This page will be updated throughout the semester and will contain the blog assignments/prompts for each of the fourteen blog posts you will write. Our course blog, which includes links to all student blogs, can be found at http://www.academicsandbox.com/E372blog/.
First, a word on the grading of your blog posts. In grading these posts, I am assessing the critical value of the entry on a 0-4 point scale. A fifth point is reserved for your meaningful participation in the comments sections of other students' blog posts (as described in each assignment, when applicable). As I will be commenting on your blogs, you will see me say something to the effect of "more, please" if your posts are not up to par. Additionally, I will send an email to any of you who are consistently performing below 3 points per post.
You should strive to be thoughtful and nuanced; avoid description and summary unless it forms a (small, introductory) part of your thoughtful writing. Above all, follow the prompt. That is, do what it asks you to do. Below you will find a general rubric for the blog posts:
- 4 points: Exceptional. The blog entry is focused and coherently integrates examples with explanations or analysis. The entry reflects in-depth engagement with the topic.
- 3 points: Satisfactory. The blog entry is reasonably focused, and explanations or analysis are mostly based on examples or other evidence. Fewer connections are made between ideas, and though new insights are offered, they are not fully developed. The entry reflects moderate engagement with the topic.
- 2 points: Underdeveloped. The blog entry is mostly description or summary, and contains few connections between ideas. The entry reflects passing engagement with the topic.
- 1 point: Limited. The blog entry is unfocused, or simply rehashes previous comments, and displays no evidence of engagement with the topic.
- 0 points: No Credit. The blog entry is missing or consists of disconnected sentences.
Grading rubric adapted from: Sample, Mark. "Pedagogy and the Class Blog." 14 Aug. 2009. SAMPLE REALITY. Accessed 9 Jan. 2010. <http://www.samplereality.com/2009/08/14/pedagogy-and-the-class-blog/>
Blog Assignment #1 (due by Friday, 01/15, 5:00pm)
There is a distinction between terror ("high" literature and culture) and horror ("low" literature and culture). For a quick working description of the two, the following from Wikipedia is perfectly acceptable:
- Terror is usually described as the feeling of dread and anticipation that precedes the horrifying experience; more related to being anxious or fearful, being terrified.
- Horror is the feeling of revulsion that usually occurs after something frightening is seen, heard, or otherwise experienced; more related to being shocked or scared.
Blog Assignment #2 (due by Friday, 01/22, 5:00pm)
Without a doubt, the wilderness plays a crucial role in Edgar Huntly. However, this text is not a pictureque novel—readers are not painted a picture of the environment. Despite not seeing the wilderness as Edgar Huntly sees it, Brown succeeds in making the reader feel how the wilderness is a threat. Find a place in the text in which the concealed landscape exists almost entirely in the sensations it inspires, from pain to entrapment to exhaustion to fear and so on. For each passage you select, provide a page number (or other identification), summarize the passage, and explain the interpreted sensation and how the text produces that sensation. Then, discuss how an author more oriented toward the picturesque might have written the passage, and what you would argue would be lost or gained from it. Additionally, leave at least two thoughtful comments on posts within your blogging group. You can leave comments on post #1, or circle back around before Tuesday and leave comments on post #2.
Blog Assignment #3 (due by Friday, 01/29, 5:00pm)
Consider the following poem: "Floating Island" by Dorothy Wordsworth. Recall the aspects of Romanticism as we discussed generally in class this week: against Neoclassicism; against scientific rationalization of nature; "literature depicting emotional matter in an imaginative form"; focus on: imagination, emotion, individualism, spontaneity, freedom, the solitary life, imagination superior to reason; devotion to beauty, worship of nature, fascination with the past (myths and mysticism); emotion as authentic source of the aesthetic experience; horror, terror, awe when experiencing the sublimity of nature; Wordworth's famous "poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility" line. Now, discuss "Floating Island" in terms of those aspects of Romanticism where applicable. Do not freak out—I'm not asking for a formal reading, just something like what we did on Tuesday with "Tintern Abbey" (only longer and with more examples). Additionally, leave at least two thoughtful comments on posts within your blogging group. You can leave comments on post #2, or circle back around after Friday at 5 (but before, say, Monday afternoon) and leave comments on post #3.
Harmonious Powers with Nature work On sky, earth, river, lake, and sea: Sunshine and storm, whirlwind and breeze All in one duteous task agree. Once did I see a slip of earth, By throbbing waves long undermined, Loosed from its hold; -- how no one knew But all might see it float, obedient to the wind. Might see it, from the mossy shore Dissevered float upon the Lake, Float, with its crest of trees adorned On which the warbling birds their pastime take. Food, shelter, safety there they find There berries ripen, flowerets bloom; There insects live their lives -- and die: A peopled world it is; in size a tiny room. And thus through many seasons’ space This little Island may survive But Nature, though we mark her not, Will take away -- may cease to give. Perchance when you are wandering forth Upon some vacant sunny day Without an object, hope, or fear, Thither your eyes may turn -- the Isle is passed away. Buried beneath the glittering Lake! Its place no longer to be found, Yet the lost fragments shall remain, To fertilize some other ground.
