Review of Week 11: Oct 30, Nov 1

Tuesday, October 30 (9:25)
by Elliot Giddens

At the beginning of class, Professor Brett Lot spoke about Study Abroad programs next summer in Spoleto, Italy, Trujillo, Spain, and Ireland. They are all worth 6 credit hours. Contact Joe Kelly at kellyj@cofc.edu for information about Ireland. Contact Brett Lott lottb@cofc.edu  for information about Spoleto, Italy. Contact Mark Long at Longm@cofc.edu for information about Spain. Hurry up, 8 of 15 spots are taken for the trip to Italy! Also, Dr. Seaman graded paper 1 revisions and reminded us that paper topic descriptions are due Thursday, November 1st.

We then entered into a discussion about Lady Mary Wroth. Her biography is on Pg. 851 in the Anthology. She lived from 1587 to 1653. She lived very unconventionally in a time where not many people dared to stray from the norm. She had illegitimate children after her husband’s death. She was the first woman in England to publish an Amatory Sonnet and the first woman to publish prose in English, in England. Dr. Seaman noted that A the time of her writing, she was writing what were then well-established forms of writing. She was heavily influenced by her predecessors and “followed the leaders”. Generally she was well-received, and her writing was respected. She was known for positioning her characters in the here-and-now and made references to real people, ultimately making her writing very authentic.

After the introduction to Wroth, we began to discuss some of her poetry. We first looked at # 22 on Pg. 853. She starts off the poem with a simile, comparing herself to Indians getting burned by the sun, and in a similar way, she is getting burned by love. There is a parallel between she and the Indians: she worships love yet gets hurt by love, and the Indians worship the Sun as their God, yet it burns them and makes them darker. Dr. Seaman stated that the speaker is “pale with love sickness”. There is also a notion that false gods treat one better than love because one doesn’t get internally burned by the Sun, only externally, and that isn’t as bad as the internal destruction that love reaps. Then Dr. Seaman asked the following question: what does one do when demonstrating love, in the courtly love tradition? Some students answered and said people may do the following when demonstrating love: Write a poem, pledge service, or keep love a secret (as in Lanval). Moreover, Wroth is pointing to the lone individual suffering that is involved in being the servant of love. Wroth begs the question in # 22, is she serving her love interest foolishly? What can be known for sure is that love is meaningful and that is what Wroth set out to communicate.

Then we switched our focus to a critique of Wroth written by Lord Denney on Pg. 855. He is fierce and relentless in his critique, labeling her a “monster” and a “hermaphrodite”, in order to convey that she is unnatural, and blurs the line between genders. He is trying to show that she is not human, something outside of social norms, a pariah. He calls her book a “fool” and says it looks just like its mother (Wroth), claiming that it was obviously made out of spite, only inspired by revenge. In the end, he says that smart women don’t write, and since Wroth wrote, she isn’t smart. Wroth naturally responded to this and essentially critiques him for an inaccurate reading of her book. The whole exchange between Wroth and Lord Denney demonstrates that poetry was a tool for all kinds of things and could be politically charged. Sometimes, it was used to do “social work” such as the aforementioned exchange.

Next, we talked about Katherine Philips. She is more conventional than Mary Wroth—more what we’d expect from a woman writer at the time. In “A Married State” she said that there was “no such thing as leading apes in hell” referring to unmarried women. In this work, she talks about how women should not get married and should stay a virgin (not for purity’s sake, but to keep themselves unaffected by all that distraction and trouble), and understand that marriage is a form of torment. In her poem about King Charles she engages in political poetry. In “Friendship and Emblem…” she discusses the value of female friendship. She is shifting towards the experiences of women, something limited in the past. Dr. Seaman felt like this poem in particular had a lot in common with Donne. Dr. Seaman said that Donne and Philips both talk about the soul as what loves, and (in Donne’s “The Good Morrow”) that they were sleepwalking through life until they found their soul mates.

