Your assignment is to write a concise yet comprehensive report on the one excerpt you choose of the two provided below. They are both excerpts from texts we have read that contains elements that are representative of the text as a whole.

Classics 1B03 Close reading assignment #1
Your assignment is to write a concise yet comprehensive report on the one excerpt you
choose of the two provided below. They are both excerpts from texts we have read that
contains elements that are representative of the text as a whole. Write no more than one
page (12 point font, double spaced) and be sure to write in complete sentences and pay
careful attention to paragraph structure (you may find that you need more than one
paragraph). You are not required to do any research for this assignment. Your response
should draw on the lecture material and your tutorial discussions.
Your response should address (in this order):
1) context: briefly situate the gobbet in the work as a whole by noting what immediately
precedes and follows it (you are not required to provide page numbers). You should
identify any speaker(s) in the gobbet and briefly contextualize what they are talking
about, or what the narrator is speaking about;
2) meaning: what are the main ideas relating to the character(s) and theme(s)? Are there
key words, symbolic language, imagery?
3) significance: discuss how this particular gobbet speaks to our understanding of the
work as a whole. In this section, it is often useful to refer to the identifying features of the
passage (i.e.: the context) and to expand upon them. For example, does the gobbet
contain important characters whose development is crucial to the development of the
plot? Does it contain a discussion of an important moment in the plot? Does it somehow
exemplify a key theme? Are there important features of epic poetry in the gobbet? If so,
what is the purpose of those features?
30% of your mark will be for the content: have you correctly identified the passage and
the important elements of it? Have you identified how the passage relates to or is
representative of the work as a whole?
70% of your mark will be for style: is your work easily comprehensible? Do you express
yourself clearly? Do you write in complete sentences, and are your paragraphs properly
constructed? Is there a fluidity and ease in the structure of your writing, so that the reader
clearly understands the point you are making and is unimpeded by stilted wording or poor
grammar? Always aim for clarity of expression over flowery language or grammar. Be
sure to proof read your assignment before submitting it.
Submit your assignment with a title page with the following information:
Classics 1B03, Gobbet Assignment
Your TA’s name
Your Tutorial number (or day and time of your tutorial)
Your name
Your student number
Choose one of the following gobbets:
1) “I don’t remember my father Tydeus very well, since I was still only a small child
when he left for Thebes in the war that killed so many noble Greeks. Nevertheless, that
makes me your friend, and it makes you my guest if ever and whenever you come to
Argos, just as you’ll be my friend and I’ll be your guest if ever and whenever I come to
Lycia.
“That’s the reason that we shouldn’t cross spears with one another here in the thick of
battle. No, there are enough people for me to kill out here, both Trojan and their allies
alike, whomever the gods will give me or I’ll hunt down myself. And there are enough
Greeks for you to kill aside from me.
“And so let’s exchange armor, so that everyone will see and know that we’re friends
from way back in the days of our fathers.”

2) Just like snowflakes that come so thick and fast at the onset of some northerly storm
sent by Zeus himself in the cold bright sky – just so did the shining helmets, bronze
shields, massive breastplates, and ash spears pour forth from the ships of the Greeks. The
glittering of their armor lit up the sky, and the earth shone with the gleam of bronze,
while the ground resounded with the thundering sound of their marching feet.
And, in their middle, Achilles was ready for battle. His heart was filled with
unbearable pain, he ground his teeth, his eyes blazed like fire, and in his fierce anger
against Troy he wore the gifts that divine Hephaestus had worked so hard to make for
him. First he put the fine leg-guards, with their silver ankle-pieces, around his legs. Next
he put on the breastplate and set the silver-riveted bronze sword across his shoulders.
Then he took hold of the great shield that-gleamed-like-the-distant-moon.