Grasso 2613

Final Exam: Take Home OR In-Class (Read Below Carefully)

2009-05-01T11:51:00.001-07:00

In Kate Lilley’s excellent (and very readable) Introduction to Cavendish’s The Blazing World & Other Writings, she concludes by stating, “My role as editor and introducer adds another level to this recursive process of female collaboration. On behalf of, and in the spirit of, Cavendish’s own authorial interventions and ambitions, this collection solicits new readers and new readings” (xxix). This is an interesting point to make in an Introduction—that someone who writes about an author can be a collaborator, even when the author in question is several centuries dead and buried. I also like the idea that the living can speak for the dead, and continue to resurrect old works and inspire new readership (and thus strike up new friendships among the dead and the living!).

For your Final Exam, I want you to write your own Introduction to one of the works in class. Your AUDIENCE is future British to 1800 students, many of whom will be leery of reading this work in the first place. Your goal is to “solicit new readers and new readings” by giving them an “in” to the work—a way to enjoy, appreciate, or understand what the work is, what it does, and why we continue to read it. This is NOT a critical essay that advances an argument or uses sources; rather, it is simply an essay that has a specific purpose: I think you should read this work and this is why. To do this, you need to be persuasive, charming, interesting, and knowledgeable about the text itself.

SOME GENERAL GUIDELINES/THINGS TO CONSIDER:
v Remember how you felt when you first approached this work; write to that person.
v Consider what aspects of the work will surprise or delight your audience; make sure they “see” this in your Introduction.
v Point out how “modern” or applicable the work is to our own times—that it’s not a mere museum curiosity, but a living work of art.
v WRITE WITH PERSONALITY! Point out ideas and passages that you feel are important to seeing the work, but don’t make it sound like a “college paper.” Write as if you’re describing something you’re in love with.
v Try to explain or introduce ideas or concepts that might initially puzzle the reader, but if understood, could actually crack the book wide open.
v Remind your audience why the work is important and why you think it should be taught in a British Lit to 1800 class—or elsewhere. Defend its place in the canon of British and Western thought.

LENGTH: 4-5 pages (if take home); 2-3 pages (in-class)
No sources required, but YOU MUST QUOTE FROM THE BOOK.

FINAL EXAM DATE: Wednesday, May 6th, 3:00-6:00 pm

LAST POST: Bonus Questions for Part IV of Gulliver's Travels

2009-04-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

I will add one response to your missing assignments for EACH QUESTION YOU ANSWER. So, if you answer, one, that’s +1 response. All three, +3.

1. Do you feel that Swift means to depict the Houyhnhms as an ideal/utopian civilization? Is he describing their attributes at face value—or does this, too, come in for a fair share of satirical criticism? Use specific details to explain how you think Swift wants us to read this.

2. How does Gulliver describe English/European civilization to the Houyhnhms? What aspects of his culture is he at pains to describe, and who is wearing the satirical mask in this discussion—Gulliver or the horses? Use a specific scene to support your answer.

3. Why does Gulliver change during his stay in the world of the Houyhnhms—and why does he come to despise the Yahoos? How are we supposed to read his transformation and his subsequent return home, where he lives in a stable and spurns his wife and children? Is this satire, misanthropy, or common sense?

LAST QUESTIONS: Gulliver's Travels, Part Three (pp.175-203)

2009-04-26T22:01:00.001-07:00

1. Swift engages in some of his most delightful scatological satire in the closing pages of this voyage. What do you think is the purpose of his grotesque/obscene humor? Considering passages such as the reading of the stool, what is being satirized here—and why does Swift spend such detail on what initially amounts to a gross-out joke?

2. How does Swift satirize critics and the accepted history that scholars/critics preserve for the ages? Where might we see Swift use his pen to settle some personal disputes with his own critics/rivals?

3. Who are the Struldbruggs, and how do they become a vehicle for Swift’s focused or broad satire? How do their unique talents (which have been copied by many a science fiction novel) allow him to satirize the vanity and aspirations of mankind?

Monday: Part Three, A Voyage to Laputa, etc. (pp.142-174)

2009-04-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

* The painting above, The Rhinoceros (1751) by Pietro Longhi, is a satirical portrait of "polite" society. A group of fashionable Venetians oogle a captive rhino taking a dump. Yet they, too, are on display, preening themselves before the viewer with masks, hats, capes, and pipes. Perhaps the rhino stares at them with the same dumb fascination, chuckling at their vanity and folly? This echoes the satirical mask that Swift wears throughout Gulliver's Travels, where the object of satire peers back at the reader--and Swift's England.

1. What does Chapter Three share in common with Cavendish’s The Blazing World? What ideas, images, or philosophies are echoed in Swift’s work—particularly regarding science and discovery?

2. Laputa might be considered a philosopher/mathematician’s utopia, resembling as it does an ivy league institution, full of top-flight scholars and teachers. So why does Swift paint it as a dystopia—a kind of nightmare world where everything is topsy-turvy?

3. What do you feel is the most ludicrous/satirical invention that Gulliver encounters in Laptua and/or Balnibarbi? What do you think this reveals about the real world (our own or Swift’s England)? Where is the satirical “sting”?

Friday: Finish Part Two of Gulliver's Travels: Handout on William Dampier below

2009-04-21T21:22:00.000-07:00

* If you missed Wednesday's class, I explained the link between a "real" traveler--the pirate/adventurer William Dampier and his books of travel--and Swift's creation, Gulliver. Swift borrows from and alludes to Dampier throughout the book, notably in the opening letter, when he writes: "as my Cousin Dampier did by my advice, in his Book called, A Voyage Round the World." Swift pokes fun at Dampier's apologies for his style, which consists of passages like those below, some of which Gulliver nearly quotes in his narrative.

