Write an exploratory essay that puts the brief memoir “Off the Shelf” by Patti Smith in conversation with the song “Drifter’s Escape” by Bob Dylan.
Here are some exploratory essay guidelines from the Purdue OWL, but feel free to improvise:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/exploratory_papers/organizing_an_exploratory_essay.html#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20an%20exploratory%20essay,how%20it%20might%20be%20solved.
Your Materials:
“Off the Shelf” by Patti Smith (2011, The New Yorker) SAVE AS PDF WHEN YOU OPEN THE ARTICLE
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/10/10/off-the-shelf
“Drifters Escape” (1967) by Bob Dylan
“Drifter’s Escape” covered by Patti Smith (2012)
Address the following prompts as you see fit:
• “Drifter’s Escape” is allegorical. Are there any aspects of “Off the Shelf” that can be read allegorically?
• Do the Smith and Dylan texts share any themes, morals, or topics that work as social commentary? If so, what is the social commentary?
• Quote key phrases or sentences that underscore allegory or social commentary via connotations, subtext, themes, symbolism, and figurative language such as metaphors and similes.
• Do you see any parallels between the store detective and the mother in “Off the Shelf” versus any characters in “Drifter’s Escape?”
• Do you think that “Drifter’s Escape” may have influenced “Off the Shelf?”
• How do Smith and Dylan’s sensibilities as musicians (folk, punk, protest singers) inform their texts?
Requirements:
• Your essay should be at least 6 well-developed paragraphs in length.
• Use at least two quotations from each piece.
• Use MLA Style for your paper and any outside research. You don’t have to use citations for your primary sources (the Smith and Dylan pieces) in this case.
• Blend quotations seamlessly into your own language:
https://cdnsm5-ss19.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_61483/File/Academics/EngQuotationGuide.pdf
Drifter’s Escape
by Bob Dylan (1968)
“Oh, help me in my weakness”
I heard the drifter say
As they carried him from the courtroom
And were taking him away
“My trip hasn’t been a pleasant one
And my time it isn’t long
And I still do not know
What it was that I’ve done wrong”
Well, the judge, he cast his robe aside
A tear came to his eye
“You fail to understand,” he said
“Why must you even try?”
Outside, the crowd was stirring
You could hear it from the door
Inside, the judge was stepping down
While the jury cried for more
“Oh, stop that cursed jury”
Cried the attendant and the nurse
“The trial was bad enough
But this is ten times worse”
Just then a bolt of lightning
Struck the courthouse out of shape
And while ev’rybody knelt to pray
The drifter did escape