Length: 2-3 typed pages, double-spaced (format below)Possible Topics (Pick One): Discuss the use of weapons in Beowulf and in The Thousand and One Nights? Compare and contrast the poetry of Sappho to the poems embedded in The Tale of Genji. Compare the Mayan description of creation in Popol Vuh to the creation myth established in Genesis. This semester, we have studied epics, tragedies, lyric poems, Waka poetry, travel narratives, and political treatise, among many genres. Choose a single genre that we have studied this semester, and then define and apply the genre definition to a single work that we have studied this semester. Feel free to use class notes or to research the genre for the definition portion of the paper (introduction?). We have read a number of epic works this semester, including The Iliad, The Aeneid, Beowulf, Popol Vuh, and The Ramayana. Compare and contrast one of these works to an epic-like movie, such as Star Wars, The Avengers: Infinity War, The Godfather, Dunkirk, or another movie that you have watched recently or several times (if you’re not sure about a choice, run it by me via email). You may focus on character, plot structure, setting, style, or another epic element. Feel free to refer to the “Epic Defined” handout. After reading Machiavelli’s The Prince, use the ideas there to write a paper suggesting improvements to Agamemnon’s rule or suggesting a means to assist Unferth in succeeding Hrothgar in Beowulf. Alternatively, pick another character that has trouble ruling or doesn’t get an opportunity to rule in any of our works, and use Machiavelli’s ideas to suggest a course of action that will lead to a throne and success. Be sure to cite specific ideas from The Prince via quotations or documented paraphrases.
