of Babel (Walker and Company, 2010)

Optional:  

David Crystal The Stories of English (2004)

Nicholas Ostler, Empires of the Word: An Language History of the World (2006)

James Pennebaker, The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us (2011)

Requirements & Grading:  Grades will be awarded on a scale of 100 and converted into plus and minus letter grades at the end of the semester in accord with departmental policy:  94-100 (A), 90-93 (A-), 87-89 (B+), 84-86 (B), 80-83 (B-), 77-79 (C+), 74-76 (C), 70-73 (C-), 67-69 (D+) and so on.

Quizzes (20%):  Weekly quizzes will be given as necessary to assess your grasp of essential points and data in the assigned readings (about 120 pages a week of nonfiction) and your powers of concise, accurate expression.

One class presentation on a short selection from the readings (10%).

Three in-class closed-book exams plus a final exam (70%).

E 323L  l  English as a World Language

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #:  35305

Semester:  Fall 2016

Cross-lists:  LIN 323L

Restrictions:  n/a

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites:  Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description:  English has no equal for being the most widely used language, though this has not always been the case and will not always be so.  We will look at the steps that brought it to this position: at earlier English in competition with other languages, at what might be the core features of English and what alters or preserves them, and particularly at the role of English’s role as an intermediary of translation and as one lingua franca among others.  The focus of this course is on the description of the past and current varieties of the language, particularly grammar (and within grammar, sentence structure, inflection, and spelling), and, despite Greene’s subtitle, not on the politics of ESL or EFL use and planning.

Topics will include a review of the history of English as a second or official language; the distinctive features of English over time and space; defining characteristics of spoken and written varieties, their registers, and vocabulary; brief case studies of English from among the following environments:  The United Kingdom (including Irish English), Australia and New Zealand, West Africa (e.g. Ghana), India, English-based creoles such as Tok Pisin and Sranan, and English in China.

Texts:  David Bellos, Is That A Fish in Your Ear? (Faber and Faber, 2011, ppb 2012) • Robert Lane Greene, You Are What You Speak (Random House, 2011) • Jennifer Jenkins, Global Englishes (2014) • J Nicholas Ostler, The Last Lingua Franca: English Until the Return of Babel (Walker and Company, 2010)

Optional:  David Crystal The Stories of English (2004) • Nicholas Ostler, Empires of the Word: An Language History of the World (2006) • James Pennebaker, The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us (2011)

Requirements & Grading:  Grades will be awarded on a scale of 100 and converted into plus and minus letter grades at the end of the semester in accord with departmental policy:  94-100 (A), 90-93 (A-), 87-89 (B+), 84-86 (B), 80-83 (B-), 77-79 (C+), 74-76 (C), 70-73 (C-), 67-69 (D+) and so on.

Quizzes (20%):  Weekly quizzes will be given as necessary to assess your grasp of essential points and data in the assigned readings (about 120 pages a week of nonfiction) and your powers of concise, accurate expression.  One class presentation on a short selection from the readings (10%).  Three in-class closed-book exams plus a final exam (70%).

E 364P  l  Old English

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #:  35480

Semester:  Fall 2016

Cross-lists:  E 395N, MDV 392M

Restrictions:  n/a

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites:  Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description:  The earliest vernacular compositions in English, dating from the seventh century to some decades beyond the Norman Conquest in the eleventh, are our sources for Old English, a.k.a. Anglo-Saxon.  In this course we will learn how to read them with healthy skepticism and an on-line concordance.  We will begin with the prose and read extracts from travelogues, chronicles, translations from Latin, and saints' lives.  We will do some transcription from facsimiles of manuscripts to discover what editors put in and leave out in producing texts.  We will spend most of the course reading the most-studied verse compositions, including The Wanderer and possibly The Seafarer, heroic poems like The Battle of Brunanburh, The Battle of Maldon, and The Dream of the Rood, possibly some riddles and Biblical epic.  Daily translation, homework exercises, grammar quizzes as necessary, a midterm exam covering the grammar of prepared translations, and a final exam.

Texts:

 J. C. Pope and R. D. Fulk, Eight Old English Poems (Norton, 2001)

 P. S. Baker, Introduction to Old English, 3rd ed. (Wiley Blackwell, 2012) and online

 J. Clark-Hall Concise Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon (Toronto 1984)

 Dictionary of Old English online corpus.

