For Next Week: Work on Flipgrid Presentation!

 REMEMBER: no more classes for Brit from 1800! Instead, all you have to work on is your book cover presentations on Flipgrid. The post about the presentation, along with detailed instructions about using Flipgrid, can be found here: http://grassobrit2.blogspot.com/2021/11/flipgrid-presentations-and-resources.html

Be sure you can log onto the Flipgrid site before you try to post your presentation. I added everyone to the site, but sometimes things don't work, as you know! Remember, too, that you will record the presentation on Flipgrid, so all you need is a completed powerpoint presentation (or something similar) open on your desktop. Again, the instructions are above.

If you have any problems finding appropriate art, please let me know. I know a lot of art and can give you a lot of ideas! Also, look back through our blog posts, where I've posted tons of art over the semester with this assignment in mind (hint, hint)! You can use anything you find on the blog, of course, or anything we discussed in class, or any of the related artists. 

Again, let me know if you have any questions. You can post your presentation at any time before the due date. I'll respond with short comments to your presentation, so stay tuned! It's been a pleasure to teach you this semester, and hope to see some of you next semester in World Literature from 1700, British Literature: The Worlds of Tolkien, or this Intercession in Superheroes as Literature! 

For Wednesday: Never Let Me Go, Part 2

 

If you missed class on Monday, we started watching the film Never Let Me Go (2010), based on Ishiguro's novel of the same name (2005). This was the book I almost taught instead of The Collector, but decided it was to much of a time jump from Hardy. However, I think it's a great way to conclude the class, so we're going to watch the excellent adaptation of it this week, finishing up on Wednesday. We'll do an in-class writing on Friday based on it, so try to watch it at least on Wednesday, or feel free to rent it yourself (it's on Amazon Prime, and possibly elsewhere, too). 

ALSO, don't forget the post below which has the Flipgrid information and links to sources about art: http://grassobrit2.blogspot.com/2021/11/flipgrid-presentations-and-resources.html

Let me know if you have any questions about the presentation! 

For Wednesday: Fowles, The Collector, pp.200-253

NOTE: Remember that the post about Flipgrid and art sources is in the post below this one. 

ALSO, this are your very last response questions for the class! On Friday, we'll have an in-class writing over the end of the book, so enjoy answering TWO of the following questions for the last time this semester...

Q1: Toward the end of her life, Miranda records the following in her diary: "uncreative men plus opportunity-to-create equals evil men" (252). What does she mean by this? Does this echo Frederick's earlier statement that "a lot of people...would do what I did or similar things if they had the money and the time" (20)? Is evil simply what happens when morons become artists? :) 

Q2: What does Miranda mean by "He is the New People and I am the Few" (249)? Why might this be a problematic definition of the two of them, and how does she often acknowledge its unsuitability to them both?

Q3: Throughout her diaries, Miranda is constantly trying Frederick in terms of characters from literature: Caliban, The Old Man of the Sea (Tales from the 1,001 Nights: Sinbad the Sailor), Mr. Elton (Emma), Holden Caufield (Catcher in the Rye) and Arthur Seaton (Saturday Night and Sunday Morning--a novel about working-class life in London). Do you think this is more for the reader's benefit, or her own? Why don't any of these characterizations (except perhaps Caliban) ultimately stick? 

Q4: Fowles wrote a book on Thomas Hardy, and many of Hardy's themes seem to dance around the characters and situations of this novel, notably Miranda's comments about God on November 19th. How might the following comments echo some of Hardy's poems: "As if the architects and builders would live in all the houses they built! Or could live in them all. It's obvious...There must be a God and he can't know anything about us" (239). 

Flipgrid Presentations and Resources!

NOTE: The questions for The Collector are in the post BELOW this one.

Everyone should have received an e-mail inviting you to sign onto our class' Flipgrid site, "British Literature: Monsters and Madmen." If not, you can find the site here: https://flipgrid.com/4ae4c72a. To join, enter this code: 4ae4c72a. 

Once you're in, there is only one topic: Final Presentations. Click on this and you'll see the instructions. I've already posted a sample video, showing my own presentation, which you can watch to give you a sense of how you might do this (it's 8 minutes long). Remember that YOU ONLY HAVE TEN MINUTES. If you go over, you'll have to re-record it and make it shorter! Ten minutes should be ample time to discuss all six slides, but you do have to keep it brief. You might give it a trial run and time yourself just to make sure.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR RECORDING:

1. Click on "Add Response" when you're ready to record your video response. Make sure you already have a Powerpoint (or other presentation) open on your desktop.

2. You'll now see the camera come on. Click on "Options" in the lower right-hand corner. 

3. Click "Record Screen," then "Start Screen Recording." But don't worry, it won't start yet. When the options come up, choose "Entire Screen."

4. Click "Share" when you're ready to start recording. It will give you a 3-2-1 countdown. Start talking immediately afterwards, or you'll have dead air. But you'll have to open the Powerpoint as you're talking and start sharing it manually. 

I show you most of this on the video, so be sure to watch the video if you have any questions. 

ART RESOURCES (a few places to click on if you don't know where to go to find paintings):

Start with Wikiart, a wikipedia of art images, and a great place to find paintings by your favorite artists. Here's the link: https://www.wikiart.org/. Some painters you might look for that we've examined in class are: Turner, Goya, Bronzino, Magritte, Burne-Jones, Whistler, and Munch.

Or, you can search 19th and 20th century painters at Wikiart, too: https://www.wikiart.org/en/artists-by-century/19#!#resultType:masonry 

and https://www.wikiart.org/en/artists-by-century/20#!#resultType:masonry

When you click on an artist's page, you'll not only get a number of their paintings, but also subcategories that they appear in (which could lead to similar paintings and artists), but also related painters from the same period/country. Check out Goya's page to see what I mean: https://www.wikiart.org/en/francisco-goya

For Monday: Fowles, The Collector, pp. 140-200 (or so)

NOTE: Keep reading and get as close to 200 as you can, but you'll have plenty of time to catch up as the readings get shorter next week (since we're close to the end!). 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: According to Miranda's diary, what kind of relationship does she begin to have with Frederick? Though not a friendship or any kind of love affair, how does she attempt to explain the way they talk to one another, and their daily conversations? Consider, too, her comment, "knowing someone automatically makes you feel close to him" (148). You might also consider whether this in part of Frederick's plan all along, or if it's more human nature.

Q2: Why might she be interested in Frederick in the same way she's interested in G.P.? Note that she's not attracted to either of them, and both of them try to 'collect' her in their own way. What about them fascinates her, even as they both (in different ways) repel her?

