Course: British Literature - English 11 Honors half-year course In addition to a rigorous study of advanced academic skills, British Literature is a literature-based course which offers students exposure to, and a more thorough understanding of, the major literary periods of the British Empire, including historical British literature and modern British works.
Big Ideas and Enduring Understandings ● Literature shapes, reflects, and/or critiques society. ● Writers interact with and adhere to (or break from) established literary traditions. ● Audience, purpose, and content influence a writer’s rhetoric and style. Unit 1: Beowulf and the Epic Tradition Weeks Standards Essential Questions RI ▪ How does literature shape or RI.11-12.1-10 reflect society? Sub-topics: How is Anglo-Saxon W culture reflected in the epic? How W.11-12.1-2, 4, does this Pagan epic illustrate 5, 10 Christian overtones? ▪ What is the relationship between S the writer and tradition? S.11-12.1, 3 Sub-topics: What is the Epic form? L What are the qualities of the epic hero L.11-12.1-6 and elements of the hero’s journey? What is the Germanic poetic line?
Unit 2: Chaucer Weeks Standards Essential Questions RL How does literature shape, influence, RL.11-12.1-10 and/or reflect society?
Approximate Time Frame: 3-4 Skills Students identify and analyze literary devices, elements of author’s craft, and story structure as presented in an epic poem through class discussion, informal and formal written responses, and other assessments such as tests, essays, or projects. Suggested Assessments : Socratic Seminar Essay (Honors)
Content Nonfiction “ Seamus Heaney Discusses Beowulf” Fiction Beowulf
Vocabulary ▪ Epic hero ▪ Epic journey ▪ Kenning ▪ Appositive ▪ Alliteration ▪ Compounds
Audiovisual Film clips from different versions of Beowulf Beowulf Prezi by Sofia Lisano
Approximate Time Frame: 3 Skills Students identify and analyze how medieval society is reflected in
Content Fiction The Prologue, by Geoffrey Chaucer
Vocabulary Yeoman, Summoner, Pardoner, Prioress, Squire, Guildsman,
W.11-12.1-10 SL SL.11-12.1-6 L L.11-12.1-6
Chaucer’s work and will work to make connections to modern-day societal trends through class discussions, informal and formal written responses and/or projects, quizzes and tests. Suggested Assessments: Project, and/or Informal and Formal writing
Unit 3: Hamlet Weeks Standards Essential Questions RL ▪ How does literature shape or RL.11-12.1-7, reflect society? 10 Sub-topics: What are conventions of British Renaissance theatre and its W modern adaptations? What are W.11-12.1-2, themes present in British Renaissance 4-5, 10 theatre? What is the relationship between the SL writer and tradition? Incorporate: SL.11-12.1-2, 4 - Aristotle’s Rules for Tragedy - Structure of Elizabethan Tragedy L L.11-12.1-6
Nonfiction A Canterbury Tale, Cleaning Up Chaucer for a New Tourist Shrine, by Francis X. Clines, nytimes.com
Sergeant-at-Law, Cleric, Franklin, Reeve, Pilgrimage, Estates Satire, Thomas Becket
Audiovisual “The Rap Canterbury Tales” by Baba Brinkman, youtube.com
Approximate Time Frame: 6-8 Skills Students identify and analyze literary devices, elements of author’s craft, and story structure as presented in a Shakespeare play through class discussions, informal and formal written responses, and other assessments such as tests, essays, or projects. Suggested Assessments: Socratic Seminar Comparison Essay, Project
Content Fiction Hamlet Nonfiction “Revenge Tragedy” “Modern Adaptations of Staging” Audiovisual Film clips from different versions of Hamlet: Mel Gibson, Kenneth Brannagh and Sir Laurence Olivier versions are commonly accessed (also available are the Ethan Hawke, Derek Jacoby and David Tennant)
Vocabulary Tragedy Tragic hero Tragic flaw Deus ex machina Catharsis Poetic justice
Unit 4: Romanticism and Victorianism Weeks Standards Essential Questions RL.11-12.1-7, Poetry: 10 ▪ How does literature shape or reflect society? W.11-12.1-5, Subtopic: What are the themes of 10 Romanticism? ▪ What is the relationship between SL.11-12.1-2 the writer and tradition? Subtopic: What are the elements of L.11-12.1-6 Romanticism?
Jane Eyre: How does literature shape or reflect society? Subtopic: What are the gender roles present in novel, as they portray Victorian society? What is the relationship between the writer and tradition? What are the traditions of the Gothic novel? What is the symbolism of the settings in the text?
Approximate Time Frame: 4 Skills Students identify and analyze literary devices, elements of author’s craft, and story structure as presented in a novel and poetry through class discussions, informal and formal written responses, and other assessments such as tests, essays or projects. Suggested Assessments for both: Socratic Seminar Original Poetry Analytical responses to poems Project
Content Poets Wordsworth Coleridge Shelley Byron Keats Blake
Fiction Jane Eyre – Guided Independent Reading Nonfiction “On Making an Agreeable Marriage” by Jane Austen “from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” by Mary Wollstonecraft Poet biographies in textbook “ Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know ”, by Terry Castle, nytimes.com “Introducing Jane Eyre: An Unlikely Victorian Heroine”, edsitement.neh.gov Visual/Audiovisual DVD: Jane Eyre Audio poetry readings “A Brief History of Rhyme, ” by Baba Brinkman, tedxnavesink.com
Vocabulary Romanticism Imagery and Figurative Language Ode Lyric Poetry Petrarchan Sonnet Apostrophe Gothic Novel Paradox
