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· · ENGH 201-009 Midterm Spring 2021 Please answer one question from Part I, the Fiction section, and one question from Part II, the Poetry section. Each answer should be about 3 pages long (typed, double-spaced), and will count equally toward the grade that you will earn. Please remember to use quotes from each text in support of your ideas. Thank you and good luck. I will look forward to reading your exam responses. Please submit a copy of your completed exam to the appropriate assignment portal by Sunday, March 21, 11:59 pm. Thanking you in advance for your completion of this exam. PART I – Fiction 1. Please compare and contrast James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” (pp. 48-70) and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” (pp. 476-81) as stories of African-American family life in the 20th century. In what ways are the perspectives of these stories similar or different regarding the strengths of, and challenges facing, these two African-American families? Please explain, citing specifics from both stories. 2. Please consider the element of violence in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” (pp. 449-52) and Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” (pp. 399-409). In what ways do you find the treatment of violence in both stories to be similar or different, and why? How might the violence in these stories relate to the themes of both stories? Please explain, citing specifics from both stories. 3. Please consider Kate Chopin’s “The Storm” (pp. 121-24) in terms of gender criticism. How might Chopin’s story have challenged the gender norms of her time? How might a modern reader’s response to the story differ from the responses of many readers in Chopin’s time, and why? Please explain, citing specifics from Chopin’s story. PART II — Poetry 4. Please consider Langston Hughes’s “I, Too” (p. 1009) as a response to Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing” (p. 889). How does Hughes, writing in 1926, respond to, or challenge, the vision of American life set down by Whitman in 1860? Please explain, citing specifics from both poems. 5. Of the six poems by Robert Frost that we read during this first part of the semester, which one seems to you to provide the most complete expression of Frost’s poetic style and thematic sensibility, and why? Please explain, citing specifics from the poem(s) of your choice. 6. Emily Dickinson often wrote about death in her poetry, or incorporated death images into her poems, as with poems such as “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” (p. 994), “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died” (p. 996), and “Because I could not stop for Death” (p. 997). How would you describe the view of death being set forth in this author’s poetry? Please explain, citing specifics from the Dickinson poem(s) of your choice. EXTRA CREDIT: 7. George Mason wrote in 1776 a document that had an important and formative influence on the writing of the American Declaration of Independence. What was the title of this document? 8. What two Virginia communities were once part of the District of Columbia? 9. Virginia has had one major-league sports team in its history – an American Basketball Association team that played its home games in Norfolk and Richmond. The team’s most illustrious players included future NBA Hall of Famers Julius Erving and George Gervin. What was the name of this team? 10. Terrence Malick’s award-winning film The New World (2005) was filmed entirely on location in Virginia, with a cast including Colin Farrell, Q’orianka Kilcher, Christian Bale, and Christopher Plummer. What story from American history does this film recount? · Cultural Studies Cultural Studies Cultural studies, as a form of literary inquiry, proceeds from the following premises: · literature is part of an ongoing social process, not separate from other things going on in society · literature does not exist in an aesthetic realm separate from ethical and political categories · one should try to understand the nature of social power as reflected in “texts” · one should pull from deconstructionism, feminism, Marxism, and psychoanalysis · seeks to identify the overt and covert values reflected in a cultural practice · criticism of literature is a political practice; literary analysis is a means of furthering social justice Like the other varieties of literary inquiry that we have reviewed this semester, cultural studies can provide a valuable way of looking at, and learning more about, literature. · Gwendolyn Brooks — Life and Poetry Gwendolyn Brooks — Life and Poetry Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) was one of the most important American poets. She is renowned for recounting the lives and concerns of ordinary people, as with her poems about life in the historically African-American Chicago community of Bronzeville. Among other accomplishments, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1950, making her the first African American to win the Pulitzer. She was named Poet Laureate for the state of Illinois in 