Students will be assigned to panels in consultation with Professor Curley by Monday, September 24.  Each panelist will have responsibility for the topic of the panel at large, as well as a for special sub-topics. 

The panels and their sub-topics are as follows.

Gods and goddesses:

Bischoff, Fox, Morganti   [email this panel]

The divine machinery of the cosmos is especially visible in the genre of epic.  What is the place of the gods in the authors we have read thus far?  How do the gods change from poem to poem?

-- Divine councils
-- Mortality versus immortality
-- Fate versus free will
-- Divine passions
-- Divine justice
-- The cosmic order of things

Heroes and heroines:

Raider, Rotter, Sunkin  [email this panel]

Epic offers definitions of what it means to be a hero or heroine, a man or a woman.  How are these definitions upheld or varied from poem to poem?  Does epic offer guidance on exemplary human behavior?

-- Fame and reputation
-- Hospitality
-- Friends and enemies
-- Sex and sexuality
-- Mortals versus immortals
-- Free will versus fate

Poets and singers:

Bercovici, Borek, Cabell, Elam   [email this panel]

Epic poetry is traditionally sung or narrated.  How do the poets shape their poems within the conventions of the genre?  How do their poems speak to their own times?

-- Poets and muses
-- Proems and conclusions
-- Similes and ekphrases
-- Singers and audiences
-- Myth, history, and politics
-- Book and story divisions

Each panelist should read (or reread) the poems with an eye toward his or her individual topic, making note of particularly good examples.

Panelists should read all appropriate secondary sources in the CC 224 course reserves (both open and electronic).  Usually these readings are directly applicable to the epics on the class reading list.  However, panelists should be prepared to extrapolate when necessary.

The goal is for panelists to transform themselves into experts on their topics.  For the purposes of this assignment, expertise is defined as deep familiarity with the primary texts, mastery of the recommended scholarship, and readiness to discuss findings with the support of examples.

It practically goes without saying that panels should convene informally (once is good;  twice or more is better) to coordinate ideas and observations.

Preferences (Wednesday, September 19)

Students will email Professor Curley by 5:00 p.m., listing the panels in order of preference.

Overview (Monday, September 24)

Professor Curley will outline the expectations for the panel sessions, and announce the members of each panel based on students' emails.

Session 1 (Monday, October 22)
Session 2 (Monday, December 10)

All three panels will face each other in an open, modestly moderated discussion of the epics read thus far.

Panels will be asked to consider selections from the poems and to offer comments on how the passages exemplify the genre of epic.  In commenting, panelists should make connections to similar passages both within the same poem as well as in other poems.

MIDTERM EXAMINATION CONNECTION:  By Monday, October 23 (11:00 p.m.), each panel will submit via email an essay question for the midterm examination (held Wednesday, October 24).  The questions will be made public in advance of the exam.  NOTE:  Panelists may not answer their own question on the exam.