UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
SCHOOL OF ENGLISH
ENGL1036:
Meaning and Metaphor
Literary Studies     

  Spring 2024
   Monday, 11:30am-12:20pm;
   Thursday, 10:30-12:20
   LOCATION:CPD-LG.60



                                   

Webpage address: http://www.english.hku.hk
  Prof. Kendall A. JOHNSON
     Office Hours: Wednesday afternoons, 2:30pm-3:30pm
     and by appointment

     Office: 7.43 Run Run Shaw Tower
"Put by the curtains; look within my Veil;
Turn up my Metaphors, and do not fail;
There, if thou seekest them such things to find,
As will be helpful to an honest mind."


-John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, 1678

Course Description and Primary Texts| Course Requirements | Learning Outcomes | Schedule | Electronic (PDF) Files |

NOTE: Links jump to points further down on this page

   COURSE DESCRIPTION:
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.

BOOKS: available on Amazon.com, or as PDF files:
   ELECTRONIC REFERENCE LIBRARY (.pdf FORMAT):

  

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_2A_2023.

    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

    Here is a break-down of the grading range in regard to essays:

    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.


CLASS SCHEDULE:

PART I: Metaphors and Religious Faith

WEEK 1:

Mon
Jan. 15:

Thur
Jan. 18:
Our Journey Begins

Key Terms: Literal, Figurative, Trope, Symbol, Metaphor, Allegory, Anagogy, Eschatology (Soteriology)


Plato's Cave,
The Republic, Book VII


WEEK 2:

Mon
Jan 22:

Thur
Jan. 25:
Reading Like a "Puritan": The New England Primer

Key terms (discussed in class): God, Catholic / Protestant, Calvinism, Puritan / Pilgrim, Transubstantiation / Consubstantiation,
      Original Sin, Regeneration, Grace, Providence, Predestination, concursus dei, Vocation, the Word, Covenant, Typology, Jeremiad


Moodle Group posting #1:          Moodle group for ENGL1036_2A_2023

Before Sunday (January 21st) at 11:59pm, please post a short response paper at the Moodle group for ENGL1036_2A_2023 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 200-300 words. Remember that your analysis begins with your choice of an image-- why did you choose this particular one?


Embarkation of
the Pilgrims



"Literacy Then and Now"
Andrew Newman
Common-Place, (April 2002)


WEEK 3:

Mon
Jan 29:

Thurs
Feb 1:
Mary Rowlandson's Captivity Narrative
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_2A_2023

Before Sunday (January 28th) 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 200-300 words.


Compare the
Boston and London
title pages
WEEK 4:

Mon
Feb 5:

Thurs
Feb 8
John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678; 1684)       PDF

Please read the first part of Pilgrim's Progress (to page 165 in the Penguin edition)-- try to get as far as you can...
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (London: Andrew Cooke, 1651)
Moodle Group posting #3:          Moodle group for ENGL1036_2A_2023

Before Wednesday (February 7th) at 11:59pm please post a short response paper at the Moodle group for ENGL1036_2A_2023.

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 200-300 words.


Maps of
Pilgrim's Progress
(1821, 1850)


Mon
Feb 12

Thur
Feb 15


Happy Chinese New Year:

Please read Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography


WEEK 5:

Mon
Feb 19:

Thurs
Feb 22:
Faith and science (Puritans continued and introducing Benjamin Franklin)

    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) [TBA]

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

Anne Bradstreet
and John Robinson
on Pilgrim children



Francis Bacon's

Novum Organum (1620)


PART II: Metaphors and National Romance

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

WEEK 6:

Mon
Feb 26:

Thurs
Feb 29:
Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography

Moodle Group posting #4 :          Moodle group for ENGL1036_2A_2023

Before Sunday (February 25) 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 Puritan faith appear (or not appear) in the anecdote? 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 3: Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, #4 (31 March 1750)
      Definition of the term Romance, from Bedford Handbook [TBA]

Presentation 4: Ernest Renan, "What is a Nation?" (Sorbonne, 11 March 1882) [Nayoung]

Presentation 5: Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (1983) Selection



Mon
March 4

Thur
March 7


Reading Week:
Please read Frederick Douglass's The Narrative of the Life of an American Slave


WEEK 7:

Mon,
March 11:

Thurs
March 14:
Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Life (1845)

  • Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of an American Slave, Written by Himself (1845)

    Presentation 6: John Locke on slavery and property in Second Treatise on Government, Chapters 1-5 [Vivian]

    Presentation 7:Karl Marx on the Commodity and Commodity Fetishism from Capital, Vol. I (1867) [Audilla & Sophia]

    Presentation 8: The Anti-Slavery Alphabet (Philadelphia: 1847) [Charlotte & Meldred]


    Midterm Exam

    There are two parts to the Midterm. The first is a short answer test that takes place during class on March 21st (Thursday).

    The second part is a take-home exam question that will be due by on March 22nd (Friday) by 11:59pm. Please choose a topic before the in-class exam on Thursday (March 21st)

    Take-home part of the midterm

    Guidelines on creating a good thesis


  • Douglass on Garrison
    from My Bondage and My Freedom(1855)


    THE PLANTATION (1825)
    Anon., oil on wood
    The Met., NYC


    WEEK 8:

    Mon,
    March 18:

    Thurs
    March 21:
    :
    Douglass, Franklin, and Rocky (1976)

    Midterm: in class on March 21 (Thursday) and essay due by 11:59pm on March 22 (Friday)

    Rocky
    John G. Avilsden
    1976


    PART III: Metaphors of Civil War and Reunion:

    WEEK 9:

    Mon
    March 25:

    Thurs
    March 28:
    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) [Riley]


    Portraits of
    Abraham Lincoln





    Walt Whitman
    WEEK 10:

    Mon
    April 1:

    Thurs
    April 4
    Louisa May Alcott, Little Women and Good Wives (1868-69)


    Presentation 10: Sigmund Freud, "The Uncanny" (1919) [Charlotte & Yi Hang]

    Presentation 11: Sigmund Freud, "Fetishism (1928) [Claudia & Victoria]

    Presentation 12: Sigmund Freud, "Mourning and Melancholia" (1925) [Felicia & Jasmin]


    Alcott's
    Hospital Sketches
    1886


    WEEK 11:

    Mon
    April 8:

    Thur
    April 11:
    Alcott and Little Women continued...

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

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

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


    Little Women
    Greta Gerwig
    2019


    WEEK 12:

    Mon
    April 15:

    Thur
    April 18:
    The Wizard of Oz (1939)

    Presentation 16: Frederick Jackson Turner, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" (1893) [Gordon & Irene]

    Presentation 17: Political Allegory and The Wizard of Oz [Sophie]

    Presentation 18: Louis Althusser, "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses," in Lenin and Philosophy (1971): Part I | Part II [tba]






    The Wizard of OZ
    Victor Fleming,
    1939
    WEEK 13:

    Mon
    April 22:

    Thurs
    April 25:
    End of our journey

          "Route 66"

    Presentation 19: Toril Moi, What is a Woman? Sex, Gender, and the Body in Feminist Theory (1999)[James]

    Presentation 20: Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity [Debin & Josh](1990)



    Final Exam: TBA