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100-level English essays
Is it just me or are they wildly different in terms of difficulty? I guess it could all depend on the prof though. My ENGL 105 class last term had really easy topics. Stuff along the lines of:
- Was the character Howard W. Campbell, Jr. insane? Argue yes or no using evidence from the text as support.
- Using the General Prologue from the Canterbury Tales and the specific pilgrim's tale from The Canterbury Tales, give an in-depth description of the pilgrim and discuss whether their tale is appropriate or inappropriate for their character.
Now I come along to Poetry this term and we get three possible topics, each which is quite a mouthful. Here's the topic I'm doing:
- Poets often reflect on the stages of life, aware of their own mortality as well as that of those around them. Return to the two poems that explore the sudden death of youth, Tichborne's "My Prime of Youth is but a Frost of Cares" and Brooks' "We Real Cool." Analyze how the poetic effect of end-stopped and enjambed lines work to underscore the emotional impact of dying too young and too soon. You may wish to relineate the poems to suggest how a change in form changes the poem and its focus. What do both poems celebrate and lament? Assess how lineation affects the tone of the speaker and the consequent relative seriousness or levity with which both address mortality. What difference in effect does the tone achieve? How does that affect our experience?
Needless to say, it's a lot to talk about in 1000 words and a lot more deep/complex than the stuff I've previously had to talk about. Loving ENGL 102 so far, and I'm learning a lot, but this topic is pretty intense compared to previous papers I've had to write. ahah
- Was the character Howard W. Campbell, Jr. insane? Argue yes or no using evidence from the text as support.
- Using the General Prologue from the Canterbury Tales and the specific pilgrim's tale from The Canterbury Tales, give an in-depth description of the pilgrim and discuss whether their tale is appropriate or inappropriate for their character.
Now I come along to Poetry this term and we get three possible topics, each which is quite a mouthful. Here's the topic I'm doing:
- Poets often reflect on the stages of life, aware of their own mortality as well as that of those around them. Return to the two poems that explore the sudden death of youth, Tichborne's "My Prime of Youth is but a Frost of Cares" and Brooks' "We Real Cool." Analyze how the poetic effect of end-stopped and enjambed lines work to underscore the emotional impact of dying too young and too soon. You may wish to relineate the poems to suggest how a change in form changes the poem and its focus. What do both poems celebrate and lament? Assess how lineation affects the tone of the speaker and the consequent relative seriousness or levity with which both address mortality. What difference in effect does the tone achieve? How does that affect our experience?
Needless to say, it's a lot to talk about in 1000 words and a lot more deep/complex than the stuff I've previously had to talk about. Loving ENGL 102 so far, and I'm learning a lot, but this topic is pretty intense compared to previous papers I've had to write. ahah
Comments
I think I'm just going to have fun with this essay, we get to do a draft first that's only worth 5% so I'm going to experiment with my interpretations and try to find something that works.