Wrapping Up the Semester
Mo., Nov. 30 through We., Dec. 9, 2020
Regular instructional sessions on: Mo., Nov. 30; We., Dec. 2; and Fr., Dec. 4
Second (and final) exam scheduled by the university for 10:00 am through 12:00 pm (noon) on We., Dec. 9, 2020
All activities (instruction sessions and second exam) occur live in the classroom
Three Tasks
#1 • Submit (in class) printed hard copy of written homework exercise associated with our study of Michael Banim’s novel The Croppy: A Tale of 1798 (1828)
#2 • Submit (via email) Word document containing your researched term paper, no later than 12:00 pm (noon) Eastern on We., Dec. 2 (an extended deadline)
#3 • Take (in classroom) second/final exam, covering: (a) William Carleton’s novel The Black Prophet: A Tale of Irish Famine; (b) selected abolitionist polemics by Daniel O’Connell and Frederick Douglass
Task #1
Due to a problem with displaying and/or accessing material on our course’s Folio page, please print a copy of your answers to the written homework exercise that was assigned for the week beginning September 28, 2020. Submit the work as a hardcopy to your instructor, in class, some time between Mo., Nov. 30 and Fr., Dec. 4, 2020. Below, please find the content of that assignment.
Read Jim Shanahan’s article, “Tales of the Time: Early Fictions of the 1798 Rebellion,” published in the Spring/Summer 2011 issue of the journal, Irish University Review (Volume 41; Number 1; Pages 151-168). As it considers 11 novels written soon after the United Irish Rebellion of 1798, the piece effectively provides context for understanding Michael Banim’s The Croppy, which appeared 30 years after the rebellion and is generally considered the first novel by a canonical Irish author to deal with the event in an explicit, sustained manner.
Using complete sentences, answer the following 15 questions about Jim Shanahan’s 2011 article. The article uses the term “Jacobin,” a reference to views supportive of the French Revolution and its republican ambitions.
Q-1 • Who developed the concept of a lieu de mémoire? To what does it refer?
Q-2 • How does Jim Shanahan, author of the article, take issue with the literary critic Ina Ferris?
Q-3 • What do the “first two known Irish-American novels” have in common?
Q-4 • Which novel by Sydney Owenson (also known as Lady Morgan) centers on Ireland in the 1790s?
Q-5 • In Charles Maturin’s novel The Milesian Chief (1812), what has a “skeleton on a gibbet” have to do with the 1798 Rebellion? (“Milesian” is another term for “Gaelic” or “native Irish.”)
Q-6 • What common characteristic is shared by anti-Jacobin (broadly, anti-republican) novels published soon after Ireland’s 1798 Rebellion?
Q-7 • What was the title and year of publication — and who was the author — of “the very first novel featuring the [1798] Rebellion”?
Q-8 • What matter having to do with 1798 rebels and the United States is central to the plot of Elizabeth Plunkett’s novel The Exile of Erin (1808)? (Erin is a poetic name for Ireland.)
Q-9 • Associated with the genre of novel known as the national tale, what motif features at the end of Plunkett’s The Exile of Erin?
Q-10 • In Jim Shanahan’s opinion, why is Edward Mangin’s Oddities and Outlines (1806) “the first important novel about 1798” — that is, the United Irish Rebellion of 1798? In the novel, what normally inanimate object speaks to one of the characters (Charles Beaver)?
Q-11 • What stance does John Bernard Trotter’s novel Stories for Calumniators (1809) take towards the Catholics of Ireland?
Q-12 • What was the title and year of publication — and who was the author — of “the first novel about the [1798] Rebellion to have been written by a Catholic”?
Q-13 • In what way is The Irish Emigrant (1817), a novel credited to Adam Douglas, “a template for future Irish-American fiction”?
Q-14 • What has the academic Kevin Whelan observed about the 1798 Rebellion?
Q-15 • To which nineteenth-century Scottish novelist, associated with the development of the historical novel, does Shanahan refer?
Task #2
Submit, via email, your researched term paper, no later than 12:00 pm (noon) Eastern on We., Dec. 2 (an extended deadline). The document should be in the form of a Word document, attached to an email that is addressed to keeleypaper@gmail.com. If you wish, you may also send an additional email to hkeeley@georgiasouthern.edu. The requirements for the paper are detailed in the course syllabus; however, some fundamental data from that document appear immediately below.
