ENG 281: Schedule of Readings and Assignments
SCHEDULE FOR THE REMAINING WEEKS OF ENG 281:
Mon 29 Mar:
Final tutorial meetings (!), at the usual times.
Wed 31 Mar:
10am-12pm (full two hours): In-class workshop sessions for Rachel's 10am Soutar group; Angela's 11am Shakespeare group; Angela's 10am Munro group; Angela's 11am Munro group. Everyone is required to attend; there will be sentence prompts at the end.
12pm-1pm: drop-in group Office Hours (to make a one-on-one appointment, see https://iguana-tarantula-3r2k.squarespace.com/eng-330-office-hours -- remember that time is running out for make-up PTE sessions)
Mon 5 Apr:
10am-11am: final paper presentations for Angela's 10am Pope group and Rachel's 10am Pope group. If you would normally attend your tutorial during this session, you are required to attend these presentations instead (using the usual full-class Zoom link). All are welcome to attend.
11am-12pm: final paper presentations for Rachel's 11am Pope group and Rachel's 11am Carson group. If you would normally attend your tutorial during this session, you are required to attend these presentations instead (using the usual full-class Zoom link). All are welcome to attend.
Tues 6 Apr:
5:30pm-6:00pm (special session!): final paper presentations for Angela's 10am Soutar group. Attendance at this special session is optional for students not in Angela's 10am Soutar group, but we encourage all of you to come out and support your fellow students if you can!
Weds 7 Apr:
10am-12pm (full two hours): final paper presentations for Rachel's 10am Soutar group; Angela's 11am Shakespeare group; Angela's 10am Munro group; Angela's 11am Munro group. Everyone is required to attend; there will be sentence prompts at the end.
12pm-1pm: drop-in group Office Hours (to make a one-on-one appointment, see https://iguana-tarantula-3r2k.squarespace.com/eng-330-office-hours); last day of one-on-one Office Hours (remember that time is running out for make-up PTE sessions)
Between Wed April 7 and Wed April 14 (inclusive):
Watch Lecture ENG 281-20: Farewell.
Meet with your TA for your 20-minute One-on-One TA Meeting (start arranging appointments asap!).
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NB: This schedule is subject to change — rather than downloading it, just bookmark this page. Check your email for updates.
Week I: SPECIFICITY
During tutorial on Mon Jan 11:
In class, your TA will lead you through an in-person reading of Anne Carson’s “Wildly Constant.” From there, you and your class will close read a passage from that poem (of your TA’s choice). In so doing, your TA will encourage you and your classmates to share your experiences of, and your definition of, what close reading is.
By the morning after class, your TA will send out an email. If you do not receive it, contact your TA immediately.
Before our full-class meeting on Wed Jan 13:
Watch Lecture ENG 281-0: Welcome and Lecture ENG 281-1: Specificity.
During our full-class meeting on Wed Jan 13:
Have your copy of Soutar’s Seeds ready to hand. We’ll use it, if briefly, to discuss specificity — and to continue to practice close reading.
We’ll also review how to access next week’s readings through the U of T Library website; Prof. Sergi will assign Exercise 1: Using the OED, which will be due Monday.
Week II: CLARITY
Before tutorial on Mon Jan 18:
Complete Exercise 1: Using the OED.
Watch Lecture ENG 281-2: Clarity.
Read selections from Lowth’s Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762 edition only): pages i-xv (Preface), 1-2 (“Grammar”), 15-21 (“Article”), 31-40 (“Pronoun”), 71-90 (from “The Irregulars of the Third Class…” to “…altogether as barbarous.”), 125-128 (from “Every Possessive Case…” to “the solemn and elevated Style.”), paying close attention to Lowth’s footnotes.
Read Carol Percy’s “Robert Lowth and the Critics: Literary contexts for the “Critical Notes” in his Short Introduction to English Grammar (1762).” (You can also access the Percy article by searching for it at the U of T Library website.)
Watch Lecture ENG 281-3: Lowth and Percy (if available; if not, you can jump to the Percy reading and then watch the lecture after).
During tutorial on Mon Jan 18:
In class, your TA will collect Exercise 1 from you, then will open up discussion with you about grammar, usage, punctuation, and dictionaries. Feel free to use the Lowth or OED as jumping-off points, but you should primarily bring any persistent questions that have occurred to you about grammar, usage, punctuation, or dictionaries — there is no question too elementary.
