English
Literature 12
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First Assignment
60 marks
“The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap,
it consoles, it distracts, it excites.”
Elizabeth Hardwick
Welcome. This assignment is worth 5% of your overall grade. Please do your best work.
The English Literature 12 First Assignment addresses the following Learning Outcomes:
Critical and Personal Response to Literature:
• identify and interpret issues and themes in literary works
• demonstrate a willingness to make personal connections with characters and experiences in literary works
• create personal responses to literature through writing, speech, or visual representation
Literary Analysis:
• support a position by providing evidence from literary works
• evaluate the purpose and effectiveness of literary devices, forms, and techniques in literary works
• identify the distinguishing characteristics of literary genres
• use formal language for literary analysis
General Instructions
The First Assignment consists of three sections: 1. Reading Comprehension and Interpretation in Poetry, 2.
Reading Comprehension and Interpretation of Fiction and 3. Writing skills: descriptive and expository.
Tips for Compositions: Before you begin, review the guidelines below for your paragraph/essay answers.
 a clear topic sentence that relates to the question
 each point made clearly, followed by an example or a quotation and an explanation (show you can back up
your claims)
 a simple transition between points (another, next, more importantly…)
 a wrap up that brings it all full circle and shows your perspective on what you have just written
 Suggested length 12 to 14 sentences
Assignment question: The assignment questions can be found at the end of each reading. Please answer these
questions on a separate document.
Scoring guide: Turn to the last page to see how your composition will be marked.
Section 1: Reading Comprehension and Interpretation: Poetry
Suggested time:
40 minutes
Marks: 18 marks (6 X 3)
Instructions: There is often a difference between how we present ourselves to the world and how we feel
underneath. This poem is about outer appearances and the contrast between the outer self and the inner self.
Read the following poem called “The Knight,” by the English poet, Adrienne Rich. Make notes if you wish.
Then read the question following the reading. Go back to the poem and look for evidence to support your
claims.
Section 1 Reading: “The Knight” by Adrienne Rich
A knight rides into the noon,
and his helmet points to the sun,
and a thousand splintered suns
are the gaiety of his mail.
The soles of his feet glitter
and his palms flash in reply,
and under his crackling banner
he rides like a ship in sail.
A knight rides into the noon,
and only his eye is living,
a lump of bitter jelly
set in a metal mask,
betraying rags and tatters
that cling to the flesh beneath
and wear his nerves to ribbons
under the radiant casque.1
Who will unhorse the rider
and free him from between
the walls of iron, the emblems 2
crushing his chest with their weight?
Will they defeat him gently,
or leave him hurled on the green,
his rags and wounds till hidden
under the great breastplate?
Section 1: Reading Comprehension and Interpretation: Poetry: Assignment
Section 1 Assignment: 18 marks
In a well-organized paragraph (see criteria page), discuss three aspects of the knight’s outer appearance.
Consider the inner and outer self. Be sure to quote lines from the poem to back up your points.
1
2
Casque: an ornate helmet worn by an medieval knight
Emblem: symbols or designs which represent country, tribes, kingdoms, a family name, and so on.
Section 2: Reading Comprehension and Interpretation/Writing: Fiction
Suggested time:
40 minutes
Marks: 18 marks (6 X 3)
Instructions: Read the excerpt, below, from the novel, Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathon Swift. The speaker,
Gulliver, a ship-wrecked sailor, reflects on his living conditions in the kingdom of Brobdingnag, whose
residents are giant size. Make notes if you wish. Then, answer the question below. (Go back to the passage and
look for details and evidence to support the claims or points you will make.)
Section 2 Reading
Excerpt from Gulliver’s Travel, “A Voyage to Brobdingnag”:
I had always a strong impulse that I should sometime recover my liberty, although it was
impossible to conjecture by what means, or to form any project with the least hope of succeeding. The
ship in which I sailed was the first ever known to be driven within sight of that coast, and the King had
given strict orders, that if at any time another appeared, it should be taken ashore, and with all its crew
and passengers brought in a tumbril3 to Lorbrulgrud. He was strongly bent to get me a woman of my
own size, by whom I might propagate the breed: but I think I should rather have died than undergone
the disgrace of leaving a posterity to be kept in cages like tame canary birds, and perhaps in time sold
about the kingdom to persons of quality for curiosities. I was indeed treated with much kindness; I was
the favourite of a great king and queen, and the delight of the whole court, but it was upon such a foot as
ill became the dignity of human kind. I could never forget those domestic pledges I had left behind me. I
wanted to be among people with whom I could converse upon even terms, and walk about the streets and
fields without fear of being trod to death like a frog or young puppy. But my deliverance came sooner
than I expected, and in a manner not very common: the whole story and circumstances of which I shall
faithfully relate.
I had now been two years in this country; and about the beginning of the third, Glumdalclitch and
I attended the King and Queen in progress to the south coast of the kingdom. I was carried as usual in
my travelling-box, which as I have already described, was a very convenient closet of twelve foot wide. I
had ordered a hammock to be fixed by silken ropes from the four corners at the top, to break the jolts,
when a servant carried me before him on horseback, as I sometimes desired, and would often sleep in my
hammock while we were upon the road. On the roof of my closet, just over the middle of the hammock,
I ordered the joiner to cut out a hole of a foot square to give me air in hot weather as I slept, which hole I
shut at pleasure with a board that drew backwards and forwards through a groove.
Section 2: Reading Comprehension and Interpretation/Writing: Fiction
Assignment
Section 2 Assignment: 18 marks
In a well-organized paragraph, and with specific reference to the reading provided, identify three reasons why
Gulliver is anxious to leave Brobdingnag. Explain and provide quotations for each reason.
3
Tumbril: a two-wheeled farmer’s cart
Section 3: Composing a structured piece of writing: descriptive/expository
Suggested time:
60 minutes
Marks: 24 marks (6 X 4)
Section 3 Assignment: In a multi-paragraph composition (approx. 300 words) write on the following topic:
1. Both Rich and Swift present people on a journey. Using narration (the order of events) and description
(appearance, behaviours, a place) write a composition in which you bring to life an journey (literal or
metaphorical, internal or external) in your life that has had deep meaning for you. Bring in a key image (like
Rich’s knight in armour or Swift’s travelling-box) to emphasize the experience.
ENGLISH LITERATURE 12
SCORING GUIDE FOR THE COMPOSITIONS
6
The 6 response combines a perceptive
understanding of the passage/topic with a detailed
discussion. The analysis includes pertinent
references. The ideas are focused and clearly
expressed. The response, however, need not be
error-free.
3
The 3 response contains a limited understanding of
the passage/topic and a barely adequate discussion.
While present, references may be inappropriate or
incorrect. The development of ideas is superficial or
incomplete. Errors may be distracting.
5
The 5 response combines an accurate understanding
of the passage/topic with a detailed discussion . The
analysis includes relevant references. The ideas are
clearly and logically presented. The response,
however, need not be error-free.
2
The 2 response is inadequate. The understanding of
the passage/topic is flawed, and the discussion is
inadequate or incomplete. References may be
irrelevant or lacking. The response may lack
organization and coherence. Errors may impede
understanding.
4
The 4 response contains a general understanding of
the passage/topic and a competent discussion. The
references are mostly accurate, but may be limited.
Ideas are presented in a straightforward manner.
Errors may be present but are seldom distracting.
1
The response is unacceptable. It does not meet the
purpose of the task or may be too brief to address
the topic. References may be irrelevant, flawed, or
lacking. Errors may render the paper unintelligible.
* The zero response is a complete misunderstanding of the task, or is simply a restatement of the topic.