Romanticism

ESSAY INSTRUCTIONS

Write a well-organized essay of 750–1000 words. Do not give a plot summary; this is not a book report. The author(s) and work(s) must be selected from those we have read for this course. Select from the following essay prompts:
1.    Select 1 of the complementary pairs of poems from Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, and explain how they illustrate Blake’s concept of the “Two Contrary States of the Human Soul” (innocence and experience).
a.    Consider the following pairs of poems:
i.    “The Lamb” and “The Tyger”
ii.    “The Chimney Sweeper” from both Experience and Innocence
iii.    Other pairs pending approval from your instructor
2.    Analyze and evaluate from a biblical worldview the qualities and characteristics of either the Romantic OR the Neoclassical age. Refer to specific authors and/or literary works to support your points.
a.    Weak Topic: Addressing all of the qualities/characteristics of a period with little to no focus on the literature and without a specific or focused argument.
i.    Example: “The Romantic period focused on nature, the individual, spiritualism, childhood, imagination, common life, and the common man.”
b.    Strong Topic: Selecting characteristics that are relevant to a specific argument about the period and an author(s) and his/her work(s).
i.    Example: “Coleridge believed in the power of the imagination to access the spiritual, and his mystical views, which are contrary to Christian principles, are presented in ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’.”
3.    Analyze Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” from a biblical perspective, focusing on his ideas about death, OR consider the Romantic qualities of the poem.
4.    Analyze and evaluate Wordsworth’s view of childhood in “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey.”
5.    Analyze the literary form of The Rape of the Lock as a mock epic. (Keep in mind that this work does not mock traditional epics.)
a.    Example: “‘The Rape of the Lock’ is a mock epic that relies on several epic conventions, including an invocation of the muse, elevated language, and supernatural creatures, to satirize the vanity of contemporary society.”
6.    Analyze the Romantic characteristics in either Keats’s or Shelley’s poetry. Select 2–3 poems to use as evidence of your argument.
a.    Weak Topic: Trying to address both authors and all of the Romantic characteristics.
i.    Example: “Keats and Shelley emphasize imagination, childhood, nature, the individualism, and the common man in their poems”
b.    Strong Topic: Narrowing the focus to one author and a specific idea found in 1–3 works.
i.    Example: Examine Keats’ idea of negative capability in “Ode on a Grecian Urn.”
ii.    Example: Examine Keats’ view of nature in “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and “Ode to a Nightingale.”
7.    Analyze and evaluate Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman from a biblical perspective, OR consider her views on education. If you select the first, do her views align with Christian principles? If you select the second, are her observations on education still valid?
8.    Consider the irony presented in Percy Shelley’s “Ozymandias.” When the examples of irony are analyzed, what themes are presented in the poem?
9.    Does Coleridge’s presentation of religion in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” complement a biblical perspective? Why or why not?

NOTE for this assignment:
•    No outside research should be done since the analysis must be your own work.
•    The essay must be double-spaced, written in Times New Roman 12-point font, and use 1” margins.
•    Revise and edit carefully. Do NOT copy and paste Discussion Board posts into this essay.
•    Format your paper using current MLA, APA, or Turabian style (whichever corresponds to your degree program).
•    Document information from the literature through in-text citations and an end-text Works Cited/References/Bibliography page conforming to current MLA, APA, or Turabian style guides.
•    Review the Essay Grading Rubric to learn more about how the paper will be graded. Comply with all requirements.

3 paragraphs long. The paper should be based off this question: How do you see Romanticism ideas and influences at work today?