Q3: Miranda writes about Frederick that, "I know he's the Devil showing me the world that can be mine. So I don't sell myself to him...he wants me to ask for something big. He's dying to make me grateful. But he shan't" (180-181). Do you think Miranda properly understands his intentions and motives? Does she read him too much through men she's known (such as G.P.)? Or has her greater knowledge of people actually helped her see through him? 

Q4: She also writes that "I think and think down here. I understand things I haven't really thought about before" (150). In a strange way, is Frederick a better teacher than G.P.? Is he teaching her to sift out G.P.s rules and biases and come to her own thinking at last? And can we really credit this to Frederick, or simply to her total isolation? 

For Friday: Fowles, The Collector, pp.75-144 (or so)

Munch, Vampire (1895)

REMEMBER: no class on Wednesday! I have to run the English table at Senior Day for High School students, so I can't be at class with you. So take some extra time to read The Collector! 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: When Miranda is passed out after her escape attempt, Frederick takes the opportunity to take her clothes off and take pictures of her, which he says was the "chance I had been waiting for" (91). He calls these photos "not artistic, but interesting." Why doesn't he attempt to rape her at this point? Or is the camera its own kind of rape? Consider, too, that he admits, "I thought I would go down and give her the pad again and take other photos, it was as bad as that" (92).

Q2: After their aborted attempt to have sex, Frederick claims that "All I did later was because of that night" (109). He also claims that "she didn't see how to love me in the right way. There were a lot of ways she could have pleased me" (109). Is he simply lying to himself--or to us--here? Is there anything she could have done to reach him? Or was he inevitably going to be betrayed by a woman once he realized who she 'really' was?

Q3: Throughout Part 2, Miranda tries to educate and humanize Frederick by seeing him as Caliban, and her, Miranda (allusions to Shakespeare's play, The Tempest). What does she try to teach him, and why does it ultimately go astray? Does class get in the way, as Frederick claims it always does? Can she ultimately not see him as her equal? (besides the obvious fact that he's abducted her and is a monster!) 

Q4: According to her diary, what events or aspects of her captivity does she see/record quite differently than Frederick? What would have shocked or surprised him to read--and what might he have tried to suppress us from reading if he could?

For Monday: Fowles, The Collector, pages 3-75 (or so)

Eye in Eye by Edvard Munch

NOTE: The Final Project assignment is the post BELOW this one, in case you missed class on Friday. We'll talk about it much more in class, and I'll post resources for it very soon! Otherwise, read the opening of The Collector, which is in 2 parts: Part 1 is from Frederick (the "collector's") perspective, while Part 2 is from Miranda's perspective. The brief Part 3 returns to Frederick for the Epilogue. 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Frederick claims that "a lot of people...would do what I did or similar things if they had the money and the time" (20). Do you think he was planning to abduct Miranda even before he came into the money, or was it, as he suggests, the power of money that lured him into such an evil act? 

Q2: Somewhat related to the above, do we think Frederick is a reliable narrator so far in the story? He is very honest, and he lays all his cards on the table, so to speak. But do we see any cracks in his story? Odd equivocations? 

Q3: Frederick is obsessed with taking photos, especially of Miranda, but as he reminds us, "Nothing nasty. Just couples" (18). Miranda says to him, "I don't know why you want all these photos...You can see me every day" (65). Why might he want to see her both ways, as a captive and through a picture? How might this also relate to his butterfly collecting? 

Q4: One of the initial attractions of Miranda for Frederick is that despite her being educated, she "didn't have any class feeling. She spoke as she walked, you might say" (13). Why is Frederick so sensitive to class and education? How does the presence of class come up between them despite his obvious power of her in the basement? 

Final Project Assignment: Judging a Book By Its Cover

 

“A book cover demands our initial engagement with a work. You may not think a cover reflects your own thoughts of a book, but it evokes a response and inspires a reader’s imagination to begin building the world within the pages created by the author…A book cover is a key with which we open a world of storytelling…one page at a time, cover to cover.” (Elda Rotor, Classic Penguins: Cover to Cover)

PROMPT: For your final project, I want you to find new cover art for each of the books in class. The cover art should have a ‘conversation’ with the text, meaning they should evoke one or more of the following themes:

• A reference to a theme or symbol in the work
• An evocation of the historical moment—the art, ideas of the time
• A reference to the biography of the author
• An illustration of a specific passage or setting

To do this, I want you to find six works of art that can evoke one or more of the above aspects, so we can think about each book in a new context. A cover is the key to opening a book and believing in that world. Sometimes, a painting from the period is enough to help us understand where we are; at other times, we need more than that to help capture the mixture of styles and ideas we encounter within. The works you chose are entirely up to you, but of course you can draw from the works/artists we’ve discussed in class, and I’ll give you a link to many 19^th and 20^th century artists on the blog. But you can use ANYTHING that you feel captures the feel and spirit of a work (and if you’re an artist yourself,  you could even make your own art—but don’t feel pressured to do that!).

FLIPGRID: Instead of writing a paper, I want you to create a Flipgrid presentation that showcases your new works of art. Flipgrid is a very easy site where you can create a 10 minute video of slides with narration (I’ll show you how do to this). Our class will have a Flipgrid site which will be linked to the blog, and all you have to do is make a series of six slides, each one with the following:

• The Work of Art, along with Artist, Title, and Date
• The Title and Author of the Book
• A Passage from the Work that somehow communicates with the Cover Art (you can explain this in your narration)

I’ll provide links and videos that show you how easy Flipgrid is to use, and I’ll make my own video as an example. Don’t stress out about this, but try to find interesting and new ways to showcase the works and ‘seduce’ the reader into opening the cover.

DUE NO LATER THAN THE LAST DAY OF FINAL EXAM WEEK: FRIDAY DECEMBER 10^th BY 5pm

For Monday: Hardy, Selected Poems, pp.49-70

Read all or as many of the poems that remain in the book, and answer only ONE question using 1-2 poems in your response:

Q1: Most of the poems in this section were written and published between 1914-1917, just a little over 100 years ago. That means these poems are the first poems written squarely in the 20th century, and were written in the context of the first cars, planes, and modern warfare (WWI). What makes this poems seem more 'modern' than others, or suggests that Hardy is expressing or saying something new in his poetry? Obviously many of his themes echo earlier Romantic ones (Wordsworth, Keats, Browning), but where do we see ideas, scenarios, or expressions that could never have been written earlier? In other words, which of these poems incontestably carry the stamp of 20th century poetry?

For Friday: Hardy, Selected Poems, pp.27-49

Remember that you don't have to read every poem in this series, but do try to read as many as you can, or at least read several of them more than once, to really investigate some of the trickier meanings and connections between poems. 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: How is a poem like "Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave?" a comical twist on the earlier poem, "Friends Beyond" (p.12)? Why is it especially ironic that the dead wife is having a conversation with what turns out to be her dog?

