FAERIE QUEENE-BOOK-1
-Edmund Spenser
Context:
Edmund Spenser was born around 1552 in London, England. We know very little about his family, but he received a quality education and graduated with a Masters from Cambridge in 1576. He began writing poetry for publication at this time and was employed as a secretary, first to the Bishop of Kent and then to nobles in Queen Elizabeth's court. His first major work, The Shepheardes Calender, was published in 1579 and met with critical success; within a year he was at work on his greatest and longest work, The Faerie Queene. This poem occupied him for most of his life, though he published other poems in the interim.
The first three books of The Faerie Queenwere published in 1590 and then republished with Books IV through VI in 1596. By this time, Spenser was already in his second marriage, which took place in Ireland, where he often traveled. Still at work on his voluminous poem, Spenser died on January 13, 1599, at Westminster.
Spenser only completed half of The Faerie Queene he planned. In a letter to Sir John Walter Raleigh, he explained the purpose and structure of the poem. It is an allegory, a story whose characters and events nearly all have a specific symbolic meaning. The poem's setting is a mythical "Faerie land," ruled by the Faerie Queene. Spenser sets forth in the letter that this "Queene" represents his own monarch, Queen Elizabeth.
Spenser intended to write 12 books of the Faerie Queene, all in the classical epic style; Spenser notes that his structure follows those of Homer and Virgil. Each Book concerns the story of a knight, representing a particular Christian virtue, as he or she would convey at the court of the Faerie Queene. Because only half of the poem was ever finished, the unifying scene at the Queene's court never occurs; instead, we are left with six books telling an incomplete story. Of these, the first and the third books are most often read and critically acclaimed.
Though it takes place in a mythical land, The Faerie Queen was intended to relate to Spenser's England, most importantly in the area of religion. Spenser lived in post-Reformation England, which had recently replaced Roman Catholicism with Protestantism (specifically, Anglicanism) as the national religion. There were still many Catholics living in England, and, thus, religious protest was a part of Spenser's life. A devout Protestant and a devotee of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth, Spenser was particularly offended by the anti-Elizabethan propaganda that some Catholics circulated. Like most Protestants near the time of the Reformation, Spenser saw a Catholic Church full of corruption, and he determined that it was not only the wrong religion but the anti-religion. This sentiment is an important backdrop for the battles ofThe Faerie Queene, which often represent the "battles" between London and Rome.
Characters
Arthur - The central hero of the poem, although he does not play the most significant role in its action. Arthur is in search of the Faerie Queene, whom he saw in a vision. The "real" Arthur was a king of the Britons in the 5th or 6th century A.D., but the little historical information we have about him is overwhelmed by his legend.
Faerie Queene (also known as Gloriana) - Though she never appears in the poem, the Faerie Queene is the focus of the poem; her castle is the ultimate goal or destination of many of the poem’s characters. She represents Queen Elizabeth, among others, as discussed in the Commentary.
Redcrosse - The Redcrosse Knight is the hero of Book I; he stands for the virtue of Holiness. His real name is discovered to be George, and he ends up becoming St. George, the patron saint of England. On another level, though, he is the individual Christian fighting against evil--or the Protestant fighting the Catholic Church.
Una - Redcrosse's future wife, and the other major protagonist in Book I. She is meek, humble, and beautiful, but strong when it is necessary; she represents Truth, which Redcrosse must find in order to be a true Christian.
Duessa - The opposite of Una, she represents falsehood and nearly succeeds in getting Redcrosse to leave Una for good. She appears beautiful, but it is only skin-deep.
Archimago - Next to Duessa, a major antagonist in Book I. Archimago is a sorcerer capable of changing his own appearance or that of others; in the end, his magic is proven weak and ineffective.
Florimell - Another significant female character in Book III, Florimell represents Beauty. She is also chaste but constantly hounded by men who go mad with lust for her. She does love one knight, who seems to be the only character that does not love her.
Satyrane - Satyrane is the son of a human and a satyr (a half-human, half-goat creature). He is "nature's knight," the best a man can be through his own natural abilities without the enlightenment of Christianity and God's grace. He is significant in both Book I and Book III, generally as an aide to the protagonists.
