2009 Humanities Literature Final – Vail/Graff

Part I – Metaphysical Poetry

Short answer section about a metaphysical poem we have not studied in class. Please know sonnet terminology: volta, iambic pentameter, octave, sestet, quatrain, couplet, Italian (Petrarchan) and Elizabethan (Shakespearean) sonnets. Also, be able to discuss the aspects of metaphysical poetry and the Age of Reason as they present themselves in the poem.

Part II – Essay

On the day of the final, you will be given one of the following prompts:

  1. Compare the ideal man as he is portrayed in at least three cultures we have studied in Humanities Literature this semester.
  2. Compare the understanding of evil as it is portrayed in at least three cultures we have studied in Humanities Literature this semester.
  3. Compare the portrayal of women in at least three cultures we have studied in Humanities Literature this semester.
  4. Compare the understanding of the divine as it is portrayed in at least three cultures we have studied in Humanities Literature this semester.

 

In your essay, make specific reference to the texts you choose. This does not necessarily mean quotations (though it can), but it does mean using specific details from the texts*. One or two texts should be sufficient to represent each culture. You may mention texts from history seminar or works from art and music, but your main focus should be on what weÕve studied in literature seminar. I will base my evaluation on the following:

  1. Your introduction states your thesis and identifies the works to be discussed and places them in an accurate and specific historical context
  2. You use specific examples to convey your ideas and your information is accurate. You go beyond stating the merely obvious.
  3. Each paragraph includes a main idea with supporting sentences to develop that idea.
  4. There is a unity to the essay – a clear relationship between the introduction, body and conclusion.
  5. Mechanics are not a distraction from your ideas.

Works and Topics from this Semester

I.                  The Ancient World and Classical Greece: Mesopotamian The Epic of Gilgamesh (excerpt from The Humanistic Tradition); mythology (HesiodÕs ÒTheogonyÓ and ÒWorks and DaysÓ – Handout); The Odyssey; The Bacchae

II.                Hebrew People: The Book of Job

III.             Imperial Rome: VirgilÕs Aeneid

IV.             Medieval Period: ÒBerta of HungaryÓ; Song of Roland; Everyman; Canterbury Tales (Late Middle Ages)

V.               Renaissance: Othello

VI.             Age of Reason: Metaphysical Poetry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some notes from 07:

-         Tell students to get the authors and time periods right; establish historical context in intro. Have a sense of what culture youÕre talking about and when it flourished. Make students connect essays to overarching cultural tendencies

 

VII.          The Ancient World and Classical Greece: Mesopotamian The Epic of Gilgamesh (excerpt from The Humanistic Tradition) (2000 BCE); mythology (HesiodÕs ÒTheogonyÓ and ÒWorks and DaysÓ – Handout – 700 BCE); The Odyssey (also 8th C BCE – contemporary or slightly after Homer); The Bacchae (405 BCE)

VIII.        Hebrew People: The Book of Job (c 500 BCE)

IX.             Imperial Rome: VirgilÕs Aeneid (19 BCE)

X.               Medieval Period: ÒBerta of HungaryÓ (1276); Song of Roland (1140); Everyman (1500); Canterbury Tales (Late Middle Ages – 1380s)

XI.             Renaissance: Othello (1602)

XII.          Age of Reason: Metaphysical Poetry (early to mid/late-1600s)

 

RETURN WORK!

 

-         Make sure to connect all details to the point youÕre making!

 

Ideal man

-         A possibility for ideal man: Greece, at least in OdysseusÕ time – humanistic (personal glory and fame; family); Rome - state (glory of Rome, though also male lineage); Medieval – God, cosmic

 

Evil

-         Odyssey: suitors/beasties – break social codes

-         Roland: clear cosmic evil – against God, honor, and loyalty

-         Othello: Iago – a particularly human evil.. Renaissance

-         NO JOB!!

Women

-         Penelope (v. Clytemnestra)

-         Dido? Creusa?

-         Aude, Berta

-         Wife of Bath

-         Desdemona/Emilia

God

-         Odyssey/Aeneid – polytheistic

-         Job – ethical monotheism

-         Roland – monotheism

-          

-         For divine question: note whether morality originates from God; is the divine interested in how we live on earth with each other? Note how, in classical world, morality originates more from human beings. In SoR, battle-focused.


* For example, as evidence that the Wife of Bath is lustful, you might mention that she notes the fine body of Jenkin at her husbandÕs funeral, that she is Ògap-toothed,Ó or that she asserts that experience tells us that sexual organs must be for the ÒpleasureÓ of conception. DonÕt merely state that Chaucer portrays her as lustful without any evidence.