Requirements & Grading:  Daily translation, quizzes, exercises, 55%; Midterm, 25%; Final exam, 20%.

No makeup quizzes, no more than two unexcused absences without penalty.

E 323L  l  English as a World Language

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #:  34520

Semester:  Spring 2016

Cross-lists:  LIN 323L

Restrictions:  n/a

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description: English has no equal for being the most widely used language, though this has not always been the case and will not always be so. We will look at the steps that brought it to this position: at earlier English in competition with other languages, at what might be the core features of English and what alters or preserves them, and particularly at the role of English’s role as an intermediary of translation and as one lingua franca among others. The focus of this course is on the description of the past and current varieties of the language, particularly grammar (and within grammar, sentence structure, inflection, and spelling), and, despite Greene’s subtitle, not on the politics of ESL or EFL use and planning.

Topics will include a review of the history of English as a second or official language; the distinctive features of English over time and space; defining characteristics of spoken and written varieties, their registers, and vocabulary; brief case studies of English from among the following environments: The United Kingdom (including Irish English), Australia and New Zealand, West Africa (e.g. Ghana), India, English-based creoles such as Tok Pisin and Sranan, and English in China.

Texts: David Bellos, Is That A Fish in Your Ear? (Faber and Faber, 2011, ppb 2012) • Robert Lane Greene, You Are What You Speak (Random House, 2011) • Jennifer Jenkins, Global Englishes (2014)  • J Nicholas Ostler, The Last Lingua Franca: English Until the Return of Babel (Walker and Company, 2010)

Optional: • David Crystal The Stories of English (2004) • Nicholas Ostler, Empires of the Word: An Language History of the World (2006) • James Pennebaker, The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us (2011)

Requirements & Grading: Grades will be awarded on a scale of 100 and converted into plus and minus letter grades at the end of the semester in accord with departmental policy: 94-100 (A), 90-93 (A-), 87-89 (B+), 84-86 (B), 80-83 (B-), 77-79 (C+), 74-76 (C), 70-73 (C-), 67-69  (D+) and so on.

Quizzes (20%) Weekly quizzes will be given as necessary to assess your grasp of essential points and data in the assigned readings (about 120 pages a week of nonfiction) and your powers of concise, accurate expression. One class presentation on a short selection from the readings (10%).Three in-class closed-book exams plus a final exam (70%).

E 364M  l  History of the English Language

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #:  34710

Semester:  Spring 2016

Cross-lists:  LIN 364M

Restrictions:  n/a

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description: In this course we will survey the long history of what certainly is the most widely spoken language in the twenty-first century. Beginning with its prehistory on the Continent over two thousand years ago, we will trace the fortunes of English from Anglo-Saxon times to its present manifestations across national boundaries. We will learn the distinctions of sounds, inflectional endings, and sentence patterns that mark each major stage of the language. Though the course will focus on the different forms of the language as they survive in various texts, we will pay some attention to the interaction between the internal history of English and the social and political contexts that define its external history. The goal is a better understanding of change in English and the signs of this change that can be seen everywhere from spelling to legal procedure. No previous study of linguistics is required; a willingness to learn phonetic transcription early in the semester, however, is crucial.

Texts: David Crystal, The Stories of English (2004); John McWhorter, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English (2008), Harcourt, One Hundred Words Almost Everyone Mispronounces (2008).

Requirements & Grading: Three in-class blue-book exams and a final exam 75%; weekly reading quizzes and occasional homework exercises 15%; class participation and attendance 10%.

There will be no make-up quizzes. Weekly reading assignments of 50-75 pages a week

E 364P  l  Old English

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #:  34595

Semester:  Fall 2015

Cross-lists:  E 395N, MDV 392M

Flags:  n/a

Restrictions:  n/a

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description: The earliest vernacular compositions in English, dating from the seventh century to some decades beyond the Norman Conquest in the eleventh, are our sources for Old English, a.k.a. Anglo-Saxon. In this course we will learn how to read them with healthy skepticism and an on-line concordance. We will begin with the prose and read extracts from travelogues, chronicles, translations from Latin, and saints' lives. We will do some transcription from facsimiles of manuscripts to discover what editors put in and leave out in producing texts. We will spend most of the course reading the most-studied verse compositions, including The Wanderer and possibly The Seafarer, heroic poems like The Battle of Brunanburh, The Battle of Maldon, and The Dream of the Rood, possibly some riddles and Biblical epic. Daily translation, homework exercises, grammar quizzes as necessary, a midterm exam covering the grammar of prepared translations, and a final exam.