Doctor Faustus
- Christopher Marlowe
Doctor Faustus (Marlowe) Summary
Doctor Faustus, a talented German scholar at Wittenburg, rails against the limits of human knowledge. He has learned everything he can learn, or so he thinks, from the conventional academic disciplines. All of these things have left him unsatisfied, so now he turns to magic. A Good Angle and an Evil Angel arrive, representing Faustus' choice between Christian conscience and the path to damnation. The former advises him to leave off this pursuit of magic, and the latter tempts him. From two fellow scholars,Valdes and Cornelius, Faustus learns the fundamentals of the black arts. He thrills at the power he will have, and the great feats he'll perform. He summons the devilMephostophilis. They flesh out the terms of their agreement, with Mephostophilis representing Lucifer. Faustus will sell his soul, in exchange for twenty-four years of power, with Mephostophilis as servant to his every whim.
In a comic relief scene, we learn that Faustus' servant Wagner has gleaned some magic learning. He uses it to convince Robin the Clown to be his servant.
Before the time comes to sign the contract, Faustus has misgivings, but he puts them aside. Mephostophilis returns, and Faustus signs away his soul, writing with his own blood. The words "Homo fuge" ("Fly, man) appear on his arm, and Faustus is seized by fear. Mephostophilis distracts him with a dance of devils. Faustus requests a wife, a demand Mephostophilis denies, but he does give Faustus books full of knowledge.
Some time has passed. Faustus curses Mephostophilis for depriving him of heaven, although he has seen many wonders. He manages to torment Mephostophilis, he can't stomach mention of God, and the devil flees. The Good Angel and Evil Angel arrive again. The Good Angel tells him to repent, and the Evil Angel tells him to stick to his wicked ways. Lucifer, Belzebub, and Mephostophilis return, to intimidate Faustus. He is cowed by them, and agrees to speak and think no more of God. They delight him with a pageant of the Seven Deadly Sins, and then Lucifer promises to show Faustus hell. Meanwhile, Robin the Clown has gotten one of Faustus' magic books.
Faustus has explored the heavens and the earth from a chariot drawn by dragons, and is now flying to Rome, where the feast honoring St. Peter is about to be celebrated. Mephostophilis and Faustus wait for the Pope, depicted as an arrogant, decidedly unholy man. They play a series of tricks, by using magic to disguise themselves and make themselves invisible, before leaving.
The Chorus returns to tell us that Faustus returns home, where his vast knowledge of astronomy and his abilities earn him wide renown. Meanwhile, Robin the Clown has also learned magic, and uses it to impress his friend Rafe and summon Mephostophilis, who doesn't seem too happy to be called.
At the court of Charles V, Faustus performs illusions that delight the Emperor. He also humiliates a knight named Benvolio. When Benvolio and his friends try to avenge the humiliation, Faustus has his devils hurt them and cruelly transform them, so that horns grow on their heads.
Faustus swindles a Horse-courser, and when the Horse-courser returns, Faustus plays a frightening trick on him. Faustus then goes off to serve the Duke of Vanholt. Robin the Clown, his friend Dick, the Horse-courser, and a Carter all meet. They all have been swindled or hurt by Faustus' magic. They go off to the court of the Duke to settle scores with Faustus.
Faustus entertains the Duke and Duchess with petty illusions, before Robin the Clown and his band of ruffians arrives. Faustus toys with them, besting them with magic, to the delight of the Duke and Duchess.
Faustus' twenty-four years are running out. Wagner tells the audience that he thinks Faustus prepares for death. He has made his will, leaving all to Wagner. But even as death approaches, Faustus spends his days feasting and drinking with the other students. For the delight of his fellow scholars, Faustus summons a spirit to take the shape of Helen of Troy. Later, an Old Man enters, warning Faustus to repent. Faustus opts for pleasure instead, and asks Mephostophilis to bring Helen of Troy to him, to be his love and comfort during these last days. Mephostophilis readily agrees.
Later, Faustus tells his scholar friends that he is damned, and that his power came at the price of his soul. Concerned, the Scholars exit, leaving Faustus to meet his fate.
As the hour approaches, Mephostophilis taunts Faustus. Faustus blames Mephostophilis for his damnation, and the devil proudly takes credit for it. The Good and Evil Angel arrive, and the Good Angel abandons Faustus. The gates of Hell open. The Evil Angel taunts Faustus, naming the horrible tortures seen there.
The Clock strikes eleven. Faustus gives a final, frenzied monologue, regretting his choices. At midnight the devils enter. As Faustus begs God and the devil for mercy, the devils drag him away. Later, the Scholar friends find Faustus' body, torn to pieces.
