Course No: HSS 171 Instructor: Seohyon Jung

Course Time: T/Th 9:00am-10:15am Email: seohyon.jung@kaist.ac.kr

Classroom: N4, 1209-1 Office: N4, 1411
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 1-3 pm

Spring 2023
Understanding English Literature

Course Description
This course is designed to introduce students to the major literary genres (poetry, prose
fiction, and drama) in English literature. Students will learn to read and analyze literary
works from various historical contexts and familiarize themselves with literary-critical
discourses specific to each genre. Classes will consist of lectures, discussions, and short
in-class writings. This class will be taught fully in English.

Required Texts
All reading materials will be provided in the course packet (and on KLMS).

Grading
Your final grade will be based on the following. Detailed instructions for each activity
will be provided as needed. Coming to class having read the assigned works is the key to
success in this course.

Attendance and Participation (including in-class discussions) 20%

Online Activities (Short Responses and Group Works on KLMS) 25%
Midterm Exam (Short Answers and Short Essays) 25%
Final Exam (Includes take-home essays) 30%
 Attendance and Participation
As this class will involve many group discussions and presentations, your
attendance is essential. While I hope that you will come to every class, you are
allowed two absences without penalty. For each subsequent absence, 2 points will
be deduced from your attendance and participation grade. If you are late to class
three times, it will count as an absence. I encourage you to participate fully and
thoughtfully throughout the semester. Class participation includes listening to
one another with respect and sensitivity.

Online Activities
You will be asked to participate in various in-class online activities. If you are not
able to complete the task in time, you will be given the opportunity to complete
the tasks after class. They will be graded based on the depth of your engagement
with the assigned text. The best way to perform well in class is to read the
assigned material with care and to think about the literary work on your own.

Midterm Exam and Final Exam

Midterm and Final exam will include short answer questions and short essays.
Short answer questions will include identification questions (identifying the
name of the author and the title of the work) and simple questions regarding
literary and historical context of each work. For the short essays, you will be
asked to 1) analyze one of the texts (with a focus on the characters, style, plot,
historical significance, etc.) 2) compare and contrast two or three of the works
discussed in class, or 3) apply what we have learned in class to other examples of
literary works. Detailed instructions for each exam will be provided as needed.

Ethics and Plagiarism Policy

KAIST takes the issue of plagiarism very seriously. Plagiarism will not be tolerated in
this course. Cheating on an exam or submitting any work that you cannot claim as yours
(including all types of AI-generated prose) will result in failure of the course. Copying
and pasting information directly from the internet into your assignments, as well as
simply substituting a few words here and there from the copy-pasted material, will also
result in a failing grade. We will work towards avoiding plagiarism as a collaborative
community in which the members trust each other and respect each other’s creative and
intellectual capacity.
Course Calendar

Week 1 Feb 28 T Introduction to the Course

Sylvia Plath, “Mirror”
Mar 2 Th How to Read Literature
Edgar Allan Poe, “The Black Cat”
Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”

_______________________________________________________Poetry

Week 2 Mar 7 T Sonnets

Shakespeare, “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?”
John Donne, “Death Be Not Proud”
John Keats, “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer”
Mar 9 Th Metaphysical Poetry
George Herbert, “The Pulley”
Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress”

Week 3 Mar 14 T Romantic Poetry

William Blake, from Songs of Innocence and Experience
Mar 16 Th William Wordsworth, “A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal”
William Wordsworth, “We Are Seven” Samuel
Taylor Coleridge, “Frost at Midnight”
John Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn”

Week 4 Mar 21 T Nineteenth Century American Poetry

Emily Dickinson, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”
Emily Dickinson, “I Heard a Fly Buzz--When I Died”
Emily Dickinson, “Success is Counted Sweetest”
Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass
Mar 23 Th Modernist Poetry
Ezra Pound, “In a Station of the Metro”
H. D., “Sea Poppies”
T. S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
Wallace Stevens, “Anecdote of the Jar”

Week 5 Mar 28 T The Beats

Allen Ginsberg, Howl
Mar 30 Th Allen Ginsberg, Howl continued
Gregory Corso, “I am 25”
Gwendolyn Brooks, “We Real Cool”
__________________________________________________Short Stories

Week 6 Apr 4 T Stephen Crane, “The Open Boat”

Apr 6 Th Stephen Crane, “The Open Boat” continued

Week 7 Apr 11 T Review Session

Apr 13 Th Midterm Exam

Week 8 Midterm Week (No Class)

Week 9 Apr 25 T James Joyce, “Araby”

Apr 27 Th James Joyce, “Araby” continued

Week 10 May 2 T Katherine Mansfield, “Bliss”

May 4 Th Katherine Mansfield, “Bliss” continued

Week 11 May 9 T Jhumpa Lahiri, “Interpreter of Maladies”

May 11 Th Jhumpa Lahiri, “Interpreter of Maladies” continued

_______________________________________________________Drama

Week 12 May 16 T William Shakespeare, King Lear (excerpts)

May 18 Th Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman

Week 13 May 23 T Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman continued

May 25 Th Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman continued

Week 14 May 30 T Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

Jun 1 Th Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot continued

Week 15 Jun 6 T National Holiday (No Class)

Jun 8 Th Final Exam

Week 16 Final Week (No Class)

Final Essays Due June 15th