I need to do a short (2-3 pages) report on an international, historical topic, relating primarily to England between 1600-1800. This is for my Literatures in English from 1600-1800 class. We have studied Shakespeare's Othello, Milton's Paradise Lost, Aphra Behn's Oroonoko, Swift's Gulliver's Travel, Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock (my favorite) Wycherly's "The Country Wife", and Astell's "some Reflections Upon Marriage" Also William Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell".

All of the topics my professor suggested are "boyish" I'm not sexist, just not all that interested in the European wars converning slavery, colonization, explorations, etc. that took place during that time. I'm also taking an American history class that touches all of these topics and am rather sick of it as well. surely there is some interesting domestic issue I could explore.

I'm open to any ideas!!!!

Although there is plenty of room for interpretation, I would steer clear of Blake, a personal prejudice of mine. I think Othello and Swift offer the most fascinating possibilities for a microcosmic analysis.


Les

This is a research paper, though. It doesn't nceessarily need to directly relate to any of those pieces I mentioned, I just wanted to give you an idea of the time period.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

The time in America and Europe which led to the rise of democracy was a very fascinating era, think child labor and the fall of the aristocracy.


Les

The world had been sufficiently explored by the end of your period, so writers like Swift can't put undiscovered empires out there. Does the lack of an open frontier affect writers? Does science fiction start at this point?

Sorry, I'm not very domestic.

Medicine, art, children, women's rights (or lack thereof)?

[timelines.ws] />
pam

That's a great timeline link, Pam. Good for tweaking the memory for a particular topic. Toronto has another useful one:

[eir.library.utoronto.ca] />
Personally, I would go with Sir Walter (pronounced water) Ralegh. He fits the (early) time frame and was active as a poet, statesman and adventurer.

For later periods, (Jonathan) Dean Swift had a fascinating life, and Samuel Coleridge fits nicely.

If you must have a woman, Katharine Philips is likely fresh ground, not previously chosen for analysis I mean.

[eir.library.utoronto.ca] />
[tinyurl.com]

Here's a novel way to approach the subject:

[www.smh.com.au] />

Les

That link got me to one of those forced registration sites, but bugmenot got me in with name: davidboring and pw: sydney.

Still, I'm not sure I got the right page. Was it titled, "The best of times, the worst of times"?

Thanks for the great links (I bookmarked). I have decided to do it on a monarch and how he or she related to other European nations (since it must be international). Now I just need to pick a juicy one in that time period. Any ideas?

Thanks, Hugh, it probably reverts if you click on it more than once. Let's try this: [bestworst.notlong.com] Please read the first article to get the point of the assignment.


Les

Talia, you might find something worth exploring in the "overview" section here:

[www.metmuseum.org] />

Les

How about Queen Anne, she covers the Act of Union with Scotland, her half brother was the old pretender and she had Malborough fighting battles in Europe for her.