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(2018
midterm assignment) Sample Student Midterm Answers 2018 #4: Research Proposals |
LITR 4328 |
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Student Proposal: Taylor Prejean Abernathy
Research
Proposal
For my research
proposal, I have decided to do option 1, the traditional, analytical essay. I
would like to analyze literature from Frederick Douglass. More specifically, I
would love to dig deep into his speech, “What To the Slave Is The Fourth of
July”. When looking into our weeks ahead, I came across Frederick Douglass and
slavery. This automatically caught my attention because I have always had a lot
of interest in slavery. While it saddens me for the pain slavery has caused
others, I can't help but have much interest in the time this all began.
Although we are not specifically reading “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” in class, I feel that is a speech that desperately needs to be analyzed. I found this speech by accident when I was doing some research to get prepared for our readings coming up soon. I saw his name numerous times, therefore, I wanted to get ahead and by accident I came across this speech. To say I was saddened, would be an understatement. This speech literally made my stomach ache. To learn that Frederick Douglass was known as the greatest orator of the antebellum period, made me more interested in learning more about him, especially his story behind this speech.
Instructor response: Yes to your proposal, Taylor, and thanks for finding a text that interests you. I used to include that speech in the course, but our reading selection from Douglass's Narrative is so long that we never found time to discuss it, so I regrettably dropped it from our course's readings.
You seem to have an analysis in mind, but if you want my input, the way I've taught it when time was available was to compare it to other texts that reacted to the Declaration of Independence and the promises some of us celebrate on the 4th of July (while others regret the breaking of those promises). Here's the page I developed for such instruction, which includes an excerpt from Douglass's speech along with other contemporary and later texts, some of which we get to this semester: http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/texts/AmClassics/founders/Jefferson/declaration.htm
One other, bigger possibility is to let you know that Douglass included this speech and other speeches as a supplement to the second edition of his memoirs, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), whose table of contents you can see at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/202/202-h/202-h.htm
Student Proposal: Kyle W. Abshire
Sublime Transcendence
Every piece of literature has a goal. For example, writings from the
Enlightenment period strived to bring rationality and level-headedness to the
forefront and writings from the neo-classical period attempted to use skepticism
as a way to critique the world. These types of writing focused on issues in the
world and attempted to tackle and address, why and how, we struggle through
them. The Romantic period is similar, in that it does address the issues of the
period, but it is almost wholly different because it also attempts to take us
into a realm of spiritual or emotional understanding. Romantic writings like
Edgar Allan Poe’s Ligeia and Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow, take the reader on an adventure; one that not only forces us to face
the world but also our inner desires.
The use of a sublime style in writing helps the reader get in an emotional
state. The physical is almost inconsequential, only leaving the emotional or
spiritual desire in control. This is best represented in The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow’s wooded trail that Ichabod Crane races down, as he flees the
headless horseman. The entire setting transforms as the ghostly apparition
appears. Ichabod and the reader are no longer on a trail in the woods, but in a
spiritual realm filled with the emotion of fear. The dark setting forces us to
forget about the physical world and focus on our desire. In this example,
Ichabod’s desire is to live, so he flees dangerously fast to escape the ghost.
Through close inspection of Romantic writings, I will discuss the use of the
sublime and its ability to force us out of a physical setting and into a
spiritual one, where emotions rule, rather than logic.
Instructor response: Thanks for an interesting proposal, Kyle. The distinctions you make between rational, emotional-spiritual, and physical appear supported by Sleepy Hollow at least as far as you went, and I'm game for seeing how you develop the idea more in this story and other texts. Whitman may offer a possibility, or Hawthorne, maybe Dickinson, even Frederick Douglass--I'm just starting and so are you. One intellectual dimension that may be helpful is the use of the Sublime (beauty + terror) in religious contexts, as when mortals fear God, e.g. Emerson's "glad to the point of fear," but also many examples beyond our course. You'll find your way as usual, but welcome to confer.
Student Proposal: Logan Blair
Gothic in the Character
For my research proposal, I decide to go with the
gothic element in the literature. I will be focusing on the characters in the
stories and how they help contribute to the idea of gothic. I will be looking at
Poe’s Ligeia and Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. I will be looking at their
physical feature and how they act in their stories.
Could I add in outside reading as well, maybe
Dracula and
Frankenstein? If I could, then I will
also look into the characters' physical features.
I will be writing this in option one, which is the research essay but I might
change it later. The questions I do have is:
●
Can I do outside reading?
●
What else can I do to expand my research?
Instructor response: Thanks for a thoughtful proposal, Logan. Yes, you can do outside reading and include works like Dracula and Frankenstein--in fact, I encourage you to, since limiting yourself to the other stories might be too much like an exam essay. Your interest in the characters' physical features sounds interesting and may be a way to unify your research. More broadly, this topic might be researched as gothic characterization; that is, how does the gothic style construct literary characters or recognizable types (which of course can have many variations). I immediately think of the fair lady-dark lady dynamic, the Byronic hero, and sometimes grotesque minor characters, but that's just off the top of my head. Welcome to confer with me, but you might also consider interviewing some of your other Literature instructors, as these are familiar types and you'll quickly recognize them on your own.
I appreciate your questions and think I answered them all more or less, but welcome to follow up, as this is a topic worth pursuing and one you'll probably get even more interested in.
Not to push you away from the Essay option, as that's the right choice so far, but if your research starts ranging into popular culture (e.g. the Addams family, Harry Potter, many more possibilities) a journal can cover a lot of ground with somewhat less thematic unity. Have a look at some journals on Model Assignments or check with me or both--or find your way!
Student Proposal: Tommy Brewer
The American Sublime
While looking through all of the reading that we have done over the
course of the few weeks we have participated in class, one term has always stood
out to me; sublime. Now I care for this not because the name is shared by a fun
little band that I like, but also just the concept to me is something that has
always been fascinating. To see something so magnificent yet terrifying and
trying to describe invokes a sense of wonder that I seek in all forms of media,
not just writing. It is with that I would like to delve into what American
authors at the time viewed as sublime.
I would like to take part in an analytical essay exploring what it is
that we find sublime over here in the states and unpack that very idea. With all
that we have available to us I think there is a lot of material from the likes
of Poe, Dickinson, Irving and the like to have a deep analysis of what makes the
sublime stand out by our American standards. I hope to have a great depth of
exploration into this topic.
Instructor response: If you want to identify what's essentially American about use of the Sublime in our readings (and maybe beyond), are you considering also investigating what the sublime was in some British or European literature? I'm used to teaching "American gothic" in contrast to European styles of the same, but the sublime is so grand and lofty that it never quite occurred to me that there could be an American version. I'm not nixing your proposal, as it raises an interesting question, but implicit in the topic is that earlier European instances of the Sublime set some standards from which American instances deviated, and you may need to set this up to prove your point--which is probably possible, but I haven't gone there myself. Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Blake certainly indulge the sublime here and there in their poetry, for example, but maybe you have other writers in mind. It's been a long time since I read M. Shelley's Frankenstein, but some of its natural settings seem sublime to memory. Also I now thinking of Percy Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, which has many rapturous passages.
