The Final Exam: Friday, May 6th @ 9:00

FINAL EXAM FOR BRITISH LIT FROM 1800

Part One: Passages

I will give you a passage from each book (and maybe 2 or 3 from the Romantic Poetry book): you have to identify the author OR the work, and then discuss the significance of the passage—in other words, why I’m quoting it here. These will all be significant passages we discussed in class, so no surprises.

Part Two: The Essay

I carefully, consciously chose the works we read in class as a representation of British Literature from 1800. I also specifically focused on a single century, the 19th, and stopped at the very end of it—1898. Why these works, why only this period (no 20th century)? Because I wanted to tell a specific story that only these works could tell, that necessarily excludes many other stories I might have told. However, I felt that if you could see how this narrative is shared by a few key works, you would learn something useful about the literature and the period.

Q: For your essay, I want you to write an Introduction to this our course: not just British Literature from 1800, but the specific version of this course. Imagine that you’re writing a Forward to a book: explain what the general story is, and how the individual works contribute to this story. There can be several themes and ideas or one overarching one, that’s your decision. However, you should help students ‘see’ the invisible threads connecting one work to another, and how each work is responding to similar ideas and expressing the zeitgeist of the era. You must quote from several works to support your ideas, and you may quote from the passages in Part I. However, if these are the only quotes you use, you won’t get full points. I want to see how much you’ve read and how well you can make it ‘speak’ in this essay. So be specific; the more vague you are, the more I’ll wonder how much time you spent reading Spark Notes! :)

You may write the essay before the exam and simply bring it with you, or you can write in in-class. However, everyone has to attend the exam to do Part I in class. Our Final Exam day is Friday, May 6^th @ 9:00 (not 8, as the schedule says).

For Monday: Wells, The War of the Worlds, Part II (Last Questions!)

Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: In Chapter 2, “From the Ruined House,” the narrator discusses Martian anatomy and evolution, explaining (among other things), that “is it quite credible that the Martians may be descended from beings not unlike ourselves, by a gradual development of brain and hands...at the expense of the rest of the body” (127). Why is this passage significant for the metaphor of Wells’ book? What fate does this predict for mankind if it continues along current lines of development?

Q2: In a shocking passage, the narrator more or less kills the Curate. Why does he do this, and does this symbolize the last gasp of civilization for the narrator (and mankind)? Have the laws of God and man finally broken down in this passage—and have the Martians ‘won’?

Q3: At one point, the Man on Putney Hill wants to create a secret stash of books, but "not novels and poetry swipes, but ideas, science books" (Ch.7).  Why does he place so little value on imaginative literature and so great a value on scientific literature?  If there was a global catastrophe, should we save the art as well as the science? 

Q4: In the Epilogue, the narrator reflects that "We have learned now that we cannot regard this planet as being fenced in and a secure abiding-place for Man; we can never anticipate the unseen good or evil that may come upon us suddenly from space."  Though talking about Mars, how might this also reflect on Britain?  Why might this Epilogue be a metaphor for seeing England as an 'earth' itself? 

For Friday: Wells, The War of the Worlds, Chs.11-17 (to the end of Book I)

 Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: Given what we know of the "future" (for 1898), how are these chapters prophetic of modern warfare?  What trends and ideas was Wells capturing that would come to fruition in the first decades of the 20th century?

Q2: In general, does English civilization fall or triumph in retaliation to the Martians? In what way do English values either stand firm or crumble away in the face of a superior invader?  Consider the narrator's remark, "Did they grasp that we in our millions were organized, disciplined, working together?"   

Q3: What purpose does the Curate serve in the novel?  How does his reaction to these terrible events represent turn-of-the-century feelings about religion/establishment figures in general? You might also consider how the narrator reacts to him in particular. 

Q4: How does the narrator try to understand the Martians' purpose and origins?  What prevents him--and his society--from seeing their true threat and intentions (especially when the reader divines them much quicker)?  What might this say about late 19th century English society? 

For Monday: Wells, The War of the Worlds, Chs.1-10

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: In Chapter Nine, a group of soldiers are conversing about the Martians: one calls them “octopuses,” and another remarks, “It ain’t no murder killing beasts like that” (39). If aliens are always a metaphor for mankind, why did Wells make them so grotesque and octopus-like? In other words, why stress their inhumanity to the reader?

Q2: One of the most important elements of science fiction is what we call verisimilitude, the quality of making something appear real—or what Coleridge termed the “suspension of disbelief.” The more we believe the events of science fiction are possible, the more we fall under their spell and ultimately unlock their metaphors. How does Wells accomplish this in the opening chapters of The War of the Worlds? How does he attempt to blur fact and fiction? (note: those of you who read A Journal of the Plague Year last semester might find a connection between that work and this one).

Q3: How does the public react to the growing threat of the Martians? Remember that the media didn’t have the power or influence in his day as it does in ours, and yet newspapers picked up stories quickly and disseminated them. What might the public’s response say about Wells’ views of England—or humanity in general?

Q4: How might Mars and the Martians represent some of England’s colonial fears, much in the same way that vampires and “Mr. Hydes” did in other stories? Consider the opening chapter, which notes that “[Mars] must be...older than our world; and long before this earth ceased to be molten, life upon its surface must have begun its course” (8). 

