A big thanks to Rachel for taking notes this class, as Pope’s work was, and is, a tough one to follow!
To the Ladies By Lady Mary Chudleigh (1656-1710)
-warning against a woman getting married
Line 1-2 – A wife is like a servant, but has a better name
Line 5-8 – When she says her vows, the man becomes boss and there’s no niceness anymore
Line 9-10 – As soon as their married, the man puts aside his niceness
Line 11-12 – If she’s happy, it’s like she’s breaking the marriage vow
Line 19-20 – Whatever he thinks fit, she’ll do
Line 23-24 – Avoid marriage!
The Rape of the Lock By Alexander Pope (Page 532 of your textbook)
-Pope is making fun of high-ranked people
Lock – hair
Rape – cutting
Mock Epic – a long, humorous narrative poem; mocks the epic
Antithesis – putting together two things that somewhat contradict each other
Canto III
Line 1-9 – Setting. By the palace called Hampton in London.
Line 11-15 – Gossiping in the king’s court. They’re not talking about important stuff.
Line 18 – ogling – checking someone out
Line 17-18 – They’re having good times, flirting, gossiping and whatnot
Line 21 – judges sign a sentence for someone
Line 22 – Judges and jury are hungry so they just say “hang them” so they can eat
Line 23-24 – Pope is being really sarcastic (antithesis)
Line 25-26 – Belinda(hero of the story). She wants fame and knights
Line 28 – Belinda likes to play the field
Line 27 – start playing cards
Line 33 – Matadore – powerful card that could take a trick
Line 34-36 – Women are happy of their rank in society
Line 37-44 – There’s going to be a fight
Line 47-64 – playing cards, fighting(antithesis), naming cards
Line 75-85 – Belinda’s queen of hearts is taken and she becomes concerned of being defeated
Notes: February 20, 2006
review of last class:
-epic/extended simile- ‘big and long’ comparison, Greek stuff, etc.
-Satan and Beelzebub went on a tour around hell
-’mission statement’: take everything, even good, and turn it in to evil
-Beelzebub- “What’s the good if God is going to win anyway?”
-if Beelzebub was in charge, would things not be as bad?
-Milton’s purpose- ‘to justify the ways of God to man…”
the actual story is about 10 books long- we’re just reading an excerpt
ln. 220 on….
- Satan gets up….ln. 230 another epic simile describing how broad and mighty in stature he is…he flies
- he takes the tour, gets to where he wants to be, and says (ln. 245), ‘is this what we get in exchange for what we used to have?’… ‘Farthest from him (being God) is best’
- ln. 254: in his mind he can make this seem better than heaven or vice versa
- it doesn’t matter where we are, so long as I am who I am (ln. 256)
- it’s better to be in hell, because here we are free from God (ln. 258)
- ^ the whole reason why he rebelled
- ln 263: it’s better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven
- the end of what we have to read for the exam:
- ‘rallied arms’: all the people of hell
- going to try to take over heaven again, and if he loses, nothing is really lost, because hell isn’t that great anyway
Rest of the story:
- they build a city… it’s called Pandemonium (utter chaos… capital of hell)
- do some more scheming
- Satan decides to go up to the Earth
- gets in and sees Adam and Eve (two naked people)
- he gets jealous because they’re really happy
- goes back down to hell and tells his friends
- puts on a disguise as a snake… and you can find the rest in Genesis 
Lit. Class Notes:
- Some review of medias res, invocation to the muse…..
- Purpose of the story: “To justify the ways of God to men”
- Into the story: We’re in hell, post Satan’s rebellion
- Hell is like a prison. Typical modern view of hell; scorching inferno suffering, etc
- Satan and his followers have their rude awakening and Satan addresses Beelzebub
- Satan remarks on how their forms have changed and twisted
- Satan admits defeat and acknowledges that worse is yet to come, yet will not repent
- Satan vows vengeance and swears that he will never submit to God (Pride)
- Since heaven cannot be destroyed by ordinary means, Satan plans to wage eternal war through guile
- Beelzebub asks what they can do now that they know God’s supreme power, why should they suffer in hell forever
- Satan replies that they will do their best to corrupt all of God’s works, basically do anything to mess up God’s plans
- Satan goes on to suggest that God has forgotten about them for the moment, that the battle has ceased
- Satan plans to go into to the plains and gather their forces, regain their strength, and make further plans against God
A huge simile follows describing the vast bulk (size) of Satan
Thanks to Robyn for these great class notes!
