Survey of English Literature 2

Prothro-Yeager College of Humanities and Social Sciences

ENGL 2823 Section X20

Spring 2026

Contact Information

Instructor: Dr. Peter Fields, Assoc. Prof. of English

Office: Bea Wood 230 (2^nd floor of Prothro-Yeager)

Office hours:  MW: 12:00 – 2:00 PM; F 12:00 – 4:00 PM. And by appointment.

Office phone: (940) 397-4246

E-mail: peter.fields@msutexas.edu

THECB Core Course Objectives and Assessment

Critical Thinking

·        To assess the student’s critical thinking, the Research Project rubric will be applied to the Final Essay.

Communication

·        To assess a student’s communication, the Research Project rubric will be applied to the Final Essay.

Personal Responsibility

·        To assess a student’s personal responsibility, the Research Project rubric will be applied to the Final Essay.

Social Responsibility

·        To assess a student’s social responsibility, the Research Project rubric will be applied to the Final Essay.

Course Description

A survey of English literature of the Romantic, Victorian, and Modern periods. Emphasis is on the works of principal authors as they reflect literary and historical backgrounds.

Textbook & Instructional Materials

Ebook for The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 11^th edition. Package 2. Vols. D, E, F.

Study Hours and Tutoring Assistance

Tutoring and Academic Support Programs (TASP) provides free drop-in tutoring and homework help for MSU students. Located on the first floor of Moffett Library, TASP's Learning Center provides tutoring support in a number of core courses and subject areas. Remember that you don't need an appointment to utilize these services. Check the TASP webpage for times.

Student Handbook

Refer to:  Student Handbook

Academic Misconduct Policy & Procedures

Academic Dishonesty: Cheating, collusion, and plagiarism (the act of using source material of other persons, either published or unpublished, without following the accepted techniques of crediting, or the submission for credit of work not the individual’s to whom credit is given). *The use of AI at any stage of the composition of an assignment is prohibited, and that prohibition applies to all our assignments. Additional guidelines on procedures in these matters may be found in the Office of Student Conduct. Office of Student Conduct

Midterm Grades

Midterm grades provide a snapshot of student progress just prior to the midpoint of the semester. Completed assignments as of week seven will comprise three assignments: Discussion Board (worth 10 percent), Brief Response 1 (30 percent), and Essay 1 (60 percent).

Final Exam

We do not have a final exam. But our Final Essay is due on the Monday of Finals Week.

Extra Credit

Students may rewrite a Brief Response or Essay for higher grade after first receiving instructor approval and establishing with the instructor the nature and scope of the rewrite. If the assignment was late, the late penalty of 10 points still applies to the rewrite.

*Notice: Changes in the course syllabus, procedure, assignments, and schedule may be made at the discretion of the instructor.

Course Schedule:

Week or Module

Activities/Assignments/Exams

Due Date

Week 1

1/20 Getting started. Read introductory material for volume D, the Romantics.

Week 2

1/26 Anna Letitia Barbauld, “A Summer Evening’s Meditation” (42); Charlotte Smith, “To Night” (79); William Blake, “The Lamb,” (125), “The Tyger,” (134) “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” (150); Robert Burns, “To a Mouse” (173)

Week 3

2/2 Do our Discussion Board for the Romantics: Respond to prompt and respond to another student’s response to that prompt. Edmund Burke, “Reflections on the Revolution in France” (194); Thomas Pain, “Rights of Man” (206). Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ozymandias” (786); Discussion Board 1 due Monday 2/2

Week 4

2/9 William Wordsworth, “Tintern Abbey” (333); Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Eolian Harp” (471); John Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale” (969).

Brief Response 1 due Monday 2/9

Week 5

2/16 Prompt Question for Essay 1: What makes the work you chose Romantic? Answer in four respects: the author’s Creativity, Argument, Social Critique, and Individual Responsibility. Connect to 2 other works from the Romantic period (those listed in our Course Schedule). 1200 words. Works Cited. Double-spaced. Due 2/23.

