Final Exam: This Friday @ 9:00

REMEMBER that our final exam is this Friday @ 9:00 (it's scheduled for 8:00, but I thought it was nicer to push it back to 9 because of the ice and the ungodly hour!).  The study guide for the exam can be found in the post below.  DO NOT bring any books to the exam--it's a closed book exam.  It shouldn't be tricky, however--if you did the work and came to class (which not everyone did!) you will do fine. 

I also want to do my annual Brit I book raffle, where I give out free British-themed books to a few members of class.  It's a simple 'thank you' for taking the course and making it one of the most valuable teaching experiences I've had at ECU.  Honestly, I loved teaching this course and will miss it incredibly next semester.  I appreciate all the hard work and enthusiasm!

See you on Friday... 

Extra Credit Questions: 2007 Adaptation of Northanger Abbey

This film is an excellent adaptation (though taking certain liberties) of Austen’s early novel, which was written in 1798 along with the first versions of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility (then entitled First Impressions and Elinor and Marianne).  However, she revised the work in 1815 and changed it a bit, much as she did the other two works (which were more heavily revised).  That said, it represents an important transition from the world of wit and satire to the world of Romance and Gothic excess, which Austen parodies in Catherine Morland’s reading habits.  However, like Sense and Sensibility, Austen gives us satire from a woman’s point of view, and offers us unique insight into the “little” world of domestic concerns that few men could be bothered to take notice of. 

Answer TWO of the following…

1.         Though Austen doesn’t take us to the streets of London or the depths of Otranto, we do see the very real world of Bath, a notorious social center of the time.  How does Austen’s ‘tour’ of Bath offer a satire of the people, manners, and aims of high society as rich as anything in The Way of the World?  Be specific and cite an actual scene (or dialogue) from the film. 

2.         In the opening chapter of Northanger Abbey, Austen’s narrator admits that “[Catherine] never could learn or understand any thing before she was taught; and sometimes not even then, for she was often unattentive, and occasionally stupid.”  The film, too, shows Catherine as a somewhat unremarkable and not at all ‘wise’ at first.  Why do you think Austen creates such a untypical heroine?  How does this play into some of the themes of the book/film, as well as her taste in novels? 

3.         Why does General Tilney throw Catherine so unceremoniously out of his home?  What is her “crime”?  Why might his actions have seemed more ‘Gothic’ at the time than they do today?  What were the repercussions for Catherine, being sent home without a coach or a servant…and what fate might have awaited her once she got home? 

4.         How does the movie (like the book itself) seem to be a satire on novels in general?  What kind of novels does Catherine and her friends read, and why might reading, when done without sense/education, lead to trouble?  Additionally, how might this relate to our own times—to women (and men, perhaps) who read indiscriminately and view the world accordingly? 

Final Exam Study Guide

This is a relatively brief, but comprehensive exam covering all the works in class.  You may not bring your books to class or any notes.  The goal of the exam is simply to see how much you read and understood during our collective journey through the class.  Remember, a survey class like this one is designed to help you see how literature is informed by history and culture, and the relationship of one work to another as we move from the earliest ages of English literature to the late 18^th century.  For that reason, I want to see if you were able to make these connections and see the ‘family tree’ of British literature. 

The Exam will have 3 Parts:

PART I: Passages—a short passage from each work in class, which you will have to label by author, work, and the significance of the scene (in other words, what is happening here and why did I choose it?).  I will not give you the names of the authors or the books, so you should keep these in your memory.   

PART II: Art and Literature—I will have a painting on the screen which you will have to connect to a specific work and explain the connection between the two.  For example, what is each one doing, how do they relate to their specific moment in history, and how does the art help read the novel (or the reverse)? 

PART III: A ‘Big Picture’ Question—a question which asks how British literature fits into some aspect of modern culture, the modern high school/college curriculum, or simply into a study of human behavior/society in general.  You will be expected to draw from a few works in your answer. 

FINAL EXAM DATE: Friday, December 13^th @ 9:00

NOTE: All revisions of papers are due on this date as well.  Bring them to the exam at the latest, though I would prefer them even before this if possible.  You cannot turn in any revisions after the exam, nor can you revise a paper you didn’t turn in during the original due date. 

For Monday: Early Views & Modern Views of S & S

FORGOT TO POST!  You can turn this in any time this week...

For Monday: Early Views & Modern Views of Sense and Sensibility (pp.313-333)

·         Unsigned Review (Feb.1812)

·         Unsigned Review (May 1812)

·         Pollock, from British Novelists (1860)

·         Anonymous, from Miss Austen (1866)

·         Meynell, from The Classic Novelist (1894)

·         Farrer, from Jane Austen (1917)

·         Fergus, First Publication (1991)

Answer TWO of the following…

1. What qualities do both the 1812 reviews agree on in their first reading of Sense and Sensibility?  In general, how do both ‘read’ the novel, and do we generally agree with this assessment today?  Is there anything one or both miss or avoid that we discussed in class as an essential part of the work?  (Note that neither review knew Jane Austen’s identity—the title page originally said “By a Lady”). 

2. In the late Victorian era, when Jane Austen began to become famous, there was a notable shift in how she was read—and what she was appreciated for.  Alice Meynell typifies this when she writes that “Miss Austen’s art and her matter are made for one another.  Miss Austen’s art is not of the highest quality; it is of an admirable secondary quality” (321).  What qualities do Meynell—and others—find somewhat inferior or ‘second rate,’ and how might Austen’s own ‘sensibility’ be called into question as an author? 

