ENGLISH 124 is designed to provide you with a rigorous introduction to writing insightful, clearly organized, graceful essays on readings in literature, both for this class and in subsequent classes at the university. By applying the basic principles of literary analysis to a variety of texts, you will gain experience in constructing theses, organizing clear, insightful essays, improving writing mechanics and style, and revising drafts thoroughly and productively.

Our course readings break into two rough units.  The first is a sort of grab-bag of reactions to Wordsworth and the Romantic tradition as it underpins certain present visions of the natural world.  The second unit deals with another vision of the world, as a globalized, nuclear landscape offering threats of annihilations both personal and universal.  Along the way, we might all hope to grow in our understanding of our sense of our place in the world, and the heritage of that understanding.