American Literature Course

 

American Literature Course


Levis Leonardo Lozano Hoyos.

American Literature is one of the courses of the Program “Bachelor of Foreign Languages with  Emphasis in English”

The course was designed to provide an introduction to and selective study of authors who represent the enduring traditions and styles from the beginning of American Literature, (The Colonial Period 1492–1700) to contemporary.

Nowadays, due to the pandemic, the course is worked from a dynamic that allows synchronous and asynchronous encounters with students through official university platforms such as https://cintia.unicordoba.edu.co/ and some dynamic spaces that allow interaction between teachers and students through https://meet.google.com/.

Talking about the course methodology, it is important to say that one of the pedagogical approaches with which the course has been developed is Flipped Learning or flipped classroom:

“The flipped classroom is a “pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter. (Flipped Learning Network, 2016).

Through this pedagogical approach, American literature students have flexible learning environments, which help to create a learning culture.  Thanks to these Flexible environments students are the center of the process. In addition, the course was developed through established content. However, students are allowed to explore other sources of information, Intentional Content.

Finally, in the synchronous meetings, students socialize their work and receive feedback from their own to enrich their learning, Professional Educator. (Four Pillar of flip, TM, Flipped Learning Network, (2016).

In order to show you what we are doing in this course let’s have an example of a simple task:

In one of the classes, students were required to find out information about Walt Whitman to write a composition, and do a presentation about his life and work, presenting the literary analysis of one of his works or books, including their point of view about the context in which this book was written and the literary movement that the author was part of. In addition, I encouraged them to be inspired by one of the author's poems to write one.

Here you are, a short part of one of  my student’s tasks:

Walt Whitman, The Father of the Free Verse

Yurleidys Rosa Fabra Jaraba

Walt Whitman is known as the father of free verse. He was a successful American poet, essayist, and journalist. He is thought of as a model for those who didn’t have the resources to study and prepare themselves professionally since he could prepare on his own to be the man we are studying today, part of the history of American Literature. (Voigt, n.d.).

He was born in Long Island on May 31st, 1819, and died in Nueva Jersey; 26 de Marzo de 1892.  According to Nehuén, (2018) he was the older child of 9 children. He couldn’t finish his studies as he was part of a humble family. Therefore, he had to leave his studies and start to work in different jobs. One of his jobs was on a diary called “The Patriot” where he got recognized for his writing, this helped him to grow and was vital for him to develop authentic and transformative poetics.

Despite being born into a traditional family, Whitman knew how to face the conventions to build his life. It was not easy for him to reach popularity, however, due to the quality of his letter and unique style, he finally made a space in the letters of  American literature (Nehuén, 2018). Between 1930 and 1950 his work started to be published, and in his poem, he expressed his ideas of how money affects people’s soul, mind, and spirit (Poetry Foundation, n.d.).

He wrote for passion and with the intention to transmit the reality of the world and with the necessity of changing the world for those who were not part of the privileged groups of the society. He didn’t write from conformism so that from his necessity of showing the value of simple things (Nehuén, 2018).

His most important work was Leaves of Grass, it was not well received among the critics of its time, being labeled obscene and censored, because it is a manifesto in favor of cultural heterogeneity, sexual liberation, and the value of little things.  (Allen & Jeffares 2021).

After knowing some interesting facts about Whitman’s life,  let me share with you one of his most beautiful poems:

O Me! O Life!

 Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,

Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,

Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)

Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,

Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,

Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,

The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

                                        Answer.

That you are here—that life exists and identity,

That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

 Taken from Poetry Foundation ( https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51568/o-me-o-life).

Now, let’s analyze and talk about important aspects of the poem, taking some words that could help us to better understand the situations Whitman talked about and mentioned in the poem O Me! O Life!,  I chose this poem because I feel identified with the lamentation of the character and the wandering moments it has.  

Whitman didn’t include a rhyme scheme; and it starts with an atmosphere of lamentation (Grade Saver, n.d.), that represent some regrets and sufferings of the character, wondering why life is so cruel, why we have to face bad things, and what is the real purpose we have in life and even worse, why things don’t get better although when we have been facing difficult things for too much time.

Those questions have an answer that is given by a mysterious voice that in this case could represent the conscience telling that it is necessary to take part in the game called existence and that we have to be grateful for the simple fact of being alive and have the opportunity of being part of the history of times (Lit Charts, n.d.).