During our full-class meeting on Wed Jan 20:
Prof. Sergi will lead a Q&A (on any topics that have arisen from prior readings, pre-recorded lectures, exercises, or discussions), will introduce the Collaborative Scholarly Paper (CSP), and will assign Exercise 2: Grammar, Usage, Punctuation (which will be due Monday).
After that, we’ll welcome Carol Percy as our guest respondent. Come prepared with questions for Prof. Percy!
Week III: RIGOR
Before tutorial on Mon Jan 25:
Complete Exercise 2: Grammar, Usage, Punctuation.
Watch Lecture ENG 281-4: Rigor.
Read Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock” (in our class Google Drive file).
Watch Lecture ENG 281-5: Logic and Hernandez Note: this is an unusual lecture, and it is longer than usual—38 minutes rather than 27, for reasons I explain in the lecture—and it gets very complicated, because its subject requires complexity! Be sure to watch without distraction; if you feel overwhelmed by the detail, don’t panic. It’s really only meant to make you think about what you may take for granted about logic—so just take what you can from it and bring questions to subsequent meetings and OHs).
Read (via the U of T Library website or just linked here) Alex Hernandez’s “Commodity and Religion in Pope’s The Rape of the Lock.” (you can read this before Lecture 5, but I recommend reading it after Lecture 5).
During tutorial on Mon Jan 25:
In class, your TA will collect Exercise 2 from you, then will open up discussion with you about logic. Together, you’ll sort through some of the difficult logical notation introduced in Lecture 5.
During our full-class meeting on Wed Jan 27:
Prof. Sergi will lead a Q&A (on any topics that have arisen from prior readings, pre-recorded lectures, exercises, or discussions) and will assign Exercise 3: Logic Problems (which will be due Monday).
After that, we’ll welcome Alex Hernandez as our guest respondent. Come prepared with questions for Prof. Hernandez!
Week IV: INNOVATION
Before tutorial on Mon Feb 1:
Complete Exercise 3: Logical Notation.
Read William Shakespeare’s Sonnets 1-20 (Booth edition) — you can stop reading after Sonnet 20 (note that this is a facing-page edition, with the early printing on one side and Booth’s edition on the other).
Read Lynne Magnusson’s “A Pragmatics for Interpreting Shakespeare's Sonnets 1 to 20: Dialogue Scripts and Erasmian Intertext” (in our class Google Drive file; note: the pdf also includes an optional reading before the Magnusson, which is a bit difficult — feel free to read it too if you like, but you don’t have to!).
During tutorial on Mon Feb 1:
In class, your TA will collect Exercise 3 from you, then will open up discussion with you about sources. Your TA will introduce a number of crucial research resources, including the MLA International Bibliography, JSTOR, Google Books, Google Scholar — and any other resources your TA finds particularly helpful.
During our full-class meeting on Wed Feb 3:
Prof. Sergi will lead a Q&A (on any topics that have arisen from prior readings, pre-recorded lectures, exercises, or discussions) and will assign Exercise 4: Research (which will be due Monday).
After that, we’ll welcome Lynne Magnusson as our guest respondent. Come prepared with questions for Prof. Magnusson!
Week V: PRECISION
Before tutorial on Mon Feb 8:
Complete Exercise 4: Research.
Watch Lecture ENG 281-8: Precision.
Read Robert McGill’s “Mistaken Identities in ‘The Bear Came Over the Mountain’” before you watch the next lecture. As you read, pay attention to your attention: where do you drift? Where do you have to double back and read sentences again? Why? An added challenge: try reading passages in the McGill—or all of the McGill—aloud.
After you’ve done all the readings, watch Lecture ENG 281-9: Signification and McGill.
During tutorial on Mon Feb 8:
In class, your TA will collect Exercise 4 from you — the final exercise! — and then, together, your tutorial group will decide which texts you will be writing your CSPs on, and offer some hypotheses about what approaches you might take. Your group will, at this point, split into two subgroups: each will take on a different text and topic (so you should choose which group to join based on which text you prefer). You may choose as your subject any specific element of any primary text we’ve read for class so far: the Carson, Soutar, Lowth, Pope, Shakespeare, or Munro. If you choose the Soutar or Carson, be sure to investigate all relevant future course readings (below).
