William FitzGerald                                                                                      Fall 2006
English 220 - Introduction to Literary Study

Homework for Wednesday, October 4:

To read:

1. These poems in the Norton Anthology and related links:

"That the Science of Cartography is Limited," Boland, p. 1206
      Bio:  http://www.nortonpoets.com/bolande.htm
      Poem + Sound file:  http://www.nortonpoets.com/ex/bolandeinatime.htm
      Poet on poem:  http://www.theliteraryreview.org/poems/bolandessay.html

"Parsley," Dove, p. 1231
       Bio:  http://www.bsu.edu/web/gstrecker/PoetryProject/ritadove.htm
       Poet on Poem: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/dove/interview.htm
       Poet reading poem: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4517823

2. Review your understanding of a thesis:

    From Jack Lynch: http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/%7Ejlynch/EngPaper/thesis.html
          Good theses: http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/%7Ejlynch/EngPaper/goodthesis.html
          Good = controversial: http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/%7Ejlynch/EngPaper/controversial.html
          Bad theses: http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/%7Ejlynch/EngPaper/badthesis.html

    From  DeLombard and White: http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/~dwhite/paper2.htm#Introduction
    From Michael Barshanti: http://www.english.upenn.edu/Grad/Teachweb/mbthesis.html
    From Barshanti on "being original": http://www.english.upenn.edu/Grad/Teachweb/mborig.html
    From Sam Choi: http://www.english.upenn.edu/Grad/Teachweb/scthesis.html

NEW: And, finally, here's my take: there are deep and complex claims and then there are simple, but still smart ones. For this paper--an exercise in close reading of a poem, remember--the claim that serves to organize your "explication of the text" is one that help us/tell us how to read the poem, i.e., one plausible way to understand it--as a formal piece of art, as the communication of an idea, as both together.

  So, by way of example, here's a possible thesis for a reading of Boland's "cartography" poem: "In her poem '[title],' Eavan Boland employs the memory of a personal encounter with the remains of an unmarked road in the west country of Ireland to shed light on the furtive character of historical (and geographical) memory." It's a plausible beginning, right? If that's what I decide that's what is going on in the poem.  I could then demonstrate how formal features of the text (including its narrative development) chart some course toward meaning, showing, for example, how the addressed "you" of intimate, personal recollection shades into some imagined audience of readers who contemplate the implications of knowledge, cartographic or otherwise. Or discuss how the strange-sounding title, which also serves as the poem's beginning, in a voice--formal, academic--is a voice quite distinct from the informal style of speaking in the next stanza. And how those distinct voices matter. And so on. To make real progress, I would have to discuss the implications of the poem's lines, stanzas, turns, etc., but not necesarily by going through the poem line by line. I can be selective in how I read closely, right?


Exercise:

MLA Style Citation Exercise (to be completed by class meeting 10/06):

The following sites will answer your questions or clarify your understanding of how to cite and quote from sources in an English paper.

1. I highly recommend Purdue's OWL (Online Writing Lab) as the 'go-to' site for most issues in academic writing. The following OWL pages address principles of citation, paraphrase, and quotation:

       In-text Citation: The Basics           In-text Citation: Author-Page Style
       Formatting Quotations                  Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

2. Common Format Problems with MLA Citation (you might really find this helpful
       pdf: http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/CommonMLA_problem.pdf

3. Big Dog's MLA Quick Guide  (worth exploring, if a little quirky)
      
4. Jack Lynch's guide, "Getting an A on an English Paper," provides some guidance on citation more generally
        http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/%7Ejlynch/EngPaper/citation.html

5    Some tips on citing poetry: http://www.studyguide.org/MLAdocumentation.htm#Rules%20for%20Citing%20Poetry:

And finally

6. Exercise (to handed in or email): This page leads to a review of the mechanics for quoting and citing and a short quiz (exercise #2)
       MLA Format for In-text Citations