I. Literary Criticism

UNIVERSITY INTERSCHOLASTIC LEAGUE Literary Criticism Invitational A •฀2010 do not turn this page until you are instructed to do so! University Interscholastic League Literary Criticism Contest • Invitational A • Part 1: Knowledge of Literary Terms and of Literary History 1. The term used to designate the types or categories into which literary works are grouped according to form, technique, or, sometimes, subject matter is A) abridgment. B) genre. C) philology. D) synopsis. E) typology. 2. The poetic foot consisting of an accented syllable followed by an unaccented syllable is the A) bacchic. B) iamb. C) pyrrhic. D) spondee. E) trochee. 3. The term indicating the degree to which a work creates the semblance, or appearance, of the truth is A) persuasion. B) positivism. C) rationation. D) sigmatism. E) verisimilitude. 4. Something that is itself and which also stands for something else and that, in a literary sense, combines a literal and sensuous quality with an abstract or suggestive aspect is a(n) A) emblem. B) icon. C) kitsch. D) symbol. E) type. 5. A work or manner that blends censorious attitude with humor and wit for improving human institutions or humanity is A) didacticism. B) jeremiad. C) repartee. D) satire. E) travesty. UNIVERSITY INTERSCHOLASTIC LEAGUE 2010 30 items (1 point each) 6. Originally, the term for the first actor in early Greek drama and now the term for the chief character in a work is A) B) C) D) E) antagonist. anti-hero. deuteragonist. hero. protagonist. 7. Not a British writer honored by being awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature is A) B) C) D) E) Albert Camus. Sir Winston Churchill. William Golding. Rudyard Kipling. Bertrand A. W. Russell. 8. The rule-governed arrangement of words in sentences is A) B) C) D) E) inversion. semantics. semiotics. structuralism. syntax. 9. A cheaply produced paperbound novel or novelette of mystery, adventure, or violence popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in England is the A) B) C) D) E) dime novel. gothic novel. penny dreadful. potboiler. pulp magazine. 10. The author of Light in August, The Sound and the Fury, The Unvanquished, As I Lay Dying, and Absalom, Absalom! is A) B) C) D) E) John Cheever. William Faulkner. Larry McMurtry. John Steinbeck. John Updike. PAGE 1 Literary Criticism Contest • 11. A term often applied to the Neoclassic Period in English Literature and sometimes to the Revolutionary and Early National Period in American Literature because these periods emphasized selfknowledge, self-control, the rule of order, as well as decorum in life and art, is the A) Age of Johnson. B) Age of Reason. C) Augustan Age. D) Period of the Confessional Self. E) Realistic Period. 12. The repetition of initial consonant sounds or any vowel sounds in successive or closely associated syllables is recognized as A) alliteration. B) assonance. C) consonance. D) resonance. E) sigmatism. 13. Not likely to sit down at the local pub or tavern to share a drink with the others listed below is A) Geoffrey Chaucer. B) Ben Jonson. C) Thomas Kyd. D) Christopher Marlowe. E) William Shakespeare. 14. The presentation of events in a work of literature in such a way that later events are prepared for is called A) episodic structure. B) flashback. C) foreshadowing. D) prequel. E) prolepsis. 15. The first major, self-conscious literary movement of African American writers that resulted in part from a massive migration of young talented writers to northern American cities is known as the A) Black Mountain School. B) Fugitives C) Harlem Renaissance. D) New York Poets. E) Parnassians. UNIVERSITY INTERSCHOLASTIC LEAGUE Invitational A 2010 • page 2 16. A period in English literary history that begins with the First World War and whose literary voices include the poets Yeats, Eliot, and Hardy and whose experimental fiction includes works by Woolf, Joyce and, to some degree, Conrad is the A) B) C) D) E) Caroline Age. Early Victorian Age. Georgian Age. Jacobean Age. Late Victorian Age. 17. An expression used in informal conversation but not accepted universally in formal speech or writing is a(n) A) B) C) D) E) archaism. cliché. colloquialism. idiom. idiotism. 