Texts: J. C. Pope and R. D. Fulk, Eight Old English Poems (Norton, 2001); P. S. Baker, Introduction to Old English, 3rd ed. (Wiley Blackwell, 2012) and online; J. Clark-Hall Concise Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon (Toronto 1984); Dictionary of Old English online corpus.

Requirements & Grading: Daily translation, quizzes, exercises, 55%; Midterm, 25%; Final exam, 20%.

No makeup quizzes, no more than two unexcused absences without penalty.

E 364M  l  History of the English Language

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #:  34860

Semester:  Spring 2015

Cross-lists:  LIN 364M

Restrictions:  n/a

Computer Instruction:  No

Flags:  Writing

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description: In this course we will survey the history of what certainly is the most widely spoken language in the twenty-first century. Beginning with its prehistory on the Continent over two thousand years ago, we will trace the fortunes of English from Anglo-Saxon times to its present manifestations across national boundaries. We will learn the distinctions of sounds, inflectional endings, and sentence patterns that mark each major stage of the language. Though the course will focus on the different forms of the language as they survive in various texts, we will pay some attention to the interaction between the internal history of English and the social and political contexts that define its external history. The goal is a better understanding of change in English and the signs of this change that can be seen everywhere from spelling to legal procedure. No previous study of linguistics is required; a willingness to learn phonetic transcription early in the semester, however, is crucial.

Texts: David Crystal, The Stories of English (2004); Harcourt, One Hundred Words Almost Everyone Mispronounces (2008).

Requirements & Grading: Two in-class blue-book exams, 35%; Quizzes, frequent homework exercises, 40%; Comprehensive final exam, 25%.

There will be no make-up quizzes.

In this course we will  read the 3,182 line poem in the original Old English and its several hundred years of linguistic and critical tradition, moving necessarily at the pace of 220-250 lines of translation a week.  Previous semester-length study of Old English or Old Norse required.

Texts:

Fulk, Bjork and Niles, Klaeber’s Beowulf  4th edition (Toronto, 2008)

DOE online corpus (and DOE for A-F, when available)

Grading and Requirements:

Daily translation, quizzes, exercises     50%

Midterm      25%

Final exam or project     25%

No makeup quizzes.  More than two unexcused absences incurs a penalty.

http://ebeowulf.uky.edu/images/Opening-sml.jpg?1302304326?

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #:  35705

Semester:  Fall 2014

Cross-lists:  LIN 323L

Flags:  Global Cultures; Writing

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description: English has no equal for being the most widely used language, though this has not always been the case and will not always be so.  We will look at the steps that brought it to this position: at earlier English in competition with other languages, at what might be the core features of English and what alters or preserves them, and particularly at the role of English’s role as an intermediary of translation and as one lingua franca among others.   The focus of this course is on the description of the past and current varieties of the language, particularly grammar (and within grammar, sentence structure, inflection, and spelling), and, despite Greene’s subtitle, not on the politics of ESL or EFL use and planning.

Topics will include a review of the history of English as a second or official language; the distinctive features of English over time and space; defining characteristics of spoken and written varieties, their registers, and vocabulary; case studies of English from among the following environments:  England (sometimes called English English), Australia, West Africa (e.g. Ghana), India, English-based creoles such as Tok Pisin and Sranan,  Chicana/o English, Estuary English,  Irish English, and Newfoundland English.

Texts: David Bellos,  Is That A Fish in Your Ear? ( Faber and Faber, 2011, ppb 2012) • Leslie Dunton-Downer,  The English Is Coming! (Simon and Schuster, 2010) • Robert Lane Greene, You Are What You Speak (Random House, 2011) • Nicholas Ostler  The Last Lingua Franca: English Until the Return of Babel (Walker and Company, 2010) • Peter Trudgill and Jean Hannah, International English, 5rd ed (Hodder, 2008).

Optional: • David Crystal The Stories of English (2004) • Nicholas Ostler  Empires of the Word: An Language History of the World (2006) • James Pennebaker, The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us (2011) • Scott L Montgomery Does Science need a Global Language? (2013) • Jennifer Jenkins, World Englishes, 2nd ed.  (2009).

