Major Essay Topics: Examples

The following prompts are suitable for a midterm or capstone essay which incorporates primary and secondary research, literary and/or historical analysis, and the ability to synthesize multiple texts.

Instructors may assign, remix, and reproduce them to suit class needs.

Romantic Era:

1. Lord Byron: Research other depictions of Don Juan in Western literature and culture. Compare them to the infamous libertine’s portrayal in Byron’s “epic poem.” How is Byron attempting to dialogue with these earlier versions? Which traditional Western ideas about masculinity does he reinforce, and which does he contradict?
2. Prince: Research a contemporaneous slave narrative and put it in conversation with Mary Prince’s writing by comparing the two texts. (Examples of authors in this genre include Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, Olaudah Equiano, and Solomon Northup.) Summarize the key differences and/or similarities between the works. What are the circumstances of each author’s life? When/where did their enslavement take place? How did they become free – if they became free? Are there any points of commonality in the two narratives?  How did audiences react to each writer? Was there any opposition or attempt to discredit either of them?
3. Shelley and Smith: A character in the Watchmen graphic novel miniseries, as well as the HBO adaptation, is named for Ozymandias. How does the comic-book Ozymandias suggest that we view empire in the present day? Are there any ways in which his storyline echoes Shelley’s and Smith’s concerns? Compare the three texts — as well as how differing eras shape their messages.

Victorian Era:

1. Pre-Raphaelitism: The Lady of Shalott was depicted in a number of nineteenth-century paintings after the publication of Tennyson’s poem, particularly among the British Pre-Raphaelites. Look up one of these images, and analyze how closely it reflects the ideas within the poem — as well as how it adds to and/or diverges from Tennyson’s verses. What moment in the poem has the artist chosen to depict? Why? Does the Lady of Shalott seem weak, powerful, or conflicted in this moment? What does the painting suggest about women and their place within the home and/or the world? What do primary sources suggest about the artist’s thoughts and sentiments, as s/he worked to interpret Tennyson?
2. Tennyson and Morris: Compare the depiction of King Arthur’s wife in William Morris’s “The Defence of Guenevere” and Tennyson’s Idylls of the King. How does each text frame her affair with Sir Lancelot, and the audience’s ideal response to it? What’s more, how does each text compare with the earlier tale in Malory’s Idylls of the King, written centuries earlier? Finally, what do these disparate portrayals suggest about the spectrum of attitudes toward women, marriage, and fidelity among Victorians?
3. Dickens and Gaskell: Compare the responses to the plight of the working poor in “A Christmas Carol” and Ruth (or another Gaskell text, North and South). What remedy does each book suggest for the social problems portrayed? What differences can you spot between the texts’ attitudes and portrayals? Finally, spend some time researching the relationship Charles Dickens had with Elizabeth Gaskell. How did this relationship affect the resulting literature? Does it account for some of the similarities and/or differences you have identified?

Twentieth Century to the Present Day:

1. Eliot: Examine the role of intertextuality in T.S. Eliot’s master work, The Waste-Land. How does the poem use religious texts? Classical references? Historical accounts? Explain how the “fragments” of these other sources help build Eliot’s vision, and analyze his use of each. You may use Eliot’s letters and journals for clues about these influences.
2. Sassoon and Owens: Compare responses to World War I, using the authors we have studied this term. What ideas about war are present in the poetry of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon? How do those sentiments compare to the message of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste-Land? Finally, after researching each poet’s biography, what does a side-by-side comparison suggest about the impact of poets’ personal experiences on their work?
3. War and its Aftermath: Examine the depictions of wartime found in Eliot, Sassoon, and Owens, and reconsider them in light of 21st century developments. Select one aspect of war (examples: nationalism, post-traumatic health care, eligibility for military service) and trace its evolution between World War I and the present. Where do we see the echoes of 20th century ideas and attitudes today? Are there any major differences in the way 21st century Westerners talk about these topics now? What are they (give several documented examples), and what might have created those shifts?
4. Gender and Relationships: George Bernard Shaw’s Man and Superman is not a typical romantic comedy, by late 20th or early 21st century standards. Compare the play to a relatively recent film of the same genre (examples: Four Weddings and a Funeral [1994], Notting Hill [2001], Love, Actually [2003]). What message(s) does each production send about gender, love, family, and/or relationship decisions? What insights might this comparison give us about cultural change in Britain — or the West, more generally — over time?