Literary response
This week, I’d like you to write a conventional literary response paper based on the reading attached in the uploaded files. Read pages 25-43 and use one quote or a couple lines from pages 25-43 to respond to the instructions below and write a 1 page literary response. Pages 25-43 is “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
How does one produce a good literary response?
1. Apply what you’ve learned this semester about good writing: get the technical and grammatical aspects right (MLA format, quotes, etc.), have a creative title, support assertions with quotes and examples, and write in circular structure, to name a few.
2. The introduction should seize our attention, identify author and title of the work, and contain a thesis that introduces the main point of your response. That main point is really from body paragraph 2 and your conclusion: it should be your take on the poem (you connected to its ideas on crime and punishment or you thought the poem’s themes about atonement give hope).
3. The first body paragraph should provide a summary, using supporting quotes, of the key elements of the poem related to your response. Do NOT summarize the whole poem; instead, summarize the part you’re discussing. What’s happening in this part of the poem (plot)? Which characters are involved? What’s the setting (where and when)? Is there a predominant mood? Provide quotes to support your answers to these questions.
4. The next body paragraph (or more if you wish to write more) should contain your response.
What should you respond to?
Respond to any quote from the story. You can respond to the ideas in the quote and how they relate to your life. You can respond to the art of the quote, such as the sound, circular structure and parallels and how those achievements impacted you. Feel free to playfully ridicule the writing, pointing out flaws (it’s boring, unrealistic, parts are poorly worded, characters are unlikeable, etc.) if you’d like. No matter what you do, you should engage specifics from the literature and make ONE cohesive point, not many, about the poem.
In the past, some students have responded to the poem’s ideas on the human-animal or human-nature themes; others have focused on weddings; still others have focused on ideas such as atonement and ghosts. No matter what, as I said, focus on ONE idea and one key quote.
5. Conclude by circling back to your title and introduction to remind us of your main point and discuss the broader significance of your ideas: why should someone care about the ideas your discussed?