3. Reginald Farrer writes that “But its tremendous successors set up a standard besides which ‘Sense and Sensibility’ is bound to appear grey and cool; nobody will choose this as his favourite Jane Austen, whereas each one of the others has its fanatics who prefer it above all the rest” (324).  How does Farrer make this claim in his article, and how might the other writers support the idea that S & S is somehow lacking or formative of the ‘real’ Austen?  Did her contemporaries feel the same way?

4. According to Jan Fergus’ essay, how did Austen feel about Sense and Sensibility and her writing in general?  Remember that, according to her nieces and nephews, she was ashamed of writing and kept all of it hidden (indeed, she scarcely even read poetry around them!).  What picture of Austen, the writer, emerges from this carefully constructed historical account of her publications? 

For Wednesday/Friday: Sense and Sensibility, Chs.V-XIV

Answer TWO of the following…

1. Clarie Tomalin, in her biography of Jane Austen, quotes a letter from Austen’s mother to her new daughter-in-law:  “I look forward to you as a real comfort to me in my old age, when Cassandra is gone into Shropshire & Jane—the Lord knows where!”  This suggests, perhaps, that her mother didn’t know what to make of her or what to do with her wayward daughter.  In general, Jane Austen had a rocky relationship with her mother and mothers don’t come off very well in her novels, much less in Sense and Sensibility.  Discuss the role of mothers in these final chapters, and how Austen defines the difference between a good and bad, or perhaps effective or ineffective, mother.  Note—think of all the mothers in the novel, not just Elinor and Marianne’s. 

2. One of the most interesting scenes in the novel is the reappearance of Willoughby and his conversation with Elinor on a “dark and stormy night.”  Though this may have turned into a Gothic event, Austen brings it somewhere else entirely.  What is the purpose of this scene to your reading of the novel?  Is it simply a way to “rescue” him from his Gothic devilry?  How does Elinor react to his speech, and how does it affect her feelings toward Marianne’s future relationship with Colonel Brandon? 

3. Elinor’s mother, reflecting on the match between Marianne and Colonel Brandon, notes that “the Colonel’s manners…their gentleness, their genuine attention to other people, and their manly, unstudied simplicity is much more accordant with her real disposition, than the liveliness—often artificial, and often ill-timed, of the other [Willoughby]” (240).  Do you agree with this assessment of the match between Marianne an Brandon?  Does Elinor?  Why do you think Brandon decided to marry her instead of Elinor?  How might Austen comment on this match in the novel’s closing pages?

4. Related to the above, how is Elinor and Edward’s ultimate match a satisfying or convenient one?  Is she settling for a man who, though he loved her, was unable to sacrifice his sense for his sensibility?  Or is he the man more “accordant” with Elinor’s beliefs and character?  Should she have married Brandon?  Does Austen want to frustrate our desires as readers, or is she seeking to satisfy the demands of her age?

For Monday: Sense and Sensibility, Chs.11-Ch.4 (Vol.3) & Paper #3

NOTE: For Monday, there are no questions--just read up to Ch.4 of Volume III of Sense and Sensibility.  An in-class writing will probably await you!  The Paper #3 assignment follows:

Paper #3: A Sense of Sensibility 

Choose ONE of the following options...

1. Discuss how contemporary audiences understood or tried to make sense of both Otranto and Sense and Sensibility.  How did the reviewers/critics represent the aesthetic values of the time, and how did each work fit into this?  Examine the reviews I gave you in class on Walpole and Sir Walter Scott’s Introduction, as well as the “Early Views” of Sense and Sensibility on pages 313-324.  Were these works very much of their time—or were the considerably ahead of their time?  In what ways?  Also, are there qualities and/or characters we admire that Austen and Walpole’s age was oblivious to? 

2. In the excerpt from Raymond Williams on “Sensibility,” he writes that “It is a very difficult word, both in its senses and variations within this historical period, and in its relations within the very complicated group of words centered on sense” (333).  Using his various definitions of sensibility, explain how both The Castle of Otranto and Sense and Sensibility explore and define this ambiguous term.  How does sensibility frame the plot, the characters, and the very philosophy of the work itself?  What makes them full of “sensibility,” and do the works complement or contradict each other? 

3. In Deborah Kaplan’s essay, “Mass Marketing Jane Austen,” she notes that “Neither of the recent films suggests that female friendships are sufficient to sustain an alternative emotional life for heroines without men...[but] The presentation of women’s relationships is more complex in Sense and Sensibility.  The filmmakers were concerned that the film not seem to be about “a couple of women waiting around for men”” (408-409).  Watch one of the versions of Sense and Sensibility, either the Ang Lee 1995 version, or the more recent 2007 Andrew Davies/BBC production.  Discuss how Sense and Sensibility is “marketed” to a modern audience.  What remains, what changes, and whose story do we ultimately get?   As you write this, discuss why you think these changes were made, and if sometimes, a change is necessary to preserve a “truth” of the novel.  (Please avoid merely giving a thumbs-up or thumbs-down movie review)

REQUIREMENTS

·        At least 4-5 pages, double spaced

·        At least 2-3 secondary sources; you must use an essay or essays from the Norton edition of Sense and Sensibility

·        A true conversation between you, the novels, and other sources; don’t simply have a monologue where you say what you liked and disliked about the books

·         Due MONDAY, DECEMBER 2^nd by 5pm (you can turn it in earlier if you want more time to revise it, of course)

For Wednesday: Austen's Sense and Sensibility, Chs.3-10 (pp.109-155)

Answer TWO of the following:

1. Sense and Sensibility was originally an epistolary novel entitled Elinor and Marianne, which Austen revised thoroughly to suit a more 19^th century taste in the early eighteen teens. However, these chapters contain several letters which were probably part of the original text.  What is the purpose of including letters between the characters, and how does it affect what we read, and how we see, this part of the story? 