For Wednesday: Finish The Jungle Book!

Read the last three stories for Wednesday: "Quiquern," "Red Dog," and "The Spring Running." We'll end our discussion of Kipling with an in-class response which, I hope, will give you some ideas for your third paper. 

ALSO: here's a link to an article about Kipling's house in Vermont, Naulahka, where he wrote The Jungle Books in the twilight days of the 19th century. A possible road trip (or flight trip) for the summer? I actually have friends in Vermont and plan to visit his house sometime in the near future...

https://vtdigger.org/2016/04/10/introducing-rudyard-kipling-hometown-hero/

For Monday: Kipling, The Second Jungle Book

“Letting in the Jungle,” “The Undertakers,” “The King’s Ankus”

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: In “Letting in the Jungle,” Mowgli denounces the Man-Pack in no uncertain terms: “They are idle, senseless, and cruel; they plan with their mouths, and they do not kill the weaker for food, but for sport...I hate them!” (196). In a sense, does Man teach Mowgli to become a killer, someone who has smelled blood and vows revenge? Does his education parallel the Creature’s (from Frankenstein)?

Q2: Somewhat related to Q1, Mowgli is a complete innocent (like the Creature) and is mystified by the ways of man. How does Kipling use his perspective as a true innocent—not just a child, but a wolf-child—to satirize the ideas of the Man-Pack? Are these native or British ideas? Or simply ‘human’ ones?

Q3: The strange tale of “The Undertakers” seems to be a fable about British progress as told from the perspective of a crocodile. How has progress affected the Mugger of the Ghaut, and how does it ironically end his career by the story’s conclusion?

Q4: The White Cobra warns Mowgli, “See, then, that the thing does not kill thee at last. It is Death! Remember, it is Death!” (236). Why is the King’s Ankus death to all men who touch it? How might elements of this story parallel certain works by J.R.R. Tolkein, who certainly knew his Kipling well (Kipling wrote in the generation just before Tolkein, so he would have grown up reading The Jungle Books, etc.).

For Friday: More on Kipling (see below)

For Friday, there's nothing to read--play catch-up instead--but we do have class: we're going to explore some ideas that inform Kipling's India. In other words, I'll bring the reading to class. We'll read the next three stories for Monday with questions to follow.

For those of you who missed today's class because of OCTE, the in-class writing follows (you can bring it to class or post it here):

Kipling, The Jungle Books

“Servants of the Queen,” “How the Fear Came,” and “The Miracle of Purun Bhagat”

In-Class Response:

Each one of these stories is about the origins of something that has always existed: why animals fight in wars, how fear came to the jungle, and where holy men come from. Also in each story, the knowledge is hidden from man, known only to the animals and to the narrator, who apparently understands the ‘beast language’ (at least in “The Servants of the Queen”). How do these stories challenge or critique the balance between man and animal, OR between Indian and British? Does Kipling use these stories to support the fundamental order of the British empire and the English way of life (the way of “man”)? Or is he critiquing the “laws” the rule the land in favor or more ancient rules—ones that predate anything English or British? 

For Wednesday: Kipling, The Jungle Book

For Wednesday, read the following 3 stories for class: "Servants of the Queen," "How the Fear Came," and "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat." There are no questions, but we will have an in-class response based on some idea from the stories. 

Also, I assigned Paper #3 in class which is due the Friday after next. The assignment sheet is pasted below: 

Paper #3: Metaphors of Empire

Think, in this batter’d Caravanserai

Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day,

    How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp

Abode his Hour or two, and went his way (XVI, The Rubaiyat)

In the mid to late 19^th century, England was at the height of its power. At this time, it could truly be said that “the sun never sets on the British empire.” However, many writers found their relationship with British colonialism an uneasy one, since it took a profound amount of arrogance, ignorance, and sheer racist belief to maintain England’s superiority over the Eastern world. Our two writers from class, Fitzgerald and Kipling, use Eastern ideas and imagery to challenge our idea of England itself. Instead of criticizing England, they bring England to the Orient, disguising her ideas and values amidst exotic jungles and palaces.

For your Third Paper, I want you to examine how both authors use the Orient as a metaphor to examine England and English values. While we can read Fitzgerald’s poetry as merely Epicurean, and Kipling’s stories and charming animal fables, each one probes deeper, disguising a critique of society within its Eastern imagery. Where can we find these messages, and how does each author give clues to unlock their secrets? Which animals help us see English problems in a new light—the Bandar-log? The seals? The elephants? Though man is the king of the jungle, what are his limitations? What can only a creature of both worlds see and understand about the British world? Similarly, how can Fitzgerald ‘translate’ age-old poetry to reveal hidden truths about English nature? What advice does Omar Khayaam (a mask for Fitzgerald himself) offer to the Victorian colonialist who thinks he/she is the pinnacle of creation? Can the English empire ever die? Will it follow other empires who have long since vanished into dust?

