Comparing Present and Past: For this option, use one of our historical readings to shed new light on a current event, object, trend, or “problem.” Ideally, you would want to ask a critical question about a current and then turn to the historical reading to help answer that question.
You would also want to focus on important similarities and differences — in style, theme, tone, etc — in an attempt to gain a new perspective on the current event.
Your big-picture goal is to show how reading historical literature helps us better understand our present moment. Some possible examples:
Examine Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb” delivered at the 2021 Presidential Inauguration through the lens of Phillis Wheatley’s poem “To His Excellency General Washington” (429).
