Composition 2: Literature as Salvation?

Paper Two Prompt: Poetry (20% of Final Grade)

Paper two can be collaborative in nature. You will be assigned a famous poet at random, and your job will be to write a piece of topical/historical criticism on that poet and at least three of his or her poems.

Furthermore, other students will have the same poet randomly assigned to them, so I encourage you all to work together, share sources, offer feedback, etc. In most academic papers you are asked to work almost entirely alone, but, for this paper, I want you all to collaborate.

I suggest beginning this paper by reading pages 1569-1570 of your textbook. Begin by understanding the differences between the types of topical/historical criticism you may engage in. There are several types of historical criticism, but three of the primary ones are biographical, historical, and cultural. In short, biographical criticism uses the life and experiences of the poet in order to determine the meaning within his or her work. Historical criticism provides a “prism” through which we can understand a piece based on the historical details surrounding its construction. Cultural criticism takes historical criticism one step further and considers elements unique to the poet within his culture. For instance, if you are studying an Irish poet, how might the poems at hand reflect a different experience than a poem written during the same period by an English poet?

Our textbook contains a sample selection of poems for you to consider; however, you are not limited to those poems. For the three poems you choose, consider how a certain theme begins to emerge, and how that theme may be further understood by the form of criticism you choose.

Altogether, your task will be to ascertain a meaning and argue in favor of your interpretation. This paper will require significant time outside of class, though I will provide sections of several class periods for research and to work on the paper.

Requirements:

o Have a clearly defined thesis, argument, paragraph structure, and organizational system.
o Proofread for grammatical correctness, academic style, and spelling.
o Be sure to integrate quotes well and properly cite all sources.
o All papers should conform to proper MLA style.
o All papers, including this one, should be in size 12, Times New Roman font.
o Your name should appear on the first page and in the header of every page along with the page number.
o You must use at least three sources outside of the poems themselves, and two must be of a scholarly nature (a book, a scholarly journal article, etc.). These are your secondary sources.
o Remember, the poems, which are your primary sources, must be directly used in your paper and cited properly.
o All drafts are due by the due date indicated on the syllabus via eLearn.
o Final Drafts should be at least 1200 words.