Requirements & Grading: Grades will be awarded on a scale of 100 and converted into plus and minus letter grades at the end of the semester in accord with departmental policy: 94-100 (A), 90-93 (A-), 87-89 (B+), 84-86 (B), 80-83 (B-), 77-79 (C+), 74-76 (C), 70-73 (C-), 67-69  (D+) and so on.

Quizzes (20%) Quizzes will be given as necessary to check progress on reading to test your grasp of essential points and data in the readings, and your powers of concise, accurate expression. Three in-class closed-book exams plus a final exam (70%).

Instructor:  Blockley, M

Unique #:  35905

Semester:  Fall 2014

Cross-lists:  E 395N, MDV 392M

Flags:  n/a

Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description: The earliest vernacular compositions in English, dating from the seventh century to some decades beyond the Norman Conquest in the eleventh, are our sources for Old English, a.k.a. Anglo-Saxon. In this course we will learn how to read them with healthy skepticism and an on-line concordance. We will begin with the prose and read extracts from travelogues, chronicles, translations from Latin, and saints' lives. We will do some transcription from facsimiles of manuscripts to discover what editors put in and leave out in producing texts. We will spend most of the course reading the most-studied verse compositions, including The Wanderer and possibly The Seafarer, heroic poems like The Battle of Brunanburh, The Battle of Maldon, and The Dream of the Rood, possibly some riddles and Biblical epic. Daily translation, homework exercises, grammar quizzes as necessary, a midterm exam covering the grammar of prepared translations, and a final exam.

Texts: J. C. Pope and R. D. Fulk, Eight Old English Poems (Norton, 2001); P. S. Baker, Introduction to Old English, 3rd ed. (Wiley Blackwell, 2012) and online; J. Clark-Hall Concise Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon (Toronto 1984); Dictionary of Old English online corpus.

Requirements & Grading: Daily translation, quizzes, exercises, 55%; Midterm, 25%; Final exam, 20%.

No makeup quizzes, no more than two unexcused absences without penalty.

Instructor:  Blockley, M            Areas:  IV / G

Unique #:  35690            Flags:  n/a

Semester:  Fall 2013            Restrictions:  n/a

Cross-lists:  n/a            Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description: English is presently spoken by 5.4% of the world’s population. It has no equal at present for being the most widely used language, though this has not always been the case and may not always be so. We will look at the steps that brought English to this position over the last three centuries, at earlier English in competition with other languages, at what might be the core features of English and what alters or preserves them, sometimes through the English-language media outside this country. The focus in this course is on the description of the past and current varieties of the language, not on the politics of ESL use and planning.

Topics will include a brief review of the history of English as a first language since 1066; the history of English as a second or official language (including a look at English loanwords in other languages); the distinctive features of English over time and space: sounds, inflections, and grammar; the spoken and the written varieties, with some attention to register and vocabulary; and brief case studies from among the following environments: Australia, India, Tok Pisin and Sranan, West Africa, Canada, Chicano English, and Estuary English.

Texts: David Bellos, Is that A Fish In Your Ear? (2012) Leslie Dunton-Downer The English Is Coming! (2012), Robert Lane Green You Are What You Speak (2011) Nicholas Ostler The Last Lingua Franca: English Until the Return of Babel (2010) Peter Trudgill and Jean Hannah, International English, 5th ed. 2008 (Edward Arnold);

Requirements & Grading: Quizzes (15%) Quizzes will be given as necessary to check progress on reading.

Selective bibliography and sentence outline (subheadings) for an encyclopedia-style report on a variety of World English (3 pages) (10%)

Four in-class exams (60%)

Comprehensive final exam or, with arrangement by the 5th week of class, a formal paper (15%)

Description:

The earliest vernacular compositions in English, dating from the seventh century to some decades beyond the Norman Conquest in the eleventh, are our sources for Old English, aka Anglo-Saxon.  In this course we will learn how to read them with healthy skepticism, an on-line concordance, and standard student grammars.  We will begin with the prose and read extracts from proverb collections, vernacular chronicles, and saints’ lives.  We will do some transcription from facsimiles of manuscripts to discover what editors put in and leave out in producing texts.  We will spend most of the course reading the most-studied verse compositions, including The Wanderer, heroic poems like The Battle of Brunanburh and The Battle of Maldon,  enigmatic first-person poems like The Dream of the Rood, The Wife’s Lament, and possibly some riddles.  There will be daily translation, homework exercises, grammar quizzes as necessary, a midterm exam covering the grammar of prepared translations, and a final exam or, with previous negotiation by October 25th, a brief but formal presentation culminating in a written project.

