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American Literature Honors
COURSE OUTLINE
AMERICAN LITERATURE
Instructor: Dr. Paul Kemp
Welcome to American Literature Honors. The Honors English program at Vernon Hills High
School is crafted to meet the needs of students who demonstrate the capacity and desire to
achieve success in an unusually rigorous course of study. I am pleased that you have chosen to
undertake this challenge. Best wishes as you embark upon your second year of study.
SEMESTER ONE
Exploration:
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Christopher Columbus, “A Spectacle of Great Beauty”
John Smith, “The New Land”
Puritanism:
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Cotton Mather, “The Trial of Martha Carrier”
Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
Primary and secondary documents, including primers, tracts
Enlightenment:
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Benjamin Franklin, “Moral Perfection” from Autobiography
Patrick Henry, “Speech in the Virginia Convention”
Thomas Paine, The Crisis, Number I
Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence
Romanticism:
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Washington Irving, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
James Fenimore Cooper, “A Rescue” from The Deerslayer
Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher”
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
Transcendentalism:
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Ralph Waldo Emerson, “A Nonconformist,” “Traveling,”
and “Reliance on Property” from Self-Reliance
Henry David Thoreau: “Why I Went to the Woods” and
“Why I Left the Woods” from Walden
---, “Civil Disobedience”
Realism:
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James W. C. Pennington, “Escape: A Slave Narrative”
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Ambrose Bierce, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
SEMESTER TWO
Naturalism:
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Jack London, “To Build a Fire”
Kate Chopin, “A Pair of Silk Stockings”
Stephen Crane, “The Open Boat”
The Great American Novel:
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F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
American Poetry:
 Walt Whitman, “I Hear America Singing”
---, “There Was a Child Went Forth”
---, “What is Grass” from Song of Myself
 Emily Dickinson, “Much Madness is Divinest
Sense”
---, “Success is Counted Sweetest”
---, “I Years Had Been from Home”
---, “I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died”
---, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”
 Survey of Modern American Poets, including such
authors as Sandburg, Pound, Cummings, Hughes,
Brooks, Bishop, Hayden, Frost,Williams, Cullen,
Roethke,Lowell, Plath, Rich, Angelou, Walker,
Rios, others
Short Fiction:
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Ernest Hemingway, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”
William Faulkner, “Barn Burning”
Katherine Anne Porter, “The Jilting of Granny
Weatherall”
John Steinbeck, “Flight”
Eudora Welty, “A Worn Path”
Richard Wright, “The Man Who Was Almost A
Man”
Kurt Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron”
Others
Drama:
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Arthur Miller, Death of A Salesman
BOTH SEMESTERS
Additional Literary Works
At the discretion of the instructor, students will study works of literature in addition to those
listed above.
Outside Reading
Students will read two books of their own choosing and complete projects to document their
responses to those texts.
Nonfiction
Works of nonfiction (including historical and contemporary essays as well as literary criticism)
will be examined throughout both semesters of the course, often in conjunction with primary
texts. Authors will include Stanley Milgram, Diane Ackerman, Ellen Goodman, and others.
Conceptual Models / Theoretical Frameworks
Students will master a variety of conceptual models, including the following:
 The Aristotelian Model of Rhetorical Analysis, including such concepts as exigence,
target audience, purpose, ethos, pathos, and logos
 The Aristotelian Model of Tragedy and the Tragic Hero, including such concepts as
hamartia, anagnorisis, and catharsis
 The Modes of Literary Analysis, including formalist, expressive, pragmatic, mimetic, and
meta-critical modes
 Freudian and other psychological concepts such as id, ego, and superego
 Kohlberg’s taxonomy of moral decision-making
Compositions
Students will enjoy plentiful and varied writing opportunities in both semesters. Compositions
will include pre- and post-reading journals, impromptu essays, formal revised essays, and
creative responses to primary texts. These compositions will be fully integrated with the
processes of reading, discussion, and critical thinking. Students are encouraged to visit The
Write Place for assistance.
Discussions
Classroom conversations at their best are stimulating, thoughtful, and pleasantly unpredictable.
The free exchange of ideas clarifies our interpretations and deepens the pleasure we derive from
literature. Consequently, students are encouraged to share their ideas frequently. Participation
will be considered when assigning grades.
Advanced Placement Examination Preparation
As part of the sequence of Honors / Advanced Placement courses, American Literature Honors
will cultivate the skills needed for students to perform well on the College Board Advanced
Placement Examinations in English.
Leadership Opportunities
Throughout both semesters, students will enjoy opportunities to share their work with the class,
compose analysis questions, serve as discussion leaders, devise original projects, make
presentations, and facilitate group activities.
Collaboration Opportunities
Students will be encouraged to work together and learn from one another in both formal and
informal settings.
Dr. Paul Kemp
English Department Supervisor
Office: 2303 H
Voicemail: (847) 932-2024
E-mail: [email protected]
Behold—your passport to adventure in American Literature Honors…Bon voyage!