The Stuyvesant High School Online Course Guide

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The Freshman Humanities course will focus on a global, chronological study of literature as it relates to time and place for early antiquity through the age of enlightenment. The primary goal of this course is to illuminate individual literary works of historical significance with respect to genre, characterization and theme with respect to the cultural basis of the work at a specific period of history. Many works are chosen based upon their significance in studying aspect of various cultures. Themes include: Religion and its Rituals, Military Occupation, The Family Unit, and Elements of Change. The success of the course is based upon the ability to connect the literary, historical, cultural and moral dimensions of experience.

The following is a partial list of works we will have read by year's end. Golding's Lord of the Flies, The Epic of Gilgamesh, excerpts from The Book of Genesis, The Book of Job, excerpts from the Qu'ran, Sophocles' Oedipus the King, Aristophanes' Lysistrata, Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Lao Tsu's Tao Te Ching, Shakespeare's King Lear, Machiavelli's The Prince, excerpts from More's Utopia, Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, various forms of poetry including sonnet and haiku, and excerpts from famous historical doctrines that have in themselves influenced literary development.

Emphasis will be placed on an intensive analysis of the above works and grades will be based primarily upon analytical and thematic papers, at least three per term, group projects, and the term research paper. Students will be asked to view a variety of films during the year and may have to remain after school for some viewings. There will be a variety of guest speakers and trips, where appropriate, to complete the curriculum. This is a one year course taken simultaneously with the Social Studies Humanities course H1HG/ H2HG. If you enroll in EH1 in the fall, you will automatically be programmed for EH2 and H2HG.