English 288 Readings
I’ve divided the list of texts into two (obvious) categories. Page references are on the course schedule, but know that just about everything is in Literature and the Environment.
Post-midterm texts
You’ll be expected to have a working knowledge of the themes from and content of the following texts:
- Berry, Wendell. “A Good Scythe” & “Stay Home.”
- Dickey, James. “A Dog Sleeping on My Feet.”
- Erdrich, Louise. “Line of Credit.”
- Griffin, Susan. “The Hunt.”
- hooks, bell. “Touching the Earth.”
- Hughes, Langston. “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.”
- Kincaid, Jamaica. “Alien Soil.”
- Langland, William. Piers Plowman (prologue & passus V - VI, XVI - XX).
- LeSueur, Meridel. “Harvest.”
- Oates, Joyce Carol. “The Buck.”
- O’Brien, Dan. “Eminent Domain: A Love Story.”
- Oliver, Mary. “The Honey Tree.”
- Sáenz, Benjamin Alire. “Exile. El Paso, Texas.”
- Shakespeare, William. Macbeth.
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
- Updike, John. “The Crow in the Woods.”
- Walker, Margaret. “Sorrow Home.”
- “The Wife’s Lament.”
- Wintu Tribe. “The Willingness of a Deer to Die.”
In addition, you’d be well advised to review the content of the texts assigned for December 6.
Pre-midterm texts
About 10-20% of the exam will test material from the following list:
- Blake, William. “The Lamb,” “The Tyger,” & “London.”
- “Cædmon’s Hymn.”
- Frost, Robert. “A Brook in the City.”
- Genesis 1-3.
- Ginsberg, Allen. “A Supermarket in California.”
- Kingsolver, Barbara. “The Memory Place.”
- Kinnell, Galway. “Blackberry Eating.”
- London, Jack. “To Build a Fire.”
- Marlowe, Christopher. “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.”
- Meloy, Ellen. “The Flora and Fauna of Las Vegas.”
- Pearl.
- Ralegh, Sir Walter. “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd.”
- Wordsworth, William. “The World Is Too Much with Us.”
Bibliography
- Anderson, Lorraine, et al., eds. Literature and the Environment: A Reader on Nature and Culture. Longman, 1999. [ link ]
- Borroff, Marie, trans. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Patience, Pearl: Verse Translations. New York: Norton, 2001.
- Langland, William. Piers the Ploughman Trans. J. F. Goodridge. Rev. ed. London: Penguin, 1966.
- Shakespeare, William. Macbeth: Texts and Contexts. Ed. William C. Carroll. New York: Bedford, 1999.