William and Cummings Writing Assignment

Writing Assignment #4

Due: Friday, 13 February 2009

 

Write 300-400 words about one of the following topics:

 

1. How would you characterize the apology in Williams's "This Is Just to Say"?
2. How does the titular character of Williams's "The Young Housewife" compare to the situation of the narrator within "The Yellow Wall-Paper"? What is similar and what has changed? Spend most of your time looking at Williams's poem, assuming that your reader knows Gilman's story very well.

 

For either topic, you will want to point to specific language and/or formal elements in the poem that help you make your case.

 

While your answer should be in complete, grammatical sentences, you do not need to write a formal essay.  There does not need to be a broad, declarative opening. You do not need to reach a thundering conclusion.  Dive right into the discussion.  If you are stuck with how to begin, just start naming the details you think are important.

 

Your assignment should follow the formatting guidelines from the syllabus and should draw on Williams's words. Any citations to Willams's poems in the Norton can be made using parenthetical citation to line numbers.