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LITR 4232 American
Renaissance
Final Exam, Spring 2012 Model Assignments |
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Due-date window: 27 April-5 May; deadline noon Saturday 5 May unless special permission
Content:
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1 mid-length essay (4-6 paragraphs) from part A (either A1 or A2 [each includes possible sub-choices and options for mixes & matches])
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2 long essays (6-9 paragraphs) from part B
Attendance not
required on 3 May unless you take exam in-class.
Format:
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Open-book, open-notebook. Use course materials + outside sources (<optional).
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No direct coaching or outside contributions from another person in writing final version, but you can ask for help proofreading as long as editor reviews changes with you.
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No copying or lifting from outside sources without attribution.
Email students:
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Total time writing: 3-4 hours—Divide? e.g., 2 hours one day, 2 hours the next?--but spend as much time studying, note-taking, and drafting as you like or can.
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write & submit answers in any order, but indicate choices
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all 1 file please—exceptions OK
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sections’ contents may overlap / repeat; acknowledge, cross-reference, economize
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If your exam will be late, communicate! (professional courtesy)
Special Requirements:
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Number & title each essay—the better the title, the better the writing.
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Refer at least once somewhere in your exam to a previous LITR 4232 final exam answer or our class’s midterm samples (Model Assignments)(Don't worry about cheating or saying something someone else has already written--learning from available sources impresses)
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Refer to at least one web review (class presentation)
Grading standards & advice at bottom of exam.
A. Mid-length essay (4-6
paragraphs)
Choose ONE of these 2 options,
either 1a or 1b (1b has sub-options)
For models of A1 & A2, see 2010 sample answers
A1. Review & prioritize your learning in American Renaissance. If someone comparably educated asked you what you gained from our course (and for any reason you weren’t inclined to gripe), how would you answer?
Possible emphases:
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2-3 uses for course and / or texts; questions you had about literature that have been answered or came into focus.
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Terms, sources, and course links that revealed or reinforced materials you could work with.
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Personal / professional applications; applications to career or general learning
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Usefulness of literary-historical studies? What clicked and why?
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What do your interests in the course reveal about your profile as a Literature major (or other major), and how do these interests connect to academic or professional interests beyond this course?
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If the course wasn't your preference, what can you make of it?
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Highlights of semester. Connections to other courses. How are you maturing as a reader and writer?
Not looking for cheerleading but an intelligent measurement of what you learned and can imagine doing with it. If you have criticisms, make them work for you and me. You'll be judged not for flattery or disapproval but for your thinking and writing about our texts, subject, and classroom related to your sense of needs for literature and teaching in our society.
Potential themes and links: Critical thinking; unity / transition in writing; Student leadership; Literature as entertainment + improvement, escape + engagement; "close reading"; "Historicism"
OR (variation on "Review & prioritize
your learning in American Renaissance")
Describe your learning about
Romanticism as a
term or concept for a literary or
cultural period or
style, connecting it to other
related terms or concepts in American Renaissance or other courses.
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What did you come in knowing about Romanticism, and how has that understanding extended, changed, or redeveloped?
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When you think of the term, what comes first? Where does this lead?
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Do you find it more useful to think of Romanticism as a period, a spirit, or a style? Or what combination or priority?
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Consider explaining the concept as you would teach it to a particular group of students.
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What is the range or Romanticism?
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What inherent attractions or repulsions to Romanticism?
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How do you resolve the overlap or distinctions between Romanticism and the romance (narrative)?
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refer to website on Romanticism plus-minus other posts on Trans, Gothic, Sublime, Realism, the romance narrative.
A2. Mid-length essay on 1 or 2 terms or subjects: (you may choose one only or connect two)
Overall assignment: Write 4-6 paragraphs defining or describing the term or subject and its significance; apply to at least two texts and refer to appropriate web links. Summarize an overall point about learning experience.