Literature 12 Notes.
Monday February 13, 2006.
*Epic- A very long story. There is an Epic hero. There’s the exile, journey, then the return. Good vs. evil. It starts usually in what’s known as the medias res (in the middle of things). Another thing an epic has is that there is always some sort of invocation (calling on or request) to a muse – a muse is something that inspires people or is a source of inspiration; it could be a person or a spirit.
*Paradise Lost. John Milton. -
This epic mainly starts with Satan waking up in Hell; by reading this you miss the whole battle in Heaven.
Lines 1-5. Talking about the fall, tree of knowledge. Good and evil.
Line 6- invoking the muse
Line 13- invocation again
Line 19- Refers to the Holy Spirit
Line 25-26.His purpose of telling this story is to justify the ways of God to men. He wants to make it clear, give a reason.
Line 26- Milton is asking for help from the Holy Spirit.
Lines 26-74. Satan is thrown out of heaven, because he rebels against God by saying he is better than God. Satan overreached his natural limitations. He tried to become something he wasn’t. Milton says in line 43 that Satan started a war in heaven and the result of that was that God threw him into hell. Part of his punishment is that Satan and his minions is that they start to change. At the beginning Satan had the same amount of knowledge as the angels, but then he becomes very corrupt.
Line 81- Beelzebub- Satan
Here’s hoping this works! You should see a link so you can download the timeline up to the Enlightenment….give it a try and let me know (ie drop a comment here) if it works!
timeline
Here’s hoping this works! You should see a link so you can download the timeline up to the Enlightenment….give it a try and let me know (ie drop a comment here) if it works!
Hi everyone,
Here are my rough reading notes for these poems. I have also included vocabulary stuff.
Donne – A Valediction, Forbidding Mourning
First off, the title really strikes me here. I have to admit, I had to look up valediction in the dictionary.
“Valediction: saying farewell; a taking leave, an instance of this, a speech made at this time” (Webster’s New English Dictionary and Thesaurus, 623)
Hmmm… the multifaceted meanings of this word suggest a couple of different things…ok, so he is saying farewell. Consider the following footnote from my massive University text:
Izaak Walton speculated that this poem was addressed to Donne’s wife on the occasion of his trip to the Continent [Europe -- remember, the UK is an Island] in 1611, but there is no proof of that. Donne was, however, apprehensive about that trip; Walton also heard that, while abroad, Donne had a startling vision of his wife holding a dead baby at about that time she gave birth to a stillborn child (Adams, Greenblatt, et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol 1 of 2. 1248 )
Yikes…heavy stuff!
So, Donne’s title could be referring to his wife in an attempt to help her work through her grief, but the title suggests that mourning be forbidden…hmmm….
The first stanza seems to examine how some people speculate when death will occur. It is confusing, but seems to suggest that ‘virtuous men’ die in a composed or ‘mild’ way (ln 1), telling their souls it is time to give up their body (2). This occurs while their friends sit around debating whether or not they are dead (3-4).
Second stanza – here comes the forbidding part… he calls for no noise (5), no big show of tears (6)
Then we jump into this discussion of earthquakes…and how it scares people (9) and they discuss the meaning behind them…ie was there some kind of judgment there from above, or is it a dark omen (10)
Donne seems to state ‘we’ (here I can’t help but jump to think it is him and his wife he is talking of….see where footnotes get you?!) have a love that is so pure (”so much refined” {17}) that it is foreign (18)
Ahhh…here comes the great part, in my opinion, and the part that may suggest or allude to the idea of Donne writing this to his wife prior to leaving on his journey. Line 22- 24 suggest that although they are parting ways, their love will be stretched out like gold–still in tact, still as beautiful and ‘refined’ as ever. I hate to say this because it sounds a bit corny, but it is like Donne is saying ‘our love will be a bridge that keeps us connected’ hmmm…bad metaphor. I apologize, but I think you get what I am meaning. Remember, they didn’t have e-mail or cell phones. This journey would be a long and arduous one (yikes, big word…better look it up to make sure it means what I think it means….yes! Thank you, Webster). Translation = they would be apart for a long time. I am sure any of you would love to hear someone you love say such a thing. Believe me when I say that when someone is saying it to you, someone you love, it isn’t corny.
