1500 words plus you pick one topic.
Final Paper Topics
1: Select one or more sections from "Song of Myself" and explain how Whitman develops a central theme in the passages you choose to discuss. For example, you may write about Whitman's ideas about spirituality, religion, democracy, the role of the poet, the identity of the persona or speaker in the poem, the nature of the self, self-reliance or any other central topic.
2. Explain and illustrate how some central idea of ideas from Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance" are developed in "Song of Myself" and/or "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" by Whitman.
3. Select two to three poems by Emily Dickinson and explain either how they complement each other-how they treat a similar subject in some similar way-or how they differ in their treatment of some more or less similar subject. Major topics in Dickinson's poetry include romantic love, interaction with the natural world, the self, religion, poetry and death, among others.
4. Compare and contrast the presence and uses of religion in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and Fern's Ruth Hall. Does Christianity form an important part of the values in both of these works? How so? Does Hawthorne treat Christianity differently that Fern? Explain your answer with illustrative details from both works.
5. Explain the nature of the relationship that Captain Vere develops with the title character in Melville's Billy Budd. How does Melville as narrator comment on this relationship? What does he want the reader to understand about Captain Vere in revealing the nature of the relationship to the reader?
6. Other than Vere's reaction, explain the nature of the private, public and official reactions to Billy Budd's hanging, as well as the poem an anonymous sailor composes about Budd and his death. Why does Melville include these reactions in the novel? What is their purpose?