Requirements

• At least 4-5 pages, double spaced
• Use examples from The Rubaiyat and a few of Kipling’s poems or stories
• Outside sources optional for this paper: focus on a careful close reading of the poems and stories
• DUE Friday, April 15^th by 5pm

For Monday: Kipling, The Jungle Book

Read the following 3 stories: “The White Seal,” “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,” “Toomai of the Elephants”

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: How do the heroes of these stories, such as Little Toomai, Kotick, and even Rikki-Tikki-Tavi relate to Mowgli? What characteristics do they all share, and why might Kipling choose them as the heroes of his animal fables set in the British empire? You might choose a specific tale to illustrate this.

Q2: “The White Seal,” written in 1890, was a specific response to the rampant commercial hunting of seals in the Northern Pacific. How might this story—and to a lesser extent, “Toomai” and “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”—be written to raise awareness for British readers (and especially, young British readers, who might grow up to make a difference)?

Q3: Do colonialist (or even racist) views sometimes cloud Kipling’s stories and depiction of the jungle world? Where do we see this, and could this be simply a record of how people at the time thought and spoke? Is it satiric? Or does it reflect the author’s views of racial hierarchies?

Q4: What is the role of man in each of the three stories? Is man still the king of the jungle, its ultimate protector or destroyer? Or is man seen more like the opening chapter of the book, “the weakest and most defenseless of all living things” (7)? Why is this significant for Kipling’s message of nature vs. civilization in The Jungle Books? 

For Friday: Scissortail Creative Writing Festival

REMEMBER, no class on Friday: instead, you could go to the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival which starts at 9:30 and continues at 11:00, 2:00, 3:00 and 7:00. Here is the entire schedule for Thursday-Saturday, so you can find a time that suits you: http://ecuscissortail.blogspot.com/2016/01/2016-scissortail-schedule-of-readings.html

If you attend a session, answer ALL FOUR of the questions below for an extra credit bonus. This can take the form of missed responses, missed classes, or simply extra points on your final grade. The amount of responses or absences I forgive is based on how detailed/engaged your answers are. For example, if you respond to each question with a 1-2 sentence response and I can't really tell if you even attended a session, I might not be able to give you any credit. But if I can see that you put some thought into it and really responded to what you observed at the reading, I can excuse up to 3 absences or 3 missed responses. So take notes as you watch so you can answer these questions with thought and detail. You can bring these responses to class on Tuesday. 

THE QUESTIONS (answer all 4):

Q1: Which of the authors interested you the most and why? Why did you respond their poems and/or story and why might you read more from this author?

Q2: Which piece (if any) did you find difficult to follow or understand and why? Is is simply not your kind of material, or was it too vulgar, or depressing, or confusing? If you liked all the pieces you heard by each writer, answer this instead: how did each author's reading work together as a whole? Why did these 3 (or 4) writers work well together? Was there any common themes or ideas that seemed to link them together?

Q3: Discuss briefly how the authors presented their material: their reading style, introductions, gestures, and other details that helped you appreciate the stories/poems. In other words, how did the authors help you understand their work through their performance?

Q4: How did the audience react to these authors/works? Did certain works get more response than others--and if so, why? Did people laugh? Were they completely silent. Did people seem to 'get' these writers, or did some leave them scratching their heads? How could you tell?

For Wednesday: The First Jungle Book (First 3 Stories)

For Wednesday: Kipling, The First Jungle Book

* “Mowgli’s Brothers”

* “Kaa’s Hunting”

* “Tiger, Tiger!”

Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: What do we learn about the Law of the Jungle in these stories? How might this contrast with the reality of British/English life, the very life that Kipling critiques in his poems? In other words, why might we read the Jungle-People and their laws as a response to Kipling’s world and its values?

Q2: Before Mowgli leaves the Wolf Pack for his own kind, his Wolf Mother tells him, “for, listen, child of man, I loved thee more than ever I loved my cubs” (23). Why do so many of the animals revere Mowgli—and others bitterly despise him? What power does a weak, naked child have among the Jungle-People?

Q3: Who are the “Bandar-log” and what kind of relationship do they have with the Jungle-People? Why does Bagheera fear Mowgli getting involved with them (and what might they represent in the ‘real’ world)?

Q4: Kipling sets these stories of fantasy and fable in a very real world, the India that he was born in and lived in for much of his early life. What does he want English readers to see and experience about this world? Where do we see Kipling's "India"? 

For Monday: Four Poems by Kipling (see below)

For Monday, read the following poems (on the handout):

* “The Widow at Windsor”

* “The White Man’s Burden”

* “If”

* “I keep six honest serving-men”

If you weren’t here on Friday, you can find many of these poems here: http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/kipling_ind.html

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: The poem “I keep six honest serving-men” is an example of his poetry for children, as it originally followed the story “The Elephant’s Child,” in his book Just So Stories, tales about how things came to be. What lesson do you think this poem is trying to teach children, particularly with its “serving-men”? Whom do these men serve and why? Who could the “person small” be who seems to ask so many questions?

Q2: At the end of “If,” the narrator proclaims that if the addressee—his actual son?—can do all the laundry list of things in the poem, “you’ll be a Man, my son!” What kind of advice is being offered in the poem? Is it practical, no-nonsense advice for a Victorian gentleman? Or is it something less valuable? Is this good advice for a young man even today?

Q3: The poem, “The White Man’s Burden” has become a familiar phrase in history books, and the poem itself has been attacked as racist propaganda for lines such as “Sloth and heathen Folly” and “The silent, sullen peoples.” Who do you imagine is speaking this poem? Is this poet—or a character? A reliable or unreliable narrator? Are we supposed to applaud these sentiments or find them ironic? What clues tell us how to read/interpret this poem?

