First Essay Assignment
Write an essay based on one of the subjects below. The essay should be about four full pages in length. Essays that are shorter than
three pages or longer than five pages might be returned unread or with a failing grade. The page count does not include the Works Cited
page. The essay is due on October 6th. See the course outline for lateness penalties.
All essays must be submitted to Turnitin.com and also submitted (in hard copy) to the instructor.
No essay will be graded until it has been submitted to the web site and the instructor. Contact the instructor for the class ID and password.
It is strongly recommended that you stay away from the Internet to write this essay. It is your own analysis that is important: I do
not want to grade someone else’s ideas other than your own. As always, plagiarism will not be tolerated. Document all sources (of ideas
and of quotations), including all web sources (whether an author is identifiable or not).
Essays should conform to MLA guidelines. Essays should have double-spaced lineation. Printed essays should use a 12-point, serif font
and should not have a justified right margin. Please use one-inch margins on all sides. Please do not submit the essay in a binder or
folder. I am not fond of title pages.
Your essay should have a clear thesis. The essay should be an argumentative essay: all paragraphs of the essay contribute to the support
of the thesis. Your audience is the course instructor, who knows the poems well: spend no time summarizing or introducing the poems unless
absolutely necessary for the support of your thesis.
- Analyse the treatment of treasure / gold / jewels in two or more Old English-period poems. How is it (are they) used symbolically?
- Compare the treatments of Judith (in “Judith”) and Lady Bertilak (of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”). What is their symbolic value to the texts?
- Compare the language (and imagery) used to depict the themes of exile and isolation in “The Wanderer” and one or both of “Wulf and Eadwacer” and “The Wife’s Lament.”
- Compare the language (and imagery) used to depict Beowulf and Sir Gawain. How are their identities as heroes constructed?