Review of Week 10: Oct 23, 25

Tuesday, Oct 23 (9:25 class)
by Emily Mecredy

Prof. Seaman started class with a few announcements (these will be mute by the time you read this).  On Tuesday the author of the college reads book spoke in the arena at 5pm.  There is a department registration get together in the alumni room of the School of Education building on Thursday at 3pm.  The paper topics are due next Thursday (Oct. 1) at 11pm on Oaks, and the paper is due on October 9.

England in the early 1600s:

In The Tempest, the description of the island comes from travel accounts from the Caribbean, which came out in 1610.  In the Virginia company account of 1609 one ship ended up in Bermuda.  Although many called the Bermuda the “island of devils,” the account said that it was actually abundant and lush.  The travel narratives of the 15th and 16th centuries were often blurred with stories of the New World and magic.  Montaigne (translated into English in 1603) makes an argument that these native people are actually more natural than the Europeans.  The newly encountered people do not have trade, literacy, law, jobs, clothes, metal, or vice concepts.  His description of these people is Utopian and a critique of the standard view.  In The Tempest, Gonzalo gives a description of the island that mimics the description by Montaigne.  Shakespeare calls in these associations deliberately, “to excel the golden age.”  Antonio and Sebastian resist because the standard view suits their station.  Also, Gonzalo makes reference to divine providence in place of human agency.  Shakespeare is not clearly aligned in the debate.  For example, Caliban is the non-European character.  Montaigne argues against the notion of the savage cannibal and turns savagery on Europe.  Prospero is learning to be a good ruler as with Alonzo but abuses it with Caliban and Ariel.  Act 2 Scene 2 includes the scene of giving Caliban alcohol to tame him, but he immediately worships Trinculo and Stephano.  His response is painful based on what the stories of propaganda for the New World presented.  It implies that the response that Caliban is real in the New World.  Caliban is a representative for those disempowered by the system.  At the end of the play Caliban makes a comment about his own change of loyalty and how he had been a fool.  Caliban is self-chastised.  This whole bit about Caliban is what counteracts Shakespeare’s Montaigne-like argument from Gonzalo. What we seem to see, according to Prof. Seaman, is Shakespeare addressing a very current, newly developing complex social issue.

Donne + Herbert

Tudor: The ruling family of which Elizabeth I was the last.  The line lasted from 1485 to 1603 and so included the time of the Reformation.

Stuart: The ruling family starting with James I of Scotland.  Their rule contained the Civil War.

Donne is not representative of his time though he was popular.  Well beyond Donne, we see court literature tied to making cultural norms beautiful and promoting cultural uniformity because the art came from the elite.  Texts were considered good when they showed the best of humanity rather than the foibles.  Only after the civil war do we get writers like Milton.  Donne got himself put out of the circle of power because he married above his station without permission.  He acted outside the norms.  For example, at the age of 29 he essentially sacrificed his place in society as he goes from Catholic to Anglican.  (Most writers would be well established by age 29)  However, he worked his ay back as the dean of St. Paul’s.  His life matches what we see in his work.

Metaphysical poets: The term suits what Donne works with in consideration of the spiritual.  We see these same things with Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich who were both Catholic.  These kinds of themes–associating the physical with the spiritual– were more acceptable in Catholicism than Anglicanism.  Therefore when Donne speaks of unification of the physical with the spiritual he was being more challenging and counter to the norms than Kempe and Julian.

Prof. Seaman stated in class that we should not confine our definition of metaphysical conceit. The notion of very different/ unexpected comparisons comes from a critique of Donne. Don’t get burdened by terms, using them when helpful but not restricting the poetry to them.

TS Eliot is responsible for retrieval of Donne.

According to Eliot: The difference of Herbert and Donne is not simple difference of degree. Herbert “felt” his thought as the odor of a rose.  To Donne a thought was and experience.  For Donne, poet constantly brings things and experiences together that are disparate.

