For your final assignment, select one of the key concerns from a unit one or two text (examples below), and show how that concern is revived, refracted, or otherwise critiqued in the work of one of unit three’s authors. Using at least three different “moments” in the latter’s work (moments meaning lines of poetry, scenes from a story, or brief passages from an essay), think about how that writer approaches the concern – through imagery, diction, and the other elements of style we’ve discussed in class.

Begin by thinking about one of the more compelling passages you read in unit one or two, and identifying a primary concern of that author. Examples might include

•    John Winthrop’s idea of perfect love as a “stitching together” of saints in community

•    William Bradford’s vision of a “city upon a hill” in which saints show sinners how to build a life

•    Thomas Morton’s insistence on personal freedom

•    Roger Williams’ desire to communicate with Native Americans

•    Anne Bradstreet’s insistence on personal romantic love in “My Dear and Loving Husband”

•    Bradstreet’s concern with the intransience of all earthly things in “On the Burning of our House”

•    Edward Taylor’s meditations on nature

•    Jonathan Edwards’ concern with an affective understanding of total depravity

Next, choose an author from unit three – pick one who draws you (trust your nerves) – and select a few moments, either from one work or from multiple works (I would recommend keeping the focus on one story or essay, or perhaps 2-3 poems if you choose Dickinson or Whitman), in which your unit one concern gets dealt with. After brainstorming, sketch out an outline of three to five of these moments, combining close reading techniques (hewing closely to the texts) with an analysis of the unit three author’s treatment of the earlier concerns. How would you characterize the unit three text’s attitude towards the earlier concern? How does the concern figure into the work? What language and images are used to approach the concern?