English 4405 critical responses, fall 2013

Note that critical response essays have a 250 word minimum and must be typed. Avoid plot summary or straightforward retelling of "what happens" in the work —see nugget 1.

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—unless you are using an edition other than the Norton text, or other texts included on the syllabus, in which case a works cited page is required. Even without works cited pages, do still follow the MLA conventions for documenting quotations as explained in QD1-3 on my quotes and documentation page.

2.14 Due Thursday, December 5: Discuss Keats's commentary on the poet, or poetry, in "The Fall of Hyperion," including at least three quotations to illustrate your claims.

2.15 Due at the final exam, Tuesday, December 12: Look back over the semester's schedule of readings for this course, and consider which four or five texts you believe are of the utmost importance in demonstrating the spirit of Romanticism. Explain carefully why you think each of these four or five texts is so appreciably Romantic.

1.1 Due Thursday, August 22: Two parts: a) explain how Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman was completely, utterly radical in 1790s England, and b) consider how some aspects of her Vindication can be seen still to have some relevance today. Include at least four quotes from the text to support your claims.

1.2 Due Tuesday, August 27: Compare and contrast Blake's conception of "innocence" and "experience." Include quotations to support your observations, and for the mechanics of citing poetry, see QD4.

1.3 Due Thursday, August 29: Open assignment on Blake's "Book of Thel" or "Marriage of Heaven and Hell": taking care to avoid summary or simple recapitulation of the poem (see Nugget 1), discuss anything that strikes you as interesting or significant in either work, including at least three quotations to support your observations (see QD4).

1.4 Due Tuesday, September 3: Analyze Catherine Morland's personality as it's developed in the first seven chapters of Northanger Abbey. You might take as a starting point how Austen portrays Catherine as naive or inexperienced, easily influenced, and essentially immature, but explore her character in whatever directions the novel takes you. Include at least four quotations to illustrate your observations.

1.5 Due Thursday, September 5: Explore Austen's satire in chapters 8-18 of Northanger Abbey: what does she mock, criticize, or otherwise have fun with in the behavior of the various sets of characters (i.e. Morlands, Thorpes, Tilneys)? Include at least three quotations in your discussion.

1.6 Due Tuesday, September 10: Discuss Austen's commentary upon the Gothic in our third installment of Northanger Abbey: what does she see as leading characteristics of the genre, and how does she satirize the Gothic (so delightfully) through Catherine Morland? Include at least three quotations to support your claims.

1.7 Due Thursday, September 12: Choose one, do not address both:
a) Read Wordsworth's massively important "Preface to Lyrical Ballads" and then discuss how the radical principles he outlines there are demonstrated in practice in any two of the poems we're reading for the day, including quotations from the preface and both poems.

b) Give a close analytical explication of Wordsworth's ideas about nature in "Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey," including at least five quotations to illustrate your claims.

1.8 Due Tuesday, September 17: Open assignment on either "Ode: Intimations of Immortality" or "Resolution and Independence." Write about whatever strikes you as significant or interesting in either poem, including at least three quotations to support your observations.

1.9 Due Thursday, September 19: Examine Wordsworth's portrayal of the imagination, or human psychology more generally, in our readings from The Prelude, and include at least three quotations to illustrate your observations.

1.10 Due Tuesday, September 24: Open assignment on either Wordsworth's "Michael" or our second reading from The Prelude: respond to whatever strikes you as interesting or significant in either work. Illustrate your observations with three or more quotations.

1.11 Due Thursday, September 26: Give a close analytical explication of "The Eolian Harp," "This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison," or "Frost at Midnight." That is, identify the central fundamental idea or "message" Coleridge aims to convey in the poem, and explain how he communicates this idea or message, stanza by stanza.

1.12 Due Tuesday, October 1: Choose one, do not do both:
a) Take a stab at interpreting Coleridge's powerful but enigmatic "Kubla Khan." Do you agree with commentators who argue that the poem is a sort of allegory about artistic creation? Explain your reasoning, and include at least three quotations from the poem in your discussion.

b) Discuss Coleridge's portrayal of femininity and sexuality in "Christabel," including at least four quotations to support your analysis.

