Category: Literature

Critic Roland Barthes has said, “Literature is the question minus the answer.” Considering Barthes’s observation, write an essay in which you analyze the central questions that The Stranger and Mrs. Dalloway share and the extent to which they offer any answers. Demonstrate and analyze how the authors’ treatment of these questions relate to the significance of the works overall. As always, avoid mere plot summary.

In an essay of approximately 650-700 words (2.5-3 pages/12 point font/double spaced) write an
argument advancing an interpretation (claim) of one of the poems from your readings. Select
one of the following prompts as a basis in constructing your interpretation or develop an
interpretation of your own. Your essay must contain a focused thesis statement that makes a
claim/interpretation of the theme of the poem and utilizes specific textual examples and provides
reasoning on how the examples support your thesis/claims. Remember: poetry is a much more
condensed mode of expression than the short story and thus your analysis might go as deep as
how a single word choice affects the whole of the poem. Be sure your analysis is structured
effectively in adherence to the guidelines of scholarly writing as covered in the textbooks and
discussed in class (formal diction, effective argument structure, grammatical correct, etc.). Also,
when quoting lines directly from a poem it is appropriate to insert a / in between line breaks, for
instance: “He stood, and heard the steeple/Sprinkle the quarters on the morning town”. At the
end of the sentence in which the quote appears you should include the line numbers, not the page
numbers, inside the parenthetical citation, i.e. (2-3). Your essay must be properly cited in MLA
format (See Little Seagulls Handbook) and must include a one-page works cited as the last page
of your paper citing the poem you analyzed as a work from an anthology. (Remember: the
following prompts are just suggestions, and you are free to interpret the poems in any fashion
you so choose so long as you can back up those interpretations with direct textual support and
solid reasoning/analysis). Finally, I recommend using the textbook as a resource, as the
introductory chapters (which you were already assigned to read) on poetic interpretation provide
crucial information on constructing your analysis, as do Chapters 1-3, pages 2-40, and the
questions for discussion and writing following each poem, as well as reading any of the sample
student essays at the end of each chapter (such as the one on pages 429-431) as a model for
writing a proper poetic analysis. As always, please feel free to e-mail me with any questions,
comments, tentative parts of your essay, etc.
1. Analyze the speaker in either “The Sins of the Father” or “The Unknown Citizen.” What
is the prevalent tone in either of the poems? If selecting “The Sins of the Father”: does
the speaker’s tone shift at any point in the poem. If so, how and when does this shift
occur and what does it signify? What is the significance of the title and how does this
illuminate the plight of the speaker? If selecting “The Unknown Citizen”: discuss the
role of irony in the poem. What sort of attitudes and characteristics are being praised by
the speaker and are these really praise-worthy virtues? (What is Auden’s – as opposed to
the speaker’s – view of the Unknown Citizen?) Examine the satirical effectiveness of
Auden’s choice of tones in depicting his detached narrator. How does Auden’s use of
irony add to the poem’s function as a form of social critique?
2. Analyze the paradox that is central to “My Son My Executioner”?
3. Analyze the speaker in the poem “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer.” Why is the
speaker unable to appreciate the astronomy lecture? Are the two temperaments
contrasted in the poem (the poetic and the scientific/rational) truly antithetical? How is
this opposition between the two illustrated in the poem?
4. Discuss Shakespeare’s strategy in “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun” and
how the poem works to subvert the prevalent sonnet tradition of the time. What is the
speaker’s attitude towards his mistress? How is the speaker’s more grounded praise of his
beloved actually more genuine and heart-felt than the cliché, artificial comparisons that
predominated the sonnets of Shakespeare’s contemporaries?
5. What point is A.E. Housman trying to make in his poem “To an Athlete Dying Young”?
What would you state as the theme or themes of the poem? Analyze Housman’s
metaphor of athletic completion (particularly the race) as representing life? Analyze the
significance of some of the poem’s central images (for instance the laurel) and how they
work to strengthen this metaphor? What is the overall tone of the poem? Can the poem
be read as ironic, and if so, what does this imply?
6. What about the poet’s use of regular rhyme scheme (rhyming couplets) and stanza break
(quatrains)? How does the form impact the poem’s overall effect?
7. Is the poem “Funeral Blues” merely a parody or is Auden’s speaker simply carried away
in the moment of grief? Identify the tone of the poem and analyze it as either mock elegy
or serious composition.
8. How does the above poem compare (in both tone and structure) with Housman’s “To an
Athlete Dying Young.” Write an analysis comparing or contrasting both elegies and the
elements that make them either similar or different.
9. In the poem “A Hundred Years from Now,” how does the prose poem form impact the
overall effect of the poem? Does the lack of more traditional line breaks make the poem
more or less poetic? How well is the subject matter suited to the form? Who is the
speaker addressing, and why? What do you make of the last line: “Do you still have
horses?” and how does the question serve to resonate in the reader’s mind long after he
has finished reading the poem?
10. In “Eight O’ Clock” how does Houseman use poetic language and the poetic devices (line
break, rhyme scheme, personification, word choice) to evoke a specific atmosphere,
mood, and tone in the first stanza? How does that tone change in the second stanza, and
how does it accentuate the twist of the poetic narrative (the hanging)?
11. Examine the theme of Adrienne Rich’s poem “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers.” What type of life
does Aunt Jennifer lead? What does her wedding band symbolize? How do the tigers
help us to understand her plight? How is knitting a form of escape for Aunt Jennifer
from the oppressive reality of her home life? What traits do the tigers possess and what
do these traits help us to understand about Aunt Jennifer? Perform a close reading of the
poem down to the level of word choice in coming up with your analysis.
12. What is the theme of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “We Wear the Mask”? Who is
speaking in the poem? Who are the “we”? Is the “we” humanity in general, some
specific, perhaps marginalized, group (see Dunbar’s biographical blurb in the book
before the poem), or both? What is the poem claiming about human nature? Do “we” all
wear masks and if so, why, according to the poem?
13. Analyze the main theme or themes of Marge Piercy’s poem “Barbie Doll.” What is the
significant of the poem’s title? How is the poem’s subject dehumanized throughout the
poem? What leads to the suicide in the poem? In what way is the poem’s ending ironic?
14. Analyze the tone of Stephen Crane’s “War is Kind.” What is the central theme of the
poem and how does Crane’s use of verbal irony serve to reinforce this theme? What
central message do you feel the speaker of the poem is trying to get across? Why is the
flag referred to as “the unexplained glory” (line 9) and how does this work to advance the
poem’s central message and theme?