Epilogue. The Chorus emphasizes that Faustus is gone, his once-great potential wasted. The Chorus warns the audience to remember his fall, and the lessons it offers.
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The Spanish Tragedy
- Thomas Kyd
Summary
In the introduction to the play, the Ghost of the Spanish courtier Don Andrea explains its history. After Andrea was slain in a battle against Portugal, his Ghost made its way through the underworld, only to find itself sent back to earth. The character Revenge, his guide, tells him that he has been sent back to witness his former lover Bellimperia killBalthazar, the "author of [his] death." The Ghost and Revenge sit down to watch the spectacle unfold.
In the opening act, the Spanish forces return from their victory over Portugal. The General gives an account of the battle to the King, explaining that they have reached a state of "peace conditional" and that they have captured the Portuguese prince Balthazar. The Duke of Castile's son Lorenzo and the Marshall Hieronimo's son Horatio, however, dispute their respective roles in capturing the Portuguese prince. The King rewards them both. Meanwhile, in Portugal, the Viceroy laments his son's death. The loyalAlexandro tells him that his son is in fact still alive. Another nobleman, Villuppo, however, declares that he saw Alexandro shoot Balthazar in the back. Alexandro is immediately imprisoned.
In Spain, Horatio recounts the battle to Bellimperia, Lorenzo's sister and Andrea's former lover. The two begin to fall in love. In the same scene, Balthazar also expresses his love for Bellimperia. The Portuguese ambassador arrives, and Hieronimo stages a masque for him and the King. The act closes with Revenge foreboding a general demise.
In the second act, the King of Spain attempts to arrange a marriage between Bellimperia and Balthazar. Bellimperia, however, is in love with Horatio. As the two make their way to a secluded bower, the servant Pedringano betrays them to Lorenzo and Balthazar. Horatio is hung from an arbor and stabbed to death. Hieronimo enters to find his son's body and vows revenge. The Ghost expresses dismay at the turn of events, but Revenge advises him to be patient.
The Viceroy discovers the truth about his son in the third act. He immediately sets Alexandro free and condemns Villuppo to a painful death. In Spain, Bellimperia is held captive, but manages to send Hieronimo a letter in which she reveals the identity of Horatio's killers. Lorenzo, on the other hand, attempts to purge all evidence of the murder. He makes Pedringano shoot Serberine (Balthazar's servant who was present at the murder scene), and then plots successfully to have Pedringano himself hanged. Pedringano's last (undelivered) letter to Lorenzo, however, falls into Hieronimo's hands. Hieronimo thus confirms Bellimperia's accusations and resolves to demand justice before the King. At home, his wife Isabelle "runs lunatic."
Like his wife, Hieronimo shows distinct signs of madness. He contemplates suicide, but again vows to first exact revenge for Horatio's death. The Portuguese ambassador, meanwhile, arrives with good news: the Viceroy has consented to the marriage between Balthazar and Bellimperia (whom Lorenzo has just released from captivity). Hieronimo calls for justice before the King, but undermines himself by falling into a frenzy. Later, several citizens come to petition Hieronimo, but once again Hieronimo is carried away in an ecstatic fit.
The Viceroy himself arrives at the end of the act. While the nuptial celebrations are prepared, the Duke confronts Lorenzo and Hieronimo about the negative rumors surrounding the two. Hieronimo denies any wrongdoing on Lorenzo's part, and Bellimperia seems to have reconciled with Balthazar. The Ghost is alarmed at such an unexpected turn of events, but Revenge once again reassures him that all is well (or, for the characters in the tragedy, quite amiss).
In the final act, Bellimperia and Hieronimo work together to exact their revenge on Lorenzo and Balthazar. Hieronimo wrote a tragedy in his youth, which the two young men now act out for the royal audience. Back in the arbor where Horatio was murdered,Isabella commits suicide. As for Hieronimo's play, the plot is executed smoothly, and Lorenzo and Balthazar are killed on stage. Bellimperia, too, commits suicide. The King, the Viceroy, and the Duke are all horrified when they discover that the play seemed to merely be a simulation. They demand to know Hieronimo's motives, but the latter bites off his tongue, stabs the Duke, and finally commits suicide.