During the last 30 Minutes of class, we discussed Book 1 of Milton’s Paradise Lost. As a class, it was decided that Book 1 sets stage for the battle of God, Satan, and humans. It also explains why things are the way they are. Satan fell from grace because he challenged God. He thought he was corrupt and was self-appointed and considered God to be a tyrant. Milton does a good job of binding together a lot of stories and views from the Old Testament, Classical, and Traditional sources. Milton tries to, in a sense, humanize Satan so we can see ourselves in him. We can see his ambition and desire and understand where he is coming from–so that we can see our faults. In Paradise Lost, he is not seen or depicted as purely evil. He is discontent with the way things are in Heaven and challenges the status-quo, but the mistake was that no one challenges God and no one needs to make him prove himself. Satan sees himself as a leader and is described as being huge and warrior-like, wielding a big shield and a spear. Milton is calling in associations with human achievement and rank, faithfully trying to get us to see ourselves in him. He is also described as having wounds and scars from his battle with God, showing that not only was he defeated, he will forever wear the shame of defeat on his body to remind him of the sins he has committed. Nonetheless, among his fallen angels he is made to seem like a traditional, successful leader; although he has failed, he strategizes and doesn’t quit, and makes plans to battle again. Surprisingly, perhaps, Satan is portrayed  as feeling the burden of his actions—we might have expected him to be nastier and purely foolish, but yet has is depicted as not being purely evil and there is something desirable about him.

More Information:

“Til then, who knew the force of arms?” You don’t have to test God, but Satan wanted to test him and failed, that’s why he fell. He is trying to bring God down to the level of humans and comparing him to those that are not divine. Milton ensures the traditional story of Adam and Eve and puts them in huge cosmic moral terms. Milton is about challenging leaders that abuse their powers…Satan is challenging what Milton challenged…but Satan has misinterpreted God as a human leader

At the end of class, Dr. Seaman passed out sheet of Milton/Paradise Lost background information for us to gain a better understanding of the context of the story. She gave quick summaries of the books we aren’t reading at the bottom of the page.

Key Terms:

  • Amatory Sonnet Sequence

Noteworthy Quotes:

  • Katherine Philips: “I know I’m not thine, but thee”. Demonstrates that she has a similar idea of love that Donne did/does.
  • Wroth, # 22, Line 11—“grant me to see where my offerings live….cupid might in heart”
  • Milton, Paradise Lost: “’Til then, who knew the force of arms?” Referring to the fact that God was not challenged before Satan challenged him. Spoken by Satan.

For next time: talk about classical epic in general, and talk more in detail about book 1 and 2.

Tuesday, October 30 (10:50)
by Jessica Karell

We started with the two seventeenth century poets Mary Wroth and Katherine Phillips. Born Mary Sidney, Wroth was the niece of Phillip Sidney and his sister, also named Mary. Mary Sidney played a big role in editing her brother’s work Arcadia. Wroth wrote the first amatory (love) sonnet sequence in English. This was later in the sonnet period and she was the first woman to write a prose romance. She changed styles since at the time prose work tended to be pastoral and male orientated, while she wrote about the experiences of courtly women and used actual people. This also reflects how she defied cultural standards for women of the time.

We looked at her 22nd sonnet that had a distinctive style and had a geographic center as a conceit of love. Compared worshipping Love to the Indians worshipping the sun, both get scorched and burned. This sonnet has racial undertones as she implies her whiteness is superior to their burns. Though she does state that at least others can see the Indians’ sacrifices while hers go unnoticed and the last line in the poem is a prayer of sorts.

We also discussed how Wroth was public criticized for works. One noble wrote a poem calling her a monster because she is critiquing important people and writing a worthless book. He also attacked her femininity, implying she was truly a hermaphrodite. Her most horrendous crime he charges is that she is a woman writer, not that she is a bad writer. Wroth’s retort was that his poem was bad, he was girlie for complaining and that true noble men have not problems with her works. Professor Seamen noted in class that Ben Johnson was a big supporter of Wroth, so not all men discredited her work simply because she was a woman.

Katherine Philips wrote 50 years later and is noted for not being as overtly controversial as Wroth. “A Married State” argues against marriage and love to spare women the trials of housewives and lovers alike. She evokes the image of Elizabeth I to do this. She was a staunch royalist and defends the position of kingship in “Upon the Double Murder of King Charles”. She also writes poems celebrating intimate female friendships. This was an uncommon and mostly intimate male friendships were celebrated in poetry. We looked at “To My Excellent Lucasia, on our Friendship” and “Friendship’s Mysteries, to My Dearest Lucasia”. Then we moved on to Paradise Lost.

It is a vividly set piece and brings the audience in the middle of the action in classical style of epic poems. Satan is portrayed as cunning, prideful, but not out and out evil. He and his followers blame God and no longer wish to be submissive to His will. Milton asks his audience to examine how evil is created in Book 1 by making Satan a dynamic character, almost admirable as he is a warrior, a leader, and conscientious of  his followers.

