The objective of this assignment is to apply what you’ve learned in class and through the readings to your preexisting
knowledge. You’re asked to do this primarily through comparison. Your job is to explain the comparison as clearly as
possible. To do this you’ll need specific examples. And you’ll need analyze those specific examples. The genre of this
paper is the persuasive essay. Your answer to the set question should be clear from your thesis statement and the rest
of the paper should support that assertion.
Option 1: What are (some of) the purposes of embedded narratives?
We talked in class about how embedded narratives are a feature of oral composition. However, it’s not just oral poetry
in which they appear. Embedded narratives have often been employed by authors of all time periods in both fiction and
non-fiction. Chose any other piece of literature that you’ve read previously which utilizes embedded narratives.
Compare and contrast the function of embedded narratives in your chosen piece of literature with those in the Homeric
Hymn to Aphrodite OR the assigned sections of Homer’s Odyssey. Use specific examples.
Option 2: How does translation affect our understanding of a text?
We’ve read two different translations of the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite. We’ve also read many different translations of
Sappho’s Poems 1, 16, and 96. We also talked about different translations of the Odyssey on the very first day of class.
You’ll also need to choose some other piece of literature that you’ve read previously that has been translated from an
original language.
EITHER it must be a piece of literature for which you are a native speaker in the original language and that
original Language is not English,
OR it must have been published in two different English editions by two different professional translators.
Examples to clarify your options:
If you are a native Russian speaker and have read some Dostoyevsky in either English or Russian but can read either comfortably, you
could pick that.
If you are a native Chinese speaker and have read some of Sun Tzu’s Art of War in either English or Chinese but can read either
comfortably, you could pick that.
If you are a native English speaker (or just prefer to use only English in this class) and have read some Dostoyevsky in one translation
you could choose to find a second translation and compare it with the one you already know. Similarly, if you had read some of Sun
Tzu’s Art of War in translation, you could choose to find a different one and use that.
Still not sure if you’ve made a good choice? Email me at least 36 hours before the time the paper is due.
In your paper you should reflect on how the choices of the two different translators of the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite
change the readers’ impressions of the narrative. Use specific examples. Compare these types of different choices and
their impressions to the types of choices made by the translator(s) of your chosen piece of literature and their resulting
impressions.
PART OF WHAT YOU’RE GRADED ON IS HOW WELL YOU FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS.
Requirements for all Papers
 The top of your first page should look like this:
[Your Student ID Number]
CLAS 1110, Spring [or Fall] 20XX, TR2 [or TR3], Yarrow
Writing Assignment #1
[The option you have chosen and its full question just as it appears in bold above]
Word Count: [XXXX]
 I’ve activated anonymous grading, so you should not put your name on the paper.
 Your file must be .docx or .pdf. No other file formats are accepted.
 Use any traditional font in 11 or 12 pt (i.e. Times New Roman or Calibri is fine, but Comic Sans is not).
 Use any line spacing between 1.15 and 2.
 Indent the beginning of new paragraphs.
 You must insert page numbers in the bottom right hand corner of each page.
 Use grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary appropriate to formal academic writing.
 Your word count must be at least 900 and not more than 1200. Be sure to include your final word count in your
header.
 A title is not required.
 No quotation may be longer than 12 words. Make sure it is intelligible to someone who may not have read the
other piece of literature you’re using in your comparison. If 12 words doesn’t seem enough, you should
consider summarizing instead.
 Your paper needs to make an argument and have one unifying idea. It cannot be a random jumble of possible
answers. It should be focused on one specific answer.
 This main idea should be expressed in a thesis statement in your first paragraph; this thesis statement should
not be too general. (e.g. “Translation affects our understanding of the text” is too broad!)
 Use summary only when it is directly connected to your analysis.
 You should make at least three references to specific portions of the classical texts (i.e. the Homeric Hymn to
Aphrodite or Homer’s Odyssey) and at least three references to specific portions of your chosen piece of
comparative literature. You may choose to use many more! You may refer to a section of the text without
quoting it!
 These references should be cited with parenthetical notation, e.g. (Hymn. Hom. Aph. 40) or (Hom. Od. 4.24) or
(Sappho 1.3-6) or (Tzu 83) or (Dostoyevsky 325).
 Your chosen piece of comparative literature must appear at the end of your paper in MLA format. What’s MLA
format? Learn here.
 Do not start your paper with a banal, general statement such as “Classical literature has long been admired.”
“The Ancient Greeks were masters of oral poetry.” Similarly do not end with banal, general statement such as
“Thus we see embedded narratives have a timeless place in literature of all cultures.”
 Papers must be submitted through BlackBoard and will be checked by SafeAssign, a tool to discourage
plagiarism.
 Papers will be graded with a BlackBoard rubric as the primary feedback tool. The rubric is available for
consultation before you begin.
 NO PHYSICAL COPY IS REQUIRED.