Halloween week is the perfect time to launch our new module featuring one of Edgar Allan Poe's strangest and scariest stories: "The Masque of the Red Death." Poe's original title for the 1842 publication was "The Mask of the Red Death," but an 1845 publication changed the title to the now-familiar "The Masque of the Red Death." It's quite obvious why this particular story has found new readers and critics in the age of Covid-19.
Like James Baldwin, EA Poe is a brilliant writer. The story itself is relatively short, just 15 long paragraphs. Another great thing about Poe is there is no shortage of secondary criticism about his work available in the public sphere and also in databases such as J-Stor.
Your assignment for this Thursday, Oct 29, is to find three different secondary sources that comment (in one way or another) about this particular Poe story. You will be sharing these sources with classmates in breakout rooms and discussing their relevance in your own reading of the story. What do these secondary sources add? Do they give you another lens or point-of-view to understand or contextualize the story?
Also for our next class meeting, read Poe's essay "The Philosophy of Composition" (1846) and be prepared to discuss it.
ASSIGNMENT DETAILS FOR RESEARCH ESSAY
This assignment requires you to effectively use secondary sources in the formulation of an original argumentative essay. What is your interpretation of Poe's story? Do other critics agree? Why or Why not? We'll talk at greater length about formulating your argument or claim in coming days.
+ The final version will be written and formatted in strict MLA style.
+ The final version will be between four and six double-spaced pages of text. A "Works Cited" page will be the final page.
+ FINAL DUE, Noon, November 19 (Draft due, November 12).
More details to follow.
Questions: csmith@dcad.edu
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