Description
Research Paper Details:
Your paper must focus on one specific author. You can choose the topic around that author but it should be limited to the works of one author. Your paper CAN NOT be a biography. This is a literary analysis paper only.
This author must be the writer of classical fiction. Pop fiction and non-fiction are not options for this paper.
1. Charles Dickens–how his views on politics and socialism are reflected in his writings
2. George Orwell’s views on totalitarianism as expressed in his writing
3. Nikki Giovanni–how her views on civil rights and equality are expressed in her writing
4. Maya Angelou- Her view on how powerful words could be though poetry
5. William Shakespeare — views of love and hate in his writings
6. Jane Austen and her support of rather than subversion of the conservative values of the society in which she lived and how that was expressed through her literature
7. Ernest Hemingway and how he perceives and expresses relationships in his writing
8. Ms. Sonia Sanchez on how her words through poetry differentiate between black people and white people, men and women, and cultures
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Details:
For this assignment you should:
1. List at least six secondary sources in alphabetical order. These should include 3 books and 3 journal articles.
2. Include all information required by the MLA style for the citation. You can find this in your handbook.
3. Include a 75-100 word summary of each source, which should include direct quotes. The goal here is for you to find the authors thesis sentence. Please note: Your annotated bibliography entries will be much longer than the examples offered below.
4. Be proofread for grammar errors. For style guidance, go to https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ (Links to an external site.)
Your bibliography should look something like this (only with longer entries):
An Annotated Bibliography of Works about Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1974-1993
With Supplement (1912-1973)
Adler, Amy. Rev. of Edna St. Vincent Millay: Poet, by Carolyn Daffron. School Library Journal 36 (Mar. 1990): 243.
While few students are familiar with M’s poems, “even fewer understand [their] impact on the political and social structure of her time.” Daffron’s book will be welcomed by students once they are introduced to it.
Agosta, Lucien L. “Millay, Edna St. Vincent.” Notable Women in the American Theatre. Ed. Alice M. Robinson, Vera Mowry Roberts, and Milly S. Barranger. New York: Greenwood, 1989. 640-44.
Lists M’s contributions to American theater. She “attended at the birth of serious American drama and helped to create an atmosphere in which it could flourish.”
Alkalay-Gut, Karen. “Poetry by Women in America: Esthetics in Evolution.” Canadian Review of American Studies 14 (1983): 239-56.
M is named as being among “the first burst of women poets who wrote as women, from the point of view of women, with the concerns of women.” She is among those who had “something to say about being female.” Finds that M engages in “hiding” and in “protecting the self,” often using a male persona and identifying with a male perspective.
Allen, Gilbert. “Millay and Modernism.” Critical Essays on Edna St. Vincent Millay. Ed. William B. Thesing. Boston: Hall, 1993. 266-72.
Original to this volume. Discussion of Popular Modernism and High Modernism and M’s place in the movements. She scorned High Modernism and tried to satisfy “both her traditional sense of eloquence and the demands of her many subjects.” While M’s reputation declined, the “overall quality” of her work did not. Her “stylistic uncertainty” and her social consciousness poems place her outside the High Modernism movement. Her place in 20th century poetry is not yet defined.
American Theatre Companies, 1888-1930. Ed. Weldon B. Durham. New York: Greenwood, 1987.
Brief mention of M as an important writer whose plays were produced by the Provincetown Players.
Anderson, Maxwell. “Second April.” Critical Essays on Edna St. Vincent Millay. Thesing. 37-38.
Reprinted from The Measure No. 7 (Sept. 1921): 17. Review of Second April.
The major flaw is the frequent use of insignificant or fantastic themes. The virtues include “an almost flawless sensitiveness to phrase,” definiteness of object, and accurate, homely imagery. The sonnets show that M has matured personally since RN.
August, Bonnie Tymorski. “The Poetic Use of Womanhod in Five Modern American Poets: Moore, Millay, Rukeyser, Levertov, and Plath.” Diss. New York U, 1978. DAI-A 39/06 (1978): 3576.