literary culture and history
POEMS / PASSAGE (available on Blackboard under Assessment Material):
John Donne, Sonnet 10 (“Death, be not proud, though some have called thee”) William Blake, “Holy Thursday” [I & II]
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Khan”
William Wordswoth, “Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent’s Narrow Room”
Marcus’ speech to Lavinia (Titus Andronicus, II.iv, 11-57)[unique_solution]
You are strongly advised to read the Stallworthy chapter, “Versification” (on Blackboard under Assessment Material), before attempting this assignment.
LENGTH: 900 words
DUE: WEEK 6 (Friday 7th April)
Rationale:
This close reading exercise is designed to assess your skills in critical analysis and close reading of a text.
Students will choose from a selection of passages in response to one of a choice of three questions. Students must engage with the passage on the basis of both its context of production and reception, with an eye to genre and historical period, as well as its semiotic, technical components.
The task is designed to develop skills in literary criticism and critical thinking within the English discipline. A good response will demonstrate a student’s ability to identify formal features of the text, think laterally and creatively about the parameters of the question, and articulate a convincing argument with available evidence situated in terms of their critical knowledge of
major genres and periods of English literary history.
welcome but not necessary for this assignment.