Assignments

English 1102: English Composition II, Spring 2010

Section 06 (CRN 20188): MW 2:00-3:15PM, Arts & Sciences 340B

Section 07 (CRN 20189): MW 3:30-4:45PM, Arts & Sciences 340B

In Class Activities

1. The Most Important Passage: Character, Conflict, Theme

Divide into six groups of three or four to discuss the one assigned issue. Prove your interpretation with a close reading of a significant passage. Elect a secretary to record your group's responses.

  1. Speaker/Persona and Tone (Schilb and Clifford 139): Who is the speaker and how does she feel about love?
  2. Diction and Syntax (139-40): Examine the most important words in the poem. What is their denotation, connotation, and what do they contribute to the overall tone and theme of love?
  3. Figures of Speech (140): Does the poem have and similes, metaphors, or symbols? If so, what are they and what do they contribute to the issue of love?
  4. Theme: What does the poem say about love?

2. The Elements of Poetry

Divide into six groups of three or four to discuss the one assigned issue. Proving your interpretation with a close reading of a significant passage. Elect a secretary to record your group's responses.

  1. Speaker/Persona and Tone (Schilb and Clifford 139): Who is the speaker and how does she feel about love?
  2. Diction and Syntax (139-40): Examine the most important words in the poem. What is their denotation, connotation, and what do they contribute to the overall tone and theme of love?
  3. Figures of Speech (140): Does the poem have and similes, metaphors, or symbols? If so, what are they and what do they contribute to the issue of love?
  4. Theme: What does the poem say about love?

3. Thesis Revision

Dartmouth provides an excellent handout on developing a thesis: a good thesis will make a debateable claim, control the paper's argument, and structure the paper. Today's let's evaluate and revise some theses from the close reading paper.

 

Section 06 2:00PM

 

The reader can read this poem and take what is from the mere surface, or the reader can try and read between the lines, in a sense, to try and understand what and why these characters do exactly what it is that they do.

 

Warren does this to give the reader a feeling that they are watching the poem from a far and to show the boy’s inner thoughts and feelings.

 

The poem “True Love” by Ai is a poem about lust and love and how the two feelings create different emotions within one’s mind .

 

Her husband’s numerous attempts to morph her into the stereotypical female role lead her into a delusional state.

 

Through the story of two lovers who find a reluctant love through sex, Ai's “True Love” reinforces the idea that people cannot control their own emotions.

 

Section 07 3:15PM

 

One only needs to look at The Company of Wolves to see a reflection on how values have changed in our society.

 

The speaker has a very cynical view of true love at the beginning of the poem, seeing it as something that is impractical or unnecessary, that based on lines in the poem could be attributed to them having been in a bad relationship, having had true love once but lost it, or never having experiencing true love. However, at the same time lines towards the end of the poem also seem to hint that the speaker actually is holding on to the hope that true love does exist and they will experience it one day.

 

Although revenge seems necessary to heal the negative effects created by an injustice, ultimately it creates more conflict, underlying this story’s theme that justice is never truly served by revenge.

 

The main point of this whole story was for Matt to seek justice for what had happened to his son.

 

Whether portrayed by the murder committed by Richard Strout or by Matt Fowler, Andre Dubus’ Killings iterates the theme that a love lost to revenge breeds more revenge, and revenge destroys the enactor of it.

4. Making Arguments about Literature

The first paper asked you to make a claim about the work's theme based on close reading of a passage or stanza. That paper emphasized interpretation and analysis, breaking down the textual evidence to illuminate meaning. Today, we're going to practice making claims (48-50) regarding issues of theme (43) by breaking into 6 small groups to discuss Boyle's "The Love of My Life" and Cheever's "The Swimmer." Groups 1, 2, and 3 will answer the following questions for Boyle's story, Groups 4, 5, and 6 for Cheever's.

  1. First, objectively sketch the main character(s) traits and core conflicts. Next, judge their actions and decisions. Be sure to note group members differences of opinion, their debate.
  2. First, neutrally describe the story's main idea(s)? What argument does the the work of literature make regarding how to live one's life? Next, how do individual group members evaluate that theme? Is there any difference or debate in how individual group members judge the theme?

5. Reading a Long Poem

Since we've practiced close reading of short poems, let us now analyze long poems. Divide into groups of two and answer the following questions assigned to your group regarding Carruth's "The Asylum" or Snodgrass's "Heart's Needle."

  1. Briefly stated, what happens in the overall poem? What is the poem generally about?
  2. More specifically, what literally and narratively happens in your assigned section of the poem?
  3. What is significant in terms of figurative language, symbolism, and conflicts in your assigned section of the poem? What is the main idea of your assigned section?

