Assignment 4: Research Essay )Flexible Word Count: 1800-2,200 wordsIn the Research Essay, you are expected to draw together and synthesize relevant material fromthe whole course. Take careful note of the Writing Reminders below.Choose ONE of the following topics/questions.Topics / Questions1. Love, Sex and Eroticism in different Genres: During this course we have examined thedepiction of love, sex and eroticism in different genres within Greek, Hellenistic and Romanliterature, including epic, lyric and elegiac poetry, epigrams, victory odes, drama, pastoralpoetry, the novel, and philosophy. This essay topic asks you to analyze the extent to whichgenre considerations have affected the different ways that love, sex and eroticism have beenexpressed. Focus your discussion on the nature and characteristics of each of the four genresidentified below and how those characteristics have, in your well-informed view, affected theexpression of love, sex and eroticism within them. Drawing on detailed examples from bothGreek and Roman literature to illustrate your argument focused on genre.Focus your analysis on the following 4 genres:a. Love Poetry: including all poems that are referred to as lyric or elegiac or pastoralpoetry and “epigrams”; distinguish here between “shorter” love poems (any poem orfragment of a poem of approximately 2-6 lines) and “longer love poems” (any lyric orelegiac poem or fragment of a poem longer than approximately 6 lines).b. Drama: Greek tragedy and comedy; you may also draw on Roman tragedy and comedyif you wish.c. Novels: the Greek “Ideal” novels, but you may also draw on Roman novels if you wishd. Philosophy: primarily Plato’s Symposium and Phaedrus, but you may also draw onRoman philosophy and Christian theology if you wish.2. The Lover and the Beloved in “Love Poetry”: During this course, we have frequently focusedon the uncertain and shifting distinction between the first-person singular persona, the
speaker and “lover” of the poem (a creation strongly influenced by literary trope and genre)and the poet him or herself (a product of their own lived experience). Similarly, the distinctionbetween the “beloved” of Love Poetry and potentially real-life women or men and boys hasfrequently been seen to be uncertain and enigmatic. Discuss the idea that these veryuncertainties are an integral part of the genre and analyze what the effects of theseuncertainties have on our understanding of the poems and the genre. Draw on detailedexamples from both Greek and Roman literature to illustrate your argument.3. The Love Poetry of Ovid: In 8 CE, Augustus expelled the poet Ovid from Rome. The reasonsfor this action remain obscure but seem to have been connected to his poetry. What mighthave been the nature of his poetic offense? Writing in the slipstream of his predecessors, wasthere something Ovid took too far, or did the Augustan political climate in which he waswriting shift in some way? Or both? In discussing this question, you need to examine thenature of Ovid’s erotic literature both in itself and also in relation to his Greek and especiallyhis Roman predecessors, drawing on detailed examples to back up your claims. You will alsoneed to examine the relationship between the persona or speaker of Ovid’s erotic literatureand Ovid himself (as in Topic 2), and the political climate in which he was writing.4. Homoeroticism: In Greek lyric poetry and other literature from the Archaic and Classical ages,homoerotic love and sex is depicted as normal under certain circumstances. The strongtendency in Roman love poetry, however, and in the Greek Ideal novels (written in the Romanperiod), is to foreground heterosexual love. How do you explain this change? What factorscontributed to it, and how is it reflected in the relevant literature? In your discussion of thistopic, make sure you draw on detailed evidence from Greek and Roman literature and otherrelevant areas of Greek and Roman life.5. Eros of Body and Soul: Plato’s examination of eros in The Symposium and Phaedrustransforms the notion of eros as depicted in earlier Greek poetry and prose. Explain thistransformation, and then trace the further transformation of sexual desire in Romanphilosophy and Christian theology, which itself was strongly influenced by Plato. Make sureyour essay draws on detailed examples from Plato’s dialogues, Roman philosophy(Epicureanism and Stoicism) and early Christian theology (i.e. up to Augustine of Hippo).Writing Reminders for all Essay Topics• Avoid overgeneralizations: Engage strongly and in detail with both the primary andsecondary course material; draw on that material in detail to write your essay.• Detailed analysis: I have not indicated how many primary or secondary sources youshould draw on in this essay. That is up to you to judge, but make sure you engagesignificantly with the course material. Overgeneralizations and a lack of detailedengagement with the course material will result in a significant reduction in your grade.
• Peer-reviewed sources: always use per-reviewed, academic sources, including thosewhich can be found online (eg journal articles). Do not use non-peer-reviewed internetsources (eg blogs, opinion pieces and so on).• Citation practice: unless you are referring to a whole work or peer-reviewed internetsources without pages, all citations should include a page number that indicates thesource of your quotation, idea, information and so on.• Edit your work: make sure your sentences are grammatically correct, that you haveeliminated repetitiousness, and that your argument is developed coherently. Each newparagraph should develop your argument/discussion a little further, and the first sentenceof each new paragraph should foreground what new aspects will be developed in thatparagraph.
