Paper Topics | Fall 2016 | Paper 1
Paper Due: Saturday, September 10, at 5:00 PM in your conference leader's Eliot Hall mailbox
Maximum length: 1,500 words
Carefully reread Tablet X, lines 40-45, 113-118, and 213-218 from The Epic of Gilgamesh. Notice that Gilgamesh is asked the same series of questions by the tavern-keeper, by Ur-shanabi (the boatman), and by Uta-napishti. What work does this repetition do?
This question asks you to start practicing the skills of close reading. You should focus your discussion on the referenced passages, but you may also consider how these repetitions affect the poem as a whole. Structure your paper around a strong central argument, and use explicit, textual evidence to support that argument.