6. Beginning to Read a Novel

While short stories generally constitute a focused study of a singular conflict, novels are more expansive and wide-ranging in their topics and themes; they require more of the reader to sew the various threads together.

 

Last week, we broke down two long poems into understandable parts and worked as a class to comprehend the organic whole. We're going to do the same thing for the first day of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Break into six groups of three or four and discuss the issue assigned to your group. Find at least one quotation that illustrates your response.

  1. Epigraphs: What do the Fantastic Four quotation and the Derek Walcott poem suggest about the key issues in the novel you're about to read?
  2. Narrator and Tone: Who is the narrator and what is his attitude toward his subject matter (Dominican Republic, fanboys, Oscar)? Why does—or what is the effect of—the narrator changing to the first-person Lola in Chapter 2 Wildwood?
  3. Cultural Context—the Dominican Republic: What do typical Americans think about the Dominican Republic? What does the narrator tell us? What is the fukú?
  4. Cultural Context—Science Fiction: What is a nerd or fanboy? What was the general attitude toward nerds in the 1980s when the story takes place? What is your 2010 attitude toward fanboys? What is the narrator's and/or novel's attitude toward them in general, and Oscar in particular?
  5. High School and Adolescence—Oscar: Describe Oscar's high school/adolescent experiences. What is his issue with girls?
  6. High School and Adolescence—Lola: Describe Lola's high school/adolescent experiences. What is her issue with her mother?

7. Brainstorming Paper 2

I asked you to think about two works of literature on which you might want to write your second paper. Today, you're going to spend 15 minutes brainstorming topics regarding those two works.

  1. Analysis: What do you find meaningful and significant in the first work?
  2. Evaluation: In what ways do you agree with the first work's ideas? How/where do you disagree? What ideas do you criticize or judge in the work?
  3. Repeat 1 and 2 for the second work of literature.

8. Composing a Thesis and/or an Outline for Paper 2

During the last class, you brainstormed analysis and evaluation for two works of literature. During this class, you should compose either an introduction and thesis or an outline or both. For the next half hour, write

  1. either a rough outline for Paper 2, i.e., an outline of your analytical interpretation and evaluative critique of the selected work of literature,
  2. or an introduction and thesis statement that not only interprets the work but also evaluates it, that not only makes a debateable claim but also guides and structures your paper's argumentative analysis
  3. or both, time permitting.

9. Brainstorming a Research Paper Topic

  1. Brainstorm a few works of literature that you might write about (poems or poetry books, short stories or novels, plays).
    • Are there any works of literature that we've read in class that you are interested in analyzing and researching further but which you have not previously written a formal essay on?
    • Are there any authors we've read in class that you are interested in reading more work from?
    • Are there any works of literature that you've either heard about or read outside of class that you are interested in reading and learning more about?
  2. Now that you have a few works of literature to choose from, brainstorm possible issues to analyze.
    • Why do you like (or dislike) the text? What about it speaks to you, or seems significant?
    • Is there a particular passage that sticks out at you as especially significant?
    • Are there any questions you have about the text? Is there anything that doesn't make sense? Is there any issue that isn't fully resolved in your mind after you finished reading the text?
    • What are the main issues for the primary characters? What are the core conflicts of the work? What are some of the themes and ideas?
  3. Now that you have a few texts with a few themes, check to see which texts are researchable, that is, which texts can you find 5 scholarly journal articles and 5 books/book chapters addressing using the Literary Research Methods handout.

10. Finding Scholarly Criticism

Here's a rough schedule for the writing process of your research project:

Today, we're going to learn how to conduct Literary Research Methods and you're going to find scholarly criticism to incorporate into your paper. Those without laptops should pair up with those that do. No one may leave class early.

 

Make a list of 10 resources and the databases where you located them:

  1. Find 2-3 books or book chapters in GIL that discuss your primary text
  2. Find 2-3 books or book chapters in GIL Express
  3. Find 1 scholarly journal article in Academic Search Complete
  4. Find 1 scholarly journal article in Research Library
  5. Find 1 scholarly journal article in Literature Online Reference Edition
  6. Find 1 scholarly journal article in Literary Reference Center
  7. Find 1 scholarly journal article in MLA International Bibliography

If you cannot find a resource in a particular database, note that on your list and find more resources in another database.

11. Norman's 'night, Mother: Rationalizing Suicide

To begin our discussion of our final play, let's break into groups of 4 to discuss the following issues. Be sure to find passages to support your responses.

