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Essay Instructions: A short essay assignment. It is to be double spaced essay. For any short quotes you use, please be sure to cite the page number. You don't need to use ANY outside sources, as this is basically a response paper. At all costs avoid plot summaries or mere restatements of what the individual author is saying.

Compare, using examples from the texts, the character of Wilfred Owen as it emerges from his poems, and Brecht's Mother Courage. What does this comparison reveal about each author's perspective on war? (The two books are: 1st book is Wilfred Owen. The Poems of Wilfred Owen. Ed. Jon Stallworthy. Norton. and 2nd book is Bertolt Brecht. Mother Courage and Her Children. Trans. Eric Bentley. Grove.)

The porpose of this course is to develop the critical reading and writing skills so that you are able to discern common threads, convergences, and divergences in a range of literary works on the universal theme of war and it's multiple devastations.

Essay Instructions: WRITE A BRIEF 5 PAGE DOUBLE SPACED ESSAY IN RESPONSE TO THE QUESTION. FOR ANY (SHORT) QUOTES YOU USE, PLEASE BE SURE TO CITE THE PAGE NUMBER. YOU NEED NOT USE ANY OUTSIDE SOURCES (INTERNET SOURCES INCLUDED), AS THIS IS BAISICALLY A RESPONSE PAPER. AT ALL COSTS, AVOID PLOT SUMMARIES OR MERE RESTATEMENTS OF WHAT THE INDIVIDUAL AUTHOR IS SAYING.
=> DISCUSS THE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OWEN'S AND BRECHT'S CRITIQUES OF WAR, PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT THESE REVEAL ABOUT THE CHANGES UNDERGONE IN EUROPE BETWEEN 1918(THE YEAR OF OWEN'S DEATH) AND 1939(THE YEAR BRETCHT WROTE MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN)
BOOKS BEING USED ARE : "THE POEMS OF WILFRED OWEN" EDITED BY JON STALLWORTHY & "MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN" BY BERTOLT BRECHT
PLEASE EMAIL ME WITH ANY QUESTIONS

Essay Instructions: For each one, you will compose an extended argument addressing the main points. Your response should be grounded exclusively in the primary texts and your arguments should be clearly drawn from these texts meaning you should use brief quotations and paraphrase. Also you should relate the topics with more than two stories (Initials of the titles on each topic) and explain why those are related according to the topics. (How you move from the text to argument is important.)

The texts: Agamemnon (AG)- written by Aeschylus
The Libation Bearers (LB)- written by Aeschylus
Electra (EL)- written by Euripides
Tragedy of King Christophe (KC)- written by Aime Cesaire
Danton’s Death (DD)- written by Bertolt Brecht
Mother Courage and Her Children (MC)- written by Bertolt Brecht

1. Justice, Revenge, Ongoing Violence- AG, KC, LB
2. Idealism & the Loss/Failure of Ideas- KC, DD
3. Attempts to Build a New and Better Society- KC, AG, DD
4. Murder and Execution- DC, AG, EL
5. Abstraction- DD, KC, MC
6. Relationship between Rhetoric and War, Terror, & Violence- AG, KC, DD
7. The Failures and Illusions of Revolution (Disillusionment & Despair)- KC, DD
8. From Revolution to Republic- KC, DO
9. Human Agency (Lack of Free Will)- MC, AG, DD, LB
10. Relationships between Thought & Action- DO, KC
11. Means versus Ends- KC, DD
12. Peace (Why Cannot We Just Get Along & Live in Peace?)- AG, LB, EL, KC, DD, MC
13. War (What Is It Good For?)- KC, DD, MC
14. Vice & virtue- DD, MC
15. Revolutionary Leaders (How & Why Do They Succeed or Fail?)- KC, DD