E491: History of Literary Criticism

Paper Prompt and Suggestions

Al Drake | 520 Hum. M/W 12:00-1:00 | ajdrake@ajdrake.com

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Due Date: The final draft will be due on the day of the final exam. See Advance Draft Comments. See also Grammar Guide and Essay-Writing | Citing Sources | Analyzing Texts | Editing Drafts | Sample Paper

Formal Prompt: Choose one or two assigned texts or authors and, focusing on a limited number of problems, connections, themes, or issues you find relevant, write a 5-7 page essay (10-15 page for graduates) that is insightful and specific in its thesis, easy to follow in structure, and clear and consistent in style. Your essay must follow MLA* (Modern Language Association) style -- this means, among others things, that you must observe the following formatting rules:

observe proper margins
double space your text and quotations, and no extra spaces beyond that
number your essay's pages at top right
properly cite sources -- including those in an anthology
offer a separate "works cited" page, even if an anthology is the only text

*Every Humanities-related major should have the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th. edition. Ed. Joseph Gibaldi. New York: MLA, 2003.

General Tips: The point of a college-level essay isn't to offer an exhaustive commentary about everything connected with the text or author chosen. Neither is it to make vague comments that have little or nothing to do with the specific language of the text or with issues directly connected to the text. Rather, the point is to examine your text/s in some detail on the specific issues or problems or themes you want to write about. What really keeps readers interested? Well, the kind of paper in which the writer is clearly leading them to genuine insights based on a patient, well-structured analysis of particular passages (and flexible points of comparison, for comparative essays) in the chosen text/s. Your essay should make me want to go back and reread the text you're writing about -- not necessarily out of mere admiration for it, but simply because you've made it an interesting proposition for me to do so, for whatever reasons you have explored.

Thesis Development: In the drafting stages of a deductive essay, the thesis in the first paragraph is often vague--more like a general topic than a specific argument. In a "deductive" essay, one states claims at the outset and then explores them; however, insights tend to develop inductively--i.e. what the writer wants to say emerges only gradually, and becomes sharpest towards the end of the paper. The most efficient way to sharpen an argument is to look over what you write in the middle and conclusion of your essay, tie it all together concisely into a few sentences that will serve as your thesis. That way, you turn an inductive rough draft into a deductive final draft, and avoid allowing initially rough or vague claims to force you down a path of thought you would rather abandon in favor of better insights and connections.

Rough Draft: Not required, but it would be a good idea to submit a rough draft or at least a thesis paragraph or description of your topic so I can offer suggestions on how to improve the paper's focus and effectiveness. Whether you submit a draft or not, please read Advance Draft Comments for Everyone. Other guides on writing are also available: Sample Paper | Grammar Guide | Essay-Writing Guide | Citing Sources | Analyzing Texts | Editing Drafts | Plagiphrasing | Bad English | Links.

Why don't I provide you with several pre-fabricated topics? I have found that going minimalist with prompts results in better essays -- more variety in topics, more insights, etc. I don't want a batch of cookie-cutter papers on the same three topics, even if they're flawless. I would rather see you read your way towards what interests you most, and then write about that. With this aim in mind, I provide prompts that explain the basic patterns and goals appropriate to the subject matter of the course. Email me or speak to me directly about an idea for a paper that would interest you, and I'll respond with suggestions as promptly as reflection permits.

Research: Purely optional--do it or don't do it as you see fit. The primary thing is to attend closely to the assigned texts. If you like to do outside reading and work with theoretical approaches, that's good, but this assignment is not not technically a research paper. Even if you don't incorporate any outside research, you still need to include a separate "Works Cited" page at the end of the essay--that is because you will, of course, be citing at least one of the assigned texts. Use MLA guidelines for citing sources.

Please look over some of the materials on writing available via hyperlinks on the syllabus page. "Deductive Essays" is particularly recommended because in it I comment on the basics about structure and purpose in college papers. Another set of handouts deals with how to introduce and cite a literary text properly -- something every writer needs to know.

Some Possible Points of Comparison:

The author's emphasis or combination of emphases in the Hazard Adams "Four Coordinates" scheme would be a good place to start: that is, are your authors mainly concerned with the relationship between text and world (mimetic or representational), text and author (expressive), text and audience (pragmatic), or text and itself (formal)? Sometimes you'll find that two emphases go hand-in-hand -- for instance, a mimetic emphasis often involves pragmatic concerns, and an expressive emphasis may also have strong pragmatic implications (cf. Wordsworth and Shelley).

Any of the major issues we shall discuss could be the subject of a fine paper. Some of them will be as follows: the sublime; the significance of metaphor, figurative language, poetic language, etc.; the definition and value of "beauty"; the social and/or moral purpose of art -- art as educative, regenerative, integrative, corruptive, revolutionary, as reaffirmative of political power and ideology; etc.; the relationship between art and nature; the status of "genius," etc.