Discussion 1

Post 1: Read Othello before answering this question. What was the basic storyline of the play you saw or read; i.e., what happened?  Who were the characters and what actors played them, if you saw a movie?  Was the play you saw a comedy or a tragedy?  Be sure to use the Shakespearean definitions!   If you saw a tragedy, who was the tragic hero and what was his fatal flaw?  If you saw a comedy, who ended up married at the end?  What human trait or emotion was at the center of the action?  Would you recommend this movie version of Shakespeare or the play you read to your classmates?  Why or why not?  Be sure to quote, cite, and reference from the text(s) using appropriate APA format.  Your post must be at least 250 words.

Post 2: Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales contains many examples of the poetry terms from the Poetry Lecture.  Using EITHER the Prologue OR "The Miller's Tale," find and discuss examples of at least two poetry terms in any section of 10 lines and explain what is happening in those ten lines.  Be sure to quote, cite, and reference from the text(s) using appropriate APA format.  Your post must be at least 250 words.

Discussion 2

Post 1: Compare the portrayal of life and death in Ben Jonson's "On My First Son" to Milton's "When I Consider How My Light is Spent."  Is there irony in either of them?  How does each poet express his sadness concerning the situation he faces?  Be sure to quote, cite, and reference from the text(s) using appropriate APA format.  Your post must be at least 250 words.

Post 2: Compare the attitudes toward marriage and commitment in two of the following: "A Married State," "The Disappointment," "To His Coy Mistress," and Marriage A-la-Mode.  Do these attitudes seem audacious, especially given that two were written by women in the 18th century?  Be sure to quote, cite, and reference from the text(s) using appropriate APA format.  Your post must be at least 250 words.

Discussion 3

Post 1: Look at Blake's "A Poison Tree" and discuss how it illustrates the "over-the-top" emotions of the Romantics.  Explain what the poem means and identify at least one symbol and describe its meaning.  Be sure to quote, cite, and reference from the text(s) using appropriate APA format.  Your post must be at least 250 words. 

Post 2: Respond to Barrett Browning's "Cry of the Children," keeping in mind the historical-biographical criticism you learned about in Week 1.  What is the poem's purpose?  Do you think the poem accomplishes its purpose?  Why or why not?  Give specific examples from the poem to illustrate how Barrett Browning does/does not achieve her goal.

Discussion 4

Post 1: Choose either Margaret Atwood's "Death by Landscape" or D.H. Lawrence's "The Odour of Chrysanthemums" and identify the conflict of the story.  Choose two additional terms from the Elements of Fiction lecture and apply them to the story.  Be sure to quote, cite, and reference from the text(s) using appropriate APA format.  Your post must be at least 250 words.

Post 2: A buldingsroman typically refers to a novel, but the concept can be applied to Mansfield's "The Garden Party."  How does Laura's perception of how she fits in with her society change as the story progresses?  What realizations does she make about herself and her social class?  Be sure to quote, cite, and reference from the text(s) using appropriate APA format. Your post must be at least 250 words.