This poem also refers to a journey everyone has to do, the word that was used to refer to this journey is  “train” as our life, the train will be in different places and situations, some will be good, while others will be bad.

Finally, this poem gives and advice that it is really common to ask ourselves what is happening in our lives and feel how the world crumbled down over us, but even all those bad things are part of our growth and we need to face it to understand that we have a real and important purpose, so we have to be grateful of being here in the world.

The following is a poem written by me, Yurleidys Fabra, inspired by the poem O Me! O Life! by Walt Whitman, as it encouraged me to think about life and take part in it. That is the main reason I wrote the poem in the following way.

Looking at the Skyline, 

(Poem inspired by O Me! O Life! By Walt Whitman)

What’s going on in this life?

Is this just for me? Or for all of us?

Are these one the battles I have to fight?

After that fights, does life get better?

 

I am here looking at the skyline

And wonder for the awesome things other presume

Why does this seem to be just for me?

I am doing things ok, and I deserve a good life.

This could be part of destiny

Could be life trying to tell me something

Or just that I deserve everything, the bad, and the good things.

It could be, I deserve this, all this.

But something tells me that the bad shall pass.

And the good things will live in my mind

Thanks to that

I will get stronger, every single day

Although now I am already strong.

Another poem to be read in class was Oh Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman. This helped to inspire my student Liliana Bulasco to write the following poem:

To A Mom!

Hello my real and wonderful love

We are here because I need a guide

We need a guider, in my life

The one who teach us to walk

The one who teach us to love

You were the guide, you were the teacher

 

You are not with us now

You are in a better place I guess

That place in which your fears cannot beat you

The same place in which we will be together one day

The place that you mentioned to us, as the better place someone can stay

That place is your home now

 

But we are not there with you

We are here, trying to overcome the challenges

Trying to honor you

The same way you honor us when we needed it

 

We are here in your place again

It seems a dream

A dream in which we see you open the door of that place

Walking to us, and telling us

I am here, I always will be here

I will be the guide of your life

 

But that’s not true, we know that

However, we will be here

In your grave, reading your name

as if you were here with us

As you always do.

 REFERENCES

 Academy of American Poets. (n.d.). Walt Whitman. Retrieved November 21st, 2021 from https://poets.org/poet/walt-whitman

Flipped Learning Network, (2016). Retrieved November 21st, 2021 from https://flippedlearning.org/definition-of-flipped-learning/

Allen, G. & Jeffares, A. (2021, May 27). Walt Whitman. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walt-Whitman

Grade Saver. (n.d.). Walt Whitman: Poems Summary and Analysis of "O Me! O Life!” Retrieved November 23rd, 2021 from https://www.gradesaver.com/walt-whitman-poems/study-guide/summary-o-me-o-life

Lit Charts. (n.d.). O Me! O Life! Summary & Analysis. Retrieved November 23rd, 2021 from https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/walt-whitman/o-me-o-life

 

Poetry Foundation. (n.d.). O Me! O Life! Retrieved November 23rd, 2021 from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51568/o-me-o-life

Poetry Foundation. (n.d.). Walt Whitman. Retrieved November 22nd, 2021 from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/walt-whitman

Universidad de Córdoba, 2021. Plan de Curso Literatura Amaricana. Retrieved November 23rd, 2021 from https://cintia.unicordoba.edu.co/pluginfile.php/664444/mod_resource/content/1/088%20%20LITERATURA%20II.pdf

Whitman’s photo by photographer George C. Cox. in 1887 in New York. En: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman#/media/Archivo:Walt_Whitman_-_George_Collins_Cox.jpg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           

 


Comentarios

  1. Este comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.

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  2. This course have been really helpful for me because I have been improving not only my reading but also my writing skill due to the amount of reading reports we have developed. Regarding the strategies used by the teacher, They are quite interesting and I like them because it allows us to learn many different things about American Literature and the different authors through the history.