From A New Voyage Round the World (1696), by Willliam Dampier

I have not so much of the vanity of a Traveler, as to be fond of telling stories, especially of this kind; nor can I think this plain piece of mine, deserves a place among your more Curious Collections…Yet dare I avow, according to my narrow sphere and poor abilities, a hearty Zeal for the promoting of useful knowledge, and of any thing that may never so remotely tend to my Countries advantage…This hath been my design in this Publication, being desirous to bring in my Gleanings here and there in Remote Regions, to that general Magazine, of the knowledge of Foreign Parts, which the Royal Society thought you most worthy the Custody of, when they chose you for their President…

Before the Reader proceed any further in the perusal of this Work, I must bespeak a little of his Patience here to take along with him this short account of it. It is composed of a mixt Relation of Places and Actions, in the same order of time in which they occurred: for which end I kept a Journal of every Day’s Observations…

As for the Actions of the Company among whom I made the greatest part of this Voyage, a Thread of which I have carried on thro’ it, ‘tis not to divert the Reader with them that I mention them, much less that I take and pleasure in relating them: but for method’s sake, and for the Reader’s satisfaction; who could not so well acquiesce in my Description of Places, &c. without knowing the particular Traverses I made among them; nor in these, without an Account of the Concomitant Circumstances: Besides, that I would not prejudice the Truth and Sincerity of my Relation, tho’ by Omissions only. And as for the Travelers themselves, they make for the Reader’s advantage, how little soever for mine; since thereby I have been the better inabled to gratify his Curiosity; as one who rambles about a Country can give usually a better account of it, than a Carrier who jogs on to his Inn, without ever going out of his Road.

MORE ON WILLIAM DAMPIER AND 17-18th CENTURY PIRATES & BUCCANNEERS…
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dampier (a basic introduction to Dampier’s life with maps and links to Dampier’s works)
* Preston, Diana & Michael. A Pirate of Exquisite Mind. New York: Berkeley Books, 2004 (a fascinating biography of Dampier & the world of piracy, travel, and exploration)
* Defoe, Daniel. A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates. Carroll & Graff Publishers, 1992 (supposedly by Defoe, this is an 18th century work that compiles biographies of the famous pirates such as Edward Teach (Blackbeard), Stede Bonnet, Captain Kidd, and two famous women pirates, Anne Bonny and Mary Reed).
* Defoe, Daniel. Captain Singleton. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1992 (a novel about an English lad who gets caught up in piracy, explores Africa, and ends up raiding Spanish vessels with a Quaker. Jolly good read).

Wednesday: Gulliver's Travels (pp.51-99)

2009-04-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

1. What ultimately leads to Gulliver’s downfall in the court of Lilliput, and how can this be read either a universal satire OR as a satire of Swift’s England? (here the notes might help you)

2. Besides the obvious shift from little to big, how does the court of Brobdignag satirically reverse Gulliver’s experience in Lilliput? What does he see and experience here (so far) that makes it the ideal counterpoint to Book One of the novel?

3. Swift has long been criticized for his obsession with scatological detail, which is often accompanied by a certain strain of misogyny. Where do we see this in Book Two and how might it serve the satirical/misanthropic view of the work?

Monday: Swift, Gulliver's Travels (pp.7-50)

2009-04-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

Despite pretending to be a true account of Gulliver’s discoveries in the far corners of the world, Gulliver’s Travels is a vicious satire of English/European life and thought. Read travel/exploration as the “frame” that allows Gulliver the freedom to say what might normally seem treasonous—or simply nasty—back home.

With this in mind, choose ONE of the following passages and explain its satirical intent (and how it might reflect on Swift’s England or European culture in general):

* Gulliver’s opening letter to his Cousin Sympson
* The war between Lilliput and Blefuscu (esp. the Big-Endians)
* The Rope Dancers
* The contract between the Emperor of Lillput and the “Man Mountain”
* Gulliver’s unique method of extinguishing a fire

Friday: The Rape of the Lock, Canto 5

2009-04-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

1. What is the significance of Clarissa’s speech, which begins, “Say, why are beauties praised and honoured most,” (41)? This is an oft anthologized passage from the poem and is the subject of much criticism. What is her message and how does it relate to the poem as a whole (or at least to the fifth canto)?

2. In the mock epic battle of Belinda’s forces vs. the Baron’s, how is the battle waged? What weapons are used, and how are soldiers vanquished? Cite a specific passage and explain Pope’s satirical intent.

3. How are we supposed to read/understand the final resting place of the lock? As a constellation, Pope claims that “This lock, the Muse shall consecrate to fame,/And ‘midst the stars inscribe Belinda’s name (44). Does this ending ultimately validate Belinda as our protagonist—or is it just as satirical and condescending?

Paper #3 Assignment

2009-04-14T21:16:00.001-07:00

“Like a Dog in a Dancing School”: Satire and Scandal in Restoration/Eighteenth Century Literature

The OED defines satire as “a poem, or in modern use sometimes a prose composition, in which prevailing vices or follies are held up to ridicule. Sometimes, less correctly, applied to a composition in verse or prose intended to ridicule a particular person or class of persons, a lampoon.” Thus, the goal of satire is to reform our bad habits through humor, wit, and slander. Yet this is a debatable definition—that all satirical works intend to reform a nation of readers and guide them, didactically, to the light. In an age known for its vice and debauchery, were its writers really that enlightented? Or were they merely just as eager in their character assassination as the fops and coquettes of high society?

Choosing ONE of the following works (Cavendish, Congreve, Pope, or Swift) try to find the voice of the AUTHOR amidst the satire and general buffoonery. Where do we see him or her trying to reform, instruct, or condemn his or her society? Where can you glimpse passages, characters, or ideas that seem to “speak” for the author, informing us what to laugh at and what to applaud? OR, where do you see the author seeming to uplift the very vices he or she seeks to correct, regardless of mortality or virtue? The trick here is to read not what is said, but what is implied, and how each work seems to underline the essential ethos of the author in question.

SOME IDEAS TO CONSIDER FOR EACH WORK…
v How does Margaret Cavendish satirize the male establishment of her day and its monopoly on science, literature, and thought? In what ways might The Blazing World intend to set the record straight by its lampoon of “male” rules and order?
v With whom do you sympathsize most in The Way of the World and why? How does Congreve play characters off one another to make some seem sympathetic and others mercenary, even though all, to some degree, are practicing the same deceit?
v How are we supposed to “read” Belinda throughout The Rape of the Lock—as a mindless coquette or a true eighteenth-century heroine? Consider the end of the work in particular, when her lock is immortalized in the constellations alongside the classical heroes/heroines.
v How is Swift satirizing the his own nation through the perspective of a traveler in foreign lands? Consider how Gulliver defends England throughout the work, and whether this defense burns with the light of conviction or folly.

