MasteringLiteraryAnalysis

Senior Course (14 yrs and up), $335, 14 week course – Prerequisite: Intro to High School Writing (
If an interested student can demonstrate sufficient writing ability at a high school level, they can contact Nicole Noster, nicole@wisdomhomeschooling.com, for a possible exemption from the prerequisite.)

Hone your ability to read and understand great works of literature! This class will take the mystery out of formal literary analysis and give students the skills they need for upper level and collegiate literature classes. We will study different kinds of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction and master the technical vocabulary and skills necessary to discuss and write about literature in an academic setting. Students will complete a pre-reading assignment to discuss during each class and complete a follow-up writing assignment, including several long essays. They will also be able to discuss the writing assignments each week with the tutor in a private fifteen-minute tutorial. While this course is not specifically directed to the Alberta diploma exam, students will find that the course content will provide them with skills and experience to poise them for success in the exam. This is a challenging, upper-level course aimed towards future academic study—and a life-long love of reading!

This course is fairly time intensive, so students and parents should plan accordingly for their schedule throughout the term. Students should expect to spend approximately 6-8 hours each week on homework.

Extra private 30 minute tutorials are available upon request. (Cost: $25/tutorial)Please contact Nicole Noster to receive more information or to book additional tutorials:  nicole@wisdomhomeschooling.com

To Buy:

  • Pride and Prejudice (DOVER THRIFT EDITION) by Jane Austen - This edition is required for this course for ease of pagination reference during class. This edition is easily available, including on Amazon and at CHER.
  • The Remains of the Day (Vintage, 2014) by Kazuo Ishiguro - As above, this linked edition is also required for ease of pagination. Copies are available on Amazon and at Chapters.

All other readings and course material are provided to students in an online format below.

Practice Week/Week 0: Fundamentals of Symbolism and Literary Analysis

Week 1: Fundamentals of Symbolism and Literary Analysis, cont. 

Week 2: The Short Story, Part 1

Week 3: The Short Story, Part 2

Week 4: The Short Story, Part 3

Week 5: Close Reading - The Sonnet

Week 6: Close Reading - The Sonnet, cont.

Week 7: Close Reading - Lyric Poetry

Week 8: The Novel - Pride & Prejudice

Week 9: The Novel - Pride & Prejudice, Part 2

  • Lesson: The Novel: Pride & Prejudice, Part 2
  • Readings:
    • Pride and Prejudice, through page 138 (Chapter XXXV)
    • Review the handout from Lesson 5: Writing Strong Body Paragraphs
    • Please take a brief look at this website which has maps, geographical, and historical information about Pride and Prejudice. You needn't study it, but it will help you understand the setting of this novel: https://jasna.org/austen/works/maps-of-the-novels/
    • This reading is not required, but if you have the time and are interested in learning more about the economics of Jane Austen's world and how its money translates to our own, I recommend this article: https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/vol36no1/toran/
      • Note that JASNA.org is one of the most best and most reputable online sources for essays and information about Jane Austen's novels and world.
    • Rhetorical devices—If you did not look at these websites last week, give them a skim this week as they are helpful tools for understanding rhetorical devices, an important aspect of literature of which Austen's original audience would have been very aware.

Week 10: The Novel - Pride & Prejudice, Part 3

Week 11: The Novel - Pride & Prejudice, Part 4

Week 12: The Novel - Remains of the Day, Part 1

Week 13: The Novel - Remains of the Day, Part 2

  • Lesson: The Novel: Remains of the Day, Part 2
  • Reading:
    • The Remains of the Day, through page 201 (through "Day Three")
    • Article by Ishiguro: In this piece, Ishiguro talks about writing a previous novel, but what he says is very relevant to The Remains of the Day and also offers a little window onto Ishiguro himself.

Week 14: The Novel - Remains of the Day, Part 3

  • Lesson: The Novel: Remains of the Day, Part 3
  • Reading:
    • The Remains of the Day, finish the book
    • Optional: If you have time and inclination, read the first few chapters of P.G. Wodehouse's hilarious Right Ho, Jeeves. The Jeeves and Wooster series would have been extremely well-known to Ishiguro's original English audience, and this comedic take on the butler/aristocrat relationship is something Ishiguro alludes to a few times. There is a free and well-read version by Mark Nelson that you can listen to on LibriVox. The Remains of the Day is a great novel, but rather a somber one, and if you need a little lift before the summer, I highly suggest amusing yourself by listening to Right Ho, Jeeves while you do chores this week. (If you remember the weird newt-breeding comment Stevens makes in RotD, it is, I am pretty sure, an allusion to Right Ho, Jeeves).
 
 
 
 
Part of The Gilbertine Institute