Assignment details
Topic to work on - Explore the relationship between humanity and the divine.
The major assignment for this week is to compose a 900-word essay comparing The Odyssey with either The Song of Roland or Dante's Inferno. In this paper you will write an in-depth analysis using your own ideas and excerpts from the epic poems in the form of quotes, paraphrase, or summary.
As you prepare to write this essay, make sure you understand what you are being asked to do.
Pick a Topic
First, identify a topic in consultation with your instructor or write about one of the following options:
1. Although nearly two thousand years separate The Odyssey and Dante's Inferno, both works are epic poems that: -
- Explore the relationship between humanity and the divine.
- Employ journey as a metaphor for maturation.
- Reveal and teach cultural values about leadership.
- Caution audiences about the appeal of temptation.
- Contemplate the nature of immortality.
Compare and contrast how one of these topics is developed in The Odyssey and Dante's Inferno. Be sure to contextualize your examination in the cultural values, philosophies, literary movements, and ideas that typify each work. Use literary perspectives to enrich your analysis.
2.The Song of Roland and The Odyssey, though separated by thousands of years, are both epic works whose protagonists are warriors engaged in violent conflict: Roland is a medieval Crusader and Odysseus is on a long journey home after conquering Troy. Additionally, both works:
- Explore the relationship between humanity and the divine.
- Reveal and teach cultural values about leadership.
- Contemplate the nature of immortality.
- Examine the moral and practical implications of loyalty and betrayal.
Compare and contrast how one of these topics is developed in The Song of Roland and The Odyssey. Be sure to contextualize your examination in the cultural values, philosophies, literary movements, and ideas that typify each work. Use literary perspectives to enrich your analysis.
Develop a Tentative Thesis
As you consider different options for your thesis,
- Develop a few hypotheses about the text that are based on your own perspectives and relate to the topic that you chose to explore for this assignment.
- In addition to considering the texts' plots, reflect on the role that genre and other elements of literature (see the online lecture on this topic) play in revealing medieval Western European and ancient Greek cultures, including important philosophies and values associated with these regions and eras.
- Review the lectures on literary movements and literary perspectives (feminist, psychoanalytic, and historicist perspectives on literature) and identify which of these analytical tools best supports the ideas that you are beginning to develop.
Prewriting
Gather evidence that is likely to support your tentative thesis. At this point, there is no need to use "outside" sources to complete the essay. You will have an opportunity to do that next week. For now, your evidence should consist of experiential knowledge (what you have learned through life experience) and quotes, paraphrase, or summary from the epic poem's texts.
Next, choose one of the prewriting techniques discussed in chapter 3c, "Invent and Prewrite," of The New Century Handbook and begin prewriting.
Rough Draft
Write your rough draft. You are not required to submit it, but you should acquire the habit of writing one