English 204

Some possible topics for paper #4

1. Bacon’s discussion of Idols of the Marketplace—i.e. words—applied to the the use of language by Feste in Twelfth Night or in poems by John Donne
2. Bacon’s ideas about Superstition and Belief in “Of Superstition” applied to a devotional poem by John Donne or George Herbert or to a passage about God or the gods in Tamburlaine or Henry V
3. Bacon’s discussion of book-learning in “Of Studies” as applied to George Wither’s Emblem on Study and Watchfulness
4. Comparison and contrast of two Invitation poems: Donne’s “The Ecstasy” and “Come Away Sweet Love.” http://cla.calpoly.edu/~smarx/courses/204/renaissance%20song/rensongs.html
5. The relationship between form and content—sound and sense, variation in rhyme scheme and meter and variation in mood—in a poem by Donne or Herbert not analyzed in class.
6. Two poems of spiritual rebellion: Donne’s Holy Sonnet 9—“If that poisonous minerals” and Herbert’s “The Collar.”
7. A poem of Donne or Herbert and one or two of the Psalms of David