Critical Essay Assignment
Choose one of the four critical essays listed below. For each of the two following instructions, write one or two paragraphs in response
(about a page for each response). Use double-space lineation in your answers. Assignments that exceed three pages of writing will not be
accepted. Your responses will be evaluated for accuracy, insight, and expression (i.e., good writing). Include a list of Works Cited in MLA
format. The assignment is due on November 17th; the five-day extension applies. The assignment does require submission to Turn It In.
1) Summarize the main argument of the essay and any secondary arguments. Include the main points the essay makes and a description of the
methodology the author uses for supporting the main argument. Indicate how the essay represents a new way of thinking about the poem it treats.
Do not quote from the essay.
2) Assess the value of the essay. How convincing is the essay? How does the essay represent a valuable contribution to our understanding
of the poem? What are the main weaknesses in the argument of the essay? Avoid talking about minor weaknesses in the style or presentation of
the essay.
- Carpenter, Margaret Ann. “Marvell’s ‘Garden.’” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 10.1 (Winter 1970): 155-69.
- Clair, John A. “Donne’s ‘The Canonization.’” PMLA 80.3 (1965): 300-02.
- Levitt, Paul M., and Kenneth G. Johnston. “Herbert’s ‘The Collar’: A Nautical Metaphor.” Studies in Philology 66.2 (1969): 217-24.
- Moll, Richard J. “Frustrated Readers and Conventional Decapitation in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” The Modern Language Review 97.4 (2002): 793-02.