literature poetry writing-04

This week, we’ll be doing a couple things:

1. Making a brief excursion into the world of poetry.

Here is the Norton reading link: https://b-ok.cc/book/3409266/1950b1

[ ] Read the introduction to poetry in your Norton (see link). Please read at least the first five pages (476- the top of 481), though I’d recommend the whole introduction (476-501).

[ ] I’ll be posting a brief video on poetry as well.

[ ] Then, looking through the entire table of contents, please choose 5 poems to read on your own. (Poetry is found all the way from 476-749.) I would recommend several, but on the other hand, poetry, like music, ought to be found by love– so spend some time. You won’t regret it. (And on the other hand, if you’d like me to tell you about some of my favorites, watch the video. I’ll probably mention some. 🙂

2. Writing a Literary Critique.

For this paper, you’ll be taking part in the craft of the literary critic. By “criticism” we do not mean, of course, “saying negative things” (necessarily).

For this paper, you may pick any work– fiction, poetry, or drama– in our Norton book on which to write.

When you write a literary critique, what you’re doing is saying “This is what I think this story/poem/play is doing. This is what I think it means. And here is why…” You then proceed to back up your claim with examples from the text. You might also provide an evaluation of the quality of the work in regard to how well it accomplishes its task.

For this paper, you’ll be performing a very short (2-3 page) literary critique. Make sure you’ve read over the “What makes a good literature paper?” source (found under Week 5, Scholarly Links), as well as the rubric.