David Yerkes

A legend. My God, I signed up for the class because I genuinely love discussing Old English but that is not what you're getting here and I am so glad for it. Yerkes is one of the most fascinating, traditionally barmy professor á la his beloved Oxford counterparts. Take this class.

the very best person, teacher and instructor you will ever encounter. Just wait and see!!

I agree with the review below this one. While Yerkes is by no means a pleasant--or even an organized--man, there are significant up sides to the course and the man teaching it. First is the workload. Our exam's cancelled and there were only three short written assignments, all in all very manageable. Of the six courses I'm taking, Yerkes' hardly feels like a course. Now I do not recommend the course for someone who wants a broad overview of the history of the English language. Yerkes likes to skip around, pick on minute topics he's interested in, etc. By the last class, we only got as far as Shakespeare's sonnets. I myself knew a little about the topic, so I was able to benefit from Yerkes' insights. His ideas, abrasive though they may be, challenged how I view this field greatly. For example, I learned that Chaucer had no long vowels or iambic pentameter, there are many things about Shakespeare's language that scholars still do not understand, manuscripts aren't the easiest thing to browse through, and so on. Lastly I want to give those considering his course a headsup. This man is very picky about what he wants to read. What he likes to read is anything that's not BS, anything with substance, an idea. Not that it's a bad thing. Throughout the semester Yerkes gave me a newfound appreciation of clarity and brevity. I'll end by saying that David taught me a lot about life, and…

the guy is brilliant. his gift for language is impressive--expect to write contemporary standard american english prose translations of shakespearean sonnets. also expect to lose every single argument ever brought up--he is convinced he is always right and there's no way to change it. yes, he's a cocky s.o.b. but again, he is funny as sh*t. expect to be amused and occassionally bored (to tears man, to tears!!!) as he often spends a solid hour on one sentence. you can come in stoned, just make sure you've done the reading, know whamean?

I hesitate to even call this a course because it had no topic, no content, and really did not even require attendance. Lacking a syllabus and constructed totally of Yerkes' random comments, this course was a complete waste of time. He assigned 2 books, one of which he never talked about one. The other was used as a tool for Yerkes to talk about what a poorly written book it was and what an idiot the author was. In my opinion, Yerkes is, at best, a mean man, but more likely he suffers from some kind of diagnosable personality disorder. His grading was wildly inconsistent and had nothing to do with the quality of the work. He had his amusing moments, but mostly he was a total jerk. This man is a prime example of why professors should not be given tenure. He might be a good scholar, but he should be kept in a padded cell away from students. Now that the theory req. for the major doesn't exist, there is absolutely no reason for anyone to subject themselves to this torturous "course."

Cocky S.O.B., but absolutely hilarious. keep your mouth shut in class and watch him rip everyone else up. he's full of trivial knowledge and obviously is extremely well-read. not overly concerned with grades - seems like one of those anti-established education types (he mocks the college admission process constantly and always laughs at the 'importance' of gpa's.) likes to give out lots of "n.g.'s" (no grade) instead of anything lower than B-. in other words, he'll tear your first few essays to shreds, but won't really penalize you. yerkes recognizes that there's nothing that he really has to cover, so his discussions are based primarily on digressions that have little to do with the reading. you can get away with not reading the novels if you BS well enough, but you might like them. in general, class atmosphere is pleasant and relaxed for everyone except the person yerkes is making fun of. its a light class, worth taking if for no other reason than to be entertained.

A lot about old english literature and beowulf in particular. But it doesn't stop there! I come out of this class every week with new knowledge that will stay with me for the rest for my life.

200-400 Words a week on whatever topic him or your classmates deem suitable.

Yerkes is a savage! You are not going to learn any Lit Hum with him, and that's fine, in my opinion. You don't need to open the books, unless you really want to read. I read as much as possible, but obviously 13 books a semester, is not very possible. Instead, Yerkes' approach, and his essays (he assigned 6) are 150-200 words, of something NEW and interesting. Focus on a word, an image something extremely specific, and do a "close reading", explain its significance. Ironically, you'll get a lot more out of this than doing the entire readings. Although he only assigned 6 "essays" during the semester, maybe forcing yourself to do one per book will prepare you for the final. Regarding exams, midterm is basically the same as the close reading essays we do, in which you take two texts and compare and contrast a very small aspect. Final, is the department final, which no one yet understands how he grades. He made it extremely clear that he doesn't care about the passage IDs. He doesn't care whether the identification is correct or false, and in fact doesn't even look at the answer sheet given by the core. Instead, he wants a good analysis. The remainder of the exam aligns nicely with the coursework he gives, especially the passage analysis essay, and the 3 novel essay -- as all the mini essays done gear you for this. Just go over the few essays you've written, and you'll be fine. Al…

No bullshit. Yerkes cuts the games and calls a lot of the whole act for what it is. This can seem abrasive but I (without realizing it before) had been waiting the whole of my schooling for someone to sit there and tell me to cut the crap. Yerkes will hold you accountable for what you say and what you write. To be really cliche but true, you will get out of the class what you put into it. The paper assignments have the ability to transform old ways of writing, thinking, and arguing, or you could throw something together the night before, though Yerkes will probably call you on it, read it to the class, and call you naive (*no names in the read-aloud but they can be amusing). In sum, for me it really was one of the best courses I've taken at Columbia.