Eng2800: The Ancient World

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Final Exam Structure:

We are reviewing this in class today (Wed, 5/14), but here it is for your future reference. The exam is taking place Monday, May 19 3:30-5:30 PM in our classroom

Passage Section, Part 1 70%:

Because we have only read Othello and The Confessions since the midterm, this exam is a bit different than the midterm. In the passage section you will be asked to close read three passages (taken from The Oresteia and The Confessions). You will have choice, but it will not be possible to write only on one of the two texts. This is different than the midterm: The idea here is that this is a close reading (and so you should be using the techniques that you learned in writing your two close readings). This is not just passage ID and discussion of general themes (as it was on the midterm).  You should be talking about the meaning of the passage, its significance to the rest of the text and its language. Thus you are being assessed not only on your knowledge of the texts, but on your ability to close read. Obviously though the expectations are not as high as your out of class close readings! You should plan to write one or two detailed paragraphs for each passage, and plan to spend about 20 minutes on each. This DOES NOT mean the expectation is that you spend 20 minutes furiously writing, but rather you should take the time to really read and think about the passage (underlining, etc) before you begin writing.

Interpretative Short Answer Questions, Part II (30%):

You will be asked two short answer questions here (in a style similar to the ‘creative’ short answer questions on the midterm). While it will be possible to write only on Othello and The Confessions here (as the exam is not intended to be cumulative), you will have some question choices that incorporate material from earlier in the semester. Thus you will have the option to talk about the other texts that you might want to talk about – so if there is anything you know well, you should go back and look at it!

Here is a link to my handout on MLA guidelines (also will be distributed in the workshops): MLA Guidelines

And here are the instructions for your final paper: Final Paper Instructions

Hi everyone,

For this post I want you to think about the relationship between literature and visual art. I encourage you to respond to my questions below to fulfill one of your blog-response requirements. The first image is a modern rendering of The Furies (from The Oresteia). This painting (a triptych) is by Francis Bacon and was first exhibited at the end of the war in 1945. The title of the painting is “Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion,” thereby relating this painting to the saints traditionally represented at the base of the cross. Bacon also connected this painting to The Oresteia, claiming that the figures here represented are in fact the furies. Consider the following questions and feel free to answer all (or any) of them in your responses:

What do you think the connection between Christianity/the cross/saints and Greek mythology/The Oresteia was for Bacon? He clearly sees the two connected here as he brings them together in his explanation of the painting — what might such a connection mean? What is your interpretation of the painting? Why do you think the furies are represented like this, and what could this mean? Can you make any connection between the furies and the fact that this painting was done right after World War II? 

Now here is a painting entitled “Krisna and Arjuna from the Bhagavad Gita” by Allah Bux. (Link for the image included as well).  You can respond to any of these questions as well. After reading The Bhagavad Gita, how do you interpret this image? What do you think the painter is trying to represent? How do you interpret the background of the image? 

And finally: How do these two images differ, and/or how are they similar? How can we use the differences and/or similarities between these two images to think about how these two texts might relate to one another? 

http://huntington.wmc.ohio-state.edu/public/index.cfm fuseaction=showThisDetail&ObjectID=30017546&detail=largeZoom

Along with The Book of Job, please read, print and bring to class The Babylonian Theodicy posted under course readings.

Go to the library’s website:

http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/library/

Using secondary sources can be incredibly helpful in stimulating your ideas and providing counter-arguments.  They also provide a good way to focus on moving away from plot summary to a more analytic and argument-based paper.  And finally you will have to use an article for your presentation assignment.

Under the “Articles” tab in the search bar, click databases “By Name” in order to search for specific databases rather than specific journals (searching by database will yield a far greater number of results).  This will bring you to a list of databases. Click on “J” for instance and this will bring you to a list of databases that begin with J which is where the database JSTOR is located.  There are other very useful options besides JSTOR, such as “Academic Search Complete” and “Project Muse” also listed under these sets of databases, and I encourage you to utilize any or all of these databases.  Once you click on your database you will need to enter your Baruch ID and password to gain access to the site.

JSTOR, as well as the other databases, collect articles from a huge variety of journals covering an expansive amount of time – so anything you search will probably yield a lot of results.  Once you are in the JSTOR site, searching for specific things is always helpful – for instance “The Oresteia AND justice” or “Odysseus AND fate.”  This will still yield a lot of results, but you can sift through the articles and find something relevant to your topic.  You will gain access to the full article so you can print a PDF version.  All the necessary citation information will be on the article’s title page, including the name of the journal and the date of publication.

Citing journal articles:

Unlike websites such as sparknotes, these are accredited and published journals and therefore legitimate sources.  In other words these articles were reviewed, edited and then published in a circulating print journal.  You can consult the website I will give you about how to cite journal articles, but here are examples as a guide.  Each citation includes (in this order) the author’s name, the title of their article, the title of the journal in which this article was published, the volume and number of the journal, its year of publication and the page numbers of the article.  Be sure to format in this style (known as MLA):

Levin, Susan M. “Subtle Fire: Dorothy Wordsworth’s Prose and Poetry.”

The Massachusetts Review 21.2 (1980): 345-363.

Ehnnen, Jill. “Writing against, Writing through: Subjectivity, Vocation, and Authorship

in the Work of Dorothy Wordsworth.” South Atlantic Review 64.1 (1999): 72-90.

The discussion-leading assignment details and the schedule have been posted under ‘assignments’ ! Please take a look if you missed one or two of our classes this week! Reading for Monday will be posted tomorrow.

Your reading for February 3 has been distributed in class and is posted under the “course reading” page on this blog. You should be thinking about these myths in the same way we thought about those you wrote on during class — how are these myths similar? Different? How might they reflect their differing cultural beliefs?

Hi everyone! This is our blog for Eng2800: Great Works of Literature I. This site will be extremely important to our class throughout the semester, so be sure to check it regularly. All course materials will be posted here and you will also be required to post to this blog (more information on that to come). Here’s the course syllabus! Make sure to hold on to it and consult it regularly. Baruch Spring 2014 Syllabus