REQUIREMENTS
v 4-5 pages, double spaced
v A focused close reading of a few selected passages in the work
v 2-3 sources that you use to help you “see” the goal of the satire, the author’s intention, and/or the ideas of the age (check the LIBRARY as well as JSTOR)
v Due on our Final Exam Day, TBA

Wednesday: The Rape of the Lock (Cantos 3 & 4)

2009-04-13T08:12:00.001-07:00

1. How does the game of “ombre” assume mock epic proportions? Cite specific examples that show Pope’s satirical (or even humorous) intent.

2. How is the “rape” of the lock carried out and described in Canto 3? How does the “epic poet” respond to this travesty?

3. Why does Umbriel travel to the Underworld to seek an audience with the Queen of Spleen? What powers does she have—and how can she aid Belinda’s revenge on the Baron?

BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF THE “ACTION” OF CANTOS III & IV
Canto III
1-24: Belinda and her companions disembark at Hampton Court. We get a description of the kind of flirtatious society that characterizes Hampton Court.

25-100: Belinda plays a game of Ombre (a card game) with “two adventurous knights” one of whom is the Baron who covets her lock. We get an extended mock-epic description of the card game. Belinda wins.

101-154: Coffee is served; it inspires the Baron and distracts Belinda. The Baron succeeds in cutting off Belinda’s lock despite the efforts of her sylphs to protect her.

155-178: The Baron exults in his victory and the fame that it will bring him.

Canto IV
1-24: Belinda, deserted by her guardian sylphs grieves for her loss as Umbriel (another “sprite” but a melancholy “gnome” as opposed to a lively “sylph”) travels to the “cave of spleen” located in the underworld to seek the Queen of Spleen. [Note: “to suffer from the spleen” was primarily a female affliction in Pope’s day and, although 18th century doctors believed it had a physiological source, today we would be more likely to understand this affliction as a kind of psychological state --perhaps hypochondria]

25-88: The cave of Spleen and the Queen’s attendants are described. Umbriel addresses the Queen of Spleen and asks her to afflict Belinda with the chagrin (ascute vexation, annoyance, or mortification). The Queen agrees and gives him a bag and a vial to take back with him to the mortal world.

89-140: We return to the scene of the rape. Belinda lies in the arms of Thalestris who laments the injustice and seriousness of Belinda’s situation and eggs on her own beau, Sir Plume, to demand the lock back from the Baron. The Baron refuses Sir Plume’s demand.

141-176: Umbriel breaks the vial given to him by The Queen of Spleen. Belinda weeps and speaks, cursing her fate.

Monday: Pope, The Rape of the Lock (Cantos 1-2)

2009-04-09T22:17:00.001-07:00

1. How does the opening letter set the tone for the entire work? What kind of “dedication” is this? Would you be flattered to receive it? Or insulted?

2. In what way does The Rape of the Lock resemble an epic poem (The Iliad, The Aeneid, Paradise Lost, etc.)? Use a specific example from the poem to illustrate this and consider how he “translates” the conventions of the epic into a poem about a woman of high society.

3. How is Belinda described in the opening of Canto 2? What is significant about the imagery/language here? What does Pope want us to “see”?

4. Ariel’s speech (starting around line 73) is one of the most celebrated speeches in the poem: why so? What is significant about this speech, and how might it reflect the overall tone and message of the poem?

A VERY BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF THE “ACTION” OF THE RAPE OF THE LOCK
Canto I
1-12: The poet begins with a mock-epic introduction to the work.

13-114: It is morning. Belinda’s guardian sylph, Ariel, whispers in her ear as she sleeps. Ariel explains that unnumbered invisible spirits (of various kinds) guard young women in all their daily activities and trials––especially in their interactions with men. Ariel tells Belinda that he has foreseen a “dread event” (l. 109) that will occur during the coming day and warns her that she must “beware of man.”

115-148: Belinda’s dog, Shock, wakes her up; the first thing she sees is a love letter; she forgets Ariel’s warning completely. Belinda sits at her dressing table and–aided by Betty (her maid) and by her attendant sylphs she prepares herself for the day.

Canto II
1-18: The canto begins with a description of Belinda on a boat traveling from London to Hampton Court (a royal palace on the Thames).

19-46: We learn about the two locks/curls that hang down Belinda’s neck. We learn how the Baron covets them. That very morning—before the sun rose and before Belinda awoke—he built an altar to love, sacrificed on it a number of trophies form his former amours and prayed to “the powers” that he (1) obtain and (2) long possess the lock. Evidently “the powers” will grant only “half his prayer.”

47-142: Back on the boat, the poet describes the “transparent forms” that surround Belinda on her voyage. Ariel is concerned about the dread event that is supposed to befall Belinda during the day (he doesn’t know precisely what it will be). Ariel addresses his fellow sylphs as might a general preparing his men for battle. He tells them they must be on guard; he assigns them their various duties; he tells them how they will be punished if they fail. The sylphs take up their defensive positions around Belinda.

Friday: The Way of the World (Acts IV-V)

2009-04-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

1. Why does Sir Wilfull Witwoud emerge as such a comic character in Acts III & IV? How do his scenes satirize the courtly conventions of love as well as being a “gentleman”?

2. Re-read the famous dialogue between Millamant and Mirabell on pages 50-52: what conventions of society and love are both rejecting in their proposals of marriage? Why might this be a very “modern” marriage?

3. Who “wins” in the end and do we rejoice in their success? What might the ending say about “the way of the world”—and this comedy that defies the traditional “comedic” ending?

OED Presentation Schedule

2009-04-07T19:20:00.001-07:00

Below is the remaining OED Presentation schedule. If you haven't signed up for a date, we have one day open--this Friday--or you can double book one of the remaining days. Just let me know.

M 6 Congreve, The Way of the World (Brandon)
W 8 Congreve, The Way of the World (Jim)
F 10 Congreve, The Way of the World

M 13 Pope, The Rape of the Lock (Rodney)
W 15 Pope, The Rape of the Lock (Megan)
F 17 Pope, The Rape of the Lock (Caleb)

M 20 Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Trevor)
W 22 Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Stewart)
F 24 Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Shannon)

M 27 Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Tyler, Tahrea)
W 29 Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Destiny)
F 1 Decompression

Wednesday: The Way of the World (up to Act Three)

2009-04-07T06:31:00.000-07:00

We didn't get much done on The Way of the World yesterday, so we'll backtrack a bit and discuss Acts One-Three tomorrow.

