British Literature from 1800, "The Mythmakers"

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 ...

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 imagi...

  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...

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 ...

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/

“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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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? ...

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 y...

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 se...

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-nonsen...

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 Fitzgeral...

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 p...

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 ...

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 ...

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 me...

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/

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 o...

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...

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...

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? Q...

From the 1996 adaptation of Persuasion Q1: When first arriving at Uppercross, Captain Wentworth tells his sister that he I s "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...

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...

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...

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...) 

“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” 

“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...

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

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...

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 m...