Paper length:  7 pages, double spaced, typed. A first draft is also required.

Bring 2 copies of your draft, one for AJVS, one for your peer reader.

COMMENTARY:  Along with the final draft of your paper, please write a 1-2 page commentary on the writing of your paper.  How did things go?  What sort of trouble spots did you run into?  How did you handle them?  What did you learn--from handling trouble spots and from having your paper read by a peer reader?  Did anything about your thinking surprise you? What pleases you most about your paper? The commentary is informal and will not be graded, but it is required. 

Drafts and Peer reading:

Everyone is required to turn in a draft and do a peer reading for someone else in the class.

I will comment on drafts but not on revisions.

PAPER TOPICS:

NB ("Nota bene" = "note well"):

A. ALL topics require you to deal with 2 writers or works and, therefore, to think comparatively. You will discover your own thesis--and it will be original (so far as you know). Consider using "portability" (as we have done in class) as a method of analysis.
B. Some of the topics allow (or require) reading ahead of the course schedule.  Please notice whether that is the case BEFORE setting out on your topic. 
C. For all topics, please read and take seriously "Paragraph and Sentence Pointers."
D. You will find below the "key" to my comments on drafts.

1. The concept of honor is important in a number of the works we have read, and its meaning is often contested.  Trace the word carefully and compare the uses of this word (and this concept) in the work of two writers.

2. Analyze the Earl of Rochester's treatment of reason in Satyr Against Mankind and then compare his use of this term to that of one other writer. 

3. The Pilgrim's Progress is the one dissenter's work we read.  After reviewing the definitions of "dissent" in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), extend your use of this concept and see if the term would be appropriate to use as a key term for understanding other works we have read. 

4. Imagine Mary Astell going to see The Country Wife.  What's at stake in the way Astell and Wycherley treat marriage questions? If you don't want to read ahead but do want to work with marriage questions raised by other works, you may do so. Let me know what your plan is.

5.  The course is in part framed by political events.  Choose works by two writers read for the course and explain how the politics of the period significantly shapes them.

6. We have seen that in her poetry, Katherine Philips elevates friendship above the body, calling the body, for example, a “carcase.” Her poetry has caused readers to use the term “Sapphic-Platonics.” Mary Astell was a “neo-Platonist,” who also called women’s attention away from the body: “I suppose then that you’re fill’d with a laudable Ambition to brighten and enlarge your Souls, that the Beauty of your Bodies is but a secondary care. . . .” Compare the work of Katherine Philips with the work of Mary Astell, considering these questions: What is the status of the body in their works?  Philips was a coterie writer and Astell shared the elitism that was a part of her social training.  Does their work necessarily have a restricted audience today, or is it more generalizable? (Why?) What vocabulary do they share? What vocabulary is characteristic of one but does not appear in the other?

7. Fear is important to both Rochester's and Bunyan's works. Compare the way these authors use fear (you may use what we have said in class, but you should go beyond it).

8. If you'd like to shape your own topic, please come to my office hours and let's talk about the possibilities.

SAMPLE FIRST PARAGRAPHS

1.

In Mary Astell's, A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, she calls to the women
of her generation to look beyond their physical beauty and seek to sharpen
their intellects in order to improve their eternal souls. In a similar
manner, through her poetry, Katherine Philips, aims to glorify the
Sapphic-platonic relations between women, rather than the physical and
earthly relationships between men and women. While both writers point
their audience beyond the physical body, it appears that Astell desires to
direct women towards a higher calling of the Almighty Ruler, while Philips
finds that the purest beauty is itself found in the relationships between
women. According to Astell, it is education of young women that will
release them from their earthly bounds as an object for men. Whereas,
Philips reveals that the key to spiritual bliss is that sacred
relationship between women friends. Despite this, both writers are
spiritually engaged, finding the earthly body both insignificant and
perhaps a hindrance. For, it is the way in which the opposite sex has
objectified this earthly body that has reduced womankind to a state of
bodily value. As a manner of providing escape from this bondage which
society has so readily placed upon the sex, both writers provide a place
of solace beyond the physical realm. In this way, women are able to
transcend their reduced societal position. Not only do these writers,
then, address a great societal issue that has remained problematic
throughout ongoing generations, but they also provide a solution for this
issue. In both scenarios, the writer encourages women to unite and assume
that realm which men have previously occupied, and thereby divert from
their control. Through the use of allegorical and figurative language,
both authors reflect the necessity to transcend beyond the ephemeral and
strive for that which is eternal and unseen.

