Choose one of the following options for your Original Post. 

Option #1: Poetry 

Select one example of a poem from the Gateway into Literature resource you would like to interpret and use the Required Learning Resource,  “Approaching Poetry” by Sue Asbee, and any other Learning Resources and videos from this week’s materials as appropriate to address the following: 

1. Choose two terms, literary devices or types of literary language that you think you can use to interpret the poem you chose. 

• Briefly define each of these using your own words. Please paraphrase and do not just copy the definitions from the readings and videos.  

1. Apply each term, literary device or type of literary language to the poem by quoting a line or section from the poem that is an example of each and explain how this quote from the poem is an example. Do not just quote a line from the poem and say it is an example. Be sure to show how it is an example.  
2. Based on your use of terminology, method or type of literary language, for each of your two quoted examples, try to interpret the meaning of the line or section and how it relates to the context of the overall poem or piece. Asbee’s reading has examples of how to do this, and below is another.   
3. Make sure to cite any quotes or paraphrases in MLA style.  

Example 

Trochaic meter is when the first syllable of a foot is emphasized. (definition) This example from Macbeth by Shakespeare has a trochaic meter pattern (quote from poem). I have bolded the emphasized syllable (showing how these lines are an example of trochaic meter) 

Double, double toil and trouble;   
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.   
Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;   
Witches’ mummy; maw and gulf… (quote)

These lines are from Act IV Scene 1 of the Song of the Witches in Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth.” This trochaic pattern of word emphasis slows down the witches’ chant and makes it more mysterious sounding. The witches are making a potion to call up dark forces, and this scene happens in the play after Macbeth has killed Duncan and Banquo while seeking power. The potion the witches are making is supposed to let Macbeth know about his future, and the foreboding sounds made by the trochaic meter pattern can be representative of the psychological turmoil Macbeth is experiencing because of his actions. (interpretation of how this section relates to the overall story) 

Option #2: Prose 

Select one example of prose (fiction or non-fiction) from the Gateway into Literature resource you would like to interpret and use any of the Required Learning Resources,  and any other Learning Resources from this week, including videos, as appropriate to address the following: 

1. Choose two terms, literary devices, types of literary language, or literary elements that you think you can use to interpret the piece of prose you chose. 

• Briefly define each of these using your own words. Please paraphrase and do not just copy the definitions from the readings and videos. 

1. Apply each term, literary device, type of literary language, or literary element to the prose by quoting a line or section from the piece that is an example of each and explain how this quote from the prose is an example. Do not just quote a selection from the prose and say it is an example. Be sure to show how it is an example.  
2. Based on your use of terminology, literary devices, type of literary language, or literary element for each of your two quoted examples, try to interpret the meaning of the line or section and how it relates to the context of the overall piece. See the example below.   
3. Make sure to cite any quotes or paraphrases in MLA style.  

Example

Setting is a description of the place the action of a story takes place. (definition). The setting of the Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilmore is an isolated English summer home with gardens and broken greenhouses as described below: 

The most beautiful place! It is quite alone, standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village. It makes me think of English places that you read about, for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people. 

There is a delicious garden! I never saw such a garden—large and shady, full of box-bordered paths, and lined with long grape-covered arbors with seats under them. 

There were greenhouses, too, but they are all broken now. (quote) 

The narrator of the story gradually descends into a sort of madness isolated in the house in a room with yellow wallpaper. (larger context of the story) The isolated overall setting of the house emphasizes this sense of imprisonment the narrator experiences as she descends into madness. The broken greenhouses could be symbolic of how nothing new can grow here in this setting as the narrator does not heal, but becomes more broken. (interpretation of how this section about the setting could relate to the overall story)  

Option #3: Cultural and Historical Context 

Choose one of the poems or prose selections from any of this week’s resources and research its historical and cultural context. You should seek out information about the time period the piece was written, the country or subculture within a country the piece is from, as well as information about the author’s cultural background. Then write 3-4 paragraphs in which you do the following: 

1. Briefly describe three significant pieces of information you discovered in your research about the cultural and/or historical background of the selection you chose. 

• Quote a line or section from the piece you think is the best example of how the historical and/or cultural context of this piece appears and explain why.  

1. Make a general statement about why you think it is, or is not important to consider the historical and/or cultural context of a work of literature.