1.13 Due Thursday, October 3: Discuss any of the following: Coleridge's view on the purpose of poetry, his understanding of how the mind or imagination works (especially in regards to poetry), his analysis of Wordsworth, and/or his commentary on Shakespeare. Include three or more quotations to substantiate your claims.

2.1 Due Thursday, October 10: Choose one, do not address both:
a) Open assignment on Scott's "Wandering Willie's Tale." Respond to whatever strikes you as interesting or significant, taking care to avoid plot summary and to include at least three quotations in your discussion.

b) Open assignment on our reading from Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. For this option, too, respond to whatever strikes you as interesting or significant, taking care to avoid plot summary and to include at least three quotations in your discussion.

2.2 Due Tuesday, October 15: Comment on different targets of Byron's satirical wit in our readings from the first two cantos of Don Juan: what's so funny in the poem, and what does he make fun of? Include at least two quotations from each canto.

2.3 Due Thursday, October 17: Choose one, do not address both:
a) Point out and discuss points of connection, parallels and contrasts, between the outer frame in Frankenstein, of Captain Walton and his journey of exploration, and the story of Victor Frankenstein in the first seven chapters of the novel. Include at least two quotations regarding Walton and two on Victor.

b) Discuss Shelley's commentary upon education in the first installment of our reading from Frankenstein. Include at least three quotations in your discussion.

2.4 Due Tuesday, October 22: Choose one, do not address both:
a) Explore points of connection—parallels and contrasts—between the innermost narrative, the Creature's, and those we have read thus far of Victor and Captain Walton, including at least four quotations.

b) Open assignment. Avoiding plot summary, discuss whatever in strikes you as interesting or significant in our second installment of Frankenstein (chapters 8-18). Include at least three quotations to illustrate your observations.

2.5 Due Thursday, October 24: After reading Frankenstein to the end, consider one or more ways the novel as a whole is a model text in Romanticism. That is, explain how Shelley's novel falls in line thematically, or in its fundamental concerns, with different major emphases that we have noted in Romanticism throughout the semester. Include at least three quotations to support your claims, preferably from the last third of the novel.

2.6 Due Tuesday, October 29: Open assignment on any one or two of the three authors we're reading for Tuesday. You might focus on aspects of Romanticism apparent in the glimpses we're getting of either or both writers you focus on, but the field is wide open. Include at least two quotations from each author you discuss.

2.7 Due Thursday, October 31 and Tuesday, November 5: You may do a second response for Tuesday if you've already turned in one for 10/31:

a) Give a close explication, stanza by stanza of Shelley's "Mont Blanc," including at least five quotations to illustrate your claims.

b) Open assignment on any of the other Shelley poems we're reading this day. Only if you're really stuck: you might consider with which of the other Romantics Shelley seems to have the most in common—explain your choice in full. Include at least three direct quotations in your discussion.

2.8 Due Thursday, November 7: Choose one, do not address both:
a) Discuss Shelley's radical political activism as evident in any two poems from the day's readings, including at least two quotes from each.

b) Summarize the most important observations you glean from Shelley's "Defence of Poetry."

2.9 Due Tuesday, November 12: Explain how Shelley presents important Romantic ideals regarding the individual and the imagination in Prometheus Unbound. You might consider more particularly what he says about bondage, rebellion, and freedom, but the topic is fairly wide open. Include at least four quotations to support your claims.

2.10 Due Thursday, November 14: Open assignment on any two of the Thursday's poems. Include quotations. You might consider how the poems seem "Romantic," or not.

2.11 Due Tuesday, November 19: Choose one, do not address both:
a) Discuss Keats's depiction of parallel planes of " reality" in any two of the poems we're reading for this day, including at least two quotations from each.

b) Consider how Keats's poetry seems strikingly different from all of the other Romantic poets we've read. Include quotations from at least three different poems to illustrate your claims.

2.12 Due Thursday, November 21: Give a close explication of any one of the Keats poems we're reading for this day: say what the poem's central "message" is, and explain how Keats goes about communicating that message. Include at least four quotations to illustrate your claims.

2.13 Due Tuesday, December 3: Open assignment: respond to any of the four Keats poems on the schedule for this day in whatever analytical fashion you like: you might consider questions any of the poems raise in your mind and then explore possible answers, you might consider whether Lamia is sympathetic in "Lamia"—whatever strikes you as interesting or significant. Include quotations, of course!