Format your response according to MLA guidelines for margins, spacing, name, date, etc., headers, etc. as outlined on my "simple stuff" page. Works cited pages are unnecessary for critical responses; do still follow the MLA conventions for documenting quotations as explained in Q1-4 on my quotations page.

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1.1 Due Saturday, May 31st: address one topic, not both:
a) Explore Wordsworth's central ideas about nature in "Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey," including at least four meaningful quotations to illustrate your claims; also note how any of these ideas are borne out in any of the poems we're reading in this unit, following MLA style for citing poetry outlined in Q4.

b) Discuss common beliefs or ideas shared in the poems we're reading by Wordsworth and Coleridge. Include at least two quotations from each poem you mention, following guidelines for citing poetry outlined in Q4.

On deck:

1.2 Due Sunday, June 8th: TBA

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Previous critical response topics—no longer valid for submission:

 

1.3 Due Saturday, February 1st: address either option:
a) Open assignment: respond to anything that strikes you as interesting or significant in two or more of the Shelley poems we're reading (be analytical, avoid summarizing). If you're stuck: you might consider which of the first-generation Romantics Shelley seems to have the most in common with, or you might consider Shelley's view of nature or his evident radicalism. Include at least three quotations from the poetry, following MLA guidelines outlined in Q4.

b) How does the Keats poetry we're reading differ from the other poetry we've explored thus far? How is Keats "Romantic" (reread "Romanticism")? Quote two or more poems at least twice in your analysis, following the MLA guidelines in Q4.

1.4 Due Saturday, February 8th: Do one, not both:
a) Open assignment on Elizabeth Barrett Browning: respond to anything that strikes you as interesting or significant in one or more of the E.B.B. poems we're reading (be analytical, avoid summarizing). An obvious topic would be her progressive and/or feminist views (probably not in the sonnets). Include at least three quotations from the poetry, maybe more. See MLA conventions for quoting and citing poetry in Q4.

b) Doing your best to avoid repeating comments from others' discussion posts, discuss Tennyson's portrayal of loss in any two of his poems we're reading this week, quoting each at least twice following MLA conventions for quoting and citing poetry as indicated in Q4.

1.5 Due Saturday, February 15th: Discuss Dickens's presentation of childhood in the first fifteen chapters of Great Expectations. Where is he most and least successful in presenting how children do really think and feel? Explain, including quotations from at least three different chapters from different points in the reading (that is, avoid using quotes from just the first three or four chapters, e.g.).

1.6 Due Saturday, February 22nd: Discuss Pip's development or maturation as he comes into his "expectations" and embarks on becoming a "gentleman." You might consider what being a gentleman means to Pip, and how he changes once he leaves home and moves to London. Include one or more quotations from at least three different chapters to illustrate your claims.

1.7 Due Saturday, March 1st: Open assignment. Being careful to avoid plot summary (see nugget 1), write about whatever strikes you as interesting or significant in chapters 30-44 of Great Expectations. Include at least three quotations from this week's reading to support your observations, and think hard before focusing on matters from just the first chapter or two of this reading. :-) .

1.8 Due Saturday, March 8th: Compare the two endings of Great Expectations and consider which seems more consistent with the novel's primary theme(s), paying particular attention to the last third of the novel. Explain why you prefer one over the other, including at least two quotations to illustrate your claims.

2.1 Due Sunday, March 16th: Wilde's farcical The Importance of Being Earnest has been described as a "garden of sheer delight, a modern Eden where winter never enters." What is the most important, still-very-relevant social criticism Wilde offers in this lighthearted play? Which targets of his satirical wit seem more pertinent or applicable to his late-Victorian time period than to the twenty-first century? Include at least four quotations in your response.

2.2 Due Saturday, March 29th: Explore the imagery and symbolism of lightness and darkness in Conrad's Heart of Darkness. How is the "darkness" particularly "modern," or "twentieth-century"? Read to the end of the novella before completing the response, and include at least four quotations to illustrate your claims.

2.3 Due Saturday, April 5th: Choose three passages from Woolf's A Room of One's Own that you think particularly important to this classic feminist text (one from chapters 1-2, one from chapters 3-4, and one from chapters 5-6). Anything analytical is fair game: just take care to avoid summarizing or repeating the essence of what she says. If you prefer not to have such a wide-open topic, you might focus on Woolf's use of metaphor and/or story-telling to support her argument.

2.4 Due Saturday, April 12th: In at least two paragraphs and avoiding plot summary, compare and contrast the protagonists' epiphanies in "Araby" and "Eveline" (see the Dubliners section on the Joyce overview page). Consider what leads up to the epiphany and the significance of the moment of insight each character experiences. Quote each story at least twice.

2.5 Due Saturday, April 19th: Explore ways that either or both modernist classics, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "The Hollow Men," are dramatically different from the literature we've read to this point in the term. Quote the poetry at least four times (total, not for both poems if you do two). You might consider subject matter, style, and/or literary technique, as you see fit: there are no "right" answers, so trust your own judgment.

2.6 Due Sunday, April 27th: Open assignment. Avoiding plot summary, discuss whatever in strikes you as interesting or significant in Beckett's Happy Days. Include at least three quotations illustrating your observations. I'd advise reading a good bit of this week's discussion before writing the response: as you'll see, Happy Days is rather strange!