COM 1102 – Writing About Literature Dr

COM 1102 – Writing About Literature

Dr. Ryan

Final Exam Spring 2022

Essay Prompt:

Harvard biologist, E.O. Wilson said, “The ideal scientist thinks like a poet and works like a bookkeeper.”

In the two excerpts below, Wilson posits a connection between the creative processes found in both literature and science. Choose one of the excerpts to analyze and then, using the knowledge you have gained reading and writing about literature this semester, support your analysis with examples that illustrate parallels between literature and another discipline. You may use one extended example or several examples to provide support for your response.

Your essay should be submitted in MLA format and be a minimum of 650 words. The final exam will be due no later than midnight on the day of your scheduled final exam.

Excerpt # 1:

“The ideal scientist thinks like a poet and works like a bookkeeper. It's the poet, the poetic aspect of science that seldom gets talked about. But I've always felt that scientists fantasize and dream and bring up metaphor and fantastic images as much as any poet, anyone in the creative arts. And the difference is that at some point the scientist has to relate the dreams to the real world, and that's when you enter the bookkeeper's period.”

Excerpt # 2:

“We're all storytellers, you know, all of us... from the novelist to the artist who is trying to say something new and take us in a new direction on canvas to scientists who have discovered something, and when they've discovered something, they want to tell a story and they want to explain to others 'why', where it came from, what's happening, what kind of process is going on and where it's going to lead.”

Listen to the complete interview at

https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/e-o-wilsons-advice-for-future-scientists/ (Links to an external site.)

Or read the transcript here (Links to an external site.).

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet-books/2013/06/eo-wilson-on-the-perfect-scientist-surprise-