English 2122 critical
response topics, summer 2026
Recall from the syllabus that you need to submit five critical responses over the term, so you need not do every topic assigned. But then you don't want to wait until midterm to get these things rolling either. . . .
Critical responses have a 200 word minimum (in the body of the response, excluding name, date, header, etc.): responses shorter than 200 words cannot pass. 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; do still follow the MLA conventions for documenting quotations as explained in Q1-4 on my quotations page.
2.2 Due Sunday, July 12th: Address one, or perhaps both if you haven't submitted any critical responses yet:
a) Compare the samples of radically experimental stream of consciousness we find in Woolf's "Mark on the Wall" and Joyce's "Lestrygonians" episode (i.e., chapter 8) from Ulysses. How do both writers realistically convey the way people's thoughts do tend to flow from one idea to another, and then another, and then another still, etc.? Then, too, how do the two versions of stream of consciousness differ significantly? What does Joyce do, for instance, that Woolf doesn't? Which seems more completely accurate or real, Woolf's or Joyce's stream of consciousness? Include at least two quotes from each work--and feel completely welcome to go beyond two quotes for each.b) 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.
On deck:
2.3 Due Sunday, July 19th: 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!
Previous critical response topics—no longer valid for submission:
1.1 Due Saturday, June 6th: 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 other poems we're reading in this unit, following MLA style for citing poetry outlined in Q4.b) Discuss beliefs or ideas that Wordsworth and Coleridge appear to have in common in their poems we're reading. Include at least two quotations from each poem you mention, following guidelines for citing poetry outlined in Q4.
1.2 Due Sunday, June 14th: address either option (not both):
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.
1.3 Due Sunday, June 21st: 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.
1.4 Due Sunday, June 28th: After reading to the end of the novella, and hopefully participating in discussion some, consider both questions: a) How might some consider The Chimes as "dated," or having little relevance to modern readers? and b) How might others disagree, finding The Chimes to have great relevance to readers in 2026? Note that you must address both sides of the issue, and do in the end state which viewpoint you most agree with. Quote the novella at least twice in exploring each side of the debate (four times minimum, overall); also be sure that at least one of these four quotations comes from chapters 1-2 and at least one also from chapters 3-4.
2.1 Due Sunday, July 5th: Address one option, not both:
a) Wilde's hilarious, farcical The Importance of Being Earnest has been called a "garden of sheer delight, a modern Eden where winter never enters." What serious social criticism does Wilde offer in this exceedingly lighthearted play (i.e., what commentary upon his society does he present in the play)? Include at least three quotations in your response.b) Explore the imagery and symbolism of lightness and darkness in Conrad's Heart of Darkness. How is the "darkness" particularly "modern," or at least particularly appropriate to the "twentieth-century"? Include at least four quotations to illustrate your claims.