Paper , Order, or Assignment Requirements

Summary:

English 100

First Essay Assignment

Value: 10%

Length: 500 word minimum; 1,000 word maximum

In MLA format, write an essay about either Yeats' “The Second Coming,” or Coleridges Kubla Khan, based on one of the following writing prompts. Remember to include a topic sentence and thesis statement near the beginning of your essay and provide ample support for your assertions. Also be sure to properly reference your quotations and sources, and to include a Works Cited page at the end of your essay.

Some topics you may wish to consider are:

1) In many ways, “Kubla Khan” serves as social criticism. Given that this poem was published in 1816 England, what parts of society do you think Coleridge is specifically criticizing? What was 19th Century England like at that time? What were the social norms and conventions that the speaker in the poem is trying to subvert?

2) What does the phrase, “the second coming” allude to in the poem of the same name? What is this “rough beast?” What do these ideas have to do with the “widening gyre” of the falcon? Figure out what's going on in this poem both literally and figuratively, and explain the significance of the figurative meaning.

3) Write your own original thesis and essay for Yeats' “Leda and the Swan.”