This document provides 12 prompts for assignments on literary masterpieces covered in an ENG/106 Survey of Literary Masterpieces course. The prompts ask students to analyze and compare various elements of the works such as characters, themes, genres, techniques and historical contexts. Students must respond to each prompt in at least 150 words and cite at least one credible source using APA style.

1. ENG/106 Survey of Literary Masterpieces Assignment
Worksheet
Answers must be at least
150
words in length, and grounded with the citing/referencing of at
least one relevant and credible source according to APA
standards.
1. Beowulf is another epic poem, such as the Iliad. How does
Beowulf compare as a hero to the heroes of this earlier epic? To
be specific, what qualities do you think make him heroic, and
what qualities made earlier heroes heroic?
2. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an explicitly Christian
tale, but it starts by tracing Arthur's lineage back to Rome and
Troy. Why might a writer trace a character’s linage, and what
effect does it have on you, the reader?
3. Dante is a committed Christian, but in his epic poem, the
Divine Comedy, he chooses Virgil to guide him through the
early stages of his spiritual journey. What does this paradigm
suggest about the relationship between Christian and pre-
Christian literature? Provide examples to support your response.
4. Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale" might be considered
bawdy, even crude. In what way does this work deserve the title
of literature? Of a masterpiece? Do you think its raciness helped
to make it a masterpiece? Provide examples to support your

2. opinion.
5. Petrarch and Shakespeare both wrote about individual love
in their sonnets. How do their representations of love differ
from earlier representations—from Dante's evocation of
Beatrice, for example? Petrarch and Shakespeare are also known
for, among other things, writing shorter, lyric poems rather than
extended epics. What do you think are the reasons for this shift
in form? Is there an historical reason? An effect? Provide
examples from these works to support your response.
6. Renaissance means “rebirth” and refers to the reawakening
of classical knowledge. What elements of Greek or Roman
culture do these Renaissance works revive, and how do their
authors change those elements? For example, how does Milton
use elements of Classical culture for his Paradise Lost? Provide
examples from this or other Renaissance works to support your
response.
7. Jonathan Swift was a satirist, using humor and sarcasm to
skewer social practices he found undesirable. What specifically
do you think he is objecting to in “A Modest Proposal”? How do
Swift’s satirical techniques compare to other period satire, such
as Voltaire’s? Select another period writer who uses satire,
identify at least one way in which these writers use similar
techniques, and relate these similarities to the content of their
work. Do they use similar techniques because they have similar
goals or beliefs? Provide examples from your reading to support
your answer.

3. 8. How do Keats’ lyrics differ from Shakespeare’s in the
poetic techniques used? How do the differences in poetic
technique relate to the differences in subject matter? Whose
lyrics do you prefer? Why? Provide examples to support your
response.
9. As a writer, Voltaire had serious political and
philosophical goals. He also, however, incorporates a great deal
of humor into Candide. How does the humor relate to any of his
political or philosophical points? Do you prefer this type of
writing to others you have read in this class from earlier
periods? Why or why not?
10. Conrad's Heart of Darkness is another nested or framed
narrative. It is told by a narrator about a story that someone
else—Marlow—tells. That story includes accounts told by
other people, such as Kurtz. How does this layered structure
affect the story? In particular, how does it relate to Conrad's
themes?
11. T. S. Eliot's poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,"
refers back to figures from earlier literature (Hamlet, the Fool,
and others) and history (Michelangelo, Lazarus, and so on).
How does Eliot use the past differently from earlier writers? Do
you think Eliot’s use of the past is effective? Why or why not?
Provide examples to support your response.
12. Just as a path plays an essential role in Dante’s Divine
Comedy, it plays one in "The Garden of Forking Paths" by
Borges. However, Borges offers a different perspective on fate.

4. What would you say this perspective is? Which of these two
works do you prefer? Why?