  1. What are Jessie's reasons for killing herself?
  2. What are Mama's reasons for Jessie not to kill herself?
  3. What is Mama's role in her family of her husband and Jessie? What is responsibility and/or culpability, if any, in Jessie's decision to kill herself?
  4. What is Jessie's role in her family of Cecil, Ricky, and Mama? What duty or responsibility, if any, does she have to her family?
  5. Compare and contrast Antigone and Jessie's reasons for suicide. In your personal ethical world view, are either of these actions justified or moral?

Reading Journal

10-12 1 page (approximately 350 word) reading journal entries will explore literature and and how it applies to life. You may either keep a handwritten or electronic journal, but be sure to bring hard copies to every class. Entries with assigned dates are due at the beginning of class; because the purpose of these entries is to prepare for class and generate class discussion, late entries will not be accepted.

  1. To Be Collected Wednesday, January 20: In approximately 350 words, respond to one of the day's assigned poems (Bishop, Kinnell, O'Hara, Rich, or Rilke), addressing what the poem makes you think about identity and one's relationship with the world in general, and your life in particular.
  2. To Be Collected Wednesday, January 27: In approximately 350 words, respond to one of the day's assigned poems (Ai, Klug, Olds, Szymborska, Warren), addressing what the poem makes you think about the nature of love in general, and your love relationships in particular.
  3. To Be Written Monday, February 1: In approximately 350 words, respond to the issue of confinement found in Kafka or Gilman.
  4. To Be Written by Wednesday, February 17: In approximately 350 words, respond to the ideas and themes of either one of the deer poems, Updike's "A&P," or Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been."
  5. To Be Written by Wednesday, February 24: In approximately 350 words, respond to the issues of either Boyle's "The Love of My Life" or Cheever's "The Swimmer."
  6. To Be Collected Wednesday, March 3: In approximately 350 words, respond to the assigned long poems. Note: Your entire reading journal (all six entries) will be collected on March 3.
  7. To Be Written by Wednesday, March 10: In approximately 350 words, respond to the ideas and themes of the first 166 pages of Diaz.
  8. To Be Written by Wednesday, March 17: In approximately 350 words, respond to the ideas and themes of the final half of Diaz.
  9. To Be Written in class on Monday, April 5 : In approximately 350 words, respond to either Antigone's or Creon's moral sense of justice in Sophocles's Antigone. Do you agree with his or her moral system, and why? Have you or would you ever defy a rule that conflicted with your conscience, and why?
  10. To Be Collected Wednesday, April 14: In approxmiately 350 words, respond to Norman's 'night, Mother. What do you think of Jessie's reasoning? What do you think of Mama's response? Note: Your entire reading journal (all 10 entries) will be collected on April 14.

Peer Response

Goals

The dual goals of this course are for you to read and write about literature in a variety of manners. Informal writing and formal papers allow you to analyze the texts. Peer response sessions extend the reading and writing process by allowing you and your peers to engage in direct oral and written dialogue about matters of composition and interpretation, with the ultimate goal of improving your formal papers. You have the opportunity to revise your first two formal papers based upon comments by your peers and professor. You will provide constructive criticism to 2 or 3 other members of the class as will they to you.

Note: If a group member does not submit her paper in .doc or .rtf format at least two days before the peer response session, the rest of the group is not responsible for responding to her paper.

Peer Response Groups

Written Peer Response

Answer the following questions as you formulate your one page, 300-350 word, typed, double-spaced response to each peer's paper. Because these peer response papers and sessions help your peers revise their papers and thus improve their grade, it is very important that you offer the best constructive criticism in the strongest possible terms, both in writing and in the group meeting. Do not simply say that a peer's paper is okay. Even if you find no problems, engage a dialogue with the paper's interpretation.

Verbal Peer Response

In the peer response meeting, group members will share their responses in verbal form. Writers take turns listening to their group members review their work. Specifically, the writer should read the first page of her paper aloud; and then the group should go around the circle and address the following issues. The process should take 7-10 minutes per writer and last 35-50 minutes depending on the size of the group.

Paper 1 Close Reading

We have discussed Pavlova, Bishop, Rich (section 06 only) Rilke (section 07 only), Carter, Dubus, Kureshi, Kafka, and Gilman at length in class. You have written about some of these works in your reading journal, but only informally and tentatively. Now is your opportunity to rigorously analyze a work of literature. For the first formal paper, write a four-page essay that either 1) explicates, line-by-line, a short poem assigned on the syllabus, being sure to illuminate, through nuanced reading of figurative language, diction, connotation, and symbol, how the central tensions, ambiguities, and contradictions constitute a cohesive theme or 2) examines the most important passage in one of the short stories we have read so far, interpreting it sentence-by-sentence through nuanced reading of figurative language, diction, connotation, and symbol, and arguing its centrality to the core conflicts, character, and overall theme of the story. In other words, using either this short poem or this short story key passage, you should write a paper that interprets the universal theme of the work by explicating the fundamental conflicts within the particular lines of text. Your essay should be driven by a thesis that argues the work's theme and logically organized by close reading of the text: unpack the tension and conflict, connotation and diction, idea and theme.

