LITR 4232: American Renaissance, UHCL, spring 2003—Midterm Exam

Date: 27 Feb 2003   Format: Open-book, open-notebook (but not a cure-all)

2 options for taking exam

·        in-class: 11:30-12:50; write in ink on exam sheet for ID’s; write in ink on paper or bluebook for essay

Special instructions for email students:

·        The exam will be emailed (and posted to the webpage) around 11:15am; return it by 1:30pm. Within that span you may spend 80 minutes writing the exam. Keep a log of when you start & stop. Breaks or pauses are OK.

·        Send your answers to me at whitec@uhcl.edu. Attach your file to the message and paste the contents into the email.

·        I will acknowledge receipt of your emailed exam within a few hours. If you do not receive acknowledgement within 24 hours, be concerned.

·        Make sure that the email address is for whitec and not just white.

·        Ask for help from a tech or a techie friend.

·        Call me at 281 283 3380. Leave a voice message.

Part 1. “Identify and signify.” (15-20 minutes)

Choose and analyze a passage from our course readings—and make it matter!

·        Choose a passage. First, try consulting your memory: Which page or moment in our texts reminds itself to you? Ask yourself why, and explain why you’ve chosen it. Some reasons may be personal, but make the passage’s appeal or significance as universal as possible. The passage does not need to be one we went over in class, but it should connect to one or more of the course objectives or themes. You might treat two passages as long as they’re intimately and directly connected to each other.

·        Analyze. Midterm samples can provide examples of this process. Describing how the language works to create meaning, to appeal to readers, and to develop themes or ideas. You analyze the textual passage on its own terms, but meaning can also develop by comparing it to other texts.

·        Make it matter. Why or how does the passage speak to literary and/or cultural issues in and beyond this course?

Part 2. Essay section (50 minutes to 1 hour)

·        Indicate which essay option (Option X: Formal / Literary or Option Z: Cultural / Historical) you’re choosing.

·        If one option overlaps with another, this may not be a problem. The two questions are designed to give different approaches to somewhat similar materials.

·        If the content of the essay section overlaps somewhat with the content of the Identify/Signify section, just be quick about it. Feel free to refer to points developed earlier in the exam.

Option X: Formal / literary option

Assignment: Discuss how American authors adapt one or more of the elements of European Romanticism to the realities of the American landscape, American history, and / or the American people.

·        Write a complete essay.

·        Refer to three or more texts from our course readings. (Feel free to refer briefly to Romantic authors beyond the course, but not required.)

·        Concentrate on one or two aspects of Romanticism: the romance narrative, the gothic, and / or the sublime.

·        Compare and contrast authors and texts with each other. (That is, don't treat these texts in isolation from each other.)

·        What have you learned about Romanticism or its elements and / or about the USA?

Option Z: Cultural / historical option

How has literature of the American Renaissance challenged or developed your ideas of American culture or history and the role of literature in shaping and understanding it?

·        Write a complete essay.

·        Refer to at least 3 texts from our readings. Compare and contrast authors and texts with each other.

·        You might choose three or more texts that chart the range of American cultural history represented by American Renaissance literature—that is, the three texts might handle different issues that come together to make a picture of American culture.

·        Or you might align three or more texts that deal with a single similar identity or issue, e. g., American Indians, abolition, women’s rights, literacy / education, gaining a voice, American identity, etc. (Don’t feel limited to this list. Try out an idea that matters to you.)

·        Either way, remember this is a Literature course and emphasize the language being used, issues of literacy or voice, or other elements that link literature and language with culture and history

·        As a conclusion, evaluate the upsides and downsides of “New Historicism” as a way of studying literature and history in terms of the essay you’ve just written. What have you proved or learned about our past and present by reading literature and cultural history together?