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Paper Assignment
Assessment rubric and rubric with points
Citing the course pack
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During the literary studies portion of English 302, we’ll be reading carefully and looking closely at the style, characterization, structure, and other features of poetry and prose. Above all, we’ll look at the language used in each piece, since the analysis of literature—and indeed all forms of writing—depends on understanding the denotative and connotative meanings of words and their context. Broadly speaking, we’ll look at the “what,” the “who,” and the “how” of selected literary works.
To get a sense of how language use changes over time, we’ll begin with several pieces written about the same subject: the Civil War. We’ll first discuss in class a very well-known piece of nineteenth-century writing—“The Gettysburg Address”—and a portion of its less well-known counterpart, a speech given just before Lincoln’s. Our second segment looks at the ways in which speakers create a voice and context for themselves within their work, first through three poems about different wars and then with two stories written by women writers. Our last segment looks at questions of style and structure—the means that authors uses to create their effects, including endings that may surprise the reader.
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Reading Assignment |
Writing Assignment |
1/15 |
Subjects and Contexts: The "What" of a Story or Poem PowerPoint: Lincoln at Gettysburg Topic: Nineteenth-Century Reponses to the Civil War |
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1/16 |
Discussion sections: generate a list of questions for analyzing literature |
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1/17 |
PowerPoint: Twain and Alcott How to Read a Piece of Literature (brainstormed in Wednesday's class) Mark Twain, "A True Story" Louisa May Alcott, "The Brothers" |
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1/22 |
Speaker and Voice: The “Who” of a Story or Poem PowerPoint: Three Poems, Three Wars "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" |
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1/23 |
Discussion sections: Walt Whitman, “Cavalry Crossing a Ford”; Stephen Crane, “Do Not Weep, Maiden, for War is Kind” |
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1/24 |
Lorrie Moore, “How to Become a Writer” Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” |
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1/28 |
Style and Structure: The “How” of a Story or Poem PowerPoint: Lowell, "For the Union Dead" Robert Lowell reading "For the Union Dead" Margaret Atwood, “You Fit Into Me” |
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1/29 |
Discussion sections: Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour” |
Bring typed draft of paper to class |
1/30 |
Edith Wharton, "Roman Fever" |
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