Q4: “The Widow at Windsor” is a common soldier’s tribute to the “widow”—Queen Victoria, who runs the British empire. How does he view his Queen and his country? Is he patriotic—or pessimistic about his role in “the rank and file”?

For Wednesday: Fitzgerald, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: In Fitzgerald’s Introduction to the First Edition of the poem, he writes, “No doubt many of these Quatrains [four line verses] seem unaccountable unless mystically interpreted; but many more as unaccountable unless literally.” Discuss a passage which helps you decide how to read this work: as an extended metaphor for different stages of life, or as a literal “carpe diem” poem about the here and now.

Q2: In stanza XXIII, Fitzgerald writes, “Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie,/Sans wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and—sand End.” This sentiment is echoed throughout the poem in different forms, but with the same general meaning. Is this message one of overwhelming fatalism and pessimism? Or is it another way of ignoring the “finger” for the “moon”?

Q3: Though this is a loose translation of an 11th century poem, it is also very much a 19th century English poem as well. Where do we hear echoes of the Romantics in the poem? How was Fitzgerald writing an ‘exotic’ poem that also responded to the works of Keats, Coleridge, and others?

Q4: Fitzgerald often plays verbal games in his poem, deliberately tricking the reader with sounds and syntax. Consider Stanza XXX for example,

What, without asking, hither hurried whence?

And, without asking, whither hurried hence!

    Another and another Cup to drown

The Memory of this Impertinence!

How can you translate the general meaning of this stanza? How do the sounds of this poem (esp. the alliteration) disguise and frustrate its literal meaning? Why does he often employ this strategy in the poem?

For Wednesday: Mid-Term Check In--a Few Questions

NOTE: No reading for Wednesday, since I want to wait until after Spring Break to resume our reading schedule (we'll be reading The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayaam starting the Wednesday after we return, so if you want to read some poetry over the break, start with that). Instead, I want to have a 'big picture' discussion about literature as a way of taking stock what we've learned this semester and where we intend to go from here.

Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: Even though you might not have read many (or any) of the works in this class before, why do you think they've remained literary classics since the early 19th century? Why do people keep reading Austen and Shelley's novels, as well as the poetry of the Romantics? Since many authors of the same period are completely forgotten, what keeps these works on college syllabi and in bookstores (or nowadays, just Amazon: and note that Frankenstein is ranked at #5 in Literature on Amazon currently). 

Q2: Many people object to using modern ideas and theories (such as feminism, or Marxism, etc.) to interpret older works. These critics say that literature must be read in terms of its own time, without recourse to anachronistic views and ideas. Even though Mary Shelley's mother was a proto-feminist, she was hardly the kind of feminist we find today, and might have rejected some of its implications. So what do you think: can we read literature of 1818 from the lens of 2016 ideas and aesthetics? Or do we need to forget what we know in order to read it 'correctly'?

Q3: There is an increasing trend in colleges and universities to do away with survey courses such as this one, as some scholars (both liberal and conservative) find them narrow, elitist, or irrelevant. These critics feel that the focus of college courses should be on topics more relevant to modern society, and more representative of the diversity of our students and culture. Quite honestly, classes full of "dead white males/females" leave out many voices and perspectives, and can make students feel that they are the only way to read literature. Is there a good argument for keeping with tradition and teaching surveys of British and American literature?

Q4: Thinking about modern bestsellers and works you regularly read for entertainment, what is most different about those works and the ones we read for class? Are books fundamentally still the same, though separated by older language and characters? Or have books (esp. fiction) fundamentally changed over the centuries? Does reading, say, The Hunger Games or Games of Thrones prepare  you to read these works...or do you need to learn how to read older works and work 'harder' to appreciate them? 

For Monday: Three Articles on Frankenstein

For Monday, read at least 2 of the following articles for our discussion. I'll ask you to respond in writing to an idea linking all three, so reading at least 2 should give you enough to work with.

The articles, on pages 328-368
* Gilbert and Gubar, "Mary Shelley's Monstrous Eve"
* Poovey, "My Hideous Progeny: The Lady and the Monster"
* Mellor, "The Female in Frankenstein" 

ALSO: Keep thinking about Paper #2, which I've posted below:

Paper #2: The Women of 1818

The year 1818 isn’t the only thing Persuasion and Frankenstein have in common: both books also share many of the same themes, concerns, and values, even though Jane Austen was just past forty and Mary Shelley had only turned twenty. They represent two different generations, yet as women, they were part of the same world, and turned to the novel for much the same reasons...reasons Romanticism helped them voice for the first time in literature.

