1.Read T.S. Eliot’s long poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” As I mentioned last week, I would like us to give Hypothes.is another try. Please access the poem HERE and as you read, use Hypothes.is to make notes, ask questions, record the meanings of any unfamiliar words, and add anything other thoughts or connections that occur to you as you are reading. In order to annotate the text and share your annotations with our class, you need to first sign in to Hypothes.is, then select ENG2850 from the pull-down menu (The alternative is “Public”). You may also enjoy hearing Eliot read his poem aloud, which you can do HERE. Please make 4-6 annotations before we discuss the poem on Wednesday 4/28 during our Zoom call.
2.Choose a moment in the poem that seems to you to be crying out for more extensive explication and analysis. This could be a passage that you find really challenging, or it could be a passage that you feel you already have some insight into. I would recommend choosing a passage of 2-4 lines. Offer a detailed analysis of your passage, including the following:
-copy the lines you are analyzing, and be sure to identify their line numbers.
-explain the literal meaning of the passage.
-what made you choose this passage?
-what words, terms, or names did you need to look up? What do they mean?
-what symbolism, imagery, or other poetic devices is Eliot employing in these lines?
-how do these lines connect to the central concerns of the poem as a whole?
-what do you still not understand about your passage?
-what resources (if any) did you consult in order to complete this assignment? My preference would be that you rely on. your own native intelligence and curiosity to complete this assignment, but if you do consult any outside sources, they must be acknowledged appropriately. (Remember that any time you offer an idea that you found in another source, whether you quote from that source or not, you must include a parenthetical citation identifying your source. Failure to do so is plagiarism, a serious academic offense. Consult me if you have questions about this!)
Please post this assignment (as a free-standing blog post) by Friday, April 30th.
3.Introduction to Literary Modernism – Please stay tuned for a brief video I recorded introducing the next major aesthetic movement we will be exploring (Literary Modernism) and saying a few words about the beginning of the 20th Century. My original lecture did not record properly, so I will be re-recording and posting this, hopefully by Friday evening, April 23rd.
4. Slight Schedule Change: If you have been following along on our syllabus, you will note that I have deviated slightly from the reading schedule listed on the syllabus. This coming week, we are only reading T.S. Eliot. The following week (5/3 and 5/5), we will be reading and discussing Kafka, “The Metamorphosis.” It is a longer text, so you might want to begin reading it now, while our reading load is modest. After Kafka, we will be reading Borowski’s “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen” ( May 10th), Salih’s “The Doum Tree of Wad Hamid” (May 12th), and Allende’s “And of Clay are We Created” (May 17th)
5. Any Questions? Please feel free to reach out to me via email or Slack if you have questions about any of this. We are approaching the end of the semester, and I don’t want you to fall behind or lose your momentum as life gets increasingly busy. You can sign up for office hours HERE.