A single question this time, but one that has a variety of possible responses:

Choose ONE of the main characters to “follow” through the next two acts. Discuss the various ways they “act” in order to further their plot and use language deceptively, even when telling the “truth.” Consider what they want in the play and how they propose to get it, as well as how they respond to difficulties and witty dialogue.

Monday: Congreve, The Way of the World (Acts I and II)

2009-04-03T09:22:00.000-07:00

* William Hogarth's great portrait of Miss Mary Edwards (1740), capturing a spirited woman who might have easily acted in Congreve's play (well, it was a bit before her time--The Way of the World was performed in 1700).

1. According to Congreve’s Dedication to the Earl of Montague, and the Prologue, what fears does Congreve have for the success of his play, and how he is writing a play against the public taste? What is his artistic aim in writing The Way of the World?

2. Explain the secret agendas of our two heroes, Fainfall and Mirabell. Who is each one secretly after, how do they plan to win her, and who is in their confidence?

3. How does this play espouse a courtly philosophy of love? Choose a brief exchange and explain how the characters reveal society’s unwritten rules about love, marriage, and/or infidelity?

4. Why might a play—and more specifically, acting—be a perfect metaphor for the courtly behavior of Restoration society? Where do we see people “acting” or “playing roles” and how does Congreve call attention to this?

5. Why is Petulant supposed to be a hilarious (and satirical) character in Act I? What characteristics and mannerisms set him apart from his peers? Consider the famous passage, “Why, he would slip you out of this chocolate-house, just when you had been talking to him—as soon as your back was turned—whip he was gone!” (10).

Wednesday: Cavendish (pp.189-225)

2009-03-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

* I try to match the questions with the work of a contemporary artist, but this time I cheated: this is a nice symbolic portrait of how one might see Margaret Cavendish, the visionary. It's actually
a portrait by the great 19th century Pre-Raphaelite painter, Edward Burne-Jones (painted 1870). But the idea matches.

1. How might Cavendish defend her own “eccentric” writing from the charges of excessive novelty and deformity by the end? Consider the passage when the Duchess says, “I endeavour…to be as singular as I can; for it argues but a mean nature to imitate others” (218).

2. What do you make of the allegorical trial (reminiscent of The Contract) between Fortune, Prudence, Honesty, Folly, Rashness, and Truth? What is the result of this trial and what light might it reveal about Cavendish’s own life and ideas? Remember, allegory always stands for the flaws and values of our own world—even when it’s in the “blazing world.”

3. What do you feel are the “politics” of the Second Part of The Blazing World? What political world view does the Empress espouse as she sets off to conquer the world, and is this point of view “utopian” from a modern sensibility? In other words, what cause leads her raise an army against her former homeland, and what world does she want to “create” in its place?

Monday (not Friday's) Questions: The Blazing World (pp.151-188)

2009-03-25T08:15:00.000-07:00

* a contemporary of Cavendish, the Italian painter Forabosco, painting a picture of a courtesan in 1665. However, I think she looks a bit "classy" to be a simple strumpet, and reminds me of who the Empress might be in The Blazing World.

These questions and readings are due MONDAY. For Friday, you have no work due--just work on Paper #2 (due by 5pm). We WILL HAVE CLASS--I'll discuss the Restoration and the art/ideas of the period. But you do not have to complete the work or reading for Friday.

1. In Virginia Woolf’s 1929 work, A Room of One’s Own, she writes of the dearth of women writers before Jane Austen—talking specifically of Cavendish. As she notes, “what could bind, tame or civilize for human use that wild, generous, untutored intelligence? It poured itself out, higgledy-piggledy, in torrents of rhyme and prose, poetry and philosophy which stand congealed in quartos and folios that nobody ever reads” (Harcourt, 61). What about this work seems “wild, generous,” or “untutored” to you? In what way does she not seem to follow “the rules” of writing/thinking/storytelling—and is this a good thing (Woolf wasn’t so sure)?

2. Continuing on the idea that The Blazing World offers a vision of Utopia, what utopian views shine through in the second part of the work? How might this work represent Cavendish’s ideas on philosophy, government, and/or religion in this “ideal” world?

3. On page 185, the spirits ask the Empress why she would “desire to be Empiress of a terrestrial world, whenas you can create your self a celestial world if you please.” Her response is telling: “What, said the Empress, can any mortal be a creator?” What might the “blazing world” itself, and the idea of created worlds have to do with the overall theme of the work—and its position as a female “fiction” or “fancy”?

Wednesday: The Blazing World (pages 123-151)

2009-03-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

* I'm going to break the novella into three class periods, since it’s a bit long and can be dense in parts. As you read the work, keep in mind the description by the editor, Kate Lilley, in the Introduction: “The Blazing World combines a narrative of the effortless rise of a woman to absolute power, with a narrative of the liberty of the female soul and the emancipatory possibilities of utopian speculation and writing specifically for women” (xxv).

1. In the “To the Reader” beginning of the work, Cavendish distinguishes her work from philosophy by calling it a “fiction.” How does she define the difference between the two, and how does this work function as a “fiction” rather than a philosophical contemplation (again, according to her definition)?

2. Look up the word “utopia” in the OED and consider how The Blazing World plays on the definition of a “utopia”. What utopian ideals does it express so far, and why might Cavendish view The Blazing World as a possible utopia?

3. What do you feel is the purpose of the Empress’s interrogations of the bird-men, bear-men, and the worm-men? Focusing on a specific passage, explain what she asks them and what their response is—and why this might be important for the reader to know. You might also consider her “To the Reader” introduction to shed light on these passages.

Monday after Break: Cavendish, The Contract (3-43)

2009-03-13T08:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry to make you read over break, but at least now you have time to read slowly and enjoy it (right?) You should enjoy this work, as it’s a nice departure (despite its similarities) from the Metaphysical poets.

1. How does The Contract show (and at times resist) constructions of gender in the seventeenth century? In what way is the work a “contract” of how a woman should behave/conduct herself in a world of men—and how might Cavendish seek to supplant this?