Q2: There are three poems entitled "In Tenebris" (in darkness): how do you read this trio of works? Is each one basically a variation on the one before? Does each one offer a progression of the theme into new and darker territory? Does one of them contradict or refute the other? Does III mean the same as I? 

Q3: Several of these poems are elegies or laments, which are songs of extreme sorrow of people and things dead and past. What are Hardy's characters in these poems have trouble accepting or making sense of about the inevitable passing of life? What seems to them unfair or cruel besides the loss of the life itself? Why might they insist on seeing the hand of a malicious force behind it? 

Q4: Whereas the earlier poems often personified God as "Doom and She" or other imaginary, impassive forces, in many of these poems Hardy actually makes God a comic character and has him speak. What kind of character is he, and what is Hardy's point with this perverse personification? 

For Wednesday: Hardy, Selected Poems, pp.1-26 (see below)

NOTE: In the Dover edition I ordered for our class, read the first 26 pages of poems, either all of them or whichever ones catch your fancy. Hardy's poems are easier to read than most, since they almost always tell stories and are told from a specific character's point of view, like Browning's. However, Hardy also likes to use strange turns of phrase and rustic-sounding words, befitting the background of many of his speakers. Here are three things to keep in mind when reading him:

1. Look up unfamiliar words such as "fervourless," "illiited," "blast-beruffled," etc., since they can change the meaning of a line (or a poem!). Don't skim over the strange words.

2. As always, read poetry out loud whenever you can, for two reasons: Hardy's poetry is very musical, but it can be hard to 'hear' this when you read it silently; and two, Hardy's poetry is usually dramatic, meaning someone is speaking each one to the audience, and often, to another person. So it helps to give this character a voice.

3. Hardy has a few themes that he likes to vary and repeat in different ways and through different characters. Once you pick up on these themes, it can be exciting to see how he finds new ways to express them (the questions below will help you identify some of them).

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: We read "Hap" in class today, and in many ways, "Hap" is the prototypical Hardy poem, from which many others spring. How does the main theme of Hap--that "Purblind Doomsters" control our fate--appear in another poem, though in a different way? How else does he translate the experience of "hap"?

Q2: Many poets and writers in this class have discussed the concept of immortality, which is usually only created through death (remember "Porphyria's Lover"?). Hardy writes several poems about immortality and the dead who hope to live forever through "art." How does this shake out in the real world? What ultimately keeps the dead "alive" in spirit?

Q3: In many ways, Hardy has a lot in common with Wordsworth, who believes that nature unlocks the secrets of the sublime. What "secrets" do Hardy's characters find in nature and the natural world? What do they seem to understand (or see) that we don't? 

Q4: In the poem, "The Burghers," a man secretly allows his wife and her lover escape without killing them as he planned. Yet when his friend asks if the blow he dealt them was mortal, he replies, "Remorseful--worse" (7). What do you think he means by this, and why might remorse be the most painful "blow" of all?

For Monday: The Invisible Man, Appendix A, B & C from the Broadview Edition

NOTE: Remember that we do have class on Monday, because I gave you an extra class day to write Paper #2. We won't have class on Wednesday instead, and we'll just count that as the beginning of Fall Break.

Read Appendix A, B & C from our version of The Invisible Man on pages 173-195, then answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Which of the four endings of the novel do you think is the most appropriate and satisfying and why? Also, how does this version differ most from the other three? What does he add or subtract to make this ending more effective?

Q2: In Appendix B, which of the five works do you think Wells most borrows (or plagiarizes, if you want to go there) from? What idea or aspects of this work probably most influenced Wells' own work? Do you think Wells improved on these originals? If so, how?

Q3: Interestingly, of the four stories in Appendix B (not counting the silly ballad by Gilbert), two approach invisibility from a fantasy perspective, and two approach it from a science-fiction perspective. Given that invisibility was a scientific impossibility for the 19th century, do you think the the fantasy stories are more successful? Do they make the stories more uncanny and/or sublime? Or does the attempt to explain the uncanny make it more effective?

Q4: In Wells' reply to Bennet's review of 1897 (Appendix C, No.3), he responds to the idea of invisibility being impossible because of the uselessness of transparent eyelids. He writes, "You raise the point of transparent eyelids in your review, but there is another difficulty behind that which makes the whole story impossible. I believe it to be insurmountable...On these lines [the scientific complications of being invisible] you would get a very effective short story but nothing more" (191). How might this explain Wells' overall 'theory' for science-fiction and his aim in writing it?

Q5: Which of the reviews do you most agree with, and/or think is still relevant over a hundred years later? Did one reviewer see the book more clearly (and unbiasedly) than the others? Or do you feel they're all limited by the narrow lens of the 1890's? 

For Friday: Finish The Invisible Man! And, Revised Paper #2 due Date!

 No questions this time, just be sure to finish the novel for Friday's class. I'll give you an in-class response and we'll take it from there. Boy, wait till you read the end of the novel! It's crazier than I remembered! :) 

ALSO: I'm pushing the paper due date to WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13th. Why? Because I want to wrap-up our class on Monday (with the readings below), and give you Wednesday off to work on your paper and to leave the class for Fall Break. Sorry--I forgot to mention this in class today! 

If you finish the book early, you might be interested in reading Appendixes A, B & C, which we'll discuss on Monday. These focus on the four alternative endings for the novel, other works on invisibility in the 19th century, and the early reviews of the book. I'll post questions for these on Friday. 

Take care! 

For Wednesday: Wells, The Invisible Man, Chapters 11-23 (pp.88-147)

 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: In class on Monday, I suggested that The Invisible Man/Griffin is split between his super ego and his id: the "super ego" is the higher, more rational/ideal self while the "id" is the animalistic self of desires and hungers. As the novel progresses, which one of the two seems more in dominance? Is he evolving or progressing as this new race of being? And is he aware of this transformation himself?

Q2: Earlier in Chapter III, one of the villagers decides that their guest must be a "piebald...Black here and white there--in patches" (61). This betrays the racial fear at the heart of English society at the time, that someone not "pure" could mix in polite society. Where else do we see racist views expressed by the characters of the novel (on both sides)? What might be Wells' point in bringing these topics to light in the 1890s?

Q3: When Marvel is talking to the mariner in Chapter XIV, the latter is remarking about the amazing stories in the newspaper, such as a tale about an Invisible Man. Marvel replies, playing dumb, "What will they be writing next?...Ostria [Austria] or America?" And the mariner, all excitement, replies, "Neither...Here" (99). How might this exchange capture something of the confusion and wonder of the common man at the turn of the last century? And why might it mirror something that might be said, and felt, today?

