Reading Response: Beautiful, Good, and True

Respond considerately to the following questions and prompts.  Think creatively rather than superficially. Be prepared to share your responses with the class on our due date. Also, to practice your personal vocabulary list, please include three words or more, underlined, somewhere in your work. 


         Journal Title: Beautiful, Good, and True Approach Applied to [Your Prose or Verse Title]


I. Context and Tradition (one paragraph)

When was this work written?  What pertinent historical events surround (or enter) the work?  To which genre and literary period does this work belong? Name a specific artistic work that this one reminds you of--whether due to the tone, theme, imagery, or something else. Explain.


II. Understanding: Theme in Light of Literary Elements (two or more paragraphs)

• Prompt: What is the theme of this work?  What elements help draw that theme out most effectively (usually, the most useful elements are imagery, plot, irony, characterization, structure, connotation, and dialogue)? Trace the development of a theme in five places in your text (thus, you will need at least five quotations in your reflection).

• Note 1: Do not equate a theme to one word.  For instance, a good theme for Huckleberry Finn is not "race" or "racism and slavery"   That's too general, obvious, and cliché...it betrays a small mind, dull heart, and weak energy.  It also happens to be the key theme listed from Schmoop and Sparknotes for the novel.  Go home, Middle-School-Plot-Summary horrors of banality.  Leave us in peace while we actually read a book, think deeply about it, and write our ideas down with sense, order, and grace.

• A good theme would be something like this: "Depending on another person can transform relationships and bring wisdom, often unearthing false assumptions about people, even enabling one to overcome unexamined social and racial prejudice, naturally."  Notice that this theme is interesting, challenging, and creative...and a complete, complex sentence. You won't find this on Sparknotes.  While it accurately reflects a key idea from the novel, it does so in a way that applies to everyone without becoming general and vague (it doesn't limit its scope to Huck and Jim).  It does all this and even gives a flavor of the writer (Mr. Schwager, in this case).   

• Note 2: This is not a plot summary.  This is a theme defense looking at five major sections of the text in order of their appearance, focusing on literary element analysis (sticking closely to the text) to prove that your theme is a good one.  A plot summary focuses on this then this then this...(lame, boring, Sparknotes).  An analysis starts with a thematic premise (see note 1 above) and defends that premise using specific examples and literary elements from the text (a much more challenging, creative, and rewarding endeavor). 

• Note 3, For Shorter Poems: Here are some thoughts to help you get on the right path.  Describe the tone (satirical? authoritative? plaintive?) and structure (sonnet? free verse? ballad? stream of consciousness?) employed by the author in this work.  How does this author communicate in ways that other authors do not? Explain (sentence style, theme selection, dialogue style, chapter divisions, punctuation?).  What are the key images or scenes of the work?  Which one is the most memorable? Why?

• Note 4 for Novels or Dramas: Here are some thoughts to help you get on the right path.  Can you trace your theme with one (or more) quotation taken from each of the five major sections of the plot (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, conclusion)? How does this author communicate in ways that other authors do not? Explain (sentence style, theme selection, dialogue style, chapter divisions, punctuation?).  What are the key images or scenes of the work?  Which one is the most memorable? Why?

III. Application 

Underlying questions for the following prompt: Why is this theme or idea important for us today? 

Choose one of the following:

• Prompt 1: Judgment (the literary critic, considering and explaining the why): Explain the value that this work holds for a reader today.  What marks of beauty, goodness, or truth commend this artwork to the world? 

• Prompt 2: Creative Writing (the artist, internalizing the assumed why):  Write poetry (at least two pages of individual poems or one long poem), a short story, or a richly imaginative essay inspired by this artwork.  

Scoring (based on 100%).  In each category below (beside the format and timeliness), 50% of the points may be lost due to poor grammar.

• Thorough response to section I: 10%
• Thoughtful and interesting analysis of the elements and theme: 50%
• Insightful application: 30%
• MLA format; printed on paper, turned in, and submitted to turnitin.com on time: 10%

* Example (with a slightly different format): Miss Loredo