English 2122 paper assignments, fall 2009

Write an analytical or argumentative essay on a topic you choose from the list below. Your paper must meet each of the following requirements.Read each of these requirements very carefully, more than once.

The paper must be 5-7 pages in length, 1250 words minimum, 1800 words maximum (in the body of the essay, excluding headers, name, date, title, works cited entries, etc.).
Formatted carefully and correctly, following MLA guidelines as outlined on my "simple stuff" web page.
A minimum of six quotations from the primary work or works you examine (play, novel, poem, etc.) is required: six is an absolute minimum—you may certainly offer more than six to illustrate or substantiate your primary claims thoroughly and effectively.
You must incorporate some minimal research into this paper, offering quotations from at least two secondary sources of legitimate scholarly criticism or commentary on the work(s) you examine. ("Legitimate" means truly scholarly sources, so items from the popular press, reviews of performances, encyclopedias, and study aids such as Cliff's Notes, SparkNotes, Master Plots, etc., are not acceptable.) You should most emphatically not consult any world wide web pages outside of our course materials while preparing your paper. For access to many scholarly articles and other materials in full-text electronic form, see the MSC Library website. See especially the "Subject guides.

All quotations and other source material must be documented according to MLA guidelines as outlined on my "quotes and documentation" page.

Note that you must submit the final draft in both hard copy (printed on paper) and electronic form (as an email attachment, sent to chip@chipspage.com).
Due Monday, April 12th, as a graded assignment, you are to turn in a paper proposal in the form of a topic sentence outline beginning with the question your essay will strive to answer, followed by each body paragraph's complete topic sentence as it will appear in the essay itself, and ending with a thesis statement that a) answers the question you are addressing, and b) ties together the primary points in your topic sentences. The question you raise for this outline should be a literal question—an interrogative sentence ending in a question mark, not merely a statement of what your topic is. You may submit your topic sentence outline early in the body of an email message—that is, it’s not necessary to send the outline as an attachment. For full explanation of a topic sentence outline, including examples, see the paper proposal assignment page.

Topic Suggestions

The Romantic Period
Show how any of the major poetry by Blake, Wordsworth, Keats, Coleridge, Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, or Percy Shelley fits into "the Romantic tradition." Naturally, you will need to define Romantic tradition in order to demonstrate how the particular work or works are recognizably Romantic. Suggestions:

William Blake: "The Book of Thel," "Visions of the Daughters of Albion," "America: A Prophecy," "The Book of Urizen," The Four Zoas, Milton, Jerusalem, any six poems not on our syllabus from Songs of Innocence and Experience.

William Wordsworth: The Excursion, any one book from The Prelude, "Tintern Abbey," or any four poems not on our syllabus from Lyrical Ballads.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge: "Christabel," "Dejection: An Ode."

Sir Walter Scott: Lay of the Last Minstrel, Marmion, The Lady of the Lake, Rokeby.

George Gordon, Lord Byron: Manfred, any full canto from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage or Don Juan.

Percy Shelley: "Mont Blanc," "Alastor," Prometheus Unbound, "The Mask of Anarchy," "Epipsychidion," "Adonais," "The Triumph of Life."

John Keats: "Isabella," Hyperion, "The Eve of St. Mark," "Lamia," The Fall of Hyperion, any two of the odes, "to Psyche," "to Melancholy," and "on Indolence."

The Victorian Period
Compare Tennyson's treatment of Arthurian legend in "The Epic [Morte d'Arthur]" or any one of his Idylls of the King with that of other writers—Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, for example, or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. How are they like? How do they differ?
Robert Browning's poetry is often seen as being outside the mainstream of Victorian literature, in part because of his refusal to preach an obvious moral, and in part because of his concentration upon individual figures from widely different times and places. Make a case for any two or more of Browning's poems as recognizably "Victorian."
Consider the critical principles Matthew Arnold expounds in "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time" or "The Study of Poetry." Apply these principles to any one of his poems. Show how Arnold's poetry does or does not adhere to his stated poetic theory.

Read any Dickens novel (Great Expectations is fine), any novel by William Wilkie Collins, Charlotte Bronte, William Makepeace Thackeray, George Eliot, George Gissing, George Moore, George Meredith, or Thomas Hardy: explain how the novel delivers criticism or comments on recognizably Victorian social concerns.
Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and Great Expectations are three novels in which Dickens's central character is a child: explore Dickens's treatment of childhood development or maturation in any of these three novels.
Demonstrate how Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights is more Romantic than Victorian. Of course, you will need to define "Romantic" and "Victorian." Note: this is the only valid topic for papers dealing with Wuthering Heights.
Discuss either Oscar Wilde's or George Bernard Shaw's criticism of specific aspects of Victorian society in any one or more plays. (John Millington Synge is a possibility, too.)

