The Assignments for Week Two are now hot.

One of the many reasons I enjoy teaching early American Literature in Richmond is that each spring, we celebrate the day Edgar Allen Poe was born--19 January.  You can look under the extra-credit tab for Poe and the many connections Richmond and Virginia has to Poe.  The area is rich in opportunities to learn about him and the city.  In fact, the Poe museum has a model of Richmond as it would have looked in Poe's lifetime.  UVA still has it's Raven Society and the window in his dorm room where he carved with a diamond a warning to all who would follow.  Baltimore is where he is buried.  There are even "Annabel Lee" river boat cruses in Richmond.  More important, while Poe's is a dark imagination, he is also a fun way to start the semester, and many student enjoy him.

The semester is designed to move backward in broad swaths.  First we cover the Romantic Period, that is, between 1820-1860s; then, we look at the Revolutionary period and New Republic 1750-1830; finally, we look at the era of contact and colonization from contact in 1492 until the revolution in 1776.  Understanding Romanticism and the philosophy, literature, and history which formed it helps students get a handle on the Revolutionary period, and understanding the Revolution, etc.    

Make sure to write with questions, and enjoy.

Steve