On proof-texting, periodization, and any old poem

I thought I'd fallen into an e.e. cummings poem this morning when a student tried to attribute a certain idea to "Any poem by Campbell McGrath." I'm reading drafts in the Florida Lit class and the prompt required them to choose "Any poem by Campbell McGrath," but most students correctly interpreted this as requiring them to write about a specific poem. Any poem lived in a pretty how anthology--no, it lacks a certain je ne sais quoi.

I'm fighting a tendency toward proof-texting in these papers: students are picking quotes out of context without taking into account the larger purpose of the piece, which leads to incomplete or misleading readings. Uncritically quote a portion of a line that appears to laud Minnie Mouse in a poem brutally critiquing commodification and your argument will stand on extremely flimsy evidence.

I saw something similar in last week's American Lit survey drafts, suggesting that we need to do more class work on depth of analysis. But on those drafts I also had to keep reminding students that Henry James, Kate Chopin, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and their contemporaries do not fall into the category "Early American Literature" and did not write in "Old English."

Maybe I should make them read some actual Old English. Any poem lived in a pretty hwaet anthology--nope, not feeling it.