LIT 1: The Great Works

2nd Term – A.Y. 2019-2020

Take Home Quiz No. 2
April 2020
Reminder: This activity will be recorded as your quiz no. 2 for the prelim period
in lieu of the major quiz that we were supposed to take last March. This activity
will be submitted to me once classes resume. For this take home quiz, focus only
on one of the remaining lessons that we are to discuss under the
Intellectual/Academic Tradition.
Literature as a Site of Instruction and Delight

Instructions:

According to Horace, a Roman lyric poet and politician, the aim of literature is
to simultaneously instruct and delight its audience: “He who joins the instructive
with the agreeable, carries off every vote, by delighting and at the same time
admonishing the reader. Fiction invented in order to please should remain close to
reality.” In this case, Horace is stressing the very essence of literature giving
us readers a special kind of pleasure and at the same making us see and understand
its applicability to our lives.

 You are asked to validate what Horace said using any of the texts that we are
to discuss under the Intellectual/Academic Tradition. Lecture notes were given
to supplement your understanding of these texts. Choose only one:

o The Analects of Confucius

o Dante Alighieri’s Inferno
o Five Sonnets of William Shakespeare

 Be guided by these questions as you write your essay:

o How does the text that you have chosen become a site of instruction and
delight?
o In what ways does the text that you have chosen relate to real life-
situations?
o How does the text subscribe, one way or another, educate our literary
taste?
o What are the values that we can get from it? You can recall the
intellectual, emotional, and ethical values mentioned by Paz Latorena
here.

 Your paper will be graded based on the following:

o Idea/Argument - There should be a general proposition or argument that

your paper argues concerning the topic given. It must be spelled out
fully or revealed gradually in the paper. The argument must be supported
by the artwork being examined. (10 points)
o Evidence - The essay should lay down all facts or details that will
support or prove the argument and sub-ideas. (10 points)
o Explanations - These are the bits of background information which include
precise locating of elements and details of a piece of work in the case
of artworks or literary pieces. (10 points)
o Coherence – The ideas are understandable and convey a smooth flow of
ideas in a clear direction. There is no possibility of misunderstanding
occurring in the essay. (10 points)

 Your essay must be comprised of at least 600 words (you can go beyond this
limit if you feel the need to) – Arial, 12, Single Space. Come up with a
catchy title for your essay. Make sure that it is an original composition.
Strictly no plagiarism. An essay comprised of 600 words is only a one-page
composition.