2. Do you read The Contract more as a romance or a satire? Consider how many of the characters—particularly the male characters—are portrayed as lovers, as on page 29: “but if you do marry him, I will strive to make you a widow the first hour, cutting your vows asunder: and your husband, instead of his bride, shall embrace death, and his grave shall become his wedding bed…”

3. Discuss the trial scene at the end (similar to Shakespeare?). Does another Portia emerge here—and what kind of “justice” wins out? Is love and truth triumphant? Or is this another ambiguous ending mimicking The Merchant of Venice?

Friday: Men Vs. Women: Seventeenth Century Views on Love

2009-03-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

For Friday, read the following short poems by two men and three women:
1. Sir John Sucking: Sonnet II, Love’s Clock, Against Fruition, The Constant Lover, Farewell to Love (122-127)
2. Anne Bradstreet: A Letter to Her Husband (135)
3. Richard Lovelace: Song: To Lucasta, Going Beyond the Seas, Song: To Lucasta, Going to the Wars (181-183)
4. “Eliza” (true identity unknown): The Life, The Dart, To My Husband (236-238)
5. Katherine Phillips: To My Excellent Lucasia, A Dialogue of Friendship Multiplied, Orinda to
Lucasia (240-242)

In your response, discuss the role of gender in informing how the poets write about love. Are they following convention in writing “as a man” or “as a woman”? What aspects of love are the women more interested in than the men (and vice versa)? Are the women more “sincere” than the men, or are they more confined by the roles of their sex? In writing your response, compare at least one male poet to one female poet.

Monday & Wednesday: Marvell (see below)

2009-03-06T13:27:00.000-08:00

Questions for The Metaphysical Poets—Marvell: On a Drop of Dew (190-191), Bermudas (192-193), To His Coy Mistress (198-199), The Definition of Love (201-202), The Garden (207-208), An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland (209-212)

We’re going to spend two days on Marvell, so instead of giving you two separate sets of questions, I’m going to give you all the poems now, and ask you for one response EITHER on Monday or Wednesday.

The response is simple: write a close reading of one of the poems above, trying to decipher the language, metaphors, and allusions contained in the work. Even if you don’t completely get a poem, try to “think through it” as you write, even if you don’t come to any earth-shattering conclusions. I am more interested in seeing you struggle and “fail” than write a safe, but unadventurous response. Please see my close reading of Donne’s “A Valediction of Weeping” two posts below. Of course, yours doesn’t have to be nearly as long as mine—it’s just meant to inspire you to take your own creative leaps of fancy.

And yes, I feel an analytical reading of a poem can be a profoundly “creative” work!

Paper #2: The "Modern" Early Modern

2009-03-05T22:04:00.000-08:00

OPTION ONE: Shakespeare
In Harold Bloom’s somewhat controversial book on Shakespeare’s plays, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human (1998), he observes that “Early modern English was shaped by Shakespeare: the Oxford English Dictionary is made in his image. Later modern human beings are still being shaped by Shakespeare, not as Englishmen or American women, but in modes increasingly postnational and postgender. He has become the first universal author, replacing the Bible in the secularized consciousness” (10).

In many ways, The Merchant of Venice is among his most “modern” plays, because of its dogged ambiguity and refusal to be comedy or tragedy (forcing many directors to shape the play one way or another). In your essay, I want you to choose one of the characters of the play and use him or her to explain why the play is so “universal” or modern in its outlook. Trace the character’s development throughout the play and explain what he or she wants, how she or he speaks, and why he or she ends up where they do in the play. Use the character to reveal Shakespeare’s “Biblical” range and influence on modern thought. Ideally, I would focus on either Shylock, Portia, Anontio, or Bassiano, but for a supreme challenge you could also choose Jessica or Lancelot.

OPTION TWO: The Metaphysical Poets
T.S. Eliot, in his essay on “The Metaphysical Poets,” identifies these poets as crucially modern in the same way Shakespeare, is, since they chart the difference “between the intellectual poet and the reflective poet. Tennyson and Browning are poets, and they think; but they do not feel their thought as immediately as the odour of a rose. A thought to Donne was an experience; it modified his sensibility. When a poet's mind is perfectly equipped for its work, it is constantly amalgamating disparate experience; the ordinary man's experience is chaotic, irregular, fragmentary. The latter falls in love, or reads Spinoza, and these two experiences have nothing to do with each other, or with the noise of the typewriter or the smell of cooking; in the mind of the poet these experiences are always forming new wholes.”

In other words, Eliot felt that Donne allowed the reader to glimpse the impressionistic play of his thoughts through poetry—which perhaps explains their enormous difficulty. This, of course, is a thoroughly Modernist technique, somewhat akin to “stream of consciousness” writing as perfected by James Joyce and Virginia Woolf in the early 20th century (around the time Eliot was writing). For your essay, I want you to use 2-3 poems by either any one or several of the Metaphysical Poets to explain what qualities, ideas, or images make these poems “read” modern. How do the poets use language in a way that can be profoundly appreciated by a 21st century audience, making us forget that these works are hundreds of years old, written in an age without even the most rudimentary technology we take for granted? Try to isolate characteristics of the poems that anticipate later work (you can even bring in some later poems by way of comparison) or seem to express our own cultural anxieties and interests.

THE FINE PRINT
Ø Length: 4-5 pages, double spaced
Ø Sources: at least 3, but as many as necessary. You should use books and articles as sources, not websites or Wikipedia. Look for scholarly sources (and check our library!). Use MLA citations throughout with a Works Cited page.
Ø Due Date: Friday, March 27th by 5pm

An Exercise: A Close Reading of "A Valediction of Weeping"

2009-03-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

Just for fun, I decided to write a close reading of what I feel is one of Donne's trickiest poems. Not that I totally "get it," but I think this comes close to deciphering its hidden mysteries. I invite you to do the same, for this poem or another one. I'll post them as well!

In the opening lines, the poet wants to weep in the immediate vicinity of his love, since “thy face coins them [the tears], and thy stamp they bear” (3). His idea is that tears by themselves are worthless—even self-indulgent, perhaps—but so long as they exist to reflect her, their “mintage” has value—as they are “pregnant of thee” (6). In other words, the tears have become literal money, as they bear the “stamp” of his ruler—his beloved. And like money, they can reproduce (multiply into larger sums) and are a way to “spend” his weeping without “spending” it (the other meaning of to spend—to destroy). I think the idea here is that he can create more and more of her, prolonging their separation since each tear “buys” a new image of her. However, he ends the stanza by reminding her that “So thou and I are nothing then, when on a diverse/shore” (9-10). They are “nothing” because their currency becomes valueless—a mere forgery—without one another’s reflection. The ultimate idea being, don’t weep for me when apart, since nothing can come of it; when we weep together, we “spend” our wealth in mutual affection.