18. The recipient of the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Optimist's Daughter is A) B) C) D) E) Toni Morrison. E. Annie Proulx. Marilynne Robinson. Carol Shields. Eudora Welty. 19. The only one of the unities to which Aristotle directly refers in his Poetics is A) B) C) D) E) action. crisis. place. scene. time. 20. The art of beautiful handwriting, which, during the Middle Ages, characterized the monks' painstaking copying of ancient manuscripts, is known as A) B) C) D) E) bibliography. calligraphy. epigraphy. hagiography. paleography. PAGE 2 Literary Criticism Contest • 21. A central idea that in nonfiction prose is recognized as the general topic and in fiction, poetry, and drama is considered the abstract concept made concrete through representation is a(n) A) climax. B) in medias res. C) motif. D) theme. E) thesis. 22. An illustrative story teaching a lesson that in its true intent and form parallels an allegory is a(n) A) fable. B) fairy tale. C) Märchen. D) parable. E) sketch. 23. The term coined by E. M. Forster for a character sufficiently complex to be able to surprise the reader without losing credibility is A) dynamic character. B) flat character. C) round character. D) static character. E) stock character. 24. A sustained and formal poem setting forth meditations on death or another solemn theme is a(n) A) elegy. B) encomium. C) eulogy. D) paean. E) threnody. 25. The term, which in drama, refers to a particular kind of play as originally defined in Aristotle's Poetics and which recounts a causally related sequence of events in the life of a person of significance, culminating in an unhappy catastrophe, the whole treated with dignity and seriousness, is A) chronicle play. B) comedy. C) melodrama. D) tragedy. E) tragicomedy. UNIVERSITY INTERSCHOLASTIC LEAGUE Invitational A 2010 • page 3 26. Historically, the term referring to poets who recited verses glorifying the deeds of heroes and leaders to the accompaniment of a musical instrument such as the harp is A) B) C) D) E) bard. jongleur. minstrel. troubadour. scop. 27. The recipient of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her collection Thomas and Beulah is A) B) C) D) E) Elizabeth Bishop. Rita Dove. Louise Glück. Lisel Mueller. Mary Oliver. 28. Not among the twelfth- and thirteenth-century authors contributing to the wealth of matter constituting the Arthurian legends is A) B) C) D) E) the English author Geoffrey of Monmouth. the English author Sir Thomas Malory. the English poet Layamon. the French author Chrétien de Troyes. the French poet Wace. 29. The recipient of the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Our Town is A) B) C) D) E) Edward Albee. William Inge. Eugene O'Neill. Neil Simon. Thornton Wilder. 30. A form of light verse that follows a definite pattern, including the use of the anapestic foot, which originated as epigrammatic song but now addresses, among a wide range of subject matter, the manners, the morals, and the peculiarities of imaginary people, is the A) B) C) D) E) doggerel. epigram. limerick. vers de société. verset. PAGE 3 Literary Criticism Contest • Invitational A 2010 Part 2: The UIL Reading List • page 4 20 items (2 points each) Items 31-36 are associated with Sophocles' Antigonê. Items 37-43 are associated with Samuel Butler's Erewhon. Items 44-50 are associated with Thomas Hardy's poetry (selected). 31. A strong refusal to act is evident in the line "Impossible things should not be tried at all," which is delivered by A) Antigonê. B) Creon. C) Eurydicê. D) Ismenê. E) Teiresias. 32. The strength of his warning, "[W]e must remember that friends made at the risk of wrecking our Ship are not real friends at all," is found in the use Creon makes of an extended A) allusion. B) imagery. C) metaphor. D) paradox. E) simile. 33. Teiresias' admonition, "The time is not far off when you shall pay back / Corpse for corpse, flesh of your own flesh," is a direct reference to the death of A) Antigonê. B) Eteoclês. C) Eurydicê. D) Haimon. E) Polyneicês. 