Semester Exam

Essay: (40 points – grading will be based on the GOFSS rubric and on content) – Bring in the document on a disc or flash drive or email the document to jlangley@ppcusd8.org by Wednesday morning, December 16, 8:20 a.m. (no lates accepted). Because this is part of the semester exam, no discussion with anyone about this essay is allowed – work independently.

Prompt: During the first semester, we have studied various periods of American Literature and each period’s writing style and beliefs. Write an essay discussing what one writer from each period (Puritan, Rationalism, Romanticism, Realism) would expect public school curriculum to contain. Use specific examples from each of the following works to support your claims: William Bradford’s of Plymouth Plantation, Benjamin Franklin’s The Autobiography, Henry David Thoreau’s “Life Without Principle,” and Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi (the passage in our literature book titled “Two Views from the River” is from Chapter 9 of this work). While excerpts of Bradford's, Franklin's, and Twain's works are in the literature books, the website links go the the full text of the work. Throughout your essay, analyze the similarities and differences between the ideas of each period. Credit will not be given for essays not in the MLA format. Once again, support from the texts showing your idea or as an example illustrating your idea are crucial in your essay.

Note: When using the texts as examples for support, it is important to explain (show) how the example demonstrates your idea.