“The Flea” – Donne often makes an argument, gives a result of that argument, and proposes conclusion.  He also attempts to reflect regular speech.  In this poem, the lover is going to kill the flea, but he wants her to spare it.  He uses a lot of religious diction such as his subtle comparison of the flea to the trinity in line 10.  In the last three lines, the lover’s fears about sex are just as meaningless as his fears about the fears about the flea.  Her loss of honor in killing the flea is equal to her loss of honor in having sex with him. Donne’s purpose in the poem is to repose the “question”.

“Elegy 19” – Donne uses a lot of imagery of discovery in this poem such as line 27 in which the lover’s body is a discovery.  In lines 33-36 he makes reference to mythology.  Line 42 is noteworthy as the men are looking through books, which are in fact women.  Donne makes reference to grace, which is a central point in Protestant belief.  He uses grace to describe the erotic.  Although he sometimes uses Protestant themes to elevate his writing, in this poem he lowers the religious.

“The Good-Morrow” – As we read, Prof. Seaman encouraged us to look for elements that reflect Donne’s style.  Lines 12-14 mention a knowing that is a kind of mastery.  The relation of these different worlds describes their love.  While the worlds stand in for people, the diction of “world” is more dramatic.  Donne says that with their love, they do not need this great discovery because they are each other’s worlds.  Her eyes are hemispheres lacking the problems the earth’s hemispheres have.  Donne looks to uncommon realms for the imagery in his poems.  (The norm would be nature.)  He is looking to areas of the newest and most innovative human thought of his time.

“The Sun Rising” – This poem is similar in its comparison to politics in the last stanza.

“Valediction” – First we reread this poem in class.  The last three stanzas all talk about the compass conceit (compass like the kind for drawing circles). The speaker talks about morality in relation to their separation.  He tells her not to cry because there is not anything to mourn. The speaker also says that wise men handle death by mildly passing away without complaint or horror.  The speaker calls them to have this same kind of death.  It would take something sacred and make it earthly to tell other religious people of their love.  The movement of the heavenly bodies is much bigger than an earthquake and is also seen as innocent and good.  Their love is like cosmic movement while everyone else is like the earthquake.  Their love is like a soul and not a physical thing so the speaker is not so concerned about their physical separation.  As they are far apart their soul is expanded to fill the space and not break with distance.  The poem ends where it begins.

“Canonization” – A canonization is the process of making someone a saint.  The phrase “for God’s sake” is not used here as a profanation or dismissal of God.  The speaker urges others to go do whatever they want and let him love.  He emphasizes the mystery of their love.  Although love is found in physical expression, it is really much more than that.  He presents their love as a model for all loves as though it were sainted.  The poem is a kind of self-canonization of their love.

Noteworthy quotes:

From The Tempest Act 5 scene 1 lines 351-354

“Ay, that I will, and I’ll be wise hereafter
And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass
Was I to take this drunkard for a god,
And worship this dull fool!”

From “The Good-Morrow” lines 12-14

“Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to others, worlds on worlds have shown,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.”

From “The Flea” lines 25-27

“ ‘Tis true, then learn how false, fears be;
Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me,
Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.”

From “Elegy 19” lines 41-43a

“Themselves are mystic books, which only we
(Whom their imputed grace will dignify)
Must see revealed”

Key Terms:

Travel account
Tudor
Stuart
Metaphysical poetry
Conceit
Elegy
Canonization

Tuesday, Oct 25 (10:50 class)
by Kaya Mead

Overview

Class started today with Dr. Seaman letting us know that the author Jonathan Safran Foer will be in TD Arena tonight at 5pm talking about his book Eating Animals. There will also be the English Open House this week which will take place on Thursday from 3:15-4:30pm.

After this week we will have two and a half weeks with no RAP’s in which we will be discussing Milton’s Paradise Lost. Next Thursday the first, our topic description is due and the following week our paper will be due, both at 11pm.

Discussion today began with the acknowledgement of the cultural/historical context of The Tempest. The Tempest was written in 1611. This was right during the time where many explorers were heading over to the new world. The Mayflower left in 1620 which established the first colonial outpost. Before this, the new world was a curiosity that many people wanted to explore. Shakespeare based his description of the island in The Tempest off of travel accounts that began appearing in 1610 and the island that was discovered by a ship that was detained there on its voyage to Virginia in 1609. These two accounts were somewhat based on the travel narratives of the Middle Ages which challenged the notion of normal humans.

