Essay Assignment #2

J. O’Neal
October 22, 2007
Literature Humanities, Fall 2007
Essay Assignment #2

Passage selection due: Nov 7, 2007 in-class.
First Draft Due: Nov 9, 2007 by 11:59pm via email.
Final Draft Due: Nov 19, 2007 by 1159pm via email.
Length: 1000-1200 words

Prompt
For this assignment, please select two passages, from different texts, and discuss them together. I use the vague “discuss” here purposefully: you might employ any number of analytical techniques in your essay, but the goal is to connect elements of different texts.

On November 7, I will ask you to bring hard-copies of your selections to class.

Guidelines
1. Please limit yourself to two main passages. You of course might need to bring in bits from the
  larger work, but please do so strategically.

2. I encourage you to use the passage from your first essay as one of your selections here. This is not
a requirement, since you well may be have exhausted your interested in this passage, but you’ve already done some serious investigation of it and this can only make the present assignment more interesting.

3. I recommend passages of between 100-200 words. If the passages are much shorter, then you may have difficulty generating ideas. If they are much longer, then it will be challenging to stay focused on the details of the passage.

Suggestions

1. Again, I’m not looking for you to “prove” something about these texts. Instead, think of a
problem your essay might address or a question it could help answer.

2. I, for absolute clarity, do not want you to include a thesis-like sentence in your introduction. Or anywhere near it.

3. You probably will want to avoid selecting passages that are too similar. In general, noting similarity is the most basic of analytical observations and therefore can be difficult to turn into creative thinking. Usually noting similarity is most interesting in divergent sources and, since our texts thus far all Ancient Greek, this is perhaps to be expected. This is not to say that finding congruities will not be generative here, just remember that you will need to suggest the implication of your observations, rather than merely observe sameness (or difference for that matter).

4. Don’t limit yourself to connecting passages that seem to be “about” the same thing. Do consider moments that might be formally similar, occur at similar moment, or in related circumstances. Again, this initial similarity will lead to discussing the meaning of the differences between the two passages—in the end, it is usually the recognition and interpretation of difference that yields the most useful critique.

5.  Do talk to me about your ideas. We can sit down and think together about the possibilities (or problems) of a potential selection. In general, discussing the matter with me, and indeed any interested party, can be enormously helpful.