Researched Critical Lens Essay Instructions

Write an argumentative literary analysis that successfully persuades your classmates to interpret a work of literature through the perspective of a critical lens: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, or Cultural or Historical Perspectives.

The key to writing a successful literary analysis is to
• Draft an argumentative statement based on your informed opinion that will be supported with
evidence from your chosen literary work and required outside scholarly sources (1 literary
work + 3 required outside sources = 4 total sources)

Assignment
Write an argumentative literary analysis about ONE of the following literary works you have read during class:
• Edgar Allan Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado”
• Susan Glaspell, Trifles
• Sandra Cisneros, “Woman Hollering Creek”
• Owen Wilfred, “Dulce et Decorum Est”
• ee cummings, “next to of course god america I”
• *Danez Smith, “Dinosaurs in the Hood”
• *Danez Smith “not an elegy for Mike Brown”

Once you have selected the literary work you want to write about, you will need to select one of the Critical Lenses we have studied in this course:
• Psychoanalysis
• How a character’s mental state influences the work
• Feminism
• How the treatment of women and/or the perspectives/experiences of women influence
the work
• Historical Perspectives
• How the time and place in which the work was written influences the work
• How the historical events that took place at the time and place in which the work was
written influences the work
• Cultural Perspectives
• How cultural norms, social expectations, or social issues at the time the work waswritten
influence the work