For your second paper, I want you to explore one of the following themes present in both books, and discuss how both women transform this theme through the novel. You can focus more on one book than the other, but make sure you do address both, even if you only use, say, Persuasion to support your overall reading of Frankenstein. Analyze each work using close reading and help us ‘see’ the ideas you find important. Don’t skim or summarize too much, and don’t give us the blow-by-blow of the story. Assume we’ve read it, though we might not read it the way you did (which is why you need to discuss significant passages). The themes are as follows:

The Romantic Novel

Male Companionship

The Education of Men and/or Women

Fictional Autobiography

Letters as Storytelling

Fathers and Children

Class and Wealth

Narrators—Reliable and Unreliable

SOURCES: I want you to use at least 2 sources (you can use more) from the supplemental materials from each Norton edition. You can use either the ones assigned in class or any additional readings that look interesting to you. Don’t find other, random sources or even other pertinent articles: use our books, since they have a wealth of material covering critical, cultural, and biographical perspectives. Read these first, since they’ll help you see ideas you might have missed, or they can help you express your own in a more succinct or analytical manner.

REQUIREMENTS

• 4-5 pages double spaced
• At least 2 secondary sources from the Norton Critical Editions
• Sources introduced and cited according to MLA guidelines
• Due Monday, March 21st by 5pm (Monday after Spring Break): note that I gave you an extra two weeks (counting Spring Break) to work on this!

For Friday: The Origins of Frankenstein

Read the following articles from the Supplementary Materials right after the text of Frankenstein:

* Shelley, Introduction to Frankenstein, Third Edition (pp.165-169)
* Baldick, Assembling Frankenstein (pp.173-183)
* Robinson, Texts in Search of an Editor (pp.198-204)
* Mellor, Choosing a Text of Frankenstein to Teach (pp.201-211)

Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: According to Melor, why is the 1818 version of Frankenstein superior to the 1831 revision? Why does she consider it "a stable and coherent conception of the character of Victor Frankenstein and of Mary Shelley's political and moral ideology?" (211). NOTE that we read the 1818 version.

Q2: In 1831, how does Mary Shelley try to 'sell' her novel to her readers, particularly now that the work had become popular, and her husband--as well as Byron--were both dead? Does this read like an accurate autobiographical account or an attempt to cash in on the past? 

Q3: Baldick claims that what makes Frankenstein so original--and shocking--in context with other early 19th century novels is "its starkly secular nature" (181). How does he support this, especially considering how often Shelley invokes allusion to Adam and Satan (and Paradise Lost) in her narrative. Why do you think she did this? 

Q4: According to many of these articles, can we call Mary Shelley the real author of Frankenstein? Is there compelling evidence that she had multiple co-authors, or, as people in 1818 believed, that Percy Shelley actually wrote it himself? How does authorship become a tricky proposition in terms of the multiple texts of Frankenstein? 

For Wednesday: Shelley, Frankenstein (finish the book!)

Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: What arguments does Victor give Walton for destroying the Creature’s incomplete mate? He was earlier moved by the Creature’s loneliness, and also agreed that the Creature’s arguments were sound. Why, at the very end, does he decide not to go through with his “engagement”? Are his reasons equally sound?

Q2: Earlier in class, we discussed the possibility that the Creature is Victor’s doppleganger, his other half which he has psychically divorced from himself. Whether or not this works, are there passages in the last few chapters that seem to support this? Or, are their passages that would change significantly if we read the Creature this way?

Q3: Is Victor a reliable narrator? Do we trust his version of events (in greater or lesser ways)? Consider passages such as, “He is eloquent and persuasive...but trust him not. His soul is as hellish as his form, full of treachery and fiendlike malice.” Related to this, is Walton’s narrative meant the story—or is he equally suspect?

Q4: In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the Wedding Guest is changed, becoming a “sadder and a wiser man.” What effect does Victor have on Walton? Is he changed? Redeemed? Or doomed? How closely does Shelley follow Coleridge’s example in her own work?  

For Monday: Shelley, Frankenstein, Vol.2 Ch.4 to Vol.3 Ch.3 (pp.76-125)

For Monday, be sure to read the next several chapters, at least up to or around Volume 3, Chapter 3. I won't give you any questions this time, and instead we'll do an in-class writing over a significant idea in these chapters.

ALSO: Here's a link about two upcoming biopics about Mary Shelley, each one covering her life as she meets Percy Shelley and composes Frankenstein. Won't you feel smart when you see one (or both) and can tell your movie companion, "oh, that's not accurate at all...she would have never said that!" :)




The Link: http://www.tor.com/2014/08/14/sophie-turner-mary-shelley-elle-fanning-frankenstein-biopics/

For Friday: Chapter IV-Volume II, Chapter 3

Mont Blanc at Night

NOTE: I was using a different edition last time which counted your Chapter IV as my Chapter V. So I want to backtrack on Friday and start with Chapter IV (our edition) where Frankenstein first beholds the creature. Sorry for the confusion!

Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: Discuss the dream that Victor has just before he beholds the Creature for the first time. What is significant about this dream, considering that it contains the two women in his life--his mother and Elizabeth? Also, why did he originally find the Creature "beautiful," but after the dream he exclaims that it is a "miserable monster"? 

Q2: Percy Shelley wrote a poem about Mont Blanc (the highest peak in the Alps) which obviously Mary Shelley knew intimately. At the end of this poem, he writes, "Mont Blanc gleams on high:--the power is there,/The still and solemn power of many sights/And many sounds, and much of life and death." (you can read the entire poem on page 295). How do these lines connect with Victor's experience on Mont Blanc in Chapter IV? What sublime experience does he have there, and how might Wordsworth or Coleridge translate this experience in Romantic terms? 

