CLST/WSGS 295-WI: Women in the Classical World Fall Semester 2009 Dr. Jacqueline Long

Source Exercise 1

Goals

• To gather information from selected literary texts: practice skills of analysis in reading
• To summarize your information clearly and concisely: practice skills of exposition in writing
• To prepare for in-class work on analysis for societal and cultural knowledge

The approach:

1. Read Sappho, fragments 16, 31, 44, 94, 96 (L&F³ 2-6). Using Lefkowitz's and Fant's notes to help, but especially relying on your own critical reading, identify specific indications within the fragments that help you reconstruct the fictive world in which Sappho is working. For each piece of information, note in which fragment it is contained.
   • With what social relations and interactions is Sappho concerned: what people, what relationships, what activities, what emotions, what ideas are involved?
   • With what cultural environment is Sappho concerned: what items of artistic production (material or verbal), what aesthetics, what beliefs, what values are involved?
2. Sort the information you have gathered and, for the written part of this exercise, make two lists each concisely summarizing the information you have found. Do not, for the time being, add any interpretation to the data of the fragments, and do not worry about connecting your separate pieces of information together into an argument: this exercise should focus on the skills of information-gathering and concise, concrete summary in sentences formed according to all applicable rules of correct and clear verbal expression. Present each item of your list as a separate paragraph. Aim for no less than 1/2 and no more than 1 full page for each list: conveying a maximum of information in a few clear, direct words is an important skill! Include the source-reference with each item of information, as a parenthetical note. For ease of legibility, word-process the lists in double-spaced, 12-point Times Roman.
3. Doublecheck Strunk and White and make sure you are writing clearly and correctly.
4. Proofread.
5. Come to class Wednesday 2 September with your summaries in hand, ready to contribute to collaborative discussion. The summaries will be collected in class.

Revised 31 August 2009 by jlong1@luc.edu
http://www.luc.edu/classicalstudies/