Q4: Unlike Frankenstein, Griffin tells Kemp something of how the science of invisibility, or at least about the nature of his 'accident.' Why do you think Wells thought it important to include this in the story? How does it change the nature of Griffin's crime and/or character? Does it make him more or less like Victor...or are they very different super villains? 

For Monday: Wells, The Invisible Man, Chapters I-X (1-10), pp. 47-88)

Answer TWO of the following: 

Q1: The narration of this novel is very odd: while it doesn’t have a frame narrative, it does have a narrator who seems to be omniscient, but then reduces themselves by saying in the beginning of Chapter IV, “I have told the circumstances of the stranger’s arrival in Iping with a certain fullness of detail…” (61). Why do you think the story has a nameless “I” narrator and is limited to what people can see and observe of the stranger?

Q2: What do you feel makes the Invisible Man “snap” and become what we might call today a super villain?  While he doesn’t seem necessarily evil or malicious at the beginning of the novel, he clearly becomes so by Chapter V.  Does Wells let us see the psychology of a super villain in these opening chapters?  Or is his personality, like his appearance, a mystery? 

Q3: Once the stranger becomes famous in the village, the locals begin hatching ideas as to who he is and what’s wrong with him. What are some of their theories? How might they suggest some of the fears and biases of late 19th century English society, especially considering all of these speculations prove to be wrong by the end of the novel?

Q4: It’s almost a cliché of super villainy that the mastermind has a bumbling sidekick to assist him in his nefarious schemes. Mr. Marvel was one of the first in a long line of sidekicks in this fashion. Why do you think the Invisible Man—who in Chapter IX becomes the ominous-sounding “The Voice”—chooses to recruit him? What makes him different than the other people in the village? And what does he betray to Marvel about his newfound identity?

Supplemental Reading: Browning, Caliban Upon Setebos

Caliban and Prospero, from The Tempest 

NOTE: You don't have to read this poem, since I ended up cutting it from the schedule to start The Invisible Man next week. It's a very tough poem, but it has some great ideas that support the 'supervillain' theme we discussed on Friday. Here are some notes about the poem if you want to read it and possibly use it in your paper--or if you're just interested in reading more Browning.

Caliban Upon Setebos

Caliban: in Shakespeare's The Tempest, Caliban is a native of the island that Prospero, a wizard, conquers to plot his revenge against his brother, the Duke of Naples. Caliban is a half-man, half-beast, and Prospero initially takes him in, treats him nicely, and teaches him to speak. But he later confines him in a cell when Caliban tries to take advantage of his daughter, Miranda. But all of this happens before the play starts, and it's hinted at that Prospero (who loves stagecraft and often acts like a stage manager) actually set his 'crime' up in order to punish him and hold it over his head. Caliban vows revenge and tries to kill Prospero later in the play along with some foolish Italians who wash up on the shore (an enterprise that is doomed to fail). 

Setebos: Caliban's god, whose existence was taught to him by his late mother, the witch Sycorax. She died before the play starts, and possibly before Prospero found him. Throughout the poem, he's trying to learn the nature of Setebos and whether or not his God is good and just. 

The poem opens with parenthesis, even though Caliban is the only one talking. This might be read as an aside, before he officially 'speaks' his monologue. When he says: 'Will sprawl, or 'Thinketh, the apostrophe before the word implies "he," so this should be read, "He sprawls" or "He thinketh." "He" meaning Caliban, who speaks of himself in the third-person. He ends each stanza "So He," meaning "so Caliban." 

Basically, Caliban sees Setebos as a prisoner like himself, someone with great but limited power, who suffers from having a greater 'god' above him, which he calls the Quiet. This mirrors Caliban's own position with Prospero on the island. Setebos cannot create a new island or even create new life, though he can alter or aid it. However, his aid is rarely good or even well-intentioned, and ends up causing suffering--as in the fish he tries to help escape to warmer water, but the fish ends up sickened by it, yet when it returns to its colder clime, can only bitterly miss the warm water. This is like Caliban who hates Prospero's customs and language, but now that he's been cast out of Prospero's sight, he longs to return and is speaking the language he's been taught to keep it in use, and to make things with it (like a God making new life). 

But he also imagines that Setebos, though he can't create life, can create things--just like Caliban creates things. Yet his things torment him, because they're more beautiful and perfect than he is. He uses the example of a bird caller which can make sounds and attract birds which his "great round mouth" cannot. In spite he destroys the bird caller, as he destroys all his creations. He later builds things just for the sake of building them, but ends up destroying them, too, since they only mock him with the beauty he lacks (like the Creature looking at himself in the water in Frankenstein). 

He ultimately feels that Setebos is cruel and unknowable, since you can't appease him or do anything right--his will is changeable, and he likes to watch you guess wrong and suffer. Here he's talking more about Prospero than his god, as Prospero is becoming his father/god, again, like the Creature/Victor. Setebos/Prospero will never outright kill him, but remove obstacles and give him a reward to keep him hopeful and happy...only so he can be tormented later on. 

At the end of the poem, another aside tells us that Prospero is working magic and poor Caliban is terrified, going into hiding and cursing his silly little poem. He will merely lie flat and worship Setebos and hope that better days follow. The entire poem is a terrifying portrait of someone who is abused and deprived by the only father figure he has, and is suggests that monster are made by the cruelty of their fathers--just like in Frankenstein. 

For Wednesday: Browning, "Fra Lippo Lippi"

Madonna and Child: a painting by Filippo Lippi 

NOTE: Like the previous poems, this one has some historical detail and references that might initially be confusing. However, once you get past them, it's an easier read than those poems, and you get more time to 'live' with the character. And Fra Lippo Lippi is Browning's greatest character, an almost Shakespearean character who seems to live and breathe, and has a very unique view of the world. Here are some notes to help you delve into the poem:

THE STORY: Basically, Fra Lippo Lippi is a monk and a painter who works for Cosimo dei Medici, of the famous banking family that ruled Florence. He is holed up in Cosimo's house to create a number of religious paintings for him. But he gets sick of painting and hears the carnival going on outside, so ties up his bedsheets as a ladder and sneaks off into the night to party with the 'women of the night.' He is caught by the night guards and interrogated, until he can prove who is he and who he works for. Then he tells the story of his life and his philosophy as an artist. The painting that he describes at the end of the painting is a real painting, The Coronation of the Virgin, which I'll show you in class. 