2. In some ways, Sense and Sensibility is Austen’s most Gothic novel, as it contains secrets, scandals, and seduction unknown in her other works.  How do these Gothic elements (which may have been much stronger in the original version) cohere with the rest of the novel?  Do they seem out of place?  Or are they Austen’s attempt to hint at the darker world behind the facade of Enlightenment manners (remember Goya’s maxim: the sleep of reason produces monsters!). 

3. In William Deresiewicz’s book, A Jane Austen Education, he writes, “For Austen, before you can fall in love with someone else, you have to come to know yourself.  In other words, you have to grow up.  Love isn’t going to magically transform you, make you into a better or even a different person...it can only work with what you already are” (220). How does this apply to Marianne specifically?  In what ways does she not know herself, or expect to be transformed by love?  How does this account for her tremendous disappointment in London?

4. How does society respond to the Marianne/Willoughby affair?  Does the extended family (Lady Middleton, Miss Jennings, the Palmers) become more full of ‘feeling’ here, or do they remain a largely comic or satirical backdrop?  Is Marianne or Willoughby more censured for their behavior?  What does this say about the ‘way of the world’  in Austen’s day?

For Monday: Sense and Sensibility, pp.57-109 (approximately)

No questions for Monday, but keep reading to around Ch.2 or 3 of Volume II.  I'll give you an in-class question to respond to based on some event or theme in these chapters.  You can also expect Paper #3 next week as well, for those of you who have to write it! 

See you in a few days...

For Friday: Austen's Sense and Sensibility, Chs.1-15 (pp.5-56)

Answer TWO of the following…

1. How does the novel (at least in the opening chapters) dramatize the late eighteenth-century debate of reason over emotion, or sense vs. sensibility?  What view does Austen (or the narrator) seem to take on the subject?  Cite a specific passage in support of your reading.

2. Where do we see Austen, the satirist, at work in these early chapters?  Though her work is classified more with the Romantics and Victorians, Austen was a child of the Enlightenment—and had read Tom Jones, The Way of the World, and many similar works.  What characters offer us a satirical insight into English manners, customs, and conventional opinions? 

3. Unlike many conventional romances or novels, Austen’s men are rarely romanticized—and indeed, seem to hover very close to the ground.  In describing Edward Ferrars, she writes, “[he] was not recommended to their good opinion by any particular graces of person or address.  He was not handsome, and his manners required intimacy to make them pleasing” (14).  Why do you think her men lack this dashing, romantic character—even the potential love interests? 

4. Though Sense and Sensibility is not a gothic novel, it follows many of Walpole’s ideas about sensibility and the blending of reality and romance.  What scenes or events might owe something to Walpole’s example, particularly regarding feeling and sympathy?  Are Elinor and Marianne descendants of Mathilda and Isabella? 

For Monday: Early Reviews of The Castle of Otranto

The Afterlife of Otranto: Read “Sir Walter Scott’s Introduction” (pp.3-15)

Answer TWO of the following…

1. Many early reviews of Otranto—though initially laudatory—became critical when Walpole revealed himself as the author.  According to one review from May 1765,

“It is, indeed, strange, that an Author, of a refined and polished genius, should be an advocate for re-establishing the barbarous superstitions of Gothic devilism!...Under the same banner he attempts to defend all the trash of Shakespeare, and what that great genius evidently threw out as a necessary sacrifice to that idol, the blind multitude.” 

Based on your reading, what is this critic referring to, and what might have struck him as so “devilish” that only makes us smile today?  How might this review reflect the aesthetics of the Enlightenment which Walpole, and others, were striving to correct in their works? 

2. Sir Walter Scott, in his famous 1811 Introduction to the work, writes that “Romantic narrative is of two kinds—that which, being in itself possible may be a matter of belief at any period; and that which, though held impossible by more enlightened ages, was yet consonant with the faith of earlier times.  The subject of the Castle of Otranto is of the latter class” (10).  Why does Scott feel that only the “latter class” is worthy of Romantic narrative, and how does he compare the novels of Mrs. Radcliffe (who wrote the more famous Gothic novel, The Mysteries of Udolpho) unfavorably to Walpole? 

3. Clara Reeve, who wrote her own version of Otranto set in England, The Old English Baron (1778), criticized Walpole for his Gothic excesses.  As she writes, “the reason is so obvious, the machinery is so violent, that it destroys the effect it is intended to excite.  Had the story been kept within the utmost verge of probability, the effect had been preserved, without losing the least circumstance that excites or detains the attention.”  Do modern readers read the book like Reeve—is it too much, too improbable, too silly?  Or does her critique also reflect the prude temper of Enlightenment taste? 

4. Scott, as a Romantic writer, felt that Otranto was a seminal work that laid the foundation for much of the Romantic movement.  How does he use Otranto as a kind of historical specimen for the “change” that was in the air in the mid-18^th century?  To this end, does he think Otranto is more important as a work of literature or a work of history; in other words, should we respect it or love it? 

