Miami University

GARY BERKOWITZ

INTRODUCTION TO WRITING ASSIGNMENTS FOR STUDENTS

Gary Berkowitz

Greek and Roman Epic

My assignments are for Greek and Roman Epic Poetry.  It is a 300 level class, taught entirely in English, and will have 25 students.  We will be reading selections from Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and all of Virgil’s Aeneid, Apollonius’ Argonautica, and Lucan’s Civil War. 

I have never taught the course before, and am in the process of deciding what I will do.  I am trying to base the course around problems posed to the students.  For that reason, I will be planning the syllabus around the long assignment that I designed in this workshop.  To meet the demands of the long assignment, we will be reading each of the four poets throughout the semester (the traditional way of planning a class of this sort is to read one poem at a time, in the order in which they were composed). 

GARY BERKOWITZ

SEQUENCED WRITING ASSIGNMENTS FOR STUDENTS

Greek and Roman Epic

ASSIGNMENT OBJECTIVES THAT ACHIEVE COURSE GOALS

Through the following sequenced writing assignments you will gain an understanding of the nature of the ancient epic genre (both in terms of style and content) and the variety of forms it took. Greek and Roman epic poets emulated and borrowed from their predecessors.  In this class, you are going to emulate Greek and Roman poets so that you can get a taste of how they composed their poetry.  By the end of the semester, you will have written poetry, in English, that embodies the styles and content of Homer, Apollonius, Virgil, and Lucan.  You will also be writing a short paper that explains what and how you emulated.  Writing your poetry will be achieved in several steps throughout the semester. 

Step 1: Selecting a fabula and a story:

• Each of the ancient poems we read makes use of a fabula.  By the word “fabula,” I mean a chronological series of events that is caused or experienced by fictional or historical people.  In ancient epic poetry, a rather famous fabula involves the Trojan war, from its start during the marriage celebration of Peleus and Thetis, to its finish with the sack of Troy. 
• A story is a fabula presented in a certain manner.  Epic poets tell stories, which are fabulae presented in various ways, according to the poets’ choosing.  In the Odyssey, for instance, Homer uses the fabula of Odysseus to tell the story of Odysseus’ return from the Trojan War.  Homer omitted parts of the fabula, such as Odysseus’ youth and old age, and presented other parts, like Odysseus’ encounter with the Cyclops, in the form of a flashback.

Sept. 15 (?): Suppose you were going to write an epic poem.  Write a 1/2 page summary of the fabula you would use.

To get credit:

• Your fabula has to involve historical events that happened within the past 50 years.  It must be recognizable by myself and members of the class, and it must be easily accessible in an encyclopedia.  One could choose, for instance, the fabula of OJ Simpson. 
• Your writing must be coherent, with no grammatical or spelling errors. 

Sept. 29 (?):

• As if you were going to write an epic poem, write 1/2 page summaries of the story you would tell. 

In doing so, I want you to incorporate at least one of the story patterns that were used by Homer, Apollonius, Virgil, and Lucan.  We will discuss these story patterns in class before your assignment is due. 

• Provide a paragraph in which you explain how your story uses the story patterns of the ancient models.

Grading Rubric (each item will be graded on a scale of 1-5):

For the 1/2 page summaries of the story you would tell:

diversity of story patterns you use

coherency:

spelling:

grammar:

For the explanatory paragraph:

correctly explain the story patterns you use

coherency:

spelling:

grammar:

Step 2: Selecting a style:

• Each of our four poets had different styles of writing epic verses, and these styles are reflected in the different styles of your translations.  We will discuss these different styles in class. 
• On Oct. 6 (?), I will give you four small passages of English prose that I want you to convert into the styles of our four different translators. 

To get credit:

• Your final product will be no more than 20 lines long. 
• You must explain the changes you made to the English passages I gave you. 
• Your explanations must contain specific references to individual lines of the translators you are emulating.  In other words, you must mention the poem, book number, and line number.

Oct. 13 (?): Your English verses are due. 

• Grading Rubric (each item will be graded on a scale of 1-5):

For the 20 verses you write:

              spelling:

              grammar:

For the explanatory paragraph:

             accuracy of references to passages

              coherency:

              spelling:

              grammar:

Step 3: Writing about poetry:

Oct. 20 (?): during class, you will divide into small groups.  Each group will write about a select passage of one of our four ancient poets.  You will not be told, though, which poet wrote the passage that I gave to you. 

• I want you to make an educated guess about the identity of the poet, and then write a small paper explaining why you made that guess.
• Your explanations must be based upon similarities you point out between the passage I gave to you and actual passages from the poet who you think wrote it. 
• Your explanations must contain specific references to individual lines of the poet who you think wrote the passage. 
• The purpose of this exercise is to use similarities between different passages to describe features of a text that characterize a poet.

Oct. 27 (?): you are to turn in a polished version of your in-class exercise from Oct. 20

• Grading Rubric
• You will not be penalized if you guessed wrong about the poet.
• Your grade will be determined by the strength of your arguments. 
• Your writing must be coherent, with no grammatical or spelling errors. 

Step 4: Writing poetry:

• I want you to write epic poetry, using the fabula and stories you developed earlier in the semester. 
• You should write 20 lines, as if it were a mere part of a much longer poem. 
• You will tell me from which part of the entire poem it belongs, and how long the poem would be if completed. 
• Your poetry is to emulate the styles of one or more of the ancient poets we read during the semester. 

You will also write a paper, using the same format as the one turned on Oct. 27, in which you explain how your poem is in the style of one or more of the ancient poets we read. 

Nov. 10 (?): rough drafts of your poetry and papers are due

Dec. 1-8 (?): in class recitations of poetry

Dec. 8: final drafts of poetry and papers are due