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Essay Instructions: This is a compare and contrast paper.

**It will require a MLA style DRAFT along with the paper**

Two sources need to be used. Pick one from two different categories.
The sources listed can be found in The Conscious Reader text book.


First category :
Pop Culture pg 336-339 from The Conscious Reader text book
Why Vampires Never Die- Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan
Music as a safe Haven - Melissa Etheridge

Second category:
Education as a Weapon in the Hands of the Restless Poor- Earl Shorris
The Allegory of the Cave- Plato

Required Structure & Format
The required structure and format for Paper Two is the ?Point-by-Point? pattern of organization and development.

Essays that evaluate, that argue the superiority or advantage of one thing over another, often lend themselves to Point-by-Point Structure (or Method) because each of the writer?s claims may be clearly supported by the side-by-side details. This method of organization calls for body paragraphs that compare and contrast the two subjects first on point one, then on point two, then point three, and so forth.

Point-by-Point Structure (required):

Introduction (one paragraph)
* Briefly introduce significance of the subject matter
* Includes thesis or position statement

Brief explanation of Work I (one paragraph)
* Similar to a summary

Brief explanation of Work II (one paragraph)
* Similar to a summary

First comparison and contrast point (one paragraph)
* Relation of comparison and contrast point to Work I (one to three paragraphs)
* Relation of comparison and contrast point to Work II (one to three paragraphs)

Second comparison and contrast point (one paragraph)
* Relation of comparison and contrast point to Work I (one to three paragraphs)
* Relation of comparison and contrast point to Work II (one to three paragraphs)

Third comparison or contrast point (one paragraph)
* Relation of comparison and contrast point to Work I (one to three paragraphs)
* Relation of comparison and contrast point to Work II (one to three paragraphs)

Conclusion (one to two paragraphs)
The conclusion of a paper, a book, a short fiction, or a film is a very important event as it is the writer?s last time with the readers or the audience. Do not ?drop the ball? in the conclusion. Do not write a lame, weak conclusion. You want to ?wrap it up? for the readers, but you also want them to remember the importance of the discussion of the subject of the paper. Therefore, you might want to summarize how you proved your argument.

Works Cited Page
Use Modern Language Association (MLA) documentation for all needed in-text citation (also known as parenthetical documentation) as you must cite your sources when used in the essay and for the Works Cited page.

The thesis or position statement of a compare (comparison) and contrast paper should contain an idea or claim that unites a discussion of the texts. The thesis or position statement should also include the argument that will be developed in support of the claim that is being made.

With this pattern of organization, you must make a smooth transition from ?relation of comparison or contrast point to Work I in relation of comparison or contrast point to Work II in each discussion to avoid a choppy seesaw effect. Please refer to outline on previous page as to what I mean by Work I and Work II.

The length of the paper will be approximately 3 to 4 pages or approximately 750-1,000 words. The page length and the word count does not and will not include the Works Cite page, which follows the last page of your paper and is its own page.

Points Received from:
*Follows all instructions & complies with all requirements
*Thesis/position statement: clear, understandable, and guides the essay
*Content indicates student engaged the assignment; employed the required point-by-point structure; and, all required sections of the paper present and fully developed
*Writing flows coherently with logical links (transitions) among sentences and paragraphs
*Sentence style is clear, natural, graceful, concise, and complete
*Writing adheres to Standard Written English and avoids the use of casual, colloquial, and regional language as well as avoids use of trite sayings, clich?s, etc.
*Careful proofreading has eliminated careless errors. No typos, no misspelled words
*Excellent support for content; Appropriate, accurate & ethical use of MLA documentation, including in-text citation and Works Cited page

Essay Instructions: You are to write a 2-page paper. Each question is to be answered separately. State the question first and continue to answer. Do Not Use Outside Sources, Only Use the Website that is listed!

Read through Coleridge's "Kubla Kahn" and "The Pains of Sleep” and briefly answer the following questions:
1. The prefatory statements on this poem seem just as important as the poem itself in establishing a mood and tone of suspense and uncertainty. In fact, if we were to remove the prose portion of the poem there really wouldn't be that much there at all! Diving in to the poem, however, what key phrases or even single words work to create the dark mood of the gothic? List at least five phrases or single words.
2. This poem has been interpreted and reinterpreted countless times with countless variations, but the one thing most interpretations share is a focus on the psychology of the Author (Coleridge himself or a persona he adopts). If a male friend of yours retold this dream and asked for an interpretation what would you say? Feel welcome to be creative--there's no wrong answer here!
3. Rather than look at other drug-influenced poetry as referents, let's instead look at how the form and mood of Coleridge's poem have influenced others. Remember the Eurythmics song "Sweet Dreams"? Check out the lyrics (www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/toadies/possumkingdom.html) and then write a few sentences about the correspondences you observe between the lyrics and the poem. Are these lyrics as, or even more, dependent on a drug-induced hallucination? Are they just as dark?
4. The "The Pains of Sleep" seems a more straightforward poem: the speaker is not over-identified, the theme seems more focused, and the poem actually ends. But is it so simple? What, ultimately, does the poem leave unresolved? What questions remain unanswered?
5. How does the psychology of the dreamer in "The Pains of Sleep" differ from "Kubla Kahn"? Conversely, how is the psychology similar?