Fra Lippo Lippi: actually, Filippo Lippi, a famous Florentine painter who lived from 1406 to 1469. He was a monk, though the episode in the poem is made up by Browning to give drama (and humor) to the piece.

Zooks: a mild curse, basically "gadzooks"--it originally meant "God's wounds," but was mangled into "zounds" and then "zooks." 

Weke, weke: imitating the cry of a mouse 

Flower o' the broom, etc.: These are famous folk and street songs that Fra Lippo Lippi sings throughout the poem to comment on his situation. He's probably more than a little drunk, so he keeps interrupting himself with his singing. 

The Eight: the magistrates (judges) of Florence 

antiphonary: a book of choral songs

phiz: face

They want a cast o' my office: they want a sample of my work

iste perfecit opus: "he made the work" 

kirtles: skirts

hot cockles: a game that had to be played with three or more people, where one person is blindfolded, and has to guess who is striking or pinching them. So the joke is that Fra Lippo Lippi is playing this with more than one partner! 

QUESTIONS: Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: Fra Lippo Lippi is another religious figure with questionable morals and a very loose interpretation of his religious calling. How does he compare to the Monk-Narrator in Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister or The Bishop? Is he another satire of religious hypocrisy? Or does Browning want us to like him a bit more?

Q2: According to the painter, how did hunger and poverty make him a great painter? What is it that he can see that other painters can't--and that his superior often miss themselves? How does this lead to his great breakthrough as an artist? 

Q3: When the Prior (head monk) first views Fra Lippo Lippi's work, he thunders his disapproval by saying, "Your business is not to catch men with show,/With homage to the perishable clay,/But life them over it, ignore it all,/Make them forget there's such a thing as flesh." Why was the church against realism or even the depiction of emotion in art? What did they feel it 'took away' from the experience of the painting?

Q4: Toward the end of the poem, Fra Lippo Lippi argues that "What would men have? Do they like grass or no--/May they or mayn't they? all I want's the thing/Settled for ever one way. As it is,/You tell too many lies and hurt yourself:/You don't like what you like only too much,/You do like what, if given you at your word,/You find abundantly detestable." What's he talking about here? What "lies" are they telling themselves, and why can't men simply "like grass"? 

Q5: One more tricky passage: what do you think he means when he claims, "This word's no blot for us,/Nor blank; it means intensely, and means good"? Why might this be the underlying philosophy of Lippi's life? 

Paper #2: The Psychology of the Supervillain

 

British Literature from 1800

Paper #2: The Psychology of the Supervillain

If Frankenstein can be considered the first work of science fiction in English literature, then we can also claim that Victor Frakenstein is its first supervillain. After all, he’s a criminal mastermind who creates monsters, manipulates his family, and has grandiose visions of saving/ruling the world. After his first appearance, literature swarmed with unreliable narrators who were spurred onto evil acts, their crimes on parade for anyone to read and decipher.

For this paper, I want you to make a case study of the development of the ‘supervillain’ using three ‘criminals’ in our class so far. These could consist of the Ancient Mariner, Victor Frankenstein, the Creature, Walton, the Duke, Porphyria’s Lover, the Monk, the Bishop, Johannes Agricola, Fra Lippo Lippi, Caliban, and the Invisible Man. You can even use something else from American/British literature at this time (Poe, Stevenson, Wilde, etc.) if you know these works, but try to focus mostly on our works in class. Explore what qualities, desires, motivations, and methods they each have in common. Why might we consider each one a model sociopath, and how can we learn to ‘read’ this in their works? What makes them dangerous? Unreliable? Unthinkable?

Your paper should identify one of these characters as the prototypical supervillain, and then use two others to corroborate or elucidate these traits. Be sure to close read examples from each book/poem so we can see these criminals in action. How does each author reveal their motivations and actions, and where can we read between the lines to see even more? Be specific, and try to find the hidden clues that a Sherlock Holmes (who was created in the 1880s, just before The Invisible Man) would sniff out.

REMEMBER: When citing literature in a paper, be sure to introduce the work and cite the page number of your edition. For example,

In Robert Browning’s poem, “Porphyria’s Lover,” the narrator tells the reader, “No pain felt she;/I am quite sure she felt no pain” (9).

(WC): Browning, Robert. “Porphyria’s Lover.” New York: Dover, 1993.

REQUIREMENTS

• Page limit optional, though consider how much work you need to make a convincing case
• Examine and quote from three works
• Cite all sources according to MLA format, along with a Works Cited
• DUE Wednesday, October 13^th by 5pm [no class]

For Monday: Browning's Poems: Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister; Johannes Agricola in Meditation; The Bishop Orders His Tomb...

NOTE: Since these poems have more historical detail than the previous ones, I thought I would provide a few notes to help you along. Ultimately, these are poems with very unreliable narrators who tell stories about themselves which betray greed, avarice, self-righteousness, and blind indifference to their fellow man. The questions follow after these notes. 

JOHANNES AGRICOLA IN MEDITATION

* Agricola was a 14th century religious philosopher who founded a sect called the Antinomians, who believed in strict predestination. If someone was holy, they were going to heave no matter what; similarly, someone damned was damned from birth and no amount of good works could save them. So this "meditation" is his dramatic monologue about the nature of his existence. 

SOLILOQUY OF THE SPANISH CLOISTER 

* Takes place in a monastery in Spain sometime around the 18th or 19th century (we can only tell because the narrator mentions owning a French novel, which didn't come around until the 1720's or so), and concerns the rivalry between the narrator and his fellow monk, Brother Lawrence. 

* Salve tibi: a greeting in Latin, as the monks would speak amongst themselves

* Swine's Snout: the botanical name for the dandelion, but here it has a double meaning!

* the Arian: or Arius, a 4th century heretic who rejected the Trinity (hence, the narrator drinks his watered orange-pulp in three sips) 

* Galatian: St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, though he's making up the so-called "great text of damnations" (or it suggests he doesn't know the Bible as well as he thinks!)

* French novel: these were synonymous with pornography. So the narrator owns a pornographic novel. 

* Belial: a name for the Devil 

* Hy, Zine, Hine: a magic spell like "abracadabra" 

* Plena gratia, Ave virgo: Hail Virgin, full of grace 

THE BISHOP ORDERS HIS TOMB AT SAINT PRAXTED'S CHURCH

* A bishop, on his death bed, has gathered his sons (both actual and illegitimate) around him to order his tomb, and to frustrate his recently-deceased rival, Gandolf, who is also buried in the church. His mind is going, so he rants and raves all over the place, revealing much about his life and his 'holy' pursuits. 

