ENGL 10A
Literatures in English to 1700
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisites: English Composition 3 or 3H, English 4W or 4HW. Survey of major writers and genres, with emphasis on tools for literary analysis such as close reading, argumentation, historical and social context, and critical writing. Minimum of three papers (three to five pages each) or equivalent required. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - I took Professor Shuger's class during the COVID-19 pandemic so all the lectures were prerecorded to watch in our free time while the live lectures were just optional office hours where students could pop in Zoom with questions. Her lectures were very interesting and she is obviously passionate about what she teaches. The grading was dependent on the TA with 3 papers total and a weekly quiz. The weekly quiz consisted of 5 questions based on the week's reading with 1 of the questions always being extra credit, so a 4/5 was 100%. This obviously helps out quite a bit! The extra question always ends up being about poem metrics where we would be asked to scan a line from the text. She was understandable that not everyone is amazing at poem metrics so Professor Shuger included an optional Final Exam for those struggling with quizzes. The reading and workload is quite heavy and difficult, but overall the class is doable as long as it's taken seriously. I'm not sure how much the class format will change after the pandemic, but I assume the extra credit on the quizzes and the 3 papers stay the same either way.
Fall 2020 - I took Professor Shuger's class during the COVID-19 pandemic so all the lectures were prerecorded to watch in our free time while the live lectures were just optional office hours where students could pop in Zoom with questions. Her lectures were very interesting and she is obviously passionate about what she teaches. The grading was dependent on the TA with 3 papers total and a weekly quiz. The weekly quiz consisted of 5 questions based on the week's reading with 1 of the questions always being extra credit, so a 4/5 was 100%. This obviously helps out quite a bit! The extra question always ends up being about poem metrics where we would be asked to scan a line from the text. She was understandable that not everyone is amazing at poem metrics so Professor Shuger included an optional Final Exam for those struggling with quizzes. The reading and workload is quite heavy and difficult, but overall the class is doable as long as it's taken seriously. I'm not sure how much the class format will change after the pandemic, but I assume the extra credit on the quizzes and the 3 papers stay the same either way.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - The enlarged photo from his Bruinwalk pfp is Arvind petting a cat. 10A with Professor Thomas was actually pretty good. You truly get only what you put into the course. A lot of people really get bored with medieval lit and it becomes a struggle for them to stay awake. Arvind definitely knows that and he actually feels remorseful that he has to teach some of the boring texts in this course. While he's lecturing, he's so professional and rigid, but once the class is over and you talk to him he's just a goo-prone human like the rest of us. He nervously cracks jokes and apologizes profusely for being too boring or taking a little while to screen share. Bottom line is that Professor Thomas is extremely caring and he wants you to actually be excited about the literature vs be intimidated by it. He brings on cool guest lecturers like Mac Harris and Michael Calabrese to modernize/contextualize these texts with pop-culture allusions. The running themes of the class were fairly consistent throughout each lecture, I'm surprised they were not a focal point of the essays. The class solely consisted of 3 essays and participation, it's kind of a cinch — the topics are cool. The only real downside is that Prof doesn't use slides and the engagement during lectures only goes so far. On the first day, there were 170 people on the Zoom and on the last day, there were 30. Stanely Wu is a remarkable TA. I had so much fun in their section, and they are super eager to help students if they are struggling as I was on a couple of the essays. Great sense of humor and a fast grader as well. I would take it again, but I would definitely try to be more present and show up for the live lecture more often than just watching the recordings.
Spring 2021 - The enlarged photo from his Bruinwalk pfp is Arvind petting a cat. 10A with Professor Thomas was actually pretty good. You truly get only what you put into the course. A lot of people really get bored with medieval lit and it becomes a struggle for them to stay awake. Arvind definitely knows that and he actually feels remorseful that he has to teach some of the boring texts in this course. While he's lecturing, he's so professional and rigid, but once the class is over and you talk to him he's just a goo-prone human like the rest of us. He nervously cracks jokes and apologizes profusely for being too boring or taking a little while to screen share. Bottom line is that Professor Thomas is extremely caring and he wants you to actually be excited about the literature vs be intimidated by it. He brings on cool guest lecturers like Mac Harris and Michael Calabrese to modernize/contextualize these texts with pop-culture allusions. The running themes of the class were fairly consistent throughout each lecture, I'm surprised they were not a focal point of the essays. The class solely consisted of 3 essays and participation, it's kind of a cinch — the topics are cool. The only real downside is that Prof doesn't use slides and the engagement during lectures only goes so far. On the first day, there were 170 people on the Zoom and on the last day, there were 30. Stanely Wu is a remarkable TA. I had so much fun in their section, and they are super eager to help students if they are struggling as I was on a couple of the essays. Great sense of humor and a fast grader as well. I would take it again, but I would definitely try to be more present and show up for the live lecture more often than just watching the recordings.
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