Least One Allusion Uses Final Assessment

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Least One Allusion Uses Final Assessment

We have studied a lot of styles–Gothic, mock heroic, satiric. For this final activity, you will have the chance to do some creative writing, mimicking the style you prefer. Select one of the options below. You may refer to the text we studied as a model as you compose your original work.

Option #1: Gothic Tale

Using what you have learned about the conventions of the Gothic style (setting, themes, hero) compose a short Gothic tale. Your story can be “unfinished”–meaning it can sound like the introduction to a long story–or can be a complete story with a clear resolution. Requirements:

  • Minimum 600 words
  • Incorporates at least 3 elements of Gothic literature (found on the website at the beginning of this unit)
  • Uses vivid description
  • Introduces at least one character and one conflict

Option #2: Mock Heroic/Epic

This will be done in the form of a poem. Like Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock,” you will select a trivial situation (social situation, school or celebrity gossip, etc.) as the basis of your epic. Following the elements of the mock heroic as explained in the PowerPoint notes and on the website (from your study of Pope), compose a poem in the mock heroic style. Requirements:

  • At least 50 lines long
  • Written in rhymed couplets (aa, bb, cc, etc.)
  • Contains at least one example of personification
  • Contains at least one allusion
  • Uses vivid descriptions, hyperbole, humor, or other elements of satire

Option #3: Satire Essay

Johnathan Swift’s essay proposed an outrageous solution to a serious problem. At the same time, it exposed the hypocrisy in the current popular thought and the scandal in how the poor were treated. Select an event of some seriousness/importance in your school, community, state, country, the world and compose a prose satire of the event. Requirements:

  • Minimum 500 words
  • Author adopts a different persona as the “speaker” of the essay
  • Contains at least one example of verbal irony
  • Uses vivid descriptions, hyperbole, humor, or other elements of satire
  • Can be done in the form of a parody
  • Clear organizational structure