ENG 111 – Literature & Composition I Critical Analysis
Length: 4-5 pages Due: Tues, Dec 5th, 2023 @ 10 am Weight: 30%
Most of the poems and short stories studied this term have explored a core cluster of themes ranging from love, the meaning of life, to death and the trauma of loss. Additionally, in relation to these texts, we have considered questions concerning representations of gender roles, class struggle, identity and colonialism, as well as mental health.
On the basis of these thematic links, select at least one poem and one short story and write a comparative critical analysis that explores the similarities and differences in the ways each text approaches and represents its primary themes.
Focus should be on the relation between theme and specific devices/elements in each text. For example, the way dialogue in Hemingway’s short story establishes theme, or the way tonal shifts across stanzas in Dumont’s poem develops theme, or how narrative voice in Gordimer’s story works to establish and develop theme, etc. The comparative basis of your analysis should rest on this primary relation between theme and device/element within each text.
Furthermore, arguable claims about the nature of the relationship between elements/devices rely on and demonstrate the writer’s understanding of the devices and elements. And remember, an effective close reading, as the driving force of your comparative critical analysis, does more than identify and catalogue formal elements: it explains how any particular device or element relates to the main theme in the text, which, in turn, is what will allow you to compare this relation across texts in order to make an arguable claim about how each text approaches and represents its main theme.
Papers must be formatted according to MLA style requirements (i.e., Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced, with an info block in upper left corner of the first page, a proper title, and works cited list, page numbers in bottom right corner). Submissions can be made through a link on Moodle. Please submit your essay in a Word.doc file. Include your first and last name in the file title
(The short story and Poem needed for the Literature & Composition I Critical Analysis are:
SHORT STORY : “the story of an hour” by Kate Chopin
POEM: “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” by Adrienne Rich
write a 1500 word or more complete Literature & Composition I Critical Analysis information above)