34. Antigonê reminds us herself of the "blasphemy of [her] birth"; she is the daughter of A) Creon and Eurydicê. B) Creon and Iocastê. C) Oedipus and Eurydicê. D) Oedipus and Iocastê. E) Polybos and Iocastê. 35. The Choragos' rejoinder, "Then do not pray any more: the sky is deaf," is a fine example of A) apostrophe. B) enallage. C) metonymy. D) simile. E) solecism. UNIVERSITY INTERSCHOLASTIC LEAGUE 36. Antigonê's observation that there is but one kind of death that can be considered "the worst of deaths" speaks directly to a A) death in a cave. B) death of a brother. C) death without being buried. D) death without a funeral oration. E) death without honor. 37. In Samuel Butler's Erewhon, the item that Hicks carries with him, which upon being discovered by the Erewhonians, brings an expression not of fear but of hatred on the magistrate's face is/are his A) grog. B) gun. C) matches. D) swag. E) watch. 38. Among the several reasons that Mr. Hicks is troubled by Chowbok's early disappearance is that Hicks had hoped to make Chowbok A) a new blanket from his own sheeps' wool. B) a real convert to the Christian religion. C) a top-notch sheepherder. D) carry most of the supplies. E) translate the language of the Erewhonians. 39. In traversing the several unexplored ranges, Mr. Hicks hopes to find A) an immense tract of available sheep country. B) a lost tribe of Israel. C) the northwest passage. D) a place to start a family. E) the source of the Nile. 40. The class of men among the Erewhonians who are "trained in soul-craft" is a group known as A) Musical Bankers. B) Nosnibors. C) Professors of Unreason. D) Straighteners. E) Ydgrunites. PAGE 4 Literary Criticism Contest • Invitational A 2010 41. The single physical characteristic offsetting any other, perhaps, disqualifying attribute, thus making Hicks an eligible match in marriage to one of the Nosibors' daughters, is Hicks's • page 5 44. That Thomas Hardy has chosen the rather precise, ordered pattern, the sonnet, to convey his persona's sense of an unordered universe suggests that Hardy had a well-honed sense of A) light-colored hair. B) manicured fingernails. C) perfect health. D) significant height. E) strength. A) B) C) D) E) 42. The document that varies in wording, depending on the specific parents' particular worries, releasing the parents of all responsibility for a child's birth is the determinism. fatalism. irony. melancholy. poetic justice. 45. The sonnet form that Hardy fairly closely follows in "Hap" is the A) baptismal certificate. B) birth certificate. C) birth formula. D) escape clause. E) straightener's vaccination record. A) B) C) D) E) 43. An understanding of Butler's satirical intent in writing Erewhon might be discovered in what the Erewhonians hold as "the symbol of duty, [. . .] the sacrament of having done for mankind that which mankind wanted"; this symbol of duty is English sonnet. Italian sonnet. Miltonic sonnet. Shakespearean sonnet. Spenserian sonnet. 46. The trope that dominates the last four lines of the sonnet, finding expression in "Time," "Crass Casuality," and "These purblind Doomsters" is A) anthropomorphism. B) catastrophe. C) metaphor. D) reification. E) simile. A) health. B) money. C) national acclaim. D) virtue. E) watches. 47. The sonnet's rhyme scheme is A) B) C) D) E) Items 44-48 refer to Thomas Hardy's Hap If but some vengeful god would call to me From up the sky, and laugh: "Thou suffering thing, Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy, That thy love's loss is my hate's profiting!" Then would I bear it, clench myself, and die, Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited; Half-eased in that a Powerfuller than I Had willed and meted me the tears I shed. But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain, And why unblooms the best hope ever sown? —Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain, And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan . . . . These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain. UNIVERSITY INTERSCHOLASTIC LEAGUE 4 8 aabbccdd abababab ababcdcd abcbabcb abcbabcb efefgg. cdcdcd. efeffe. ababba. abdbbd. 