Blog Assignment #4 (due by Friday, 02/05, 5:00pm)
Epigraphs are more than witty sayings and bits of wisdom tacked on to other works. Common purposes of epigraphs (as epigraphs are typically very purposefully placed) are to comment on, elucidate, or justify the title of the text the epigraph precedes, it may comment on or elucidate the meaning of the text the epigraph precedes, it may intentionally send a message to the reader different from the message of the text the epigraph precedes, and it may simply provide an "epigraph-effect," which is when an epigraph marks the period, the genre, or the tenor of a piece of writing. The epigraph used by Emerson that precedes the esssay "Circles" is a six-line poem of his own creation. In this blog post, select which of the four common uses of the epigraph you believe Emerson was going for (hint: it's not the fourth one). You must support your answer through analysis of the text itself (both the epigraph and the essay you read). Hint the second: while the wrong answer would be the fourth reason for the epigraph, there is no "right" answer from the remaining three—only unsupported ones). Additionally, leave at least two thoughtful comments on posts OUTSIDE your blogging group: everyone respond within the group listed ABOVE yours (Cooper group go to Howells group). You can leave comments on post #3, or circle back around after Friday at 5 (but before, say, Monday afternoon) and leave comments on post #4.
Blog Assignment #5 (due by Friday, 02/12, 5:00pm)
For this assignment, you'll have to read another Hawthorne short story: "The Minister's Black Veil". After reading this tale, pull out a few instances in the text that are indicative of "Dark Romanticism." For each instance, provide context for it (where does it occur in the plot), summarize the action (or inaction) taking place, and describe how it reflects the ideas of Dark Romanticism that we will have discussed on Tuesday. Additionally, leave at least two thoughtful comments on posts from any of the blogs in the class. You can leave comments on post #4, or circle back around after Friday at 5 (but before, say, Monday afternoon) and leave comments on post #5.
Blog Assignment #6 (due by Friday, 02/19, 5:00pm)
While the Pre-Raphaelites were working in England, artists part of the Hudson River School in America were creating portraits of the landscape which were heavily influenced by Romanticism. You can get a decent overview of the Hudson River School and some of its associated painters in the Wikipedia entry. Follow the links to artists and their work, or do a Google Image Search for "Hudson River School", to find a digital image of a painting that you especially like. Once you've found that image, link to it in your blog, identify it by artist and name, and discuss elements of the painting in terms of anything that John Ruskin said in Modern Painters. Wait, what? We didn't read Modern Painters, and it's huge, you say? That's right. However, the electronic edition of volume I of Modern Painters has a complete table of contents with hyperlinks (you'll have to scroll a bit to get to it); you can jump to whatever section best suits what you should read. For instance, let's say you pick Jervis McEntee's "Mount Desert Island, Maine". You might then skim through Ruskin's Chapter IV, "Of the Foreground", find something that he said, and connect that to the McEntee painting. Note: The McEntee example is now off-limits since I used it as an example. Additionally, leave at least two thoughtful comments on posts from any of the blogs in the class. You can leave comments on post #5, or circle back around after Friday at 5 (but before, say, Monday afternoon) and leave comments on post #6.
Blog Assignment #7 (due by Friday, 03/05, 5:00pm)
Some of you may have seen the recent Levi's "Go Forth" ad campaign, and some of you may have realized that the poems that made up the text of the ads (and in one case, the voice reading the poems) were Walt Whitman's. It's ok if you didn't realize that—I reckon few people did.
First, watch the ads:
Next, read this blog post: "Walt Whitman and the Levi's Ad Campaign: A Provocation, A Challenge, and An Invitation" (and the comments). At the end of the post are four "questions to consider". On your blog, formulate some respnses to those questions to consider. Additionally, leave at least two thoughtful comments on posts from any of the blogs in the class. You can leave comments on post #6, or circle back around after Friday at 5 (but before, say, Monday afternoon) and leave comments on post #7.