Q3: After Justine's death (which Victor inadvertently causes), Victor notes that Elizabeth "was no longer the happy creature, who in earlier youth wandered with me on the banks of the lake, and talked with ecstasy of our future prospects." Why is it significant that Victor's first victims are all women (and a child, which is in the care of women)? Does Victor have a hostility or ambivalence toward women which his Creation seems to act upon? Is the Creature, in a sense, Victor himself? 

Q4: When the Creature confronts Victor on the mountain, he exclaims, "I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous." Whether or not you believe this, why is this an extremely Romantic sentiment? What poem or poems from the Romantic period would support the Creature's words? 

For Wednesday: Shelley, Frankenstein, Chs.1-4

Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: Most first-time readers of Frankenstein are surprised to find that the novel begins with a frame narrative: that of Walton, the arctic explorer, who is writing home to his sister, Mrs. Saville. What purpose does this frame serve, especially since it could have all been narrated from Victor’s point of view? Also, why might Walton be a specifically Romantic character in his own right? Consider lines such as, “I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me; whose eyes would reply to mine.”

Q2: How is Victor something of a Romantic poet (esp. like Coleridge and Wordsworth) even though he dabbles in occult sciences rather than verse? How does he embody some of the innocence vs. experience struggles we witnessed in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Ode: Intimations of Immortality? You might consider the passage where he writes, “It was a most beautiful season...but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature.”

Q3: Somewhat related to Q2, what role does the sublime play in the work? Why does Shelley open her story in the North Pole, and why is Victor raised in the Alps (where she first conceived of the work, and where the Shelleys had their honeymoon)? In other words, why are the descriptions of Nature in this book not mere decoration, but part of the actual story of the work?

Q4: Recalling his early education, Victor remarks, “And thus for a time I was occupied by exploded systems, mingling, like an unadept, a thousand contradictory theories, and floundering desperately in a very slough of multifarious knowledge...” Why is Victor attracted to old, arcane alchemists and philosophers who have long-since been debunked? What is his attraction to the writings of Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Magnus, men who are almost more magicians than true scientists? 

For Friday: Supplemental Readings

One of Jane Austen's actual letters! 

For Friday, read the following extra materials that occur right after the novel in your Norton Critical Edition of Persuasion. 

* The Original Ending of Persuasion
* Hayley, "On Old Maids"
* Austen, Letters About Persuasion 
* Henry Austen, Biographical Notice on the Author
* Whateley, "A New Style of Novel"
* Anonymous, "Austen's Characters"
* Kavanagh, "The Language of Feeling"
* Smith, from Life of Jane Austen
* Mitton, from Jane Austen and Her Times

Note that these are all pretty short readings, so if one doesn't thrill you, it's okay to skip it, but try to read most of them. They all add important historical/cultural context to the book which will be important for Paper #2! 

See you on Friday...

For Wednesday: Finish Persuasion (or get as close as you can)

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: In Chapter XXII, Anne dismisses the pleasures of Bath by saying "I am no card-player." How does Austen characterize the society and amusements of Bath in the novel? Why doesn't Anne "fit" here--and how does she learn the truth beneath its veneer of refined respectability? (note: Austen lived in Bath briefly and hated it)

Q2: In Austen's day, letters were vitally important as carries of news, friendship, and scandal. Austen's first novels were actually written in the form of letters (but only one, Lady Susan, survives). What role do letters play in this novel, and why are they able to do things that normal speech and interaction are incapable of?

Q3: In Chapter XXIII Anne and Captain Harville have a famous conversation about the nature of men and women: why is this conversation one that could only be written in the Romantic period? Additionally, why is it important for Wentworth to overhear this conversation?

Q4: Though Persuasion is many things, how is it also a novel passionately concerned about the education of women? How are the various women in the book educated in right and wrong ways by the end of the novel? How, too, might this novel be a way of educating young women who read it (Austen had many young nieces that she often wrote for)? 

For Monday: Austen, Persuasion, Chs. 10-18

From the 1996 adaptation of Persuasion

Q1: When first arriving at Uppercross, Captain Wentworth tells his sister that he Is "quite ready to make a foolish match. Any body between fifteen and thirty may have be for the asking. A little beauty, a few smiles, and a few compliments to the navy, and I am a lost man" (Ch.VII). If this is his intention, how does he become interested in Anne again? Did he come back expressly for her, or does she 'persuade' him to rethink his matrimonial prospects?

Q2: How does Romanticism and Romantic ideas make a stronger appearance during the chapters at Lyme? How is this Austen's way of responding to concepts of sensibility and the sublime in her own, less demonstrative way? In general, do you think she is more enthusiastic or critical of the Romantics?

Q3: After the accident at Lyme, Anne reflects (thinking about Wentworth), "whether it ever occured to him now, to question the justness of his own previous opinion as to the universal felicity and advantage of firmness of character...She thought it could scarcely escape him to feel, that a persuadable temper might sometimes be as much in favour of happiness as a very resolute character" (Chapter XII). What does she mean by this, and how might this be a way of questioning how women are brought up in her society?

Q4: At Lyme Anne accidentally meets her cousin, Mr. Elliot, and he attaches himself to her vigorously at Bath. Though she seems to be everything she would want in a man, what gives her pause? Why by Chapter XVII does she almost begin to suspect him? If you're read other Austen novels, who else might he remind you of?

