Romantic/Transcendental Essay Prompt:
1) Choose one of the films viewed in class (The Lorax or Avatar) and choose 2
Romantic/Transcendental ideas and compare those ideas/concepts to the film
itself. (characters, setting, and quotes) In addition to this, you must choose one
author from the time period to analyze. This could be Bryant (Thanatopsis, to
Cole departing for Europe, and To a Waterfowl), Emerson (Nature & Self
reliance), or Thoreau (Walden).
Requirements:
1) One introductory paragraph: Start out with a technique (see handout), go
into the bridge (brief explanation of the technique & connect it to the thesis
itself), and end with the thesis statement (formula: In + title, + author + strong
verb + point #1 + strong verb + point #2).
2) Two Body paragraphs:
 One topic sentence per body paragraph (This comes from point 1 & point 2 in
the thesis)
 Minimum of 6-8 quotes per body paragraph. ( 3 from the film you have
chosen & 3 from writers work)
 Introduce the quote, comment on the quote, and explain how the quote proves
your topic sentence which leads to the thesis statement.
3) One Conclusion: summarize the main points of your essay here. Insert
perhaps, infact, and ultimately in your conclusion in this order. In addition to this,
you must end with a partial quote that goes beyond the literature itself!
4) Format: Essay should be a total of three pages typed, MLA format, and it must
include a Works Cited page.