The course reads literary texts in order to consider different definitions of metaphor and operations of figurative language. It presents the identification and analysis of metaphor as a tool in the study of texts of all kinds, and introduces approaches which see the study of metaphor as a key to understanding human cognition, the relationship of literature to history, and the importance of social context to the notion of "meaning." The course shows how questions about metaphor are at the heart of debates about methods of interpretation across the humanities and social sciences, and illustrates the role of metaphor in fundamental ideological discussions. The course equips students to analyse a range of texts in terms of metaphor and gives them a grounding in longstanding debates about meaning, interpretation and the relationship of language to reality.

• John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which is to Come (1678; 1684), Penguin edition
  ASIN: B00HTJMW4M; ISBN-13: 978-0-141-43971-6]    PDF        [REQUIRED]
  
  
• American Captivity Narratives, Edited by Gordon M. Sayre, Houghton Mifflin
  [ISBN-10: 0395980739; ISBN-13: 978-0395980736]      [Includes Mary Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God (1682)]  | PDF    [REQUIRED]
  
  
• Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography (1792 translated from the French, 1818 first English edition), Penguin classics edition
  [ISBN-10: 0142437603; ISBN-13: 978-0142437605]   PDF       [REQUIRED]
  
  
• Frederick Douglass, Narrative of a Life of an American Slave (1845), Penguin edition
  ISBN-10: 0143107305; ISBN-13: 978-0143107309]    PDF        [REQUIRED]
  
  
• Mary Louisa Alcott, Little Women and Good Wives (1868-69), Vintage edition
  ISBN-10: 0099511495; ISBN-13: 978-0140390124]    PDF I | PDF 2    [REQUIRED]
  
  
• James Geary, I Is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How it Shapes the Way We See the World (2012), Harper Perennial
  ISBN-10: 9780395901496; ISBN-13: 978-0061710292]           [REQUIRED]
  
  

• Excerpts from James Geary I Is an Other (2012)
• Key Terms, from Bedford Handbook (2003)
  allegory, figurative language, irony, metaphor, metonymy, pathetic fallacy, personification, rhetorical figures, simile, symbol, synecdoche, trope
  
• Excerpts from The New England Primer
• John Wintrhop, "A Model of Christian Charity" (1630)
• Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (1741, delivered)
• Sherman Alexie, "Captivity"
• Definition of the term Romance, from Bedford Handbook
• Ernest Renan, "What is a Nation?" (Sorbonne, 11 March 1882)
• Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (1983) Selection
• Barbara Welter, "The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860" (1966)
• Excerpts from Karl Marx on the Commodity and Commodity Fetishism from Capital, Vol. I (1867)
• Sigmund Freud, "The Uncanny" (1919)
• Sigmund Freud, "Fetishism (1928)
• Sigmund Freud, "Mourning and Melancholia" (1925)
• Jacques Lacan, "Anamorphosis" and "The Line and Light" (1973)
• Jacques Lacan, "The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I..." from Ecrits(1966; 1977)
• Louis Althusser, "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses," in Lenin and Philosophy (1971): Part I | Part II
• William Pietz, "The Probem of the Fetish, I," RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 9 (Spring 1985): 5-17.
• William Pietz, "The Problem of the Fetish, II: The Origin of the Fetish," RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 13 (Spring 1987): 23-45.
• William Pietz, "The Problem of the Fetish, IIIa: Bosman's Guinea and the Enlightenment Theory of Fetishism," RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 16 (Autumn 1988): 105-124.
• Slavoj Zizek on "The Sublime Object of Ideology" (1989)
• Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990)
• Etienne Balibar, "Subjection and Subjectivation," (1994)
• Eric Cheyfitz, The Poetics of Imperialism (1997), "Chapter 2: The Foreign Policy of Metaphor"
• Toril Moi, What is a Woman? Sex, Gender, and the Body in Feminist Theory (1999)

COURSE ASSESSMENT and REQUIREMENTS:

1. Attendance and participation in course sessions: Scheduled meeting times will consist of both lectures on and discussions of assigned reading. It is your responsibility to read the material before hand and be able to discuss this material during class. Un-excused absences and being late will affect adversely your final grade.
   