Montaigne’s “Of Cannibals” was translated to English in 1603 and showed the Native Americans as more natural, truthful and honest than Europeans. This was a very radical thing to say at the time and Montaigne was not shy about the way he said it. The Tempest almost directly parallels a verse from this essay in one of Gonzalo’s statements. Gonzalo critiques Europe’s society and explains indirectly that he would make everything to be more like that of the Native American civilizations.

This correlation between Shakespeare’s work and Montaigne’s shows that Shakespeare had a pretty solid familiarity with Montaigne’s work. Shakespeare takes a more moderate approach to this topic; however, as he still puts Prospero in charge of the island and especially in control of the natives, Caliban and Ariel, and in the end seems to imply that this is the natural order, whatever limitations Prospero may have.

After discussing The Tempest, we moved on to talk about Donne and Herbert. Donne’s poetry is surprisingly provocative and makes contradictory claims and yet was appreciated and popular during his life. These poems, as well as Herbert’s, fell out of fashion shortly after his death but were resurrected in 1921 by T.S. Eliot.

We went on to discuss specific poems from Donne. One of these was “The Flea”. In this poem, the speaker is attempting to prove why virginity is not such a big deal and that the woman he is talking to is blowing it way out of proportion. At first, he treats the flea as a trivial and insignificant being. He then goes on to describe how their blood is mingled in the flea as if they’ve had sex and that if the woman kills the flea, she actually kills all three of them (reference to the holy trinity). This shows how the narrator himself is now elevating the value of the flea. In the end, the woman kills it and rejoices because they are still alive. The narrator uses her reaction to prove to her that she is taking her purity, chastity, and virtue too seriously.

This poem is a good example of a common structure in Donne’s poetry. Breaking the poem up into argumentative claims, evoking a scientific understanding, and taking virtue and religion out of context are all common themes of Donne’s works.

We also discussed “The Good Morrow” in which Donne describes two lovers as new worlds to be discovered. This is an odd context for love poetry but can be applied to the time period it was written in because there was a lot of new exploring going on.

“To His Mistress Going to Bed” was another poem we discussed. Through the orders that the narrator gives his mistress, we see his appreciation for her. The use of exploration and discovery in this poem has a more physical meaning than in “The Good Morrow”.

“A Valediction; Forbidding Mourning” is another famous Donne poem that we discussed. In it, the narrator explains that they should not mourn because their love is too deep to truly be without each other. Even if they are away, they will be together in their minds. Their love transcends the physical.

Noteworthy Quotes

“To His Mistress Going to Bed” – lines 40-42

“For lay-men, are all women thus arrayed;
Themselves are mystic books, which only we
(Whom their imputed grace will dignify)

“The Good Morrow” – lines 12-16

“Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to others, worlds on worlds have shown,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one. “ 

Key Terms

Tudor – The time period in England which began with the reign of Henry VII and continued through Henry VIII to Elizabeth I who had no heir, thus this time period ended. It is known for the establishment of Protestantism. It is also known as the Elizabethan period.

Stuart – The time period that began after Elizabeth’s reign with James I of England. Also called the Jacobean period, this period contained two periods of civil war. Milton also wrote during this period.

Thursday, Oct 25 (9:25 class)
by Emily Jenkins

At the beginning of class, Dr. Seaman reminded us that our 1 page paper description is due at 11 pm in OAKS on Thursday 11/1.

We were also reminded that next week will begin discussing Milton’s Paradise Lost. Dr. Seaman advised us that Milton is prone to long “powerfully structured” sentences that may take some getting used to.

Poets in relation to one another

Donne 1572-1631

Wroth 1587-1653

Herrick 1591-1674

Herbert 1595-1633

Marvell 1621-1678

Philips 1632-1664

Dr. Seaman pointed out that Donne preceded all of these poets by some time. This can explain in part his powerful influence on the rest of the poets in this list.

