english writing homework with Essay 2 pages

Rationale. As our written and spoken analyses about literary works grow more complex, those conversations are sometimes informed by published pieces of literary criticism. In fact, almost all professors, literary critics, and advanced students of literature formulate their interpretations of literature based on the published work and critical practices of other critics. Knowing how to do this delineates novice from more advanced students of literature.

This assignment asks you to read an essay, available in Course Materials in Blackboard, about Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night, and to formulate an argument about Twelfth Night in conversation with that essay. You will need to summarize relevant points from the literary-critical essay. You will also need to offer evidence for your argument, including at the level of quotation, from Twelfth Night. Accomplishing this should draw you deeper into the literary work than an initial, surface-level reading would allow. Considering the options for this assignment also introduces you to some of the literary critical strategies that we will discuss in class and models ways that you can formulate more original arguments as the semester progresses. See “Relation to Course Objectives” near the end of this document.

Audience. Your audience is your classmates and me. We have already read relevant portions of Twelfth Night, so you do not have to summarize them for us. Turning your essay in on Blackboard makes it visible to all of us. We may look at portions of essays in class.