Imitative Creative Assignments

Total Points Possible: 10 or 10% of Semester Grade

Imitation #1 = 2pts.

Imitation #2 = 4 pts.

Imitation #3 = 4 pts.

 

For each period we study (not including Postmodernism), you'll write an original poem or story which imitates one or several writers from that period.

Purpose

  1. to help you learn about literature by trying it yourself;
  2. to give you insight into the periods and writers we're studying which can't be had by any other means;
  3. to give you practice writing in forms other than the standard academic essay; i.e., to help you become a more flexible and versatile writer.

Intructions

For each unit of the course, write a poem, story, or other creative document which imitates the work of one or more of writers in that unit (that writer's themes, subject matter, voice, techniques, etc.) or or some facet of the period style or ideology.

Length and form should be appropriate to the item(s) you are imitating. For instance, if you are writing an ode similar to Keats's, you'll need to include aproximately the number of lines and stanzas typical for a classic ode. You can deviate to some extent from exact similarities (rhyme scheme, metrics, precise length etc.) but your piece should show some clear relation to whatever it is you're imitating.

You don't need to mimic things like diction and style insofar as they are history-specific. That is, you can (if you wish) use contemporary vocabulary, phrasing, subject matter, etc. Just be sure the piece is, in other respects, similar.

Include an "Author's Note" which explains what exactly you were going for—what specific features of a period or writer you were hoping to imitate: voice? form? attitude? subject matter? theme? philosophical content? emotional content? etc.

Keep in mind that there are lots of possibilities here. For the Romantic unit you might do a lush Keatsean ode to a bird or season of the year, or a Wordsworthian meditation on returning to some childhood haunt. For the Victorian unit you might write a ghost story (something like Elizabeth Gaskell's), a social awareness and commentary poem (similar to Elizabeth Browning's), or a poem in sprung rhythm (like Gerard Hopkin's). And for the Modernist unit you could try an imagist poem, a passage of prose using the stream-of-consciousness technique, a poem in multiple voices (think of Eliot's Waste Land), or a poem which describes what you believe to be the contemporary waste land (or un-waste land? or how would you characterize the contemporary postmodern landscape that you yourself live in?). Or you might even construct your own art manifesto (invent your own "ism"!).

Finally, as an alternative to imitiation, you might instead write a parody or satire. That is, make fun of whatever it is you're imitating. To do this of course you'll need to show that you actually do understand what you're mocking. Do some brief research into parody as a mode, and see me for extra help if you need it.

Late Work

You may hand in a late imitative assignment only under these conditions: 1) you must get ample notes from classmates in order to aquire and understand assignment; 2) you must include a note which explains what the assignment is, when it was due, and why it's late; 3) you hand in the material no later than a week from its original due date. All conditions must be met.

 

Evaluation Criteria

Your work should show clear and discernable similarities to the item(s) it is imitating. The Author's Notes should help to elucidate just what you were imitating and how. (The assignment allows you quite a lot of latitude in understanding what it means to "imitate," so your Author's Notes should help me see exactly what you're going for.) Your work should be free of mechanical errors, and, unless you're doing satire, avoid the standard pitfalls of creative work: clichés, poeticising, weak pacing, platitudes, dull language, form out of whack with content, etc.

Imitation #1 = 2pts.

2 = A
1.75 = B
1.5 = C
1.25 = D

Imitations #2 and #3 = 4 pts. each.

3.75-4 = A
3.25-3.5 = B
2.75-3 = C
2.25-2.5 = D

A = meets all of the stated criteria exceptionally well.
B = meets most of the stated criteria well and/or meets only some of it but very well.
C = meets only some of the stated criteria and/or meets much of it but weakly.
D = meets little of the stated criteria and/or meets most of it weakly.

 

 

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