Your essay should present a clear, insightful central idea, should have a clear sense of order and logic, should be well developed with specific details to support your assertions, and should use effective language that is free of grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Avoid plot summaries and provide quotations from the text to support your ideas. Consult the Writing About World Literature by Karen Gocsik for writing instructions. Also, it is suggested that you spend ample time writing and revising your essay.
How to format your paper:
- Typed/printed, double-spaced, 1″ margins. Change them in “Page Setup” on the “File” menu.
- Paragraphs indented 5 spaces at left; do not separate paragraphs by extra blank lines.
- Quotations of 10 words or less should be integrated into the text; longer quotations should be indented 5 spaces at left and right margins, single spaced, and set off from the text of the essay by a blank line before and after the quotation. Be sure to include verse numbers or line numbers
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Avoid citing college dictionaries, Wikipedia, or basic references such as the OED, Encyclopedia Britannica, etc. Instead, use the text, discussion postings, lesson notes, and any sources accessed from GALILEO for outside reference.
Each essay should have a specific title – one that suggests what is the most interesting or important about what you have to say. It’s worth taking a little thought over the title, not only because it creates the first impression of your essay; coming up with a phrase which encapsulates your argument can help in focusing that argument. One popular strategy is to use a key phrase from the text followed by another phrase of clarification.
Notes:
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All papers submitted in this class are reviewed via Turnitin.com, a proprietary software database that identifies unoriginal material in papers. Please review the syllabus statement regarding the penalty for plagiarism.Your instructor will provide you with additional information.
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Dates for essay submissions will be outlined in the course Calendar.
Your Assignment:
Choose one of the following topics and write a 400-600 word essay.
- Thousand and One Nights encompasses various themes at the core of human life and experience – love, death, passion, human imperfections, quest for spirituality and so on. Demons, talking animals, wayfarers, and random men and women illuminate life’s valuable lessons in this oral narrative. What parallels do you see in Dante’s Inferno that also address the consequences of human imperfections and failures? Provide two or three examples from Thousand and One Nights and the Inferno to illustrate your argument. Use textual references from Ed. 3 of the Norton Anthology.
- Relying on details from the Inferno and The Thousand and One Nights, indicate how culture is represented through religious or philosophical ideas in literature.
- Kalidasa’s Sakuntala is an example of a classical Sanskrit literary form called Kavya (Norton 872) and illustrates linguistic and literary perfection attained in poetic form. Kalidasa enables the audience to experience Rasa, (refer to course content for further explanation) the essential dramatic experience through the complex association of poetry, drama, characterization, music, stage settings, and plot. Compare this experience with Dante’s visionary epic poem that combines mythology, medieval theology, and his contemporary political scene. In your response, provide references to the assigned readings.
Be sure to save the assignment in .doc, .docx, or RTF format.