* onion-stone: poor-quality marble

* lapis lazuli: semi-precious stone with a deep blue color--very prized in the ancient world

* antique-black: high-quality marble

* travertine: ordinary stone used for building

* Tully: Cicero, a Roman statesman and scholar. famous for his beautiful use of Latin

*  Ulpian: a poor-man's Cicero! 

* ELUCESCEBAT: "to shine forth" in Latin; the Bishop seems to suggest that the word is on Gandolf's tomb, and scoffs, since Tully (Cicero) would have written better Latin 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: All three poems focus on religious figures, all of whom are in a position of power or prestige (though less so in the Spanish Cloister). What makes each one satirical? How can we tell that each one is supposed to poke fun at the supposed holiness and austerity of the clergy? 

Q2: "The Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister" veers very close to a Poe short story, and indeed, Poe was writing his own stories at the same time (this poem appeared in 1842, and a similar story, "The Cask of Amontillado" appeared in 1846). If you know Poe's stories, what makes this narrator such a prototypically "Poe" narrator? What makes him unreliable, though he certainly seems to be honest about his hatred? Where does he slip and reveal too much to the reader?

Q3: How might we see something of Victor Frankenstein (and more literally, William Godwin) in the narrator of "Johannes Agricola in Meditation"? Why might such a man also decide to make monsters and devils without fear or reprieve? 

Q4: Though the Bishop doesn't kill anyone (his rival seems to die of natural causes, as does his wife--I think!), he shares a lot in common with the Duke of "My Last Duchess." What makes him such a merciless figure, despite his age and mental fragility? Related to this, why might many of his children be standing back rather than holding his hand as he drifts off into death? 

For Friday: Browning, from My Last Duchess & Other Poems: "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover"

NOTE: Browning's poetry is different from Keats, Coleridge, and Wordsworth, in that most of it is in a form called "Dramatic Monologues." As the title suggests, it's the speech of a single character (often a historical figure, or a character from literature or legend) talking to another person. So imagine this as a monologue from a play where the main character is talking to the audience. Like the paintings we look at on Wednesday, Browning is attempting to combine modern speech & character to mythic and historical situations. So it would be like the 'modern' look of Guenevere or Ophelia that we looked at in class. However, it's also like "The Baleful Head" (pictured above) where the historical/mythical setting is used as an allegory about issues of modern life. So try to imagine how he's attempting to talk about his own world through the lens of the past. 

Poems: "The Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover"

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Who is the narrator in "The Last Duchess" talking to? Or rather, why does he have guests in his palace? What clues does the poem offer...and how does it make his showing of the painting of his 'last duchess' quite ironic? 

Q2: What does the narrator mean when he says, "She had a heart--how shall I say?--too soon made glad,/Too easily impressed" (2). Why is this a criticism of the duchess, and why does it ultimately lead to her doom?

Q3: The title "Porphyria's Lover" reminds us of the character of Porphyro, in the Eve of St. Agnes. While they're clearly not the same character, why might Browning have wanted to evoke that poem in this one? What connections come to mind as you read it?

Q4: What does the narrator mean when he exults, at the end of the poem, "That all it scorned at once is fled!/And I, its love, am gained instead!" (9). What has she "gained" in death...or what does the narrator think she's gained that she lacked in life? 

For Monday: Finish Frankenstein and read Appendix A (The Education of Mary Shelley) and Appendix D (Reviews of Frankenstein)

Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft, writer of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (and Mary's mother) 

NOTE: Finish the book for Monday if you can, but if not, you can easily finish it this week since we'll have very little reading. In fact, I would encourage you to go ahead and read Appendix A and D even if you can't finish the book, since that's something I want to discuss in class. Remember that William Godwin in Mary's father, and Mary Wollstonecraft was her mother (though she died in childbirth, sadly). So the Appendix A writings are pieces from her parents that she is responding to, in some form, in the novel.

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Victor claims that his narrative is a warning for Walton, so that “the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been” (17). However, the end of the novel seems to contradict his aim in telling his story—and Victor’s actions seem less than repentant than would first appear. What is his hope in telling Walton his story, and does his story leave him a "sadder and a wiser man"? (to quote The Rime). 

Q2: In one of Godwin's writings from Political Justice, he claims that "Justice would have taught me to save the life of Fenelon [a famous poet] at the expense of the other [his own father or brother]. What magic is there in the pronoun "my" that should justify us in overturning the decisions of impartial truth?" (230). How might this doctrine of "justice" over sympathy have influenced some of the ideas in Frankenstein? Do you think Mary Shelley agrees or disagrees with her father's ideas? 

Q3: Mary Wollstonecraft was very concerned about the education of young children, and at one time even worked at a sort of elementary school and developed educational books. According to these excerpts from her famous work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, what is the worst thing that could happen to the developing mind? How might this parallel the education of the Creature in the novel?

Q4: Sir Walter Scott was the most famous novelist of his age (he wrote books that are rarely read today, including Ivanhoe and Rob Roy), and his review in 1818 would be like Steven King taking time to review a book today. Though he is very impressed with the book, what does he find are the novel's biggest failings? Do we still agree with him? Why or why not?

Q5: John Wilson Croaker, writing in the Quarterly Review, takes the novel to task for its absurdities, among which are its complete lack of "conduct, manners, or morality" (281). Why do you think he fails to see anything thoughtful or intellectual in the novel, when that's the only reason we still read it today? What does he see instead? 

For Friday: Shelley, Frankenstein, Chapter VIII (8) to Book 3, Chapter VI (6) (pp.148-202) & Handout

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: When Victor bids farewell to Elizabeth (after planning to marry her), the 1831 text says that she “acquiesced; but she was filled with disquiet at the idea of my suffering, away from her, the inroads of misery and grief...she bade me a tearful, silent farewell.” However, our version of the novel reads: “Elizabeth approved of the reasons of my departure, and only regretted that she had not the same opportunities of enlarging her experience, and cultivating her understanding...We all, said she, depend upon you; and if you are miserable, what must be our feelings?” (164). What does the original text seem to communicate about Elizabeth’s experience that the 1831 version wipes away?

Q2: Why does Victor renege on creating a companion mate for the Creature? Particularly when, after a long debate with the creature in Chapter IX (Book 2), Victor finally muses, “I was moved. I shuddered when I thought of the possible consequences of my consent; but I felt that there was some justice in his argument” (157). Are we supposed to applaud his last-minute heroics? Or does this show us his true identity as a murderer (of women, especially)?

Q3: When Victor finds Elizabeth slain by the Creature, he “rushed toward her, and embraced her with ardour” (198). Note that this is the first time he describes showing her any real affection, much less passion. Her also spends quite some time in describing her body as left flung lifelessly across the bed. Does this bring to mind certain passages of The Eve of St. Agnes?

