Assignment:
Literary Composition Topics
Write a total of three 500 words--or more--compositions (unified, well-developed, organized, coherent, and grammatically correct) on any of the topics provided below or a variation on any of them. If you do decide to choose a topic not listed below, be sure to contact me for approval. Be specific and use enough relevant and detailed examples to support your claims or assertions. You may use any of the works presented in the
anthologies -
see me if you wish to use a work not included in the anthology. Of the three compositions, one must incorporate research utilizing one primary source and at least three secondary sources, of which only one may be a dictionary or encyclopedia. Follow MLA format. Incidentally, do not use any of the following as a research source: Wikipedia, Cliff Notes, Monarch Notes, Spark Notes, etc.
Due Dates
Composition 1-----on or before February 11
Composition 2-----on or before March 11
Composition 3-----on or before April 15
*Note: the works listed in parenthesis ( ) after each topics are suggestions you may consider. You may substitute any work in the anthology in place of the one I listed.
Characterization
In a work, describe the differences between two characters who share approximately equal status in the story (such as Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters in) in terms of their status, backgrounds, comparative strengths of character or other qualities the characters possess or do not possess.
(Glaspell, A Jury of Her Peers / Lawrence: The Horse Dealer’s Daughter /Walker, Everyday Use)
Describe the effects of circumstance on a character in a work. You may consider characteristics such as education, family, economic and social status, geography, etc.
(Maupassant, The Necklace / Welty, A Worn Path.)
Describe the characteristics of a particular character in a work. Focus on the conflict, personality traits, background, status, or any other qualities or characteristics that are important to such elements of the work such as theme, point of view, tone, and the like. (any work in the text)
Genres / Type of Work
Compare and/ or contrast the use of the villanelle in a poem. Consider such elements as the topic(s ) being developed? Why did the poet choose the villanelle as the poetic form? What lines are repeated? What is the effect of the repetition? (Bishop, One Art / Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night)
Structure
Examine a story or poem with a surprise ending and discuss its structure. (Maupassant, The Necklace)
Irony
Discuss the use of irony in a work.
(Chopin, The Story of an Hour / Maupassant, The Necklace / Poe, The Cask of Amontillado)
Likes or Dislikes
Select a literary work from the text that you liked or disliked. Write an essay explaining your reasons for your positive or negative responses. To illustrate your argument, you may refer to other works you have read or films or TV shows you have seen.
Point of view / Narrator / Speaker
Using a work in which the narrator is the central or a major character, write an essay showing how the narrator’s language affects your attitude towards him or her--that is, your sympathy or dislike for the narrator, your interest in the narrative, your feelings towards the other characters and what they do. Be sure to emphasize the relationship between the narrator’s language and your responses.
(Bambara, The Lesson / Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge / Browning, Porphyria’s Lover or My Last Duchess / Chekhov, The Lady with the Dog /
Chopin, The Story of an Hour / Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock / Ellison, Battle Royal/ Faulkner, Barn Burning / Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown / Jackson, The Lottery, /Joyce, Araby/ Mansfield, Miss Brill/ Maupassant, The Necklace /
O’Connor, First Confession / Poe, The Black Cat or The Cask of Amontillado or The Fall of the House of Usher / Porter, The Jilting of Granny Weatherall / Steinbeck, The
Chrysantheums / / Tan, Two Kinds / Updike, A&P / Walker, Everyday Use / Welty, œA Worn Path )
Discuss the speaker in a poem or two or more poems by the same poet which share a similar theme or subject matter in regards to characteristics, observations, insights, and philosophy. (Wordsworth, Keats, Robinson, Dickinson, Shakespeare,Frost, Shelley, Eliot,Whitman)
Setting
Describe the function of or use of setting in a work. (Arnold, Dover Beach / Eliot, Maupassant, The Necklace), The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock / Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening /Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown / Poe, The Cask of
Amontillado or The Fall of the House of Usher or Poe, The Masque of the Red Death)
Symbolism / Allegory
Discuss the use of symbols in a work.
( Ellison, Battle Royal / Jackson, The Lottery / Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown / Maupassant, The Necklace, Keats, Shelley )
Discuss the use of allegory in a work. (Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown)
Structure
Discuss the structure of a work.
(Arnold, DoverBeach / Ellison, Battle Royal / Updike, A & P)
Style
Write about the use of style in a work - consider such elements as thewriter’s word choices, use of figurative language, the structure and length of the sentences, the language of the characters (formal or informal diction, slang, etc.), the use of noteworthy rhetorical devices, or any other characteristics of importance to the telling of the story.
(Updike,A & P)
Theme
Discuss the treatment of a particular theme.
Carpe diem theme
Marvell,To His Coy Mistress/ Herrick, To the Virgins
Contrasts between appearance and reality
Robinson, Richard Cory
Domestic violence
Glaspell,A Jury of Her Peers or Trifles
Economic issues:
Jackson, The Lottery / Maupassant, The Necklace /
Cisneros, The House on Mango Street
Faith and Doubt
Arnold, Dover Beach
Inequality
Bambara, The Lesson
Nature of Death
Dickinson, Because I Could Not Stop for Death / Donne, Death Be Not Proud /
Hardy, The Man He Killed/ Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
Romanticism: Nature:
Poetry of Wordsworth or Coleridge
Spirituality
Donne, Arnold
War
Hardy, Jarrell, O’Brien, Owen,
Mutability and Immutability
Shakespeare, Sonnet 55: Not Marble, nor the Gilded Monuments
Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn
Tone
Discuss the function of tone in a work.
(Chopin, The Story of an Hour / Maupassant, The Necklace)