2.

Slavish Fear and Right Fear: The Pilgrim’s Progress and “A Satry Against Reason and Mankind”
Whether it is a fear of failure, a fear of disappointment, a fear of embarrassment, or a fear of God, everyone has a fear that drives them. Some may have an earthly fear, one that is characterized by a fear of losing one’s earthly life or earthly happiness; others may fear the loss or the damage of their soul, the loss of their eternal happiness. These fears are different, but why? They are different because of the power they hold. As John Bunyan explores in A Pilgrim’s Progress and the Earl of Rochester speaks of in “A Satyr Against Reason and Mankind,” fear is a powerful driver. Both works discuss the difference between a “slavish fear” (Bunyan 144) and “right fear” (Bunyan 142). Slavish fear is a fear “that [we] have of men” (144). While right fear is distinguished by three things: “1. Its rise. It is caused by saving convictions for sin…2. It driveth the soul… [and] 3. It begetteth and continueth in the soul a great reverence for God” (142). When one fears the loss of their own earthly flesh and earthly reputation, their life is static and without purpose; this fear, as Rochester shows, is fueled by pride and self-preservation. Yet, as Bunyan argues, when one fears the damage of their soul and follows God’s path, it sets them free to live their life with purpose.

 

3.

Women play a transformative role in restoration poetry. While many poets portray historical events and qualities of human nature in a negative light, poets Aphra Behn and Katherine Phillips have been able to tell stories under a strong positive context. In ‘On Desire’, Aphra Behn not only gives the audience a new perception on women by portraying them as sexual beings, but also focuses on a level of acceptance unseen in many poems about sexual desire. Behn’s acceptance is in opposition to Rochester’s “The Imperfect Enjoyment”, in which there is a rejection of desire due to the speaker’s premature ejaculation. On the other hand, Phillips’ “Arion to a Dolphin” and Dryden’s “Astrea Redux” have the same central theme of celebrating the return of Charles II and justifying his exile as a test of merit for the throne. Both poems argue for mercy upon those who went against the court. However, Dryden uses harsh language and mythological context to describe the traitors. On the other hand, Phillips spends more time uplifting the king (rather than referring to those that went against him) by using positive imagery in order to emphasize her themes of love and grace. Katherine Phillips focuses on dramatization through positive imagery of the king. Aphra Behn expresses an emphasis on self-exploration and acceptance by placing women in an unseen position in society . These poets create a level of expression that challenges the modern conventions of the monarchy and sexuality.

 

 

PEER READER GUIDELINES

1.  Read the paper until you find the thesis.  Circle the key terms of the thesis, and put an asterisk next to it in the margin of the paper.  Based on the thesis statement, how do you expect the essay to unfold? Can you imagine objections that the writer should take into account?  Do you remember any material from our reading that might be helpful to the writer?  (That is, can you offer the writer specific quotations that might be useful in the development of his or her paper?) 

2.  Read the paper through for a first impression.  What strikes you about it?  Whatare its best sections? 

3. Were you right about the thesis?   If not, what now appears to be the thesis to you?  Does the paper follow through on it?   If the paper seems to have more than one thesis, do you see any relation between them? 

4. Locate and underline transitions between paragraphs.  Do the transitions follow the “plot” or “argument” of the material being analyzed?  Or do they follow the development of the writer’s thinking? 

5. Comment in detail on a paragraph that “works” and a paragraph that doesn’t.  What hooks sentences together in the paragraph that works?  What kind of help does the non-working paragraph need? 

