The Death of the/a Moth Essay

Woolf is sad you have a paper to write

The use of metaphor is important in literature, poetry, film, and other writing. It is no less important in The Death of the Moth by Virginia Woolf and The Death of a Moth by Annie Dillard. Choose one of the following prompts and answer it in a well-written analytic essay. In the prompts that ask for reflection, that reflection should encompass no more than 25% of your word count.

• Dillard explores the nature of solitude and introspection in her essay The Death of a Moth. Examine the way in which Dillard uses rhetorical strategies to develop and explore that theme. To conclude your essay, reflect on the role of solitude and introspection in your own life.
• Woolf explores the relationship between life and death in her essay The Death of the Moth. Examine the way in which Woolf uses rhetorical strategies to develop and explore her theme. To conclude your essay, reflect on the role of her theme in your own life.
• Why is the moth central to the essays of Dillard and Woolf? Contrast their respective central ideas and how each of them uses rhetorical strategies to develop those respective ideas. To conclude your essay, reflect on the way in which one of those central ideas resonates with you.
• How do Woolf and Dillard create a setting and evoke a specific mood in their essays? How do these strategies enrich and advance their respective theses?

Due Date: January 3, 2013
Word Count: 750 +/- 10%

Here is this essay assignment in printable form.

Dillard has some good advice for your essay

Hunk-a hunk-a burnin' moth!

The Hercules Moth: Bigger than a kid...

Annie Dillard's Death of a Moth is perhaps a bit more difficult to unravel than Woolf's moth musings, so we are going to try our hand at unraveling her meaning as well as how she crafted her essay.

From the packet, please blog your perspicacious answers to comprehension questions 1-3 and rhetoric questions 1-6.

...and your head!

As you do the questions above, you may find it useful to know the following: "A volatile and peripatetic poet, the prodigy Arthur Rimbaud wrote all of his poetry in a space of less than five years" (Poets.org). Hmmm, connections....

Woolf: The Death of the Moth

Virginia Woolf (sure looks sad about that moth)

Finish reading the essay The Death of the Moth by Virginia Woolf and blog thoughtful answers to the following questions: (Tyshauna, since you don't have a blog yet, it's okay to do them on paper or to email them to me.)

1. How would you describe the speakers attitude in paragraph 2?
2. In what ways is the third paragraph the center of the essay (apart from its being the third in a series of five)?
3. Why does the speaker lay down the pencil at the end of paragraph 4?
4. Woolf's style in this essay might be described as discursive, with longer, complex sentences predominating. Yet she uses a few brief, simple sentences. Identify two and discuss their impact.
5. Trace the emergence of combat imagery in the essay.
6. Woolf does not explicitly state a thesis, but she could be said to have an implicit one. How would you state it?
7. Describe the speaker's attitude toward death in this essay.