In PLS, I teach the Great Books Seminars, Lit I (Lyric Poetry), and Lit II (Shakespeare & Milton, a.k.a. The Longer Forms). I’m happy to share past syllabi and assignments with prospective students.
The literature tutorials have a few big goals: to teach students some of the key devices and terms of literary criticism; to acquaint them with the history of poetry in major genres; and to get them working on the art of clear, concise, and persuasive writing, practiced by means of papers that increase in length and complexity.
Since students often arrive at college with little sense how to do the sort of work that the literature tutorials ask for, I’ve written up a guide that covers, among other things, writing in general; writing about poetry; a glossary of key terms; and examples of close reading. It concludes with a short polemic about why such things are central to liberal arts education. If you’re in PLS and would look to see it, drop me a line.