Aspects of the Classical Tradition - Essay 2

Choose one from the following essay titles. (Reading lists for Velázquez and for Renaissance literature have already been distributed.)
Essays to be handed up on Tuesday May 4th in ORB 1.22 from 11-1, or 2-4.

Examine Velázquez’s use of classical sources in any one of the following paintings: Demócrito / Democritus (1628-29); Sibila / A Woman as a Sibyl (c. 1632); Esopo / Aesop (c. 1639); Menipo / Menippus (c. 1639); Marte / Mars (c. 1639-41); Venus del espejo / The Rokeby Venus (c. 1644-48); Aracne / Arachne (c. 1644-48); La fábula de Aracne (Las hilanderas) / The Fable of Arachne (The Spinners) (c. 1656); Mercurio y Argos / Mercury and Argus (c. 1659).

In his discussion of Arthur Golding’s Ovid, Jonathan Bates argues that “Ovidean fluidity is replaced by the stability of Christian faith”. Discuss this statement with detailed reference to Golding’s preface, “To the Reader”.

Compare and contrast Samuel Daniel’s “Sonnet XIII” and John Marston’s “To his Mistress” with regard to their respective use of Ovid’s Pygmalion myth.

Write an analysis of Shakespeare’s use of the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe in A Midsummer Night’s Dream under one or more of the following headings: transformation and art; transformation and love; transformation and identity.

Discuss the role and meaning of Pan in D.H. Lawrence’s story “The Last Laugh.”

Discuss the Caribbean adaptation of classical materials in the poetry of either Derek Walcott or Lorna Goodison.

D.H. Lawrence
Aldington, Richard. Portrait of a Genius But …. (New English Library, 1963).
Andrews, W.T. ed. Critics on D.H. Lawrence (Allen & Unwin, 1971).
Baldick, Chris. The Oxford English Literary History Volume 10. The Modern Movement, 1910-1940 (Oxford UP, 2004).
Becket, Fiona. Complete Critical Guide to D.H. Lawrence (Routledge, 2002).
Chaudhuri, Amit. D.H. Lawrence and Difference (Oxford UP, 2003).
Dix, Carol. D.H. Lawrence and Women (Macmillan,