The attached files cover the assignment instructions. Read through them carefully, since I can get failed even if the content is good and a requirement is not met.
The sources that NEED to be included is:
1) Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley. I use the print version through the digital service Internet Archive. It is published 1936 and the publisher is Harmondsworth : Penguin
This source is needed for any claim or point regarding the Marxist point of view that is shown through the book. Only a specific section or part of a chapter is needed, as long as all the claims and evidence to discuss has legitimate references to the pages, and if needed, quotes.
2) Barry, Peter (2017). An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory : Fourth Edition. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
This needs to be referenced to as soon as a definition or a claim is made about Marxism. Even if the evidence comes from Huxley’s book, Barry’s book need to legitimize the evidence as legit.
In short, Huxley’s book is what moves the discussion from the Marxists perspective forward, and Barry’s book confirms how why the evidence can be seen as Marxism.

Based on the book called The Road by Cormac McCarthy,write an invented scene of the boy 5, 10, 15years after the fathers death and a scene in which he recounts and looks back at his father from his perspective. The essay should be creative writing however have some aspects that relate back to thebook and its main themes.

Topic is about minority students relationship with on campus police
3 pages of literature review
I need this within three hours, 1:50 PM Eastern standard time

Write a letter to yourself or a close family member/friend detailing which reading/course materials from weeks 7-13 has been the most striking to you and why. Use at least three quotes from the material to discuss the impact it had on you.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman – The Yellow Wallpaper (p. 585)
Research Topic – Discuss the mental health and psychological aspects in this story, especially as it applies to our ability to make our own decisions concerning our health treatment.
essay plus Works Cited page following MLA format
• Source Support
Primary Source
• 3 Secondary Sources (minimum); most papers use and need more than 3
• Each Major Point of your paper within the body must be supported with:
• The Primary source
At least two secondary sources
10-14 direct quotes in body of paper from a combination of primary and secondary sources.
• All source material, quoted and summarized, will be immediately followed with in-text citations.

The assignment sheet, reading list, and a sample diversity essay are attached. If you choose a poem you can annotate up to two paragraphs of your choice and every line would have to be annotated. If you choose a text then up to two paragraphs can annotated. It’s your choice of the poem/text you would like to use from the reading list. Also, the rubric is on the last page of the assignment sheet.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman – The Yellow Wallpaper (p. 585)
Research Topic – Discuss the mental health and psychological aspects in this story, especially as it applies to our ability to make our own decisions concerning our health treatment.
essay plus Works Cited page following MLA format
• Source Support
Primary Source
• 3 Secondary Sources (minimum); most papers use and need more than 3
• Each Major Point of your paper within the body must be supported with:
• The Primary source
At least two secondary sources
10-14 direct quotes in body of paper from a combination of primary and secondary sources.
• All source material, quoted and summarized, will be immediately followed with in-text citations.

The assignment sheet, reading list, and a sample diversity essay are attached. If you choose a poem you can annotate up to two paragraphs of your choice and every line would have to be annotated. If you choose a text then up to two paragraphs can annotated. It’s your choice of the poem/text you would like to use from the reading list. Also, the rubric is on the last page of the assignment sheet.