ENG201Y (Reading Poetry): Essay #1
Due: Thursday 26th October 2000, by 6 p.m.
Length: 1250 words (5 250-word pages)
"Figures of thought" (Adams 132) – for instance, metaphor, simile, personification – may enhance the "vividness, complexity, or breadth of implication" of an idea or subject ("Metaphor", Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry).
Pick at least two poems from the ENG201Y syllabus that treat a similar, complex subject. Subjects might include: autumn (Hopkins, Keats, Shakespeare Sonnet 73), death (Donne Holy Sonnet 10, Cavendish), human beauty (Williams, Spenser & Shakespeare sonnets), love (Donne poems), separation of loved ones (Donne, "A valediction", Bradstreet), human yearning for the divine (Donne "Good Friday", Herbert "The Pulley"), human contact with the divine ("I syng of a maiden", Yeats). I’m happy to help you focus a topic.
Identify and analyze the figures of thought associated with that subject.
In a well-unified and well-organized essay, compare and contrast their effects in the poems that you have chosen.
Academic writing and report-giving
The College Writing Centres can help you with all stages of the essay-writing process.
I’m available during office hours (TW12:15-1), or by prior appointment.
The U of T Writing Home Page has links to advice on writing all kinds of essays (and resumes and application letters). Check it out!
http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/advise.html
Your essay.
1. Please type or neatly print your assignments.
2. On a separate title page, please provide a unique (and interesting) title that reflects the topic; your name & student number; my name; and the date.
3. Do not put your name on the body of the essay. Your essay's title and your student number are my keys to your identity once I've finished grading. Please put the paper's title and your student number at the top of EACH page; number each page at the top right.
4. Please use a paper clip rather than a stapler to hold the paper's pages together. I do comments on the word processor, and it is easier for me to attach them to your essay if I don't have to chew off the staple.
5. The bibliography of your essay should supply full references for your primary source (the poem(s)) and for secondary sources, if you’ve used any.
Lateness/extensions/etc.
Papers are considered to be late after 6 p.m. on the due date. I will accept late papers up to and including two weeks beyond the due date, with a penalty of 2% per working day (total 20%, or two letter grades). I will not normally accept work later than that. But see below.
If you cannot give me a piece of work in person, you must leave it at the porter's lodge in WETMORE Hall, the north building of New College. It is your responsibility to make sure that it has been date-stamped and initialled by the porter. Do not slide it under the door of my office: if you have read Tess of the d'Urbervilles, you know the possible consequences of such an action.
In order to give penalty-free extensions for medical or personal reasons, I do need to see documentation that covers the relevant dates--a doctor's note, xerox of obituary, etc. If you would rather not reveal details to me, get your college registrar to write me a letter.
Plagiarism.
It is an academic offence "to represent as one's own and idea or expression of an idea or work of another in any academic ... work" (Faculty of Arts and Science Calendar). The U of T Writing Home Page has links to the How Not To Plagiarize handout: http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/plagsep.html.
Please consult me at any time if you remain in any doubt about if and/or how to acknowledge the assistance of others.
Returned work.
Papers will be returned approximately 2-3 weeks after the due date. After I have brought them to class twice, I will keep them in my office. You may pick them up during my office hours, or try your luck at other times. Please make an effort to collect your papers promptly.
The terms I use when commenting on your papers are taken from The St Martin's Handbook for Canadians, which is available at libraries on campus.