Welcome to ENGL 2111: World Literature I.
World Literature, ENGL 2111, considers the earliest literary expressions—the foundations of western literary tradition. We will closely read a small sampling of foundational texts from the two major genres of the time, epic and tragedy, and examine their continued relevance to our contemporary world.
Introduction
The document you’re reading is your syllabus. Everything you need for this class is on this page and linked off of it. The tabs above access the major portions of the syllabus. Bookmark this page now and return here if you get lost or confused.[1] Use the tabs above to navigate to the various sections of the syllabus.[2]
Before you begin, take a moment and familiarize yourself with the general resources I have for students. All of these may be found in the “For Students” menu at the top of the page, or you can just begin on the student start page. These pages are designed to help you succeed in this class. While you may not read everything, you should know what’s available if you need it.
Please read this document and those it links to carefully at the beginning of the semester. There is much information to process, and it can be somewhat daunting — especially if you read cursorily. If you are confused, do your best to work through it by (re)reading this document carefully and completely, searching this site, or consulting the FAQ. I promise, there is an answer to your question. If all else fails, you may contact me. Trust yourself to follow directions and find the answers. Be careful and deliberate.
Fully Online
This online course will probably be unlike any college course you have ever taken. It is designed to let you — the students — discover and create your own knowledge. If you’ve not taken an online course before, you will essentially be teaching yourself with my guidance. I’m assuming, since you’re taking this class online, that you are comfortable with working by yourself, are confident in your ability to take risks and try new approaches, are fine with making some mistakes, do not need the constant reassurance of an authority figure, and have a basic Internet literacy. Please enter with an open mind.
Requirements
| Requirement | %[3] |
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| Reading | 30% |
| Response | 30% |
| Reflection | 30% |
| Lit-Crit Essay | 10% |
This course is composed of three requirements: reading, writing, and tests. Each requirement will be on-going throughout the semester, will require regular contributions, and may be comprised of various assignments. Tests will be essay and short-answers, one at midterm and one at the conclusion of the course.
Reading
Each lesson’s major focus will be reading primary texts (the literature) and secondary texts (critical response to the literature). Reading quizzes will test your knowledge of the materials, focusing on factual details like plot points, rather than interpretative readings. Students should take thorough notes as they read—like character names, plot points, and other details—that will help them on quizzes and later analysis of the texts in their writing. Reading quizzes cannot be made up for any reason. Please do not ask me to reopen a closed quiz.
Response
Each week, you will complete a creative response to the assigned reading and share it on the GRL Forum > World Literature I. These responses invite you to engage with the literature through personal expression, imagination, and creative interpretation, rather than traditional essays. Your goal is to demonstrate understanding of the week’s material by transforming key ideas, themes, or characters into a short creative work. Responses may include formats like visual collages, short audio monologues, diary entries, memes, fake text conversations, or even annotated maps. No artistic expertise is required—just honest effort, thoughtfulness, and engagement with the text. Log into the forum to read the assignment details.
Reflection
Each week, you will submit a literary reflection—a short, personal response that reflects on your engagement with the assigned reading. These are designed to help you process what you’ve read, make connections to your own thinking or experience, and solidify your understanding. They are short and informal, but they must be your own work and show evidence of honest reflection. Log into the forum and read assignment details.
Lit-Crit Essay
This essay will have students research and write about one of the texts we have studied in class. Choose the text you would like to investigate further, find a secondary, critical article, and write your two-page response. This assignment may be repeated once for extra credit . For detailed instructions, see Short Lit Crit Response and be sure you follow them carefully.
Required Materials
Textbook
Our study of World Literature this semester will use either of the following:
- Mack, Maynard, ed. (1999). Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces: Literature of Western Culture Through the Renaissance. The Western Tradition. 1 (Seventh ed.). New York: W. W. Norton.
- Lawall, Sarah, ed. (2003). The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Beginnings to A.D. 100. A (2nd ed.). New York: W. W. Norton.
Both of these books are out-of-print, but you should have no problem acquiring one of them, either through the Amazon affiliate[4] links above or another bookstore. These books contain the specific translations that I will be referencing in-class and on exams, so one of the two texts above is required.[5] While readily available, other translations will just be confusing and cause you unnecessary difficulty.
Your course book(s) and readings are an important part of the class and should be purchased (or downloaded) immediately. Lessons are built from specific readings and assignments will depend on those readings. If available, you may use an ebook, but be warned that page numbers referred to in lessons may not be the same in an electronic text. Book rentals are also acceptable, if necessary.
Even though this is an online course, I recommend old-fashioned, analog note taking. In other words: use an ink interface of some sort, as well as dead trees to take notes. Notes should not only reflect essential aspects of the readings, but individual interest in every topic researched for class.
Policies
Students are held accountable for knowing and practicing each of the following course policies. Consider them like the law: the excuse “I didn’t know” will carry no weight. In addition, students are responsible for reading, understanding, and adhering to all Middle Georgia State University institutional policies, including those linked on the Syllabus Policy page.
Students may withdraw from the course and earn a grade of “W” up to and including the midterm date. After midterm, students who withdraw will receive a grade of “WF.” Students are encouraged to read the MGA withdrawal policy before dropping/withdrawing from class.
Assignments and Deadlines
Your work represents you. Everything you turn in for evaluation should exemplify the very best of your professional self. Late work is unacceptable and will receive a zero. Technical problems do not excuse late work. Plan ahead and turn in your work on time. Last-minute work submissions are ineligible for revision for a higher grade.
