Reflective Narration and Poetry: Writing as an Act of Love

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark, the real tragedy is when men [and women] are afraid of the light. --Plato

For the remainder of the quarter, I would like to turn our attention to the genre of reflective narration and poetry. The majority of our in-class time, will be spent modeling professional workshops where we generate ideas for our writing. The Reflective Narration assignment is tentatively due by the end of Week 9 and a poem will be due at the end of Week 10. The specific dates will be announced in class and in our Weekly Class Calendar.

Reflective Narration

For this paper you will write a story in the first-person (with narrative use of "I"), in which the narrator traverses some type of ethical dilemma. This dilemma maybe imaginary and take place in a fictional universe. Or, perhaps, this dilemma is an actual event or situation that has actually happened to you in real life. Lastly, you might choose to mix the landscape of your narrative with some occurrences that are "virtual" and some of which are reality based, which is known as creative non-fiction.

Present your experiences dramatically and vividly so that reader can imagine what it is like for the narrator, and make sure the reader is able to understand clearly what the ethical dilemma is and what path of ethics the narrator of the story is taking in making their decisions. Reflect on how choosing this path of ethics makes the narrator feel; is your narrator happy, confused, irritated at their choice of one path of ethics versus another? Why? Perhaps, there is an antagonist in your story, which takes a different or opposing ethical stance that pushes the protagonist and the plot forward.

Besides being descriptive and vivid, a successful paper will have a clear sense of the ethical dilemma along with an explanation of the tension and consequences that go along with making different choices. The narration will have events, scenarios, and characters that move the essay in a logical manner whether the essay is fiction or nonfiction, or a combination or both. The purpose of this paper is show how you can synthesize some of the principles of ethics, which we will discussing in class during these final weeks, in your own words. How do you envision ethics being applied in your own life or world (real or imagined)? (4-5 pages)

Poetry

Over the next few weeks, you will read and engage with a different forms of poetry, as well as participate in workshops that will help you to generate your own poems. One poem of any form will be will be due the last week of class, and on the final day of class (March 17th, which is Patrick's Day) you will do a reading of your poem in class.