Two midterm essays that worked perfectly

It's one thing to talk generally about close reading and the exams; it's another to show you examples of close reading and argumentation in action. Here are two essays -- one long essay, one short essay -- that earned full credit.

First, Jim (314), has been generous enough to share his essay on Hemingway on Woolf. He here offers a clear argument about Hemingway and Woolf that hits all three marks we were looking for:

1. It reads the passages provided closely and well,
2. It compares the texts directly with one another within paragraphs and even within sentences,
3. And, perhaps most rarely, it directly answers the question.

Here is his essay:

The story “On the Quai at Smyrna” by Hemingway and the novel Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf both utilize a grand mythic method in order to convey their views on contemporary society. The tone with which they communicate their views of universal truth and human nature illustrates both their trust in our own natures, and their distance for them.

Hemingway immediately draws us into the vast subconscious of the mythic world by discussing the Greeks during a period of modern war. Mentioning the Greeks takes us back to ancient mythology and the origins of the first stories that probe human nature. The scene we see is an abysmal, apocalyptic vision of modern culture in the context of war. Hemingway’s example is a perfect one to illustrate the “panorama of futility and anarchy” of the modern world. It draws parallels to the mythic story of Noah, saving mankind by building an arc and ordering all animals two by two. This optimistic outlook on human nature is starkly contrasted by the Greeks, our cradle of modern civilization, breaking the legs of the animals and killing them. This passage is a mythic, apocalyptic view of a story about blossoming human beauty; it takes a cynical view of what was once beautiful and destroys it, depicting early 20th century Modern culture.

Most notably, the tone by which Hemingway destroys the beauties of human nature is both cold and distant. His short, simple sentences convey feelings of indifference; we all feel numb to the grotesque nature of our Modern world.

We see a more optimistic appraisal of Modern culture in Virginia Woolf’s passage. The context of her novel, although still in Hemingway’s war-torn time, is one of emerging hope and caring to deal with and comfort the world around us. Like Hemingway, we see mention of the Greeks, Romans, Shakespeare and Darwin. This provides the mythic context needed to convey the depths of human truth. By mentioning these mythic, historical figures, her story is taken out of time and mind and is forever immortalized as Modern human truth.

Unlike Hemingway, Woolf speaks of the goodness of our race with the noble concepts of, “…no crime, next love, universal love…” Woolf sees something good in humanity, and a way out of the “panorama of futility and anarchy.” This way is metaphorically mentioned when she says, “…trees are alive…” She used this symbol because trees have a vast, complicated, inter-connected root system that represents the connectivity of everyone. She knows what truths we are capable of and she illustrates how to go about acquiring them: human relationships. Another important symbol of a tree is that it reaches toward the sky, every climbing closer to its one goal, like our culture and its quest.

This loft idea of human potential not only contrasts Hemingway’s views but also his language. As opposed to cold, dry, short sentences, she uses longer poetic language that parallels her views of a complex, beautiful world.

Hemingway and Woolf both utilize a mythic method to convey truths about human nature, but these views are radically different. By using mythic symbols along with well thought out language, they are able to convey their ideas, both good and bad, of Modern culture.

Second, Derek (313), agreed to let me share his close reading of "The Second Coming." Notice that this essay not only breaks down the symbols and ideas raised by the excerpt on the exam, but both identifies the larger themes of the poems and explains how those themes tie to the themes of other works.

The Second Coming is a response to the chaos and sadness of WWI. It echoes the confusion with a pessimistic take on the end of times as it nears. The rimary signal of the poem is communication breakdown and, like Mrs. Dalloway, asks us to question our communication and its relevance to our existence and survival.

The falcon is a symbol of communication disconnect, as it frantically circles in widening arches to find the falconer. The tempo of the poem gives it the feel of an accelerating spiral going down. This spiral, or gyre, signifies a rapid collapse of society as its foundation of communication has been kicked aside.

Yeats uses powerful imagery that shows us "fear in a handful of dust" as the mind imagines chaos _in_ movement. "Turning and turning", "fall apart", "loosed" -- all imply movement and uncontainable chaos spilling into the streets. The falcon itself represents a powerful creature in movement, but is revealed as being entirely dependent upon the falconer and falls victim to its own motion when communication is withheld from it. So too, Yeats argues, is our existence rattled and forgotten when our communication is removed, such as in the instance of post-war Europe.