English 314: Paper #2 Topics

You are welcome to choose one of the topics suggested below.  
Remember: these are just springboards for developing a paper; it is your responsibility to create a sustained, coherent argument and make clear the implications of your reading.  You are also welcome to come up with your own topic.  If you choose the latter option, you might find it useful to run your idea by me before beginning.
Remember:  if you haven't already turned in a paper, you need to turn one in by this date at the latest.  If you have turned in a paper, don't turn in one on this date.  No extensions given for those working on their own topics.
 

1. What does Wuthering Heights suggest about property--both land and belongings, but also people as property?  Look closely not only at statements and actions of the main families (Earnshaw, Linton, and Heathcliff) but also at those of the narrators, Dean and Lockwood.  If you choose this topic--or create your own topic on Wuthering Heights--please do some close reading.  Focus as much as possible on short passages from the novel, and then tie them into your argument about the novel as a whole.
2. Compare a critical work by one of the Romantics (e.g. Wordsworth, Shelley) to Darwin's essay on the Descent of Man.  Explore the similarities and differences between the two writers' arguments and assumptions about aesthetics and/or the "natural."  Questions to consider:  does Darwin refute the Romantic poet in question or support his claims?  What are the implications of the similarities and differences in their arguments?
3. Several of the poems we have examined so far have had ambiguous endings.  Examine one or two poems closely and explore how the ending of the poem(s) affects your interpretation of the rest of the poem.  Look closely at content (including individual word choice) but also form (meter, rhyme, stanza breaks, etc.) as you compose your argument. You might compare two poems; you are welcome to explore one from before Rossetti, but not both.  If you choose to examine one, you must choose a more recent poem.  One suggestion for a pairing:  "Goblin Market" and "The Aeolian Harp."
4. To what extent does Barrett Browning in her George Sand poems support the argument made by Wollstonecraft in Vindication?  Examine in particular her discussion of gender.  What are the implications of Barrett Browning's use of words like "manly" and "woman's nature"?  Does the poet challenge gender more than Wollstonecraft?
5. Compare Arnold's "Dover Beach" with Anthony Hecht's poem "The Dover Bitch" (you may use the link on the website, but I recommend looking it up in a book for the correct wording, since there is at least one mistake in the linked version).  Questions to consider:  What is the effect of the shift of focus from the ideas of the poetic persona in the first version to the feelings of the unnamed "love" in the second version?  Does the woman in the second version have more of a voice?  Does the satire seem more hopeful about life or love than the Arnoldian poem?
6. What does Browning's poem "My Last Duchess" suggest about art?  Consider not only what the speaker is saying, but also the relationship between poet and speaker, speaker and art, art and object of representation (the Duchess), speaker and audience (the agent [see footnote]), and/or poet and audience.