Select and complete ONE of the following 5 tasks:
Your answer must include a short bibliography of the criticism, editions, and dictionaries you have referred to (this is not counted in the word count, although quotations from primary texts and your footnotes are counted). For questions 1-4 you must quote in Middle English (and not a modern English translation). Please give line references for all the quotations you include (you should place these in the body of your essay and NOT in the footnotes).
Write a close commentary on ‘Stonde Wel Moder’, lines 1-65 (you should use the text edited by Susanna Greer Fein and available here: https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/fein-harley2253-volume-2-article-60). In your commentary you must comment on the genre of the passage, its relationship to its sources, identify its major themes, and comment on how the writer uses aspects of language and style (for example, form, diction/register, imagery, syntax) to convey them. You should explore the relationship between style and meaning.Write a close commentary on Julian of Norwich’s Revelation of Divine Love, lines 59-96 (‘And efter this …drede of conscience.’) (you should use the text in The Book Of Middle English, pp.371-72, which is available as a scan on moodle). In your commentary you must comment on the genre of the passage, identify its major themes, its significance in the text as a whole, and analyse how Julian uses aspects of language and style (for example, form, diction/register, imagery, syntax). You should explore the relationship between style and meaning.Write a close commentary on John Gower’s ‘Tale of Tereus’ from Confessio Amantis, book V, lines 5731-5776 (‘Nou leve we …Progne anon’). You may use the text in your Norton Anthology, or that edited by Russell Peck at Confessio Amantis: Book 5 | Robbins Library Digital Projects (rochester.edu)). In your commentary you must comment on the genre of the passage, identify its major themes, its significance in the text as a whole, its relationship to its sources, and analyse how Gower uses aspects of language and style (for example, poetic form, diction/register, imagery, syntax). You should explore the relationship between style and meaning.Write a close commentary on Sir Orfeo, lines 369-408 (‘Al that lond …it was he’). You should use the text in your Norton Anthology. In your commentary you must comment on the genre of the passage, identify its major themes, its significance in the text as a whole, its relationship to its sources, and analyse how the poet uses aspects of language and style (for example, poetic form, diction/register, imagery, syntax). You should explore the relationship between style and meaning.