Texts:

J. C. Pope and R. D. Fulk, Eight Old English Poems (Norton, 2001)

P. S. Baker, Introduction to Old English, 3nd ed (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012) and online

Clark-Hall Concise Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon (for the mystery text, and for finding out more than the contextual glosses for the prose passages in Baker)

(optional) Fulk and Cain,  History of Old English Literature (2002), this and the Treharne and Pulsiano collection of 2001 offer introductions to cultural and interpretative material

DOE online corpus (and DOE for A-F, when available)

Grading and Requirements:

Daily translation, quizzes, exercises                 55%

Midterm                                                    25%

Final exam or project                                   20%

No makeup quizzes.  More than two unexcused absences incurs a penalty.

Instructor:  Blockley, M            Areas:  IV / D

Unique #:  35610            Flags:  n/a

Semester:  Spring 2013            Restrictions:  n/a

Cross-lists:  E 395N, LIN 350            Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description: The earliest vernacular compositions in English, dating from the seventh century to some decades beyond the Norman Conquest in the eleventh, are our sources for Old English, a.k.a. Anglo-Saxon. In this course we will learn how to read them with healthy skepticism and an on-line concordance. We will begin with the prose and read extracts from travelogues, chronicles, translations from Latin, and saints' lives. We will do some transcription from facsimiles of manuscripts to discover what editors put in and leave out in producing texts. We will spend most of the course reading the most-studied verse compositions, including The Wanderer and possibly The Seafarer, heroic poems like The Battle of Brunanburh, The Battle of Maldon, and The Dream of the Rood, possibly some riddles and Biblical epic. Daily translation, homework exercises, grammar quizzes as necessary, a midterm exam covering the grammar of prepared translations, and a final exam.

Texts: J. C. Pope and R. D. Fulk, Eight Old English Poems (Norton, 2001); P. S. Baker, Introduction to Old English, 3rd ed. (Wiley Blackwell, 2012) and online; J. Clark-Hall Concise Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon (Toronto 1984); Dictionary of Old English online corpus.

Requirements & Grading: Daily translation, quizzes, exercises, 55%; Midterm, 25%; Final exam, 20%.

No makeup quizzes, no more than two unexcused absences without penalty.

In the first semester we will read a number of texts from the European epic tradition in historical order, with a view towards understanding how these works have retained their interest and authority over the centuries, and how they provide models of literary form that persist from antiquity through the long medieval era.  Some of the texts are central to the Great Books curriculum of the twentieth century; others’ significance is no longer so obvious. We will look into both the workings of large narrative forms that lie behind the modern notion of a book chapter and the development of a forensic tool kit of rhetorical, literary, and even grammatical structures.

Texts/Readings:

Fall

Iliad, Homer (trans. Lombardo)

Aeneid, Vergil (Lombardo)

Civil War, Lucan (trans. Matthew Fox)

Njalssaga, Anon. (trans. Cook)

The Táin (Táin Bó Cúailnge), Anon. (trans. Carson)

Hacker, Pocket Style Manual, 5th ed. 2009 MLA Update Version (Bedford St. Martins)

Murfin and Roy, Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, 3rd ed. (Bedford St. Martins)

Occasional supplementary texts

Spring

Don Quixote, Cervantes (trans. Rutherford)

Tristram Shandy, Sterne

Faust, Part I, Goethe (trans. Kaufmann)

The Master and Margarita, Bulgakov (trans. Pevar and Volokhonsky)

Doctor Faustus, Mann (trans. Wood)

Generations of Winter, Aksyonov (trans. Glad and Morris)

Assignments:

Beginning in the second week, everyone will regularly bring to class meetings a written focused response (about 300 words) to the reading selection that can catalyze discussion and provide the seed for cogent essays. Plagiarism = Failure.  Since there is no midterm or final exam, presence and participation in class are crucial; anyone missing four classes, for any reason,  will fail the course.  You will also write four short formal essays (800-1000 words) over the course of the semester that will develop your ability to present an original and persuasive contextual close reading of passages from these texts and a slightly longer formal analytical one towards the end of the semester.

Reading responses, attendance and class participation (including peer reviews, oral reports): 40%

Short Essays 10% each (4 total)

Analytical Essay 20%

About the Professor:

Mary Blockley received her Ph.D. from Yale in 1984.  Her research interests include medieval philology and historical linguistics.

