This course is an introduction to the infinite possibilities and pleasures of literature. We will, first and foremost, consider a selection of contemporary novels, classic texts, and short stories individually and in relation to each other. These considerations will be of a literary, social, historical, and personal nature. Through these analyses, students will have the opportunity to improve their writing, reading, and speaking skills, learning to critically interpret and articulate their own ideas effectively in careful inquiry and personal response to the topics at hand. Further, the class is a unique chance for the entire grade to learn about and from each other over the course of the year, getting to know one another personally and intellectually in their first year at the school.

This English II section, entitled “Speaking Truth to Power,” will explore the meanings of the words “truth” and “power.” Who decides what is true? If all information contains bias, then how do we decipher truth? How does power affect our access to truth? Authors and writers have the power to create and present truthful narratives that illuminate the many ways of seeing and interacting with our world. Through critical reading and writing, exploratory projects, and group discussion, students will sharpen their skills as truth-tellers. We will explore the works of authors including James Baldwin, Elie Wiesel, Nayyirah Waheed, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Arundhati Roy, Alison Bechdel, Octavia Butler, and more.

The class will read Tolstoy’s War and Peace over the course of the fall term. Daily discussions will consider the rich emotional and moral world that Tolstoy uniquely creates. In the first half of the term, there will be weekly in-class writing assignments. Later in the fall, students will write an original short story that will include some Tolstoian themes and techniques. A major expository essay on the novel will be due before the December vacation. Reading for the rest of the year will be determined later in the fall. In past years, the class has read non-fiction as well as fiction in the winter, including works by Sigmund Freud, Primo Levi, and D.H. Lawrence. The spring has often focused on drama and poetry.

Seniors will choose one of two electives offered each semester, each taught by a different teacher. These courses will continue to develop, on a more advanced level, many of the theoretical and aesthetic ideas explored in the previous three years. Student writing, class reading, and discussion are at the center of the courses.

THE ART OF LOSING 
The Art of Losing

It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

–Elizabeth Bishop, “One Art”

How do writers—even masters of the craft—wrestle language into a form that can describe significant personal loss? What tools are at the disposal of a writer who is grieving? This class will examine various texts—personal essays, poems, memoir and autobiography—to explore this question. We’ll read writers who look at death by juxtaposing it against something else: Cheryl Strayed, who pairs the death of her mother with the beginning of her heroin addiction, and James Baldwin, who examines his father’s death alongside the Harlem race riots. We’ll a read a book that approaches death by breaking all the rules, even blurring the lines between fact and fiction: Dave Eggers’ memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, in which Eggers chronicles his experiences raising his 8-year-old brother after the sudden deaths of both his parents. Finally, we’ll see where a writer’s tools seem to fail, where death can only be discussed through fragmentation and the breakdown of form: Joan Didion’s Blue Nights, about the death of the author’s daughter. Throughout the semester, students will work on creative pieces that experiment with juxtaposition, rule-breaking, fragmentation, and other tools that can stretch our own abilities with the written word.

ON THE MARGINS: REBELS, OUTLIERS, AND OUTCASTS 

In this senior English seminar we will be looking at books about those who live at the margins of society. Starting with short stories and moving on to novels and plays, we will read works that examine, expose, even celebrate those on the edges: immigrants, dreamers, fanatics, prophets, the oppressed. The primary texts for the course will be The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka (the bizarre tale of a man who becomes a cockroach), Wise Blood, by Flannery O’Connor (a Southern Gothic text so strange it boggles the mind), The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz (a wild, exuberant, and sad novel about a self-described “ghetto nerd” from the Dominican Republic), and the play Angels in America, by Tony Kushner (an epic and elegiac “gay fantasia in five acts”). We will be focusing not just on content but also on technique: how do these writers write their stories? How do their choices affect meaning? etc. Students will also be doing a lot of their own writing, both in and out of class. We will have frequent in-class creative and expository exercises as well as longer out-of-class papers that are both creative and analytical.

Buxton offers three levels of ESL classes aimed at improving students’ speaking, listening, reading and writing skills with instruction in grammar and vocabulary. Advanced ESL is a TOEFL prep course in the fall and an advanced ESL conversational class in the later terms. ESL students also take the corresponding English class based on grade level.

Beginning ESL aims to improve the students’ speaking, listening, writing, and reading skills through contextualized materials that incorporate grammar and vocabulary. Based on students’ interests and needs, possible topics include holidays, culture, food, media, movies, music, politics, various sciences, and so on. Regular assignments include oral presentations, keeping journals, and summarizing and responding to news articles.

Intermediate ESL continues to address the four skills (speaking, listening, writing, and reading) and integrates grammar and vocabulary with emphasis on reading and writing. Students are exposed to different types of texts, such as poetry, short stories, news/magazines articles, diaries, blog posts, and so on. Regular assignments include short essays, oral presentations, keeping journals, and summarizing and responding to news articles.

Advanced ESL, for seniors, is a TOEFL Prep course in the Fall, and becomes an advanced ESL conversational class in Winter and Spring.

ESL students also take the corresponding English class (I, II, III) based on grade level.

What does poetry have to do with queerness? What can we learn about the history of gender and sexuality from poetry? How have queer poets used their voices in the face of oppression? How has poetry galvanized queer communities and helped people envision new ways of being? These are some of the questions we will explore in this survey of LGBTQ+ poets, from the ancient world to the present day. Our study will take us from the island of Lesbos in Ancient Greece to the modernist salons of Gertrude Stein to the rich field of contemporary poetry. We’ll read celebrated poets like Walt Whitman, Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg, and Audre Lorde, as well as contemporary poets like Danez Smith, Eileen Myles, C.A. Conrad, and Jericho Brown. This class will provide a safe space for students to explore their identities and write poetry alongside and inspired by queer poets.

In this class students will explore what makes a poem a poem. As a class we will read and explore poets from around the world. We will explore form and engage in daily workshops of our own original work. The semester will culminate in a final portfolio of complete and finished work. Living in Massachusetts we are so close to so many literary places, there will be a few trips during the semester where we visit the homes of poets long since passed.

Daily Themes is a creative writing class for juniors and seniors. Everyone will write super-short stories almost daily (four per week). There will be a general theme for each week, and creative prompts for each day. In response to the prompts, each student will write a short short story, or a micro-narrative, or a piece of flash fiction (all names for the same great style of writing). The motto of the class is: 250 words a day, good or not. The class has more than one instructor so that we can split up twice a week for small-group editing and individual attention. There will be no out-of-class reading and no other homework for this class. It is a writing-intensive course, designed to help all levels of upperclassman practice and improve their writing.