Ok, so the reference to a compass (a great simile, no?) is not to a magnetic one, but to a compass you would find in your math set…you know, the one that people use to poke their classmates with during class (ok, so maybe you could use it for better things. My friends used to spread out the legs and put a rubber band between it…makes for a great improvised slingshot!). So, if people in love are two separate people, like Donne and his wife (25), they are still joined by their souls (27-28), or Donne’s wife is the one that keeps them steady by staying at home “Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show / To move” (27-28). This is also an example of a conceit , where someone makes reference between two unrelated things (ie love and the compass). See pg. 421 of your text for this.
This is cool…continuing the conceit about the compass, Donne suggests the one who stays fixed will somehow extend him or herself out after the one who is away “Yet when the other far doth roam, / It leans and hearkens after it” (30-31). He says that the person’s constancy is the anchor for himself, that brings him home: “Thy firmness makes my circle just / And makes me end where I begun” (35-36). What a beautiful ending!
I must say, when I first read this poem (yes, it is a first read for me), I ended wondering why they chose to put it in this course. I didn’t really understand it, but after reading it a second time and spending some time thinking on it, it is a great poem!
“Death Be Not Proud (Holy sonnet #10)” – uses apostrophe- addressing an inanimate object (ie he addresses his poem to death), and personification – giving living qualities to non-living things (ie death being proud) (line1)
also is a variation on iambic pentameter (ten syllables per line) and rhyme scheme abba , abba, cddc, ee (3 quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet)
A great poem…
ln1-2 – death don’t be so proud, you aren’t so great
3-4 ref. to salvation? Those death “thinks thou dost overthrow/ Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me” (again, apostrophe here)
Donne acknowledges that death takes even ‘our best men’ (7)
Donne sees death as being subservient to ‘fate, chance,’ the act of rulers, and desperation (i.e. murder, suicide) (9), sickness, and war (10) instead of having the ability to act of its own accord.
He also makes reference to the use of opium and magic as either a means to achieve a more powerful death-like state, or to kill (i.e. overdose and curses?) (11)
the end couplet is a Christian declaration (or can be seen as such) — as we will awake to eternity (13) and Death will be conquered ref to I Cor. 15:26 — amazing jubilant ending! Death, however, has already been conquered. This is an example of paradox –> where one thing seems to contradict another ie death shall die… (see 421 of your text)
Herrick, “To the Virgins…” a short one – rhyming couplets…
ln1 jumps out at me— it is a line quoted in a song by Sixpence None the Richer called ‘Meaningless,’ that I used to listen to. The song basically talks about how life is meaningless, like the book of Ecclesiastes does.
“So gather ye rosebuds while ye may
tomorrow you could lie in a silent grave
pawing the dust and awaiting the end of time
meaningless, it’s all meaningless
all my life and labour is foolish
and now I don’t have a reason to live anymore” – Matt Slocum (Sixpence None the Richer)
I think the song echoes Ecclesiastes and also echoes the meaning of Herrick’s poem, that being our earthly life can be spent on trivial things and have it go by without us doing anything of value. Compare this to Herrick’s assertion that, “this same flower that smiles to day / To morrow will be dying” (Herrick, ln 3-4).
Lines 5-8 reflect on how time is ticking. Herrick relates the quick passing of time to the path of the sun, stating that as it nears the peak of it’s path it is that much closer to setting…this can be likened to life; as we near the peak of our lives, where we feel like we have hit our stride, we are really about half done and that much closer to death.
