Introduction to Literature, spring 2007
Possible paper topics

Over the course of the semester, you will write four short essays chosen from the possible topics below. You must write one essay on poetry, one on fiction, and one on drama; the fourth can be from any of these genres. Each assignment has its own individual deadline, and there will be no deadline extensions. If I don’t receive a particular assignment from you, I will simply assume that you are working on another topic. Choose topics that are of genuine interest to you, if possible. If nothing else, choose topics that have deadlines you are willing to meet (for instance, if you have assignments for two other classes due at the same time, you can avoid having a third due for this class). Feel free to “read ahead” when writing about a text we won’t have finished discussing by the deadline. I’m glad to look at drafts before the deadline if you want feedback; please plan ahead as a meeting the day before the deadline will not give you time to revise based on our conversation.

Each essay should be 3-4 pages, typed with normal font and margins, unless otherwise specified by the assignment. DO NOT use any outside sources for any of these essays (and this includes searching online “just to get ideas”) – I expect each essay to be an interaction between you and the text itself. Everything you need to write these essays can be found within the poem, story, or play. I do, however, expect you to cite the text itself in MLA style, including both in-text citations and a works cited page. If you have any difficulties understanding MLA style, please check a guidebook, visit the writing center, and/or talk to me, because you will be held responsible for getting it right. All essays must be submitted to turnitin.com and I will not read or grade any work that has not been uploaded there.

Due Feb. 9: Paraphrase Shakespeare’s sonnet “When to the sessions of sweet silent thought” (199), giving its literal meaning in your own words without quoting anything from the poem. (Don’t try to hunt for “hidden” meanings.) Then try to boil the poem down into one sentence. Finally, comment on the relationship between the paraphrases and the poem. How are they the same, and how are they different? What is the value of each version? You should try to cover all these questions, and I will prefer papers that incorporate the answers into a coherent essay over those that answer them in list form. This essay may be 2-3 pages long.

Due Feb. 16: Choose one word from Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” (56-58) that strikes you as particularly interesting. Give its dictionary definition. Look this word up in the Oxford English Dictionary – where does it come from, and how has its meaning evolved (if relevant)? What are the connotations of this word? Give several synonyms for this word that the poet might have used instead, but didn’t. What’s so special about the word the poet actually selected? You should try to cover all these questions, and I will prefer papers that incorporate the answers into a coherent essay over those that answer them in list form. This essay may be 2-3 pages long.

Due Feb. 23: Write a poem yourself, keeping in mind the formal properties of poetry we have discussed in class. Then explain some of the choices you have made (for instance, why you chose certain particular words, any significant sounds, the structure of your poem whether in closed or open form). How has writing a poem yourself given you insight into reading poetry? This essay may be 2-3 pages long.

Due March 2: Scan John Keats’s poem “When I have fears that I may cease to be” (132-33), indicating stressed and unstressed syllables as well as rhyme scheme. Then explain what the sounds you have indicated in the scansion contribute to the poem. For instance, how do these features help to organize and explain the poem’s content? What effects are created by the poem’s sounds? This essay may be 2-3 pages long.

Due March 9: Write a “card report” on any one of the short stories we’re reading (“Malinke’s Atonement,” “Young Goodman Brown,” “Seventeen Syllables,” “Cathedral”). See me for detailed instructions and a sample report if you are interested in this option.

Due March 16: Discuss the role of setting in My Antonia. (I suggest that you focus closely on one or two passages rather than attempting to take in every aspect of setting in the novel, in order to write an organized and well-supported essay.)

Due March 23: In your opinion, why don’t Jim and Antonia get married? Support your argument with evidence from the novel.

Due March 30: Ceremony is a novel, but it also includes poetic interludes. Why have these been included, and how do they relate to the novel? Please focus this essay according to your own interests and argument; for instance, you might choose to analyze just one section in great depth, or select just one of several possible thematic or stylistic concerns that run through all the poems.

Due April 13: Compare and contrast the American West as portrayed in Ceremony and in My Antonia.

Due April 27: Imagine you are going to direct a production of As You Like It. What choices would you make? For instance, what actors would you cast (and why)? What would their makeup and costuming be like? Would you set this play in Shakespeare’s time, or modernize it in any way (if so, how and why)? You could also choose to focus in detail on one scene and explain how you would direct it – how the characters should speak their lines and what actions they should perform.

Due May 4: “Translate” a section of As You Like It from Shakespearean English into present-day language. (It’s up to you which section to translate and how long that section is, but you might want to choose either a scene that you love or a scene that you are struggling with – both will reward the extra effort you put in to write the essay.) Then comment on what is gained by this translation and what is lost.

Due May 11: Both As You Like It and M. Butterfly center on characters who disguise themselves as a person of the opposite sex. Compare and contrast the gendered disguises in these plays.