As of July 2003

6.VI.03. WARNING. This class is taxing. Studies show that college students are studying less than they ever have. So, if you expect to study only as much as your peers, then you will be disappointed. There is a lot of reading, and it is difficult reading. You will need to read each piece at least twice. You will need to memorize, recite, and summarize. Expect to devote a minimum of 2 hours per class (min. 6 hours per week) to E201.

PAPER ONE. To be 1500 words, due Dec. Secondary sources are not necessary, but always welcome. Choose from one of the following options:

1. Your own topic. This MUST be confirmed by me BEFORE you hand the paper in. I will not accept a paper whose topic I have not authorized.

2. Background, Foreground and Beowulf. Discuss the style of Beowulf in comparison to the two texts Auerbach uses to illustrate background and foreground style. Does Beo exhibit one, neither, or both of these styles?

3. Background, Foreground and Dream of the Rood. Discuss the style of Rood in comparison to the two texts Auerbach uses to illustrate background and foreground style. Does Rood exhibit one, neither, or both of these styles?

4. Medieval Style. Auerbach illustrates two medieval style with The Song of Roland and Yvain. How does Beowulf compare with these two. Illustrate your argument with scenes, passages, or lines from the poems.

5. Realism and Truth. Truth is more than reporting facts accurately. Agree or disagree, and illustrate your answer by describing what kind of truth we can get (or can't get) from old poems like Rood and Beowulf.

6. Style and Uniqueness. Auerbach argues that style is a constant battle between social convention and individual creativity. How can we tell the difference? Illustrate your argument with episodes or passages from Rood or Beowulf.

7. Impression and Interpretation. The images of a poem, like words in a language, are meaningful because they are commonly understood. When a poem invokes an associated image in your head, how do you distinguish between a personal impression (e.g., that character reminds me of my aunt) and images shared by a culture (e.g., that character reminds me of a typical aunt). What does this distinction mean when reading poems like Beowulf whose culture has all but disappeared?

8. Stories. Beowulf is filled with stories. Every deed is remembered in story, sometimes immediately after it is committed. Every object is wrapped in a story, as if its meaning can only be understood through narrative. Consider the possibility that Beowulf is an allegory of story-telling: If Heorot and Geatland and its inhabitants represent history, and Beowulf and Grendel represent myth, then how does myth affect the historical narratives we rely on for memory?

9. Old Stories. Why is it important to learn about old books? What could possibly be useful about stories 1000 years-old? What does the Beowulf-poet imply about the value of old stories: consider the Finnsburg fragment and the lay of Sigemund as examples?

10. Honor and Violence. Peace in Heorot can only be secured through violence. The threat of violence keeps Beowulf's people safe. Violence both threatens the social fabric and ensures its continuity. Violence also brings fame and honor to a warrior, wealth to his people, and security to his family. What does Beowulf say about the balance of violence and peace? Use specific examples, and don't expect to find an answer! A well-defined problem is just as good.

PAPER TWO. To be 1500 words, due Dec. Choose from one of the following options:

1. Pleasure. The Wife of Bath. At line 478 of her Prologue, the Wife says, "Unto this day it dooth myn herte boote/ That I have had my world as in my time." Her pleasures are remembered, and the past takes her further from her "beautee." Does her Tale suggest anything about true pleasure? If so, what? What does true pleasure entail? What does it mean that the knight is saved from the consequences of lust and violence by an old woman who describes herself as "foul and old" (l. 1219)?

2. Books. The Wife of Bath. The Wife rips the books of her husband, yet quotes from the Bible. Her tale she read in a book (l. 868), and yet she declares that "Experience, though noon auctorite/ Were in this world, is right ynough for me" (ll. 1-2). Look at books in the Prologue and Tale. Is there any consistency to their use? Does Chaucer imply anything about the use of books in authorizing opinion?

3. Sovereignty. The Wife of Bath. What does sovereignty mean? What does it mean to the Wife? What does it mean to the knight? What does it mean to the Queen? What does it mean to the crone? (Use the Middle English Dictionary.)

PAPER THREE (FINAL). To be 1500 words, due Dec.You may choose from one of the following options:

1. Style versus Substance. Paradise Lost. In Book Two, Milton says that Belial's speech is "cloth'd in reason's garb" (226). Milton employs a number of metaphors of covering or clothing, and even has one devil claim that God's glory can be clothed in darkness. Milton is distinguishing between appearance and substance, between the style of a speech and its truth claims. With their rhetorical tricks (their style, as it were), the demons can make darkness appear to be light, baseness appear to be loftiness, and Hell appear to be Heaven.

In your paper, find another metaphor that gets frequent use (nature, light, height, sound, etc.). First, describe the metaphor and give examples. Then, discuss the implications of the metaphor as they pertain to the book you are discussing (1, 2, or 9). Please distinguish between simile, metaphor, and metonymy; as well as between implication, allusion, and citation. Try to pay special attention to meter and syntax, assonance and rhyme.

2. The Substance of Style. Rhyme, verse form, and meter contribute to the overall effect of a poem. In Herbert's "The Pulley," a lack of feet in the first stanza, an abundance of feet in the second stanza, and a balance of feet in the fourth contribute to the poem's larger claims about balance and rest. Assonance and the choice of conjunctions to open each stanza imply syntactic dependence, which in turn speaks to the dependence of the reader on divine rest.

In your paper, describe how the form of a poem (verse form, meter, rhyme, phonology, etc.) contributes to its theme. Choose specific examples. Concentrate on one poem only (not "The Pulley").

3. War. Many of the poems we have read depict men and women at war. Whether it is Beowulf at war with mostrous forces, the English at war with vikings, Spenser's Red Crosse Knight at war with Error, Milton's demons at war with angels, or a war between opposing forces in the mind of a character--conflict is at the heart of much English poetry.

In your paper, explore how conflict works thematically in Medieval or Renaissance poetry. Does a resolution ever come of it? What kind of resolution is possible? Concentrate on one work only.

4. Character. In his chapter on 2 Henry IV, Auerbach claims that for Shakespeare, a character is already formed by the time he or she comes into conflict with an environment. Some characters seem flat (like Beowulf or Piers or Una), and some multi-dimensional (like Hamlet or Lear). But few seem actually to change significantly during a work.

In your paper, explore how character works in Medieval or Renaissance poetry. What are the minimum requirements for a character (how little do we have to know of a character to imagine him/her)? How do we know what a character is meant to invoke (e.g., heroism, evil, envy, confusion, doubt)? Be specific and use evidence to back up each claim. Try to establish what words and phrases tell you about a particular character. Concentrate on one work only.