Assignments

1–4: Exercises 1-4 are identical. For each one reread the first poem listed in the day's assignment, look up all words you do not know that you did not look up when you read it the first time, and answer the questions below about it.

1. Identify the rhyme scheme of the first strophe.

2. Identify the predominant meter.

3. List 3 patterns (like words, images, gestures) established by repetitions or connections among the strophes.

4. List 3 ways in which these patterns are different between the beginning and end of the poem.

5. Correlate the changes listed in 4. with one another in order to draw a conclusion in one sentence about the point of the poem.

Paper 1: Write a paper (ca. 2 pages, typed double-spaced) interpreting one of the following poems on the 311 web site: "Die zwei Gesellen," "Der Abend," "Der alte Garten," "Willkommen und Abschied."

In your final version of the paper do not go through the poem line by line and do not make it tell a story.

Possible modes of organization:

1) Discuss repetitions and connections between the beginning and the end of the poem; then discuss differences between the beginning and the end; then discuss how the poem moves from the beginning to the end; then draw conclusions about the significance of this movement and what the poem means. Or

2) Devote one paragraph to each of two or three patterns in the poem, such as meter, rhyme scheme, time structures, directionality, an image or concept, a class of words. In each case you would need to explore how the pattern develops and changes through the poem. Draw a conclusion by relating the developments of these patterns to one another.

Exercise 5: For chapter one of "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts" make two lists:

a) all references to the color red with page and line number.

b) all references to one other motif that seems important to you, again with page and line number.

Exercises 6 and 7:

Continue your two lists for each succeeding chapter. At the end of each list write one sentence about the significance of the motif based on how it has changed from previous chapters.

For list b) you may change motifs from one chapter to the next if you choose, for list a) you may not. The point of the exercise is to give you practice working with a motif (a and b), and with identifying an interesting one on your own (b).

Exercise 8: Pick one motif (word, image, gesture, peculiarity of the narrator) in "Die Verwandlung" that you will keep track of, as you did for "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts." In one or two sentences justify your choice.

Paper 2: Write a paper (approx. 4 pages, typed double-spaced) on one of the following topics. Please follow the writing guidelines on the website.

1. Select one motif that seems important to you in both Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts and Die Verwandlung and analyze its significance thoroughly for one of the stories. It can be one of the motifs used for your exercises. A good paper will have enough examples of the occurrence of the motif to make an argument, will discuss how it changes, and will lead to an interpretation of the story that is also supported by other kinds of evidence like point of view and plot structure. At least one paragraph of your essay should draw parallels to whichever story you do not focus on to suggest how your results could be applied to it.

2. Compare the narration of space and place in both texts. How do Italy and the Italians function in Eichendorff, and what do they signify? How about the apartment Gregor lives in with his family and how about the outdoor scene at the end of the text? How does that narrativization add to the themes addressed in the texts?

Exercise 9:

This is an exercise is helpful note-taking for dramas. The chart below has been filled in for the first scene of Maria Magdalena. If you complete it for the remainder of the play you will find it easier to write your paper. You will have more space if you turn the paper 90 degrees.

Paper 3: Write a paper on Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm of 3-5 pages (typed, double-spaced) on one of the following topics. In your discussion try to take account of as many different aspects of the play as you can, such as structure, content, theme, imagery.

1. What does the play say about the relation of nature to society?

2. Discuss the relationship of the gender differences in the play to the other central themes.