Goal 3- Honors American Literature

Course: ENG 203-50- Honors American Literature
Instructor: Dr. Gordon Van Ness

This course was a journey through literature starting at the early 1600s and ending in the 1970s. Dr. Van Ness consistently stressed the importance of the history of the times and its impact on literature. His emphasis on history forced myself and my fellow students to think more deeply about how and why the stages of literature occurred. I thoroughly enjoyed the class, and it will continue to be one of my favorites during my remaining time at Longwood. We read several interesting books including my favorite of the class Imagining Argentina. The grading of the course was rigorous, because there were only two tests and three papers. The lack of grades was intimidating but also exhilarating, because it forced me to study that much harder. I was proud at the end of the course when I received an A. I was even more proud when Dr. Van Ness informed me that my paper on William Cullen Bryant’s poem “The Prairies” should be entered in the humanitarians category of Longwood’s journal “Incite”. My paper, “These are the Gardens of the Desert”: The Revolutionary Impact of Bryant’s “The Prairies” on American Literature, tied for second place in the humanitarians category. I truly learned through this literature class and developed my critical thinking skills. I would recommend this course to other honors students but caution them that to succeed it will take hard work.