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Paper
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FINAL
PAPER
General Resources: Princeton
Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (Ref
PN 1021.n39); Middle English Dictionary (PE 679.M62); Oxford
Companion to English Lit (PR19
.D73 1985b); and the comprehensive On-line Reference Book
for Medieval Studies,
for which click here.
You may use the same approach as your last paper, but look at new texts. Or, you may choose an entirely new topic. Possible new topics include:
Early Medieval:
- OATHS. Archbishop
Wulfstan wrote in his "Sermon of the Wolf to the English" (c.1000
AD) that breaking your oath is worse than selling your mother
into slavery. This is because oaths are the basis of law, and
without law,
even
so
egregious
a crime as slavery cannot be punished. In The
Battle of Maldon and Beowulf, broken promises lead
to violence, and a breakdown of the social fabric. Explore
the significance of law and oaths in some of the early
medieval literature we have read.
More topics here.
High Medieval:
Renaissance:
- Compare The Faerie Queene to one of the longer poems
we have read. Choose either characters, plot, images, style,
or a major theme. (For example, how does Una compare to Wealtheow?
Or, Does the FQ resemble Beowulf in its implications
concerning the persistence of evil?)
- Una spends time with the satyrs, who worship her. The satyrs
are metonyms of, among other things, Nature. Discuss the relationship
of Nature to women in the FQ and
in another poem we have read. (You may want to look at C. S.
Lewis, Studies in Words [PE1585 .L4], and his chapter
on "Nature.")
- Power tends to be defined today as tyrannical--as license,
an ability to do violence, to control others, to have independence
from responsibility,
and so forth. How do characters in some of the poems we have
read define power? Do they change their view of power as they
move through their quests? (You may want to consider positive
and negative liberty with respect to power.)
- What do human beings deserve? Discuss with reference to Paradise
Lost.
- Why bother? Discuss with reference to PL and Gawain.
- Milton opposes light to dark, high to low, true to false,
and so forth. Describe how these bold oppositions play out
in his style. Discuss verse form, meter, and sound qualities
like
alliteration, vowel harmony, and so forth.
- Describe the poetic effects of FQ and PL on
you. Compare to a short, metaphysical lyric.
Or a topic of your choosing. Let me know beforehand.
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