Select a work we have read thus far in the term and analyze it, according to its genre or its historical or cultural context.

Possible Topics: (You are not limited to these. Feel free to create your own topic, but please check with your instructor first.)

Identify and discuss Dryden’s contribution to the literary genre of the ode.
Identify and discuss the place of The Spectator in the history of British journalism. You might want to consider some or all of the following questions:
What role did Addison and Steele play in the development of British journalism?
For what are Addison and Steele most known?
Did Addison’s and Steele’s work influence any writers and/or periodicals?
Examine how Addison’s essay “On the Scale of Being” reflects eighteenth-century political, religious, and/or scientific thought. You might want to consider some or all of the following questions:
In what ways does Addison’s essay reflect the compatibility of eighteenth-century ideas about science and religion?
What thinkers most influenced Addison?
Length: Three to four pages, double spaced, and typed in Times New Roman 12-point font.

Audience: Assume that your reader has read the literary work about which you are writing but has done no research on the historical, cultural, or generic context of the work.

Source Requirement: In addition to the literary work you are analyzing, use three to five outside sources
appropriate for use in an academic essay.