Students will closely analyze an important passage from most of
the texts we read. The purpose of this assignment is to
practice literary analysis, which argues for the importance of
symbols, tone, and word choice in understanding larger themes in a
dramatic text. Sometimes we don't get a chance in class to
really focus on one passage the way I hope you will do in these
close analyses.
Instructions: Each
entry begins with any key passage (1-3 sentences) from the work at
the top of the page. After copying this passage, write a 1-2
page (250-400 word) close
analysis, which means analyzing specific literary
elements in that one passage and arguing for their
significance in terms of the drama's major themes and questions.
Please avoid plot summary, and include a Works Cited.
Please remember that this exercise is to examine how a
playwright expresses meaning, not just what he or she writes.
So keep stage directions in mind.
If you are submitting an Annotated Bibliographic Essay on
the same day as a Close Analysis is due, you do not have to
submit one, although you may (and may also submit one in the
Final Portfolio).
I am looking for originality in these analyses; so please
do not simply recreate passages we discussed in class.
These
short writing exercises are not officially graded until they
are presented in a revised Portfolio at the end of the term
(see
below).Owing to
scheduling difficulties, I am afraidI am
NOT able to read late submissions, although I do
expect to see them in the final Portfolio. If you are unable
to turn in your analysis on time, you could ask a fellow
student to read and evaluate the work-in-progress, or request
an online meeting to discuss it.
TheFinal Portfolioincludes a cover
letter,your TOP 3 analyses,
including at least 1 revision that highlights your editing
skills, and all originals you submitted. If you wish to submit
all 4 assigned analyses, you may; I average the top 3 scores.
Thecover letter should
self-evaluate your own analyses and address the following
questions: How have these writing exercises aided your
thinking this semester? What are the strengths and weaknesses
of your analyses? What is your best analysis, and why? What
grade would you give yourself for this assignment? Consider
the following guidelines in averaging your grade:
Check
plus = Very Good/Great/Excellent (88-100 range): Shows
excellent understanding of the material. Provides a close
and an original analysis that articulates the reader’s
position on the text, and demonstrates an ability to argue
for the importance of details in a literary passage. Needs
very little or no revision.
Check
= Okay/Fine/Good/Very Good (78-87 range): Shows fine
understanding of themes and issues in the text, and may
provide more summary than close analysis of details in the
passage. Provides a summary that may need some revision,
such as articulating the reader’s position and argument,
providing support for assertions, and writing in an academic
style.
Check
minus = Unsatisfactory/Okay (0-78 range): Shows poor
understanding of the material. Provides an unclear summary
or analysis. Needs a lot of revision in terms of clarity
and/or style. May be too short.
Although you are only required to revise one analysis, if you
revise others, I will reevaluate them. Immediately following the
cover letter, place your mandatory revised close analysis, and the
rest of the analyses (revised or not). Here’s a final list of everything
you should include: 1) Ccover letter; 2) Mandatory revised
analysis; 3) Any other revised analyses; 4) Any late
submissions.
Wendy C. Nielsen
Example of a Close Analysis
Willmore. “Hark ye, where didst thou purchase that rich Canary
we drank to-day? Tell me, that I may adore the Spigot, and
sacrifice to the Butt: the Juice was divine, into which I must
dip my Rosary, and then bless all things that I would have bold
or fortunate” (Behn 41, 3.1).
In this passage from act three, scene one of The Rover, or
the Banished Cavaliers (1677), the dramatist Aphra Behn
shows her disdain for Catholicism. The tone she gives to
Willmore’s words mocks Catholic sacraments. The syntax of the
sentence draws the reader’s attention to what follows the colon:
“the Juice was divine, into which I must dip my Rosary.” The
word “Rosary” is a metaphor that stands for Willmore’s phallus.
(Alternatively, it could be a non-religious object, since
“rosary” also connotes a counterfeit coin before 1800
[“Rosary”]). What follows—“and then bless all things that I
would have bold or fortunate”—plays on Willmore’s libertine
lustfulness, his Epicurean lifestyle.
Willmore desires not only sex, but also drink. Before 1800, the
word “spigot” referred to some “one given to drinking or
tippling” (“Spigot”). The word “butt” differs from its
modern-day usage. Before 1800, it connoted “A cask for wine or
ale, of capacity varying from 108 to 140 gallons” (“Butt”). The
wine in the butt, in this case, is Canary wine, “a light sweet
wine from the Canary Islands” (“Canary”). In this way, Willmore
lives up to the meaning of his name, playing as it does on the
famous libertine John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, the word “will”
or want, and the French word for word (mot) (Ballaster 165).*
Behn’s disdain for Catholicism is evident not only in this
mockery of sacraments, but also in the rest of the play. Hellena
and Florinda remain sequestered, and their brother Don Pedro
controls their fates; Hellena, in fact, is destined to be nun,
and even seeks to marry Willmore, a notorious rapist, in order
to escape this fate. Behn’s anti-Catholic stance is no doubt
influenced by her pro-Royalist stance and the religious tensions
in England at time. By associating Willmore/Charles II with
anti-Catholicism, she also reassures audiences fearful of the
king’s religious loyalties.**
analysis of figurative language in the
passage, discussion of these features' relevance to
understanding of larger themes and issues in the text, and
original analysis of a few lines of text. Free of any
stylistic errors.
Excellent
Check plus
90-92 A-
some of the above qualities, with few
stylistic errors.
Great
Check plus
87-89 B+
some attention to the quote, with some
discussion of these features' relevance to understanding
larger themes and issues in the text, and somewhat
original engagement with a few lines of text. A few
stylistic errors.
Very good
Check plus/Check
83-86 B
some of the above qualities, with more
stylistic errors.
Good
Check
80-82 B-
summary of the quote, with little to no
attention of figurative language, uneven appreciation for
the passage's relevance to larger themes and issues in the
text, and not necessarily original engagement with a few
lines of text. Likely contains stylistic errors.
Fine
Check
77-79 C+; 73-76 C; 70-72 C-
some of the above qualities, to a
greater degree.
Okay
Check/Check minus
67-69 D+; 63-66 D; 60-62 D-; 0-59 F
too short
Poor
Check minus
Please
note that when your turn in your draft, I will use the informal
assessment and nomenclature above, and that the points you
receive for participation are based on your timely completion of
the assignment, and participation within your group and in the
class.