ENGL 2599

Overall, I enjoyed the topics covered in this class, and Professor Wall was an effective teacher. Throughout the course, we read various material written throughout the 18th century (Ovid, Pope, Shakespeare, Hogarth, Blake, etc.). There was a weekly commentary which was either written or presented to the class orally. There was a big emphasis on the relationships between written works and pieces of art (hence the class's title "Painting and Prose"), so classes were often structured around ekphrastic comparisons. There were several "field trips" planned throughout the semester, such as a visit to the Special Collections Library and one to the Fralin Museum, which were very interesting and fun. Pofessor Wall was extremely passionate and informed about her subject, which greatly enhanced the class. There was not an unreasonable amount of readings or written assignments. I would recommend this class for those who need to satisfy the second writing requirement. #tCFfall22

I really like the professor. She is very passionate about literature and wants to inspire that passion in her students. She is generally very forgiving when it comes to assignments and grades(idk about essay extensions but). I repeatedly submitted my commentaries late(weeks late sometimes) and she didn't seem to mind(i think). You can rewrite any essay, using the feedback she gives you, which is quite detailed. So, if you are willing to rewrite, getting an A should be relatively straightforward. I took the gothic forms version of this class, and I liked the assigned books for the most part(although some of them were not so good in my opinion, like the castle of otranto). However, the amount of reading can be pretty overwhelming, and I didn't end up reading all the books, and I suspect a lot of my classmates didn't either. The way she conducts the classes is that you have to submit a passage to her by the night before and then she will go around the class and have each person talk about their passage. I personally didn't like this that much, but it did get everyone to talk i guess. If you are taking this for just a requirement, I recommend that you have some degree of passion for literature, it ended up being a lot more work than I thought.

I loved this class. Professor Wall is extremely passionate about literature, and she explored really cool parts of the Gothic in this class. It's a seminar-style class, so we all sit in a circle. Before class, she asks you to send a passage from the reading, and she goes around and has each student analyze their passage in class. I loved this style because it let every student speak and gave you a great starting point for your essays. My passages for The Monk formed the basis for my first essay. She's also very forgiving—I missed weeks' worth of passages with no grade penalties, and she's also forgiving with late work. The only other assignment in the class (besides three essays) is weekly commentaries, where you analyze a passage of choice in about a page. I always used the same passage I sent her, and it never took me more than 30 minutes to write. The only thing I disliked about this class was that you didn't know your grade in the class until she posted it in SIS. She says that "assigning numbers to students always underestimates them," so she qualitatively determines your grade based on your effort and essays at the end of the semester. This frustrated me because I like to know where I stand in a class, but it also means she gives students higher grades than she would if she assigned a number to each assignment. Overall, this class was amazing. I hope to take another course with Professor Wall in the future.