48. The sonnet's turn, found in line 9, reinforces our understanding of the persona's doubt that A) B) C) D) E) there is a Being greater than he. there is a "best hope" in gardening. there is a chance that love will conquer hate. there is joy in slaying "dicing Time." there will be time for suffering. 12 PAGE 5 Literary Criticism Contest • Invitational A 2010 In Time of "Breaking of Nations" Only a man harrowing clods In a slow silent walk With an old horse that stumbles and nods Half asleep as they stalk. Only thin smoke without flame From the heaps of couch-grass; Yet this will go onward the same Though Dynasties pass. But these have never trod Twice the familiar track, Never never turned back Into the memoried day. All is new and near In the unchanging Here Of the fifth great day of God, That shall remain the same, Never shall pass away. Yonder a maid and her wight Come whispering by: War's annals will cloud into night Ere their story die. 49. Hardy's poem speaks to the permanence of one aspect of human endeavoring in contrast to another, one productive and one destructive, especially in light of its publication date, 1915. Ultimately, the poem's tone is 8 12 16 20 51. The lines "In the unchanging Here / Of the fifth great day of God" constitute a specific detail in an explanation of creation that accounts for natural phenomena, which suggests that the poem is a retelling of a A) elegiac. B) fatalistic. C) nihilistic. D) optimistic. E) pessimistic. A) B) C) D) E) 50. The poetic form that Hardy's poem "In Time of 'Breaking of Nations'" approximates is the fable. fairy tale. legend. myth. parable. 52. In the third stanza of Muir's poem, the persona is clearly addressing the animals' not having A) ballad. B) haiku. C) sestina. D) sonnet. E) terza rima. A) B) C) D) E) Part 3: Ability in Literary Criticism 15 items (2 points each) Items 51-53 refer to Edwin Muir's The Animals UNIVERSITY INTERSCHOLASTIC LEAGUE page 6 For with names the world was called Out of the empty air, With names was built and walled, Line and circle and square, Dust and emerald; Snatched from deceiving death By the articulate breath. Items 49-50 refer to Thomas Hardy's They do not live in the world, Are not in time and space. From birth to death hurled No word do they have, not one To plant a foot upon, Were never in any place. • historical memory. intelligence. a means of finding their way home. names. souls. 53. The poem's central thematic concern addresses A) the creation of the world. B) an essential difference between man and animals. C) the fact that all animals die. D) God's having created animals on the fifth day. E) the importance of naming places and things. 4 PAGE 6 Literary Criticism Contest • The Next Poem The rhymes soft-spoken and suggestive are barely audible at first, an appetite not yet acknowledged like the inkling of a thirst. While gradually the form appears as each line is coaxed aloud— the architecture of a room seen from the middle of a crowd. The music that of common speech but slanted so that each detail sounds unexpected as a sharp inserted in a simple scale. No jumble box of imagery dumped glumly in the reader's lap or elegantly packaged junk the unsuspecting must unwrap. • page 7 55. The imagery that dominates the third stanza suggests that the form of a poem is a Items 54-58 refer to Dana Gioia's How much better it seems now than when it is finally done— the unforgettable first line, the cunning way the stanzas run. Invitational A 2010 4 8 12 16 20 But words that could direct a friend precisely to an unknown place, those few unshakeable details that no confusion can erase. 24 And the real subject left unspoken but unmistakable to those who don't expect a jungle parrot in the black and white of prose. 28 How much better it seems now than when it is finally written. How hungrily one waits to feel the bright lure seized, the old hook bitten. 32 A) B) C) D) E) concept that needs to be discussed. dialogue among people in a room. difficult thing to find in a crowd of words. rebus. structure that emerges as the poem is written. 56. The imagery of the second to last stanza suggests that the subject of poetic expression is often A) B) C) D) E) chiaroscuro. colorful. explicit. implicit. literal. 