GENG235 - First Paper Topic Options and Some Important Paper Guidelines

James Madison University
Topics (choose one) --
  1. In the Old English poem "The Wanderer" both the wanderer himself and the wanderer's travels across the water seem, at least superficially, to invite us to consider the metaphor "life is a journey." To what extent, if any, is this poem really an elaboration of that metaphor? Using detailed evidence from the poem, write a paper taking a stance on this question. Among other things, you might find it relevant to consider all the references to traveling, evidence of other supporting or conflicting messages and metaphors in the poem, the significance of the two different voices in the poem, references to wisdom, etc.

  2. Write an analytic paper considering the Beowulf Poet's thematic treatment of age and/or aging in Beowulf. You'll need to find all the references to age or aging to look for any overall message(s) or, alternatively, any inconsistencies. You might consider such issues (among others?) as whether age affects wisdom, whether warriors and kings are defined or changed in any way by age, whether its important that we see Beowulf in his old age and whether its important that we meet other characters at certain ages, whether age is mentioned for women or only for men, etc.

  3. Write an analytic paper considering Chaucer's use of clothing in his description of pilgrims in The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. You'll need to choose at least a good, representative subset of the pilgrims (by estate, by character and piety, etc.) to compare, and you might consider such issues (among others?) as what they do and don't wear, the colors and condition of their clothing, and the exact words Chaucer uses to describe these items.

  4. Chaucer's Wife of Bath includes discussions of class issues in her tale, both in her own voice as narrator and in what she has the old woman say to her new husband about "gentilesse" (for example, see lines 870-886 and lines 1115-1212, respectively). Compare some or all of the views about various estates and/or degrees expressed in the Wife's tale to views on the same issue in the "General Prologue" of The Canterbury Tales. To what extent is Chaucer having his narrators express the same views? To what extent is he using these narrators to present one consistent view of his own? Your paper can focus on just views about the clergy/religious "degrees", or it can be more general. Deciding what to focus on will be the first step in choosing your thesis for this topic. A crucial issue here is to watch for any differences between what Chaucer is telling us and what his narrators are saying. Similarly, if you use the old woman's words, think about the fact that the Wife of Bath is determining what the old woman's narrative will be and, of course, Chaucer is really determining everything. If it is relevant, you can potentially draw in some information from the Wife's Prologue as well.

  5. Write an analytic paper exploring the possible existence of inconsistencies between the Wife of Bath's role in her own marriages as described in her prologue and what the tale she tells says about what women want and what their roles are in marriage. If the two seem very consistent, make a detailed case for this. If not, consider whether/how any inconsistencies you find can be explained by what we learn from Chaucer about the Wife of Bath's character in her prologue and in the "General Prologue: and/or by any intended message about women that Chaucer may himself have (for this you may consider supporting evidence from "The Miller's Tale" or from the rest of the "General Prologue.")

  6. Write a textual comparison paper that compares the current Norton Anthologytranslation of either Beowulf (the Seamus Heaney translation) or "The Wanderer" to another published translation of the same litearry work. The goal will be to build a thesis on the impact of one or more differences in the translations. In other words, this paper should not be an extensive list of kinds of differences; it should focus on details of one or a small number of kinds of differences that change some aspect of how we read or interpret the poem. For example, one translation may, in a variety of ways, be more strictly organized than the other, be more overtly Christian than the other, be more or less clear about fate's role, make Beowulf more or less understandably human in his motivations, or may more or less readily invite parallels to modern experiences, etc. There are many possible impacts that a particular translation may have on either our interpretation of a text or the way we read the text. You should use many specific examples from the two translations to illustrate the impact(s) you choose to discuss. One good place (though certainly not the only one) to start looking for differences might be the beginning and end of the poem.


Guidelines


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