Examination Description and Sample Examination Question
 
The final examination will consist of textual identifications, explications, and essays. The textual identifications will be worth 8 points each, the explications 40 points each, and the essays 80 points each. I have not finished making the exam yet, but it will have at least 450 points on it, of which you must complete 200; the exam is worth 20% of your final grade. You may complete up to an additional 50 points as extra credit. 
 

I presume you are familiar with essay questions.  The essay questions on this exam will not focus on a single work. Instead, they will ask you to make connections between various works we have read in order to explore some larger issues about literature.
 
Explications will ask you to examine a poem you have not read before and discuss not only its meaning, but how the poet conveys that meaning effectively to the reader. The poems will be by poets you have read.
 
Textual identifications may not be familiar to you. Here are instructions and a sample excerpt and identification from a prior exam:
 
Following are twenty-five passages taken from works we have read this semester. For each that you choose to identify, you should do three things: identify the author for 2 points (last name is sufficient, make sure to include the translator if relevant); identify the work’s title for 2 points (for Six Memos, you must name the specific memo); explain in a few sentences why the passage is significant for 4 points. A reasonable length is 65-85 words (not counting quotations) per answer. Partial credit is possible. However, even if you attempt just to provide the author and title for an excerpt, that counts as 8 points attempted.
 
Do not provide a longer answer than I have requested. The following example is sufficient:
 

                      O, sir, you are old;
Nature in you stands on the very verge
Of his confine. You should be ruled, and led
By some discretion that discerns your state
Better than you yourself. Therefore I pray you
That to our sister you do make return;
Say you wronged her.
 
Shakespeare, King Lear
In this speech to Lear, Regan justifies sending him and his retinue back to Goneril. She reminds him of his age, which is close to the limit (“the very verge of his confine”) of normal life expectancy, and rather oddly depicts nature as masculine (“his”). By removing the usual association between nature and femininity, Shakespeare highlights Regan’s unnatural behavior as a daughter. She then ironically reminds Lear of his abdication of power by telling him he “should be ruled” and punning on “state,” which now refers only to his person and not to England.
 
This is not the only possible answer, but it would earn full credit.
 
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