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Civil Disobedience / Passive Resistance
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Sentimental / Domestic Literature in the American Renaissance (+ / - sentimental stereotypes)
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Religious literature or references discussed as literature in public schools? +- Religion in America
Texts to consider:
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Passive Resistance & Civil Disobedience: Thoreau's Resistance to Civil Government (1849), Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1851-2); Levi Coffin, Reminiscences; civil disobedience tradition(s)
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Sentimental / Domestic Literature in the American Renaissance (+ or - sentimental stereotypes): sentiment or sentimentality, domestic literature, sentimental stereotypes; Susan B. Warner, The Wide, Wide World (1850); Maria Susanna Cummins, The Lamplighter (1854); Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1851-2); Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861); for sentimental stereotypes. consider Harriet Beecher Stowe, "Sojourner Truth, the Libyan Sibyl"; Washington Irving, Rip Van Winkle or The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
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Religious literature or references discussed as literature in public schools? 2nd Great Awakening; Beecher family; William Apess (Pequot), "An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man"; Susan B. Warner, The Wide, Wide World (1850); Maria Susanna Cummins, The Lamplighter (1854); Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1851-2); Harriet Beecher Stowe, "Sojourner Truth, the Libyan Sibyl"; Frederick Douglass, A Narrative of the Life (1845); George Whitefield, sermon excerpts; Abraham Lincoln, The House Divided Speech; The Gettysburg Address; The 2nd Inaugural Address; Rebecca Harding Davis, Life in the Iron Mills (1861)
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Transcendentalism: Transcendentalism, Ralph Waldo Emerson, selections from Nature (1836), Margaret Fuller, The Great Lawsuit, Henry David Thoreau, Resistance to Civil Government (1849), Emerson, Thoreau; Louisa May Alcott, from Hospital Sketches (1863)
B. Long Essay Questions
Answer Two Questions
(6-9 paragraph essays)
B1. Essay Question 1. Define the Gothic & describe its various characteristics and uses in 3-4 course readings.
Briefly review
Irving’s or Cooper’s use of the
Gothic
(pre-midterm)
Refer more extensively to Poe,
Hawthorne, and/or Davis.
(You may use Poe’s stories, poems, or both.)
You may also refer to
at least one other text or author
(The
Gothic may appear only briefly or tangentially in ways we may not have
discussed, but plenty of examples).
Conclusion: consider the significance of the Gothic. Why do authors return to it? Obviously it’s a hook for readers, but what does it achieve besides interest or entertainment? How does it persist in contemporary popular culture and literature?
B2.
Essay
question 2. A
constantly changing society like
Most Americans react to our revolutionary society
in two extreme ways:
moral
absolutism
(a.k.a. "moralism" or "moralizing")—“A
woman’s place is in the home,” “It’s their own fault,” “Just say no”
(upside: definite, absolute, and certain; downside: simplistic,
divisive, polarizing,
vain & self-righteous)
or
moral relativism:
"Live and let live," "You are not the judge of me," "As long as you feel all
right about it . . . ." (upside: tolerance, open-mindedness;
downside:
indifference, casualness, or slackness in challenging situations)
Rather than choosing between intense
narrow-mindedness or careless open-mindedness, classic writers like
Hawthorne, Whitman,
Margaret Fuller,
Susan B. Warner (Wide, Wide World), Harriet Beecher
Stowe, Henry David Thoreau, and
Emily Dickinson,
or great leaders like Abraham
Lincoln,
and minority writers like Harriet Jacobs
or Frederick Douglass admit that
morality is
important but
also
complicated.
Referring to writings by at least
two of these writers (and others in or beyond
course),
describe how moral problems are depicted vividly and
significantly but without a simple, reductive moral judgment of who is right or
wrong, or innocent or guilty.
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Give a picture of the moral situation in which characters or people find themselves.
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What does a reader learn and what pleasure or benefit may s/he take from such writings?
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What responsibilities, rewards, and risks of studying complex moral issues as here?
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In education keyed to statistical bubble-testing, may such studies by defended as critical thinking?
B3. Essay question 3. “American Renaissance” surveys literature in a dynamic & formative period of American history. How have our readings developed* your ideas of history, or how has history developed your idea of literature? [*“Developed” = extended, confirmed, changed, challenged, etc.]
Two ways to organize:
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Start with interesting, applicable, and resonant historical fact(s) or idea(s) you learned, then develop through text analysis or reaction
or
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Start with texts that brought history suddenly and dramatically to life while explaining your reactions.
As usual, don’t treat your texts separately but compare, contrast, connect.
Text requirements: Three course-texts connected by history or learning experience.
From Obj. 3 methods / pedagogy:
Possible websites: civil disobedience tradition(s); The 2nd Great Awakening, Mexican-American War
Possible authors / texts: Alcott;
B4. Essay question 4. Write an essay comparing classic, popular, and representative authors and literature in terms of their differing (or overlapping) styles, values, audiences, and appeals (Objective 1).
Define and give examples of classical, popular, and representative literature from our course and beyond. (Suggestions from our course below. Don’t just rename but describe them in ways that fit your definitions.)
Some authors may fit more than one category--no problem if you explain.
What different pleasures, benefits, and challenges does each category offer a reader in our time? How were they received in their own time and by periods following their publication?
For what different purposes are these types of literature written?
What may one learn from reading across these different categories of literature?
What different readers might be attracted to the different categories?
Which balance of categories, is most appropriate for a college literature class like ours? What about other literature classrooms?
As usual in an essay like this, do a lot of comparing and contrasting from start to finish, for the sake of sparking ideas and weaving organization.