Herrick definitely has a view that the ‘twilight years’ are not as pleasant as youth (9-12). He also seems to recommend using your time wisely: “Then be not coy, but use your time” (12), although he does not say to use it well, and recommends ‘the Virgins’ get married (13) {apparently he thinks a single and chaste life is a waste….strange}, stating that once they lose the beauty of youth, it will be that much harder to catch a mate (15).
Ok, call me crazy, but I have to make another Biblical connection here. The title begs the comparison to Christ’s parable of the Virgins heading to the wedding feast, which is backed up by the content of the poem. If you recall, the virgins spend most of their time unwisely, and end up being late for the wedding feast. Herrick’s reference to ‘gathering rosebuds’ (1) is one of wasting time.
Hi Everyone,
A strange class today, what with the ‘waiting for the lockdown’ and all…
Thank you for working through this and for letting us burn through a few poems. I will post my reading notes to them after this.
Assigned for Monday (no lit. class on Friday):
Read: Milton’s Sonnet XIX (”On His Blindness”) and blog an answer to either question 2 or 3 –>pg. 467.
Read: Pepys ‘The Fire of London’ –> pg. 498+
Your Poster Assignment has been extended and will now be due Monday, Feb. 20th .
Next week, we will read through Milton’s “Paradise Lost.” If you want to get a jump on this, I suggest you read the intro. to this work on pg. 462-3.
I will also give you time in Monday and Wednesday’s class to work on your posters (about half the class).
Have a great rest of your week!
Here’s my rough notes on these:
Donne – A Valediction, Forbidding Mourning
First off, the title really strikes me here. I have to admit, I had to look up valediction in the dictionary.
“Valediction: saying farewell; a taking leave, an instance of this, a speech made at this time” (Webster’s New English Dictionary and Thesaurus, 623)
Hmmm… the multifaceted meanings of this word suggest a couple of different things…ok, so he is saying farewell. Consider the following footnote from my massive University text:
Izaak Walton speculated that this poem was addressed to Donne’s wife on the occasion of his trip to the Continent [Europe -- remember, the UK is an Island] in 1611, but there is no proof of that. Donne was, however, apprehensive about that trip; Walton also heard that, while abroad, Donne had a startling vision of his wife holding a dead baby at about that time she gave birth to a stillborn child (Adams, Greenblatt, et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol 1 of 2. 1248 )
Yikes…heavy stuff!
So, Donne’s title could be referring to his wife in an attempt to help her work through her grief, but the title suggests that mourning be forbidden…hmmm….
The first stanza seems to examine how some people speculate when death will occur. It is confusing, but seems to suggest that ‘virtuous men’ die in a composed or ‘mild’ way (ln 1), telling their souls it is time to give up their body (2). This occurs while their friends sit around debating whether or not they are dead (3-4).
Second stanza – here comes the forbidding part… he calls for no noise (5), no big show of tears (6)
Then we jump into this discussion of earthquakes…and how it scares people (9) and they discuss the meaning behind them…ie was there some kind of judgment there from above, or is it a dark omen (10)
Donne seems to state ‘we’ (here I can’t help but jump to think it is him and his wife he is talking of….see where footnotes get you?!) have a love that is so pure (”so much refined” {17}) that it is foreign (18)
Ahhh…here comes the great part, in my opinion, and the part that may suggest or allude to the idea of Donne writing this to his wife prior to leaving on his journey. Line 22- 24 suggest that although they are parting ways, their love will be stretched out like gold–still in tact, still as beautiful and ‘refined’ as ever. I hate to say this because it sounds a bit corny, but it is like Donne is saying ‘our love will be a bridge that keeps us connected’ hmmm…bad metaphor. I apologize, but I think you get what I am meaning. Remember, they didn’t have e-mail or cell phones. This journey would be a long and arduous one (yikes, big word…better look it up to make sure it means what I think it means….yes! Thank you, Webster). Translation = they would be apart for a long time. I am sure any of you would love to hear someone you love say such a thing. Believe me when I say that when someone is saying it to you, someone you love, it isn’t corny.
