Grade 11 – Regents Review / Question 28
The Critical Lens Assignment #1
Your Task:
Write a critical essay in which you discuss two works of literature you have read from the particular
perspective of the statement that is provided for you in the Critical Lens. In your essay, provide a
valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it,
and support your opinion using specific references to appropriate literary elements from the two
works. You may use scrap paper to plan your response.
Critical Lens Options: (CHOOSE ONE)
1. “…the strongest man upon earth is he who stands most alone.”—Henrik Ibsen
2. “The real hero is always a hero by mistake…” —Umberto Eco
3. “You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it.”—Yann Martel
Guidelines:
Be sure to
• Provide a valid interpretation of the critical lens that clearly establishes the criteria
for analysis
• Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it
• Choose two works you have read that you believe best support your opinion
• Use the criteria suggested by the critical lens to analyze the works you have chosen
• Avoid plot summary. Instead, use specific references to appropriate literary elements
(for example: theme, characterization, setting, point of view) to develop your analysis
• Organize your ideas in a unified and coherent manner
• Specify the titles and authors of the literature you choose
• Follow the conventions of standard written English
Grade 11 – Regents Review / Question 28
The Critical Lens Assignment #2
Your Task:
Write a critical essay in which you discuss two works of literature you have read from the particular
perspective of the statement that is provided for you in the Critical Lens. In your essay, provide a
valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it,
and support your opinion using specific references to appropriate literary elements from the two
works. You may use scrap paper to plan your response.
Critical Lens Options: (CHOOSE ONE)
1 - “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their
own minds.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt
2 - “To gain that which is worth having, it may be necessary to
lose everything else.”—Bernadette Devlin
3 - “In a dark time, the eye begins to see,…”— Theodore Roethke
Guidelines:
Be sure to
• Provide a valid interpretation of the critical lens that clearly establishes the criteria
for analysis
• Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it
• Choose two works you have read that you believe best support your opinion
• Use the criteria suggested by the critical lens to analyze the works you have chosen
• Avoid plot summary. Instead, use specific references to appropriate literary elements
(for example: theme, characterization, setting, point of view) to develop your analysis
• Organize your ideas in a unified and coherent manner
• Specify the titles and authors of the literature you choose
• Follow the conventions of standard written English
Grade 11 – Regents Review / Question 28
The Critical Lens Assignment #3
Your Task:
Write a critical essay in which you discuss two works of literature you have read from the particular
perspective of the statement that is provided for you in the Critical Lens. In your essay, provide a
valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it,
and support your opinion using specific references to appropriate literary elements from the two
works. You may use scrap paper to plan your response.
Critical Lens Options: (CHOOSE ONE)
1 - “Fear always springs from ignorance.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
2 - “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience,
but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
3 - “I like flawed characters because somewhere in them I see more of the truth.” Nicolas Cage
Guidelines:
Be sure to
• Provide a valid interpretation of the critical lens that clearly establishes the criteria
for analysis
• Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it
• Choose two works you have read that you believe best support your opinion
• Use the criteria suggested by the critical lens to analyze the works you have chosen
• Avoid plot summary. Instead, use specific references to appropriate literary elements
(for example: theme, characterization, setting, point of view) to develop your analysis
• Organize your ideas in a unified and coherent manner
• Specify the titles and authors of the literature you choose
• Follow the conventions of standard written English
Grade 11 – Regents Review / Question 28
The Critical Lens Assignment #4
Your Task:
Write a critical essay in which you discuss two works of literature you have read from the particular
perspective of the statement that is provided for you in the Critical Lens. In your essay, provide a
valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it,
and support your opinion using specific references to appropriate literary elements from the two
works. You may use scrap paper to plan your response.
Critical Lens Options: (CHOOSE ONE)
1 - “It is the responsibility of the writer to expose our many grievous faults and failures and to hold
up to the light our dark and dangerous dreams, for the purpose of improvement.” John Steinbeck
2 - “Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right using of strength….”Henry Ward Beecher
3 - “The bravest of individuals is the one who obeys his or her conscience.” J.F. Clarke (adapted)
Guidelines:
Be sure to
• Provide a valid interpretation of the critical lens that clearly establishes the criteria
for analysis
• Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it
• Choose two works you have read that you believe best support your opinion
• Use the criteria suggested by the critical lens to analyze the works you have chosen
• Avoid plot summary. Instead, use specific references to appropriate literary elements
(for example: theme, characterization, setting, point of view) to develop your analysis
• Organize your ideas in a unified and coherent manner
• Specify the titles and authors of the literature you choose
• Follow the conventions of standard written English
Grade 11 – Regents Review / Question 28
The Critical Lens Assignment #5
Your Task:
Write a critical essay in which you discuss two works of literature you have read from the particular
perspective of the statement that is provided for you in the Critical Lens. In your essay, provide a
valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it,
and support your opinion using specific references to appropriate literary elements from the two
works. You may use scrap paper to plan your response.
Critical Lens Options: (CHOOSE ONE)
1 - “It is not what an author says, but what he or she whispers, that is important.”
Logan Pearsall Smith
2 - “Good literature substitutes for an experience which we have not ourselves lived through.”
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
3 – “In literature, evil often triumphs but never conquers.” Rebecca Wheeler
Guidelines:
Be sure to
• Provide a valid interpretation of the critical lens that clearly establishes the criteria
for analysis
• Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it
• Choose two works you have read that you believe best support your opinion
• Use the criteria suggested by the critical lens to analyze the works you have chosen
• Avoid plot summary. Instead, use specific references to appropriate literary elements
(for example: theme, characterization, setting, point of view) to develop your analysis
• Organize your ideas in a unified and coherent manner
• Specify the titles and authors of the literature you choose
• Follow the conventions of standard written English
Grade 11 – Regents Review / Question 28
The Critical Lens Assignment #6
Your Task:
Write a critical essay in which you discuss two works of literature you have read from the particular
perspective of the statement that is provided for you in the Critical Lens. In your essay, provide a
valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it,
and support your opinion using specific references to appropriate literary elements from the two
works. You may use scrap paper to plan your response.
Critical Lens Options: (CHOOSE ONE)
1 – “If the literature we are reading does not wake us, why then do we read it? A literary work must
be an ice-axe to break the sea frozen inside us.” Franz Kafka
2 – “…it is the human lot to try and fail…” David Mamet
3 – “…men are at the mercy of events and cannot control them.” Herodotus
Guidelines:
Be sure to
• Provide a valid interpretation of the critical lens that clearly establishes the criteria
for analysis
• Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it
• Choose two works you have read that you believe best support your opinion
• Use the criteria suggested by the critical lens to analyze the works you have chosen
• Avoid plot summary. Instead, use specific references to appropriate literary elements
(for example: theme, characterization, setting, point of view) to develop your analysis
• Organize your ideas in a unified and coherent manner
• Specify the titles and authors of the literature you choose
• Follow the conventions of standard written English