ENGL 512
Spring 2011
Short paper #1

Due in turnitin.com Weds. Feb. 16 by 5 PM

Length: 3 doublespaced pages or more, exclusive of Works Cited

Task: These short papers are designed to make you create thesis-based arguments that you develop with concrete support from the primary and secondary texts you are reading. The idea is to get you comfortable with coming up with your own arguments so that you can develop conference papers, thesis ideas, etc.

For this paper, I’d like you to create a brief, thesis-driven response to the following observation made by  James Morey in Book and Verse: A Guide to Middle English Biblical Literature: 

"Many [Middle English] works of religious instruction remain in an ‘aesthetic limbo’ because, according to empiric measures (usually the volume of criticism), they have not generated much interest, and they do not meet traditional belle-lettristic standards (56)."

Do you believe that the medieval works on religious subjects that you have read so far belong in that aesthetic limbo? Why or why not? Support your answer with concrete examples from your primary and secondary reading. Please use MLA 2009 documentation correctly throughout your essay and in your Works Cited page.

Reference:

Morey, James H. Book and Verse: A Guide to Middle English Biblical Literature. Urbana: U Illinois P, 2000.

Turnitin.com Info: Class ID # 3739157. I will tell you the password in class.