Task #3
Take the second (and final) exam in the classroom, beginning at 10:00 am Eastern on We., Dec. 9, 2020. The university has assigned 120 minutes for this test, which is designed to be completed, comfortably, in less than that amount of time. Different students take tests at different rates. If you need additional time, your instructor can facilitate that need, within reason, in another part of IAB, following immediately the conclusion of the scheduled exam period.
The test will consist of two parts.
Part One
Up to 90% of the total score will derive from multiple-choice questions (between 75 and 100 in number), every one of which will be based on highlighted material in the instructor-provided lecture notes about: (a) Carleton’s The Black Prophet: A Tale of Irish Famine (1846), presented as a single set of notes; and (b) the selected abolitionist polemics, from the 1840s, by O’Connell and Douglass, presented as a first set of notes and a second set of notes.
Part Two
Up to 10% of the total score will derive from written responses (of a page or so each) to the following two prompts. You may prepare a printed page of notes, with a maximum word count of 15 words. You may use the page while addressing the prompts, but it must be turned in along with all other exam content.
First Prompt ••• In our in-class lectures about The Black Prophet, we devoted considerable time to a detailed analysis of (a) the events in the usurious Darby Skinadre’s shop (Chapters 6 and 7) and (b) the related “don’t put your hands on me” dialogue between Peggy Murtagh’s parents (in Chapter 12). Drawing explicitly on content from both of the above episodes, discuss how they may be interpreted as presenting a discourse on female voice and/or voicelessness. You may, if your wish, largely reiterate points made in class.
Second Prompt ••• We considered how The Black Prophet invokes both human activities and meteorological (i.e. weather) conditions in order to build a discourse about challenges related to mourning and burying the dead during a time of lethal pandemic. Analyzing both domains (i.e. humans; the weather), discuss aspects of how Carleton’s novel presents funerals, whether in the imaginations or the lived experiences of the individuals and/or communities it depicts. You may, if your wish, largely reiterate points made in class.
Please Note
All you need to (or should) bring to the second exam are several pencils and erasers, plus (if you wish) a 15-word set of notes to assist you when tackling the two prompts. You may also bring a non-alcoholic beverage in a container with no words printed (or otherwise present) on it.
Irish Literature Before 1850
Mythologies • Invasions & Plantations • Rebellions • Famines
Irish Literature Before 1850
Mythologies • Invasions & Plantations • Rebellions • Famines
CRN 88233 • ENGL 5535 • Section O
Meeting Days, Times: 11:15 am - 12:05 pm
Classroom: Interdisciplinary Academic Building (IAB), Room 2032
Click this link to see/download a copy of the course syllabus (opens in a new page as a PDF)
Welcome to the course, Irish Literature before 1850. Broadly adhering to chronological order, it examines a representative cross-section of Irish literature from earliest texts through the Great Hunger (the potato famine of the 1840s). Here’s an overview of what we’re studying across the 15 weeks of the course:
Week 1
Mo., Aug. 17 \ We., Aug. 19 \ Fr., Aug. 21
Introductory lectures about: (1) Irish provinces; (2) some aspects of Irish mythology & prehistory
Week 2
Mo., Aug. 24 \ We., Aug. 26 \ Fr., Aug. 28
Lectures about: (1) invasions & plantations; (2) four cycles & two revivals of mythology
Week 3
Mo., Aug. 31 \ We., Sep. 2 \ Fr., Sep. 4
Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley; second recension); translation by Cecile O’Rahilly, first published in 1967 by the School of Celtic Studies of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies: modules 1.4 & 2.4
Week 4
We., Sep. 9 \ Fr., Sep. 11
Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley; second recension); translation by Cecile O’Rahilly, first published in 1967 by the School of Celtic Studies of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies: modules 3.4 & 4.4
Week 5
Mo, Sep. 14 \ We, Sep. 16 \ Fr., Sep. 18
Batha Decclain & Batha Mo Chuda (Lives of Saint Declan of Ardmore and Saint Mochuda [Carthage] of Lismore); translation by Patrick Power; first published in 1914 by the Irish Texts Society