Q4: After the death of Clerval, when Victor is languishing in an Irish prison, he reflects, “The whole series of my life appeared to be as a dream; I sometimes doubted if indeed it were all true, for it never presented itself to my mind with the force of reality” (149-150). How does Shelley complicate the matter of Victor’s innocence or guilt in the final chapters? Is their more evidence for his crimes—or the Creature’s existence?

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ALSO, below is the handout I gave to the class from Mary Shelley's Journal. The bibliographic information follows in case you ever want to use it in a paper assignmen:

Shelley, Mary. The Journals of Mary Shelley 1814-1844. ed. Paul R. Feldman & Diana Scott-Kilvert. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1995. 

From The Journals of Mary Shelley (1814-1844)

Monday 6^th [March 1815]

Find my baby dead….It was perfectly well when I went to bed—I awoke in the night to give it suck [and] it appeared to be sleeping so quietly that I would not awake it—it was dead then but we did not found that out till morning—from its appearance it evidently died of convulsions.

Thursday 9^th  & Monday 13th

Read & talk—still think about my little baby—‘tis hard indeed for a mother to lose a child…Shelley, Hogg & Clary go to town—stay at home & think of my little dead baby—this is foolish I suppose yet whenever I am left alone to my own thoughts & do not read to divert them they always come back to the same point—that I was a mother & am so no longer.

Saturday 19^th

Dream that my little baby came to life again—that it had been cold & that we rubbed it by the fire & it lived—I awake & find no baby—I think about the little thing all day—not in good spirits—Shelley is very unwell.

Monday 20^th

Dream again about my baby ------------------------ (passage marked out)

Wednesday 24^th  [July 1816] * compare to pages 115-117 of Frankenstein

Shelley and I begin our journey in Montanvert—Nothing can be more desolate than the ascent of this mountain—the trees in many places have been torn away by avalanches and some half leaning over, others intermingling with stones present the appearance of vast & dreadful desolation—It began to rain almost as soon as we left our inn—when we had mounted considerably we turned to look on the scene—a vast dense white mist covered the vale & the tops of the scattered pines peeping above were the only objects that presented themselves—The rain continued in torrents—we were wetted to the skin so that when we had ascended more than half way we resolved to turn back—Shelley went before and tripping he fell upon his knee—this added to the weakness occasioned by a blow on his ascent—he fainted & was for some minutes incapacitated from continuing his route…This is the most desolate place in the world—iced mountains surround it—no sign of vegetation appears except on the place from which we view the scene—It is traversed by irregular crevices whose side of ice appear blue while the surface is of a dirty white…We arrive at the inn at six fatigued by our days journey but pleased and astonished by the world of ice that was opened to our view.

I write my story [Frankenstein].

For Wednesday: Shelley, Frankenstein, Book 1, Chapter 5 - Book 2, Chapter 7

REMEMBER, we switched dates a little so that your Paper #1 is due on Monday instead of last week. There is NO CLASS ON MONDAY so you can work on it. In the meantime, keep reading Frankenstein, Book 1, Chapter 5 to Book 2, Chapter 7, pp. 88-148.  

Answer TWO of the following for Wednesday's class: 

Q1: In Book 1, Chapter 7, Victor and Elizabeth interview Justine in prison, and learn of her false confession. How might this chapter be a discussion of justice and cruelty comparable to what we find in Maria? Why doesn't Victor, who knows the truth, tell the court what he knows? Does he admit his cowardice to Walton? 

Q2: How does Elizabeth change in these chapters from what he was? Victor notes that "She was no longer that happy creature,"  and that she had "become grave." Is it just the death of her loved ones that causes this change? As one of the few women in the novel, what does Shelley want us to see through her character and its degradation?

Q3: One of the great debates of the 18th century was about the inner nature of men and women: were they a 'blank slate,' which was simply imprinted with their immediate surroundings? Or did they come into this world fully formed, with morals, values, and inclinations toward good or evil? How is the Creature a way of testing this theory in a dramatic way? As a truly blank slate (random body parts given life), what does Shelley feel is the intrinsic nature of men and women? (consider, too, the themes of innocence vs. experience we've previously encountered). 

Q4: At the end of Volume 1, Victor claims that “I bore a hell within me, which nothing could extinguish." Based on this passage (and our previous discussion), is it possible to read the Creature as Victor’s doppleganger—a 'double' that torments him and follows him because he is him? What clues or inconsistencies seem to support this reading? Do you think Shelley wanted to leave this possibility open in the novel?

For Friday: Shelley, Frankenstein, Letters I-III & Chapters 1-4 (pp.49-88)

Self-Portrait by Goya...or is it Victor Frankenstein???

NOTE: Try to read as much of the first FOUR chapters of Frankenstein for Friday's class. There's SO MUCH to discuss here, so we can't possibly be through it all. The questions below are a kind of 'wish list' of what I hope to discuss, and where you might focus your reading as you wade through the opening chapters. If you've never read the novel, relax and enjoy the ride. If you have, try to read it in light of the Romantic poems we've read in class, and consider how the novel changes when we read it in the shadow of The Rime, Tintern Abbey, and The Eve of St. Agnes. 

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. How does this contrast with the frame narrative we encountered in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”? Also, why is a narrator like Walton a horror-story (or Gothic story) convention even in films today? 

Q2: According to the story of his early education that Victor gives to Walton, what set him on the path of creating new life? How did he go from an earnest, naive young man to a “modern Prometheus” who would “pour a torrent of light into our dark world”? In other words, what went ‘wrong’ in his life, considering he had a good family, wealth, and the support of his parents?

Q3: Immediately after he creates his “monster,” Victor ends up falling asleep and has a nightmare of Elizabeth, where as soon as he kisses her, “her lips...became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms" (84). How do you read this strange dream in relation to the events of the story? Does it remind you of anything we’ve read before?

Q4: Why do you think Shelley quotes the fateful lines from “The Rime” that go, “Like one who, on a lonely road” in Chapter 4, after Victor creates and first sees the monster? Remember that this passage from “The Rime” occurs after the spell has been broken, but the Mariner still feels he is being haunted. Did Shelley simply like the mood or feel of the lines, or might there be a deeper significance?

Q5: Mary Shelley was a student of the Romantics, and knew Coleridge and Wordsworth personally, and of course married (or ran away with) Percy Shelley (who wrote “Ozymandias”). Even in the first four chapters, how do we know this is a ‘Romantic’ novel? Where is she borrowing, plagiarizing, or simply being influenced by the poems she grew up with? Hint: from Chapter 3, “my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature…”

For Next Week: Goya and Frankenstein!