1968, and held that post until her death. She worked to help young African-American poets of Chicago publish, through a publishing house that she established in the city, and taught at colleges and universities including Columbia College Chicago, Chicago State University, and Columbia University. The poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks that you will be reading this week is as follows: · “We Real Cool” can be found on p. 849 of your textbook. · “the rites for Cousin Vit” can be found on p. 1072 of your textbook. · “The Bean Eaters” can be found by going to https___www.poetryfoundation.org_poetrymagazine_poems_28110_the-bean-eaters · “Riot” can be found by going to https___www.poetryfoundation.org_poems_51835_riot Assignment Sheet for Literary Research Essay (Due Sunday, April 11, by 11:59 pm) Assignment Sheet for Literary Research Essay (Due Sunday, April 11, by 11:59 pm) Literary Research Essay Assignment Sheet LENGTH: About 4 full pages DUE DATE: Due for submission to appropriate assignment portal by Sunday, April 11, at 11:59 pm. If you need more time, that’s fine; please just let me know. GUIDELINES: Please write a research-based essay on the literary work of your choice. For your subject, you may choose any of the following: 1) any of the literary works that we are discussing in class this semester, or 2) a literary work that is not under discussion in our class this semester, but is important to you. Motion pictures could also qualify under option 2. If you choose option 2, please get my permission to write about the literary work of your choice before getting under way. A variety of options exist for developing this essay. You could do a line-by-line explication of a key speech or passage, setting forth how each line of said speech or passage develops the author’s larger thematic ideas. You could carry out an analysis of a literary work, focusing on some feature such as characterization, plot, structure, setting, tone, language, or symbolism. You could engage in comparison and contrast, setting forth your sense of the salient similarities and differences between two works – for example, two works by the same author, or two works from the same time period, or two works that deal with the same subject matter. Any of these approaches can lend themselves well to the literary study and research. As with your literary response essay on a work of fiction, and your essays for the midterm, your literary research essay should have a thesis, a clear main idea, and all of the specific topics treated within the essay should relate to that thesis. It is also important that you cite specifics from the work or works that you choose, quoting lines directly in the paper, to give your reader a reason to believe in and agree with the claims that you make. Be sure to follow MLA format in putting your paper together. As mentioned above, there will be a research element to this essay. You will be expected to find three articles – preferably research-based, peer-reviewed, scholarly articles – that relate to the work or works of your choice. Just as you are expected to quote from the work or works of your choice, you should provide at least one quote from each of the articles that you find, and make clear how and why you agree or disagree with what an author has said. I will be connecting you with online library sessions that should help you with finding scholarly articles relating to the work or works of your choice. In addition, I will post my own best strategies for finding scholarly articles relating to literature. If you have trouble finding articles about a work or works that you are interested in, please contact a Mason librarian, or contact me. Because of the constraints placed upon this class, and all of your other classes, by the ongoing coronavirus/COVID-19 outbreak, I will be more flexible than usual with regard to the sources that you choose. If you find non-scholarly sources that you think might be helpful for you in composing this paper, you are free to use them. I do suggest that you consult with me regarding non-scholarly sources that you think you would like to use in your paper. This assignment, our last formal writing assignment of the semester prior to the final exam, provides a unique chance for you to apply all that you have learned throughout the semester. We will review sample literary research essays during this part of the semester, and I hope that our doing so may be of help to you as you begin composing this essay. · Review of Sample Literary Research Paper, “Kafka’s Greatness,” pp. 1861-65 Review of Sample Literary Research Paper, “Kafka’s Greatness,” pp. 1861-65 One of the reasons why I selected the Kennedy/Gioia Literature textbook this semester is that it includes so many helpful examples of how to write about literature. The sample literary research paper on pp. 1861-65 is no exception. Please review the sample research paper on your own, and please be aware of the following elements of a successful literary research paper, all of which one sees at work in this paper: · Make sure your thesis is consistent. The author’s main-idea focus