 

1. Pick any poem or short story on the syllabus up to February 1.

2. Do a close reading/textual analysis of the poem or key story passage that explicates particular, significant words and lines.

3. Interpret the key conflict and overall theme/meaning/idea of the work of literature.

 

Note: You will write at least one draft of this paper and have the option of revising. The first draft, which will also be reviewed by your peers, will be given a tentative grade. If you choose to revise, the second draft grade will replace the first. If you earn an F on the first draft, you must revise, otherwise you will fail the course.

Paper 2 Evaluating an Idea

The first paper required you to first perform a close textual analysis of a short poem or passage from a short story and articulate the core conflict and theme of the work. In the second paper, pick a new work of literature, anything we've read so far on the syllabus except what you wrote your first paper on. You will not only interpret a work of literature as you did in the first paper but also make an argument about it. You could analyze a character and then evaluate her. For instance, you could first examine Oates's Connie's core conflict and trajectory and then judge her character and choices. You could explain a work's idea or theme and then judge it. For example, you could think through the moral of Stafford's "Travelling through the Dark" and then agree or disagree with it. In other words, what do you find meaningful in the work of literature, and how do you regard that meaning in terms of your personal ethics or world view? While the first paper asked you to make a claim about the meaning of the work, this paper requires you to make not only an interpretive claim but also an argument about the work's import.

Paper 3 Critical Summary or Staged Reading

Critical Summary Option : In three pages, review the 10 works of scholarly criticism you are finding for your final research paper (approximately 5 books/book chapters and 5 scholarly journal articles). Very briefly summarize what the articles are arguing and discuss how they will or will not be useful in supporting your argument. Feel free to categorize and find connections among articles when more than one are dealing with similar topics. The goal of this paper is summarizing criticism rather than composing a thesis-driven analysis. You must include a Works Cited page of all research articles if you choose this option.

 

Staged Reading Option: In three pages, discuss the meaning of the scene you chose to perform as well as the acting choices you made in conveying that meaning to the audience.

Paper 4 Research Paper

In the first formal paper, you analyzed a particular passage, and in the second paper you not only analyzed but also evaluated a character or theme. For the research paper, select a work of literature, either one discussed in class but which you have not previously written a formal paper on, one available in our textbook, or one of your choice; and, after clearing it with me, write an in depth analysis and interpretation of an issue (some meaning that is in dispute, some interpretation that is open to debate, or a key conflict in the text) in the work integrating at least 4 works of scholarly criticism (journal articles, books, and book chapters) to provide support or counterargument. The threefold emphasis of this paper is your thoughtful evaluation of the issue at work in the text via rigorous analysis of the text and the use the secondary sources to aid your interpretation and critical judgment.

Schedule of the Writing Process

Week
Task
Week 13

brainstorm and select work of literature to research

begin reading work of literature
Week 14

finish reading work of literature (select quotes for textual analysis)

decide on possible research topics/questions

find and order at least 5 scholarly journals articles in Galileo and 5 books/book chapters in GIL/GIL Express/Illiad
Week 15

read and annotate scholarly criticism (select quotes for incorporation into your analysis and evaluation)

compose thesis and outline paper
Week 16

draft paper

share draft and receive feedback from a couple of readers
Finals

revise and submit paper

Optional Conference

Wednesday, April 28

A&S 330

2:00

Patrick Kelly

2:10

Kayla Foley

2:20

Brad Williams

2:30

Anna Evert

2:40

Danielle Mullen
2:50

Capucine Davis
3:00

Cami Byrd

3:30

Dee Dee Granderson

3:40

Abbie Walters

3:50

Keri Lynn Johnson

4:00
4:10

Erica Wright

4:20
4:30

Monday, May 3

A&S 330

2:30

Amanda Griscti

2:40

Margaret Helms

2:50

Kayla King

3:00

Anna Evert
3:30

Charles Reeves

3:40

Ariel Vaillafane

3:50

Joseph Varner

4:00

Caitlin Harrington-Robinson

Tuesday, May 4

Blackbird

12:00-2:00

open office hours

Thursday, May 6

Blackbird

12:00-2:00

open office hours

 

© Alex E. Blazer 2025