In Modern Irish Literature, we will study writers who pay special attention to place, ranging from J.M. Synge’s Aran islands, to James Joyce’s Dublin, to more contemporary representations of Ireland as a multicultural, modern landscape. The course will include drama, film, poetry, and prose, and will feature many evening outings to performances. We will meet many poets, scholars, and performers along the way, making this class a rich, dynamic experience you couldn’t get at home. You may even discover and hone your poetic voice through our workshops with accomplished, renowned poets!
Study Abroad Rationale
One of the most valuable parts of international travel and learning in general is the idea of broadening one’s perspective and achieving personal growth through exploration and experience, key elements needed both to navigate and interpret the world. As educators and mentors of young people, we are tasked with “opening the door” for our students. With its fascinating history, sublime landscapes, and rich artistic and scholarly traditions, Ireland provides a wonderful backdrop for investigation and growth. And while Ireland and the Irish aren’t so different from us from a global perspective, sometimes it’s the subtle rather than the vast differences that can be the most revealing.
Reading the literature of the place is one way to access the culture. Another way is through writing, as personal reflection, critical response, and artistic expression. Whether visual and/or verbal, making art and responding to art can facilitate learning, personal growth, and your interpretation of the world.
Expectations
My primary expectation is that, barring illness or another excusable misadventure, you are prepared for and attend every class, which will be about two hours long on most days. That means that you have done the reading and are alert and eager to engage the material. Our class format will be variable. Sometimes, we might meet in my flat; other times, we may take a little excursion. A lecture or a poetry workshop will sometimes take the place of our regular class. You will also attend evening performances for the course. The syllabus lays out the reading and performance schedule by day, but it could shift around, depending on how the weather unfolds for excursions. This class is very different than your typical residency course in lots of good ways, yet the standards for typical residency courses—attendance, preparedness, and quality, timely academic work—still apply.
Response Journal or Blog
Your primary project while in Ireland is to keep a journal or online blog that records your responses to our reading and experiences while abroad. Like your art journal, your literature journal should be a response to the literature itself, places we visit, performances and lectures we attend, and the ideas that all of these experiences might foster. Please bring your response journals or a device on which you might blog to each class for in-class writing occasions. I will collect your response journals (or examine your blogs) three times. You will complete 8 formal entries, around 300-400 words each, for each journal set (for a total of 24 entries). Of those eight entries per set, you should respond to at least six different readings or events. In other words, this journal/blog should reflect the breadth of your experiences and reading, while also allowing for you to explore some works and themes in depth. As a mix or “mash-up” of reflective, personal, and analytical writing, the tone of your journal or blog can be looser and more experimental than a formal paper. Ideally, your journal should start to develop some themes as your experience unfolds. You are welcome to do additional journal writing, brainstorming, and drafting throughout your journal. However, you should indicate a more formal response by writing a header to indicate an entry. Here are a few examples of appropriate headers and topics you might address. Please number each entry.
- Riders to the Sea, the Aran Islands, and Representations of the sea
- My favorite Mary O’Malley poem
- Yeats’s poem “The Tower” and our visit to his Tour Ballylee
- Review of the play Aristocrats
- The theme of mapping in Eavan Boland’s poetry and Translations
- Poetry and the Irish women’s writing: a response to the introduction of Three Irish Poets
- Haunted Ireland: Response to Kieran Keohane’s lecture.
These are just examples of what you might write about. I am hoping that the responses come from your own unique engagement with the material and experience and are not simply a rehashing of what was said in class. Writing this journal or blog should be interesting and rewarding for you! As a caution, try not to use this journal as a recap of your days. Also, be on “platitude patrol”–in other words, try not to say that things were amazing, or great, or awesome. Dig deeper. Be more specific. Note: If there is ever some personal writing you do not wish me to read, just fold down the corner of that page or don’t publish that blog for now.
Exam
On Friday, June 27, we will have a formal final exam consisting of identification questions and a choice of essays, which I will give to you in advance.
Formal Essay
For those of you taking this course at the 400 level, you will be writing an additional 7-10 page paper, which will be due August 1. I will hold conferences with you while in Ireland to help you develop this topic.
Study Abroad E-portfolio
As a capstone assignment for your Penn State Ireland Study Abroad experience, you will be creating an e-portfolio (using Sites at Penn State, Weebly, Wix, or another web publishing platform) to reflect upon and showcase your experience. Ideally, your e-portfolio will be a piece that integrates visual elements (artwork, photography, sketching, videos, scans of pieces) and written text (blog entries, original poetry, short stories, formal papers, etc.). You will want to think about what pieces you should include in the e-portfolio and how you would communicate the relevance of your selected pieces and experiences. The e-portfolio should be a synthesis of your emergent intellectual interests, artistic expression, and personal response to your experience abroad. Like your journals, the e-portfolio could be arranged in terms of themes and clusters of interests that emerged for you during and after the trip.
While Helen and I are definitely your audience as graders, we’re probably not the people you want to keep in mind as you assemble your e-portfolio. Rather, you might want to direct this piece mainly to yourself as a way of processing your intellectual, artistic, and personal engagements during (and after) your experience abroad. Secondary audiences might be future employers, prospective study-abroad students, family members, and even the evaluators for the Excellence in Communication Certificate for the College of Liberal Arts.
You can make this piece as comprehensive as you like, but the minimum requirements are:
1) A thoughtful introduction to the e-portfolio, with descriptions and introductions to your pieces throughout.
2) Five 300-400 word blog entries (new or culled from the literature and/or art journal).
3) Ten visual elements incorporated with the writing pieces or in other places.
4) Your independent study project (be sure to describe and introduce it).
E-portfolios are due for evaluation on August 15. Submit your e-portfolio by emailing your e-portfolio link to Helen hpo1@psu.edu and Jessica jjo12@psu.edu.
Course Requirements Grading Breakdown
Response Set 1: 20%
Response Set 2: 20%
Response Set 3: 20%
Final Exam: 20%
E-portfolio, participation and attendance: 20%
For students taking the course at the 400 level, each of the journal sets and the final exam will be worth 15%, while the e-portfolio and final paper each will be worth 20% of the final grade.
Liberal Arts Grading Scale
A 100-95; A- 94.99-90; B+ 89.00-87; B 86.99-83; B- 82.99-80; C+ 79.99-78; C 77.99-70; D 69.99-60; F 59.99