During our full-class meeting on Wed Feb 10:
Prof. Sergi will lead a Q&A (on any topics that have arisen from prior readings, pre-recorded lectures, exercises, or discussions) and will ask each group to identify its text and topic, to which he’ll respond briefly. He’ll assign all groups to generate abstracts and draft bibliographies by [date], which you should begin working on via shared Google Doc files.
After that, we’ll welcome Robert McGill as our guest respondent. Come prepared with questions for Prof. McGill!
Week of Feb 15: NO CLASS MEETINGS, NO OFFICE HOURS
Week VI: TONE
Before tutorial on Mon Feb 22:
Watch Lecture ENG 281-10: Tone and Lecture 281-11: Three Pieces by Cobb.
Read three works by Michael Cobb:
Watch the brief ENG 281 Midterm Check-in video, which (among other things) introduces the CSP Abstract and Draft Bibliography assignment; with that done, begin substantive work on the CSP Abstract and Draft Bibliography (must be submitted to Prof. Sergi by 1pm on Mon 1 Mar)
Begin reading Annabel Soutar’s Seeds (must be completed before tutorial on Mon 8 Mar).
During tutorial on Mon Feb 22:
Both groups will discuss their progress on and plans for their CSP Abstract and Draft Bibliography, then will use the remaining time to work with their TA on both.
During our full-class meeting on Wed Feb 10:
Prof. Sergi will lead a Q&A (on any topics that have arisen from prior readings, pre-recorded lectures, exercises, or discussions).
After that, we’ll welcome Michael Cobb as our guest respondent. Come prepared with questions for Prof. Cobb!
Week VII: FOCUS and PROCESS
Before tutorial on Mon Mar 1:
Continue work on your CSP Abstract and Draft Bibliography (must be submitted to Prof. Sergi by 1pm on Mon 1 Mar)
Watch Lecture ENG 281-12: Focus.
Watch Lecture ENG 281-13: Process. This became an overlong lecture, with lots of personal anecdotes — so you are only required to watch 25 minutes of this lecture, from timestamp 18:44 to timestamp 44:14.
Optional: you are very much invited to watch the full 50-minute video lecture on Process. The reason it became so long is because the extra parts respond to some of the urgent questions about Process that many of you have been asking in our Wednesday sessions and Office Hours.
Optional: I have added a second 35-minute video, an “essay-writing speedrun,” at the bottom of the Process page — watching that second video is optional but, again, it responds to some of the specific concerns that 281 students have been expressing.
Continue reading Annabel Soutar’s Seeds (must be completed before tutorial on Mon 8 Mar).
During tutorial on Mon Mar 1:
This is your groups’ last chance to discuss and finalize your CSP Abstract and Draft Bibliography. You must submit the CSP Abstract and Draft Bibliography to Prof. Sergi at sergi.utoronto@gmail.com by 1pm today (Mon 1 Mar). Timely submission here is absolutely essential: Prof. Sergi needs time to read and comment on all eight abstracts/bibliographies before Wednesday! Note: we will be workshopping Prof. Sergi’s feedback live during our full-class meeting; make sure at least some of your group is ready and able to field questions during that meeting.
During our full-class meeting on Wed Mar 3:
Prof. Sergi will lead a Q&A on any topics that have arisen from prior readings, pre-recorded lectures, exercises, or discussions — and especially offer students to discuss, think through, and talk back to his feedback on their CSP Abstracts and Draft Bibliographies, which he’ll submit to you during class, as well as the topics of Process and Focus more broadly.
Week VIII: STAKES
Before tutorial on Mon Mar 8:
Finish reading Annabel Soutar’s Seeds.
Watch Lecture ENG 281-14: Stakes.
Read (via the U of T Library website) Tania Aguila-Way’s “Seed Activism, Global Environmental Justice, and Avant-Garde
Read again through Prof. Sergi’s comments on your CSP Abstract and Bibliography and develop a rough revision of your abstract based on the feedback you’ve received.
During tutorial on Mon Mar 8:
Discuss Prof. Sergi’s feedback on your group’s two abstracts and bibliographies and revisions your group has made as a result. Begin to formulate a plan for how you’ll put together your CSP, which will you will presented during either our final tutorial session or our final lecture session the week of April 5. (TAs: please be in touch with each other and with me after this class, so we can plan a running order for those presentations).