For Friday: Austen, Persuasion, Chs.1-9 (pp.3-54)

Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: Discuss Austen’s writing style: how does she convey a unique personality and authorial sense through her sentences and observations? What makes her sound “old” and what makes her sound “modern”? Consider a passgesuch as this one in Chapter V: “Oh! Could the originals of the portraits against the wainscot, could the gentlemen in brown velvet and the ladies in blue satin have seen what was going on, have been conscious of such an overthrow of all order and neatness! The portraits themselves seemed to be staring in astonishment!” (27).

Q2: As her last novel, written around 1815-17, Persuasion shows Austen responding to many of the influences of her age, notably the Romantic poetry that surrounded her (and delighted young people in general). Where do we see these influences in her work itself, despite the fact that it is much calmer than Coleridge and less interested in nature and the sublime than Wordsworth? What touches in the work signal a ‘Romantic’ sensibility in Austen’s writing?  Consider not only what the narrator focuses on/describes, but what the characters say, read, and expound to others.

Q3: Like all of her novels, Persuasion is a novel of class: not upper vs. lower, but the struggle of middle class men and women to fit into the “old order” of England. Where do we see this struggle explored in the first nine chapters? Who represents the “old” way and who the “new”? What side is Anne on, and related to this, which side does Austen seem to favor?

Q4: How does Persuasion discus the theme of mothers and fathers?  We get an usual set of parents in this book, from Sir Walter Eliot, Lady Russell (a surrogate mother, though perhaps more properly an aunt figure), and the two generations of Musgroves.  How does Austen reflect on the duties and sensibilities of parents, and their relationships with their children?  Do you feel she is more often praising or satirizing these relationships?

Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes” (pp.205-217)

NOTE: Try to read the entire poem for Wednesady, though I will only focus on the first half of the poem below and in our class discussion.  Remember, even though this poem tells a story, don’t get dazzled by the plot; look for the metaphors and how the poem expresses some of the ideas about life, love, beauty, Nature, and art that we saw in Keats’ other poem, “ Ode on a Grecian Urn” and Wordsworth’s “Ode.”

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: What is the general tone of this poem?  How does Keats create an overall mood through his descriptions/metaphors of the castle and the people in it?  In other words, if this were a song (and all poetry is closely related to music), what kind of song would it be? 

Q2:  In Stanza 2, the Beadsman studies the statues of dead noblemen and women in the same way that Keats studied the urn in “Ode on a Grecian Urn.”  However, how do these works of art inspire a different reaction in the priest?  What does he see/feel when he looks into their eyes?  Consider, too, that the tomb statues and the urn both have associations with death.  

Q3: In Stanzas 5-8, how is Madeline like one of the figures on the urn?  What makes her divorced from time and the living world?  What does she “see” during that evening’s festivities that others do not? 

Q4: In Stanza 9, Keats writes that Porphyro “implores/All saints to give him sight of Madeline,/But for one moment in the tedious hours,/That he might gaze and worship all unseen;/Perchance speak, kneel, touch, kiss—in sooth such things have been” (207).  Is this romantic or disturbing?  Does this sound like a good beginning for a “Romeo and Juliet” narrative of love? 

Paper #1 Assignment: Romantic Collaborations

Paper #1: Romantic Collaborations

Nor perchance,/If I were not thus taught, should I the more/Suffer my genial spirits to decay” (Wordsworth, “Lines Composed Above Tintern Abbey”)

My genial spirit fail,/And what can these avail/To lift the smothering weight from off my breast?” (Coleridge, “Dejection: An Ode”

The Romantic Period of British Poetry (roughly 1799-1830) is a period of intense collaboration between poets, some of whom were close friends, others who were fans and admirers of other poets (Shelley adored Wordsworth and Coleridge, as did Keats). When reading through the poems of this period, we often feel as if we’re reading one vast poem parceled out to several different poets. These poets often use the same ideas, metaphors, imagery, and even exact phrases (see quotes above) as they transform their lived experience into poetic expression. (click below to see the rest...) 

For Monday: Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality

“Ode, Intimations of Immortality”: Stanzas 8-11

For Monday’s class, choose TWO of the metaphorical lines below (taken from the poem) below, and explain how Wordsworth uses it to translate his philosophical musings into a comparison we can see, feel, and understand.  Also, how does this metaphor build on some aspect of the poem from previous stanzas (as we discussed in class on Friday)?

Stanza 8:

a. “thou Eye among the blind,/That, deaf and silent, read’st the eternal deep”

b. “Thou, over whom thy Immortality/Broods like the Day, a Master o’er a Slave”

Stanza 9:

c. “Those shadowy recollections,/Which, be they what they may,/Are yet the fountain light of all our day,/Are yet a master light of all our seeing”

Stanza 10:

d. “Though nothing can bring back the hour/Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower”

Stanza 11:

e. “To me the meanest flower that blows can give/Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears” 

For Friday: Wordsworth, "Ode: Intimations of Immortality"

“Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections in Early Childhood” (pp.51-57): read the entire poem, but the questions will only focus on Stanzas 1-7

NOTE: This is a longer poem, though it’s broken up into short stanza chapters.  Read it slowly, and focus on each stanza as an individual poem.  Then consider how each one develops a general ‘story’ or narrative about Wordsworth’s life.  Consider this, too, as a kind of mid-life crisis poem: Wordsworth feels himself pulling away from the innocent joys he used to experience in life, and the poem is an attempt to find himself—and to convince other readers to find themselves in the thickets of adulthood. 

Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: According to Stanzas 1-4, what causes the poet to feel distanced from the natural world?  What has come between him and his imagination/emotions?  In Stanza 2 he writes that “But yet I know, where’er I go,/That there hath past away a glory from the earth.”  What is this “glory” that has passed away?  Can we hint at what he feels or sees that is missing? 

Q2: Read Stanza 5 carefully: how are the metaphors trying to explain the nature of life on earth?  Why is birth “a sleep and a forgetting”?  Why do “shades of the prison-house begin to close/Upon the growing Boy”?  And why might a young boy/girl be “Nature’s Priest”? 

Q3: In Stanza 6, Wordsworth uses the metaphor of Nature as a Nurse, and the Youth being her “Foster-child.”  In what way are we to understand Nature as nursing a child that is not her own, but which she loves “with something of a Mother’s mind”?

Q4: Stanza 7 is one of the most important in the entire poem for explaining a very Romantic philosophy of adulthood.  What does he mean by the phrase “The little Actor cons another part…As if his whole vocation/Were endless imitation.”  How might this be another way of stating Shakespeare’s famous line from As You Like It that “All the world’s a stage”?  

For Wednesday: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Parts V-VI (and web link)

No questions for Wednesday: instead, I'll give you an in-class writing response based on some passage toward the end of the work. So make sure you finish reading (or ideally, re-reading!) the poem for Wednesday's class. 

ALSO--here's an article that just came out in the BBC News: a mass grave from the 1820's was found with the bodies of thousands of children. These were children who died of various infections due to poor sanitation and disastrous living conditions during the early stages of the Industrial Revolution. This is the world Blake was writing about in "London," and that Wordsworth and Coleridge (among others) were railing against in their poetry. We'll see more of this condemnation on Friday for Wordsworth's "Ode: Intimations of Immortality."

You can read the article here: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-35408967?ocid=socialflow_facebook&ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ns_source=facebook

For Tuesday: Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (at least through Part IV)

NOTE: I encourage you to read the entire poem, but feel free to read slowly, even if you don’t quite finish it.  In this poem, the details are more important than the overall story, so look at it less as an actual narrative than a series of short poems that cohere into a larger theme.  But most of all, read carefully and look for the metaphors, since poetry is all about how metaphors transform our perception/experience of the world.

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1:. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner opens with a frame narrative, that of the Mariner stopping a Wedding Guest and putting him under a spell so he can tell his story: “He holds him with his glittering eye.”  Why do stories typically employ a frame narrative (think of ones you know from previous classes) and why might it be especially important in a work of fantasy?  Why not simply tell the Mariner’s tale without the artifice of telling it to someone else? 

Q2: Read the glosses on the left side of the poem carefully: are they really there to clarify the action of the poem?  While at times they seem to merely summarize the events, where do they do something else?  Do you find passages that seem to add unnecessary detail or comically deflate the narrative?  Consider particularly this gem: “Like vessel, like crew!”  (also consider, if the glosses are so important, then why not simply write prose instead of a poem?)

Q3: Why does the Mariner kill the Albatross?  How does the crew initially react to this death, and why does their reaction change over time?  In the fantasy logic of the poem, why does this seem to be a “sin”?  Is it a sin cosmically, or merely a sin in the minds of the men?  Or simply in the mind of the Mariner himself? 

Q4: We’ve already discussed the sublime in art/poetry, and in many ways, this poem is a built on the bones of the sublime. Where do we see this specifically in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner?  Where does the poem trying to inspire awe, fear, and reverence in the metaphors and imagery?  How might this underline the theme or ideas in the poem itself?  

For Friday: Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles”

An image from the "Elgin Marbles"

[Note: both poems are about looking at art in a museum. The “Grecian Urn” is an old Greek vase with images going around it, as he describes in the poem; the Elgin Marbles are a series of sculptures taken from the Parthenon in Greece (stolen, actually) and displayed in the British museum. The poem is a reflection of contemplating this ancient wonder.]

Answer TWO of the following…

Q1: Why is the poet’s spirit “weak” when he contemplates the Elgin marbles? How does this relate to his metaphor that he “must die/Like a sick Eagle looking at the sky”? Why would art affect him in this way?

Q2: In the first stanza of “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” he personifies the urn, calling it a “bride,” a “foster-child,” and a “historian”. How do these metaphors add up and describe his relationship to the work of art? Also note that he addresses it as “thou” rather than “you” (the intimate form of address). What is the urn to him?

Q3: One of the most famous lines of the poem is “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard/Are sweeter.” How do you understand these lines? What do they express about the nature of art itself, and why Keats struggles to understand his relationship/feelings to the urn?

Q4: The famous final lines of the poem are a quote: ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’—that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” Who is speaking in the quoted section? And who is the “ye” the poet is addressing? Why might the answers to these questions change how we read the entire poem?