English 2235 / Spring 2004

Final Exam / Take-Home Essay Questions

Prose / Pick One:

1.)  In the Introduction to “American Prose Since 1945,” the editors make the following statement: “In a world that would define away human dignity, writers strive to find a place for it, no matter how hard they have to search” (1961).  Write an essay in which you analyze and apply this quote to at least three (3) of the prose writers we’ve read for this exam; you can also agree or disagree with the quote, using our writers and selections as evidence to support your argument.

2.)  In the Introduction to “American Prose Since 1945,” the editors make the following statement: “The postwar period offers multiform varieties of existence, and if there is a progress to writing it is in authors’ success at finding ways to treat unique experiences in ways accessible to and enjoyable by a general readership” (1962).  Write an essay in which you analyze and apply this quote to at least three (3) of the prose writers we’ve read for this exam; you can also agree or disagree with the quote, using our writers and selections as evidence to support your argument.

3.)  What is your opinion of the choices our class made for the prose selections for this exam?  Which selections would you recommend that I use again, and why?  Which selections would you recommend that I not use again, and why?  Your essay can focus on the positive recommendations only, on the negative recommendations only, or on a mix of both.  (If you choose this option, you cannot also choose the third option below.)

Poetry / Pick One:

1.)  In the Introduction to “American Poetry Since 1945,” the editors make the following statement: “ . . . the invigorating energies of postwar American poetry would arise from diverse regions of the country, their common aim restoring poetry to a more vital relation with contemporary life” (2637).  Write an essay in which you analyze and apply this quote to at least three (3) of the poets we’ve read for this exam; you can also agree or disagree with the quote, using our writers and selections as evidence to support your argument.

2.)  In the Introduction to “American Poetry Since 1945,” the editors make the following statement: “Perhaps, then, what most characterizes poetry in the early years of this century is the absence of a single dominant style.  The heterogeneity of such poetry promises to be a defining characteristic and a strength.  Yet amid such variation in style, in format, in method, the best contemporary poems still manage to startle us with their freshness and distinctness, whether we are reading them for the first time of the tenth” (2649).  Write an essay in which you analyze and apply this quote to at least three (3) of the poets we’ve read for this exam; you can also agree or disagree with the quote, using our writers and selections as evidence to support your argument.

3.)  What is your opinion of the choices our class made for the poetry selections for this exam?  Which selections would you recommend that I use again, and why?  Which selections would you recommend that I not use again, and why?  Your essay can focus on the positive recommendations only, on the negative recommendations only, or on a mix of both.  (If you choose this option, you cannot also choose the third option above.)