Choose THREE of the following seven prompts. Write multiple paragraphs in response to each of the three prompts that you select. Be sure to use specific textual quotations in your responses.
You may NOT use any external research sources not mentioned here at the bottom. I’ve uploaded some files and links at the bottom to help. Thank you.
1. Monasticism is important to the history of English literature. Discuss how and why monasticism promoted literary life in England. Use examples from three different texts in your answer and be sure to relate each text specifically to monastic life.
2. Romance is a type of story that contemporary readers seem to know a lot about; however, when we look at medieval romances, we discover that there may be a disconnect between what we think we know about romances and what romances were actually about in the years between 1100 and 1400. Write an essay in which you discuss the definition of romance in the Middle Ages and then reference at least two elements of medieval romance that surprised you. Again, direct quotations from the stories are necessary to respond well to this question.
3. Discuss the role of the poet in Old English and Middle English works. Make a claim about at least THREE authors and discuss what they thought their purpose as a writer should be. Use specific evidence from the stories in your discussion.
4. Wit is important to English literature structurally and thematically. Discuss how the author uses wittiness in at least THREE different stories; your discussion may include how a character used wit to solve a problem or how an author used wit to tell a story. Remember to discuss not only how wit is employed in the text but why and for what purpose.
5. Gender reversals seem like a modern idea, but weve encountered them multiple times in our reading of old literature. Examine at least three gender-bending moments in at least three different stories. Make a claim about how each author uses those moments to convey an idea about either truth or power.
6. Define the medieval technique of allegory and discuss how and why it is used in at least THREE different examples. You may an author more than once, but not a story more than once in your response. Compare allegory to modern realism in your answer and discuss the advantages of each.
7. During our class, we made connections between literary techniques used in works of English literature before 1500 and those same techniques used in contemporary American culture. Write about THREE techniques that were used by writers before 1500 and which are still seen today on TV, in other media, or in any part of our ordinary lives. Be sure that you use specific evidence from the literary works; that is, quotations from the Old English and Middle English texts are required if you decide to answer this question.
Readings to pull quotes from:
Readings: Wyatt, Surrey, Petrarch, Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare
Readings: Everyman, a medieval morality play https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/everyman.asp
Readings: Chaucer, Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale; real womens writing by Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
Readings: Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales: General Prologue
Readings: Marie of France, Lanval; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Readings: Beowulf
Old English Readings: “Caedmon’s Hymn,” “The Wanderer,” Selected Anglo-Saxon riddles
Readings: Ovid’s story of Daphne and Apollo and Petrarch’s sonnets.
https://www.alarichall.org.uk/lotr/frontpage.htm
