ENG 110 - Survey of British Literature 1

Spring 2002

Dr. Berglund

Paper No. 2: 3-5 pages (750-1,250 words) on Shakespeare, Donne, or Wroth, due Monday, 8 April (note revised due date)

In addition to the following suggested topics, you may write on any study question that we did not exhaust in class discussion. I am happy to comment on drafts sent via email; however, please note that I will be leaving town the night of 3 April, so any drafts must be received by 1 April.

Choose a single speech from Othello and analyze its language and poetry, what it tells us about the speaker, and how it illuminates the rest of the play. Do not choose a speech we discussed in class.

Watch a film version of Othello and analyze the way it interprets the play. Do not just summarize the film; make sure your paper is analytical rather than descriptive. It would be wise to limit your analysis to a narrow topic, such as the treatment of a particular character, image or scene.

Imagine that you are directing a production of Othello (either on stage or on film). Choose a short scene or section of a scene and explain how you would stage it, relating your ideas to specific lines in the play. The goal of this paper is to use your creative ideas to illuminate your analysis of the play. Merely describing the setting, blocking, or the actors you would cast will not be sufficient.

If you wish to write about a different kind of directorial choice (e.g., casting, period for setting the play, etc.), please clear your idea with me in advance.

Compare Katherine Phillips's use of the image of a compass in "Friendship in Emblem" to Donne's in "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning."

Analyze a sonnet by Donne, Shakespeare or Wroth that we did not discuss in class, paying particular attention to formal elements, such as imagery, rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, meter, etc. You must choose a sonnet that appears in the Longman anthology.