Please answer each of the two questions below in as much detail as you deem appropriate. Be sure to provide, wherever possible and/or necessary, examples from the literary texts we have read, research you have conducted individually or together with your group, research your peers presented in class,  and/or class lectures and discussions to support your argument. Your answer should take the form of a well-developed essay, complete with introduction, body, and conclusion. Please, use the texts we have read—i.e. quote them—to back up your claims. Aim for about two, but no more than 3 pages, double-spaced. You have 3 hours, so please plan accordingly and leave yourself 15 minutes at the end for proofreading. Indicate a starting and an ending time on your answer sheet.

Good luck and thank you very much for having been such fantastic students this semester. You all have been amazing, and it has been a pleasure and a privilege to meet and work with you. I thank you all for a great semester!

1. Our priority this semester in regards to literary criticism and theory has been 1) to trace the historical development of a given literary theory, 2) to identify the constituent parts of a literary theory, especially in its application to literary texts, 3) to familiarize ourselves with the terminology a given criticism draws upon in its approach to literary texts, 4) to experiment with our own applications of literary theories and criticisms in the contexts of the primary texts with which we engaged this semester,  5) to contextualize how a given literary, critical approach proves to be appropriate for its time period, and 6) to contextualize how a given literary, critical approach meets our needs as a reader by enabling us to apply a lens to a text and to illuminate an aspect of the text heretofore unexplored.

In order to glean the deepest possible understanding of the various literary, critical approaches we encounter, we tested a number of different, analytical techniques: We read Bressler and a few supplemental texts on theory and the application of literary theory to specific texts; and we read one play, a book of poetry, and four novels and talked about the ways in which literary theory has been applied to those texts as well as how we would applied a specific literary, critical lens to them. In class, we worked in groups and practiced the techniques of several literary, critical approaches by applying them to a number of different literary texts and we discussed and compared our results. Outside of class, you researched criticism and presented your findings to your peers, both as a group and individually, and you were given an opportunity to experiment with theory and analysis in a few short reflective papers. The midterm asked you to bring out-of-class and in-class research, discussion, and experimentations together and to write an essay that critically engaged with both a literary text and a few of the critical essays that we had explored thus far.

For your final exam, I would like to tap into your knowledge pools one last time and ask you to explore your learning achievement in this course. Please choose a literary text and/or a critical approach as well as a technique we used to engage with that approach and/or that text and examine how this technique impacted your reading of the literature and/or the criticism. In your discussion, I would like you to illustrate the ways in which the use of this technique influenced your reading of the text/approach. In other words, I need you to quote from the texts under examination to support your points. I also need you to explore, trace, and explain how readings (yours as well as others’) of a given text have changed (evolved?) over time—or, in the case of theory, how, when, and why a critical, theoretical approach established itself and how it eventually faded or merged with another to provide a more comprehensive theory of literary analysis. Your task, then, is to write an essay that explores your findings from this course and places them in the greater context of literary theory and criticism.

In a nutshell, these are the questions that I need you to respond to: WHAT WORKED BEST FOR YOU AND WHY? SHOW ME HOW AND WHY THAT WORKED! Structurally, I need you to write no less than 2 and no more than 3 pages, double-spaced, font 12p, Times New Roman—one inch margin all around. Please be specific in your response. Use textual support wherever possible and cite your sources according to MLA guidelines. A Works Cited page is a must and not part of the page count.

2. Finally, I would like you to take a few minutes to reflect on the course and your contribution to it. What did you bring to the table that helped us learn about literary theory and criticism this semester? Please discuss your contribution to the course in the context of one of the primary texts we read and discussed this semester, and explain in 10 sentences (seriously, Brett—not 1 or 2, but 10 sentences!!) what grade you believe you should be awarded for your participation in and contribution to the class. I will accept your recommendation, if you argue it convincingly and support it sufficiently.