The English 215 Critical Methods "Crit-Off"
Kelly Gilpin offers this text in search of a theory: "Dead Man's Dump" by
Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918). Here is a link for the text:
http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1742.html
Hanna Badalov, Joyce, "The Dead" http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/english/micsun/IrishResources/dead.htm
Andrew Crump, Pope, "The Rape of the Lock" http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~sconstan/
Jeffrey Judge, Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rbear/modest.html
Stephanie Seale, RPO -- Percy Bysshe Shelley : Ozymandias I selected Percy Shelley's "Ozymandias" to test critical methods on. I don't need it for a 212 paper or anything, but I was looking at it, and it has me kind of stumped. I think New Criticism could work.. maybe a little Marxism related to Ozymandias and the sculptor. I'm sure others could be applied as well..
Abby Lerner, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels:
Elizabeth Kaldor, Jonathan Swift, "A
Lady's Dressing Room" Thought I'd suggest this
fun Jonathan Swift poem that I've been studying for my 212 paper as a topic for
exploration. I imagine some classmates have already read it, and if not it won't
take too long. I suppose I'd suggest reader response, feminism and cultural
criticism. I can improvise a summary of the application of the methods in class
if you'd like, but I haven't actually prepared one.
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/s/s97ld/
Kelly Gilpin, Rosenberg, "Dead Man's Dump" http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1742.html
I thought that Reader Response would be effective, with all of the bones "crunching" and dead bodies "huddled." Strong words = Stong images = Strong responses.
Shira Hoffman, "The Tale of Peter Rabbit," I was thinking we could do The Tale of Peter Rabbit if we have time, the webpage is complete with pictures. I was thinking Marxist criticism and a little bit of feminism.
Dalya Hassan, I was thinking about using feminist, marxist criticism and maybe a little structuralism on this story. What do you think? http://www.4literature.net/Kate_Chopin/Desiree_s_Baby/
Amentje Elliot, Fitzgerald, "The Crack-Up" (No online text available.)
Before class, meet with your group to match any well-known online "text" to the theory you have chosen. It has to be a well-known text in order for the class to understand your critical analysis without a lengthy plot summary or paraphrase (or performance of the "poem" if you're New Criticism!). Prepare to tell the class (5-7 minutes, max.!) what your theory says about the text you have chosen. Give examples of the evidence you are interpreting, and the reasoning your theory uses to make sense of it. (You will be able to use the computer and projector to show us your evidence, but please send me the URL before class so that I can embed it in this page for rapid access.) You do not have to develop a complete interpretation of the work. One decent, write-able insight will be enough. It can be a work of literature you currently are studying in another course. You also can issue formal or informal challenges to the other groups to take on the same online text.