ASIAN 224: 'Traditions of Poetry in India'  

Assignment #7 (optional)

	Contrastive essay.  For the final short essay I would like you to 
select one poem each from any two of the three sets listed below and write 
a short essay that defines, compares, and contrasts the ways in which each 
manifests the (sometimes implicit) idea of (a) what a poem is, (b) what 
area(s) of life it should relate to, and (c) what effect it should have on 
its hearer or reader. The two poems you select should probably be fairly 
short ones. Or you may select some excerpt from a longer poem. Please 
include copies of the poems that you select. In your discussion be sure to 
explicitly state how the points you are making are exemplified by the 
poems or parts of poems that you have chosen. 

	While writing about these three things (a, b, and c) you may wish 
to express your own personal views or aesthetic preferences. Do not 
hesitate to do so, but if you do, you should attempt to support your 
preferences with some well-reasoned arguments or explanations. 

The three sets of poetry are:

1. Traditional Indian: Vedic, Sangam, Sanskrit court poetry, riti, bhakti
2. Traditional West Asian: the poetry of Rumi, Mir, Ghalib, Zafar
3. Modern: Iqbal, Faiz, Tagore, Ramanujan, Kamla Das, other moderns...

	Please leave this (and any other back assignments) in my mailbox
in room 3070 of the Frieze Building (the mail office of the Department of
Asian Languages and Cultures) before 4:30 on 16 December (Tuesday) or
bring it with you to our last class.  If you have any questions about this
(or anything else), please phone me at 763-9178 (before 7:30 pm). During
the week it is fine to send an e-mail message to me at pehook@umich.edu.  
But please keep in mind I do not always read my e-mail during the weekend.