 

Thursday, November 1 (9:25)
by Kim Stark

(my technology failed, this is my recap from handwritten notes) 

We began class with a recap of Book 1 introduction. Milton’s intent has a tendency to get lost by the reader, so we clarified his main argument. The first five lines of this story establish the fact that Christ is the greater Man and he restored the salvation of mankind; this, coupled with the fact that by line 25 the purpose of the piece is established: “That to the height of this great argument I may assert the Eternal Providence, and justify the ways of God to men.”

This piece is classified as an epic based on certain characteristics, and Milton does a very intentional job of creating this particular piece in the echo of famous classical epics, such as the Iliad and Odyssey. However, it is clear that with the intention of humbling humanity Milton has high aspirations to establish his epic as superior because it depicts the Truth.

There were certain lines that Dr. Seaman focused on in Book 1

55: depicts Satan’s view; Milton positions us around Satan’s perspective which gives us the comparison of looking at the world through Satan’s eyes.

253-56: Milton uses this to indicate Satan’s disillusion and his false sense of power

375-500: extended catalog of many resources including classical and OT references

575-573: description of army; epic, massive army

547: classical battle image

563: seemingly an epic description up to this point; the language has been compared to other epic illustrations, but then Milton uses words like “horrid” and “dreadful” which undermine the grandeur often associated with classical epics.

642: God concealed His strength and deceived them (fallen angels); this would have been considered ridiculous to the reader at the time.

690: Mammon- subtle; Milton uses this opportunity to remind the reader that this is an example of how humans are represented through his depiction of Satan and his followers. Humans destroy the earth and its resources in order to find treasure and further personal agenda.

756-785: this scene of the summon at Pandemonium uses epic simile to depict the masses of the (fallen) glorious immortal angels, as compared to bees that are tiny and puny individually. They only represent a threat if collectively active. Milton continues to reduce the significance of the fallen angels by comparing them further to the pygmean race, then to fairies. He renders their supernatural glory to supernatural insignificance/imaginary, powerless creatures.

 

Book 2: first lines indicate that despair is the emotion that these fallen angels are working from. This is the ultimate weakness for humans-no hope, no God- these are the reasons human fall out of faith, suicidal thoughts and actions; Milton subtly argues that evil enters with despair.

Milton introduces a few characters that depict humanity at large; Moloch represents a fierce warrior, ready to take charge and take action. Belial represents a false talker, someone who will twist the circumstances to make his point that represents his best interests, in this case, survival.

Lines 210-214 are quite interesting; they (fallen angels) completely contradict the essence of God. Basically, they determine that if they are far removed from God and “behave” at a distance He will leave them alone and perhaps lessen the burden of their sufferings over time. However, they avoid repentance and fail to seek God’s grace. They falsely assume that God will “change.” The “peace” they are seeking can only come from forgiveness and to admit they were wrong; as previous angels, they would certainly have known that, as would readers of the time.

255: political liberty; Milton’s view from the spiritual aspect is completely opposite from his opinion of the human perspective.

 

Towards the end of Book 2, Satan is trying to leave through the gates of hell and he encounters Sin personified whom he has had a previous acquaintance with in heaven before the fall. Sin sprouted from Satan’s head at the exact moment that Satan began to think about conspiracy against God (lines 750-58) Then Satan and Sin had a love affair and she birthed Death (although not until she was in Hell and Satan was completely unaware of this offspring.) Satan did not recognize her at first because her appearance had so drastically changed from the last time he had seen her; she went from being  a heavenly and fair goddess to a grotesque monster barely resembling a woman. Heaven “recoiled” at her presence at first, but then “familiar grown” (lines 759-761). This is a reference to how humans are at first appalled to commit wrongful deeds, but overtime the actions become familiar and second nature.

Key term:

Epic simile

 

Thursday, November 1 (10:50 class)
by Macy Plemmons

Overview

At the beginning of class, Dr. Seaman reminded us that our Paper 2 Topic Proposal was due at 11pm tonight and that Paper 2 is due on Friday, November 9th at 11pm.

This week we continued our Milton’s Paradise Lost discussion by analyzing key points in Book 1 and Book 2.  We began our discussion with the definition of an epic simile and how it was very important to Milton to follow the guidelines and the structure of an epic.

Then, we discussed Book 1 of Paradise Lost starting with lines 1-26.  We first pointed out that Milton will place his emphasis on the fall of humanity but will also recognize that Christ will save the human race.  In this same beginning section of Book 1, we also noted that Milton thinks that Paradise Lost will be “the” poem of all poems.  Also, we discussed the fact that Milton’s muse is the Holy Spirit and that he will follow the expected structure of an epic.  We concluded this beginning section of Book 1 by determining that Milton’s purpose of Paradise Lost will be to justify the ways of God to men.

