EXAM 2: CONNECTING, COMPARING, CONTRASTING WHAT YOU HAVE READ SO FAR

Exam 2 will ask you to select two or more substantial Trojan War stories. You may use www materials about archaeology and such for background information, but you must focus on two literary texts. State an interesting question that connects them, and write an essay about that connection, supporting your ideas with examples from the selected texts. Send a note about your choices and question to Diane Thompson. I can be helpful at this stage, so wait until I respond to your note before you take the exam.

The exam will look like this:

1. List the texts you intend to discuss; there must be at least two; there may be more.

2. Then, write a clear introductory paragraph, briefly explaining what the point of your comparison is. For example, you might want to compare:

• the roles of women in the Iliad and a Greek play;
• Homer's ideas about the Bronze Age in the Iliad and Odyssey with modern archeology about the Bronze Age;
• the role of Odysseus in the Iliad and the Odyssey (remember, Homer can be used as two texts if you read both the Iliad and the Odyssey);
• the role of Agamemnon in Aeschylus' Agamemnon and Homer's Iliad;
• Virgil's gods and goddesses in the Aeneid vs. those in Homer's Iliad and/or Odyssey;
• the role of Athena in the Aeschylus' Eumenides versus her role in the Odyssey;
• Homer's Achilles and Chaucer's Troilus: two very different ideas of a heroic warrior;
• two characters or issues from your reading that interest you; be sure to use two different texts.

3. Now develop your essay, using plenty of specific examples from at least two texts to support your ideas. There is no length limit, but if you have trouble writing at least 500 words or so, it means you have not developed your ideas and/or supported them adequately.

4. End with a paragraph or two to sum up your main points.

5. Finally, proofread for sloppy English, spelling, and mechanical errors.

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Exam 2 Grading Criteria:

The overview is clear, compares some element from at least two substantial literary texts, and has a relevant point

The body of the essay is well developed, including plenty of supporting examples to prove the point

The essay ends with a summary of the main point and its relevance to the texts

The essay demonstrates your understanding of some of the continuities and changes of Troy stories

The entire essay is written in clear, college-level English.

Exam 2 is worth up to 150 points.