For starters on historical (mostly European) sources on the Sublime, go to our course website on the term: http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/S/sublime.htm. Another possibility for American Sublime that occurs to me might be its religious dimension rising from the Second Great Awakening, which emphasized the soon-to-be Second Coming, which is often anticipated in Sublime forms, e.g. "new Heaven and new Earth."
At this point more questions than certainty, so welcome to confer.
Student Proposal: Ruth Brown
New
England in the American Renaissance
I am still not committed to a specific
idea for the research project yet, but I do have a direction of interest. Coming
into this class, the only thing I had associated with the American Renaissance
was the area of New England, specifically the literary hub of Concord,
Massachusetts. I would really like to be able to do a project related to this,
whether it is about something like Brook Farm or the Concord circle of writers.
As I don’t have very much research or information about these topics, I don’t
know in what direction I could go yet.
Instructor response: Some scholars actually refer to the American Renaissance as "the New England Renaissance," and Poe, though born in Boston, is our course's only major author not associated with New England, so conceivably you could write a journal on this broad topic alone--Why New England? But your other, more specific possibilities are also good, so your choice among many. Whether to write a journal or essay can depend somewhat on how narrow a ground you want to cover (yes, the narrower, the more toward an essay) and whether there's a particular point you want to prove (essay) or rather an area of knowledge you want to explore as a foundation for future learning (journal). The two formats can overlap, though, and some journals have sections that more closely resemble short essays, and some essays review considerable scads of historical information.
Among related terms, the Concord group was mostly associated with Transcendentalism. Fairly all the Transcendentalists were products of the Unitarian Church, born out of the New England Congregationalists (or later-generation Puritans). Brook Farm started (unofficially) as pretty much a Transcendentalist experiment, led by Unitarian minister George Ripley a friend of Emerson's, and the farm was visited by Emerson, Fuller, and maybe Thoreau, among others. Hawthorne, also a Unitarian but maybe not a Transcendentalist in the strict term of the word, was briefly a resident and wrote his novel The Blithedale Romance partly on the scene there.
I chatter, but all to indicate how fertile the ground (unlike the ground chosen for Brook Farm). New England is a small, closely-interconnected world compared to the Southwest. You'll find your way, but welcome to communicate further or check in with progress.
Student Proposal: Kirstyn Bullington
Southern Pro Slavery
For my research assignment, I am
interested in the journal option, but I would like your advice on how to write
and research about Southern Pro Slavery writers. Slavery is one of the biggest
and mostly discussed part of American history. However, as a student, I never
really was exposed to writings from pro slavery writers. (Understandable) Even
though I have my side, and I’m sticking to it, I believe it is important to be
exposed to information and stories from both sides of the argument. I feel as if
we are living in a world that is allergic to believing that there is two sides
to every topic.
I would need your help on identifying
many of the popular pro-slavery writers. With those writers, I would want to
research their biographies as well as researching and reading their writing.
Maybe something in their biography can give any insight as to why they believed
in the things that they did. I didn’t know if this would limit me to only one
writer or if it was a good ideas to use multiple writers?
Instructor response: Thanks for an interesting proposal,
Kirstyn. My knowledge of the subject is limited for the same reason yours is—the
idea is discredited and even shameful, that is, and there’s so much good stuff
to read, why should one spend time on what was decided to be wrong?
But your
defense of your interest is worthy, and as you do your research, I recommend
that you keep it in mind to see whether or how your interest is rewarded. The
only writer in the tradition that I’ve read is William Gilmore Simms, a South
Carolina novelist, whose 1854 novel
Woodcraft I can
tell you a little about—it seemed at least partly a response to
Uncle Tom’s Cabin,
but supposedly his
The Sword and the Distaff
is his “Anti-Tom Novel,” a term you can look up in Wikipedia for some other
writers in that tradition.
Among nonfiction writers, the one
I’ve seen anthologized the most is George Fitzhugh. Other legal or political
defenders of slavery in the USA are William Harper, Albert Taylor Bledsoe, and
James Henry Hammond (who sounds like a truly
terrible man—you can read for yourself, but like Simms, he married into wealth
where wealth was largely determined by property in slaves).
Looking
around for names, I was surprised to see listed George Whitefield, the great
English evangelist who was essential to the 2nd
Great Awakening that kick-started American evangelism.
These are all men. Doubtless there are some less
prominent women writers in the tradition, but then as now the South maintained a
hierarchy not just of race but of gender, so women didn’t have as many
opportunities for expression as in the North. A Southern woman’s name to be
aware of, though, is Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut, whose diary is something of a
classic—her husband was a Southern politician and therefore pro-slavery, but she
herself was less so at least.
Student Proposal: Brandon Burrow
All Black Everything: Where’d the Gothic Go?
For my research project I am going to
do a research journal. I like this option because it will allow me to read and
compare different works, and either track the gothic theme through the ages, or
determine what has become the modern evolution of the gothic theme since its
heyday during the American Renaissance. I will start with Poe, and from there I
know about Lovecraft, who was influenced by and admired Poe’s work, but I don’t
know exactly where this path will take me after that.
It’s possible I end up in the world of pulp novels, or I may find a spring of literary darkness that I do not yet know of. Thinking about modern works that might fit the gothic bill, Stephen King and Guillermo Del Toro are two artists that I am interested in analyzing and researching further. There is tons of supernatural and dark fantasy being pumped out in our culture these days and I’m curious how its genre differs from the gothic that Poe defined. Once I do some initial research, I will decide on a collection of works, likely some short stories and a novel or two (maybe even a film!), to analyze and report my findings on.
Instructor response: Yes, Brandon, proceed as planned. I watched the opening scenes of del Toro's Crimson Peak and wondered if the plot worked better for other viewers than for me, but yes it was extremely rich in gothic memes. You can start with Poe for your research into genealogy and evolution of forms, but remember that Poe himself is somewhat late in the gothic tradition.
For some history of the gothic before and after Poe, you might simply scan our course term-page at http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/G/gothic.htm and the (incomplete) page on gothic variations at http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/G/GothVari.htm. Plus there are any number of recent studies of the gothic in the stacks at UHCL's library.
You don't have to cover everything, and you may limit your research and exposition to what connects most to the Poe-Lovecraft axis, but some standard information about where that occurs in the gothic continuum won't be amiss. Welcome to check in and discuss as you proceed, as you'll find many possibilities.
Student Proposal: Justin L. Butler
Poe’s Trail
Upon writing the proposal for my research report, I had no idea how I was
going to accomplish composing a thesis, let alone writing a paper that aligned
with the courses material. After rigorous research, I began to think about what
I enjoyed the most and decided to write my research report over Edgar Allan Poe.
By using option one: traditional 7-10 page essay, I will exemplify how
Poe has not only influenced writers that have come after him and used his
writing style (gothic and romance), but also demonstrate the works of Poe that
consist of these particular genres. Analyzing Poe’s work will give us an insight
on his style of writing, to which, identifying the same in other artists work
will be easier to detect. We will also be able to detect it in other forms of
literature as well (movies and television shows of modern society).
Instructor response: Your topic is generally fine, Justin, but you're planning a big package for a little essay. If you want to write an essay, you might concentrate on some gothic or Romantic forms in a few of his works, preferably not just the ones we cover in class. On the other hand, if you want to cover Poe's style and influence on others and in other art forms, that sounds more like a journal, and a look at the Model Assignments can show you how some previous students have handled similar topics (many concerning Poe) in both the journal and essay form. Welcome to communicate further as you find your way.