Summarize your learning experience with possible applications to research or teaching.
websites: classic, popular, and representative authors and literature; Alternative American Renaissance
Examples from our course readings: (not exhaustive—welcome to bring in others)
“Classic” authors and texts: Dickinson; Hawthorne; Emerson; Cooper; Irving; Thoreau
“Popular” authors and texts: Irving, Poe, Cooper, Stowe; you may also refer to popular authors beyond this course.
“Representative” texts and authors: William Apess; Cherokee Memorials; Frederick Douglass; Sojourner Truth; Harriet Jacobs; Margaret Fuller; Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
*Also consider authors who combine or cross categories: Poe, Douglass, Stowe, Irving, Fuller, Cooper.
B5. Here are two lyric poems, one by Whitman and another by Dickinson. Identify which author wrote which poem and how you can tell. Referring to these poems (and briefly to others?), describe, compare, and contrast Whitman's and Dickinson's unique styles and subjects.
· Comment on what aspects of the poem are characteristic of Whitman and Dickinson, and also comment in what ways these poems may not be characteristic—that is, in what ways may they surprise your expectations about Whitman and Dickinson?
· Identify characteristic (or non-characteristic) subject matter and stylistic devices on the parts of the two poets. Details and definitions are welcome, plus locate examples in the poem.
· Conclusion possibilities:
· How does each poem meet and vary the definition of a lyric poem?
· Compare Dickinson and Whitman in relation to each other—What do you gain, learn, or experience from one in contrast to the other?
Requirement: Refer at least twice to each poet's style guides (4 references total, but the better answers will probably do more):
Model Assignments for B5
A Noiseless
Patient Spider
[1]
A noiseless patient spider,
[2]
I marked where on a promontory it stood isolated,
[promontory = a projecting area (of land?)]
[3]
Marked how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
[4]
It launched forth filament, filament, filament, out of
itself,
[filament = thread]
[5]
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.
[6]
And you O my soul where you stand,
[7]
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
[8]
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the
spheres to connect them,
[9]
Till the bridge you will need be formed, till the ductile
anchor hold,
[10] Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my
soul.
[1.1] There's been a death in the opposite house
[1.2] As lately as today.
[1.3] I know it by the numb look
[1.4] Such houses have alway.
[2.1] The neighbours rustle in and out,
[2.2] The doctor drives away.
[2.3] A window opens like a pod,
[pod = seed or egg case]
[2.4] Abrupt, mechanically;
[3.1] Somebody flings a mattress out,—
[3.2] The children hurry by;
[3.3] They wonder if It died on that,—
[3.4] I used to when a boy.
[4.1] The minister goes stiffly in
[4.2] As if the house were his,
[4.3] And he owned all the mourners now,
[4.4] And little boys besides;
[5.1] And then the milliner, and the man
[milliner = merchant of clothing, here for mourning]
[5.2] Of the appalling trade,
[appalling trade = undertaking, embalming?]
[5.3] To take the measure of the house.
[5.4] There'll be that dark parade
[6.1] Of tassels and of coaches soon;
[black tassels indicated a coach or carriage as a hearse]
[6.2] It's easy as a sign,—
[6.3] The intuition of the news
[6.4] In just a country town.
Grading criteria:
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The best exams, even from students who don’t get everything, are essays where I see people learning something and enjoying the possibilities. In contrast, if you’re bored and would rather do something else, I soon feel that way too.
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Another key is how much your writing used the course's terms and objectives as opposed to talking about whatever you would have said without taking the course. Above all, don’t talk like celebrities or athletes about dreams and how anyone can do anything if they only believe in themselves. Yawn! . . . that’s nice but can you tell me something you and I didn’t know already?
Content and organization are inseparable. The more you organize, the more your ideas develop and connect to others, forming larger ideas.
Advice while prepping / drafting:
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Use language of course to write what matters to you so it matters to others.
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Final steps:
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Review & edit your essay. Make it better.
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Emphasize your main points. Connect ideas. Develop examples.
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Remember what teachers have told you about your writing.
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Examinations are not just chances to show what you already knew or to wish you’d known more beforehand—exams test learning in action.
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See grading standards above.
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Rest & edit before sending. Surface quality is part of your grade. If you have trouble with spelling, word endings, punctuation, etc., get help from a mentor or tutor as long as they explain changes.
Most common problems in midterms:
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Forgetting or ignoring objectives and course terms.
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Failing to review and mention discussion of terms in class or on linked pages. (A real killer is starting a discussion of Transcendentalism by citing Webster's Dictionary and ignoring what we discussed and what the links provided.)
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Forgetting or failing to proofread, edit, and improve before submission.
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Acting like they'd never think about any of this unless somebody made them.
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Students find all kinds of reasons not to write about what they're thinking about. Don't fear repeating or overlapping answers. Just be self-conscious with cross-referencing, showing you know what you're doing.