Before our full-class meeting on Wed Mar 10:
Begin substantive work on your CSP.
During our full-class meeting on Wed Mar 10:
Prof. Sergi will lead a Q&A (on any topics that have arisen from prior readings, pre-recorded lectures, discussions, or CSP work).
After that, we’ll welcome Tania Aguila-Way as our guest respondent. Come prepared with questions for Prof. Aguila-Way!
Week IX: COMPLEXITY
Before tutorial on Mon Mar 15:
Continue collaborative work on your CSP, due on Monday 5 April or Wednesday 7 April.
Re-read Anne Carson’s “Wildly Constant”, then listen to “Cage a Swallow Can’t You but You Can’t Swallow a Cage Can You,” which includes the extended/full version of Carson’s poem.
Watch Lecture ENG 281-17: Complexity, Carson/Currie/Horn, and Harvey/Cheetham.
Read (via the U of T Library website) Elizabeth Harvey and Mark A. Cheetham’s “Tongues of Glaciers: Sedimenting Language in Roni Horn'sVatnasafn/Library of Water and Anne Carson's ‘Wildly Constant’”.
During tutorial on Mon Mar 15:
Both groups will discuss their progress on and plans for their CSP, then will use the remaining time to work with their TA on both.
During our full-class meeting on Wed Mar 17:
Prof. Sergi will lead a Q&A (on any topics that have arisen from prior readings, pre-recorded lectures, discussions, or CSP work).
After that, we’ll welcome Elizabeth Harvey as our guest respondent. Come prepared with questions for Prof. Harvey!
Week X: DEPTH AND ECONOMY I
Before tutorial on Mon Mar 22:
Continue collaborative work on your CSP, due on Monday 5 April or Wednesday 7 April.
Watch Lecture ENG 281-18: Depth and Lecture ENG 281-19: Economy.
During tutorial on Mon Mar 22:
Both groups will discuss their progress on and plans for their CSP, then will use the remaining time to work with their TA on both. One of the groups will present their work-in-progress, preferably as a rough draft read aloud, during the lecture session on Wed Mar 24; the other will present on Wed Mar 31. Choose which group will go when. TAs should now also begin scheduling 20-minute one-on-one sessions with each student, to be held at any point from Wed 7 April through Wed 14 April.
During our full-class meeting on Wed Mar 24 (IMPORTANT: class will convene 10am-12pm, for the full two hours!):
We’ll workshop four of our eight CSPs openly.
Week XI: DEPTH AND ECONOMY II (see announcement at the top of this page)
Before tutorial on Mon Mar 29:
Continue collaborative work on your CSP, due on Monday 5 April or Wednesday 7 April. (see announcement at the top of this page)
During tutorial on Mon Mar 29: (see announcement at the top of this page)
Both groups will discuss their progress on and plans for their CSP, then will use the remaining time to work with their TA on both.
During our full-class meeting on Wed Mar 31 (IMPORTANT: class will convene 10am-12pm, for the full two hours!):
We’ll workshop the other four of our eight CSPs openly. (see announcement at the top of this page)
Week XII: FINAL PRESENTATIONS, FINAL MEETINGS(see announcement at the top of this page)
Before the first round of presentations on Mon April 5:
Finish your CSP.(see announcement at the top of this page)
During the first round of presentations on Mon April 5:
Every student must attend a full-class gathering during the times they’d usually attend their tutorial session. Arrive exactly on time: at 10am or 11am (rather than ten minutes past the hour). During each of those hour-long gatherings, two groups will present their 20-minute papers, and then Prof. Sergi will lead a 20-minute Q&A.(see announcement at the top of this page)
During the second round of presentations on Wed April 7 (IMPORTANT: class will convene 10am-12pm, for the full two hours!):
Arrive at 10am. During our two hours together, two pairs of groups will present their 20-minute papers, with each pair followed by a 20-minute Q&A. (see announcement at the top of this page)
Between Wed April 7 and Wed April 14 (inclusive):
Watch Lecture ENG 281-20: Farewell.
Meet with your TA for your 20-minute One-on-One TA Meeting.