Read John Clare’s "A Vision," "I Am" and "An Invite to Eternity". Briefly answer the following questions:

1. How is "A Vision" similar to "Kubla Kahn" in mood and tone? What specific word choices lead to this similarity?
2. How do you interpret the last stanza of "A Vision"? How does it relate to the prior stanza?
3. "I Am" like "The Pains of Sleep" is an ode of sorts to sleeping and dreaming of a better place. How does Clare take the idea of peaceful rest further than Coleridge? What does he add?
4. "An Invite to Eternity" is not an often studied poem, though for those interested in vampires and vampire lore it probably should be because the tropes of the vampire legend are all there without explicitly stating that this is a vampire story. As with the Eurythmics, this poem, too, has a contemporary correspondence in song. Read through the lyrics to the Toadies "Possum Kingdom" (www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/toadies/possumkingdom.html) and then write just a few sentences about what they share, noting in particular the role of the speaker.



There are faxes for this order.

Essay Instructions: This assignment is for Pheelyks

It is important that you please reference both the readings and the film in response to the following assignment:

READING

Riverside:

Twentieth-Century Shakespeare Criticism, pp. 44-54;

Introduction to “A Midsummer Night's Dream,” pp 251-255;

“A Midsummer Night's Dream,” pp.256-283.

Cambridge Companion:

"Gender and Sexuality in Shakespeare" (129-146)

FILM

“A Midsummer Night's Dream” (Director: Michael Hoffman, with Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Calista Flockhart , 1999).

WEB SITES

MSND: Analysis
http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/midsummer001.html

Notes
http://www.classicnote.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/midsummernight/

Continuing the discussion began in 1 and 2, comment on the use of frames, that is, plays within plays, as ways Shakespeare developed to create an additional level of commentary and dramatic theme.

Again and again, Shakespeare's plays, both tragedies and comedies, begin with a conflict between a father, demanding filial rights, and his daughter, demanding freedom and individuality. In many ways, many of Shakespeare's views on women are modern—and he is different from other writers of his time on this subject. The goal of this unit is to understand the sort of relationship that existed between fathers and daughters during the English renaissance, place Shakespeare's attitudes on the relationship within the era, and note how he differed from his own age and is considered modern in this respect. Some feminist critics view A Midsummer Night's Dream as a male-chauvinist play, one that exchanges one male domination for another, the husband replacing the father. Either interpretation depends on how the play is read, interpreted and performed. What do you believe Shakespeare is advocating in this play?

There are three independent stories in A Midsummer Night's Dream, all related. What are they and how to they interrelate? What three levels of reality are presented in the play by each of these stories? How does Shakespeare use the father-daughter relationship as a dramatic catalyst in this play and how does that relationship compare to the relationship between Kate and her father in The Taming of the Shrew?

In Peter Quince's troupe of players, what is the role of Bottom? What is the function of his name transparency, his metamorphosis, and this role as the character who connects all of the stories within the play? Is Shakespeare's language and comedy too coarse, too vulgar in some of the scenes in which Bottom appears? Discuss the varieties or levels of humor that Shakespeare uses in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

What is the role of Puck? Who is Puck in terms of English Folklore? Why does he make the comment, “Oh, what fools these mortals be,” when he views humans “in love”? Why does another character say “The course of true love never did run smooth” and who is that character and why is he the one to make that remark? Do you agree with either of these statements? How do they compare to the expanding list of definitions of love by Shakespeare that we began to compile in Unit 1, when we studied the sonnets, and in Unit 2?

In the film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream that we viewed, do you think that Kevin Kline brings more than comic appreciation to the character of Bottom? That is, do you think that he arouses empathy in the audience? Does Shakespeare use metamorphosis or shape-shifting well in this comedy—remember that today we usually reserve this device for horror films (werewolves, vampires, and so on)? How would you evaluate the performances of the major characters in the play according to your reading of the next? Would you have made any major changes in interpretation in the play? Do you think the role of Puck was trivialized? Did the performance match the character you had in your mind when you read the play? Why is Puck considered one of Shakespeare's greatest characters and does the interpretation in the film meet these high expectations?