He compares their situation to the topical metaphor of fashioning a new globe of the world (globes were becoming more accurate and embellished in Donne’s time). No man can truly see the entire world; only the workman who “hath copies by, can lay/An Europe, Afrique, and an Asia” (12-13). In this fashion, the reflection of the world is magnified into a three-dimensional representation of the world as it is (though no one can ever truly know it in this way—until the 20th century, when we departed the earth for the first time and glimpsed the globe in its entirety). How does this relate to the lovers' tears and weeping? Apparently, each tear is their relationship personified, a miniature “globe” revolving around their "suns". Yet this is an immensely fragile world, one that the merest breeze could shatter. And if the tear represents their entire world (as the flea represents the lovers’ marriage in The Flea) then it must be protected, or better yet, conserved. This seems to be his meaning when he writes, “This world, by waters sent from thee, my heaven/dissolved so” (19-20). So her tears, which are a “copy” of their relationship, can ultimately destroy the precious image. If she continues to cry beyond his absence, the last tear “stamped” with his image will be “drowned,” obliterated, wiped out. And without his “copy” (his presence), she cannot create another.

The poet now compares his love to the moon, whose power controls the tides: “Draw not up seas to drown me in thy sphere,/Weep me not dead in thine arms,/but forbear/To teach the sea what it may do too soon” (22-24). She is the moon because she has the power to unleash a flood of tears and so “drown me in thy sphere.” This passage is also interesting for what it reveals of the lovers’ parting: he seems to suggest that he is going on a literal voyage over the seas, since he entreats the lover to “forbear/To teach the sea what it may do too soon.” In other words, following her example, the sea could literally drown him on his voyage. He continues this metaphorical/literal argument with the wind, which could shatter his “tear globe” and upset his vessel. The poem ends with a final “valediction of weeping,” when he asks his love not “to do me more harm than it purposeth” (27)—in other words, don’t hurt me any more than we will suffer apart. Tears and sobs will metaphorically destroy their love, the watery portraits which contain each other “married”—again, like the mingled blood in the flea. So whoever insists on weeping beyond the moment “is cruelest, and hastes the other’s/death” (28-29). Obviously the tears will fall and shatter on their own, so why hasten them? Better to weep no more, and simply count off the days to our inevitable reunion.

(Friday) Herbert: The Altar (67), Easter Wings (68), Prayer I (69), Jordan I (69-70), Church Monuments (70), Jordan II (76)

2009-03-04T08:35:00.001-08:00

1. In either “The Altar” or “Easter Wings,” how does the imagery/metaphor of the poem match its external form? In other words, how does the way we read the poem shape what we see/experience?

2. Discuss the rhythm and sound of Prayer I and how this sound intensifies the seemingly endless chain of metaphors in the poem.

3. How might Jordan I and/or II be a response to Donne’s type of poetry (the “metaphysical” poetry)? In general, what are one or both of these poems saying about the business of writing poetry?

4. How does Herbert identify with the “church monuments” in the poem of the same name? How does the physical structure become an allegory for his earthly/spiritual existence?

Donne: A Valediction of Weeping (19), A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning (23-24), The Ecstasy (24-26), Elegy: To His Mistress Going to Bed (29-30)

2009-03-01T21:38:00.001-08:00

Choose one of the above poems and examine its use of a central metaphor. Explain how the metaphor is used in the poem, and how it allows us to visualize/experience his state of being. Don’t just say money = love, but explain how he makes money, which is a mere unit of exchange, represent something as insubstantial as love. Also consider how the metaphor relates to the rest of the poem (and the title). Donne’s poems teem with metaphors, one spilling over another, so choose carefully and consider all the implications of the word and its image (and don’t be afraid to consult OED to be sure!).

Monday: Donne, The Flea (4-5), Song (6-7), The Sun Rising (8-9), The Canonization (9-11)

2009-02-26T21:47:00.001-08:00

1. The Flea is in the tradition of “carpe diem” poems (look this phrase up if you don’t know what it means), which typically focuses on a woman unwilling to have sex with a man. How does he advance his argument that, in essence, they should have sex immediately without regret?

2. Donne’s Song, despite its incredible beauty (particularly in its imagery) is a fairly cynical love poem. Why is the lover convinced that “Nowhere/Lives a woman true, and fair” (6)?

3. How do the famous lines of The Sun Rising relate to the poem as a whole: “Love, all like, no season knows nor clime,/Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time” (9)?

4. Consult OED for the meaning of “canonization,” and explain how Donne is using this idea/metaphor in the poem. How does he intend their love to be canonized?

Wednesday & Friday: A Critical Response

2009-02-22T21:57:00.000-08:00

By Friday’s class, I want you to read ONE of the following essays on The Merchant of Venice and write a 1-2 page response explaining how the essay helps you “see” something new in the play. You don't have to summarize the entire essay, but do tell me SPECIFICALLY how some aspect of the essay interested and/or challenged you. Try to understand what the essay’s general thesis is, and how the author is trying focus our attention on a specific character, scene, or detail. Click on the URL links below to access the article. If for some reason they don’t work, go to the library’s Electronic Resources page, click “By Title,” scroll down to “JSTOR” and type in the author’s name (last, first). NOTE: if you are off-campus, you will have to login to JSTOR through your ECU login.

1. Metzger, Mary Janell. “Now by My Hood, A Gentle and No Jew”: Jessica, The Merchant of Venice, and the Discourse of Early Modern English Identity.” PMLA, Vol. 113, No. 1 (Jan 1998). Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/463408

2. Lewis, Cynthia. “Antonio and Alienation in The Merchant of Venice.” South Atlantic Review, Vol. 48 No. 4 (Nov. 1983). Stable URLhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/3199668

3. Hamill, Monica J. “Poetry, Law, and the Pursuit of Perfection: Portia’s Role in The Merchant of Venice.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 18, No.2 (Spring 1978). Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/450359

Monday: The Merchant of Venice, Act V (90-103)

2009-02-19T21:41:00.001-08:00

Only ONE question this time, but it’s a BIG one.

