Short Paper #1 assignment--due next Wednesday!

Short Paper #1: Poetic Conversations

In the earth-realm all is crossed:

Wierd’s will changeth the world

(“The Wanderer”)

For your first Short Paper assignment, I want you to choose 2 poems in the anthology that seem to respond to one another. By “respond,” I mean that one poem seems to reply to a conversation that the first poem starts—as if both are having a discussion about a specific theme (death, fate, love, honor, etc.). Explain how the first poem states and illustrates the argument, using specific details from the poem. Then, explain how the second poem responds, elaborates, or contradicts these ideas in its own version of the theme. Think of each poem as two people sitting at a table, over drinks, talking long into the night about, say, “the forked ways of fate.” What does each one say, and how much do they ultimately agree with one another? Or, how might one help clarity or ‘translate’ the ideas of the first poem?

You can do any two works, but consider how certain poems seem to share similar themes and genres (as we discussed in class). You can even do “The Wife’s Complaint” and “The Husband’s Response” if you wanted, but if you do, make sure you go beyond the mere plot of the poems...show how one poem responds to the ideas and conversation of the first poem (and you can make The Wife respond to The Husband, etc.). Or you can be much more creative, such as having one Riddle respond to another Riddle, or have another poem respond to the challenge of a Riddle, etc. In short, just find two poems that seem like they go together in your mind, where one adds to the other in a significant (and poetic) way.

REQUIREMENTS

• At least 3 pages, double spaced
• Evidence of Close Reading: this means examining how the poems say what the say, and not just summarizing them (analyze, don’t summarize)
• Quote from the poems accurately and provide page numbers for each quotation
• No Works Cited is necessary for this paper, since you only have one source
• DUE IN ONE WEEK: Wednesday, September 6^th by 5pm