The Twentieth Century
Compare and contrast Heart of Darkness with any of Conrad's other fiction in terms of either theme or exploration of human psychology.

Demonstrate how any novel by Joseph Conrad, E. M. Forster, H.G. Wells, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, D. H. Lawrence, or George Orwell is distinctively "modernist": that is, how does the novel in question react against the past, and how does it explore new possibilities in fiction?
Explore the theme of entrapment, or of the feeling of being trapped, in any three of Joyce's stories in Dubliners.
Compare and contrast any H. G. Wells science-fiction novel with more recent science fiction—identify and explain the essential elements of science fiction in general.
Compare Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own with any of the other pointedly feminist works we are reading this semester: what common ground does Woolf share with Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, G. B. Shaw, or any other writers we've studied? Where and how is Woolf's argument different from the others'?
Explain how any play by Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, or Tom Stoppard is distinctively "modern" or "post-modern." Naturally, you will need specific definition of "modern" or "post-modern."
Consider the poetry of W. B. Yeats, T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, Dylan Thomas, or Philip Larkin: show how any three poems by any one of these authors treats the same primary theme in different ways.

You may come up with your own paper topic if you get my approval beforehand. I'm very willing to work with your preferences and predilections. Are there writers on our syllabus who interest or intrigue you, but who don't figure into any of the suggested topics above? Are there other British writers between 1790 and the present who interest you? Are you interested in comparing two of the writers we are reading on a specific theme not mentioned here or in class? Is there a contemporary British writer you would like to explore?
You are not limited strictly to the topics listed above, but remember that I must approve your topic before you start writing. If you would like to pursue ideas not listed here, keep in mind the following restrictions:
The writer(s) and work(s) you discuss must be "literary," at least to the extent that secondary materials of criticism are available in the MSC library.
Any writers you discuss must be British or Irish, and the works of at least one of the writers you discuss must have been written and/or published after 1790.

I encourage you to seek my help with your paper outside of class. If my office hours don't mesh with your schedule, let me know, and we'll make arrangements for other times.

Reminders of Matters of course: the bedrock basics (from chipspage.com, "grades and grading criteria").
In order to receive a passing grade:

An essay must first and foremost address a viable topic, meaning that if you are given a specific assignment for the essay, your paper must address the assigned topic squarely, directly, and fully. In the absence of a specific assigned topic, the essay must set up and address a topic genuinely worthy of exploration at the college level. We will deal with this issue later in the semester, but here's one quick illustration: a beautifully written paper proving that Hester Prynne is treated harshly in The Scarlet Letter for her sin of adultery would receive a quick F because the point is too obvious to need elaboration: any reader of the novel would know that Hester is treated harshly simply from reading the book. Your essays should develop a thesis that will enlighten your readers: you should present and develop significant argument or analysis that goes beyond simply stating the obvious.

Secondly, every essay should meet all specified assignment requirements. For instance, if an assignment stipulates that you must incorporate a personal anecdote from your own life and you do not include one, your essay has no chance of passing however brilliant it may be in other respects. Or if you are asked to incorporate quotations from four sources and you cite only two? No chance to pass.

An essay must be adequately developed in order to receive a passing grade. At the very least, all essays must exceed the minimum word count—in the text of the essay itself, excluding the title, header, works cited page, etc. If you are asked to write an essay of 500-750 words, 498 words will get you an automatic F. Be advised that the word minimum means absolute minimum in this class.

Tips:

Offer concrete evidence (i.e. quotations) to support every one of your major assertions.
Make every body ¶'s topic sentence answer the paper proposal question directly.
Avoid plot summary: see nugget 1; introduce all quotes: see nugget 3.
Sweat the details: see the "Golden Rules," "Nuggets," "Simple Stuff," and "Quotes & Documentation" pages and proofread carefully.
Call or email if you have questions or problems.

Use the ARC (Academic Resources Center)! I encourage you to see tutors for help with your papers at the ARC on either the Macon or Warner-Robins campus. We have well-trained certified tutors who can give you plenty of one-on-one attention with any aspect of the writing process. Be sure to take a copy of this assignment with you to any tutoring session, or show your tutor this assignment page on the web.