Pick a subject: love, work, freedom, etc. Then choose two selections and discuss how that subject is discussed in those selections. Use literary devices to help frame your discussion.
While initially I was concerned as to what readings I wanted to elaborate on, I now think that this prompt would allow me to go in-depth on how the subject "nature" is portrayed between the two readings; "The Coming Night" by William Nauns Ricks and "The Outcasts of Poker Flats" by Bret Harte.
I think its great to note that both works mention the beauty of nature in some way *the snow vs the colorfully changing sky*, however they both show different attitudes towards it. In "The Outcasts of Poker Flats", it is shown to be a merciless and unpredictable force, yet in "The Coming Night", it is portrayed as a harmonious cycle worth enjoying. For my essay I will have to, in detail, compare and contrast the two. For this I will discuss imagery and mood shift used in "The Outcasts of Poker Flats", as well as rhyme scheme, rhythm, colour imagery, and euphony in "The Coming Night". The challenge of this project will be balancing the two in the essay because one is a story and the other a poem, so lengths differ greatly. Also, the idea of nature is only briefly elaborated on in Harte's work, as compared to Rick's work where it is the actual subject of the work and is FULLY elaborated.
My thesis will fall along the lines of:
While the works, "The Outcasts of Poker Flats" and "The Coming Night" both fall along the subject of nature and it's beauty, the authors' attitudes toward it vary greatly; one argues that nature is a merciless and unpredictable force, while the other portrays it as a harmoniously balanced cycle worth enjoying.
Works Cited:
Harte, Bret. “The Outcasts of Poker
Flats.” The Literature of California, edited by Jack Hicks, University of California Press, 2000, pp. 216–225.
Yes, i just now realised that i missed the whole "use your novel" aspect. So i will be changing my focus and topic to contrasting elements between 2 texts. I will discuss imagery and descriptive language in The Maltese Falcon as compared to that of Beyond the Breakers.
ReplyDeleteswitched back to the coming night instead of beyond the breakers
DeleteHi April,
ReplyDeleteSaw your comment, good thing you caught that Now! I’m interested to how you’ll compare those two works, since they’re very different I feel. You can always edit your posts on here too, if you wanted to for future note.
I’m assuming you have some picked out sections of the story you liked to show the language best, so make sure to focus in on the big image parts, I think location and character introductions are best usually.
Good luck with the project making and replanning.