Write a 500-750 word essay on one of the following topics. The word count does not include formatting or the works cited page.
- Write a critical analysis of one of the works from weeks 1 or 2. An overview of approaches can be found here, but many are quite straightforward. Psychological, gender, sociological, biographical, and historical are all approaches that many use naturally in viewing a work. However, if your interest lies elsewhere, feel free to choose another approach.
- Compare and contrast two of the stories from weeks 1 and 2. Be sure that you have isolated a strong and debatable thesis on which to build the essay. Simply pointing out the differences is not analysis. Toward that end, you may want to focus on a specific element of the stories.
1. Emily Dickinson,” I’m Nobody! Who Are You?” http://www.favoritepoem.org/poem_ImNobodyWhoareyou288.html
2. Walt Whitman: Author Bio
3. Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”
4. Walt Whitman, “A Noiseless Patient Spider”
Mark Twain: Author Bio
Mark Twain War Prayer
Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Author Bio
Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The Yellow Wallpaper:
Robert Frost: Author Bio
Robert Frost: “Mending Wall”
Edwin Arlington Robinson: Author Bio
Edwin Arlington Robinson: Richard Cory
Edwin Arlington Robinson: Miniver Cheevy
Edith Wharton: Author Bio
Edith Wharton: Roman Fever
http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/tomsawye/mtbadboy.html
- If there’s an aspect of the stories from these two weeks that particularly interests you, you may choose your own topic, but you must run it by me first to be sure it is headed in an analytical direction.
Your essay should be formatted in MLA style, including double spacing throughout. All sources should be properly cited both in the text and on a works cited page. As with most academic writing, this essay should be written in third person. Please avoid both first person (I, we, our, etc.) and second person (you, your)