For Wednesday: The Castle of Otranto: Preface to the First & Second Edition (17-25), and Chapters 1-2

Answer TWO of the following…

1. Walpole engaged in a cunning act of Gothic marketing in the Preface to the First Edition, writing that “Belief in every kind of prodigy was so established in those dark ages, than an author would not be faithful to the manners of the times, who should omit all mention of them” (18).  How does the First Preface try to ‘frame’ the story to the reader, and considering that this is a fraud, why did he feel it was necessary to make the story a work of the ‘dark ages’? 

2. The Castle of Otranto, as discussed in class, was riding the wave of the ‘sensibility’ movement, which was all about the expression of strong emotions of love, pity, awe, joy, and terror.  How does sensibility color the narrative, either in the emotions of the characters, or the twists and turns of the story itself?  You might also consider how it supports Goya’s maxim that “the sleep of reason produces monsters.” 

3. As the Preface to the Second Edition informs us, Shakespeare was a major influence on Walpole’s novel.  Where do we see the Shakespearean influence (perhaps more his plays than his Sonnets)?  For example, Shakespeare modeled most of his plays on old histories or romances, yet modernized them for his audience.  How might Walpole be doing much the same thing?  Are there other links between Walpole’s characters, situations, themes, or language?  Consider specific works of Shakespeare you have encountered—Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, etc. 

4. In Chapter II, Jerome (the monk) is hiding Isabella from Manfred’s lecherous intent.  Manfred orders Jerome to give her up with the statement, “I am her parent…and demand her” (53).  Why might we consider The Castle of Otranto a work about the relationship between parents and children, or perhaps the older and younger generation?  How does this theme run through the first two chapters, and create moments of Gothic anxiety about filial obligations—and in the passage quoted here, even a hint of incest?  (Freudian scholars have a lot to say about this work!) 

For Monday: Sensibility and the Gothic

For Monday's class, I'll give you an introduction to the movement of sensibility that swept through England and Europe in the mid 18th-century, and also gave rise to the Gothic movement, as instigated by Horace Walpole's novel, The Castle of Otranto.  We will start discussing that novel for Wednesday's class, so you can expect questions on Monday.

Monday will also be the absolute last day you can turn in Paper #2 for credit (though you will lose 20 points).  After that, you'll get a zero.  Remember, if you didn't turn in Paper #1 you must do Paper #2.  Otherwise you will fail the course.  Please e-mail me with questions/concerns.

See you next week!

For Monday: Fielding's Tom Jones (the BBC series, that is)

Another slight change of plan: instead of jumping right into the Gothic movement and The Castle of Otranto, I decided to give you the week to work hard on your Paper #2 (due on FRIDAY, revised date)!  Also, I won't be able to teach on Friday, since I'll be returning from a literary conference in Tulsa.  So as a way of connecting back to The Way of the World, I want to watch some scenes from the BBC's adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic 18th-century novel, Tom Jones.  Though we don't have time to read it (it's over 800 pages long!), even from the film we'll see numerous connections to the play, and you can better imagine the world Mirabell, Mrs. Fainall, and Miss Millamant lived in.

See you tomorrow...

For Wednesday: Congreve, The Way of the World, Act V

Answer TWO of the following...

1. Why do Mirabell/ Millamant/ Mrs.Fainall win in the end?  Are they the ‘moral’ group as opposed to Mrs. Marwood/Mr.Fainall?  Have they been more real or authentic throughout the play—or simply at the end?  In short, are we rooting for them throughout, and is this ending satisfying (does it give us the expected happy ending)?  Or is it almost arbitrary who wins and who loses? 

2. Though Lady Wishfort is initially a farcical character, how does Congreve make her a sympathetic—and even tragic—figure by the Final Act?  Examine a scene that might show her as more than the butt of a sex joke, and why we (and perhaps Mirabell?) might pity her. 

3. In the very last scene, Witwoud remarks, “what, are you all got together, like players at the end of the last act?” (75). This act of ‘unmasking’ reminds us that everything has finally been revealed: not only the actor/character’s ‘true’ faces, but the unmasking of plots, alliances, and legal documents.  How do you think the Final Act ‘unmasks’ Congreve’s satirical and/or moral message?  If none of this is real, what is “real” about the play—and the people in it?  What should we take away after the final curtain? 

4. As suggested earlier, the servants have a much larger role in late 17^th century society than their masters realized—or at least dared to admit.  How do the servants (Foible, Waitwell, Mincing) help create the ‘happy ending’ of this play, and in a large degree, control who wins and who loses?  Are the servants more ‘moral’ than their masters, or are they simply available to the highest bidder? 

For Monday: Congreve's The Way of the World, Act Four

NOTE: Only one question this time, but with a purpose: it serves as pre-writing for Option #2 of Paper #2 (if you choose to pursue it).

Act Four, Scene I contains possibly the most famous Restoration ‘love scene,’ where Mirabell woos Millamant and she (reluctantly?) accepts his proposal.  Consider how this passage should be staged in a modern performance: how can you bring out the wit, satire, and personalities under the mask?  In your response, analyze pages 50-53 and discuss how you ‘read’ individual lines and ideas.  How would you want your actors to interpret them—and the audience to understand them?  What does this dialogue reveal about the spirit of the times and the meaning of the play? 

