Response Paper (5 extra-credit points): Write a brief, informal paper in which you discuss how Spenser seems to think holiness (Redcrosse) is saved from pride (Orgoglio) or how holiness (Redcrosse) defeats sin (the dragon).  Given the way in which Redcrosse Knight defeats his opponents, would you say that Spenser's poem is more humanist or more Calvinist in outlook?  What saves human beings -- their own boundless potential or the predestined grace of God?

NOTE ON RESPONSE PAPERS: Response papers are ungraded, extra-credit assignments.  I ask you to type them (so that they are easier to read), but they need not be a perfect, polished product.  Rather, response papers should be just what their name says -- a response.  Think about the question(s) that I ask you to consider; then, write a response.  Don't worry about typos or comma splices or organization.  Don't worry about answering every question I ask in the assignment.  Just be as specific as you can and get down as much as you can as quickly as you can.  Treat response papers more as a journal entry than as a formal paper.  I don't want a thesis or five-paragraph theme.  Rather, I want an exploration -- as detailed and specific as possible.  As long as you submit a response paper of suitable length, detail, and thoughtfulness (and as long as you turn it in on time in the class assigned), you will receive all the points that the assignment is worth.  Grammar, punctuation, spelling, and organization have no effect on the number of points you receive.  (NOTE: If you choose not to submit a response paper for extra credit, you should still come to class prepared to discuss the questions assigned, since we will focus on those questions in our discussion of the reading assignment.)