Assignment: Your assignment is to write a five-paragraph essay about the symbolism used in “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe. You will have an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You must include at least one direct quote in each of your body paragraphs from the story as well as from an article of literary criticism. You must have a title page and works cited page. All of this must be typed, double-spaced, and printed.
Due Date: We will write our rough draft in class. I will initial your rough draft. You will take it home and revise, polish, type and print. You will turn it in along with the initialed rough draft on ________________________. …show more content…
How do you get help?
Students should use their time in class to work on the rough draft and get help from me. They can attend tutoring after school. They can go to the library any day before school from 7:30-8:00 or after school from 3:30-4:30 to type and print. I will be available during class to answer specific questions. Finally, students should completely read the instructions that follow.
Title Page: Follow the Sumter High School format. Remember that you cannot use just “The Masque of the Red Death” as your title. You may use Symbolism in “The Masque of the Red Death” as your title. Consider it my gift to you
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Paragraph One: Introduction—Remember to include the title of the story and put it in quote marks. Include the author’s name. Give some background about the story. Write a thesis statement that lists (in order) what symbols you are going to use in your analysis and how they enhance the theme.
Paragraphs Two, Three, and Four: Body Paragraphs—Tell the reader in your first sentence what symbol you will explain without saying “My first symbol is…” or “I am going to explain…”. Then, discuss your evidence from the text and the literary criticism article. Make sure you document your quotes by putting quote marks around the part you copy from the story or article and putting a parenthetical citation after all quotes. Explain what the quote is talking about and how it proves your point. Use the chart below to help you plan the body of your essay.
Content
Symbol #1
Symbol #2
Symbol #3
What is the symbol, and what does it represent?
What sentence from the literary criticism article supports what you say? Copy it here and include the page #.
What sentence from the story supports this representation? Copy it here and include the page #.
Explain how your evidence supports your claim.
Paragraph Five: Conclusion—Start by rewriting your thesis statement here. In other words, what symbols did you use to show the enhancement of Poe’s theme? Summarize your main arguments for how you know that this is right. Then write a final, wrap-up sentence. You may want to begin this sentence with the word Therefore.
Works Cited: Center the words Works Cited at the top of the page. Then skip down a line and go back to the left hand side of the page and copy the following works cited entries for “The Masque of the Red Death” and your literary criticism article.
Bell, Jr. ,H.H. “Allegorical Meaning in ‘The Masque of the Red Death’. Poe: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Robert Regan.Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1967. 164-169.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Masque of the Red Death.” Elements of Literature Fourth Course. Ed. Kyleen Beers. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2010. 369-374.