We moved on to reviewing Donne’s The Canonization (p.828), which we started in the previous class. Dr. Seaman emphasized that Donne is comparing the speaker’s love to the life of a saint. In this way, the love will serve as a model for all other loves.

The poem starts with a dismissal of day to day concerns. The speaker dismisses those concerned with position, money, or whatever else. He is only concerned with his love.

2nd stanza is built of rhetorical questions. “[W]ho’s injured by my love?” in line 10 is an overall idea of the questions that follow. The last three lines indicate that nothing worldly is affected by this love.

In the 4th stanza, the speaker indicates they may die for love. Their abstract love can’t be buried. Line 30 contains a reference to a legend, which is another term for a saint’s life. The only place their love can live is in verse. Line 32- “build in sonnets pretty rooms”. Stanza means room in Italian. The speaker is literally building a residence for them in his poem. This is very different from the earlier boasting about giving immortality in verse by Shakespeare and Drayton. The poem evokes religious elements to describe an erotic non-religious love.

We then looked at #10 on page 847. The first quatrain is Donne’s thesis: Death thinks himself mighty but he cannot kill the speaker. Quatrain 2 uses rest and sleep as small versions of death. These are also pleasurable things, not things to be feared. Better men go sooner to this rest, since they deserve it more. Death is the delivery of the soul. In the last, he asserts that anyone can control death. Why should Death consider himself so great when he is only a tool of God? Death too will die.

#14 on 848 is a sort of reversal of his Canonization. Here Donne uses worldly love imagery to describe a relationship with his God.  He asks God to overthrow his sinfulness, to violently force him to this end. His writing contains sexual overtones. He uses paradoxes as well. He asks God to bind and imprison him for freedom and ravish him for chasteness. His reference to the “three personed God” in line 1 serves to personify God into a physical presence. In lines 5-7 he uses the image of a usurped town to describe himself controlled by Satan, while desiring God.

We then moved on to Herbert. Dr. Seaman pointed out that Donne used a great deal of conflict in his poetry, synthesizing counterintuitive concepts. Herbert is much more straightforward and singular. His poetry lacks the conflict of Donne. We discusses the introduction on page 867. Herbert’s works are described as “intricately structured”. His patterns mirror the cycle of the Church year and focus on Christian humanity. His works are in synch with the medieval mystery plays in the focus on the cycles of the Church calendar.

We discussed briefly Redemption on page 868 but only to note that it is a sonnet but with a modified rhyme scheme. We then were asked to reread Affliction p.869 and Death p.877 in order to compare it with Donne. Dr. Seaman also noted the difference between the two verbs below, encouraging us that we’re always analyzing here.

Analyze- the content, its parts and meaning therein.

Evaluate- how successful the work is. Evaluation can be on meaning, structure, composition, anything that affects the success of the work.

Affliction- some felt Herbert is whining to God. He expresses a personal, intimate relationship. He contrasts his happy servitude with his later affliction. The poem is structure chronologically, rather than the back and forth of Donne. In line 1, “entice” lends a sort of seductiveness. 2nd stanza refers to furniture, which Dr. Seaman described as the institution and liturgy of the church, the physical rather than spiritual. Last line is confusing (“Let me not love thee, if I love thee not”), meaning something like wanting to love for good rather than out of some self-deception.

Death– the personification of Death is similar to Donne’s. There is a change in Death here, what it was and has become. There are again comparisons of sleep and death. Specifically, Dr. Seaman pointed out the word “Half” in line 22 as meaning our body is in the grave, whereas the spirit is not. After line 13, Death becomes something sought after which is never the case in Donne’s work.

Love (3)- a religious love poem using traditional love imagery. The speaker sees himself as sinful and undeserving.

We moved on then to Herrick. Herrick was also a man of the cloth, becoming a vicar. He first tries to make a name as a poet, then enters the church as an occupation.

The Argument of His Book– This poem gives the premise of his book. It contains rural agricultural imagery. It is rather pre-modern in content. He shifts back in time, then into the present. He puts himself outside of time.

