Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Paper Writing

On the last post I forgot to thank everyone who prayed for me about my MA exam. Thanks everyone!!! Now that that is over I have a false sense of relaxation setting in. I feel like everything is almost done even though I haven't started in on my three final papers yet, and I know I also have two final exams to prepare for. Today on the bus ride to campus I told Peter that I planned to write one paper this weekend, one paper next weekend, and one paper the following weekend. The papers are due on the 24th, 30th, and 2nd. Now that I've announced these plans, I had better get to it. Here are the papers I'll be writing and in this order:

1. Desiring the seen: "ocular proof" in Othello and Hamlet. This one is about how both Othello and Hamlet want postive visual confirmation before they act. Othello wants to see Desdimona cheat and Hamlet wants to be sure that the ghost he sees is real and that of his father.

2. Augustinian influence in John Donne's "An Elegy upon the Untimely Death of the Incomparable Prince Henry" This one is about how Donne takes directly from "City of God" to prove points about faith and reason in the face of catastrophic human events, such as the death of a future king.

3. Latin Calque phrases in Old English. This paper points out that when English was just forming, many phrases (especially religious and theological)were taken directly from Latin and translated word for word into Old English. Example- "Viri Dei" became "Godes Folces". This is a big deal because the Anglo Saxons could have just made up a new word or words for these phrases, but they didn't. They tried to fit Latin phrases into the same internal structure while changing the letters or morphemes in to Old English. It's pretty neat stuff.

So, that's what I'll be doing the next few weekends. Of course, I already have plans to play golf with David, Peter, and Dan this Friday, so my paper writing might have to suffer a little. I'm sure you can look for all of these papers on the list of bestsellers soon. More likely, if you ever need any help sleeping I'll send one of these papers over to you you'll be sleeping in no time.

8 comments:

David said...

Wow, you were a busy beaver this morning getting this post up so early. I've been on campus an hour and have accomplished almost nothing. It takes me a while to warm up to the idea of getting work done--even posting on my blog. Maybe I'll go put up a post about my thesis. It will feel like real work.

By the way, I like your paper titles. I'm sure the content will be as brilliant as the packaging--just like you! Aw, shucks.

By the way again, I found a Cincinnati boardgame club at http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/CincinnatiBoardgamers/

Anonymous said...

A thousand apologies.... but, I am going to hijack your blog. So, Thomas got shots yesterday. It was quite a little scene. Bob had to physically hold him down and the nurse lay across his legs to stick him. Thomas screamed bloody murder at the top of his lungs. I was a bit pipped and very unsympathetic. Then, today he is limping on his leg, running very high fever, and quite lethargic. Apparently, the shots did hurt the poor kid. Yet another "Bad Mother Award" to hang on my quite decorated wall. Perhaps I was called to the nunnery and just didn't listen. Anyway, I can't wait for some adult conversation and serious booty shaking tonight, Monica. I've had enough of needy children.... oh, wait, here comes another ribbon to add to my wall of shame.

M.

M LO said...

David- Thanks for the compliments. It's funny, but I did some research about Cincinnati today too. Except my research was on churches in the area. You'll be happy to know that I found a church, Old St. Mary, that is 7 minutes from campus and does Latin, German, and English masses. I'm so excited, especially about the Latin masses part.

Mary- Poor Thomas! When I was young I was so afraid of shots that they had to tie me down to a restraint board, so I can relate. I hope he feels better. I too am excited about DWTS tonight. Perhaps Ian Ziering will have a break out performance or maybe Laila Ali will rearrange Maksim's face if he breaks the rules again!

Anonymous said...

Oh, I was so preoccupied with Triduum stuff that I forgot to comment on the big DWTS news last week. Edyta and Alec.... eeeeeeeaaaak!!! I wonder if her wedding dress will be as scandalous as her outfits on the show. There's nothing that screams virginal like cleavage down to there, skirts up to there, and the occasional leg warmer. Golly, how I love this show.

M.

Anonymous said...

Why is it that when my children are sick I spend so much time down here on the computer? Am I not sympathetic enough? (As proven in one of my comments- no, I am not...) Am I starving for adult conversation? Am I going crazy? Perhaps all of the above. Oh, wait. Someone is crying. Duty calls.

M.

LauraSuz said...

Thanks for asking your dad about my car problems...that was really sweet of you!

David said...

By the way, Monica, funny links. I didn't notice them on my first read.

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