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Women's Literature

All the author ladies.

  • Course Length: 18 weeks
  • Course Type: Elective
  • Category:
    • English
    • Literature
    • High School

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Shmoop's Women's Literature course has been granted a-g certification, which means it has met the rigorous iNACOL Standards for Quality Online Courses and will now be honored as part of the requirements for admission into the University of California system.

Shmoop loves Shakespeare. We really do. We also love Geoffrey Chaucer, T.S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, James Joyce, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Dickens…zzzzzz.

Oh sorry, we fell asleep thinking about a bunch of dudes.

Our point? About 51% of the population is missing when we only study male authors. This course will show you that there's a whole different side to the story. We'll follow female writers from the Middle Ages to the present, and see if and how literature looks different through a lady's eyes.

Required Skills

  • An understanding of basic poetry concepts like meter and rhyme
  • Some experience reading and writing about both poetry and prose
  • A basic understanding of literary concepts like themes and symbols

Unit Breakdown

1 Women's Literature - Miss Medieval

This unit will start with Ovid's Heroides and then cruise on over to the Medieval Period, where we'll run into ladies like Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, and Christine de Pizan.

2 Women's Literature - Women Who Rocked the World

In this unit, we'll be looking at these three women who rocked their worlds, through Phillis Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religious, and Morals, Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

3 Women's Literature - A Novel Idea

Time to hit up the Victorians and the Romantics with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, and Louisa May Alcott's Little Women.

4 Women's Literature - Freedom for All

The women of this unit—Sojourner Truth, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Jacobs, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman—offer all sorts of answers to the question: what does it mean to be free?

5 Women's Literature - Hear Us Roar

This unit will tackle The Woman's Bible by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, and A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf.

6 Women's Literature - Browning, Dickinson, and Cather, Oh My

You guessed it. In this unit, we've got Willa Cather, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Emily Dickinson.

7 Women's Literature - It's Complicated

We're square in the 20th century, and with it comes some names you might recognize: Zora Neale Hurston, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and Maya Angelou.

8 Women's Literature - Women's Lit After Women's Lib

In this unit, we'll be looking at some more contemporary female writers—including Toni Morrison, Adrienne Rich, Margaret Atwood, and Tina Fey—and seeing what they have to say about life as a lady.


Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 0.06: Poet's Corner

In the event of an emergency, her collar doubled as a floatation device with a whistle and a light for attracting attention.
(Source)

Get ready to be impressed. In this lesson, we'll meet Aemilia Lanyer and Mary Sidney Herbert, two English noblewomen around in the Renaissance who knew a thing or two about writing.

Mary Sidney Herbert (sister to Sir Philip Sidney of Arcadia fame) hung around some of the leading poets of her day. She even had a book club with Michael Drayton, Samuel Daniel, Edmund Spenser, Sir Philip Sidney, and Sir John Davies. The topic of these little soirees? Poetry, politics, religion, and who they were going to patronize next. Plenty of scholars think Mary was the muse for more than one of the men in the group. But she did more than just inspire—she created her own poems, too. Fancy that.

Another noblewoman, Aemilia Lanyer, was romantically involved with Queen Elizabeth I's cousin, Henry Carey. After she had Carey's child, Aemilia married Alfonso Lanier, who just happened to be the queen's musician. Our point? She definitely rubbed elbows with some of the country's most eligible and elite bachelors (and married gents for that matter). On top of that, Lanyer was the first woman in England to declare herself a poet. When she was 42 years old, she published a volume of her own stuff to prove herself. It talked lots of Big Deal Topics including religion, virtue, and the mistreatment of women.

These two are ladies to be reckoned with. And reckon with them, we shall.

Let's get to it.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading .0.06: Renaissance Style

Don't take our word for it. Check out the poetry chops of these ladies by checking them out for yourself. First, we'll introduce you to the lyrical musings of Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, in Psalm 58 Si Vere Utique and "To the Angel Spirit of the Most Excellent Sir Philip Sidney."

When you're done, head on over to see what Aemilia Lanyer has to say in "To the Doubtful Reader,", "To the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty," and "To the Virtuous Reader."

Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 0.06: Dear Diary

Morph yourself into Mary Sidney Herbert or Aemilia Lanyer. Don't worry, no wigs or costumes needed. Just follow your steps.

  1. Choose which woman you'll embody.

  2. Answer the following questions from that woman's perspective:

    1. What emotions, concerns, fears, hopes, and thoughts does she have? Heavy, we know.
    2. What are her most poignant personality traits? Get creative.
    3. What is the reason for her writing?

  3. Now imagine she is sitting down to her desk and thinking about her day. What would she say? Well, she'd probably write a poem, right? So we want you to write your own poem, as if you were a Renaissance woman. You can talk about anything you want, but make sure you're thinking about it from Lanyer or Herbert's perspective.

Creative Written Representation Rubric - 25 Points

OutstandingProficientDevelopingNeeds Improvement
Content Understanding

All content is accurate and presentation reflects sophisticated understanding.

(10)

All content is accurate.

(9)

May contain minor errors.

(8)

Major errors.

(7)
Understanding of Genre

Uses conventions of genre to enhance message.

(5)

Accurately follows conventions of genre.

(4)

Mostly follows conventions of genre.

(4)

Does not follow conventions of genre.

(3)
Creativity

Presentation is very creative, bringing additional levels of interpretive depth, while remaining true to original text or topic.

(7)

Presentation is creative and goes beyond original meaning of text while remaining true to original text or topic.

(5)

Presentation shows minimal creativity or is very creative, but doesn’t retain all original characteristics of original.

(5)

Presentation is not creative or deviates greatly from characteristics of original.

(4)
Style

Language is clear and interesting. Enhances presentation of information. No errors.

(3)

Language is clear and appropriate to topic. Minor spelling or grammatical errors.

(2)

Language is occasionally unclear, but meaning is generally understandable. Frequent spelling/grammar errors that do not impede comprehension.

(2)

Language use makes writing very difficult to understand. Frequent spelling or grammar errors that impede comprehension.

(2)