Student Proposal: Jasmine Choate
Twenty-One Pilots’ Modern Take on Gothic Narrative
To be quite honest, I’ve been
struggling to come up with something substantial for my research project. The
closest I’ve gotten is an idea to do an analysis of the parallel themes within
lyrics/music video visuals from the alternative band twenty-one pilots and The
American Renaissance. I’d specifically be focusing on their album “Blurryface”
(2015). In this album, there is a lyrical narrative thread and visual concept
that I think exemplifies a lot of the gothic tones and themes that we have come
across in the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Washington Irving, as well as many of
the terms listed on our course website (Gothic, Byronic Hero, Doppelganger,
Desire & Loss, The Sublime, Melodrama, etc.)
In my research essay, I’d work my way
through the album’s track list analyzing each and comparing to works and terms
from the course. I’d also incorporate their music videos, which include many
gothic and romantic visuals. I wasn’t sure if it would be acceptable to
incorporate something modern or music related, it’s just I can’t help but be
reminded of this concept album from the works that we read and discuss in class.
Essentially, I’d be discovering and analyzing how this album has underlying
connections to and drawn inspiration from the American Renaissance, whether
intended by the artists or not.
Instructor response: This feels like a bit of a stretch but it can work if you develop enough connections and make them matter. One way is to see popular American culture as basically an evolution of Romanticism, with of course some changes since there's been a lot of history since then till now. I may have heard of Twenty One Pilots but am no help.
Besides some research to shore up your understanding of Romanticism, you might look for research on how the movement has become popularized in mainstream American culture. Another, more certain research possibility would be to read reviews of Blurryface to see if current music critics are making any of the connections you're perceiving.
This topic might work as an essay, but you might also consider the journal option since it would give you some more range to explore and develop a range of subjects with some less unity than an essay. On the other hand, some journals resemble essays in a good way, so you wouldn't have to give up what you're already planning. Welcome to discuss further.
Second Proposal:
The Impact
of the Headless Horseman
For my second/re-try research proposal, I found inspiration in a small thrift
store this weekend, when I stumbled across a book titled “Sleepy Hollow: Rise
Headless and Ride”. It is the story of Sleepy Hollow, reimagined in modern
times. This led me to think about how much of an impact Washington Irving’s
story has made on our culture today. So, for my research project, I’d like to do
a journal where I discover exactly how far and wide that impact goes.
I’d start with an introduction discussing my initial reaction to reading
Washington Irving’s story for the first time in this course, as well as what I
was surprised to learn from it. Then I’d move on to discussing the story and the
key characteristics that make this story an important part of the Romantic
period. I would then dive into different forms of adaptations
(books/movies/children’s books/stage plays etc.), which I’d compare and contrast
with the original source text’s writing style and narrative. I’d break up
journal entries by the different type of adaptation. I’d also like to look into
the geographical and perhaps cultural impacts that the text has left on society
today. For example, I had no clue that there was an actual town called Sleepy
Hollow. For my conclusion, I’d reflect on the new deeper understanding that I
have gained about the text and the gothic genre through my research.
Instructor response: Thanks for the second proposal, Jasmine, and yes, it's plenty factual or informational enough to work as a journal. About the Romantic period, don't forget that it's early in the period and so has characteristics also of the Enlightenment, esp. satire and comedy but also those genres' or styles' limits of stereotyping or limitations on social behavior. I suggest this because the more interesting edge of your topic is how it gets historically reimagined. Sorry if this explanation is a jumble, but its connection to the Enlightenment and the nation's founding make it almost like a founding text of American literature and culture--so much so that everyone already knows it without having to read it.
You can keep the gothic in sight, but the subject or field of your journal sounds like "cultural history," so you could ask how the gothic develops or changes from the original text to Sleepy Hollow's later developments or appearances. For instance, the recent movie exploits the gothic in sensational terms, lacking the decorum or restraint with which the original text operations.
You may well find some advanced research on this subject, so consider asking a reference librarian at the UHCL library for help. Another research possibility, as in my previous response, would be to read some reviews of the movie, or even some travel articles about the town. Anyway this topic is fine to stay with, and welcome to confer anytime.
Student Proposal: Cynthia Cleveland
The Gothic: What Do We Have to
Fear?
I have long been a fan of Poe’s writings
and have had a steady fascination with his appeal to the Gothic. Though, it has
always been a subject of much intrigue for me, I have hardly ever paused to
wonder why we have such a fascination with the Gothic and what purpose it serves
within the world of literature. For myself, the Gothic has been an embodiment of
a very basic human instinct: fear. It is an emotion with which everyone is
imbued and drives us, in one way or another.
Here I’m proposing a journal style paper, primarily focusing on the Gothic, but with a contrast to the Romantic, since they seem to have their start during the same period of literature. I wish to dive into the trend of the gothic and why it became such a popular and relevant genre of literature during this time period. I will be using Poe in my studies, but also plan to incorporate others such as Emily Dickinson and Washington Irving. I will be expanding beyond these authors, though I haven’t decided which texts yet, will confer for more relevant subject matter.
Instructor response: If I'm creating a contrast for the gothic, in American lit I usually go for Transcendentalism rather than Romanticism. Since the gothic is a branch or division or dimension of Romanticism, you may want to develop another relationship besides contrast, unless you're restricting Romanticism to healthy outdoor nature as with, say, Wordsworth.
A background fact for developing that possible relationship: the gothic somewhat precedes Romanticism, or you could say it anticipates Romanticism, as it starts during the 1750s. Have a look at some of the historic backgrounds further down on our gothic term-page. An early example in American lit was Edgar Huntly (1799) in our Early American Literature course last year (seems longer ago now). (Lots of twinning in Edgar Huntly too, but it also has something of a romance narrative, however complicated by sleep-walking.)
Another simple suggestion is not to limit your research to writers before the midterm, since the gothic will continue to appear, but if you're strong on Poe, you could consider developing your Romanticism / gothic topic to focus on him and how he's both, and what the relation of the two terms becomes in his case.
Sorry if I'm writing coyly, as if I know what that relationship is. I have problems with simple contrast, but that doesn't mean I'm holding back a secret answer. Mostly this semester I've been doing light-dark and healthy-unhealthy with Transcendentalism and the gothic, which hints at some pattern but you're not limited to that either.
Back to your first paragraph, since you were interested in fear, today we connected the pain of fear or horror with the sublime. I can't recall how much Poe uses the term sublime, but at least some of his writings refer to beauty as irregular (as with Ligeia). Seek and ye shall find, or welcome to confer further.
Student Proposal: Curtis Crunk
The
Nature of the Sublime: A Research Proposal
I have always had a fascination with the gothic; most of my time in
school when not doing classwork was spent reading Poe and other gothic writers.
When I saw the assignments for our class, I initially wanted to work on a paper
about Poe, but then we began to discuss the concept of the sublime and the path
I had initially decided to take changed. To me, the concept of the sublime is
fascinating and has never really been touched on in my previous classes, and
because of that I would like to explore the nature of the sublime in various
texts, particularly Sleepy Hollow and
Rip Van Winkle. By doing so, I wish
to show the importance of time and elements of the gothic and how they interact
with the sublime in adding to not only the horror associated with the gothic but
with nature itself.