   
2. Posting to the Moodle Group discussion: Please notice that there is a Moodle Group for this course; you can access it by going to the HKU Portal and logging in. Click on the "My eLearning" tab and it will take you to a page with the link to: Moodle group for ENGL1036_1A_20245.
   
   At points during the semester, I have assigned a short (approximately 200-300 words) post your on Moodle. You are encouraged to read and respond to other students' interpretations of the course materials.
   
   These postings will be part of your grade-- they are an excellent way of participating in the discussions (especially if something occurs to you outside of class, or you don't get a chance to say what you wanted during the course time).
   
   
3. Class Presentation: Throughout the course schedule are "Presentations" (see below) on a theoretical concept, historical event, or topic. At some point during the semester, you will work with a partner to prepare a short class presentation (5-10 minutes) in which you provide an overview of your assigned topic. As part of your presentation, please prepare a one-page summary, distribute this summary to members of the class before you speak, and post the summary to Moodle. Part of the challenge of this assignment will be sticking to the time limit (10 minutes).
   
   
4. Midterm and Final exam: These two cumulative exams will consist of short answer responses and a take-home essay.
   
   Note: When writing your short essays it is important for you to acknowledge through proper citation any secondary sources that you use. If you borrow someone else's words or ideas be sure to mention this in the body of the essay or in a footnote. Here is the University definition and policy on plagiarism. In regard to formats for proper academic citation (APA, Chicago, MLA), please consult: Purdue University OWL: Citation Chart
   
   

   Your final grade will be an average of these four requirements. The tentative breakdown is: class attendance and Moodle (35%); Presentation (15%); Midterm (25%); Final essay (25%).

COURSE OBJECTIVES and LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Students will be able to convey key concepts and philosophies behind the notion of "metaphor." They will be able to trace the logic of metaphoric relation in the historical patterns of national constitution and development, including contemporary political and cultural events.
  
  
• The course will foster students' abilities to read closely a variety of media and genres (literature, legal documents, paintings, films) and to connect the form of literature to key cultural and theoretical themes.
  
  
• Demonstrate how consideration of a text's immediate and potential extended audiences are important factors in the interpretation of that text and its utilization of metaphor.
  
  
• Exercise skills of interpretation and communication that enable students to think critically, to evaluate arguments, and to respond constructively in writing and in speech, and in both formal and informal environments.
  
  
• Cultivate the enjoyment of intellectual experience in everyday life and continue to broaden students' visions of the dynamic relationship between literature, history, geography, science, and the arts.

• What is "Metaphor"?
  
• Etymology of Metaphor
  
  
• What is "Meaning"?
  
• St. Augustine's Confessions (circa 400 CE)

• Learning to read from The New England Primer | Full version with commentary
  
  

I will refer to the following in lecture:

• William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (written, 1620-1647; first published 1856),
  Chapters 1-5, 7, 9, 10-14, 28;
  Here is an image of Bradford's manuscript; Online edition (from the Early Americas Digital Archive, Univeristy of Maryland)
  
• John Winthrop, "Model of Christian Charity" (1630, aboard the Arabella)    |     "City on the Hill"
  
• Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (1741, delivered)    |     spider above the flames of hell (jeremiad)
  
  

Moodle Group posting #1:          Moodle group for ENGL1036_1A_2025

Before Sunday (Sept. 7) at 11:59pm, please post a short response paragraph at the Moodle group for ENGL1036_1A_2025 in which you choose a letter from the The New England Primer and analyze it as a tool for teaching children how to read. What might you infer about the way Puritans viewed the world and their lives? If you prefer to comment on someone's posting (instead of writing your own) that is good too. Your posting should be somewhere in the range of 300-400 words. Remember that your analysis begins with your choice of an image-- why did you choose this particular one?

• Mary Rowlandson, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God (1682, pgs. 127-176 in Sayre)
  Online edition, (from Project Gutenberg)
  First edition Cambridge(PDF)
  
  
• Note the two different (Boston and London) title pages (icon to the right...)
  

Sherman Alexie, "Captivity" (1993)
Susan Faludi, America's Guardian Myths, The New York Times (7 September 2007)

Moodle Group posting #2:          Moodle group for ENGL1036_1A_2025

Before Sunday (Sept. 14) at 11:59am: Identify a metaphor in Rowlandson's captivity narrative and explain how it functions to create meaning in the text.
Feel free to respond to a posting by your classmate (agreeing, disagreeing, or extending her or his interpretation).
Your posting should be somewhere in the range of 300-400 words.