Week 6

2/23 Read introductory material for volume E, the Victorians. Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (346); Essay 1 due Monday 2/23

Week 7

3/2 Robert Browning, “Porphyria’s Lover” (409); Christina Rossetti, “Goblin Market” (641); Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Pied Beauty” (725).

3/9-14 SPRING BREAK No class

Week 8

3/16 Do our Discussion Board for the Victorians: respond to prompt and respond to another student’s response to that prompt. Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. (741) Story of the Door, Search for Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll was Quite at Ease, The Carew Murder Case, Incident of the Letter (741-57)

Discussion Board 2 due Monday 3/16

Week 9

3/23 Stevenson, cont. Remarkable Incident of Dr. Lanyon, Incident at the Window, The Last Night, Henry Jekyll’s Full Statement of the Case (757-83)

Brief Response 2 due Monday 3/23

Week 10

3/30 – 4/1 Prompt Question for Essay 2: What makes the work you chose Victorian? Answer in those 4 respects: Creativity, Argument, Social Critique, and Individual Responsibility. Connect to two other Victorian works in our Course Schedule. 1200 words. Works Cited. Double-spaced. Due 4/10. 4/2-4/3 Thursday and Friday, Holiday Break No class

Week 11

4/6 Read introductory material for volume F, the Moderns. Rupert Brooke, “The Soldier” (145); Wilfred Owen, “Dulce Et Decorum Est” (170); William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming” (230); James Joyce, “The Dead” (422); T.S. Eliot “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (498). Essay 2 due Monday 4/6

Week 12

4/13 Do our Discussion Board for the Moderns: respond to prompt and respond to another student’s response to that prompt. Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway.

The Return of Peter Walsh (290-316); A Woman’s Gift, (316-337). The Death of Septimus & Sally’s surprise appearance at Clarissa’s party (337-398). Discussion Board 3 is due Monday 4/13.

Week 13

4/20 Prompt Question for Essay 2: What makes the work you chose Modern? Answer in those 4 respects: Creativity, Argument, Social Critique, and Individual Responsibility. Connect to two other Victorian works in our Course Schedule. 1200 words. Works Cited. Double-spaced. Due 5/24. Brief Response 3 due Monday 4/20

Week 14

4/27 Research Project– Drawing on Essays 1, 2, and 3, pick three works, one from each period, and explain how it demonstrates that period’s values. What makes the first Romantic, the second Victorian, and the third modern? These can be works you have already addressed. This assignment should also quote (MLA format) from TWO different items in the critical apparatus of our ebook: the main Introduction to each volume and/or one of the historical prefaces. 1600 words. Works Cited. Double-space. Due 5/8. Essay 3 due Monday 4/27

Week 15

5/4 Research Project is due Friday May 8.

Week 16

FINALS No final exam.

Grading

Table 1: Percentage allocated to each assignment

3 Discussion Posts (must answer all 3 for100; 2 for 80; 1 for 60) 10 percent

3 Brief responses (10 percent each) 30 percent

3 Period Essays (10 percent each) 30 percent

Research Project 30 percent

Total Points 100 percent

Table 2: Letter grade point values. Note: there is no rounding up of assignment grades and no rounding up of final calculated grade as computed by D2L: e.g., a 79.9 is a C; an 89.9 is a B; a 69.9 is a D; a 59.9 or lower is an F. The final calculated grade is the semester grade.

Grade

Points

A 90 to 100

B 80 to 89

C 70 to 79

D 60 to 69

F Less than 60

Attendance

The instructor must submit attendance for online courses at the start of the semester. Students must demonstrate login activity on D2L in order to be counted present the first week usually as of the third or fourth day. I would like to see login activity starting Tuesday of our first week.

Late Work 

If D2L indicates an assignment is late, it is penalized 10 points. Late essays must be submitted before 11:59 PM Friday May 8. A late Research Project must be submitted before 11:59 PM Monday May 11.

