ENG 175 Prof. Petrosillo

Essay 2: Analysis Paper on Falconry as Memoir 900-1200 word Close-Reading Essay

DUE: Monday, October 30 to Canvas by 11:59pm

Essay 1 timeline: Monday, Oct. 16: Essay 1 assigned Friday, Oct. 27: In-class prewriting Monday, Oct. 30: 700-900 word first draft of essay due to Canvas before class for peer-review Monday, Oct. 30: 900-1200 word final draft essay due to Canvas by 11:59pm This essay will concern one of the following texts:

• Excerpt from Falcon Fever, Tim Gallagher • H is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald • The Goshawk, T.H. White

All essays will engage with the text on the level of specific examples (textual quotations) and close-reading (connecting formal features of quotations to the content and context of episode). Here are some possible questions to explore in your analysis. Other essay topics must be approved in advance of first-draft due date:

1. How does falconry help enhance the genre of memoir? How do remembering, forgetting, and training fit together in the author’s work to help tell a story about a phase in the author’s life? What obstacles does writing about the self through falconry present, and how does the text overcome or succumb to those obstacles?

2. Word or allusion—how does the memoir redefine a human concept through the relationship

between bird and human? Is there a particular word that the text reimagines, either implicitly or explicitly, or an allusion that the text uses to enhance our understanding of falconry training? How does the text’s reference to the word or allusion alter a stable understanding of that word or allusion?

3. Reliability of narrator- what tactics does the narrator use to establish his or her relationship

to the text he or she is writing, the hawk or falcon in the text, and our reception of that text? How do moments of unreliability affect the final impact of the text (themes, messages, lessons)?

4. How does falconry stand between the author and the rest of the world as a barrier, a

mediator, a transition, etc.? What specific moments in training alter the author’s relationship to the natural world and to the social world?

Format: • 900-1200 words* in MLA format

o name, date, course number, word count in upper left hand corner o Parenthetical in-text citations, i.e. (George 45) with appropriate formatting

(https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/03/) o Works Cited page (does not count in word count)

• Introduction o a brief exposition of the issue the essay will explore o the title and author of the work o a clear and precise thesis claim.

• 2-3 Body paragraphs in a logical (NOT arbitrary) order o topic sentences (interesting observation + implication that ties back to thesis) o examples from the text, paraphrasing context and including quotations o close-reading of quotations (with attention not only to what is said, but how it is said)

• Conclusion o NOT a restatement of thesis, but rather a statement making clear the larger stakes of

the argument (why any of this matters) o concluding thoughts on the subject that leave the reader with something to think

about without presenting new evidence ESSAY RUBRIC Thesis- Thesis is clear, argumentative, provocative, and surprising and contains a “so what.” 10.0 pts Organization- Topic sentences provide clear observation, implication, and tie back to thesis. Paragraphs stick to the idea laid out in topic sentences and do not wander. Evidence is presented in logical sequence that the thesis, topic sentences, and transitions prepare reader for. Conclusion does more than restate thesis; does not present entirely new information but leaves reader with something to think about.

30.0 pts

Analysis/ Use of Evidence- Examples move beyond plot-based descriptions and offer the reader surprising ways of reading the text. Analysis discusses features of the text using appropriate terminology.

50.0 pts

Grammar & Style- Few to no problems of either grammar or spelling. Style is sophisticated and writing is clear, precise, and concise. The essay is a pleasure to read. 10.0 pts

*Word count deduction: papers will lose 3 points for every 50 words under or over the word count ** Late deduction: late papers will lose 3 points for every 24-hour period past the due date