Delight in Disorder– A personification of Art. He is not fond of tight structure, prefers more natural.

Corinna’s Going A-Maying– Nature has paused waiting for Corinna. Nature is incomplete without human engagement. Line 69- “we are but decaying”.

Marvell was rediscovered by T.S. Eliot as well.

To His Coy Mistress (p. 883) – Lines 1-20 he describes what glory their love would reach if time were not a consideration. Contains vast imagery. In 19, he states that this is what she deserves. In line 21, there is a but. He describes decay, “deserts of vast eternity”. He also includes a terrible scenario in which worms “try that long-preserved virginity”. This is the first hint at what he’s really getting at. Which is…they really should have sex. Pretty soon they will be dead so it’s urgent. This is different from Donne’s argument against conventions in The Flea. Through their pleasures, he says, they will become hunters devouring time instead of victims of his tyranny. They cannot stop time or death but can be the aggressor by living to the fullest.

Damon the Mower (p. 885) – contains pastoral imagery. It’s an alternative to human society and all its failings. Nature is subjected to these adulterations like grafting. He esteems the individual in the natural world. There is a shift toward the modern idea of nature as a refuge from other people rather than the pre-modern idea of nature as fearsome.

 

Thursday, Oct 25 (10:50)
by Lauren Bradley

Overview

We began the class by talking about how we will begin discussing Milton and “Paradise Lost” next week; make sure to do the introductory parts of the reading assignments.  We were then urged to”be prepared for his long sentences, sometimes it can be a little taxing”.  We then went on to discuss our paper 2 topics.  On Thursday by 11 PM you must turn in topic description for Paper 2; feel free to email her questions about your proposal.

We then went on to continue our discussion of Donne.

Donne (1572-1631)

Dr. Seaman urged us to think about the time sequence of these authors and the trickling down of literary influence on later writers.  We then went on to talk about Donne’s poem, “Canonization”.

“Canonization” pg. 828

In the first stanza there is a shift in discussion from self love to he/she love, love itself.

Canonization: process by which a person is authorized as a saint

We talked about how Donne likes to blur erotic and religious love.

In the 1st line the speaker beseeches the reader, basically saying, “shut up and let me love”.

We talked about how the first stanza is commanding the listener to do whatever they want to do, i.e. get a life in terms of what you care about (material success, King’s favor), but don’t stop him from loving.

In the next stanza, we are posed a bunch of rhetorical questions.  Here Donne calls   upon courtly love notions (people being committed to love that they seem ill, lamenting, etc.)

He goes on to essentially say that while he experiences this, it does not having any tangible effect on society, so they should leave him alone.

By acknowledging that love doesn’t affect society in a bad way, it also doesn’t affect it in good way; it was just neutral (this was an odd idea at the time).

Donne uses the phoenix as a metaphorà totally independent thing that sustains and destroys itself.

Before Donne talks about how love is separate from material realities.  Then, he compares it to a mystery.  This indicates religious mysteries.

Donne then shifts to the idea of religious mystery in next stanza:

“We can die by it, if not live by love…” à maybe love won’t sustain us, but we can die by it and live on in a way

Verse will offer a kind of immortality

Describes it as legend in line 3.

A poem is like an abode for them and their love can live on in a stanza

Compares to hymns (religious reference again)

Once they and their love is canonized, people will be essentially “praying” to them

Elevates romantic love into something really transcendent and almost competitive with religious love

 

Pg. 848 Holy Sonnet 14

We are urged to think about it as a companion poem to “Canonization”.

The idea presented in this poem isn’t unconventional, but the way he presents it is.

