English 206 Writing Assignments

About Wikipedia, SparkNotes, and Databases

DO NOT cite Wikipedia in academic essays. Since it is not edited by reputable experts, it often has errors and isn't reliable. It's okay to use it as a starting point for your own research, but go on and find other sources to verify the information, and cite those in your essay.

Also avoid SparkNotes, ENotes and similar sites. Teachers hate them since they provide only the most superficial analyses. Avoid citing them in academic papers; instead, go find analyses from more reputable academic sources: university and scholarly websites, peer-reviewed journals in library databases, and books. Don't be scared by that word "databases." The databases are just collected electronic versions of articles published in print magazines, journals, and newspapers. They also sometimes contain e-books. You can search them and find tons of good material. There's more about how to use the databases on the Writing About Literature page.

How to submit your work

Your essays will be submitted to me via e-mail. Save your assignment as either a Word file (.doc or .docx) or a Rich Text File (.rtf) and then attach that file to your e-mail message. When sending assignments, your e-mail message should include your name, the class number (English 206), and the name of the assignment which is attached.

Use correct MLA format for the appearance of your essay and your documentation.

Eliminate spelling, grammar, and other mechanical errors from your writing.

Send your e-mail to me at annw708@gmail.com.

Writing Assignment 1

Choose one of the following topics and write a complete, considered answer. Be sure to support your statements with evidence from the text, and be sure to use correct MLA documentation. Required length: 2-5 pages (500-1250 words). This assignment is due Tuesday, July 21.

1. Compare Wordsworth's use of nature imagery to that of either Coleridge, Byron, Blake, Keats, Percy Shelley, or Mary Shelley.

2. How can Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" or "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" be considered Romantic poetry? NOTE: Be sure to read Lecture 1 before you write this paper, so that you clearly understand the characteristics of Romantic literature.

3. In what ways is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in keeping with the Romantic tradition? In what ways does it depart from it? NOTE: Be sure to read Lecture 1 before you write this paper, so that you clearly understand the characteristics of Romantic literature.

4. All of the major Romantic poets were inspired by the French Revolution; in what ways is the poetry either of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Percy Shelley, or Byron, or the fiction of Mary Shelley, "revolutionary"?

5. Blake said, "Without Contraries is no progression," and he often set up oppositions in his poetry: love vs. hate, expansion vs. contraction, reason vs. energy, attraction vs. repulsion, for example. Choose one of the following and discuss his or her use of this technique by analyzing one or two specific works: Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Keats, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley.

For help writing this assignment, go to Writing About Literature ; for more specific help, feel free to e-mail me with questions.

Writing Assignment 2

1. Does Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice have more in common with the Romantics or the Victorians? NOTE: Be sure to read Lectures 1 and 4 before you write this paper, so that you clearly understand the characteristics of Romantic literature and Victorian literature.

2. Choose one Romantic poem (or poet) and one Victorian poem (or poet) and compare their attitudes toward nature. Be sure to give plenty of specific examples and direct quotes from the poem to support your ideas. NOTE: Be sure to read Lectures 1 and 4 before you write this paper, so that you clearly understand the characteristics of Romantic literature and Victorian literature.

3.Both Great Expectations and Jane Eyre describe the growth of a child to maturity. In the novel you chose to read, what are the lessons the main character must learn?

4. Compare the use of nature by the modern poets to the use of nature by either the Victorian poets or the Romantic poets. Choose ONLY ONE poem from each period to compare. Be sure to give plenty of specific examples and direct quotes from the poems to support your ideas.

4. Choose one poem by either Yeats, Eliot, Auden, or Dylan Thomas and do a close reading of it (or in the case of The Wasteland, one section of it).
For more information about how to do a close reading, see the following:

For help writing this assignment, go to Writing About Literature ; for more specific help, feel free to e-mail me with questions.

Final Exam

Of the works we have read this semester, which one have you liked the best? Explain. Which one did you like the least? Explain. Which did you think was the best written? Explain. This is a personal essay, so feel free to use "I." Suggested length: 1-3 pages. (Maximum possible points: 50.)

This assignment is due by midnight on the night of Thursday, August 13
NO LATE FINALS WILL BE ACCEPTED, as I must turn in grades immediately.

How to submit your work

Use correct MLA format for the appearance of your essay and your documentation.

Eliminate spelling, grammar, and other mechanical errors from your writing.

Send your e-mail to me at annw708@gmail.com.