Poe’s Stylistic Devices

Hint:

Your answer can be more impactful if you look up and be aware of the elements of American Horror and American Gothic. It is best not to assume you know the answer. Likewise, it is best if you do not use middle or high school materials.

The Thread:

Analyze two of Edgar Allan Poe’s stylistic devices — repeated phrases and use of the doppelganger. Provide evidence by identifying and discussing which literary elements convey this, quoting the text, “Tell Tale Heart” and at least three professional literary critics.

Part I of Assignment:

Choose one of the threads to guide your scholarly response – no personal opinions; use critical thinking instead and do not go below the analysis level. If you do not know the levels of critical thinking, see “Start Here.” Locate “Bloom’s Taxonomy of Critical Thinking” and/or Neil deGrasse Tyson’s video on How to Think, Masterclass, both of which you can find in “Start Here.”
No matter which thread you select, be sure you address some of the literary elements – these include but are not limited to symbolism, theme, use of language, irony, the doppelganger or the double, setting, genre, foreshadowing, character analysis, and so on. However, remember, do not try to address all. Better to write thoroughly on a few than make generalities about many.
Strong Hint: Poe is extremely fond of using the doppleganger or the double in his stories/poems/novels.

Don’t Ignore the Following Reminders; you will also find them in “Start Here”

Thesis Statement:

A thesis can be more than one sentence with pertinent transitions connecting them.
A thesis is not a fact.
A thesis is not a purpose statement.
A thesis is not a question. In fact, do not ask the reader questions anywhere in the paper; it is your job to provide answers.
A thesis is not an exclamation.
A thesis is not an announcement.
A thesis is informed by research, not unexamined personal opinions.
Conduct enough research to support a strong thesis. The underlined thesis goes somewhere in the Introductory paragraph and must contain literary terms such as symbol, theme, irony, setting, allusion, metaphor, allegory, paradox, foreshadowing, etc. which will automatically inform the reader of the direction of the paper. You cannot cover all literary elements, so choose wisely. I suggest that you try to do no more than three elements or three of the same element. That is to say, you can combine elements like theme, symbol, character analysis or analyze three symbols.
Underline the full thesis statement, including any transitions. Remember that the thesis can be longer than one sentence.

Dictionaries:

Do not write a dictionary meaning about anything in your paper. Dictionary meanings will not help you in literature; find out the literary meaning; do not put it in the paper; just know how to apply it.
Declarations of the Obvious, Biography and Autobiography:
Do not declare the work is fiction — we are reading imaginative literature for the most part, so by extension, almost everything we read/see will be fiction though based on reality. To repeat the obvious is a bit elementary and very unnecessary….irritating, even.
Give no background on the author. The text/film is your focus; however, do not simply write on the plot.

Spacing and Indentations:

Double space the response, Works Cited, Works Consulted. I cannot read single spaced papers and will not attempt to do so. IT can assist students 24/7 in this matter — I cannot. Double space the response, Works Cited, Works Consulted . If this link does not work, contact IT, not me: The link: https://liberty.service-now.com/kb_view.do?sys_kb_id=bb7cdd99a8486840b9a994d13108acec and scroll to double spacing text or whatever you need. Everyone who figures out how to double space in the forum will get banked points; 5 for each double spaced forum response to go into a “Grade Bank.”
Indent paragraph beginnings.
Use hanging indentations for Works Cited and Works Consulted.
Indent long quotes of 4 lines or more.

Constructing Paragraphs and Using Logical, Non-repetitive, College Level Connections

Paragraphs must be 5 to 7 complete sentences each, no less no more.
Use your critical thinking to determine how long the paper needs to be to convince the reader that your argument is valid and scholarly.
Provide 2-3 transitions, segues, enumerations, correlatives, signal words, and so in every paragraph; if you cannot do this as well as smoothly and coherently go from one paragraph to the other, there is probably something wrong — weak passive voice, unclear thinking, sentences that don’t really relate to each other, etc. Highlight, in a consistent color of your choice, the transitions. Remember that if you cannot insert transitions, the relationship of your ideas will make no sense to the reader. Do not repeat transitions. In “Start Here,” you will find both videos and more than 15 pages of transitions, segues, enumerations, correlatives, signal words, and so on to help you. Use them. Include what you use in Works Consulted which comes after Works Cited.

Strong Hints:

Doing bare minimum work usually leads to bare minimum grades; sometimes the grades are lower. Most students would like grades in the A or B range. I want everyone to be as successful as she/he/they can be. In an online course, most of the responsibility is on the student. If by the third assignment, I am giving you the same feedback, please make an appointment to see me and bring your laptop. Make sure that you have installed Office 365, which the college provides for free, before your appointment. I will show you how to use this editing tool which is even more effective than Word’s Grammar and Spell Check.
Simply “putting a lot of time and effort” into a college assignment is not enough as it may have been in K-12. While most people who get As and Bs in college, generally do more work than bare minimum and use more quality sources, some have writing talent, strong grasp of basics, and put little time into their work and consistently excel anyway. In other words, it is the end product that counts. See Grading Rubrics in “Start Here.” Know what each grade means and strive to achieve what you want.
Never be afraid to include a counter argument — just do not contradict your self. It is the appropriate wording that will allow you to include a counter argument — revisit section on transitions.

Quotes and Paraphrases from Text/Film/Literary Critics/Scholarly Sources:

Do not paraphrase — quote only.
Quote from and document the story/film/poetry/novel and a minimum of three college level literary critics in MLA format according to Lester only . There are no excuses for not using MLA. See Free Book in “Start Here”: Lester. The assigned story and/ or film is your primary source, not a critical source, so you cannot count it as a critical source.
In most cases, I have included literary criticism in the appropriate folder in COURSE LIBRARY. These sources go in Works Cited according to Lester only
Quote at least once from each college level literary critic — again, this is bare minimum.
Quotes cannot take the place of your critical thinking; quotes should enhance your critical thinking.
If a source is missing copyright information, you probably should not use that material. I certainly wouldn’t.
No paraphrasing at all. And remember, do not ask reader any questions.

Use of Third Person for Scholarly Work:

Do not write in the first person — I, me, my, myself, mine, we, us, our, ours ourselves. The paper is to be about the story, not about you.
Do not write in the second person — you, you’re, yourself, yours, yourselves — the paper is not about the reader, so do not address the reader at all.
Use the third person only.

Verbs Have Magic:

Provide meaningful verbs, not lazy ones and your work will be more interesting, mature, and energetic.
Avoid verbs like quotes, says, writes, mentions, talks about. Instead use verbs that convey critical thinking.
Go to “Start Here”: see Free Book: They Say, I Say and the long list of active verbs that you can use or google a list of active verbs. There are lists of such verbs in “Start Here.”

I look forward to reading your work.

Essay Mill