ESSAY PROMPT:
As we discussed, the Conference of the Birds is arranged as a collection of stories within a broader frame story (the story of the birds traveling to see the Simorgh). Each set of smaller stories and anecdotes (mostly fictional) are meant to reinforce the spiritual teaching the hoopoe has just given. In the essay, present a close study and analysis of one of these small sections, composed of one piece of the hoopoe’s advice or response to one of the birds, and the stories that follow it. Discuss the essential idea or ideas contained in the hoopoe’s advice in this section, and then discuss the way in which the stories that follow it serve to reinforce these ideas.
ESSAY REQUIREMENTS:
The essay must have a title which clearly indicates which prompt it is responding to.
The essay should demonstrate careful and detailed analysis of the Conference of the Birds text, with specific passages discussed and analyzed.
The essay should not merely be descriiptive, but should include interpretive and comparative analysis, as explicitly required in the prompts above.
The essay should include original insights and observations that demonstrate thoughtful reflection on the book.
PAGE CITATIONS ARE NECESSARY: All direct quotations of, or specific paraphrased references to, specific passages in the book need to give a page number citation, indicating the specific page on which the passage being quoted or referenced is found.
There is no need for a bibliography or works cited page, as you will only be using sources assigned already for this course (the Conference of the Birds itself. ALL PAGE CITATIONS SHOULD BE IN PARENTHESES AFTER THE PASSAGE QUOTED OR REFERRED TO.
Essays should be free of excessive grammatical and spelling errors, as well as typos.