Attendance
Attendance for online courses is based on consistent participation. While students may work within lessons at their own pace, there will be assignments and milestones due regularly, usually each week. In other words: students are required to submit work each week to remain in good-standing. I recommend working a bit every day for consistency and to facilitate learning. Any registered student who does not submit work the first week will be counted as a no-show. Large gaps in participation (more than a week of not working) will be grounds for failure.
Behavior
Students should conduct themselves like students: take notes, pay attention, ask questions, eliminate distractions, and listen. Improper conduct, including academic falsehood, will negatively effect your grade and may result in other disciplinary measures.
Communication
Communication is integral to success, no matter what we’re talking about. In a digital world, these literacies are particularly important. Not only should you develop and perfect your communication skills while in college, you need to use those skills everyday with your peers and professors.
Evaluation
Evaluation depends on overall student performance: on the successful completion of all requirements, regular participation, and positive attitude. Some requirements are weighed heavier in evaluation, but all are essential to successfully complete the class. Letter grades are based upon a traditional ten-point scale. Grades for this class will be based on the point system.
Participation
Active participation in the classroom is required. Your daily work and attendance represents your participation, e.g.: reading, discussions, training, exercises, library tasks, reading quizzes, peer editing, the viewing of a film, and similar activities. Your participation in group activities and your preparation for class will be weighed heavily in evaluation: participation, effort, and attitude count significantly. You should not sit in class like you’re watching TV: learning requires active participation and enthusiasm . Participation grades cannot be made up.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is serious academic misconduct. Willful or accidental plagiarism—including using AI tools to generate assignments—will result in assignment failures, potential class failure, and will be pursued to incite the utmost penalty for such dishonesty.
Research
All writing in this course should be supported with both primary (readings I assign you) and secondary (sources you find yourself) texts. All suppositions must be supported with evidence, whether they appear on a forum post, a blog post, a Wikipedia article, or class discussion. In other words: research is an integral component of everything you do in this course. Any ideas that are not supported might as well not be written.
Technology Requirements
All students should have a newish computer with dependable Internet access. A tablet for reading PDFs is convenient, but not a requirement of the course. Students should check the course site daily for updates. Students are responsible for working out all of their technical difficulties.
XC Response
Students may repeat the Short Lit Crit Response for extra credit. This XC response may be submitted at any time before the end of the semester and may address any text we have covered during the semester, though it may not address the same material you covered on your original assignment. I will only accept XC if your attendance remains within acceptable limits .
Schedule
This schedule represents the ideal outline for our study this semester. Yet, like all best-laid plans, we may not be able to keep up with our agenda. Please be flexible and try to look and read ahead whenever possible.
We will do our best to stick by this schedule, but I will inform you verbally, via an email, and/or a literal change to the schedule below whenever there is a deviation. Getting these updates is solely your responsibility. Therefore, this schedule is tentative and subject to change contingent upon the needs of the students and the professor, and dictated by time and other constraints which may affect the course. For face-to-face classes, this schedule reflects only an overview of the assigned reading and other major course assignments. It may not indicate specific class session assignments or activities. Specific in-class assignments may not be reflected on the schedule.
Overview and Instructions for Work
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All assignments are due Tuesday evenings at 11:59 pm. Have the assigned text(s) read by Fridays at the latest, so you can post your questions and responses to Packback well ahead of the due date. Procrastination and posting at the last minute will earn you lower grades. I suggest the following work schedule for each week:
Look ahead and plan your reading accordingly. I have tried to keep reading to a minimum, but if you are a slower reader, like I am, you may want to plan out your reading schedule so that you can meet the course deadlines. |
| Week | Date | Assignments |
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| 1 | May 21–27 |
Course Introduction
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Epic Poetry
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| 2 | May 28–Jun 3 |
The Epic of Gilgamesh
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| 3 | Jun 4–10 |
Homer, from the Iliad
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| 4 | Jun 11–17 |
Homer, from the Odyssey
ℹ️ Note: Lessons 5a and 5c are not required.
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| 5 | Jun 18–24 |
Midterm Exam
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Greek Tragedy
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| 6 | Jun 25–Jul 1 |
Sophocles, Oedipus the King
ℹ️ Note: Lesson 8b is not required.
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| 7 | Jul 2–8 |
Euripides, Medea
ℹ️ Note: Lesson 9b is not required.
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| 8 | Jul 9–15 |
Ovid, Metamorphoses
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| 9 | Jul 16–22 |
Lit Crit Response & Final Exam
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Instructor
Gerald R. Lucas, Ph.D. | ||
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I try to make myself as available as much as possible during the first couple weeks of a semester, including evenings and weekends. If you need to chat with me, schedule a video conference via Zoom or Teams, if necessary. Please do not expect a response after 5pm on weekdays or anytime during the weekend. I may be available, but I also need some down time. Thanks for your understanding.
notes
- ↑ While you may certainly choose to print it—we will do our best to follow the schedule hereon—it may change during the course of the semester due to unforeseen circumstances. Should this occur, I will let you know, but ultimately, this online document has the final say—not a printed one.
- ↑ You might, too, follow links by opening them in browser tabs—click the link by holding the ⌘ Command on a Mac or Ctrl on a PC—so you can easily return to where you left off.
- ↑ This is the general percentage breakdown for these requirements. As I use a point system for evaluation, the percentages are just an estimate.
- ↑ As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases; links to Amazon contain my associate ID. All revenue earned goes to support the costs associated with maintaining this web site.
- ↑ Get the cheapest one, as one is no better or worse than the other. And the good news is you can sell the book back to Amazon at the end of the term and make most of your money back. Alternatively, since you must spend money on Packback this semester, you can get PDFs of the required texts from my server using the password “ReadHomer24!”; please do not share this link. Access will expire two weeks after the start of class, so download all the texts right away.
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