Linda Harris ONLY

Formatting:

Typed using double-spacing and Times NR or Calibri 12 pt font

Student’s name, assignment, class meeting time in top left corner of first page only (no cover page)

Works Cited page if sources are used

Drafting assistance:

By me in my office, S 1098 (during office hours), or by a in the Writing Center, N 925 (by appointment only)

Plagiarism or cheating: Grade of zero. No make-ups.

Topic:

For this paper, you will choose one text to read through and explain closely. You will only be responsible for the interpretation of the work you identify as your focus—there is no need to retell the entire text.

You can choose between:

Whitman Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking (72), Song of Myself (24)

Dickinson There’s a certain Slant of light (97), I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (99), Because I could not stop for Death (102), I heard a Fly buzz- when I died (103), The Brain—is wider than the Sky (104), Tell all the Truth but tell it slant   (108)

Twain The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County  (121) 

Bierce An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (399)

Smohalla Comments to Major MacMurray (413-414) 

Charlot [He has filled graves with our bones] (414-417) 

Winnemucca Life Among the Piutes (508-517) 

Harris The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story  (519-520), How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox (520-521)

Jewett The White Heron  (526-533) 

Chopin The Story of an Hour(555-557), The Storm  (557-561) 

Gilman The Yellow Wall-paper  (792-803), Why I Wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”   (804)

Washington Up from Slavery  (675-697) 

Du Bois from The Souls of Black Folk(885-901)

Johnson Lift Every Voice and Sing (1010-1011), Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1011-1028) 

Dunbar [poems]   (1029-1036)

Crane The Open Boat (990-1006) 

London To Build a Fire (1047-1058)

Zitkala Šafrom Impressions of an Indian Childhood (1087-1093),from The School Days of an Indian Girl (1093-1100), The Soft-Hearted Sioux (1101-1106), Why I Am a Pagan (1106-1108)

Frost Mending Wall (232), The Road Not Taken (241), Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening (245), Design (246) 

Stevens    Sunday Morning (285), Anecdote of the Jar (288) 

Williams    The Red Wheelbarrow (309), This is Just to Say (310)

I am not interested in how other works or people interpret your work. It is not beneficial, for this assignment at least, to find one reading and basically write a summary of what someone else thinks. Instead, rely on yourself. Look up place names, specific gods/goddesses, or words you do not know—but rely on your own thoughts overall. If you do end up using information that you looked up, CITE IT. There is a list of sources on Blackboard about writing Close Readings.

For the five pages, you will

· present the major characters (or voice of author) and explain their actions/thoughts/dreams/concerns

· identify any shift(s) you see in the character (or author’s thoughts)

· decide and present the meaning behind any metaphors, allegories, or allusions you see being made

· consider what the author(s) may have intended readers to “get” from reading this section

· identify any large questions or ideas that the text approaches or addresses

You may find it easier to approach this assignment by first listing any themes, motifs, and symbols you find in the pages you selected. From there, work to address that list one by one.

Fully explain your ideas. Your reader is one who has read the work (i.e. do not summarize), but who does not necessarily see what you see… yet. Convince them. Use quotes thoughtfully, not as filler. Essentially, imagine that you are answering a question in class and supporting your ideas with the text.