I will choose the research essay approach in my pursuit of showing the
importance and nature of the sublime. My reasoning for this comes from my belief
that the examination of the sublime will add more to the Romantic movement of
literature and show it as equally important to the gothic. Most students tend to
focus on the gothic because it is odd and inviting to them; I believe that my
understanding of the gothic is adequate enough and that the sublime is much more
fascinating of a subject in regards to this course and is often overlooked in
our readings. If approved, I will hopefully achieve a better understanding and
mastery over the sublime and be able to equate to it an importance that is
overlooked because of the heavy gothic elements of the Romantic period.
Instructor response: Welcome to feature Irving in your description and analysis of the Sublime (more on that in a moment) but also consider expanding your primary research to other texts in our course or beyond, as the Sublime as a concept begins earlier than Romanticism and some development comes later--I can suggest some texts if you don't have some possibilities already coming to mind. For starters on historical sources, go to our course website on the Sublime: http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/S/sublime.htm.
If you want to stick with Irving (or regardless), a related aesthetic term in the Enlightenment and some (esp. early) Romanticism is the Picturesque. Another possibility, since you nearly reflect on it, is to explore the interfaces of the gothic and sublime, since they sometimes converge even if they're hardly identical.
Finally, your plan on Irving suits the Essay (Option 1) assignment--my only misgiving is that there may not be enough material for you to avoid duplicating what we did in class or what you or others may already have done for the midterm. Anyway my point is to consider the Journal (Option 2) as that can prosper a learning mission and allow some range of materials that an essay might have trouble unifying. Welcome to continue discussing.
Student Proposal: Virginia DeLeon
Dark Desires: A Psychological Analysis of the Gothic
For my research proposal I want to dive into the black, murky waters of the
Gothic. More specifically—how it relates to psychology. I have always been drawn
to works of art considered “dark” or “macabre” because I feel that they reflect
the human psyche in its full splendour. I once heard a metaphor that describes
the unconscious mind as an iceberg, where the tip of the iceberg (what we can
see) is our conscious mind, and the enormous part of the iceberg below water
(what we cannot see) represents our unconscious mind. I believe that the realm
of the gothic lies beneath the shadows. Somewhere in the depths of the human
soul lie the secrets to our fascination with grotesque stories such as Edgar
Allan Poe’s “Ligeia” and haunting poems such as Emily Dickinson’s “I felt a
funeral in my brain”.
For this assignment, I decided to go with the most traditional option—the
analytical/research essay. I feel comfortable with this format, and I also feel
like I have much to say about my selected topic. My research paper will explore
the recurring themes of death, darkness, imagination, and correspondence from
various works of gothic literature. More importantly, I will seek answers as to
how these elements reflect human psychology. I will draw information and
evidence from several of this semester’s readings in order to discover more
about society’s love affair with the gothic. I look forward to hearing Dr.
White’s comments, suggestions, and constructive criticism for my research
proposal.
Instructor response: Your topic sounds good, Virginia, so yes, and it's specific enough to suit an essay, but depending on your research and focus, you could consider switching to a journal. (The two formats don't have to be exclusive of each other. Some good journals end up looking like essays, and some good essays have parts that might fit into journals.)
For background research to establish your idea, you might want to learn some history of psychology. People are often talking or writing about psychology, but ascribing "psychology" to the early 1800s can be tricky, as I think the word barely existed at that point and emerged as a specific field of study in the later 1800s--and even then it was mostly a sub-field of philosophy.
But you can still posit that the gothic is a reflection of some mental characteristics and operates by some predictable rules like correspondence.
Beyond that background research, you might simply scan the MLA bibliography for the keywords gothic + psychology, since the subject is bound to have gotten some coverage and analysis. Welcome to check in as you progress and discuss further. So far, so good.
Student Proposal: Tim Doherty
The Rot
in Poe’s Roots
Poe did
not invent the gothic elements he used so successfully to disturb and entertain
his readers nor was he the last to saturate his work with darkness and decay.
Most readers today have at least a passing knowledge of the authors that define
horror and a vague notion that Poe’s work is an essential component of that
canon. I’ve read most of Stephen King’s work, which bridges genres but is rooted
in the gothic strangeness of Poe, H. P. Lovecraft and pulp fiction. I’ve read
many of Lovecraft’s stories as well. I’ve seen the films of Clive Barker and
David Lynch’s television noir masterpiece, Twin Peaks. But I’ve never
studied gothic fiction.
Who came
before Poe? Were there earlier American authors who delved into the darkness as
unapologetically as Poe? Who came next? What stories and authors serve as
mile-markers on the evolution of macabre fiction as it spread from Europe to the
New World and beyond? These questions are too big to answer in the remaining
weeks of this semester. So, what is a more specific question? What strand can I
distill from this maelstrom of curiosity into something meaningful, relevant and
challenging?
This nebulous inquiry is best explored in the form of a research journal where the end is not necessarily predetermined. I will begin with what seems like a simple question: what notable works of gothic fiction inspired Poe? In other words, what did Poe read that inspired him to choose the path he chose? Or was he one of those rare geniuses who blazed a trail radically different from any of his predecessors or peers? I envision anchoring this exploration to The Fall of the House of Usher. From there, I hope to trace some element or collection of elements to at least one European writer. Failing that approach, I may fall back on the less exciting, but much easier approach of tracing Poe’s influence on the generations that followed his.
Instructor response: This should be a fertile topic, Tim, so yes, proceed. For some history of the gothic before and after Poe, you might simply scan our course term-page at http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/G/gothic.htm and the (incomplete) page on gothic variations at http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/G/GothVari.htm. Since I didn't study Poe or the gothic very much on my way up, I admit being unfamiliar with Poe's reading in the gothic and have always assumed it would be pretty standard or compliant to some of the names listed on those pages.
From another angle, when you assume precedents for Poe, you're right, as Poe is actually a bit late in the gothic tradition, which has led to speculation here and there that he's not necessarily as serious about developing the style as later readers might assume. At times it can feel as though Poe is parodying the tradition or even his own writing, e.g. in his short story "Berenice."
You don't have to go that way, especially since most readers take Poe quite seriously. You'll find plenty of possibilities and should at least consider the Journal option, first by having a look at some of the journals previous students here and in the graduate American Romanticism seminar (http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/LITR/5431rom/models/default.htm) have done, which you can use as both models and research sources.
Otherwise welcome to discuss in person or by email or phone as things develop. Take advantage of all you already know about current horror / gothic so you can make connections between past and current developments.
Student Proposal: Billy Ea
Research Proposal
For
my research proposal I would like to further explore the theme of the sublime.
Option one would be best for an analytical analysis. I would like to compare and
contrast the differences in how writers use this form to illustrate the sublime
and why it is important not only to the romantic times but the impact it has
also had on literature as a whole.
I was
thinking to use works of Poe and Emerson, though have not chosen any specific
piece of work yet. I’m inquiring as to whether this topic is too vague or not
first. I’m am very interested in the sublime and would like to research this
theme in depth. Also if accepted, are we restricted to the literature provided
or can we venture into other pieces around this same time period. Thanks!