57. Once the poem "is finally written," the participants involved in the "waiting" and the "seizing," respectively, as suggested by the final stanza, are the A) B) C) D) E) fish and the parrot. "jumble box of imagery" and "the bright lure." parrot and the fish. poet and his reader. reader and the poet. 58. Line 8 of Gioia's "Next Poem" turns on 54. The scheme that reinforces the meaning of the fifth line of Gioia's "The Next Poem" is A) B) C) D) E) chiaroscuro. a hyperbole. a metaphor. a paradox. a simile and a pun. Items 59-62 (next page) refer to William Wordsworth's Nuns Fret Not Their Convent's Narrow Room A) assonance. B) consonance. C) dissonance. D) onomatopoeia. E) sigmatism. UNIVERSITY INTERSCHOLASTIC LEAGUE PAGE 7 Literary Criticism Contest • Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room; And hermits are contented with their cells; And students with their pensive citadels; Maids at the wheel, the weaver at this loom, 4 Sit blithe and happy; bees that soar for bloom, High as the highest Peak of Furness-fells, Will murmur by the hour in foxglove bells: In truth the prison, into which we doom 8 Ourselves, no prison is: and hence for me, In sundry moods, 'twas pastime to be bound Within the Sonnet's scanty plot of ground; Pleased if some Souls (for such there needs must be) Who have felt the weight of too much liberty, 13 Should find brief solace there, as I have found. 59. In having two rhyming couplets in its sestet, Wordsworth's sonnet fails to conform to the expectations of the classic A) curtal sonnet. B) English sonnet. C) Italian sonnet. D) Shakespearean sonnet. E) Spenserian sonnet. 60. Wordsworth's persona is arguing that writing a sonnet, which is a very restricting form, can be A) enjoyed for this very reason. B) hated for this reason. C) like being in prison. D) like being stung by bees. E) like competing with nuns, hermits, and weavers. 61. The persona's description of the bees that "murmur by the hour in the foxglove bells" relies on the sound device A) alliteration. B) assonance. C) consonance. D) onomatopoeia. E) sigmatism. 62. The "Sonnet's scanty plot of ground" (line 12) is the A) "convent's narrow room." B) fourteen lines that constitute a sonnet. C) "highest Peak of Furness-falls." D) Lake District where Wordsworth wrote poetry. E) prison "into which we doom / Ourselves." UNIVERSITY INTERSCHOLASTIC LEAGUE Invitational A 2010 • page 8 Items 63-65 refer to Elizabeth Jennings's One Flesh Lying apart now, each in a separate bed, He with a book, keeping the light on late, She like a girl dreaming of childhood, All men elsewhere—it is as if they wait Some new event: the book he holds unread, Her eyes fixed on the shadows overhead. Tossed up like flotsam from a former passion, How cool they lie. They hardly ever touch, Or if they do, it is like a confession Of having little feeling—or too much. Chastity faces them, a destination For which their whole lives were a preparation. 4 8 12 Strangely apart, yet strangely close together, Silence between them like a thread to hold And not wind in. And time itself 's a feather Touching them gently. Do they know they're old, 16 These two who are my father and my mother Whose fire from which I came, has now grown cold? 63. The persona's assessment that "time itself 's a feather / Touching them gently" is an example of a(n) A) B) C) D) E) apostrophe. metaphor. personification. reification. simile. 64. The rhyming set bed, childhood, unread, overhead (lines 1, 3, 5, 6) and the rhyming set together, feather, and mother (13, 15, 17) exemplify the poet's use of A) B) C) D) E) alliteration. assonance. consonance. onomatopoeia. sigmatism. 