HUM 2070 PBC
HUM 2070—Great Books Ancient through Renaissance
Three Semester Hours
DN 7/14
Prerequisites
University Requisite: ENG 1510 or 1610 or 151A or 152 or 153 or 153A or 153B
Course Description
Classics of various genres of Greek, Roman, Biblical through Medieval and Renaissance periods, leading toward understanding of Western cultural heritage. Guidance in close textual reading, historical context, critical thinking, discussion, and writing about those works.
Methods of Course Instruction
All material for this course is print-based. Instructor and students communicate and exchange materials through postal mail.
E-Print Option
In this course, an option exists to use e-mail to submit your lesson assignments. Your assignment will be returned to you either as an e-mail attachment or as a hard copy sent through the postal mail, depending on the preferences of the instructor and/or program.
Textbooks and Supplies
Lawall, Sarah. Ed. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature: Volume One, The Ancient World through the Renaissance. 8th ed. New York: Norton, 2006. [ISBN: 9780393925722]
Number of Lessons
The course has 11 lessons complete with graded assignments and three supervised course examinations. The lessons include:
- Lesson 1: The Hebrew Bible
- Lesson 2: Homer’s The Odyssey
- Lesson 3: Sophocles’ Oedipus the King
- Lesson 4: Plato’s Apology of Socrates
- Lesson 5: First Midcourse Examination Information
- Lesson 6: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- Lesson 7: Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales
- Lesson 8: The Trial of Joan of Arc
- Lesson 9: Everyman
- Lesson 10: Second Midcourse Examination Information
- Lesson 11: Michel De Montaigne
- Lesson 12: Shapespeare’s Hamlet
- Lesson 13: Carpe Diem Poems
- Lesson 14: Final Examination Information
Types of Writing Assignments
Essays are graded according to the instructor’s professional judgment of the overall quality of the student’s writing and thinking, taking into account the outcome goals listed earlier and including the following: how well the essay fulfills the assignment; to what extent it demonstrates the principles taught in the course or expected of students entering the course; how effectively it communicates with its audience; to what extent it engages its readers; how easily it can be read and comprehended (reading ease is affected by factors such as organization, grammatical correctness, and the physical appearance of the essay); how well-developed it is; and, any other criteria that pertain to particular assignments.
Grading Criteria
In order to pass this class, you must do all of the work.
- Essay Exam #1 — 20%
- Essay Exam #2 — 20%
- Essay Exam #3 — 20%
- Individual Lessons — 40%
Three essay exams will test your knowledge of individual pieces as well as your over-all concept of how each piece of literature fits into its given time frame. I will also test to see if you can make contemporary connections with these ancient ideas either through your own personal experiences or through other literature and films you may have encountered. Two prompts, each worth 30 points, will be given at the testing center and you will have two hours to compose. Generally, each essay should aim for 800–1,500 words.