Ok, so the reference to a compass (a great simile, no?) is not to a magnetic one, but to a compass you would find in your math set…you know, the one that people use to poke their classmates with during class (ok, so maybe you could use it for better things. My friends used to spread out the legs and put a rubber band between it…makes for a great improvised slingshot!). So, if people in love are two separate people, like Donne and his wife (25), they are still joined by their souls (27-28), or Donne’s wife is the one that keeps them steady by staying at home “Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show / To move” (27-28).
This is cool…continuing the simile about the compass, Donne suggests the one who stays fixed will somehow extend him or herself out after the one who is away “Yet when the other far doth roam, / It leans and hearkens after it” (30-31). He says that the person’s constancy is the anchor for himself, that brings him home: “Thy firmness makes my circle just / And makes me end where I begun” (35-36). What a beautiful ending!
I must say, when I first read this poem (yes, it is a first read for me), I ended wondering why they chose to put it in this course. I didn’t really understand it, but after reading it a second time and spending some time thinking on it, it is a great poem!
“Death Be Not Proud (Holy sonnet #10)” – uses apostrophe! and personification! (line1) also is a variation on iambic pentameter (ten syllables per line) and rhyme scheme abba , abba, cddc, ee (3 quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet)
A great poem…
ln1-2 – death don’t be so proud, you aren’t so great
3-4 ref. to salvation? Those death “thinks thou dost overthrow/ Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me” (again, apostrophe here)
Donne acknowledges that death takes even ‘our best men’ (7)
Donne sees death as being subservient to ‘fate, chance,’ the act of rulers, and desperation (i.e. murder, suicide) (9), sickness, and war (10) instead of having the ability to act of its own accord.
He also makes reference to the use of opium and magic as either a means to achieve a more powerful death-like state, or to kill (i.e. overdose and curses?) (11)
the end couplet is a Christian declaration (or can be seen as such) — as we will awake to eternity (13) and Death will be conquered ref to I Cor. 15:26 — amazing jubilant ending! Death, however, has already been conquered.
Herrick, “To the Virgins…” a short one – rhyming couplets…
ln1 jumps out at me— it is a line quoted in a song by Sixpence None the Richer called ‘Meaningless,’ that I used to listen to. The song basically talks about how life is meaningless, like the book of Ecclesiastes does.
“So gather ye rosebuds while ye may
tomorrow you could lie in a silent grave
pawing the dust and awaiting the end of time
meaningless, it’s all meaningless
all my life and labour is foolish
and now I don’t have a reason to live anymore” – Matt Slocum (Sixpence None the Richer)
I think the song echoes Ecclesiastes and also echoes the meaning of Herrick’s poem, that being our earthly life can be spent on trivial things and have it go by without us doing anything of value. Compare this to Herrick’s assertion that, “this same flower that smiles to day / To morrow will be dying” (Herrick, ln 3-4).
Lines 5-8 reflect on how time is ticking. Herrick relates the quick passing of time to the path of the sun, stating that as it nears the peak of it’s path it is that much closer to setting…this can be likened to life; as we near the peak of our lives, where we feel like we have hit our stride, we are really about half done and that much closer to death.
Herrick definitely has a view that the ‘twilight years’ are not as pleasant as youth (9-12). He also seems to recommend using your time wisely: “Then be not coy, but use your time” (12), although he does not say to use it well, and recommends ‘the Virgins’ get married (13) {apparently he thinks a single and chaste life is a waste….strange}, stating that once they lose the beauty of youth, it will be that much harder to catch a mate (15).
Ok, call me crazy, but I have to make another Biblical connection here. The title begs the comparison to Christ’s parable of the Virgins heading to the wedding feast, which is backed up by the content of the poem. If you recall, the virgins spend most of their time unwisely, and end up being late for the wedding feast. Herrick’s reference to ‘gathering rosebuds’ (1) is one of wasting time.
I suggest you read them in the following order:
Herrick – “To the Virgins”
Donne – “A Valediction, Forbidding Mourning”, a pretty cool one if you read it real close
end with: “Death Be Not Proud” it is a great one that will lift your spirits!
Come to class on Monday ready to talk about these.