Q: How satisfying is the final act of The Merchant of Venice in terms of a “happy ending” where all loose ends are tied up and order is restored to the world? Though much of the play bounces between the worlds of tragedy and comedy, the play ends conclusively as a “comedy,” with the illusion of balance (as the lovers are forgiven and marriage is assured). Does this ending make sense for you, the audience member? In answering this question, consider the following (either collectively or explore one of them in detail)…
a. What happens to Jessica, who disappears after 69 lines; also consider her very last line in the play.
b. Portia’s “acting” as a slighted lover (is this an act or is she truly betrayed?).
c. The “terms” of reconciliation.
d. The last words of Gratiano—and the fact that he, as a relatively minor character and a “shadow” of Bassanio, gets to speak them.
e. Where the heck is Shylock? Why doesn’t he get to come back?

Friday: The Merchant of Venice, Act IV (pp.71-90)

2009-02-17T21:46:00.000-08:00

The image: Francois Clouet, Elizabeth of Austria (c.1550)--another portrait of Portia?

1. When pressed to forgive Antonio and accept double the payment of his bond, Shylock responds: “Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond,/Thou but offend’st thy lungs to speak so loud./Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall/To cureless ruin. I stand here for law!” (76). How might he (in his eyes) stand for law, and how does he explain his inability to grant mercy?

2. What do you think Portia means when she states, in her first speech to the court, that “Though justice be they plea, consider this:/That in the course of justice none of us/Should see salvation” (79)? How does this relate to Antonio’s bond and the eventual fate of Shylock?

3. Has Portia obeyed the letter of the law in saving Antonio or manipulated it? In general, do you read Portia as a savior or a sneak, hoodwinking everyone through her rhetoric and tricks? Consider how she “fools” Shylock (if she does) and her interest in Bassanio’s ring.

Wednesday: The Merchant of Venice, Act III

2009-02-15T21:31:00.000-08:00

NOTE: The picture on the right, by Parmigianino, is my idea of what Portia looks like. Do you agree? Click on it to enlarge.

1. How do you read Shylock’s famous speech in Act III.1? Many consider this a profoundly “modern” speech that sets Shylock morally above his Venetian rivals. Do you agree? Or is this simply another instance of how the devil “can cite Scripture for his purpose” (18)?

2. How does Portia emerge as a character in Act III, as she finally begins to interact with the main characters and plot? Using Chaucer as a reference, is she more of an Emily, an Alison, or a Wife of Bath? Why do you think so? Consider her actions and language carefully in your response.

3. In Act III.5, Lancelot “corners” Jessica and says, “truly I think you are damned. There is but one hope in it that can do you any good, and that is but a kind of bastard hope neither” (68). Re-read the rest of this scene and explain why this scene is in the play. What does it show us about Jessica, her relationship with Lorenzo, and/or the themes at work in the larger play?

Monday: Merchant of Venice, Act II

2009-02-12T21:59:00.001-08:00

Questions for Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice:
Act II (21-47)

1. What role does Lancelot (Shylock’s former servant) serve in Act II? Is he merely a comic foil, a distraction from the tragic business of the play? Or does he serve a deeper purpose in the drama itself?

2. How did you react to the abduction scene in Act II.6 & 8? Does this scene challenge or affirm your sympathy (or lack thereof) for Shylock? Likewise, how do you read Jessica’s role in the abduction? Consider the famous report by Solano, “As the dog Jew did utter in the streets: “My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!”” (42).

3. Why does Shakespeare include the Casket Scenes in Act II.1, 7 & 9? In many ways, they have nothing to do with the play…and yet both Morocco and Aragon make lengthy speeches. Do these scenes have a dramatic/thematic role in the overall drama? What might this be?

Friday: The Merchant of Venice

2009-02-10T21:20:00.000-08:00

Questions for Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice:
Act I (pp.3-21)

Answer ONE of the following…

1. Re-read the passage between Bassanio and Antonio in Act I.1 on pages 8-10: describe their relationship from this passage. Why does Bassanio want to undertake this quest and why is Antonio so eager to help him (and has he offered such help in the past)?

2. What do you make of Portia’s snarky dismissal of her suitors? What kind of woman is she—and how is she “reading” her potential husbands? Consider lines such as “God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man” (p.12).

3. Who are we supposed to sympathize with in Act I.3—Antonio or Shylock? Which one comes across as the more “human” presence, though both are at each other’s throats? Consider Shylock’s famous lines, “Hath a dog money? Is it possible/A cur can lend thee three thousand ducats?” (19).

OED Presentation Schedule

2009-02-10T19:16:00.000-08:00

NOTE: You can find the OED on-line through the Linscheid Library: on the main page, look under “Electronic Resources” and choose “By Title.” Scroll down to the “Oxford English Dictionary.”

THE ASSIGNMENT: I want you to gloss a few words or a phrase or two that you don’t understand and feel might add to our understanding/enjoyment of the work. Use the OED to find the various shades of meaning that might be at play in the passage. Record this in a handout to distribute to the class, so we can see what these words/phrases mean and why the author might have chose them. Be sure to include the actual passage and a page number for reference.

SCHEDULE:

M 9 Shakespeare, Sonnets (Sharlee D)
W 11 Shakespeare, Sonnets (Letha H)
F 13 Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: Act I (Christi C)

M 16 Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: Act II (Alex T)
W 18 Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: Act III (Drew B)
F 20 Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: Act IV

M 23 Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: Act V
W 25 The Merchant of Venice: Film
F 27 The Merchant of Venice: Film

M 2 Donne, poems TBA
W 4 Metaphysical Poets: Donne, poems TBA (Arielle B)
F 6 Metaphysical Poets: Herbert, poems TBA (DeAnna R)

M 9 Metaphysical Poets: Marvell, poems TBA (Trevor S)
W 11 Metaphysical Poets: Marvell, poems TBA (Trisha V)
F 13 Metaphysical Poets: Lovelace, Carew, Phillips, poems TBA (Megan B)

M 23 Cavendish, The Contract (Melissa F & Josh G)
W 25 Cavendish, The Blazing World (Jun P)
F 27 Cavendish, The Blazing World (Randi M)

M 30 Cavendish, The Blazing World (Tahrea M)
W 1 Congreve, The Way of the World (Brandon F)
F 3 Scissortail Creative Writing Festival (no class)

