Assessment options

(1) Assessment method 'A': 100% assessed: two x 5000 word essays (50%/50%); or
(2) Assessment method 'C': 50% assessed and 50% examined: one x 5000 word essay + one x 2-hour examination (50%/50%).

Example essay

For those of you who haven't written a 5000-word essay before, you can download an example assessed essay by clicking here . The essay, produced here by permission of the student who submitted it, was written for this module several years ago, and received a low first. It's a good example of a sensitive and thoughtful close reading of one poem (Frost's 'Home Burial'). There are, however, many ways of writing an essay for this module, so don't feel that you have to write in a similar style.

For my short guide to essay writing, click here The guide is meant as a suggestive way of approaching essay writing, rather than a prescriptive set of rules to follow.

OPTIONAL vacation assignment (unassessed)

Write a 1000-word close reading of any poem studied in term 1 in relation to any prose essay/letter studied in term 1. This can be a comparison between a poem and essay; a reading of a particular theory that you use a poem to work through; or a close reading that focuses on a single poem with a few words about how it speaks to a particular theory on the module. Deadline: to be handed in during week one's seminar (term 2) directly to me in word-processed hard copy. No esubmission, no emailed essays.

Francis Goya, 'The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters' (1797-98)