 No reading yet for next week, since when we come back on Wednesday, we'll do our second Art Response to one of Goya's famous works (not the one below, but it will give you an idea of what to expect). This will also serve as an introduction to Frankenstein, which we'll start reading for Friday's class. So if you want to get started, feel free, though it is a shortish novel. Expect to see many echoes in this work to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, The Eve of St. Agnes, and even Wordsworth's poems! 

See you next week! 

Goya's "The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters"...did we read anything recently about someone sleeping and not liking what they saw when they awakened? 

For Wednesday: Keats, The Eve of St. Agnes

William Holman Hunt, Romeo and Juliet 

Keats' poem, The Eve of St. Agnes, is like his own version of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner if he married it to a half-remembered version of Romeo and Juliet. In fact, you might think of this poem as Shakespeare as retold by the Romantics, since many elements of Romeo and here (forbidden love, two young lovers, an old nurse maid who assists them, even an old priest who watches over them), but the actual romance, and the background of the story, couldn't be more different than Shakespeare. But it sounds very familiar to those who have read The Rime!

These questions cover the entire poem, but feel free to stop somewhere in the middle if you're having trouble with it.  

Answer TWO of the following, even though I gave you five this time:

Q1: Keats, like Coleridge, tries to create the feel of an ancient poem set in a quasi-medieval world using words like "sooth" and "amort." Yet the poem still sounds utterly different than Coleridge's. What makes the poem 'sound' different? If this poem was a style of music, what would it sound like, based on the rhymes and the style?

Q2: Works of art in the poem are often described as frozen, cold, twisted, pained, and imprisoned, as in "The sculptur'd dead, on each side, seem to freeze,/Emprison'd in black, purgatorial rails" (II, 205) and "The music, yearning like a God in pain" (VII, 206).  Why does Keats portray works of art in such stark terms? What makes artwork 'dead' or 'tortured'? Would Wordsworth agree? 

Q3: The lover, Porphyro, wants to steal into Madeline's chamber and "gaze and worship all unseen" (VIII, 207). Indeed, he spends most of the poem staring and "peeping" at her rather than ever trying to talk with her, or woo her in a more formal manner. Why is this? Why would Keats risk making his lover such a creep? Is this supposed to be a romantic poem of love, or something more sinister?

Q4: When Madeline finally opens her eyes on St. Agnes' Eve and sees Porphyro, why is she disappointed? She clearly was dreaming about him, so why does she tell him, "how chang'd thou art! how pallid, chill, and drear!"(XXXV 214). How does the reality fall short of her dream? 

Q5: Even though this poem lacks a frame narrative, and sounds like it's taking place right in the moment, Keats later tells us, "And they are gone, aye, ages ago/These lovers fled away into the storm" (XLII, 215). Why does he shift the poem into the distant past, and make what seems like a vivid drama an old fairy tale? Is this similar to what Coleridge does with his frame story? 

Paper #1: Romantic Plagiarists due 9.13.21

Of all the mighty world

Of eye, and ear—both what they half create,

And what perceive (Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey)

Wordsworth and Coleridge did everything together—including writing poems. Wordsworth often took credit for Coleridge’s best ideas (the albatross), and Coleridge did the same (the Lyrical Ballads). Keats was a superfan of the Romantic poets and lived in their shadow, possibly even beating them at their own game. All of them were inspired by each other, borrowed from each other, and if we want to be catty, stole from each other as well. That’s what makes Romantic Poetry such a rich and important movement—it speaks with so many of the same ideas in very similar language.

For your first paper, I want you to choose TWO passages from TWO different poems (each poem a different poet) where one seems to steal from the other. You can look up the dates if you want to see who came first, but even publication dates can be tricky, since poets often sit on works for years. So just determine who you think is the ‘original,’ and who you think copies/cribbed from his ideas. Note that a copy doesn’t mean it’s worse…sometimes the cover version is better than the original, after all!

The passages should be SHORT: just a stanza or two. You should first analyze the original stanza and explain what you think it means and how it uses language to achieve this goal. Then, you should examine the ‘copy,’ and discuss what it borrowed (either literally or figuratively), and how it translates the original into its own language. Do you think the second version is better? More poetic? More interesting? More sublime? And what do we gain from reading these passages side by side? Make sure we can see why you think one work borrow from the other: don’t assume we can see what you do. Show us!

REQUIREMENTS

• Use no more than 2 poems, making sure that each poem is by a different poet
• Short passages—no more than a stanza or two
• QUOTE: you must quote actual lines and discuss them, but DON’T just quote the entire passage and leave it at that. Help us see the small details.
• Use MLA citation throughout with a Works Cited page
• DUE Monday, September 13^th by 5pm

For Monday: Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Parts V-VII

Be sure to finish the poem for Monday, or ideally, read it again. The poem makes more sense (or is more familiar, at least) if you read it with an awareness of what's generally going on. Then you can focus on the small details, and hear the strange music of the poem. As with any longer poem, there's simply too much to take in at once--or twice--or fifty times (I've been reading this poem since 1994, when I first picked it up, and am still rethinking it!). 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: In many ways, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner mirrors J.M. Turner's later painting, The Slave Ship that we viewed in class (here's the post about it below: British Literature from 1800, "Monsters and Madmen" (Fall 2021): Links for Turner's Slave Ship (1840) (grassobrit2.blogspot.com)). How might both works be trying to disguise their message underneath sublime imagery and general misdirection? Do you think Coleridge could also have an anti-slavery or humanitarian message in his poem (it was written in 1798, as the abolitionist movement was nearing its height). 

Q2: When the curse is finally lifted and the wind blows the ship toward the shore, the Mariner is awarethat he will never be completely safe. As he observes, he is "Like one, that on a lonesome road/Doth walk in fear and dread...Because he knows, a frightful fiend/Doth close behind him tread." If this is a poem about his 'sin' against nature, and he is forgiven by acknowledging the beauty of nature, why is he still haunted? What is still pursuing him?

Q3: Even though the Mariner has been spared, the Hermit thinks he looks like a devil or something inhuman, and the Wedding Guest fears he's a corpse. Why does everyone else sees him as a monster, yet he claims to be a holy person, who prefers "To walk together to the kirk [church],/With a goodly company!"? Is it significant that he looks like a Life-In-Death himself?

Q4: The moral of this poem has been roundly criticized over the years, since the poem seems too long and complicated to have such a succinct (and simplistic?) moral. Do you think his message that "He prayeth best, who loveth best/All things both great and small" is the true moral of the poem? Is that what the Mariner has learned, and is trying to teach the Wedding Guest? And if so, why will the Guest rise "A Sadder and a wiser man...the morrow morn"?