Instructor response: The topic is acceptable, Billy, but since your main interest is in learning more about the sublime and your angle on the subject isn't clear, consider doing a journal (option 2) instead of an essay (option 1). That way you can gather (and demonstrate) knowledge on your subject. Also the journal certainly gives you room to explore some texts or examples beyond this course.
For starters on learning (esp. regarding some historical sources on the Sublime), go to our course website on the Sublime: http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/S/sublime.htm
To get more sense of the journal option, look at some sample journals on Model Assignments. You'll probably find a few journals on your same subject--remember that you can use those journals or their findings as research sources.
Student Proposal: Carolyn Edmundson
The Journal of My Mind
My plan is to do a journal where I explore my personal thoughts and
feelings as I deal with personal issues (I don’t want to give everything away
just yet!) that make me feel very in tune with some of the books from the gothic
genre. I feel very drawn to “The Wide, Wide World” and “I Felt a Funeral in my
Brain.” It will be a ten-page journal exploring how reading novels that are in
tune with your personal experience help you sort through your own feelings and
continue to move forward just as the characters do, or in some cases, do not.
The journal will be a mixture of novel and real life (my life) and how
the lines get blurred if you are a true lover of books. Becoming engrossed in a
book is okay if the outcome is positive, but what if we relate to something we
are reading that leaves us with negative emotions? I am hoping for a little
self-exploration, truth in the eyes of literature lovers, and something
hopefully ending in inspirational for young people with cancer. I think it is
safe to explore both sides of how people feel; what we internalize and what we
let other people see. I’m actually really excited to get started because I have
been internalizing a lot recently and I am ready to put everything in writing.
Instructor response: I hope we can use some of what you're proposing, Carolyn, but the term "journal" may be confusing, and you probably need to review the Journal assignment (at http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/LITR/4232/sylsched/4328f18/resjrnl18.html) and look at some examples from our course's Model Assignments.
Your journal can certainly have some personal elements in it, but above all it's a research assignment on a learning-centered topic, which you haven't quite identified. I'm intrigued of course by your mention of the relevance of some of our literature to cancer survivors, but since that topic isn't self-evident in our texts, I need some help seeing the connection.
Overall, I'm encouraging you to adapt what you have in mind to the requirements of the assignment. Welcome to communicate further--usually something works out if you stay at it.
Student Proposal: Kelsey Flores
Research
Proposal
As you
can probably tell from the rest of my midterm, I have taken quite an interest in
the sublime. I plan to take on the journal project, as I think this is the best
way to discover the sublime and apply it to literature and my own life. I am not
quite sure exactly how I will take on the subject, but I have an idea to start
with the most basic element of the sublime: the definition. From there, I plan
to map it in connection with travel, everyday life, and wherever this rabbit
hole of research may lead. I think there is something magical in discovering the
aspects of life that are so simple yet so complex that they take our breath
away, and therefore I will find the most joy in journaling my findings rather
than feeling as though I am racing to write an essay.
Some
things I hope to connect in my research include: the sublime in skydiving, the
sublime in music, the sublime in day-to-day life, the sublime in knowledge, the
sublime in American Renaissance (the class). With each entry I plan to connect
it to either something we have read in class or something written by an author
or poet we have discussed in class.
Instructor response: I haven't read the rest of your exam yet, Kelsey, but assume skydiving appears as an instance of the sublime. Maybe that could be related to adrenaline or Extreme Sports and their appeal? My only misgiving, admittedly a subtle one you need not share, is that such sublimity engages the aesthetic category of spectacle, as when we can't help staring at an auto wreck. In theatrical or aesthetic terms, spectacle (spectacle) is related to special effects and other stage or screen machinery, and Aristotle in Poetics limits the value of such physicality, but obviously people love that stuff, at least from a proper distance. Isn't there a new documentary out about climbing "El Capitan?"
You seem in tune with the idea that the journal is something of a personal quest but also a real research expedition. For starters on research, familiarize yourself with the historical sources on the Sublime at our course website: http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/S/sublime.htm, which can give you some terms and principles for describing and evaluating.
Several journals on the Sublime are also available on Model Assignments--remember you can use them as sources too. Otherwise let's see where you go, with a welcome to update or discuss.
Student Proposal: Alexis Gomez
Research
Proposal
For my research proposal I wanted to talk about correspondence and the
two schools of thought that are associated with the term. One thought being the
most predominant by most writers that includes but not limited to Susan B.
Warner and Washing Irving. Both authors seem to suggest that a person’s internal
feelings are sometimes matched to their environments. While Emerson seems to
suggest that every hour/situation can change someone’s mood/attitude. It is kind
of the question of one’s surroundings effect their mood. Showing different
schools of thought that was influenced by their lives.
Outline:
1.
Introduction
i.
Introduce correspondence
2.
Body
i.
Compare
Warner, Irving and Emerson
ii.
All
forms of their correspondence (Cite there text as examples)
3.
Counter argument by Emerson (How he is different)
i.
Contrast
his psychological ideas against the Warner and Emerson
ii.
Research
on context (Born, raised, school, age, mental health, environment, philosophy)
4.
Warner
i.
Research
on context (Born, raised, school, age, mental health, environment, philosophy)
ii.
Her
perspective
6.
Irving (Same as Warner? Different?)
i.
Research
on context (Born, raised, school, age, mental health, environment, philosophy)
ii.
His
perspective
7.
Conclusion
Instructor response: Your topic has potential, Alexis, but for starters it raises as many questions as certainties, so welcome to continue discussing. My main misgiving is that your research seems to concentrate on biographical backgrounds to this phenomenon in each author. Let me know if I'm misunderstanding, but my negative reaction to this possibility is that it seems to shift attention away from these authors' writings and to their lives, which are somewhat interesting but probably won't present issues concerning correspondence that are as compelling or meaningful as the ideas of correspondence in their texts.
A related possibility would be to investigate correspondence as a concept and term, in order to investigate how correspondence functioned as something like a descriptor of psychological phenomena--that is, how people react to their surroundings or to each other. One place to start would be the Oxford English Dictionary available online through the UHCL library. This dictionary gives definitions and examples of what words meant at different stages of their and our history.
Otherwise, I'm embarrassed to say I don't know that much about the historical development of this concept--I just learned it from my professors and identified it working in texts, as we've discussed.
Pardon me if I'm misunderstanding what you're about. It's way late at night or early in the morning, and I may be having some correspondence issues myself.
One more point: remember that sympathy is often a synonym or alternative form for correspondence--you may find more research on sympathy than correspondence.
Student Proposal: Kristen Hoover
The Light in the Darkness
For my research proposal I
am going with the journal option. In the journal I will be exploring the idea of
how gothic style writing is intermingled with romanticism. I will introduce the
journal with some previous thoughts I had on the two genres and what interested
me in this topic. Then I will go into discussing the history, key terms, and
important characteristics of both genres. In the middle I will explore different
text and authors that exemplify this marriage between these genres. Lastly, I
will conclude the journal with my thoughts after my research.
