PL Essays

A decidedly mixed bag. There were some A's and B's, including an essay I consider the best I've received ever from an undergrad. Clearly, then, the assignment was doable. But about 2/3 of the class got D's and F's. A large number of people didn't turn in the essay; they obviously wanted to fail, so I obliged them. Most of the remaining low grades came from simply not following instructions. Well over half the class ignored the supplemental reading, which cost a full letter grade. A lot of people just paraphrased their passages. The great majority re-hashed class discussion; the very best that'll earn is a B, and can easily get much lower. Not having any/enough quotes was another problem. One essay had significant enough plagiarism to fail, but thankfully not significant enough to fail the semester. 

Not surprisingly, students who wrote journal entries on time and attempted to avoid paraphrase tended to fare better. In terms of your grade journals can come in late, and I don't judge for quality per se, but they are intended as a way for you to practice skills and get feedback.  By the same token, the in-class writing that only a handful of students post is intended to give directed practice. Early in the semester when I warned about not keeping up with the small easy work this is the outcome I feared.  

PL Essay Due Date/Themes/Close Reading

The essay is due Mon 3/9; however, if you want the essay returned before break, you need to get it in by Fri 3/6.

Some themes we discussed in class:

Gender, Power, Free Will/Predestination, Temptation, Mercy, Reality/Illusion, Obedience, Deception

NB: Remember in close reading the theme is what you stress. Use specific characters/incidents to illustrate your larger point. Too much focus on characters/incidents exclusively leads to a paraphrase, not a close reading.

Reminder Re Supplemental Readings/Essay

A lot of journal entries disregard the supplemental readings. Don't forget that is a requirement in the essay, worth 10% of the grade.

PL Essay Due Date

I'm of two minds about the due date for the PL essay. 3/2 is listed on the syllabus. The advantage is you'd get it back before break and have a better handle on your grade for the course. There's no take-home essay for Beowulf so I'm toying with  the idea of letting you have til 3/13 when we have the in-class essay. That gives you more time, but might interfere with studying for Beowulf and you wouldn't have any major grades before break. Leave a comment on this post.

PL Essay

Just to review: Pick a passage of 25-50 lines from Paradise Lost for close reading. Draw in a connection to one or two supplemental readings (and possibly another passage from PL) to reinforce the 2-3 most important parts of your argument.

If you need clarification about the supplemental reading, I'm happy to talk with you outside of class in the English Dept. MWF 9-10 am or after the 10:10 class. 

The journals give another chance to start thinking through possible essay topics.