65. Line 14 of Jennings's poem features a(n) A) B) C) D) E) apostrophe. hyperbole. metaphor. paradox. simile. PAGE 8 Literary Criticism Contest • Invitational A 2010 • page 9 Part 4: Tie-Breaking Essay (required) Note well: Contestants who do not write an essay will be disqualified even if they are not involved in any tie. Note well: Any essay that does not demonstrate a sincere effort to discuss the assigned topic will be disqualified. The judge(s) should note carefully this criterion when breaking ties: ranking of essays for tie-breaking purposes should be based primarily on how well the topic has been addressed. Three pages of blank paper have been provided for this essay; however, it is not expected that the essay will be longer than 150 words; however, the essay should reflect the Handbook's notion that an essay is a "moderately brief discussion of a restricted topic": something more than a few sentences. Read William Wordsworth's "She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways" and Phoebe Cary's imitation (perhaps parody) "Jacob," and offer a discussion of the poems' shared theme. She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways She dwelt among the untrodden ways Beside the springs of Dove, A Maid whom there were none to praise And very few to love; A violet by a mossy tone Half hidden from the eye! —Fair as a star, when only one Is shining in the sky. Jacob She lived unknown, and few could know When Lucy ceased to be; But she is in her grave, and, oh, The difference to me! William Wordsworth 1800 He dwelt among "apartments let*," About five stories high; A man I thought that none would get, And very few would try. A boulder, by a larger stone Half hidden in the mud, —Fair as a man when only one Is in the neighborhood. He lived unknown, and few could tell When Jacob was not free; But he has got a wife,—and O! The difference to me! Phoebe Cary 1854 UNIVERSITY INTERSCHOLASTIC LEAGUE PAGE 9 rented University Interscholastic League Literary Criticism Contest Invitational A • 2010 KEY 1 point each) Part 1: Knowledge of Literary Terms and of Literary History 30 items ( 1. B 11. B 21. D 2. E 12. A 22. D 3. E 13. A 23. C 4. D 14. C 24. A 5. D 15. C 25. D 6. E 16. C 26. A 7. A 17. C 27. B 8. E 18. E 28. B 9. C 19. A 29. E 10. B 20. B 30. C Part 2: UIL Reading List 20 items ( 31. D 38. B 45. B 32. C 39. A 46. D 33. E 40. D 47. C 34. D 41. A 48. A 35. C 42. C 49. D 36. E 43. B 50. A 37. E 44. C Part 3: Ability in Literary Criticism 15 items ( 51. D 56. D 61. D 52. A 57. D 62. B 53. B 58. E 63. B 54. E 59. C 64. C 55. E 60. A 65. E 2 points each) 2 points each) Part 4: Tie-Breaking Essay These notes are not intended to be understood as a key for the Tie-Breaking essay prompt; rather, they should serve the judge(s) as a presentation of critical ideas that might appear in an essay responding to the prompt. Criteria for judging the Tie-Breaking Essay SHOULD include the degree to which the instructions have been followed, the quality of the critical insight offered in response to the selection, the overall effectiveness of the written discussion, and the grammatical correctness of the essay. Note well that the quality of the contestant's critical insight is more important than the contestant's prose style. In short, the Literary Criticism contest is one that promotes the critical analysis of literature. The quality of the writing, which should never go unappreciated, does not trump evidence of critical analysis. It is not expected that the essay will be longer than 150 words; however, the essay should reflect the Handbook's notion that an essay is a "moderately brief discussion of a restricted topic": something more than a few sentences. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Critical Notes on Wordsworth's "She Dwelt . . ." and Phoebe Cary's "Jacob" Literary concepts that MIGHT be used by the contestant in a discussion of these poems include allusion, contrast, diction (word choice), imagery, irony, humor, parody, simile, and tone (word choice). The prompt asks the contestant to address the poems' common theme, which involves a recognition that loss, through death or, perhaps, lack of access, is part of life. The contestant's approach might be a simplistic comparison of the poems as similar vehicles carrying a shared theme. The approach might recognize the contrast between a disappointment born of the loss of a loved one and the disappointment engendered by the unavailability of someone the persona wishes to love (certainly a species of loss). Additionally, a more sophisticated contrast might point to the gender difference of the two poems' personas, which, of course, might