High School Literature 3: The Renaissance (Live and Self-Paced options)

Classical Track

Lit 3 covers more, in fact, than just the Renaissance. We'll read the comedic novel Don Quixote (in an abridged translation). We work our way through one of the earliest English novels, Robinson Crusoe, the satirical novel, Gulliver's Travels, and dig into the Romantic poets, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and the Gothic novels Jane Eyre and Frankenstein. Then more poetry by Tennyson and short works by Poe, Hawthorne, Emerson, and Thoreau. We finish the year with the great American saga, Moby Dick. See course book list below.

This class meets on Tuesdays at 2 pm, Eastern Standard Time.

Note: Space is limited. Be sure to enroll early to secure your spot.

Student Expectations
for Live Classes:

• Attend a one-hour, weekly, live course session
• Complete each week’s assigned reading
• Take a short, online, comprehension quiz
• Answer a weekly, online, discussion question each week
• Submit two literary analysis papers and one creative project   

About Self-Paced Classes:

• Students have access to recorded lectures on each reading assignment.
• Students have access to weekly reading pacing guides and auto-graded quizzes.
• Although we recommend following the syllabus in order, students are free to choose what to read and when.
• Self-Paced classes do not include live class sessions or teacher support. 
• All recordings will be available from September 2 through the end of the following August.

Book & Reading List

There are many options for acquiring these books. You can purchase them from a local or online retailer. You can check them out of the library. For most, you can download electronic versions or access them online and read them on your computer screen.

If a particular edition or translation is listed, it is important to acquire that version. If no specifics are included, any version will work.

Don Quixote, by Cervantes (abridged Walter Starkie translation—do not get the unabridged version)

Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe

Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift

Romantic Poetry, by various writers (Nothing to buy here; this poetry will be provided in digital format.)

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë

Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe (Nothing to buy; all works provided in digital form.)

• Poem: “The Raven”

• Short Stories: “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Cask of Amontillado”

Poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (Nothing to buy; all poems will be provided in digital form.)

• Idylls of the King (excerpts only)

• “The Lady of Shallot”

• “The Charge of the Light Brigade”

• “Crossing the Bar”

• “Break, Break, Break”

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Various Essays by Emerson and Thoreau (Nothing to buy; all essays will be provided in digital form.)

• “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

• “Nature” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

• “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau

• “Solitude,” a chapter in Thoreau’s Walden, or Life in the Woods

Short Stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Nothing to buy; all stories will be provided in digital form.)

• “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”

• “The Birthmark”

• “Rappaccini’s Daughter”

• “The Minister’s Black Veil”

Moby Dick, by Herman Melville