In order to aptly explore
this concept, I will use three different authors and some of their work. The
three authors that I will use are Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, and Emily
Dickinson. I may incorporate some more authors as the semester continues. I will
be using multiple works, but not the whole works to not overkill the subject. A
sampling of the works that I will be using is: “Romance,” “The Fall of the House
of Usher” by Poe; “I Felt a Funeral in my Brain” by Dickinson; and “The Legend
of Sleepy Hollow” by Irving.
Instructor response: All acceptable, Kristen, but since it's (still) early in the semester be prepared to expand or change your authors beyond what we read before midterm or even beyond our course. The relation between the gothic and Romanticism is one that could use some defining, but it's complicated. On our gothic term-page, scroll down to "the gothic novel" for a little history, which actually predates or anticipates Romanticism, which is to say the gothic emerges during the Enlightenment.
I admire your interest in works that don't overkill the gothic, which can also expand your range. One possibility for research is why the gothic matters or what it symbolizes for generation after generation. I keep being surprised by all the unknowns it encodes in familiar dark and light, maze-like symbols, e.g. terrorism, the Satanic day-care persecutions in the 90s, maybe even our current president's "witch hunt" talk.
Student Proposal: Kristina Koontz
Weeping Lions: Women Figures in Romantic Literature
I’m a
feminist. An angry feminist. I warned you once, Dr. White, and I’ll warn you
again just so you know what you’re getting into by having me as a student. As a
proud angry feminist it would be a fascinating thing for me to go in, analyze,
and compare and contrast (in an analytical paper) a real-life female figure like
Sojourner Truth to the fictional ones created by the likes of Poe. They’re so
drastically, fascinatingly different because when it comes to male depictions of
women in fiction, especially with Poe, they’re heavily idealized in consequence
of the romantic style, and that romanticism is depicted in the speech and seeps
into a real-life encounter Stowe has with Sojourner.
Sources would be the ones straight from the course website: “Libyan Sybil” and
“A’int I a Woman”, and Poe’s “Ligeia” as primary. I will find secondary sources
through research that focus on the women’s movement at the time of Sojourner and
the 2nd Great Awakening for context, and I could probably
additionally use the Libyan Sybil piece as secondary, since it is Stowe
describing an encounter with Sojourner.
Instructor response: Your proposal is intriguing and has real potential, Kristina, so yes, proceed. My favorite part, or the part I see with the most potential, is the possibility of Stowe's "Libyan Sibyl" as in-between the Realistic portrayal of women in "Ain't I a Woman" (and possibly some other texts) and Poe's pedestalizing idealization in "Ligeia" (plus or minus other Poe texts or other comparable male-written sentimental stereotypes, like Irving's Katrina van Tassel in "Sleepy Hollow").
We'll see how much time we have to analyze Stowe's piece in class, but it's always interesting for how she's suddenly presented with a reality in S. Truth that she can't quite comprehend but wants to do justice to, so she vacillates between trying to stereotype her (and her ward) at some points, while at other points something breaks through that the stereotypes can't entirely manage. One of those somethings seems to be Truth's physicality, which comes through powerfully in "Ain't I a Woman" but potentially threatens the Cult of True Womanhood that Stowe mostly upheld. (But even Stowe and the other women in her family are hard to categorize--two of her sisters were feminists to at least some degree, and she cooperated in work with at least one of them.)
Truth barely makes it into our course because, technically speaking, she isn't quite a writer herself, being illiterate and not entirely controlling the texts attributed to her. That's not to disparage her but only to acknowledge the historical and biographical limits in which she worked--in fact, her illiteracy may contribute somewhat to the physicality mentioned above. Anyway my point in starting this paragraph is that a little research will find other documents or texts concerning Truth that you should consider chasing down, since "Ain't I a Woman," however powerful, is a small sample.
No problems from my end with your being an angry feminist. Plenty to be angry about, and on the grand planetary scale it's either feminism or death. I wish for more of you. I studied feminism and women's literature a good deal on my way up and have always found it compatible, but some negative instructional experiences make me keep it mostly in reserve as a teacher. I can share this background with you as opportunity permits, but mainly I'm saying that just because my decision not to lead with that interpretive angle doesn't mean that I don't support or accept it.
Student Proposal: Lauren Kruse
Sentimental Journal
I would like to focus on the genre of Sentimentality for my research
project. Through this I would
compile a journal of various aspects of Sentimentality, it’s initial reception
during the early works, as well as how this area progressed and evolved during
its popularity. I would also like to
explore the critical reception of these works, and why some writers were highly
critical in their response (such as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s glowing critique).
Since this genre came on the heels of predominantly all-male writers, I
would also explore the draw towards female writers and sentimentality.
Similarly, previous works coming from the Realism movement and then the
sometimes-elaborate world of Romanticism, what led people to these simple,
sentimental works? Finally, I would
like to explore how/if this genre is still viable in today’s society and
possible reasons as to why.
Instructor response: Yes, Lauren, it's a fertile subject with a good deal of research in recent generations, but since it's also a popular genre, sentimental literature also migrates out to a number of other sub-fields. For instance, I don't know much about Christian Romance, but I know it's a large and steady market in publishing, and doubtless one that has gone through its own evolutions with social change. But of course that's just a possible example. The other primary term used in this field--which I meant to get to last week--is "domestic literature," i.e. concerning the home.
FYI a number of male writers participated in this tradition, though most are less well-known. James Fenimore Cooper and Nathaniel Hawthorne both made efforts to cultivate women readers for their fictions, some of which are more domestic than others. Another somewhat famous writer from the time is Nathaniel P. Willis, whose sister was Fanny Fern, also a novelist and well-regarded then and now.
One of the fundamental critical texts in this tradition is Nina Baym's Women's Fiction--I think there's a copy in Neumann library, and if you find it you'll probably find some other criticism near it. Cathy Davidson is another major critic of my generation, with a couple of major studies of the tradition. Also Davidson edited the Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the USA, also in the library (or in my office), where you could look up sentimentality and domesticity among other terms, authors, and texts.
Don't be overwhelmed! It was a huge publishing phenomenon during the American Renaissance and remains formidable today, but a little well-digested research will give you some handles on the subject. Welcome to communicate further.
Student Proposal: Jacob Logan
Research Proposal
I would like to learn more about the American Renaissance in general. I
want to know more about the drive behind the authors of this era and why they
were so famously using these styles of gothic romance and the sublime. I am
especially bewildered by gothic romance. Why were the people of this time so
dark when it came to love?
I believe researching authors like Emily Dickinson or especially Edgar
Allen Poe would be a good start. Poe, for example, wrote a lot about the
potential darkness that lies in romance. He makes everything gloomy and, while I
like his style, I cannot help but feel there is a deeper meaning to the
reasoning for this. Why was romance such a dark topic for these authors? Did
they have relationships like this or was it just their imagination? Was this the
norm for that time? I would like to find out more about the American Renaissance
and the darkness behind it.
Instructor response: Your topic's pretty broad at this point, Jacob, but welcome to keep going back and forth with me about it and something will work out. The darkness present in the American Renaissance is hardly complete. Emerson's pretty sunny or optimistic, and Whitman sees potential in everyone. The gothic tradition in literature was happening throughout the literary world, not just in the USA, and in class we've discussed why it's appealing to readers. If readers weren't buying the gothic, writers wouldn't produce it.
On the other hand, the American Renaissance was full of stresses, most signally those leading to the Civil War, but many others we've begun discussing and will continue with.
