Write a brief essay [not including the passage you’re examining] that analyzes a brief moment in Emerson, Poe, Irving or Cooper.

Words: 402
Pages: 2
Subject: Research Writing

Write a brief essay [not including the passage you’re examining] that analyzes a brief moment in Emerson, Poe, Irving or Cooper. Your goal is to demonstrate through close analysis of the text’s language how the text reveals its engagement with romanticism.

Because this essay is very brief, it will need to take a specific form if it is to be successful. It will consist of a quotation and two substantial paragraphs:

1) Passage: After titling your paper, you will place a quotation containing the passage you will be examining. It will be enclosed in quotation marks and properly cited. It does not count toward your word count. Refer to it by pointing to specific words in your analysis, but don’t requote the whole thing as you discuss it.

2) Paragraph 1: This paragraph will define romanticism and describe a particular aspect of romanticism that we have discussed in class. It will define relevant concepts in your own words. It will conclude with a thesis statement that makes an interpretive claim about how the text you are analyzing engages with this aspect of romanticism.

3) Paragraph 2: This paragraph will closely analyze a brief quotation from the text in order to think about how the text works with whatever romantic aspect you’re examining. The paragraph will begin with a topic sentence that makes a specific claim about how the issue operates in this particular moment in the text. You will be as specific and nuanced as possible in articulating how the concept manifests in the quotation.
4) Explain your idea fully–walk us through the steps of your reasoning, making clear how you got from the evidence in the text to your interpretation.