Essay 1 - Assignment
DRAFT DUE THURSDAY
According to Stephen Greenblatt, "Western literature over a very long period of time has been one of the great institutions for the enforcement of cultural boundaries through praise and blame" (226). So even in poems one might expect to find implicit rules (about behavior, thought, feeling, desire) that define American culture and those who belong to it. To define a culture and its membership often involves setting up oppositions, distinguishing an "us" from a "them," a "then" from a "now," a "real" from an "ideal."
Choose one of the following topics for your essay. It should be two, typed-pages long; should be titled, divided into paragraphs (including introduction and conclusion); and should develop a clearly expressed thesis statement. Please review the first two chapters in A Short Guide to Writing About Literature for help on the discovery and drafting process. Do not use literary criticism or reviews; cite any other historical resources, dictionaries, etc. that you consult.
1. Two poems by Emily Dickinson ("Much Madness" 435 & "Wild Nights" 249) can be seen as exploring what it means to be marginalized by one's beliefs and or to confront the impossibility of acting against societal expectations. Choose one of the two poems and begin to write about it by exploring the kinds of behavior it praises and blames. What ideas about the world and social order do the poems reflect and how does the speaker accept, resist, or escape them?
2. Section 11 of Whitman's "Song of Myself" (The 29th Bather) has generally been understood as addressing the theme of contained desire. From a cultural perspective, one can read the poem to gain a specific appreciation for the kinds of "freedom of thought and movement" that were and were not acceptable in the world of 19th-century American. Look closely at the poem to analyze how the speaker accepts or challenges the social structures of the time.
3. The representative or democratic impulses behind Walt Whitman's poetics are exemplified in the final section of "Song of Myself." Examine section 52 and give an explanation of the how and why it presents a grand or "mythic" speaker. What does it imply about how literature itself might ideally have effects on the world?
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Use a readable 12-point font; double-spaced; 1-inch magins. Fasten simply with a staple. Beginning on the second page, place your last name and page number in the upper-right corner. Indent paragraphs 5 spaces/half-inch and block quotations 10-spaces (anything over three-lines in length). Use MLA in-text citation format to attribute quotations and paraphrased material. Your paper should conclude with a Works Cited page that includes any class texts utilized as well as the source information for the object of your interpretation. Do not plagiarize. (Check out the MLA Guide in the library or handouts from our Writing Center for citation format questions.)
Use the following layout:
Cheating, Plagiarism, and Collusion UTPB Policy on Scholastic Dishonesty Students are expected to be above reproach in all scholastic activities. Students who engage in scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and dismissal from the university. 'Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such acts.' Regents' Rules and Regulations, Part One, Chapter VI, Section 3, Subsection 3.2, Subdivision 3.22. Since scholastic dishonesty harms the individual, all students, and the integrity of the university, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced--Student Discipline for Scholastic Dishonesty: A Guide for Administrators, Faculty, and Hearing Officers (28). See also: www.utpb.edu/UTPB_Student/Students/StudentLife/StudentService_Other/StudentGuide/main_student_guide.htm
Scholastic Dishonesty is a serious matter. I am savvy and vigilant in detecting students who use unattributed web sources , "collaborate" with fellows students, or utilize other "clever" methods to enhance their grades. Take the grade you honestly earn on an assignment. Should a classmate attempt to use your work, refuse; I make no distinction between cheaters and those who aid them. A plagiarized assignment will earn you a zero for the assignment and referral to the Vice President for disciplinary action.