Spring 2003

Pawling Hall 115

I will add the journal assignment after the class during which I announce it.  The most recent assignment will come first.  If I neglect to add an assignment in time, you should write a summary of the work, with emphasis on things that you do not understand.  Remember the standards for journal grades: each is worth four points: one for reaching the correct length (one full 8x11 college-ruled notebook page); one for answering the assigned question; one for including specific direct reference to the text, and one for having it stamped on time.  

34.  (Due Monday, April 28(  Reread "Prufrock" and write about whether your perception of him changes on second reading.

33. (Due Friday, April 25)  Do a character sketch of Prufrock in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

32. (Due Wednesday, April 23)  What do you think is the point of "The Mark on the Wall"?

31 (Due Monday, April 21) Talk about how one poem from each author shows the impact of World War I.

30. (Due Wednesday, April 16) Compare/contrast one of the Hardy poems to one of the Housman poems.

29. (Due Monday, April 14) Do you find the ending of the  novel to be satisfying? Why or why not?

28.  (Due Friday, April 11) Discuss the relationship between Bathsheba and Sgt. Troy. What do they see in each other?

27. (Due Wednesday, April 9)  Discuss how the social and romantic relationship between Bathsheba and Gabriel changes over the course of the first 125 pages of the novel.

26. (Due Monday, April 7) Do a half-page explanation of both "The Windhover" and "God's Grandeur."

25. (Due Friday, April 4)  "Goblin Market" is both a deeply religious poem and a poem that was once chosen for reprinting by Playboy magazine because of its sensuality. Discuss how that seeming contradiction works in this poem.

24. (Due Wednesday, April 2)  What is Arnold's concept of "the buried life," and how do you see it in both poems?

23. (Due Monday, March 31) Do a character sketch of Andrea del Sarto. Do you feel compassion for him? Why or why not?

22. (Due Friday, March 28)  What do the narrators of all three Browning poems have in common? Discuss the portrayals.

21. (Due Wednesday,  March 26)  Do a character sketch of Ulysses.

20. (Due Wednesday, March 12)  Some people say that "The Eve of St. Agnes" describes a Romeo and Juliet-like love story; some say it is the description of a rape.  Which do you think is the case?

19. (Due Monday, March 10)  Do a comparison of "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and "Ode to a Nightingale."   

18. (Due Friday, March 7)  Read the biographical information on Keats, and then the three short poems on the syllabus.  Discuss the relationship between the biography and the poetry.

17. (Due Wednesday, March 5)  Shelley's "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty" is in many ways like Wordsworth's "Ode."  Look at Shelley's narrator, and (as you did with the Wordsworth poem) discuss the stages in the development of the speaker's attitude.

16. (Due Monday, March 3) Do Marianne and Elinor grow/change over the course of the novel?

15. (Due Friday, February 28) Who is more fit to be a romantic hero, Willoughby or Col. Brandon? 

14. (Due Wednesday, February 26) Money is clearly very important in the society of Sense and Sensibility, but it doesn't equal true gentility. What are the characteristics of true gentility, according to the narrator? Be careful--this narrator is often ironic (and subtle).

 13. (Due Monday, February 24) Discuss (with examples) what Romantic elements you find in "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Kubla Kahn."  

12. (Due Monday, February 17) Discuss the changing attitude of the speaker in "Ode: Intimations of Immortality."

11. (Due Friday, February 14) Compare one poem from Songs of Innocence to one poem from Songs of Experience.

10. (Due Friday, February 7)  Discuss the ways in which "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" seems to be a Romantic poem.

9. (Due Wednesday, February 5) Discuss whether you feel sympathetic to Charles Marlow, and explain (and support) your reasons.

8. (Due Monday, February 3)  Do brief character sketches of all the main characters in She Stoops to Conquer.

7. (Due Friday, January 31)  Johnson's "The Vanity of Human Wishes" is similar, in many ways, to "An Essay on Man."  What can you deduce about characteristic issues of 18th century thinking, based on the similarities between these two works?

6. (Due Wednesday, January 29) Outline the logical argument that Pope uses to "vindicate the ways of God to man."

5. (Due Monday, January 27)  Do you agree with Gulliver that Houyhnhnms have the perfect society, and that mankind is, quite literally, a bunch of Yahoos?

4. (Due Friday, January 24)  Discuss the ways in which Gulliver appears to be less than completely reliable as a narrator.  In other words, when do you perceive events differently than he perceives them?

3. (Due Wednesday, January 22) Complete the second page of your footnoting assignment for The Country Wife.

2.(Due Friday, January 17) Complete the first page of your footnoting assignment for The Country Wife.

1. (Due Wednesday, January 15) Discuss whether you think "MacFlecknoe" lives up to the standards Dryden sets in "The Art of Satire."

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Schedule of Assignments

Journal topics

Paper Topic

Study guides
Test 1
Test 2
Test 3