A big thank you to Ango for taking notes during this long and arduous class!
Here they are:
Thanks Again!
Romantic Period Mar. 1/06
-after Enlightenment era (Aha!!)
-science/order/proof
-reason (rebellion= spontaneous overflow of emotions)
(Rebellion stage–reaction against former stage to gain independence)
-sublime–> Nature, experience (pastoral poetry),
: moment of clarity, inspiration or awe
-rebellion against authority
-Rape of the Lock: made fun of high society/ruling class
WE’LL BE MAD WHEN READING THIS POEM!!! MR. NELSON SAID WE’LL THINK HE’S AN A**!! (A MODEST PROPOSAL) He really said that!
This poem is quite vulgar and a bit insensitive, but very realistic.
Haha I changed the color!
I did it again!
I like this color!
Modest Proposal
-about children (Rachel’s idea)
-about selling children as meals (good thing Britt’s not hear!)
Johnathan Swift (author of Gulliver’s Travels), author of the poem
Summaries of each paragraph:
1.lots of children, no purpose for them
2.whoever can find out what to do with the children deserve a round of applause (Ireland is suffering from poverty)
3. children born into families who can’t support them, take up charity
4. children need too much, use them for food for everyone else
5. abortion “sacrificing the poor innocent babes”, ironic b/c he talks about eating children
6. how many kids are born each year, gets down to 120,000 children/year, the question is what to do with them all
7. alternatives for what the kids can do: odd jobs to prevent becoming thieves, not able to do this because they are too young
8. as children get older, they become more expensive and need more things
9. composing his idea to use children as food; stewed, roasted, baked or boiled
10. twenty thousand are for breeding, one male for four females, the remaining one hundred thousand would be sold to the “persons of quality and fortune”
11. how children weigh at birth and when they are one yr. old. children take all the landlord’s money.
12. child’s flesh is always in season, more in March, 9mos. after Lent. 3 children per 1 adult.
the cost of nursing a beggar’s child is 2 shillings/year. pay 10 shillings for carcus of a good, fat child; profit of 8 shillings
13. more money= skin children to make gloves, boots, etc. places can be set up to do this, providing work for butchers, etc.
14. someone suggested a shortage of deer can be solved by eating children 12-14 yr. olds. but americans they are too tough/chewy, and it would seem cruel.
15. native from island, fat 15 yr. old who was crucified, body was sold. make money if process was repeated with plump young girls.
16. malnourished people are dying, and rotting, as expected. they cannot get work, and if they did, they wouldn’t have the strength do perform the tasks of the job.
Reasons:
1: eating Catholic children would decrease number of Catholics (most dangerous enemies). Catholics hope to take advantage of Protestants leaving the country, instead of tithing to the church.
2: by selling kids, people who have nothing have something to sell. helps pay rent.
3: too much work to have one hundred thousand children. increased price could benefit everyone, nation of Ireland.
4: gain 8 shilllings, not have to take care of children after 1 yr. 5: if they brought children to eat at taverns, tavern owners would make lots of money because of the variety children could be served.
6: encourage people to get married to have kids, men wouldn’t beat wives to prevent miscarriage. calls wife mares, cows, and sows, treating wife like animals.
a fat kid would taste better than a pig, pigs killed less often. children= a good meal for public entertainment.
if anybody has a better idea, he wants to hear it. it would be hard to feed these kids, leaving country in debt. it would get rid of a lot of problems if children were food.
what he wants to do is public good to his country by advancing his trade, providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich. If children were used for food, he wouldn’t get any money; his youngest is 9 yrs. old, and his wife is past the age of child-bearing.
DONE!!
This poem is an example of satire, with a purpose. He’s saying there’s a serious problem in Ireland: the children of the poor who are malnourished and deprived of hope for a future; make people realize the problem; make citizens ashamed of themselves.
Suggested to read the poem over again! These will be on the blog!
Read animal poems for Friday: Tiger, Lamb, and Mouse!!!
Yours truly,
Wango:)