In other words, do a close reading of this passage to help bring out the ideas and characterizations that you feel would help an actor ‘see’ his or her role.  What lines are especially important and reveal more than what they initially seem?  Where might we also see each character peeking from behind their mask to reveal themselves as they truly are?  How can you show us this in a performance?

Paper #2: Due October 25th (new due date)!

Option #1: The Sonnet Drama

I want you to arrange, edit, and shape the Sonnets into a short play for one or more actors.  To do this, you have to consider what ‘story’ you want to tell with the Sonnets, and how you can pick and choose (or even edit) sonnets to tell this story.  Ideally, you only want to use between 10-12 sonnets.  You should create an actual playscript which uses the sonnets as a monologue (or dialogue, or trialogue!) with stage directions, etc.  Consider if you want to use the entire sonnet, only part of it, or have different people speak different sonnets or different parts of a sonnet.  However you do it, by reading your drama, we should have a sense of a story unfolding, characters interacting with each other (even if the other characters are off-stage) and some kind of resolution: is this a tragedy, comedy, or something in-between? 

In addition, you must act as a ‘dramaturg,’ which is someone who works with a theatrical production to explain history, culture, and language to the actors.  To do this, your drama will be accompanied by a 4-5 page paper which explains why you chose the sonnets you did, how you read/understand them, and how the language advances a specific story.  Again, we might not ‘see’ this story without your analysis, so be very specific and show us exactly what you see in the language.  You should have at least 2 outside sources to help you read/interpret the Sonnets—and we have many resources in our library, such as Helen Vendler’s and Mark Mirsky’s excellent books on the sonnets (but don’t forget about JSTOR!). 

Option #2: The Battle of the Sexes

You are a ‘dramaturg,’ which is someone who works with a theatrical production to explain history, culture, and language to the actors.  Oklahoma Shakespeare In the Park has hired you to prepare a new version of The Way of the World for its audience—an audience, mind you, that knows very little about late 17^th century drama!  Your task is to ‘modernize’ the play for 2013 audiences without changing anything substantial about the play.  The words and the characters must remain the same, but you can stage it however you like—in 1920’s Chicago, etc.—to help us ‘see’ the relationships and ideas in the play.  Consider what will lessen the ‘period drama’ sting of the work and help us appreciate the comedy and the satire of Congreve’s language. 

Your paper should to do 3 main things: (1) explain how you intend to stage the play and what ‘ideas’ you hope the play should exhibit; (2) how we should read/portray specific actors in the play—help us understand who they are and how they relate to their historical period; and (3) close read 2 pivotal scenes so we understand how to act them and why they are important to the period and to the drama itself.  You should have at least 2 outside sources to help you read/interpret the play which you can find either in our library or on JSTOR, etc. 

REQUIREMENTS

·         For the Sonnet Drama: at least 10-12 Sonnets in a playscript, plus a 4-5 page dramaturgical paper

·         For the Congreve Production: at 4-5 page dramaturgical paper

·         At least 2 outside sources for both papers

·         Analysis, close reading, and specific ideas: avoid summary and losing your own voice in the paper—show us what you see and think

·         DUE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25th 

For those who read the blog...

ALSO, for those interested, I've posted a link (on the right side of the screen) to my recently published Kindle-only novel, The Count of the Living Death.  I post it here because it relates to much of what we're reading in class: you can find references from Beowulf, The Sonnets, The Way of the World, and Sense and Sensibility.  It's a Young Adult 'fantasy' novel that is inspired by many of my own favorite books and themes, and anyone leaving Brit I will realize how and why I wrote it.  Feel free to read it--it only costs 99 cents to download, or you can borrow it--and 'grade' me for once!  I promise not to cry! :)

For Friday: Congreve's The Way of the World, Act Three...

There are no questions for Friday; instead, read Act Three and I'll give you an in-class writing response when you arrive in class. 

DON'T FORGET TO RECITE YOUR SONNET BY 3:00 TOMORROW (when I leave the office to pick up my kids)!!!

For Wednesday: Congreve's The Way of the World, Act Two

2012 Production of WOTW, Chichester Main Theatre 

Answer TWO of the following...

1.  If the first act shows us how society men think of women, in Act Two, how do society women think of men?  What ‘wit’ and satire do they share with themselves over men’s behavior and manners—or the institution of marriage itself?

2. How does Act Two play on the idea of masks and acting?  Part of the fun of this play is that the actors are playing people who are also playing roles with each other.  Who is acting and why?  How do we know this—and who else knows it?

3. On page 23, Mirabell says that “beauty is the lover’s gift; ‘tis he bestows your charms—your glass is all a cheat,” which echoes Sonnet 22, 113 (and many others) which claim that the lover sees his love in the mirror rather than himself.  Mrs. Millamant (unlike the Sonnets) is allowed to respond to this and they have an argument about it; what does she say and how might this be a woman’s response to Shakespeare’s claims about love? 

4. Discuss the conversation between Fainall and Mrs. Marwood on pages 16-19.  How does this scene play with the idea of being true/false as well as the tortured relationship of love in seventeenth century London.  What echoes of the Sonnets might we find here, too? 

For Monday: Congreve's The Way of the World, Act One

 Answer TWO of the following:

1. The names of the characters in The Way of the World (like most Restoration comedies) reflect the type of person they are; for example, “Fainall” means “feign all,” and “Wishfort” means “Wish for it [sex].”   What other elements in Act One seem to suggest that these are satirical characters in a Hogarth painting (for example) rather than a portrait of “real” life?