BONUS BLOG POST (if you want to do it, it is due by Friday, 03/05, 5:00pm as well)
The Looking for Whitman project pulled together undergrads in "four different courses at four different college campuses to share their intellectual experiences of exploring Whitman's work in relationship to specific places in which Whitman lived." One the assignments was an "image gloss"; the assignment "asked students to do some research on a word or phrase from the 1855 Leaves of Grass that seemed unfamiliar to them and to create a short blog post with at least one image" and an explanation of that word or phrase. You can see some examples (click on an image to go to the student's blog post; you can also use the "older entries" link on the bottom of each page to navigate to see more). Don't look at too many, because I don't want you to duplicate what someone else did! For credit for this bonus post, do an image gloss of your own. Leaves of Grass, 1855. (scroll past the preface).
Blog Assignment #8 (due by Friday, 03/12, 5:00pm)
This assignment will give you practice in working with secondary sources, which will be a vital part of your final papers. First, read the critical article "Reading the Victorian Souvenir: Sonnets and Photographs of the Crimean War" (PDF, 235k) by Natalie Houston. Section II will be of most importance to this exercise, but you must also read Sections I and III to tie all the information together. (IOW, read it all, but read Section II more closely). Next, identify some interesting argument or claim about visual imagery in Section II. Introduce and summarize that in your blog post. Finally, find some images from your exploration of either the Civil War Photographs or the Crimean War Photographs that support or refute the argument or claim being made. Additionally, leave at least two thoughtful comments on posts from any of the blogs in the class. You can leave comments on post #7, or circle back around after Friday at 5 (but before, say, Monday afternoon) and leave comments on post #8.
Blog Assignment #9 (due by Friday, 03/26, 5:00pm)
This is a free-for-all post regarding the stories you read for this week (Twain, Harte, Macomber, Freeman, Jewett). Examples of appropriate free-for-all posts include close readings of passages, discussions of critical articles you have found in your own research, annotated collections of links to other material, questions (and potential answers) that arose during your reading, extension of a discussion we had in class, or an extended "stop fool" response ("Is there a point in the text when a character acts in a way that is so self-destructive or ridiculous that you'd like to stop him or her? Is there any character in the text who might actually have a chance of stopping the character? Write a dialogue (in character) in which you try to dissuade the character from the self-destructive action."—so taken from the originator of this assignment). Additionally, leave at least two thoughtful comments on posts from any of the blogs in the class. You can leave comments on post #8, or circle back around after Friday at 5 (but before, say, Monday afternoon) and leave comments on post #9.
Blog Assignment #10 (due by Friday, 04/01, 5:00pm OR Wednesday, 04/07, 5pm)
First, read Howells's review of Daisy Miller (starts with paragraph in left column beginning with "Daisy Miller" and continues to the next column and a few lines on the next page). Next, either take issue with something Howells says, or support something Howells says, with an example from the text (and your own argument). Additionally, leave at least two thoughtful comments on posts from any of the blogs in the class. You can leave comments on post #9, or circle back around after Friday at 5 (but before, say, Monday afternoon) and leave comments on post #10.
Blog Assignment #11 (due by Friday, 04/08, 5:00pm)
Post a short proposal for your final paper. Additional details will be provided on the Final Paper Assignment Sheet. You are also encouraged to comment on your classmates' proposals.
- From the final paper assignment sheet: "Write a paragraph or two that describes exactly what you plan to do, what you plan to argue, and how (in general) you plan to support your argument. Also, indicate why you want to pursue this topic.
- Bad example: "I want to do the topic of [x]. I will support it by reading some things and summarizing them."
- Better example: "Looking at least at [text] and [text], I plan to argue [some specific argument]. By closely examining [x] I will provide support for my argument through [x]" (and so on).
- If you want to run your topic and possible argument by me ahead of time (a good idea), just e-mail me or ask after class.
Blog Assignment #12 (due by Friday, 04/16, 5:00pm)
Based on comments I will give you on the short proposal in Blog Assignment #12, post a longer proposal as well as a tentative works cited list (with annotations) for your final paper. Additional details will be provided on the Final Paper Assignment Sheet. You are also encouraged to comment on your classmates' proposals.
Blog Assignment #13 (due by Friday, 04/23, 5:00pm)
Based on your reading in the previous week of Zola and Norris, pick something out of their work regarding the construction of the novel or the responsibility of the novelist. Summarize your selection, then discuss it in terms of something you read from either Hardy or Wilde. Would Zola or Norris (depending on who you select) consider your selected passage from Hardy or Wilde to adhere to their theories of the novel? Additionally, leave at least two thoughtful comments on posts from any of the blogs in the class. You can leave comments on post #12, or circle back around after Friday at 5 (but before, say, Monday afternoon) and leave comments on post #13.
Blog Assignment #14 (due by Friday, 04/30, 5:00pm)
For each brief presentation made by your classmates on Thursday, write some comments about the content of their presentation. In other words, you aren't to comment if their presentation was "good" or "bad" but instead note some interesting or intriguing element of the argument they plan to make in their paper.
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