As the essay-portion of your Midterm Exam, you will be writing a focused-analysis of Tim Severin’s The Brendan Voyage.
You will have seven topics to select from, and each topic is tightly focused. Select one topic, and produce an analytical essay, 4-5 full pages in length, double-spaced, with detailed references and appropriate quotations to support your work. In order to address the topic you select appropriately, you will need to draw upon material in multiple chapters. When you do make those concrete references, using direct references, paraphrasing, and quotations as appropriate, be explicit and efficient. (I am expecting you to use material from at least three chapters.). Also, aim at using a good college-level vocabulary and a healthy variety in the length and construction of your sentences to earn best credit.
Your task, your mission, is to be an expert on the topic that you select and to produce a 4-5 page essay that is clear, thorough, and worth reading. Picking the best topic for you is one part of the task; developing your topic to fill the space effectively is another part of your task; presenting your understanding of your chosen topic clearly, thoughtfully, and thoroughly in those pages is the last part of the task.
(Ah, proofreading ought to be the last step, actually.)
Here are your topics; select one only:
__A. What is “Brendan Luck”? How does Brendan Luck seem to work for Tim Severin? And, what use does Severin make of Brendan Luck in writing and crafting his book?
__B. Pick two of the crew members of the boat Brendan, give me the most important facts about each of those people, and Include the ways in which that person is particularly useful to the project. For these crew members that you select, make me see what Severin sees in each person and how each contributes not just to the voyage, but also what each contributes to the telling, the book itself. Yes, Tim Severin himself counts as a crew member, even if he is the skipper.
Remember that you will be demonstrating your knowledge and thoughtfulness as well as filling four-to-five pages, so make sure to select crew members that will allow you to complete the task appropriately.
(P.S. Give me a unified introduction that sets up both of the selected crew; don’t write two mini-essays.)
__ C. What is the Stepping Stone Route? And, how does the Stepping Stone Route matter for the project? How does the route matter for Severin’s case that the Irish really did sail leather boats across to North America as the legends claim? (This is not a research project: use what Severin gives us regarding the route.)
__D. How does the St. Brendan and the Navigatio matter for Severin’s project in The Brendan Voyage? Be as thorough and as thoughtful as possible.
___E. How does ice—in the past and in the present—matter for Severin’s project in The Brendan Voyage? Be as thorough and as thoughtful as possible.
___F. How does Severin ground his writing in the factual world? Think of his use of factual description and his use of science in what he presents to us. How does Severin’s attention to the facts, to the physical world, and to science help his project and his book?
___G. How does Severin create drama in his writing? What does he use dramatic scenes for? And, how does he use dramatic material well?
