2023 Fall

ENGLISH 100 006 - SEM 006

The Seminar on Criticism

Canadian Songs 1960-1999

Kristin Hanson

Aug 23, 2023 - Dec 08, 2023

Mo, We

02:00 pm - 03:29 pm

Wheeler 301

Class #:32318

Units: 4

Instruction Mode: In-Person Instruction

Offered through English

Current Enrollment

Total Open Seats: 1

Enrolled: 17

Waitlisted: 0

Capacity: 18

Waitlist Max: 5

Open Reserved Seats:

15 reserved for Students with Enrollment Permission

Hours & Workload

3 hours of student-instructor coverage of course materials per week, and 9 hours of outside work hours per week.

Other classes by Kristin Hanson

ENGLISH 102 001 001LEC

This seminar is designed to provide English majors with intensive and closely supervised work in critical reading and writing. Although sections of the course may address any literary question, period, or genre, they all provide an introduction to critical and methodological problems in literary studies.

Class Description

The latter half of the 20th c. was a remarkable period in Canadian songwriting. Of course, the so-called “folk revival” and coffeehouse scene made those years remarkable for songwriting in many cultures; but in Canada, they coincided with a transformative period of political and cultural self-definition, in which Canada restructured its colonial relationship with Great Britain, and various component parts renegotiated their relationships with Canada itself. While some songwriters in this period built careers that made them well known in the U.S., others, especially those drawn to depictions of Canadian regions, historical events and cultural traditions, remain less, or differently, known here. As a course in English literature, this course’s engagement with this material will necessarily be partial -- songs combine two arts, poetry and music, of which it will focus on poetry; and Canada recognizes several official languages, of which it will focus on English. Nonetheless, for a seminar in criticism even this partial perspective on these songs should afford ample material for exploring a body of literature in its own right and in relation to its context, and students will be welcome to develop broader connections in their final papers. And of course, the course will also address the value for poetry of universal health care.

Class Notes

Albums:

Gordon Lightfoot, Lightfoot! (1966), The Way I Feel (1967) and Sit Down, Young Stranger (1979)

Joni Mitchell, Song to a Seagull (1968) and Blue (1971)

Leonard Cohen, Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967) and I’m Your Man (1988)

Neil Young, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (1969), After the Gold Rush (1970) and Harvest (1972)

The Band, Music from Big Pink (1968), Stage Fright (1970), Northern Lights/Southern Cross (1975) and The Last Waltz (1978)

Ian and Sylvia Tyson, Four Strong Winds (1963) and Northern Journey (1964)

Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Kate and Anna McGarrigle (1976)

Tom Connors, The Northlands’ Own Tom Connors (1969) and Stompin Tom and the Hockey Song (1972)

Stan Rogers, Fogarty’s Cove (1977) and Northwest Passage (1981)

Buffy Sainte-Marie, It’s My Way (1964) and Coincidence and Likely Stories (1992)

Edward Gamblin, Cree Road (2006)

Ferron, Testimony (1980) and Not a Still Life: Live at the Great American Music Hall (1992)

James Keelaghan, Timelines (1987), Small Rebellions (1989) and My Skies (1993)

Bruce Cockburn, Stealing Fire (1984) and World of Wonders (1986)

k.d. lang, Hymns of the 49th Parallel (2004)

Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Kings of Love (1999) and Swinging from the Chains of Love (2008)

Jane Siberry, Child: Music for the Christmas Season (1997)

Books:

Northrop Frye, The Bush Garden: Essays on the Canadian Imagination (orig. ed. 1971): A List, 2017

Desmond Morton, A Short History of Canada, 7th ed. (orig. ed. 1999): McLelland and Stewart, 2017 show less