Advice please?
Let's take a survey shall we...? For class we have to pick any piece that we've read for class (the stipulation that is that it must be on the syllabus), analyze it, spend time with it, love it, and interpret it, then find a "scholarly critical article" about it and read that, and then write a "5-8?" page paper on our response to the critical article.
What should I do my paper on?
-Should I pick one of the John Donne poems because I love John Donne like no other, accepting the fact that most critical work is on "The Canonization" and "The Ecstasy", which are NOT on my syllabus, so I cannot use those? (My options I am thinking of would then be either "The Flea", "The Good Morrow", "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning", or "Holy Sonnet 14"...if you choose this, please vote for a poem) Keep in mind that John Donne encompasses a lot of love poetry and a lot of erotic imagery hidden under a religious connation (although not as complex and with fewer Biblical allusions than Milton).
-Or should I do one of the really interesting historically and politically motivated poems by Katherine Philips (either "Upon the Double Murder of King Charles" or "To Mrs. M. A. at Parting")? ("Double Murder" will compare Charles to Christ, question the political motivations of his overthrow, discuss political and moral ethics, and a woman's right to speak publicly and "Mrs. M. A." will encompass a discussion of love poetry and may be compared to the lesbian poetry of Sappho).
-Or should I do "Paradise Lost" by John Milton and focus on either the characterization of Satan or a comparison to Dante's "The Inferno"? (This would be much more difficult, albeit very interesting, due to the complex nature of the poem, it's length, and the fact that my knowledge of religion and the Bible are severely lacking, but it can be done)
Please cast your vote...ready go...
What should I do my paper on?
-Should I pick one of the John Donne poems because I love John Donne like no other, accepting the fact that most critical work is on "The Canonization" and "The Ecstasy", which are NOT on my syllabus, so I cannot use those? (My options I am thinking of would then be either "The Flea", "The Good Morrow", "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning", or "Holy Sonnet 14"...if you choose this, please vote for a poem) Keep in mind that John Donne encompasses a lot of love poetry and a lot of erotic imagery hidden under a religious connation (although not as complex and with fewer Biblical allusions than Milton).
-Or should I do one of the really interesting historically and politically motivated poems by Katherine Philips (either "Upon the Double Murder of King Charles" or "To Mrs. M. A. at Parting")? ("Double Murder" will compare Charles to Christ, question the political motivations of his overthrow, discuss political and moral ethics, and a woman's right to speak publicly and "Mrs. M. A." will encompass a discussion of love poetry and may be compared to the lesbian poetry of Sappho).
-Or should I do "Paradise Lost" by John Milton and focus on either the characterization of Satan or a comparison to Dante's "The Inferno"? (This would be much more difficult, albeit very interesting, due to the complex nature of the poem, it's length, and the fact that my knowledge of religion and the Bible are severely lacking, but it can be done)
Please cast your vote...ready go...