lead into a brief discussion of irony centered on cultural expectations (Cary's poem is, after all, a Victorian poem). A contrast between Lucy's being dead and the wife's being alive, each an emotionally charged impediment to happiness, might reinforce the essay writer's discussion of the poems' shared theme. A recognition of the parody that informs the Cary poem might serve as the basis for a fine discussion. A contestant might have something to say about "Jacob" as an allusion: a man whose wife was terribly busy, in contrast to Wordsworth's Maid, a shy violet whose life seemed untroubled by something that could never be "hidden from the eye": the raising of twelve sons who founded the twelve tribes of Israel. University Interscholastic League Literary Criticism Contest Invitational A • 2010 KEY 1 point each) Part 1: Knowledge of Literary Terms and of Literary History 30 items ( 1. B 11. B 21. D 2. E 12. A 22. D 3. E 13. A 23. C 4. D 14. C 24. A 5. D 15. C 25. D 6. E 16. C 26. A 7. A 17. C 27. B 8. E 18. E 28. B 9. C 19. A 29. E 10. B 20. B 30. C Part 2: UIL Reading List 20 items ( 31. D 38. B 45. B 32. C 39. A 46. D 33. E 40. D 47. C 34. D 41. A 48. A 35. C 42. C 49. D 36. E 43. B 50. A 37. E 44. C Part 3: Ability in Literary Criticism 15 items ( 51. D 56. D 61. D 52. A 57. D 62. B 53. B 58. E 63. B 54. E 59. C 64. C 55. E 60. A 65. E 2 points each) 2 points each) Part 4: Tie-Breaking Essay These notes are not intended to be understood as a key for the Tie-Breaking essay prompt; rather, they should serve the judge(s) as a presentation of critical ideas that might appear in an essay responding to the prompt. Criteria for judging the Tie-Breaking Essay SHOULD include the degree to which the instructions have been followed, the quality of the critical insight offered in response to the selection, the overall effectiveness of the written discussion, and the grammatical correctness of the essay. Note well that the quality of the contestant's critical insight is more important than the contestant's prose style. In short, the Literary Criticism contest is one that promotes the critical analysis of literature. The quality of the writing, which should never go unappreciated, does not trump evidence of critical analysis. It is not expected that the essay will be longer than 150 words; however, the essay should reflect the Handbook's notion that an essay is a "moderately brief discussion of a restricted topic": something more than a few sentences. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Critical Notes on Wordsworth's "She Dwelt . . ." and Phoebe Cary's "Jacob" Literary concepts that MIGHT be used by the contestant in a discussion of these poems include allusion, contrast, diction (word choice), imagery, irony, humor, parody, simile, and tone (word choice). The prompt asks the contestant to address the poems' common theme, which involves a recognition that loss, through death or, perhaps, lack of access, is part of life. The contestant's approach might be a simplistic comparison of the poems as similar vehicles carrying a shared theme. The approach might recognize the contrast between a disappointment born of the loss of a loved one and the disappointment engendered by the unavailability of someone the persona wishes to love (certainly a species of loss). Additionally, a more sophisticated contrast might point to the gender difference of the two poems' personas, which, of course, might lead into a brief discussion of irony centered on cultural expectations (Cary's poem is, after all, a Victorian poem). A contrast between Lucy's being dead and the wife's being alive, each an emotionally charged impediment to happiness, might reinforce the essay writer's discussion of the poems' shared theme. A recognition of the parody that informs the Cary poem might serve as the basis for a fine discussion. A contestant might have something to say about "Jacob" as an allusion: a man whose wife was terribly busy, in contrast to Wordsworth's Maid, a shy violet whose life seemed untroubled by something that could never be "hidden from the eye": the raising of twelve sons who founded the twelve tribes of Israel.