English 2202
Summer 2005
Essay Assignment
Begin by picking one (1) of the three "topics" we've studied during the poetry and short fiction units -- Nature, or Love, or Death. Then, using the analytical strategy of comparison-and-contrast (C/C), discuss how poets and short story writers are similar and different in their explorations and treatments of the topic you have selected. In other words, you want to examine whether or not the genre chosen -- poetry or short fiction -- has any effect on how a writer approaches a common topic in literature. Perhaps think of your essay as an extended answer to the following question: "How are poets and short-story writers similar and different in how they write about __________ [Nature, or Love, or Death]?" Or, put another way, "How does the genre chosen -- poetry or short fiction -- influence the way authors write about __________ [ Nature, or Love, or Death]?" And, your essay might also want to address the question of why in addition to the question of how.
You do not have to refer to all of the poems and short stories we read for a particular topic. Select the poems and short stories that will best illustrate the points you want to make. Furthermore, if there is a poem or short story we read that you'd like to use, but it was not listed under the topic you chose, that's O.K. For example, if you'd like to include Louise Erdrich's poem, "A Love Medicine" (which was listed in the course reading schedule under Love), in your paper about Nature, go for it. Or, if you'd like to include Louise Erdrich's short story, "The Red Convertible" (which was listed in the schedule under Nature), in your paper about Death, go for it. The only restriction I have is that you work only with the texts listed on the schedule. (I might, however, be willing to negotiate if a text you want to use is in our anthology, but let me know before you write.)
The rough draft of your essay should be at least 3 pages long, word-processed and double-spaced. It is due on Thursday, July 28, 2005. Bring four (4) copies of your rough draft for the peer review. Remember that the peer review is required; if you miss or are not prepared for the peer review, your essay's grade will be lowered one letter. The final draft of your essay should be 3-5 pages long, word-processed and double-spaced, with 1-1.25" margins on all four sides, and formatted according to the directions discussed in class. If you quote from the poems or the short stories, do so using the MLA system discussed in class. It is due on Thursday, August 4, 2005. All I will need will be the final draft.
Here are some ideas to think about:
Examine the speakers in the poems and C/C them with the narrators in the short stories.
Are the points of view similar in the poems and short stories? For example, is first-person or third-person point of view more common? Why might this be? Or, how "present" is the author in the work? Why might this be?
Examine any people in the poems and C/C them with characters in the short stories.
Do the people in the poems and the characters in the short stories "change" or "develop" in similar ways?
Examine the settings in the poems and C/C them with the settings in the short stories.
Examine the "dramatic situations" and "progressions" in the poems and C/C them with the plots of the short stories.
Examine the specific structures of the poems and C/C them with the specific structures of the short stories.
Examine the images in the poems and C/C them with any images or scenes in the short stories.
Examine any symbols in the poems and C/C them with any symbols in the short stories.
Examine the themes of the poems and C/C them with the themes of the short stories.
Examine other literary elements, such as mood or atmosphere, vocabulary or diction used, repetitions of any kind (including rhyme, rhythm, parallelism, etc.), and any other "stylistic" elements you can think of.