We continued talking about Book 1 with lines 190-191, which states, “What reinforcement we may gain from hope, If not, what resolution from despair.”  This line is made more significant with the awareness that, at the time, suicide was looked upon as a display of despair.  When Milton uses “despair,” it shows that the characters are beyond hope.  Next, we moved on to lines 251-256: “Hell, Receive thy new possessor-one who brings A mind not to be changed by place or time. The mind is its owen place, and in itself can make a Heav’n of Hell, a hell of Heav’n. What matter where, if I still the same.” In these lines, Milton shows the problem with Satan is that he deludes himself by thinking he is God.

We then moved on to lines 676-687 in which we noted that these lines reference the overall idea that humans are sinful by nature and that Mammon is focused on materials only.  Our first discussed epic simile in Paradise Lost starts at line 768 with “As bees” and we noted that Milton almost always starts his epic similes with “as.”  In this epic simile, Milton compares a “straw-built citadel” to the fallen angels’ pandemonium because both of them appear to be strong but they are actually chaotic.  Milton then goes on to mock the fallen angels and compares their smallness and insignificance to dwarf.  Then, Milton continues by comparing the fallen angels to elves, which are neither scary or powerful.  Overall, Milton uses this epic simile to show that Satan and his followers’ importance is self-imposed.

We began our discussion on Book 2 of Paradise Lost with lines 5-9 by noting that Satan’s bad actions exalt him.  Then, we moved on to lines 107-112.  These lines show that there is no truth to Satan and that nothing with Satan is sincere at all.  This idea of Satan’s insincerity is proven multiple times throughout Book 2 and we discussed it as shown when Satan convinces his followers that Hell is not as bad as their previous situation in Heaven.  Satan is aware that this information is false but wants to use it in a scheme to eventually convince his followers to declare war on God.  Satan’s next step in this scheme is shown in lines 186-187 when Satan lies to his people and tells them that he does not want to go to war with God anymore.  Lines 209-212 continue with Satan’s lies when he declares that time will heal God’s anger, and he will eventually soften his opinions of the fallen angels.  Overall, Satan is extremely disingenuous and childish.

Next, we discussed Mammon’s speech in Book 2.  Specifically, we noted lines 237-242 because Mammon suggests that the fallen could return to Heaven and apologize to God for their wrongdoings.  By receiving new grace, the fallen could return to Heaven, but this would also be insincere because they would only be returning to God for themselves.  Instead, according to Milton, they should be searching for Grace.

Lastly, we referenced lines 254-256 because Mammon uses political diction.  Milton includes this political undertone to suggest that human politics are not as bad as the issues seen in Paradise Lost, but that similar issues do exist and should be recognized.  We also saw that Satan and the fallen were extremely jealous of humans and plan to trick them in lines 349-351 and 367-368.  Our discussion with Book 2 ended by noting that Satan and Mammon had planned their speeches of not going to war and of repentance so that they could persuade the fallen to grant their actual wants.

Noteworthy Quotes

Book 1:
“I may assert th’ Eternal Providence,
And justifie the wayes of God to men” – lines 25-26

“What reinforcement we may gain from hope,
If not, what resolution from despair.” – lines 190-191

“Hell,
Receive thy new possessor-….
What matter where, if I be still the same” – lines 251-256

“With spade and pickaxe armed,….
Rifled the bowels of their mother Earth” – lines 676-687

“As bees
In Springtime, when the sun……
And summons read, the great consult began.” – lines 768-798

Book 2:
“Satan exalted sat, by merit raised
….Vain war with Heav’n” – lines 5-9

“Desperate revenge, and battle dangerous
To less than gods
…..But all was false and hollow” – lines 107-112

“Our doom; which if we can sustain and bear,
….Not mind us not offending, satisfied” – lines 209-212

“Live to ourselves, though in the vast recess.
…..Hard liberty” – lines 254-256

“To be created like to us, though less
….Of Him who rules above” – lines 349-351

“The puny habitants; or, if not drive,
Seduce them to our party, that their God
May prove their Foe”  – lines 367-369

Key Terms

Epic Simile – A long simile that consists of many lines in which the author compares the epic characters to something different than themselves.  Typically begins with “as” or “like.”

Mammon – A biblical character depicted in Paradise Lost as Satan’s helper and one of the fallen angels.  He values material items more than anything else and has important speeches throughout Book 1 and Book 2.

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