on Kafka’s excellence as an author remains consistent throughout the paper. · Use quotes — both from your primary text, and from your research sources — to back up the points that you are making. The writer is quite conscientious about this, as with the long quote from critic Arnold Heidsieck on page 4 of the paper. Please note that any quote longer than four full lines should appear in block form, as the Heidsieck quote does. · Make sure that the supporting quotes that you include are well-integrated with the surrounding text. The writer of the paper achieves this goal quite successfully, as with the quote from critic Peter Heller that is presented in the first full paragraph on page 4 of the paper. The writer also does so with the Auden quote on page 3 of the paper, integrating the beginning of the quote into the sentence: “He says that ‘Kafka is a great, perhaps the greatest…'” · Always provide a parenthetical citation after any and all material that is drawn from an outside source — whether you are quoting directly, paraphrasing, or summarizing. · Provide orderly transitions from one point to the next. The writer of the paper is very conscientious in this regard. Consider, for example, the beginning of the second paragraph on this first page of the paper (“Not only is Kafka considered one of the greatest fiction writers…”), or how the writer starts various paragraphs on page 2 of the paper (“Kafka also distinguishes himself…”, “Kafka also uses his style…”) By following these guidelines, you can emulate the good example set by this student writer, and produce an excellent literary research paper of your own. · Journal on Poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks Due Thu. Mar. 18 by 11:59 pm Journal on Poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks Due Thu. Mar. 18 by 11:59 pm Please submit your journal on the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks to the appropriate journal portal by Thursday, March 18, at 11:59 pm. You may write on any one of the Brooks poems that we have read this week, or on common elements that you see at work in all of the poems generally. · Searching for Literary Research Sources Using MLA International Bibliography Searching for Literary Research Sources Using MLA International Bibliography As you will now be working on your Literary Research Papers, I thought it might be helpful for you to hear a bit regarding how you can search productively for literary research sources using the MLA International Bibliography, a database provided for scholarly research by the Modern Language Association (MLA). Here is a step-by-step guide to using the MLA International Bibliography database: 1. Go to the Mason Library website, library.gmu.edu. 2. Below the main search box on the library home page, you will see four blue boxes. One of them is titled “Databases.” Click on that one. 3. Click on the letter “M” in the alphabet across the top, or click on “Language & Literature” in the alphabetized list of “Resources by Subject.” 4. If you clicked on the letter “M” in the alphabet across the top, cursor down to “MLA International Bibliography.” If you clicked on “Language & Literature” in the alphabetized list of “Resources by Subject,” cursor down to “MLA International Bibliography.” 5. Click on “MLA International Bibliography.” 6. If asked to do so, authenticate with Duo 2-factor identification. 7. You will now be at the MLA International Bibliography database site. There will be search boxes at the top. Type in the name of the author and or text for which you wish to search. Please note that a string search, where you enclose the relevant phrase in question marks, can be more effective (e.g., “Vein of Iron” or “Langston Hughes”). You can choose the “Select a Field” option to search more specifically by text, author, or other criteria. 8. A list of search results will appear. Here are some examples of search results that I found, after a brief bit of searching: Bernstein, Robin. “Utopian Movements: Nikki Giovanni and the Convocation Following the Virginia Tech Massacre.” African American Review 45.3 (Fall 2012): 341-353. Edford, Rachel. “Forms of Identity in Gwendolyn Brooks’s World War II Poems.” College Literature: A Journal of Critical Literary Studies 41.4 (Fall 2014): 71-93. Grogan, Kristin. “Langston Hughes and the Exemplary Blues Poem.” Poetics Today 40.4 (December 2019): 645-681. Nettels, Elsa. “The Spiritual Autobiographies of Ellen Glasgow: The Woman Within and Vein of Iron.” Literature and Belief 15 (1995): 25-46. Ward, Thomas. ” Coriolanus and the Voice of Cynicism.” Renaissance Drama 47.1 (Spring 2019): 95-121. Please note that many of these sources will have a note below them indicating that they are available via “PDF Full Text.” Click on that link, and a PDF full-text copy of the article will appear. Because of the constraints on research, given the current outbreak circumstances, I would recommend that you stick to sources that you can access as PDF Full Text sources. Book articles and books may not be available at this time. Please let me know of any questions or concerns that you may have. Many thanks!