Forgiveness of Late Penalty

Forgiveness of late penalty requires compelling documentation. The most compelling would be medical. Students may take a picture with their cellphone of medical-related paperwork that features a date and their name and email to me by attachment.

Note: You may not submit a paper for a grade in this class that already has been (or will be) submitted for a grade in another course, unless you obtain the explicit written permission of me and the other instructor involved in advance.

Plagiarism is the use of someone else's thoughts, words, ideas, or lines of argument in your own work without appropriate documentation (a parenthetical citation at the end and a listing in "Works Cited")-whether you use that material in a quote, paraphrase, or summary. It is a theft of intellectual property and will not be tolerated, whether intentional or not.

Student Honor Creed

As an MSU Student, I pledge not to lie, cheat, steal, or help anyone else do so."

As students at MSU, we recognize that any great society must be composed of empowered, responsible citizens. We also recognize universities play an important role in helping mold these responsible citizens. We believe students themselves play an important part in developing responsible citizenship by maintaining a community where integrity and honorable character are the norm, not the exception.

Thus, We, the Students of Midwestern State University, resolve to uphold the honor of the University by affirming our commitment to complete academic honesty. We resolve not only to be honest but also to hold our peers accountable for complete honesty in all university matters.

We consider it dishonest to ask for, give, or receive help in examinations or quizzes, to use any unauthorized material in examinations, or to present, as one's own, work or ideas which are not entirely one's own. We recognize that any instructor has the right to expect that all student work is honest, original work. We accept and acknowledge that responsibility for lying, cheating, stealing, plagiarism, and other forms of academic dishonesty fundamentally rests within each individual student.

We expect of ourselves academic integrity, personal professionalism, and ethical character. We appreciate steps taken by University officials to protect the honor of the University against any who would disgrace the MSU student body by violating the spirit of this creed.

Written and adopted by the 2002-2003 MSU Student Senate.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact the Disability Support Services in Room 168 of the Clark Student Center, (940) 397-4140.

All instructors in the Department have voicemail in their offices and MSUTexas e-mail addresses. Make sure you add your instructor's phone number and e-mail address to both email and cell phone lists of contacts.

Obligation to Report Sex Discrimination under State and Federal Law

Midwestern State University is committed to providing and strengthening an educational, working, and living environment where students, faculty, staff, and visitors are free from sex discrimination of any kind. State and federal law require University employees to report sex discrimination and sexual misconduct to the University’s Office of Title IX. As a faculty member, I am required to report to the Title IX Coordinator any allegations, personally observed behavior, or other direct or indirect knowledge of conduct that reasonably may constitute sex discrimination or sexual misconduct, which includes sexual assault, sexual harassment, dating violence, or stalking, involving a student or employee. After a report is made, the office of Title IX will reach out to the affected student or employee in an effort to connect such person(s) with resources and options in addressing the allegations made in the report. You are also encouraged to report any incidents to the office of Title IX. You may do so by contacting:

Laura Hetrick

Title IX Coordinator
Sunwatcher Village Clubhouse
940-397-4213

laura.hetrick@msutexas.edu

You may also file an online report 24/7 at Maxient 

Should you wish to visit with someone about your experience in confidence, you may contact the MSU Counseling Center at 940-397-4618. For more information on the University’s policy on Title IX or sexual misconduct, please visit MSU Texas Title IX

Senate Bill 11 passed by the 84th Texas Legislature allows licensed handgun holders to carry concealed handguns on campus, effective August 1, 2016. Areas excluded from concealed carry are appropriately marked, in accordance with state law. For more information regarding campus carry, please refer to the University’s webpage at https://msutexas.edu/campus-carry/rules-policies.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact MSU Chief of Police at police@msutexas.edu.

Pregnant and parenting students, faculty, and staff are eligible to receive support and resources from the Student Engagement and Title IX Offices. Support and resources may include early registration, personal financial support, parenting development resources, lactation rooms, and healthcare resources. For more information, visit the  Parenting Students Website or contact the Parenting Liaison Ruby Garret at  ruby.garrett@msutexas.edu or call 940-397-4500.