British Literature I

Choose one of the questions below and respond to it in" rel="nofollow">in an essay of around 1,000-1,250 words, 1. Sir Gawain" rel="nofollow">in and the Green Knight gives us one image of a hero, Kin" rel="nofollow">ing Arthur’s and Spenser’s various knights in" rel="nofollow">in The Faerie Queene others, and Swift’s Lemuel Gulliver still another. Compare and contrast these different heroic codes of behavior: do they have anythin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">in common with the courage expected of heroes in" rel="nofollow">in contemporary times, in" rel="nofollow">in our very different wars and situations? Or is the very concept of heroes outdated? Do we still need representations of heroism? Can’t we just be each other’s heroes? (Warnin" rel="nofollow">ing: I’ve used this topic before, and many of the essays about it have turned out pretty mediocre: don’t let that happen to you!) 2. Travel can be physical (Sir Gawain" rel="nofollow">in, Gulliver, Rasselas) or mental/emotional/ spiritual (Sir Gawain" rel="nofollow">in again" rel="nofollow">in, the various Knights in" rel="nofollow">in The Faerie Queene, Adam and Eve, Marvell in" rel="nofollow">in “The Garden”) or some combin" rel="nofollow">ination of all of these. For the purposes of this prompt, let’s defin" rel="nofollow">ine “travel” as any action that puts the characters in" rel="nofollow">into a new state of min" rel="nofollow">ind or maturity along with new physical locations. Choose a few characters from different time periods or volumes and compare or contrast their voyages of discovery. Who’s gain" rel="nofollow">ined the most from his or her travel? Why? 3. We might or might not have time to go over Andrew Marvell’s “The Garden” in" rel="nofollow">in class, but it’s an important, even an essential poem. It in" rel="nofollow">includes this stanza: Meanwhile the min" rel="nofollow">ind, from pleasure less, Withdraws in" rel="nofollow">into its happin" rel="nofollow">iness; The min" rel="nofollow">ind, that ocean where each kin" rel="nofollow">ind Does straight its own resemblance fin" rel="nofollow">ind Yet it creates, transcendin" rel="nofollow">ing these, Far other worlds and other seas Annihilatin" rel="nofollow">ing all that’s made To a green thought in" rel="nofollow">in a green shade. (1805-06, l. 41-48) It’s a complicated notion of the poetic imagin" rel="nofollow">ination: imitatin" rel="nofollow">ing thin" rel="nofollow">ings in" rel="nofollow">in the world, creatin" rel="nofollow">ing other thin" rel="nofollow">ings not in" rel="nofollow">in the world, and even destroyin" rel="nofollow">ing some of what is in" rel="nofollow">in the world. In your opin" rel="nofollow">inion, are writers more effective when they write about real life, what’s not real (More’s Utopia or Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus), or a combin" rel="nofollow">ination of the real and the ideal? (If you choose this prompt, make sure you explore a few works in" rel="nofollow">in depth and what they do rather than just talkin" rel="nofollow">ing “about” them.) 4. Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost is partly positioned within" rel="nofollow">in the epic “tradition” (which wasn’t very long in" rel="nofollow">in English, datin" rel="nofollow">ing back only to Spenser’s The Faerie Queene) but also again" rel="nofollow">inst it. Besides the obvious differences – re-creatin" rel="nofollow">ing the Genesis story rather than usin" rel="nofollow">ing a “heroic” English character like Kin" rel="nofollow">ing Arthur – there are also structural differences: for example, Milton calls rhyme “trivial” in" rel="nofollow">in an in" rel="nofollow">introduction to the second edition; that’s certain" rel="nofollow">inly different than Spenser’s in" rel="nofollow">intricate “rhyme royal” nin" rel="nofollow">ine-lin" rel="nofollow">ine stanza, and it might be in" rel="nofollow">interestin" rel="nofollow">ing to speculate how Milton’s choice of blank verse makes his poem unique. Usin" rel="nofollow">ing what you know or can fin" rel="nofollow">ind out about epic poems, compare and contrast elements of these two and explain" rel="nofollow">in how they’re both effective examples of that kin" rel="nofollow">ind of poem. 5. Ancient and Modern: In Book 8 of Paradise Lost, Raphael gives some advice to Adam: Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid, Leave them to God above, him serve and fear; . . . Heav’n is for thee too high To know what passes there; be lowly wise: Thin" rel="nofollow">ink only what concerns thee and thy bein" rel="nofollow">ing; Dream not of other Worlds, what Creatures there Live, in" rel="nofollow">in what state, condition or degree, . . . (2081-82, l. 167-176) There couldn’t be a bigger contrast in" rel="nofollow">in the world we’ll get in" rel="nofollow">into with Volume C of the anthology: the age of exploration (which started in" rel="nofollow">in 1492) contin" rel="nofollow">inued, and Europeans were confronted with different peoples and cultures and other ways of life (thin" rel="nofollow">ink of Gulliver’s Travels, which at once mocks and supports this in" rel="nofollow">interest). Meanwhile, the newly in" rel="nofollow">invented telescope and microscope helped to topple ancient traditions (for example, that the earth was 6,000 years old, or that the planets revolved around the earth): a scientific revolution took place, and it became clear that modern people knew more than their ancestors. Explore some of the ramifications of this struggle between old and new in" rel="nofollow">in 18th century England: was somethin" rel="nofollow">ing important bein" rel="nofollow">ing lost in" rel="nofollow">in this new world? Did the Enlightenment, for all its vaunted scientific progress, also leave (or push) some thin" rel="nofollow">ings in" rel="nofollow">in the darkness?