Although I have been doing quite a lot of work today, I still feel like I didn’t achieve anything. In about two months I’ll have to hand in an essay for a literature class I’m participating in. I’ll have to compare and contrast at least two poems on one of five topics: 1) relative merits of time, suffering and/or endurance; 2) treatment of social concerns; 3) notions of exile or outsider; 4) treatment of love, sex and marriage; 5) treatment of power, ambition and/or free will.
I have a slight preference for topic #4 because, for one, I would like writing a 2,000-2,500 word essay about it and secondly, I like the poets that are associated with this topic (Sidney, Marvell, Donne).
However, since it is meant to be a compare and contrast essay, I’ll have to think about an argument first and this is what I’ve been trying to come up with today. Unfortunately, I have to conclude that I’m still nowhere near a possible topic for my essay. I’m bummed.
I’m starting to think coming up with the topic itself will be harder than the writing of the essay itself.