Length: 800-1000 words of commentary
Due: Friday, January 27, by 10:00 a.m. via Canvas

The annotation assignment requires students to electronically mark up a passage from the following list, adding commentary, online resource links, images, sound and/or video clips that explicate the historical, political, social, cultural and literary contexts key to understanding the text. Think of annotations as extended, multimedia versions of the type of notes and resources provided in our editions of Cane and Mrs. Dalloway.

You may copy and paste your selected passage from an electronic edition of Mrs. Dalloway, but (you may need to edit the text to match our print edition of the novel. The annotation should feature four interpretive comments that draw upon primary and secondary source research of at least two contemporary contexts (200-250 words each) and three embedded resources: images, links, maps, archival documents or multimedia files. Consider the following questions when researching context and selecting embedded resources:

• What references—direct or implicit—does the passage make to contemporary political, social, historical and cultural contexts? What do we need to know about that context to fully understand the passage’s content, language, and themes?


• If the passage quotes from another literary work, how does Woolf recontextualize the quoted language? In other words, what new meanings does the cited text acquire when it becomes part of Mrs. Dalloway’s stream-of-consciousness monologues?


• How might images, video/sound files, archival documents or interactive maps help the reader enter characters’ experience of trauma and illness, or the geographical territories, sounds and sights of London?

Your annotated passage should include MLA-formatted in-text citations for the passage and research sources as well as a works cited list.

1. In your interpretive comments, concentrate on the “so what?” Instead of simply identifying a historical, political, social, cultural or literary context, analyze how the context informs the passage’s language (denotation and connotation of specific words, metaphor, repetition, rhythm, etc.), structure (stream of consciousness, interweaving narrative points of view, etc.), characterizations, themes, or ideological stance.

2. Include image captions and brief content descriptions that connect your contextual resources to the passage. The reader should understand how your selected images, documents, maps, links or multimedia file offer a deeper understanding of the passage.

3. You may layer interpretive commentary and embedded resources if you wish, linking to web sites, inserting images and documents into your commentary, or expanding upon the information offered by a link.

4. The easiest way to compose your annotation is via Word. Use the “Comments” or “Footnote” feature to insert your analytical comments. Depending on your version of Word, these features are available through the “Insert” (Word 1997-2004) or “Review” and “References” menus (Word 2007/2010). Add images, links and multimedia files through the “Insert” menu. The English Computer-Integrated Courses web site has instructions on advanced Word functions. Note that if you include a downloaded audio or video file in your annotation, you must submit the file along with your document.

5. Another option for composing the annotation is Google Sites, which gives you a finer degree of control over image and text formatting. The program also allows you to embed multimedia files within the annotation. As a UW student, you have access to a password-protected, advertisement-free version of Google Sites. I will offer an optional workshop on using Google Sites if enough students want to pursue this option.

6. Do not forget the arguments posed in class, textbook introductory materials or the electronic posting area. A review of lecture notes, Scott’s introduction and bibliography, your own reading notes and the class’s postings will help you develop your commentary. You will, of course, cite specific words and interpretations borrowed from classmates or other authors.

7. If you're having difficulty devising an approach to the assignment, or if you want to discuss ideas-in-progress, come to my office hours or email me to set up an appointment.

You may choose one of the following passages for your annotation. If you would like to propose an alternative passage, please get my approval before beginning your assignment. All page numbers refer to the edition of Mrs. Dalloway ordered for our class.

• “For having lived in Westminster --> “the admirable Hugh!” (4-5).


• “The motor car with its blinds drawn” -->“so she would stand at the top of her stairs” (16-17).


• “The car had gone” --> “Queen Alexandra’s policemen approved” (17-18).


• “But this question of love” --> “‘She is beneath this roof!’” (32-34).


• “He was not old, or set, or dried in the least” --> “poor Gordon, he thought” (49-51).


• “He dropped her hand” --> “Beauty was everywhere” (66-68).


• “No, no, no!” --> “doing good for the sake of goodness” (74-76).


• “Here he opened Shakespeare once more” --> “would he go mad?” (86-88).


• “To his patients” --> “to his patients” (96-99).


• “Hugh was very slow” --> “‘Milly, would you fetch the papers?’” (106-107).


• “But he wanted to come in holding something --> Happiness is this, he thought (112-114).


• “Yes, Miss Kilman” --> “so she glowered” (120-122).


• “Suddenly Elizabeth stepped forward” --> “where was a clock?” (132-134).


• “Going and coming” --> “as she sat sewing” (136-138).


• “He was alone” --> “‘Burn them!’ he cried” (142-144).


• “One of the triumphs of civilization” --> “this susceptibility” (147-148).


• “Lord, lord” --> “She was for the party!” (168-171).


• “Clarissa looked at Sir William” --> “an embrace in death” (178-180).

The following list is provided as a starting point; you may research and discuss contexts not included on the list.

• WWI


• Shell shock


• Influenza Pandemic of 1918


• Women’s rights movements


• Gender roles (masculinity, feminity)


• Concepts of sexuality


• Notions of British national identity


• Status of the British Empire, particularly uprisings in Ireland and India


• Social reform/social welfare movements (poverty, housing, education, unemployment)


• Parliamentary debates and legislation


• Psychology and its role in changing concepts of the self (Freud, Charcot and Janet)


• Eugenics (Sir Francis Galton and psychology of individual difference)


• Developments in science and technology


• Status of religion/religious beliefs


• Medicine, particularly the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness


• The Bloomsbury Group


• Explicit references to historical figures, monuments, geographical locations, aspects of popular culture (products, clothing, ads, books, films, etc.) and other literary works


• Literary modernism


• Woolf’s life and writing

I will grade the annotations on a 60-point scale using the following criteria. Annotations that fall in the A range excel in all criteria; those that fall in the B, C, and D range exhibit problems in one or more categories. F-range annotations represent another author’s work as the writer’s own, contain few of the required elements or do not address the significance of context in any manner.

• Complexity: The interpretive commentary exhibits depth, fullness, and complexity of thought. The writer doesn’t simply offer a list of ideas related to the passage’s context(s), but analyzes, with appropriate examples, the relationship between text and context(s).
• Organization: Body of individual comments has a logical structure, with each point connected to the previous and following points.
• Completeness: The annotation includes all required elements.
• Connection: Interpretive commentary demonstrates a clear connection between the cited context(s) and the passage’s language, structure, and content. Embedded resources have clear relationship to the passage.
• Clarity: Writer expresses ideas clearly, and commentary contains few, if any, grammatical and mechanical errors.
• Citation: Writer correctly cites words and ideas borrowed from others and provides source information for all embedded resources and primary/secondary sources referenced in the interpretive commentary.

• A Range: 53-60 points


• B Range: 38-52 points


• C Range: 23-37 points


• D Range: 11-36 points


• F Range: 0-11 points

• Sample Annotation 1
• Sample Annotation 2