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English 311

Final Project

Due: Anytime from 5/7-5/13

The strangeness that has been the last several weeks has caused us to have to more briefly cover many of the authors (and their works) than was originally planned.  With that in mind, your final project will allow you to gain some expertise on the works of almost any of our authors from the semester. You can select a work from our textbook, either of the two first volumes (up as far as Milton). You should select a work we have not already and are not going to cover together, but you may choose a different work by an author that we will cover (other than Chaucer, Shakespeare, or Milton).  With proper consultation, I would allow you to select an author and work from our time period, but not in our book. For your chosen work, you should research the following:

1. The historical and political climate of the time (prepare an overview, highlighting particular details that you find particularly important);
2. The original reception of the work (was it popular and/or accepted at the time, or was unpopular originally);
3. The critical history of the work (read select pieces of criticism about the work, and prepare an overview);

            4. The biography of the author (especially focusing on any relevance to the selected work);

            5. Your analysis of what you found and how it’s important to our current understanding of the

                work; this part should be at least 2-3 pages.

The final product should 8-10 pages – word-processed and double-spaced and printed one-sided, should be appropriately cited in MLA format, and should be clear, well-constructed, and free of error. The order you present the five components in is up to you. The final paper should be logically organized in whatever order best suits your discussion.