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  3. This course had been a good experience to find out that reading does not have to be boring. Through this short period of time, I had improved my reading and writing skills, and at the same time I'm learning a lot things through the stories shared in the classroom and their analysis. Thus, I am expecting to learn more about those American writers and what they will be able to teach us through their amazing stories.
    By: Jesus David Carvajal Diaz

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  4. This course has been so far a pleasant experience because I have had the opportunity to share my knowledge and to learn new information about the authors that compound or are the most important in the American Literature context. In addition, I could relate previous knowledge that I had regarding British Literature with American Literature; In fact, we have been reading about authors in the American literature that are related to British Literature, who also have served as models and inspiration for American authors. It is fantastic to read how the stories changed in every different period, showing that each of them has its own characteristics; indeed, authors also show through their stories their life experiences, problems, traumas, and critics of their period of age. Finally, I would like to keep learning from the stories and the authors to keep creating a critical mindset, and what is most important keep enjoying reading the stories.

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  5. This literature course has been more interesting than I thought it would be. The way in which this course is addressed allows to discover and read works of great relevance in history, while allowing individual and group reflection on the events surrounding a work, such as: Its author, the literary movement and the cultural characteristics of its time. A clear example of this was the analysis made on Walt Whitman who, in spite of being criticized for his work, was a writer who followed his own style, shaping what is known as American free verse; this writer expressed himself freely on the topics he felt attracted to, in spite of the controversy of these in his time.
    By: Jose D. Sibaja Corena

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  6. This course has been too enriching, thanks to the class debates I have learned to value opinions different from mine and to discover new perspectives of the same reading. In addition to the above, I have also managed to discover new readings that have resulted in a new experience in my training process. On the other hand, I have improved my writing skills, which is a great advantage for my future professional development. *Gabriela Marchena Demoya*

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  7. This course has been a really good opportunity to come back to the basics of reading and analyzing texts. Sometimes we take for granted our hability to read, analyze and understand the meaning beyond some of the english literature classics, but at the end of the day it is always good to challenge ourselves and keep learning.

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  8. The American Literature Course has been a meaningful experience so far as it has helped me a lot to improve my writing skills and also to find some joy in reading, as I don't actually like reading that much. It has been interesting to investigate about some important author's life and their works and then, share our thoughts with the rest of the class as if we were on a conversation where everyone can freely express while the rest listen and learn about it.

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  9. My experience with the American literature course has been very significant for my learning since with the help of the professor I have been able to discover magnificent literary works of great American writers whom I did not know before, and knowing a little about the life and work of these writers I can feel identified in many aspects of my life and in addition to knowing the writings that we see in this course, I can entertain myself reading some of these great works of American literature

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  10. For our point of view the sentence about not caming back to the war mean not been expose to put your live in risk for no a season important because the most relevant is our live since we just have one opportunity to live it. There is important to highlight that the life in war cause many damage to the soldier and some injuries.

    On the other hand, we want to mention that the multiple layers of irony of the text that the story represents are the medals: that is an ironic way to compensate the sacrifice and honor of soldiers that suffers a lot during the war, also the machines represent a way to fix the soldier's life seen them as machines too trained to kill people. (Gina Solano)

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  11. I find quite interesting the fact that literature works as an art form used to express and describe life and the events that help us to understand more about the world itself. The way in which the authors used their skills to produce texts that are nowadays the basis of the american literature and how these texts became in a particular element of the cultural background of the country.
    this art form took place through its letters at the same time that the country faced different changes in terms of political, social, economical aspects which also took place after the encounter with the new world, the wars, revolutions and also the industralization.
    It is important to recognize the descriptive character of literature, as a way in which the authors could offer to their readers a more accurate view of the cultural and social background of early american societies in a particular set or context and how American Literature was influenced by the most relevant events of those times.

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  12. I can say that I learned much more about American literature, the changes of that period of time and how influential literature was, in addition, I read about different works by different authors, I investigated the lives of authors who caught my attention a lot. I recognized each of the periods of time that occurred in American literature, and at the same time I improved my vocabulary with each of the searched readings. I was able to recognize how important it is to look at the smallest details of the context, since great works can come out of those.

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  13. After researching American literature, I can say that it has been very important for humanity due to its relevant events in the past that have contributed a lot to; poetry, poems, arts, culture, social and political life, literary texts, plays and films. This literature had great writers and authors who were characterized by using essential elements, which generated the pleasure of reading and awakened the reader's imagination and were capable of moving it to unimaginable places.

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  14. It was really interesting for me to know the begginings of American literature and how it emerged as a mixture and influence of different cultures, life experiences and events. It's well known that in the USA there are a variety of million lifestyles, beliefs and customes as they have experienced industrial, economic, social and cultural changes so writers try to represent their diverse life in their writing style.

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