2. Examine Mirabell’s speech on page 5, where he begins, “And for a discerning man, somewhat too passionate a lover; for I like her with all her faults,; nay, like her for her faults.”  How might this passage echo some of the “Dark Lady” sonnets that we discussed on Wednesday?  What might this say about the nature of Mirabell’s love for Millamant?

3. Witwoud and Petulant (note their names) are the Laurel and Hardy (or more relevant comedy duo) of this play: both are buffoonish, improper, and completely crass.  How does Congreve satirize certain aspects of his society—and particularly, upper-class society—through their pretensions and prattle? 

4. Most current TV sitcoms or comedy shows (such as Saturday Night Live, etc.) rely on up-to-the-minute references and satire for their jokes.   In 10 years, few of these jokes will get the same kind of laughs, and in 20 years they will fall on completely deaf ears. The Way of the World is, in a way, a sparkling British sitcom, full of the same satire and cultural references.  Focus on a short passage that you feel is mean to be funny but somehow isn’t: what doesn’t translate?  What words, ideas, or references don’t tickle your funny bone?  Can you make sense of it through a close reading—or does it remain an exhibit in the Museum of Retired Comedy? 

Don't forget STD tomorrow at 2! (see the next post down for Friday's class)

Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society, will be having its second meeting of the fall semester at 2 p.m. this Friday, October 4th in the Academic Engagement Center (Faust 159).Subsequent meetings in the fall semester will also be scheduled for the first Friday of each month through December.

 

Whether you are an STD frequent flier or you’ve never had the pleasure of attending one of our meetings, we hope you’ll find a way to work us into your schedule if you enjoy talking about fiction, poetry, drama, film, ideas, and other topics of literary interest—whether you are an English major or not.  And if you know someone who is not on this mailing list but might like to be, invite them to give STD a try in November. 

 

Tomorrow’s reading will be a text by Dr. Paul Bogard, from James Madison University in Virginia, who will coming to campus on November 4^th.

 

We hope to see you there!

 

Steve Benton

Joshua Grasso

Rebecca Nicholson-Weir

Sarah Peters (faculty co-sponsors)

For Friday: The Restoration and Early Eighteenth-Century

No reading or work for Friday, unless you want to start reading our next book, Congreve's play, The Way of the World (1700).  Though written in prose and far less complex than Shakespeare, it still takes some getting used to as the entire work is full of wit and innuendo; it can easily go over your head if you read too fast. 

For Friday's class, I want to introduce you to the world of the Restoration (and what that term even means), so you can appreciate what Congreve was trying to do--and who he was writing for (a slightly different audience than Shakespeare). 

DON'T FORGET to start memorizing Sonnets!  The deadline fast approaches! 

For Wednesday (Last Day of the Sonnets): "My Name is Will," Sonnets Day 6

For Wednesday: “My Name is Will” (The ‘Dark Lady’ Sonnets): Nos. 127, 129, 130, 135, 136, 138 (and 138a), 144

Answer TWO of the following…

1. In general, what is the poet’s relationship with the “dark lady,” his mistress?  Does he talk about love differently with a woman than with a man?  Is this love sexual—or also idealistic/platonic?  How does she inspire him?  How might these poems be different in subject or tone than the previous ones? 

2. Discuss the differences between Sonnets 138 and 138a: what makes them slightly different poems?  What words/images/tones change?  Which poem do you prefer and why?

3. Sonnet 130, like 18 and 116, lays claim to being one of the most famous poems in the world, to say nothing of The Sonnets.  How might, in some ways, this poem be a response to Sonnet 18 and a way of speaking of love more honestly and less idealistically?  Do you find it a more or less flattering love poem than 18 (or similar poems)? 

4. Sonnet 144 (and a few others) suggest the presence of the young man in the background.  If so, what has happened to the love triangle encountered earlier in the sequence?  How does the poet balance his feelings for each lover, and is this poem at all misogynistic (as some critics have claimed)?

For Monday: The Sonnets, Part 5, "By Evil Still Made Better"

For Monday: The Sonnets: “By Evil Still Made Better”

Sonnets 112, 113, 115, 116, 118, 119, 120, 121, 123, 126

Answer TWO of the following…

1. These are the last sonnets written directly to the ‘young man’; what kind of ‘epilogue’ do these poems offer?  How is he bidding farewell—and on what terms?  Has the idol fallen for the poet?  Are there new betrayals?  Or simply a sense of resignation and/or regret? 

2. Sonnet 126 is the only sonnet in the series without a couplet.  It literally ends with brackets.  Why do you think this is?  What might the meaning—whether visual or metaphorical—be by this anomaly?  Or could it be an act of censorship on Shakespeare’s part—or the printer’s? 

3. Sonnet 116 is one of the most famous sonnets in the series: though considered a great love poem, is love/romance the prime sentiment?  Are there other ways to read this poem?  Explain what other moods/tones you might discern through individual lines.

4. How do any of these poems fit in the ‘story’ you wrote for your last response?  Do they complement or contradict it?  How might you weave them into the fabric of your Sonnet narrative? 

