Quality Literature Theses

1. Quality Literature Theses • A good literature thesis not only introduces the subject or topic of your paper, but also your argument. • Weak Thesis:Pope’s The Rape of the Lock and Swift’s “The Lady’s Dressing-Room” both criticize women, but in different ways. • Strong Thesis: Whereas Pope’s criticism of women is vicious, cutting to the very heart of the feminine world-view with little sympathy, Swift’s satire reverses at the end of his poem, ultimately criticizing men who can’t see women as anything other than pristine, virginal sex objects.

2. Quality Literature Theses • A good literature thesis takes a side in a debate rather than making an uncontroversial assertion. Avoid stating the obvious; if a reasonable person could not disagree with the assertion, it is not a good thesis. • Weak Thesis: Though they are both sonneteers, Sidney and Donne use the form very differently. • Strong Thesis: Though both Sidney and Donne are influenced by the traditional, Petrarchan conception of love, Donne’s application of the concept to God results in a fundamentally different repertoire of metaphors than Sidney’s more traditional take on the form.

3. Quality Literature Theses • Be as specific as possible. Arguments that engage with specific aspects of the text are almost always more original and more exciting than arguments that deal with themes in a more general manner. • Weak Thesis: Both Chaucer and Rochester employ humor in their texts, but Chaucer directs his jokes at a broader cross-section of society while Rochester pitches his humor solely at a courtly audience. • Strong Thesis: The fire-poker episode in Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale serves as a release of sexual tension in the poem, making the joke more palatable for a broader cross-section of society. However, in Rochester’s “The Imperfect Enjoyment” the explicitly sexual diction is maintained at length, likely alienating all but a libertinish, courtly audience.

4. Quality Literature Theses • Since you will be using literary analysis as your primary evidence, your argument should turn on some aspect of the authors’ literary method, rather than biographical or historical information. • Weak Thesis: Milton’s political opinions about the English Civil Wars resulted in Paradise Lost’s air of political cynicism, while John Dryden’s Mac Flecknoe, written during the relative calm of the Restoration, can rely on a more stable political backdrop. • Strong Thesis: Milton’s Hell shows us a world in which political stability is an anomaly, whereas in Dryden’s Mac Flecknoe, a generally well-ordered political scene is disrupted by dullness and nonsense.

5. Draft Workshop • Summarize or paraphrase the author’s argument. Does it fit with the tenets of a good thesis statement we talked about earlier? Why or why not? • A reasonable person should be able to disagree with the author’s argument, so compose an antithesis statement for this paper, i.e. state the position opposite that of the author. Is this position tenable? Why or why not? • In general, does the author analyze the text rather than simply summarizing or paraphrasing it? • If so, note any lapses in the author’s analytical tone. • If not, try to point out a section of the paper in which the author successfully moves from summary to analysis. • Does the author include appropriate quotations from the text? Does s/he make use of any of the rhetorical terms we talked about in class? Are there any passages in the original texts that you think the author has unjustly ignored? • In general, does the essay feel strongly organized? Do the paragraphs have clear topic sentences and stick to the same topic throughout? Do any passages feel like digressions or filler?