Essay Assignment: Analytical Essay

Overview:

No text has one absolute meaning; language is interpretive and interpretable, and thus it is open to many meanings. That is not to say, however, that any text can mean any thing, or that the meaning of a text is merely an opinion. Meaning derived from a text must always be argued, and an argument must always have evidence.

This assignment requires that you break down and understand a text thoroughly, and then pose that understanding as an argument. To do this, you will choose one of three possible poems to analyze:

"Love's Servile Lot" by Robert Southwell, OR

"The preface, expressing the passionedminde of the penitent sinner" by Anne Lock, OR

"Death" by George Herbert

Your analysis should focus on textual elements, including form and figurative language. Certainly some historical context can come into play, but this is not a biography or a summary, so your emphasis should be on how the words on the page make meaning. Do keep in mind all that you have learned this semester about Early Modern Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant. Your reading of the text should be consistently supported by evidence (evidence being the text itself), and should be well-argued.

No outside resources should be used for this assignment. No Works Cited page is required.

Outcomes:

• Write an argumentative analytical essay based on Early Modern religious poetry.
• Support an argument with textual evidence.
• Identify formal features of language and how they make meaning.
• Contextualize representations of religious experience.

Requirements:

• Argumentative analytical essay examining one of the three selected texts.
• 3-4 full pages, double-spaced.
• MLA 8th edition formatting.
• No outside sources.