Write an 800-900-word take-home essay on one of the options provided below.
Option 1:
How do formal elements of Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” or “Porphyria’s Lover” (choose one – do not write on both) contribute to the poem’s meaning? How do formal features (such as, for instance, its rhyme scheme, rhythm, and enjambment) work with or against the poem’s content?
Option 2:
Undertake a close reading of Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” that considers the goblin market as a metaphor for the marriage market. In this light, what does “Goblin Market” suggest about the dangers women face as a result of ignorance of the marriage market? What does the poem’s ending suggest about the need to educate younger generations of women about the workings of the marriage market?
NOTE: "marriage market" is here being used to describe the system of arranging marriages in 19th Century Europe, not a physical location.
Option 3:
What is the relationship between consciousness and unconsciousness in T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”? How do the poem’s symbols and metaphors function to reinforce or undermine the poem’s treatment of consciousness?
Option 4:
Discuss the symbolism of the cat (or cats – Pluto and his look-alike) in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat.” What is the cat symbolic of, and how is this symbol developed throughout the narrative?
Option 5:
Examine George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” with reference to an ongoing political event (for example, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, the 2020 American Presidential Election, or any other roughly contemporary political event). To this end, it may be useful to consider a variety of questions (though you are not required to answer any of these that do not suit your argument): Why is Orwell’s model a useful way to approach this political event? Are there important aspects of the event that Orwell does not provide us with a way to analyze, or that go against his thesis? Please note that I will be expecting at least half of your essay to focus on Orwell’s essay, and the events should be seen as a way to analyze Orwell. Also note that this is not an invitation for a general discussion of a political event: I will be expecting arguments to have an arguable position, and to discuss evidence from Orwell directly.
Option 6:
Write an essay considering the symbolism of the bed in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper.” What is the bed symbolic of, and how is this symbol developed throughout the short story?
