Topics for Paper #2
due March 3, 2003
length: about 1250 words
Apply
Bacon's discussion of human error to the mistakes made by characters in
The Tempest.
The
ideas of freedom [or liberty] vs. bondage [or slavery] in Genesis 3, Exodus,
The Tempest, Bacon's "Of Truth," "On Plymouth Plantation,"
"Aereopagitica," Paradise Lost, the poems of Donne and
the poems of Mary Wroth [choose any two works].
A discussion of Bacon's
essay "Of plantations," in relation to The Tempest and/ accounts
of new world colonization by Ralegh, Smith and Bradford.
The image of the native
in The Tempest, Mary Rowlandson's Narrative, and/or Montaigne's
"Of the Cannibals."
Look
up the word "Ecstasy" in the OED and compare and contrast versions
of this experience as described by Donne and/or Herbert and/or the writers
of Psalms and The Song of Solomon
A
discussion of a poem by Donne or Herbert centering upon their use of Biblical
references
A comparison/contrast
between an Elizabethan love poem with a love or devotional poem by John
Donne. [examples: Sidney 71 and Donne Divine Meditation 1, Sidney 45 and
Donne, The Funeral, Sidney, Marlowe, The Passionate Shepherd, Donne, The
Bait
A discussion of pastoral
and New World exploration themes in Donne's Elegy 19
A
discussion of the literary elements of one of Bacon's essays--e.g. beginning,
middle, end and turning point, uses of figurative language, parallelism,
contrast and paradox--including references to similar devices in works by
Sidney, Donne, Herbert or Marvell.
A
discussion of the theme of private property and wealth in the gospel of
Matthew 6:19-21, Utopia, The Tempest, and Bradford's "Of Plymouth
Plantation."
A
discussion of
one or more poems by Donne or Worth or Herbert in light of the descriptions
of the "conceit" or extreme metaphor by Tesauro on page 1707-1709
A comparison/contrast
between Mary Wroth's "28.Song"--p. 1670-1671 and Donne's "A
Valediction Forbidding Mourning" p. 1657
A comparison contrast between one or two of Sidney's sonnets--e.g. 31
and 39--p.1044 and one or two of Wroth's--e.g. 17 and 48, pp. 1670 and 1672
A comparison/contrast
of the theme of death in Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" p. 1730
and Donne's Holy Sonnet #3 p. 1663 and/or sonnet #6 p.1664.
A discussion of the portrayal of "the Jews" in the Gospel of
Matthew, Donne's Sonnet #7 p. 1664, and this painting by Matthias Gruenwald:
http://cla.calpoly.edu/~smarx/courses/204/gospelpic/pages/grunewa3.htm
A discussion of the ways that Mary Worth matches sound to sense in no
more than three of her poems.
A comparison/contrast between George Herbert's Love(3) p.1697 and Donne's
Holy Sonnet #10, p. 1666