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The Alchemist
-Ben Jonson
The Alchemist (Jonson) Summary
Lovewit has left for his hop-yards in London, and he has left Jeremy, his butler, in charge of his house in Blackfriars. Jeremy, whose name in the play is Face, lives in the house with Subtle, a supposed alchemist, and Dol Common, a prostitute. The three run a major con operation.
The play opens with an argument that continues throughout the play between Subtle and Face. It concerns which of them is the most essential to the business of the con, each claiming his own supremacy. Dol quells this argument and forces the conmen to shake hands. The bell rings, and Dapper, a legal clerk, enters, the first gull of the day. Face takes on the role of “Captain Face”, and Subtle plays the “Doctor.”
Dapper wants a spirit that will allow him to win at gambling. Subtle promises one and then tells him he is related to the Queen of the Fairies. Dispatched to get a clean shirt and wash himself, Dapper leaves, immediately replaced by Drugger, a young tobacconist who wants to know how he should arrange his shop. Subtle tells him, and Face gets him to return later with tobacco and a damask. Their argument looks set to resume when Dol returns to warn them that Sir Epicure Mammon is approaching.
Sir Epicure Mammon and his cynical sidekick, Sir Pertinax Surly, are next through the door. Mammon is terrifically excited because Subtle has promised to make him the Philosopher’s Stone, about which Mammon is already fantasizing. Face changes character into “Lungs” or “Ulen Spiegel,” the Doctor’s laboratory assistant, and the two conmen impress Mammon and irritate Surly with a whirl of scientific language. Face arranges for “Captain Face” to meet Surly in half an hour at the Temple Church, and a sudden entrance from Dol provokes Mammon, instantly besotted, into begging Face for a meeting with her.
Ananias, an Anabaptist, enters and is greeted with fury by Subtle. Ananias then returns with his pastor, Tribulation. The Anabaptists want the Philosopher’s Stone in order to make money in order to win more people to their religion. Subtle, adopting a slightly different persona, plays along. Kastrill is the next new gull, brought by Drugger, who has come to learn how to quarrel—and to case the joint to see if it is fit for his rich, widowed sister, Dame Pliant. Face immediately impresses young Kastrill, and he exits with Drugger to fetch his sister.
Dapper, in the meantime, is treated to a fairy rite in which Subtle and Face (accompanied by Dol on cithern) steal most of his possessions. When Mammon arrives at the door, they gag him and bundle him into the privy. Mammon and Dol (pretending to be a “great lady”) have a conversation which ends with them being bundled together into the garden or upstairs—Face is pretending that Subtle cannot know about Mammon’s attraction to Dol.
The widow is brought into the play, as is a Spanish Don who Face met when Surly did not turn up. This Spaniard is in fact Surly in disguise, and the two conmen flicker between arguing about who will marry the widow and mocking the Spaniard by speaking loudly in English of how they will “cozen” or deceive him. Because Dol is occupied with Mammon, the conmen agree to have the Spaniard marry the widow, and the widow is carried out by Surly.
In the meantime, Dol has gone into a fit of talking, being caught with a panicked Mammon by a furious “Father” Subtle. Because there has been lust in the house, a huge explosion happens offstage, which Face comes in to report has destroyed the furnace and all the alchemical apparatus. Mammon is quickly packed out the door, completely destroyed by the loss his entire investment.
Things start to spiral out of control, and the gulls turn up without warning. At one point, nearly all the gulls, including an unmasked Surly, are in the room, and Face only just manages to improvise his way out of it. Dol then reports that Lovewit has arrived, and suddenly Face has to make a final change into “Jeremy the Butler.”
Lovewit is mobbed by the neighbors and the gulls at the door, and Face admits to Lovewit, when forced to do so by Dapper’s voice emerging from the privy, that all is not as it seems—and has him marry the widow. After Dapper’s quick dispatch, Face undercuts Dol and Subtle and, as the gulls return with officers and a search warrant, Dol and Subtle are forced to escape, penniless, over the back wall. The gulls storm the house, find nothing themselves, and are forced to leave empty-handed. Lovewit leaves with Kastrill and his new wife, Dame Pliant. Face is left alone on stage with a financial reward, delivering the epilogue.
