British Literature I
211 Brit Lit Survey
Paper Topics
This list includes suggested topics – you are not limited to these topics. Feel free to talk to me about any paper ideas and during any stage of your writing process. Your goal for this paper is to delve deeper into works we are discussing in class. Regardless of what option you choose, you should 1) be as specific as possible, 2) avoid summary, 3) make your analysis go beyond what has been discussed in class, and 4) illustrate critical engagement with the texts. Begin this paper early! Create a rough draft that you turn in by midterm, revise, visit the Writing Center – put a semester’s worth of effort into this paper.
Comparison topics: 1. Read a text other than one we’ve discussed in class and, using one of the texts we’ve discussed as your basis, discuss the variation of a theme (fate, free will, storytelling, etc.) and its progression/evolution from the class text to the selected work. 2. Compare Beowulf with John Gardner’s Grendel. What themes are explored in both the poem and the novel; what does the novel emphasize or de-emphasize? Pay close attention to the time period of each text – what cultural fears/concerns does each text address?
3. Compare the warrior code with the code of chivalry. What traits are valued in kings/warriors of each culture? What are the penalties for violating these codes? Do the particular codes of conduct lead to cultural/societal issues that narratives attempt to resolve? 4. Compare Judith with Beowulf. How is the warrior ethos depicted in each? Why do you think the story of Judith became apocryphal? 5. Compare the Gawain of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to the Gawain of Malory’s Morte Darthur. Research other depictions of Gawain in the Arthurian stories. 6. Compare the Monty Python treatment of the Holy Grail story with Malory’s Quest for the Holy Grail. (Read the entire Grail section of Morte Darthur for more context). 7. Compare a visual text like Hogarth’s “A Rake’s Progress” with a written text that addresses the same problem/issue.
8. Compare Fantomina with “A Rake’s Progress.” 9. Compare Johnson’s Dictionary with Wikipedia. What is the purpose of each? What type of information does each convey?
10. Compare “The Turkish Embassy Letters” with a contemporary travel narrative. 11.Compare Pepys’ Diary with a contemporary blog.
Exploration topics: 1. Explore the reaction to female sexuality (or its threat) in two texts. 2. Explore the definition of “hero” in two texts. 3. How is the changing culture of Chaucer’s day reflected in the characters of the Canterbury Tales? 4. What is fate? Each culture we study views fate a bit differently, but each has a concrete idea of what fate is. Either define fate and its use in two texts or define fate using one text we have studied and compare it with a more modern definition of fate using a more recent text. 5. How is the King Arthur story used in the 20th and 21st centuries? Think of Kennedy’s Camelot, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Excalibur, The Once and Future King, and The Matrix. What purpose does the story serve for us? 6. Research mysticism. Why have Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe been excluded from many modern religious traditions? (This omission explains why so many people were surprised by Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.) 7. Explore the quest for and the threat of knowledge in two texts. 8. Explore the intersections of public and private in at least one text. 9. Research the Elizabethan stage. How might Faustus have been performed? What was Marlowe’s role in the evolution of drama? 10.Examine the idea of Right Reason and how it is used in two texts. 11.Research coffee house culture and how it is depicted/reflected in a text. 12.Research the enclosure movement and how it is depicted/reflected in “The Deserted Village.”
Creative option This option allows you to rewrite a section or ending of one of the texts. However, your addition/change must be in keeping with rules of the text as created by the author. You must stay within the characterization and society, and the writing style should be in keeping with the original. Please discuss your idea with me before going too far with actual writing.
Paper Topics
3. Compare the warrior code with the code of chivalry. What traits are valued in kings/warriors of each culture? What are the penalties for violating these codes? Do the particular codes of conduct lead to cultural/societal issues that narratives attempt to resolve?
8. Compare Fantomina with “A Rake’s Progress.”
10. Compare “The Turkish Embassy Letters” with a contemporary travel narrative.