Paper 1 Assignment

September 19. Prospectus for Paper 1 due in class (50-100 words, typed)

September 30. Paper 1 (5-6 pages) due in class. Electronic version must be e-mailed to me (campbelld@wsu.edu ) by 9 p.m.

The first paper assignment in English 381 consists of two parts: a typed prospectus (50-100 words) and a 5-6 page critical analysis of one of the topics listed below.  Your paper can be a bit longer than this if you need more space for your analysis.

The prospectus is a brief typed proposal that covers (1) the overall subject of your paper; (2) its thesis or overall argument; (3) the works to be covered; (4) outside sources, if any.  Turning in the paper's introductory paragraph will also satisfy the prospectus requirement. The prospectus is not graded, but if it is not turned in, the paper will lose five points (1/2 of a grade). The paper will not count and will not be graded until the electronic version is turned in.

Guidelines

• The first paper does not require research, although secondary sources may be helpful. Rather, its purpose is to demonstrate your ability to choose a significant, appropriately limited topic in American literature; to investigate and support a thesis of your own devising; to analyze with skill and insight the evidence from specific literary works; and to present the whole in a clearly organized, well-written fashion.
• Content is very important, but good organization, sentence structure, and editing skills are also important. Papers with comma splices, agreement errors, and other problems will be penalized accordingly. Citations and the Works Cited page should follow MLA format.
• The essay should incorporate at least one work read in class. You may choose your own topic for the paper if you consult with me ahead of time. 
• Your paper should be limited enough to provide a specific thesis and a close analysis of the texts; repeating broad, obvious generalities (i.e., "Women were limited by society's expectations in the nineteenth century") or ideas we have discussed in class will not be sufficient.

Topics

These topics are broad and are meant to suggest ideas to you; you should think about developing your own ideas using these as guidelines.

1. We've spent some time discussing poets who are currently less celebrated than Whitman and Dickinson, among them Sarah Piatt, Rose Terry, Sarah Roberts, and Norah Perry. This essay topic invites you to investigate this issue of literary reputation.

• In the library, find an older edition of the Norton Anthology of American Literature or another American literature anthology. Look through the table of contents to find a poet who is no longer listed in your anthology, and write an essay that analyzes his or her poetry and examines the question of why this author has fallen out of favor.
• Choose one of these poets (or another one, such as Pauline Johnson or another from past or current anthologies) and analyze his or her poetry. Holland Library has a copy of the 1882 edition of The Household Book of Poetry:  PR1175 .D26 1970, but you could also choose a poet from among the following:

Bennett, Paula Bernat. Nineteenth-Century Women Poets: An Anthology. Blackwell, 1998. WSU Holland Poetry Corner PS589 .N5 1998 

Axelrod, Steven Gould, Camille Roman, and Thomas Travisano. The New Anthology of American Poetry. Rutgers, 2003. PS586 .N49 2003

2.. Read closely a few Dickinson poems or a single poem that has variant forms.  Analyze one of Dickinson's themes or poetic techniques through a close reading of the text. OR Identify a dominant cluster of images in Whitman or Dickinson and explore its use through several poems.

3. Both Whitman and Dickinson are considered to be innovative poets, but what makes them distinctive? Consider writing on one of the following:

• Using some of the thematically similar poems from the Household Book of Poetry or other 19 th -century collections of verse, examine this idea using Whitman's or Dickinson's poetry (or both).
• Take a volume of The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, or another nineteenth-century periodical in which Emily Dickinson's poems appeared or were discussed. (Go to the Cornell Making of America site from this link, or look through the 1896 volumes in Holland Library.) You can reach the Making of America site and other useful sites from our page: http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/sites.htm . Read some of the other poems in the volume and discuss them in light of Dickinson's poetry. In what ways were her poems changed for publication? Why were these particular poems selected to be published? Here are two links: "Renunciation" and "Parting."

5. Compare the themes, ideas, and techniques of some of Twain's shorter works.

6. Your own topic. Here are some examples, but you can also choose your own:

• Twain's and James's visions of nineteenth-century womanhood
• Art and artists in James and Woolson (or art and innocence)
• Technology and nature in Twain and Dickinson
• Crane, Twain, and the mythology of the West
• Representing race in Twain and Crane