Essay 2: P.B. Shelley’s The Cenci or The Masque of Anarchy or John Clare’s “The

Essay 2: P.B. Shelley’s The Cenci or The Masque of Anarchy or John Clare’s “The Moors”
Write a 4-5 page essay (double-spaced, 12pt proportional font, 1” margins) in response to one of the prompts below. Consult and follow the “Writing Guidelines for Literature Papers” in the “Writing Guidelines and Grading Criteria” folder under “Writing Assignments” on our course blackboard site while planning and executing your paper. The “Guidelines” address many specific questions that might come up as you are planning and writing your paper. Are you unsure how to organize your argument? How to set up a paragraph? How to incorporate quotes correctly? Check the guidelines. Our designated tutor for the course, William Murray, can help you with any aspect of the writing process, though working with him on a draft of your essay will likely be most effective. The November sign-up sheet for appointments with William will be available soon, so if you did not yet sign up for a meeting in October, you’ll have another opportunity then. Two visits are required this semester, see the syllabus.
There is no need for a title page for such a short essay, but you should make sure to give your essay a well-crafted title. (See also the “Sample first page” document in the Writing Guidelines folder.) Your paper should present a clear thesis statement, answering the question you have chosen, evidence from the text, and analysis of that evidence to show the reader how it supports your point. I also again expect you to use at least one academic secondary source. You can engage with a scholar who has offered a reading of the text you are discussing, or integrate a source that has helped you with historical background information for the text. For more, see the note on Outside Sources on the next page. You will also need to provide bibliography entries in MLA format for the texts you use in your paper.
The due-date for submission on Blackboard is Thursday, November 4 by 11:59pm. Here are the prompts to choose from:
1) Shelley’s play The Cenci presents a performance of the workings and effects of patriarchal power. How does this power of “the father” work in the play, and how does it affect the characters? (You of course need not discuss all the characters who appear on stage, but choose at least one female and one male character for your analysis.)
2) Beatrice, the heroine of Shelley’s play, adamantly maintains her innocence until the very end. On what grounds does she do so? What argument does Shelley’s play make about guilt, innocence, punishment and justice?
3) Words and their meaning and power play a central role in The Cenci. What does the play have to say about language and the ability of words to represent the truth, distinguish right from wrong, and to affect a person’s thoughts, feelings and actions?
4) Shelley’s poem The Masque of Anarchy opens with a devastating account of the “triumph of Anarchy,” who proclaims himself “ ‘God and King and Law’ ” (l. 57). How does the poem suggest such a seemingly all-powerful figure can be defeated and its oppression abolished? What vision of freedom and lawfulness does Shelley’s text develop instead?
5) The enclosure acts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries transformed the British countryside. What argument does John Clare’s poem “The Moors” make about the changes enclosure brought to the land, animals, and people in rural England? How does the text use poetic form and language to make the effects of these changes palpable to the reader?
Outside sources
Your outside sources need to be scholarly sources. An essay on EZPoetry.com or one of the many online study aid websites is not an appropriate source for an academic paper and is quite likely misleading, inaccurate, and ill-informed. Choose your company wisely.