ASSIGNMENT Nº 1

Choose one of the following topics and write a 2-page essay (1.5 space; Times New Roman 12 or Arial 11). Make sure to include quotations from the literary texts. Absolutely no plagiarism will be accepted (if detected, this will result in 0% and the impossibility of writing a second version). Please turn in the hand-written or printed version in class. DUE APRIL 6TH

 Topic 1: 

Read the ballad “The Unquiet Grave” and analyze the topics of  love, death and the supernatural. Comment on the similarities and differences between “The Unquiet Grave" and "Bonnie Barbara Allen". After the introductory paragraph, you may devote one paragraph to the treatment of love, death and the supernatural in "The Unquiet Grave"; another paragraph to the same themes in "Bonnie Barbara Allen", and then, a concluding paragraph.

The Unquiet Grave

 

 I

‘THE WIND doth blow today, my love, 

  And a few small drops of rain; 

I never had but one true-love; 

  In cold grave she was lain. 

 

II

‘I’ll do as much for my true-love        

  As any young man may; 

I’ll sit and mourn all at her grave 

  For a twelvemonth and a day.’ 

 

III

The twelvemonth and a day being up, 

  The dead began to speak:        

‘Oh who sits weeping on my grave, 

  And will not let me sleep?’— 

 

IV

‘’Tis I, my love, sits on your grave, 

  And will not let you sleep; 

For I crave one kiss of your clay-cold lips,        

  And that is all I seek.’— 

 

V

‘You crave one kiss of my clay-cold lips; 

  But my breath smells earthy strong; 

If you have one kiss of my clay-cold lips, 

  Your time will not be long.        

 

VI

‘’Tis down in yonder garden green, 

  Love, where we used to walk, 

The finest flower that ere was seen 

  Is wither’d to a stalk. 

 

VII

‘The stalk is wither’d dry, my love,          

  So will our hearts decay; 

So make yourself content, my love, 

  Till God calls you away.’

Topic 2:

Compare and contrast the presentation of the epic hero in The Dream of the Rood and in Beowulf. After the introductory paragraph, you may write one paragraph about the similarities, another paragraph about the differences, and then, a concluding paragraph.