For Friday: Intermission--Staging the Sonnets

So far, we’ve read the better part of 110 Sonnets—that’s a lot of Shakespeare!  So before we finish Sonnets 111-154, I want you to reflect on what we’ve read and how Shakespeare intended us to read/interpret it.  What are The Sonnets anyway?  Clearly, they’re not a collection of random poems because they respond to one another, develop similar themes, and seem to advance an invisible storyline that lies just beyond our view.  However, if they do have a plot, where is it—who does it involve—and what is at stake for the ‘players’? 

For your response, I want you to write a brief sketch of potential ‘story’ for The Sonnets.  Pretend this is an outline for a potential play or film: who are the main characters, how does their relationship develop, what obstacles do they encounter, and when (and how) does the breakup occur?  Cite several Sonnets as reference points to your story (you can either quote a line or two or simply reference them) and think about how individual Sonnets connect and advance the story.  Above all, try to conceptualize The Sonnets as a drama that could be acted out and has all the elements of a good tragedy—or comedy(?).

NOTE: You don’t have to take into account every single Sonnet: your story can conveniently avoid those that don’t fit neatly into your scheme, or you can just focus on a small section, say Sonnets 1-19.   However, try to cast your net as widely as possible and consider what Shakespeare might have wanted us to see/experience with The Sonnets.  Remember, this is still just an informal response, so just a page or two will do.  

For Wednesday: "A Motley to the View" (Sonnets part 4)

For Wednesday: “A Motley to the View”

Sonnets 86, 87, 91, 94, 96, 100, 103, 106, 107, 110

Answer TWO of the following...

1. As we get to the 100’s in the sonnet sequence, we see certain themes repeated, some with almost frantic urgency, while others appear only fleetingly here and there.  Choose one of the sonnets from this group and compare it to an earlier one with which it shares a consistent theme or idea.  What makes this poem different?  Is it an improvement over the previous one?  An expansion?  A clarification?  A contradiction?

2. In many of these sonnets, the poet seems to take on a fatherly tone, hectoring the young man about his behavior in society and/or toward the poet himself.  Where do we see this in a specific sonnet?  In this sonnet, what is he trying to ‘teach’ the young man, and what might this say about the lover’s fault or transgression? 

3. Choose one of the sonnets in this group and imagine that it is a soliloquy in one of Shakespeare’s plays.  Forgetting about the characters in the Sonnets, who might speak these lines?  What might the dramatic situation be?  Is this a noble Henry—a drunken Falstaff—a plotting Iago—a raging Othello?   Or someone else entirely?  Use specific lines to support this characterization. 

4. Examine a poem where Shakespeare uses poetic devices to telling effect, such as antanaclasis (homonymic pun), polyptonon (repetition of words from the same root), paradoxes (cold fire, timid rage, etc.), or simply strange syntax (sentence structure—“and worse essays prov’d thee my best of love,” etc.).  How does he employ these devices to affect the very meaning of the poem?  If he had written these more straightforwardly (which he certainly could have done), what would we have lost?  How is the meaning in the technique itself? 

Shakespeare's "The Hollow Crown": Watch Now!

Last night, PBS played the first installment of their new Shakespeare Histories series, starting with Richard II.  If you missed it, you can watch the entire show on their website (it's about 2.5 hours long).  Though we're not reading any of this plays in this class, you might be interested in watching Richard II, which shares many of the same themes as The Sonnets, as do the subsequent history plays.  Click on the link below to watch--but don't forget to read The Sonnets (assignment below).

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365083796/

For Monday: The Sonnets, Part 3, "My Love Was My Decay" & Sonnet Recitation Assignment

For Monday: The Sonnets, Part 3: “My Love Was My Decay”:
61, 62, 65, 68, 71, 72, 73, 76, 78, 80

For Monday’s class, I only have one ‘question’ for you to answer: I want you to choose one of the poems above and analyze it in a close reading response.  This means that you will examine the poem line by line, exploring how the poem uses metaphors, images, puns, suggestions, and even sounds to make its points.  Read carefully and be sure to analyze throughout—explain why you see what you do, and help us ‘see’ where you found the clues to decipher (or at least make sense of) the poem.  The key here is to quote words or lines and then discuss them, rather than simply summarizing what the entire poem ‘means.’  Writing a close reading is an act of discovery: you’ll learn a lot more as you do it than you could ever know before you started.  As you analyze the poem, look for some of the common themes of the Sonnets: increasing, immortality, acting, reflecting, social barriers, etc. 

* * * The Sonnet Recitation Assignment!  Due by Friday, October 11^th  * * *

At some point in the next 3 weeks, I want you to choose one of Shakespeare’s Sonnets to memorize and recite to me in my office.  You may choose any Sonnet, even one we didn’t read or discuss in class.  Once you’re ready, you can either schedule a time to recite it or just come to my office hours: MWF 9-10, 1-3, or TR 1-3.  I will follow along in the book, and as long as you have 95% accuracy, you’ll get full points for the memorization.

ALSO—I want you to turn in a typed 1-2 page close reading of the poem, examining how you read the poem and why you see it this way.  And yes, you can do the same poem from your close reading assignment (above). 

This assignment is worth 10% of your grade and must be concluded before or by Friday, October 11^th.  Please do not dread this assignment or worry about embarrassing yourself.  I just want to see you enjoy the beauty of Shakespeare’s verse and have something in your memory that can potentially last a lifetime. 