Which is all to say that this big a topic raises as many questions and doubts as possibilities, so welcome to discuss further. Also consider having a look at research projects for previous semesters to see what kinds of subjects have worked, or review the research proposals from this class, which will be posted soon--I'll review Monday. Meanwhile, thanks and stay at it.
Student Proposal: Anne Ngo
Idealism in Romantic Literature: Research Proposal
I am
interested in examining idealism in Romantic texts for my research essay. The
concept of idealism interests me, especially since the period after the American
Renaissance, Realism, contrasts greatly against the imaginative, dreamy, and
idealization of Romanticism. I am curious to explore how idealism in literature
came to be in this period and how it eventually faded out to become realistic. I
am also interested in seeing the development of more realistic literature near
the end of Romanticism, examining whether or not the texts encompass both
idealism and realism.
To do
so, I will trace the motif of idealism and analyze how it develops throughout
the Romantic Movement. As I am still developing my idea, I am not sure if this
topic is too broad to write for a research essay. At this point, I am still
thinking about the variations of idealization that I want to examine. I
discussed the idealization of nature in my Midterm essay, but I may want to
expand on that for my research.
Instructor response: My first reaction, Annie, is to consider doing a journal on this subject, mainly so you can learn and discover exactly what you mean by "idealism," and by extension how it can apply to or be involved with Romanticism, plus or minus Realism. I think well of the term and occasionally use it since students often at least recognize its concept, but I don't use it very often or deliberately because for academics it's more properly a term in philosophy, though of course it's more or less current in popular usage.
That doesn't mean it can't work, but a journal could meet any problems head-on by establishing some definitions (among doubtless many) that resemble what you're talking or thinking about--put another way, you could start off by explaining how you came to the term, why it appeals to you in a literary sense, and the meanings for the term that are relevant to literary study.
One way to start such research is by consulting the Oxford English Dictionary, which is available online through the UHCL library's website--I use it all the time, as it explains how a word was used historically in different contexts and gives you some other terms to work with. But you could also simply check the term in Wikipedia or some dictionaries of philosophy online or in the library's reference section.
The next step might be to decide what texts or literature to apply the term to. My immediate reaction is to consider Transcendentalism, as I probably use the term Idealism more easily with Emerson than with any other writer of the time.
Not to overwhelm you with abstruse information, but in the USA the philosophy that arose after the Romantic era and during the Realistic era was Pragmatism, which you could also look up. As chance has it, the leading philosopher of Pragmatism was William James, the elder brother of the great Realist novelist Henry James.
I go on, but that's the nature of the term or concept, and a journal provides opportunities to range this way and that as you chase down possibilities. Anyway it's interesting and you're smart enough to make something of it, so welcome to continue or to check in with me as you progress or reconsider, but that's all up to you.
Student Proposal: Michael Powell
Progression of Gothic in literature / Gothic through the Ages
I have
struggled with this assignment, I am far more accustomed to pick some of our
readings and write critically about them.
But, here is my submission none the less.
I would like to go with option one, an analytical research paper and
follow the progression of Gothic Literature from 1839 and Poe through present
day and say Stephen King. Looking
and comparing the ideas of Goth throughout the times, comparing the similarities
between the two. Say how Irving’s
Headless Horseman moved through time and became Stoker’s Dracula or Shelly’s
Frankenstein, all the way through to King’s Shop Keeper in Needful Things who in
the end was some sort of devil or demon who rode away in a shadowy carriage
drawn by shadowy horses.
I’m
really not sure how I would connect these at this time, other than types of main
characters of the readings, and how they were fit for the times. For instance,
Nosferatu being one of the first film versions of Gothic literature, even as a
silent film scared people terribly, Frankenstein was written as a bet and was
written quickly, but the gothic theme is seen throughout with Dr. Frankenstein
cutting up the deceased to make a living creature.
I hope I
am headed in the right direction for this.
Please advise.
Instructor response: Your topic has plenty of potential, Michael, and if you look at our Model Assignments you can see what other students have done with the gothic. So far, your plan shounds like you should consider doing a journal (option 2) instead of an essay (option 1), but either way can work. For the journal option you can gather (and demonstrate) knowledge on your subject across a wide range of time periods and examples and individual styles. Also the journal certainly gives you room to explore some texts or examples beyond this course.
For starters on research (esp. regarding some historical sources on the gothic), go to our course website on the Sublime: http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/G/gothic.htm
To get more sense of the journal option, look at some sample journals on Model Assignments. You'll probably find a few journals on your same subject--remember you can use those journals or their findings as research sources.
If you want to stay with the essay plan, consider identifying some forms or symbols that your various authors share--why do certain phenomena keep recurring in the gothic, and how do they change with the times? Standard wisdom is to "follow your nose" or keep researching what you brighten up at seeing and feel like analyzing.
Student Proposal: Rudy Rios
The Romance on Distant Shores
I would like to take option one for my analytic/research essay. I would
like to look at Emersion’s forays into transcendentalism in Selections from
Nature and juxtapose them to Gothic Works of Poe. Both of these men
use nature and emotion to different ends. The one of sublimity and the
other to the gothic. I would rely on the texts we have explored during
this course and the web assets that Dr. White has made available via the class
website.
I would draw from the writing I produced during my time in Dr. Marcoline’s
British Romanticism class as well as some of the works of those Romantic,
European authors. I would take the works of Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and
compare them to Poe and Emerson respectively. And shoe how that legacy can be
traced through language and imagery.
Instructor response: The second part of your proposal may be more promising than the first, Rudy, as the first part sounds more like an exam question based on what we're already covering in class, but welcome to discuss further if you want to make it work. As for the second part, I can guess how M. Shelley (you spelled as Shelly) and Byron compare to Poe for various reasons, but their connection to Emerson seems less obvious, so welcome to communicate further on how their language and imagery may meet.
A current term for what you're attempting is "Trans-Atlantic Studies," so do some searching for that term and welcome to include it as some background and set-up for your essay.
An interesting Trans-Atlantic influence on M. Shelley is her reading of the early American novelist Charles Brockden Brown's Edgar Huntly; or Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker (1799), several chapters of which preview some chapters in Frankenstein. Anyway, Trans-Atlantic studies of Romanticism are a fertile field, so be prepared to adapt your essay to what you discover.
Student Proposal: Tabatha Romero
Nature
feeding the Gothic
I have always been fascinated with light and dark, and how that affects
the interpretation of nature. I think I would like the analyze the scenes of
nature throughout the class readings and how they can create a sublime gothic
nature. I think in Emerson’s Nature, Wide Wide World, The Raven by Poe, and
Dickinson all play with this idea of nature in the light and dark.
I do not know if this would be easier
as a journal for each author or writing an analytical paper in comparing how
each of the authors manipulate light and dark, to create a gothic nature. Each
of these authors are very different in their style of writing except for Poe and
Dickinson. They are similar in using the gothic in their writing in contrast to
light and dark. I believe that Emerson and Warner are similar in using light and
dark in nature to convey beauty and no so much gothic but still present.
I will start reading the different poems we have received and
highlighting similarities and differences. I will also do the same in Emerson
and Warner, with their interpretation of light and dark.