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (London: Andrew Cooke, 1651)

Moodle Group posting #3:          Moodle group for ENGL1036_1A_2025

Before Sunday (Sept. 21st) at 11:59pm please post a short response paper at the Moodle group for ENGL1036_2A_2024.

How might readers in the British colonies of North America have read Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress in ways that reflected their experience as colonists? You might refer back to The New England Primer or another text that we have discussed. Also, it would be a good idea to refer to a specific passage or image in Bunyan's book as you make your point.
Feel free to respond to a posting by your classmate (agreeing, disagreeing, or extending her or his interpretation).
Your posting should be somewhere in the range of 300-400 words.

Anne Bradstreet, "In Memory of my dear grand-daughter Elizabeth Bradstreet," "On My Dear Grandchild Simon Bradstreet," "The Author to Her Book," from The Tenth Muse (1650) and Several Poems (1678) (click icon to right)



Presentation 1: Overview of Francis Bacon's, New Organ of Science (1620) [TBD]

Presentation 2: Excerpt from Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904-05; English translation, 1930) [TBD]


Presentation 3: John Locke on slavery and property in Second Treatise on Government, Chapters 1-5 [Barbie]

Presentation 4: Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, #4 (31 March 1750)
      Definition of the term Romance, from Bedford Handbook [TBD]

PART II: Metaphors and National Romance

Key terms: Divine Right of Kings, Empire, Imperialism, Colonialism, Nation, Republic, Citizen, Property, Romance

• Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography (pages 1-136)     |     Selected quotes and images
  (1791 in French; 1793, translated into English;
  1818 English edition including parts 1-3;
  1868 edition in English and including all four parts)
  
  Online version (from the Early Americas Digital Archive, Univeristy of Maryland)
  
  
• Benjamin Franklin, "Treaty of Carlisle, 1753"     |     "The folio version of 1753
  

Moodle Group posting #4 :          Moodle group for ENGL1036_1A_2025

Before Sunday (Sept. 28) at 11:59pm: Franklin's autobiography is full of "anecdotes" (short tales or stories) and observations. Choose one from his autobiography. We will discuss your selection in class. Here are some questions for you to consider in your selection: How do the principles of Puritan faith appear (or not appear) in the anecdote? How is Franklin adapting and changing the Puritan legacy to new goals? How does Franklin use the telling of this anecdote to represent the United States as a nation-- is Franklin presenting himself as a typical "American"? You can respond to someone else's post if you prefer.

Presentation 5: Ernest Renan, "What is a Nation?" (Sorbonne, 11 March 1882) [Jadon]

Presentation 6: Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (1983) Selection [Eric]

PART III: Metaphors of Civil War and Reunion:

The US Civil War (1861-65): Abraham Lincoln, Emily Dickinson, and Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman, "When Lilacs last on my Dooryard Bloomed" (1865),
in Leaves of Grass (1855, 1856, 1860, 1867, 1871-72, 1876, 1881, 1888-89, and 1891-92)

Emily Dickinson, "There's a Certain Slant of Light" (#258, c. 1861); "They Shut me up in Prose--" (#613, c. 1862)

Presentation 9: Barbara Welter, "The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860" (1966) [Minny & Shining]

Presentation 10: Sigmund Freud, "The Uncanny" (1919) [TBD]

Presentation 11: Sigmund Freud, "Fetishism (1928) [Nathalie]

Presentation 12: Sigmund Freud, "Mourning and Melancholia" (1925) [Nathalie]

Presentation 13: Ferdinand de Saussure, selections from "Course in General Linguistics" (1972) [TBD]]

Presentation 14: Jacques Lacan, "Anamorphosis" and "The Line and Light" (1973)      |      Hans Holbein the Younger, The Ambassadors (1533) [Kary & William]

Presentation 15: Jacques Lacan, "The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I..." from Ecrits (1966; 1977) [Kary & William]]

• Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)

Presentation 20: Toril Moi, What is a Woman? Sex, Gender, and the Body in Feminist Theory (1999)[Minnie & Shining]

Presentation 21: Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity [Kiana & Yichen](1990)