Renaissance English

Instructor: Mary Blockley

Cross-listed with LIN 323L

Description: English is presently spoken by 5.4% of the world’s population.  It has no equal at present for being the most widely used language, though this has not always been the case and may not always be so.  We will look at the steps that brought English to this position over the last three centuries, at the role earlier English has played in competition with other languages, and at what might be the core features of English and what alters or preserves them, sometimes through the English-language media outside this country.  The focus in this course is on the description of the past and current varieties of the language, not on the politics of ESL use and planning.

Topics will include a brief review of the history of English as a first language since 1066; the history of English as a second or official language (including a look at English loanwords in other languages); the distinctive features of English over time and space: sounds, inflections, and grammar; the spoken and the written varieties, with some attention to register and vocabulary; and brief case studies from among the following environments:  Australia, India, Tok Pisin and Sranan, West Africa, Canada, Chicano English, and Estuary English.

Texts:  David Crystal, English as a Global Language 2^nd ed 2003 (Cambridge UP), Peter Trudgill and Jean Hannah, International English, 5th ed. 2008 (Edward Arnold,), Jenn’s Coursepack (Foster, Romaine, Penfield, Burridge and Mulder, etc.)

Grading Policy: Quizzes (15%) Quizzes will be given as necessary to check progress on reading. Selective bibliography and sentence outline (subheadings) for an encyclopedia-style report on a variety of World English (3 pages)(10%). Three or Four in-class exams (60%) Students elect either to take a comprehensive final exam or write a draft and final version of the report (4-page rough draft with sources; 6-8 page final version of report) (15%)

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

English Major Area:  IV. Language or Writing

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing. No exceptions.

Course Description: In this course we will survey the history of what could be argued to be now the most popular language in the world, and certainly the most widely known. Beginning with its prehistory on the Continent over two thousand years ago, we will trace the fortunes of English from Anglo-Saxon times to its present manifestations across national boundaries. We will learn the distinctions of sounds, inflectional endings, and sentence patterns that mark each major stage of the language. Though the course will focus on the different forms of the language as they survive in various texts, we will pay some attention to the interaction between the internal history of English and the social and political contexts that define its external history. The goal is a better understanding of change in English and the signs of this change that can be seen everywhere from spelling to legal procedure. No previous study of linguistics is required; a willingness to learn phonetic transcription early in the semester, however, is crucial.

Texts: Millward and Hayes, A Biography of the English Language, 3rd edition (2011); Millward, Workbook to Accompany A Biography of the English Language (1990); Harcourt, One Hundred Words Almost Everyone Mispronounces (2008).

Grading: Two in-class blue-book exams, 35%; Quizzes, workbook exercises, 40%; Comprehensive final exam, 25%.

There will be no make-up quizzes for any reason, and no make-up final without a proven medical emergency.

The earliest vernacular compositions in English, dating from the seventh century to some decades beyond the Norman Conquest in the eleventh, are our sources for Old English, also known as Anglo-Saxon in some places.  In this course we will learn how to read them with healthy skepticism and on-line grammars and concordances.  We will begin with the prose and read extracts from proverb collections, translations from Latin, vernacular chronicles, and saints’ lives.  We will do some transcription from facsimiles of manuscripts to discover what editors put in and leave out in producing texts.  We will spend most of the course reading the most-studied verse compositions, including The Wanderer, heroic poems like The Battle of Brunanburh and The Battle of Maldon, enigmatic first-person poems like The Dream of the Rood, The Wife’s Lament, The Seafarer (for which students can consult Ezra Pound’s battered student reader in the HRHRC) and possibly some riddles. 

Requirements

Daily translation, homework exercises, grammar quizzes as necessary, a midterm exam covering the grammar of prepared translations, and a final exam of sight and prepared translation and commentary, or, with previous negotiation by October 25th, a substantial written project.

Introduction to the study of the syntactic structure of modern English from the viewpoint of generative grammar. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. English 360K and Linguistics 360K may not both be counted. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing

Introduction to the study of the syntactic structure of modern English from the viewpoint of generative grammar. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. English 360K and Linguistics 360K may not both be counted. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing

Introduction to the study of the syntactic structure of modern English from the viewpoint of generative grammar. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. English 360K and Linguistics 360K may not both be counted. Prerequisite: Upper-division standing