6.  What did you learn from the paper?  What do you think the writer will learn from you?

7. Please type responses to these questions on a separate page. Make two copies give one to the writer of the paper, and turn another in with your final draft so you can get credit for your peer reading. Please also turn in with your final draft the peer-reading sheet given to you by your peer reader.

8. If you would like to participate in peer conferences, sign up on the sheet on my office door.

Say what you mean:  Put the most important meaning words in the most important grammatical positions. This move is one of your most important revision strategies. It will help you get rid of wordiness, initial delaying constructions, and clunky clauses; and it will encourage you to subordinate properly.* 

Hook-ups:  Sentences in a paragraph must "hook on to" preceding sentences.  In each case, look for the stated or implied connector. 
        In hooking on to a previous sentence, each sentence does something to the previous one.  You need to be able to say what each sentence is doing to the one before it. If your sentences have not met each other yet, they don't belong in the same paragraph. 

Develop your paragraphs: Most paragraphs in English start out in a certain direction and keep on going that way.  Many start in one direction and then turn (with such words as "however" and "nevertheless").  There are two  "rules" about turning: a) you can only turn once per paragraph;  b) all sentences following the turn support that turn OR the original direction of the paragraph.* (One apparent exception is only apparent; I'll explain it in class.)

Test your paragraphs with the "paragraph test": cut the paragraph into sentences and see if another intelligent, attentive person can put the paragraph together again. 

*These two ideas are from Frederick Crews's The Random House Handbook. 

Key to AJVS comments and questions 

                    Check       = nice, good, etc. 

                    Check, check      = very nice, good, etc. 

                         _______ ________= Something is wrong with the connection 
                      between circled or  underlined elements. 

                      ¶ = Paragraph. 

                      ¶ development, coherence, and unity. "Paragraph & Sentence Pointers" may help you with this.                     

                      Sp = spelling. 

                      SS = sentence structure. 

                      SVA = subject-verb agreement. 

                      // ism = parallelism. 

                       ref = reference not clear (for pronouns, etc.). 

                      frag = sentence fragment. 

                      P = punctuation problem. 

                      ROS = run-on sentence. 

                      CS = comma splice.

                      NI = not idiomatic. 

                      Pass = passive voice used inappropriately. 

                      Pred = predication. Something is wrong with the way you are putting 
                      together a subject  and a verb. 

                      wd ch = problem with word choice. 

                      T = problem with shift in verb tense or with sequence of tense. 

                      # = spacing. You need to add a space or spaces. 

                      POV = point of view. You may want me to explain this problem while
                      looking at your paper. 

                      Rep = repetition. 

                      Redundant = redundant. 

                      Transition = Something amiss with transition between sentences or 
                      paragraphs. 

                      Subordination = problem with subordination. 

                      Logic = Problem with logic, e.g., your evidence doesn’t match your 
                     claim; you have made an unacknowledged assumption or you have 
                     assumed agreement that doesn’t exist; you have drawn an inference 
                     that doesn’t follow from your observation or from your evidence. 

                      Leap = Same as above.

                      Meaning ? = Even with effort, I find this sentence or phrase 
                      hard to understand. 

                      Hm . . . = I’m not persuaded. Sounds doubtful to me. 

                      This = Try not to usethe word "this" without a noun following it. Say 
                     "this point,"  "this idea,"  "this problem," etc., rather than "this," 
                     "this,","this." 

                      GSS = Getting-started sentences; omit. 

                      TOTS = Too obvious to state. 

                      TSINWVH = This sentence is not working very hard. 

                      TSDNATKEO = These sentences do not appear to know each other.
                      Please introduce them.  And please see paragraph and sentence 
                      pointer on "hook-ups."

                      AMAT = Ask me about this [point]. 

                      CA = Clarify assertion. One frequent possibility: Put the most 
                      important meaning words in the most important grammatical positions.
                     See advice on sentences and paragraphs: "Say what you mean."

                      Condense = Clarify assertions, subordinate appropriately, and aim for
                      economy in expression. You often need to condense in order to see 
                      what needs to be developed.