M 6 Congreve, The Way of the World (Jim B)
W 8 Congreve, The Way of the World
F 10 Pope, The Rape of the Lock (Rodney W)

M 13 Pope, The Rape of the Lock (Megan C)
W 15 Pope, The Rape of the Lock (Caleb H)
F 17 Swift, Gulliver’s Travels

M 20 Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
W 22 Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Stewart M)
F 24 Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Shannon M)

M 27 Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Tyler L)
W 29 Swift, Gulliver’s Travels (Destiny C)
F 1 Decompression

Wednesday: Shakespeare's Sonnets Part II

2009-02-09T13:19:00.001-08:00

The Sonnets to read for Wednesday are: 71, 80, 94, 116, 129 & 135. If you missed class, you can find a link to the on-line sonnets in the previous post. I also want you to write a close reading response to ONE of the six sonnets for Wednesday's class. Read closely and examine the actual words and how they use imagery, connotation, and other techniques to convey meaning. Remember: the sonnets (as with most poetry) is less about literal meaning than imagery and metaphor. Metaphors relate one thing/experience to something else seemingly unrelated; "getting" that experience is the magic of poetry, and the best poets can make the leap from one to another a transformative experience.

FOR EXAMPLE, Sonnet 23 opens with the following lines: "As an unperfect actor on the stage,/Who with his fear is put beside his part,": The sonnet is using the metaphor of an actor to describe his incompetence in the art of love. He feels like an "unperfect actor," whose fear "is put beside his part," meaning that instead of becoming his part, he is always outside it, seeing what he should be doing but never able to inhabit it. So these two lines want us to see the incompetent actor fighting through his fear to say his lines, which somehow captures the feeling of the lover, who is likewise "acting" his part of love, which is artificial and (possibly) written by an inferior playwright. As the poem goes on, the poet wishes the lover could read "what silent love hath writ," rather than expecting him to play the tiresome role that has been enacted over and over again in the "comedy" of love. As you read this poem, you see that the metaphor of acting/actors/the stage lets us see how artificial our experience of love is, and how blind we are to true emotion which might not look "staged."

Cool, huh?

Monday: Shakespeare's Sonnets

2009-02-05T20:42:00.001-08:00

For Monday's class, read the following Sonnets from Shakespeare's 1609 collection: 1, 18, 20, 23, 33, & 35. You can find the sonnets at the following web address: http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/MobSons.html.

After reading each sonnet carefully, pick ONE of the sonnets and write a "close reading" of the sonnet, explaining what the sonnet is saying and how it is saying it. To do this properly, you need to choose several lines to explicate, tracing how the language (often difficult) leads to a specific idea, image, or meaning. I'm less interested if you get it "right" than if you make an honest attempt to read the poem. DON'T summarize what the poem is saying--take us through several lines to show us how the language = thought.

If you have trouble, we'll spend a lot of time on Monday and Wednesday discussing the mechanics of Shakespeare's sonnets.

2009-02-02T09:10:00.000-08:00

Paper #1:
“Taketh the fruit and let the chaff be stille” (or, Chaucer’s Language)

NOTE: You only have to write TWO of the THREE papers assigned in class. So you can skip this paper if you don’t feel up to it; however, you will then have to do the next two papers.

SKILLS: Close Reading and Analysis of a Primary Text; Understanding the Subtleties of Translation; Writing about Language in its Historical Context

ASSIGNMENT: I want you to choose one of the tales we read in class and identify a crucial passage from this tale (anywhere from a dozen or so lines to an entire page, but no more than this). Then I want you to find the Middle English version of Chaucer’s text, and write a comparison of how the language changes from the original to the translation. How did the translator capture the same ideas and connotations of the original (or how did he try to) while keeping something of the original structure and rhyme? Related to this, what ideas or words changed, and how does this give us a different text and a different reading of the passage? No translation can be exactly the same, so I want you to do a CLOSE READING of both, weighing individual words and phrases and seeing how they both “add up.”

Be sure in your paper to explain WHY you chose this passage and WHAT you think this passage “reveals” about the Tale in question. Your discussion of the language should continually underline this point—that the language makes the meaning. So changing the language can change the meaning, and therefore, possibly, change how we read the entire Tale (and possibly misread it!).

SOURCES: You don’t need any secondary sources for this paper. Instead, I want you to use your text of the Canterbury Tales and the original Middle English. ALSO, feel free to use the OED on-line to help define archaic words and see whether or not the translator retained the meaning and flavor of the original.

REQUIREMENTS:
Ø 3-4 pages minimum (double spaced)
Ø A well-structured essay that (a) identifies a key passage in a specific tale, (b) provides a close reading of the language itself—don’t summarize!, and (c) cites individual passages in both Middle English and the Translation.
Ø Includes a Works Cited page for both works and the OED (if you use it).
Ø DUE Friday, February 13th by 5pm (hard copy or e-mail)

NOTE: You can find Middle English versions of The Canterbury Tales all over the web, including the site: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/Cha2Can.html

Pardoner's Tale: Questions

2009-02-01T22:28:00.000-08:00

Questions for Chaucer’s
The Canterbury Tales: The Pardoner’s Prologue & Tale (394-410)

Answer ONE of the following…

1. What does the Pardoner mean when he claims that “many a good sermon/Is mostly prompted by a bad intention” (396)? How does this explain his general technique throughout his career as well as the moral of his subsequent tale?

2. How does the Pardoner’s tale function as an allegory of human life? Consider specifically the role of the old man, Death, and the three “brothers.”

3. Why does the Pardoner ask the pilgrims “To make an offering, and have absolution” (409), especially considering his Prologue (where he cynically describes his “business” as a pardoner)? Why does he think he can fool them, even after he’s outed himself as a fraud?

Welcome to Eng 2613: British Literature to 1800

2009-02-01T22:03:00.000-08:00

Please refer to your syllabus throughout the course; however, here are some basic things to remember as we journey through the "blazing worlds" of British Literature...
* You can miss 3 classes and 3 daily responses without penalty; after that you rapidly lose participation/response points
* You are responsible for writing 2 of the 3 papers assigned for class
* Always e-mail me in advance if you have a personal issue that prevents you from coming to class or you have questions/concerns about class
* Read, read, read: none of it is wasted on a receptive mind!