Deadline: Please ensure that you have completed and submitted the four sets of comprehension questions about Táin Bó Cúailnge (available on our course Folio page) before 11:30 pm Eastern on Su., Sep. 20, 2020 • No late work accepted
Week 6
Mo., Sep. 21 \ We., Sep. 23 \ Fr., Sep. 25
Aspects of Edmund Spenser’s 1596 treatise, A View of the Present State of Ireland
Aspects of the 1642 Depositions
Week 7
MIDTERM EXAM • We., Sep. 30 • IN-CLASS
A unanimous in-class student vote shifted the Midterm Exam forward one session from the date published in the syllabus • Under the revised regime, the exam occurs in a socially distanced manner in the classroom on Wednesday, September 30, 2020, beginning at 11:15 am • Face masks are mandatory in the room throughout the testing period • Given unforeseen shortcomings with the proctoring capabilities on Folio, we may not be able to provide the exam virtually outside the Statesboro Campus • If you have a valid, Covid-19-related reason for not being able to take the test in the classroom at 11:15 am on 9/30 (as described above), please contact your instructor in a timely fashion via his official university email address • Although not a guaranteed outcome, it may be possible to arrange an alternative opportunity for you to take the test in a proctored environment, perhaps through Campus Testing Services
For students in the classroom by 11:15 am on 9/30, your instructor will try hard to make the exam available on Folio • If that option is attractive to you, please bring with you to the classroom a laptop (either your own or one borrowed from the Henderson Library) • If, however, you prefer a more traditional test-taking experience, your instructor will also have on hand, in the classroom, hardcopy versions of the exam, plus free Scanton sheets • Please note: #2 pencils and erasers are not provided • Please note, in addition: If a student chooses the Folio option but experiences technological difficulties, the hardcopy-based method of exam-taking will be the default (so bring pencils and erasers no matter what)
If a student needs extra time to complete the exam, your instructor can provide same — in another monitored location in IAB — directly after the scheduled class period ends • The exam consists of 100 multi-choice questions about our major work for the first phase of the course: Táin Bó Cúailnge (Second Recension), translated by Cecile O’Rahilly • No other content will be examined, and all the questions will be based on the material presented in red on the official Lecture/Exam Notes about Táin Bó Cúailnge prepared and pre-circulated by your instructor • Past experience has demonstrated that the vast majority of students manage to complete four questions per minute for a total exam-taking time of 25 minutes (although 55 minutes are available, plus extra time on request) • The exam is altogether closed-book, although students may use an instructor-provided blank sheet of scratch-paper, so long as the student returns it (with any markings) to the instructor as she/he/they exits the exam
Mo., Sep. 28 \ We., Sep. 30 \ Fr. Oct. 2
Michael Banim’s 1828 novel, The Croppy: A Tale of 1798: modules 1.6 and 2.6
Week 8
Mo., Oct. 5 \ We., Oct. 7 \ Fr., Oct. 9
Michael Banim’s 1828 novel, The Croppy: A Tale of 1798: modules 3.6 and 4.6
Volume 1, Chapter 1: Quotations
Week 9
Mo., Oct. 12 \ We., Oct. 14 \ Fr., Oct. 16
Michael Banim’s 1828 novel, The Croppy: A Tale of 1798: modules 5.6 and 6.6
Week 10
Mo., Oct. 19 \ We., Oct. 21 \ Fr., Oct. 23
Frederick Douglass and Daniel O’Connell, Selected Anti-Slavery Polemics (1840s)
Written Version of Lecture, Part 1
Written Version of Lecture, Part 2
Week 11
Mo., Oct. 26 \ We., Oct. 28 \ Fr., Oct. 30
Selected prose and poetry by Thomas Davis
Optional additional material by Thomas Davis
Week 12
Mo., Nov. 2 \ We., Nov. 4 \ Fr., Nov. 6
William Carleton’s 1847 novel, The Black Prophet: A Tale of Irish Famine: modules 1.7 and 2.7
Week 13
Mo., Nov. 9 \ We., Nov. 11 \ Fr., Nov. 13
William Carleton’s 1847 novel, The Black Prophet: A Tale of Irish Famine: modules 3.7 and 4.7
Week 14
Mo., Nov. 16 \ We., Nov. 18 \ Fr., Nov. 20
William Carleton’s 1847 novel, The Black Prophet: A Tale of Irish Famine: modules 5.7 and 6.7
Week 15
Mo, Nov. 30 \ We., Dec. 2 \ Fr., Dec. 4
William Carleton’s 1847 novel, The Black Prophet: A Tale of Irish Famine: module 7.7
Selected lyrics from Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies (1808-1834)