WILLIAM BLAKE Songs of Innocence and of Experience
1. Analyzing the formal elements speaker, setting, syntax, tone, and/or symbolism of The
Lamb and The Tyger, discuss how the poems present two different understandings of the
world. Your central argument (thesis) should make a claim about the two poems together, and
your discussion should be premised on the fact that The Lamb is from Songs of Innocence
and that the The Tyger is from Songs of Experience.
2. The subtitle of Blakes Songs of Innocence and of Experience is Showing the Two Contrary States of the
Human Soul. Select a pair of counterpart poems (side by side in the handout) from Songs of
Innocence and of Experience and discuss how they present two contrary human experiences. How
do these two experiences relate to each other? Your central argument (thesis) should make a
claim about the two poems together, and your discussion of each poem should be informed by
both poems and by their respective placement in the Innocence poems and Experience poems.
3. Focus on Blakes role as a social critic. Select any two poems from Songs of Innocence and of
Experience and analyze them to show what they tell us about one or two of the issues Blake was
concerned with as a social critic. What social commentary do the two poems together offer?
FLANNERY OCONNOR A Good Man is Hard to Find; Good Country People;
Everything That Rises Must Converge
1. In one of her letters, OConnor says about her writing, I write the way I do because … I am a
Catholic (The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor). What larger religious/spiritual idea or
truth is presented in A Good Man Is Hard to Find? How does the grandmother, a seemingly
religious person, factor in the storys presentation of this idea?
2. How might Good Country People be interpreted allegorically? What idea does the allegory
present? In your analysis of the allegorical elements/symbols of the story, consider the
characters and their names, the social and physical settings, the dialogue, and the various objects
in the story (the wooden leg, for example).
3. How does OConnors Everything That Rises Must Converge depict two apparently divergent
reactions to the social and political changes of the civil rights era? And, in what way is OConnor
commenting on attitudes and behavior that transcend the social and political context? Your
central argument (thesis) should address both of these questions.
Length: 1000 words minimum
What Is Expected in Your Paper
In addition to have a tutor review your paper, review it yourself a few times. Pay particular attention
to the following elements; these are what I focus on when I am grading your paper:
Argument
Make sure you have a clear and focused central argument in response to the prompt. Ask
yourself, What is my thesis arguing? Is it an arguable claim? Does it indicate what the focus
of my analysis throughout the essay will be?
Avoid several different claims in your intro. You should have one central claim in your intro
that is expressed in a focused thesis statement.
In the body of your essay, make sure you have focused main ideas that develop the
argument in the thesis.