Instructor response: This is an interesting formal subject, and it may suit either an essay or a journal, but at this point I'd suggest an essay and maybe choosing 2 or 3 writers to emphasize, in order to compare and contrast the different uses they make of this dynamic.
Hawthorne will give you even more to work with than you've seen so far, especially since he mingles light and dark and their supposed good vs. evil qualities into shades of gray.
For research, a deep-background term for the moral or mythic background of light and dark is Manichaeism. I have a brief term page on the subject that you can find at http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/M/Manichaeism.htm, which has a link to the Wikipedia page on the term, plus you can google and find way more. Anyway this concept can give you a starting ground for why light and dark are traditionally so meaningful in Western aesthetics, mythology, religion, etc.
Student Proposal: Calyssa Rosene
“The
Poe-mantic Genre”-Research Proposal
After learning so many new things on the gothic style mixed with
romanticism and learning that Edgar Allan Poe’s writing has been a staple piece
in the romantic genre all along, I knew I wanted to research more into his work.
I have read about 80% of his lifetime works, but I have never read through them
with the knowledge that I have obtained from this course. Something I think
would be interesting, would be to compare how both Edgar Allan Poe and Emily
Dickinson used sounds or noises within their writing to symbolize madness. We
see it in The Raven and
The Tell-Tale Heart by Poe and in
I Felt a Funeral in my Brain by Dickinson just to name a couple. One
of the main characteristics of the gothic style according to the course site is
creepy or startling sounds, and I would like to research how the authors used
these sounds to dive into the gothic style and portray that sort of madness or
depression in their writing.
In order to accomplish this, I believe that the first
research option would be best to suit my needs. Being able to write a steady MLA
formatted essay on the works can help me better control what I need to say in
order to have the reader understand my research a little more clearly. I believe
my research topic would show relevance to the course by learning more on
romanticism and the gothic style, and how characteristics of both can make these
stories shine brighter. If approved as a topic, I really want to go through many
of both authors’ works to find correlation between sounds and madness, and I
believe this will be a fun research essay to write as I am highly interested in
the topic I am proposing.
Instructor response: That's a good, specific proposal, Calyssa, so proceed. One possible way to start your research is to look for something on gothic sound effects--consider asking a research librarian for help finding something, as I'm not sure which key-words will help, but I'd be surprised if someone before you hasn't been similarly inspired. The connection to madness I'm less sure of, but psychological issues are also staples of the gothic. I think mainly of "voices in my head," but imagine there'd be more on that in Poe than in Dickinson--but stay with the subject regardless if you're finding something. Certainly "The Tell-Tale Heart" can work that way more or less, though the sound isn't exactly "voices." Anyway some background or theoretical search on gothic sounds plus or minus madness can serve as a common ground for discussing your two authors and comparing and contrasting their different sound-images and psychological effects.
Student Proposal: Breanna Runnels
Emily Dickinson’s “Death”
For my research proposal, I would like to talk about the overbearing
theme of death that is present in Dickinson’s poetry. No, it is not her own
death that I am interested in but instead her personification and usage of it.
It seems that she is either quite familiar with the concept of death and its
tolls or would like to be.
She often personifies death to make it seems living – which it is quite
the opposite of. In “I felt a funeral in my Brain”, she uses the concept of
death that is present at a funeral to describe what she is feeling in her own
mind or the mind of the narrator. Though death is not mentioned exactly in many
of her poems, it is something that is constantly lurking in the background.
I would like to do the research journal option so that I can gather the
most amount of information about her poetry as possible. I’ll research into her
acclaimed writings that are known to be written about death, but I would also
like to look into other writings that may not be so obvious.
Instructor response: One way your subject has been de-sensationalized and grounded in the everyday life of the 1800s is by critics' observing first how much more common death was in those days as a household phenomenon, and that in the days before funeral parlors, funerals and wakes were a part of life and death that were part of home life, so to speak. If you consult a biography of Dickinson, you'll find plenty of material on this subject, as any reader of hers has to come to terms with her frequent references to these subjects.
Another way I've typically dealt with the issue for Dickinson is that fairly all poets write about death. If the only certainties for average people are death and taxes, the main certainties or foremost subjects for poets tend to be sex and death, with all kinds of possible connections or contradictions between the two phenomena.
One option some students develop for the journal involves teaching their subject, and if you ever find yourself teaching Dickinson, you can count on students asking, Why does she always write about death? I mention this because you can probably find some research on this issue of teaching Dickinson in this light.
Sorry I'm taking so long to say go ahead, but obviously you'll find plenty of examples and plenty of research on the subject. Welcome to update me on how your journal might be organizing itself, but the general advice is to follow your nose--chase what's interesting and make something of it.
Student Proposal: Annie Tran
SubliMe
So far, the most intriguing concept to me has to be "the sublime" I wanted to
take an analytical approach to writing about the sublime, but this whole midterm
writing process felt more like a mini-research journal chronicling my lacking to
less lacking. Even though I have spent a good amount of time writing about the
sublime in this midterm essay, I feel as though I have much more to explore and
understand.
I will lean more towards option 2 for the my research project; however, I gladly
take any advice you could give me on which approach to take. I was interested in
option 3, but I have not yet conferred with you on the possibility of expanding
my Immigrant Literature Research Report as a proposal for the conference.
Instructor response: In response to your follow-up question, yes, course websites are fair sources--thanks for asking, as I'll make this point in class today. Yes also to Option 2 Journal. You can switch to the conference option as conditions encourage, but even if you stay with the journal, we could still re-develop it as a conference presentation. Plenty of time remains, and the process isn't very complicated.
As far as staying with your midterm subject, that's normal enough, and the Sublime just keeps happening. I'm sometimes surprised by what students make of it, but such surprises are true enough to a force that exceeds our comprehension. A journal can give you a good grounding in the historical theory and expression of the Sublime, though, so you're not just making it up but navigating by precedent. Of course you can then proceed to later, even recent expressions or theory.As usual, welcome to check in as you make progress.
Student Proposal: Natalie Womble
Research
Proposal
The topic I found most interesting and challenging is that of the
sublime, particularly its role within the Gothic works of American Renaissance
literature. The idea of opposing emotions existing harmoniously is, in my
opinion, not the easiest concept to grasp. I’d like to research this term
further by analyzing its operation within texts, tracing its use throughout
literary works of the era, and hopefully reaching a solidified conclusion about
what Romantic authors were attempting by utilizing this element. The sublime
seems to be the epitome of Romantic literature, and I’d like to prove this claim
by exploring its need, presence, and effects in multiple works of American
Renaissance texts ranging from shorter poetry to longer narratives,
straightforward tones to more profound writing styles, and fundamentals of
reality as well as the supernatural.
Instructor response: Since your topic is stronger than your sense of texts and authors so far, Natalie, consider the journal option, which optimizes a search for knowledge and various applications of a big subject like the Sublime. Also the journal gives you room to explore texts or examples beyond this course, if you like.
For starters on research (esp. regarding some historical sources on the Sublime), go to our course website on the Sublime: http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/terms/S/sublime.htm
To get more sense of the journal option, look at some sample journals on Model Assignments. You'll probably find a few journals on your same subject--remember you can use those journals or their findings (or other course research projects) as research sources.
As usual, welcome to check in as research progresses.