For Friday: "The Master Mistress of My Passion" (The Sonnets, Part 2)

For Friday:
The Sonnets, Nos. 20, 22, 23, 29, 30, 33, 36, 40, 41, 42, 46, 55

NOTE: I’m skipping around a bit since there is literally so much going on in these Sonnets.  Feel free to read the entire range of 20-60, but these are the ones I want to focus on in class, since they hit many of the high points  As before, read them all but focus on a few to re-read and closely examine.

Answer TWO of the following...

1. Where in these new sonnets do we get a sense of who the ‘players’ are? (we can’t assume it’s Shakespeare and Henry Wroithsley—or even another candidate, William Herbert).  What might be their social classes?  Ages?  Feelings toward one another?  Complications?  Attachments with other characters not directly seen?  Quote a line or two to support your readings. 

2. In this group we see an increasing—though subtle—use of theatrical metaphors.  How does Shakespeare employ metaphors and ideas from the stage to illustrate some aspect of love, relationships, or growing old?  Do any of these remind you of other ideas/works of Shakespeare? 

3. Around Sonnet 33 something has changed in the relationship between the poet and the ‘young man’: are there any clues to reveal what happened?  Did someone betray the other?  Was something discovered?  Was something said?  Consider specifically the metaphors Shakespeare uses in Sonnet 33—the rising sun, the mountains, the “ugly rack” and the “region cloud” (though you don’t have to focus solely on this poem). 

4. Sonnets 40-42 reveal a new character in the Sonnet sequence: who is this person, and what is his/her relationship to the lovers?  How does the poet use this new character to explore the drama of a Spring/Autumn relationship and the perils of falling in love and risking heartbreak? 

For Wednesday: "Thine Image Dies With Thee" (Reading the Sonnets)

For Wednesday:
Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Nos. 2-19

NOTE: Don’t read the poems like our previous works; they are not a narrative per se, though there is a rough story connecting them together (which critics violently disagree on).  Try to read the poems one at a time, and try to re-read them a few times.  You don’t have to read every poem in this sequence, but I would try to read them all and then go back and read a few carefully.  The Sonnets yield their treasures slowly and not in one sitting.  Don’t be discouraged if you don’t “get it” after a first or second read. 

 Answer TWO of the following...

 1. Which poem in this sequence do you feel is the most persuasive in urging the young man to “breed”?  How does the poet make his argument, and what images/metaphors make it seem compelling to you? 

 2. All of these poems, to some extent, are about the conflict between Time/Death and Immortality/Beauty.  Why might this be a subject of particular interest in the Renaissance?  Which poem or poems do you feel illustrates the conflict particularly well—and why? 

 3. A few of the poems are explicitly about writing poems and the role of poetry in the art of love.  How does Shakespeare use poetry itself as a way to make his argument and/or urge the young man to ‘procreate’?  ‘’

 4. Where in one or more of these sonnets do we get the sense that the poet’s interest in the young man is more than platonic?  Where might love play a role in the argument—and why?  Be specific and cite a line or two that might support your reading. 

For Friday: 100 Years of Gawain Criticism

For Friday:

Adding to Anonymous—the Criticism of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Choose one of the following essays in the back of our edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to read and respond to for Friday.  Of course, you can read more than one essay—or indeed, all of them!—but only answer the questions below in regard to a single essay.  Try to choose a general topic or essay that interests you, since you will be using this later on Paper #1 (if you choose to do it). 

ESSAYS (Read ONE, your choice):

·         Burrow, “Recognition and Confession at the Green Chapel” (pp.104-113)

·         Davenport, “The Hero and His Adventure” (pp.131-143)

·         Hanna III, “Unlocking What’s Locked: Gawain’s Green Girdle” (pp.144-158)

·         Johnson, “Regenerative Time in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” (pp.158-173)

·         Nicholls, “The Testing of Courtesy at Camelot and Hautdesert” (pp.173-194)

·         Heng, “Feminine Knots and the Other Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” (pp.194-213)

QUESTIONS (answer 2 of the following...)

1. What common assumptions about the poem does this author acknowledge and then either try to expand, complicate, or refute?  What did he/she think other readers (or critics) had missed before them?

2. In general, how did this essay help you understand a specific aspect of Sir Gawain that you either didn’t understand or didn’t see before?  Cite a specific passage that you feel does this particularly well.

3. Is there a passage or idea in this essay you either don’t agree with or simply don’t understand?  Why is this?  Explain how you either don’t get or don’t agree with this passage.  Be specific—don’t say “I didn’t get the entire essay, etc.” 

4. Should you have read this essay before reading the poem itself?  Why or why not?  Again, be specific: why might this function as the perfect Introduction to the poem...or why might it ruin the experience of simply reading it with your own eyes?  

For Monday: Part IV of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

For Friday's class, try to finish Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; there are no questions, but I will offer you a intriguing in-class writing question for Monday.  Also, be sure you have the correct edition of the text, since we will be reading essays from the back next week; if not, I will be able to make a few photocopies for suitably penitent pupils.  :)

For those of you interested in the culture of 14th century England/Europe, as well as chivalric romances, here is a You Tube clip of a chanson (romance set to music, usually about chivalric love) by Guilluame Machaut, a famous French composer of the time and a contemporary of the Gawain poet.  This is the music troubadours would have sung in court and inspired knights to seek the attentions of a beautiful maiden to perform heroic deeds for...or, in a less exalted mood, simply shag in the closet.  Either way, it gives you a sense of what this world sounded like at the time; it makes good background music while reading Part IV!