First 2 lines:

  • “batter my heart”–don’t lightly knock, be forceful about it, barge your way in if you have to
  • 3-personed individual personifies God
  • Speaker is kind of complaining that God isn’t really doing enough à“..so that I may rise and stand up, overthrow me”– paradox “break, blow, burn, make me new” paradox
  • He wants to be strong but is requiring from God a sort of violence for it to happen
  • “usurped town”– speaker is like that, owned by someone else– “…but I am trying to admit you, but oh to no end”  — here he is basically saying that he is trying to let God in but it isn’t working

Next couple of lines

  • Speaker wants God but  is “betrothed to enemy “ (Satan)
  • Asking God to divorce him from Satan (divorce itself is a contemporary idea)
  • “ravish me so I can be chaste” won’t be chaste until God  essentially rapes him, huge paradox
  • Asking God to act as an abusive lover, says it’s the only way for him to be one with God—wants God to take over and sacrifice him from the freedom he is suffering from

Sonnet 10

In the very first line, he is personifying death like he personifies God in the above poem.

He’s essentially telling Death to not be so full of itself à “…though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so”à

  • Every night you sleep is like a mini-death.   We get a lot of pleasure from that, so Death should bring us even more pleasure.

the good die young because it’s kind of a reward

Death isn’t something to fear

We can kind of control death; we can kill people, sleep, etc.  à kind of tells Death to get over itself.

Death is just temporary, just a sleep.  Then after that, you’re just dead. “death will die.

Herbert (1593-1633)

There were big differences between Donne and Herbert, even though they were friends.  For Donne, a lot of meaning relies on irreconcilable differences while Herbert’s is far more direct.

Herbert is colloquial like Donne, however.

“Redemption” pg. 868

Type of poem:  sonnet– abab cdcd abba (varies rhyming style)

We were then split into two separate groups  to work on “Affliction” and “Death “ respectively and look for characteristics that are Donne-like.

“Affliction” pg. 869

–       Same physical sickness that comes from his heart being in painà emotional pain leading to physical pain

–       Begins asking to be in the service of God, needs him to be in control (also in last line)

–       Having a conversation with God

–       In first two stanzas, the furniture is enticingà references the structures  of the Church (not representative of Dunne)

–       The end is essentially saying, don’t let me think I’m loving you when it’s not really you I’m loving.

Death Poem

–       In Donne’s death poem, focuses on sleep while this one focuses more on the decay of death

–       Lines 25 and 26: as opposed to Donne, death has already transformed into something sought after

“Love” (3)

Not about romantic love like “battered heart” but is still presented as a heterosexual relationship like Donne

Speaker is saying they are unworthy of love (Margerie Kemp-like)– focuses on grace, it’s all about what God offers

 

Herrick (1591-1674) pg. 861

“The Argument of His Book” summary of book to follow

The first two lines has alliteration and mentions April flowers, reminiscent of Chaucer and Anglo-Saxon

“clean wanton-ness”  innocent sexual wanderingà wants to convey a young, fresh, wonton, but not virginal

Making proclamation of timeless things that have not been talked about for a while

Donne is all about logic, pattern, cleverness as opposed to Herrickà “ a sweet disorder in the dress…” a sweet malfunction

Ribbons confused

Petticoat tempestuous

Shoestring careless

Civility wild

Appreciates what looks wild but is actually still very deliberate

Last two lines, realize he’s actually talking about his art

When art just looks as if it just happened, and then you realize there was care taken to make it that way, it’s “bewitching”

“Corinna’s Going A-Maying”

Birds at prayer (pious figures)

Tells her to get up and be like the birds

She will become nature just like nature has become human in last section

Nature and humans sharing the cycle of life

“we are but decaying” à because decay is natural order, you need to act before things end

Marvell (1621-1678) pg. 883

“To His Coy Mistress”

Donne in “The Flea” is trying to convince the listener that premarital sex wouldn’t matter

Diff. than what’s going on in “To His Coy Mistress

His concern is, we’re going to die, we only have so much time

Demonstrates what it would be like if time and space didn’t matter

Devour time instead of being devoured by it

 

Memorable Quotes:

          -“We can die by it, if not live by love…” (pg. 828)

-“…And by these hymns, all shall approve/ Us canonized by our love.” (pg. 828)

-“ Batter my heart, three personed God;” (pg. 848)

-“…though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so” (pg. 847)

– “You must sit down, say Love, and taste my meat.  So I did sit and eat.” (pg. 877)

Key Terms:

Canonization

Sonnet

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *