English Lit. Notes
May 11 2006

Disembarking in Quebec – by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood decided to write about Susanna Moody because she was one of the first canadian settlers. Margaret traces Susanna’s life coming to and being in Canada.

When Susanna came to Canada her life was not easy. Her status was gone and there was this new harsh way of living. She found herself in this situation that she was uprooted from her life and she was found in a situation that she didn’t want to be in. She lost one of her children, she had to deal with the pain of him drowning.

In the first stanza, Susanna Moody is talking about how she feels that she doesn’t belong. She is trying to figure out what the reason is. Her clothes, her book, the color of her shawl? You can tell that in the first stanza she is feeling very insecure by questioning why people may not like her. Susanna Moody came from an upper class life, so its a thought of hers that people may not like her appearance.

“This space cannot hear”

In the next stanza she is talking about the vistas of desolation, omens of winter and such. She is describing that feeling where many people question if they have the strength and or determination to get through this. Before it was her appearance she questioned, now she is questioning her lack of conviction.

“The others leap and shout freedom”

The others refer to other people that have perhaps been exiled from their countries because of their religious beliefs. They may have also come from poverty and now they have canadas wide open spaces to live.

“The moving water will not show me my reflection”

Even the water in Canada will not show her reflection. She is doubting herself. Vampires can’t see their reflections in mirrors because they aren’t considered people, they don’t have souls. Susanna must think that she is no longer seen as a person. She is lost.

“The rocks ignore”

Nature now ignore hers.

“I am a word in a foreign language”

She no longer understands herself, she is by far lost.

*Kenning- Two words to replace another.
Lily hopper- Frog

Victorian Era has a different view on nature, because they see it as calyst, instead of putting themselves in it
dramatic monologue (title gives it away)
dramatic – tells a story
monologue – one person is talking
so therefore dramatic monologue is a person talking like a poem or story form
addresses somebody with a purpose
reveals a lot about the narrator (gives hints)

My Last Duchess – Robert Browning
shady like, not really sure what’s going on exactly
set in a 16th century castle in italy
aduca ferrera wife dies 3 years of marriage, began to seek remarriage, gets “match-making” person aka m-m person
has a painting of her that he mentions at the beginning of the poem, before he goes of to interview some eligible women
no one can pull over the curtain except him
talks about his late wife fondly, “she had a heart to soon made glad . . .” she looked at everything; she liked other men “. . . she liked everything he saw. . .“
“serve was all on, the dropping of the day light in the west”
“officious foul” is a guy
900 year old name, his last name is of high status power
she; late wife, doesn’t take his name as something special, she treats it as it were any other gift, nothing from her husband is special to her he says
he says he could have pointed out some of her flaws, but that would mean stooping down to her
doesn’t like her smiling at other people
he told her to stop and then all smiles stopped altogether, he was a very jealous man, he ordered his wife’s’ because she took more enjoyment in other things over him, so he got something to kill his wife
him and m-m person are walking down the hallway and he points out the statue of neptune the sea king beside his wife’s painting
he covers the painting because her attention to her husband kind of wondered in life
smiles at everyone
liked/looks at everything
she looked as if she is still alive, so now that she is dead he choses when she             looks at anything
he seems to treat women as property, livestock as something that he owns
Bronte Sisters
3 sisters; Emily and Anne are the most famous
Song – Poem by Emily Bronte
linnet – small finch kinda fly
moor-lark – a bird
wild deer browse above her breast?
the poem is talking about someone that is dead in a cemetery
pathetic fallacy – when nature matches the mood of the person
Well, let them fight for honors breath/ or pleasure’s shade pursue – -/ the dweller in the land of death/ is changed and careless too. ? what does this mean?
“pleasure shade” its like trying to chase after the wind, it doesn’t last forever
“the dweller in the land of death”/is changed and careless too” she’s dead she doesn’t care
“and if their eyes should watch and weep till sorrows were dry” they that miss her can cry all they want but she won’t flinch, she’s gone
[just to add a thought here= Bronte seems to show the Victorian idea of nature being somewhat indifferent to human existence and suffering...ex: the deer walking along above the grave]

We looked at Keats’ “When I have Fears…”

Some brief notes from discussion that stick in my head:

• this poem seems really personal, and not out to change the world like some of Shelley or Byron’s works
• the poet claims to be afraid of dying before getting out all his thoughts
• this sticks with his life story, as Keats lost his brother and also died of tuberculosis (lots of people dying young)
• he seems quite down–it sounds like a journal entry or a letter to a trusted friend
• the last couple of lines suggest that thinking and reflection are more important to him than love and fame–this goes along well with his fears of dying before he gets out all his thoughts/poems/writing
• there seems to be reference to love…we aren’t sure if it is romantic love or love for writing…

Just a few notes there. It seems like a poem written to express emotion rather than gain fame. I think Tamara brought up that point, and I agree. Keats seems more into his own emotional turmoil in this poem. He doesn’t seem to be out to inspire people with great words or ideas. It seems really honest, really spontaneous (ie not polished), and his fears are not resolved by the end of the poem.

I think of Curt Cobain when I read this, or grunge music in general. Just really melancholy…

Remember to read for Monday: Tennyson’s “Ulysses” (one of my favourites!) and “Sonnet 43″

Remember that your poems are due on Monday! Enjoy creating them, I know I am!

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
from page 686
1.going to a wedding ~~~~> mariner stops someone ~~~~> and tells a story
2.on a ship ~~~~> storm ~~~~> stuck in the ice somewhere in the south pole
3.Albatross arrives ~~~~> things get better ~~~~> then the mariner shoots it! (how cruel!) ~~~~> then the fog clears [the crew praise his actions]
4.the wind dies ~~~~> stuck in the doldrums (sailing on the ocean where there is no wind, no current the ship can’t move at all!) ~~~~> the crew members give the mariner the dead 5.Albatross as a reward ~~~~> the mariner must wear it around his neck
6. another ship appears on the horizon, when blocking the sun it resembles a skeleton?
7.passengers of the ship are ~~~~> Life and Death ~~~~> playing dice
death wins the mariner (cursed)
8.shipmates all die! ~~~~> their spirits/souls all “wiz” (is an onomatopoeia) by ~~~~> the dead bodies of the crew mates are staring at the mariner because he caused them their lives
9.blesses the snakes ~~~~> then the Albatross falls off of his neck, therefore the curse has been lifted ~~~~> the crew doesn’t talk to the mariner, but they do get back to work ~~~~> the mariner can hear this singing that the crew members seem to be making
10.wind picks up ~~~~> the mariner faints ~~~~> begins to hear voices of two people talking about how the mariner will do more penance
11.wakes up from his dream ~~~~> boat slows done ~~~~>realizes that they’re coming back to the harbour being guided in by a pilot and his son ~~~~> a hermit is approaching the ship ~~~~> mariner thinks the hermit and forgive him ~~~~> but before the hermit can approach the ship the boat he’s on sinks
12.but he is saved onto the pilots boat ~~~~> but his ship and crew are gone forever
the pilot throws a fit ~~~~> hermits praying ~~~~> the boy goes crazy and says some stuff about the devil
the mariner tells the wedding guests that he must tell the story over his sea journey over and over and over and over and over . . . because he has to tell people to love creation
love creation! treat it with respect or you may be cursed! is the moral of the story for the sea mariner.

The Lamb:
- Blake talks about the lamb and how peaceful it is
- Blake goes on to compare the lamb to Jesus who was called “The Lamb of God”
- The poem uses apostrophe when Blake asks the lamb questions; he then answers himself
- Blake suggests that nature and man are equivalent in a way
- This poem uses Blake’s belief that enlightenment and understanding come from being in a childlike state, yet experience is also required
The Tyger:
- Blake asks of the tyger how it came to be
- Blake wonders how such a fearsome creature was created and whether it was made by the same God who made the lamb
- What does the tyger say about God? The tyger must reflect something of the one who made it and therefore God must be more complex than he appears
- The tyger seems to be a symbol used to represent the evil in the world: which is in seeming paradox with the good represented by the lamb
- Tigers in Blake’s time were seen as vicious creatures who killed on whim
Gray’s Elegy:
- Takes place in a cemetary. He talks about the mounds of earth that bodies are buried in: this poem is about death
- Gray talks about how happy the peasant people were while they were alive; at the same time he mocks power, wealth, and nobility saying that death ends it all
- Gray thinks about all the things in life that people never know, all the chances that people never get because of their place in life.
- The poem ends in an epitaph (writing on a gravestone) that restates Gray’s purpose

Burns was born into a farming family who was poor

this time period for literature was spontaneous and filled with emotion

a time of thinking and reflection, a pastoral time

when he wrote his literature he wrote what he knew and the language of the time

this poem kind of presents the romantic period, because he is concerned about a mouse, spontaneous poem, random, the poem gives you the feeling that he had these thoughts and then went wrote them down

romantic period was about living in the moment and writing spontaneously [ as well as a strong connection to nature- the sublime- nature can inspire]

this poem is about him plowing and accidentally turns over the mouses nest, feels bad and talks to the mouse about how bad he life is

the theme that we can pull out of this poem is comparing mice to men
line 39 “the best laid schemes o’mice an’ men/” probably the most famous line from this poem
[this can be seen as one of the themes of the poem, as Burns is talking about how both man and animal can make the best plans, but even the best of plans and planning can come to ruin]
line 7 and 8, “I’m truly sorry man’s dominion/ Has broken Nature’s social union.” This shows how human development has ruined nature and the way that it works. [ a second theme of the poem - progress or civilization interferes with nature]

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:)

Rape of the Lock Pt. II

Belinda is playing a card game that has become a war between spirits
The game has come down to one final hand
Belinda plays the King, and it looks like she’ll win
Now Belinda and her opponent are having coffee
The coffee helps make her opponent alert and he comes up with a plan to get the lock of her hair
Her opponent gets scissors from Clarissa’s purse and goes to cut Belinda’s hair
The spirits try to warn Belinda of what’s going to happen
The opponent (the baron) can’t cut her hair and decides to wait
Finally he goes to cut her hair, gets the lock between the scissor blades, goes to cut it, when the sylph goes between the blades to try and stop it but gets cut in half and he gets the lock
The sylph will become better and when Belinda finds her hair’s cut she’s upset and screams
The opponent then gloats
A nymph tries to calm things down but a battle cry follows it
the nymphs fight over the lock of hair
the fight becomes like the Trojan War
Belinda attacks the Baron for her hair
Belinda subdues him with one finger and her thumb
Then she throws “snuff” at him and he inhales it and he sneezes and his eyes get watery
She grabs an ornamental pin shaped like a dagger from her side
The Baron confesses his love for Belinda but he’s never acted on it
Belinda demands for her hair back
Everyone searches for the lock of hair for Belinda but no one could find it
Someone said it must be on the moon
There was a shooting star of hair and now Belinda’s name is inscribed in the stars, it will never be forgotten

Discussion Questions Response:
Summary of the card game: The Baron and Belinda play a fierce game of cards and Belinda’s Queen is lost and things are looking poor for Belinda. Up until that point Belinda was doing great and now she’s worried for the first time in the game. Then the game is left to a single hand, and Belinda then plays a King and wins the game. This entire game shows how Belinda and the Baron are sneaky, confident, independent, and very competitive.

The effect of Clarissa’s assisting the Baron: Clarissa helps the Baron cut Belinda’s hair and this results in a fight between Belinda and the Baron over the hair. Again Belinda wins in the end just like in the card game. Throughout the entire poem Belinda’s pride is on the line.[the outcome will also effect all the relationships, ie Belinda and Plume’s, Belinda and the Baron...]