Date Due: Wednesday, October 1 at the beginning of class
Essay Length: At least 2 and no more than 3 pages
Be sure to respond to the topic, but try not to feel overly limited by it. If you believe that your argument is deviating substantially from the topic, you should check with me before proceeding.
Background
The readings for the first two weeks have presented two very different types of poetry. We began by looking at Wordsworth’s contributions to the 1798 Lyrical Ballads, along with his famous statement on reforming poetic language and poetic subjects. Then we turned to a very different kind of poetry that seemed diametrically opposed to Wordsworth’s reformist ideas, more akin to the “sickly German tragedies” he criticizes in the famous preface. For this short paper, I would like you to focus on a short section from one of Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads poems.
Topic
Write an essay in which you carefully examine a short passage taken from one of Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads in order to argue for a particular way of reading (i.e. interpreting) the poem.
Instructions
1. Choose one very short poem or a short section of a poem as your focus. While the poem can be any length, your examination should focus on a short passage of 10-15 contiguous lines.
2. You can choose any Wordsworth poem from the list of assigned readings for the first class meeting.
3. Type out your passage and print out two copies—one you will mark up carefully as you prepare to write your paper; the other “clean copy” you will attach to the finished paper.
4. Work from the details of the text and employ “critical reading.” A critical reading is an examination of a passage in detail—line by line, sentence by sentence, thought by thought. On the basis of what you find, you should present a unified thesis or reading of the text.
5. Be sure to focus your argument well, using evidence from the text itself to support a clearly articulated thesis. Avoid generalities and don’t be afraid of the specific details of the text. Remember that the text is your friend.
6. Consider taking early drafts of your paper to the University Writing Center or arrange with someone in class to exchange papers for peer review.
7. Be sure to proofread your essays carefully, and consider giving your paper to a friend or classmate for proofreading. Also read your paper out loud to yourself before completing a final draft—make sure it sounds like spoken English and not like paper-ese. Try for an easy, graceful, but not overly casual writing style; assume a reader who knows the text, but has not memorized every detail.
8. Remember essays are never finished, only abandoned when we run out of time.