Resource Author
William Taylor

Resource Author
Catherine Bacon

Resource Author
LeCluyse

Assignment Author
CWRL Assignment DatabasePedagogical Goals of the Assignment
Throughout the semester, my class has considered how letters in anthologies are “packaged” and “framed.” I have challenged my students to go beyond thinking of letter writing as a private act or one that strictly involves pen and paper. Now that many letters are archived online and many more will be scanned and transcribed, technology provides an ideal way for looking at the many different ways to archive material.
I have consistently found that students produce lively and creative work when they design their own project assignments. After a semester of discussing writers and readers in relation to letter writing, I gave my students a final assignment that would not only examine the relationship between readers and writers but would also challenge them to look at communication in their own lives.

Pedagogical Keywords: poetry, theory, analysis, paper

Paper Two--Aristotle, Sidney, and Wordsworth

In five to six pages, typed and double-spaced, write an argumentative essay that evaluates the similarities and/or differences between Aristotle's Poetics , Sidney's Apology , and Wordsworth's Preface . Some questions you may want to ask include: Where do their theories differ? Why do they differ? How do they differ? Is one theory better than the other? How so? Of course, you may ask yourself the converse of these questions: Where do their theories agree? Why might this be important in assessing the aesthetic and social value of poetry? etc. You may want to develop your paper around a specific theme. For example, how does Sidney's treatment of historians and philosophers differ from Aristotle's treatment of those figures? Where do they agree? Or you may want evaluate their definitions of "verse" and "poetry." How is one different from the other? Perhaps you want to talk about Wordsworth's theories on diction in comparison to Sidney's. Whatever questions and themes you choose to investigate, you must support your argument with textual evidence (cited in the MLA format). Please note that you do not need to write about all three authors--just two.

Furthermore, since this assignment is brief, you must make your introduction concise and pithy. In other words, get to the point. Don't dally with such statements as "Throughout history . . ."; and try to avoid making universal claims about the implications one can derive from comparatively evaluating these authors. Their texts represent only a small fraction of the amount of writing done in regard to poetics, and, thus, you should write in a manner that is appropriate to your understanding of these culturally specific texts. Write about specific passages, specific concepts, and specific terms. A "Works Cited" page must accompany your essay. Rough drafts are due (in .doc form) at the beginning of class on Friday, March 4 for peer review; final drafts are due at the beginning of class on Friday, March 11.