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“The Canonization”
-John Donne
Summary:
The speaker asks his addressee to be quiet, and let him love. If the addressee cannot hold his tongue, the speaker tells him to criticize him for other shortcomings (other than his tendency to love): his palsy, his gout, his “five grey hairs,” or his ruined fortune. He admonishes the addressee to look to his own mind and his own wealth and to think of his position and copy the other nobles (“Observe his Honour, or his Grace, / Or the King’s real, or his stamped face / Contemplate.”) .The speaker does not care what the addressee says or does, as long as he lets him love.
The speaker asks rhetorically, “Who’s injured by my love?” He says that his sighs have not drowned ships, his tears have not flooded land, his colds have not chilled spring, and the heat of his veins has not added to the list of those killed by the plague. Soldiers still find wars and lawyers still find litigious men, regardless of the emotions of the speaker and his lover.
The speaker tells his addressee to “Call us what you will,” for it is love that makes them so. He says that the addressee can “Call her one, me another fly,” and that they are also like candles (“tapers”), which burn by feeding upon their own selves (“and at our own cost die”). In each other, the lovers find the eagle and the dove, and together (“we two being one”) they illuminate the riddle of the phoenix, for they “die and rise the same,” just as the phoenix does—though unlike the phoenix, it is love that slays and resurrects them.
He says that they can die by love if they are not able to live by it, and if their legend is not fit “for tombs and hearse,” it will be fit for poetry, and “We’ll build in sonnets pretty rooms.” A well-wrought urn does as much justice to a dead man’s ashes as does a gigantic tomb; and by the same token, the poems about the speaker and his lover will cause them to be “canonized,” admitted to the sainthood of love. All those who hear their story will invoke the lovers, saying that countries, towns, and courts “beg from above / A pattern of your love!”
Form
The five stanzas of “The Canonization” are metered in iambic lines ranging from trimeter to pentameter; in each of the nine-line stanzas, the first, third, fourth, and seventh lines are in pentameter, the second, fifth, sixth, and eighth in tetrameter, and the ninth in trimeter. (The stress pattern in each stanza is545544543.) The rhyme scheme in each stanza is ABBACCCDD.
Commentary
This complicated poem, spoken ostensibly to someone who disapproves of the speaker’s love affair, is written in the voice of a world-wise, sardonic courtier who is nevertheless utterly caught up in his love. The poem simultaneously parodies old notions of love and coins elaborate new ones, eventually concluding that even if the love affair is impossible in the real world, it can become legendary through poetry, and the speaker and his lover will be like saints to later generations of lovers. (Hence the title: “The Canonization” refers to the process by which people are inducted into the canon of saints).
In the first stanza, the speaker obliquely details his relationship to the world of politics, wealth, and nobility; by assuming that these are the concerns of his addressee, he indicates his own background amid such concerns, and he also indicates the extent to which he has moved beyond that background. He hopes that the listener will leave him alone and pursue a career in the court, toadying to aristocrats, preoccupied with favor (the King’s real face) and money (the King’s stamped face, as on a coin). In the second stanza, he parodies contemporary Petrarchan notions of love and continues to mock his addressee, making the point that his sighs have not drowned ships and his tears have not caused floods. (Petrarchan love-poems were full of claims like “My tears are rain, and my sighs storms.”) He also mocks the operations of the everyday world, saying that his love will not keep soldiers from fighting wars or lawyers from finding court cases—as though war and legal wrangling were the sole concerns of world outside the confines of his love affair.
In the third stanza, the speaker begins spinning off metaphors that will help explain the intensity and uniqueness of his love. First, he says that he and his lover are like moths drawn to a candle (“her one, me another fly”), then that they are like the candle itself. They embody the elements of the eagle (strong and masculine) and the dove (peaceful and feminine) bound up in the image of the phoenix, dying and rising by love. In the fourth stanza, the speaker explores the possibility of canonization in verse, and in the final stanza, he explores his and his lover’s roles as the saints of love, to whom generations of future lovers will appeal for help. Throughout, the tone of the poem is balanced between a kind of arch, sophisticated sensibility (“half-acre tombs”) and passionate amorous abandon (“We die and rise the same, and prove / Mysterious by this love”).
“The Canonization” is one of Donne’s most famous and most written-about poems. Its criticism at the hands of Cleanth Brooks and others has made it a central topic in the argument between formalist critics and historicist critics; the former argue that the poem is what it seems to be, an anti-political love poem, while the latter argue, based on events in Donne’s life at the time of the poem’s composition, that it is actually a kind of coded, ironic rumination on the “ruined fortune” and dashed political hopes of the first stanza. The choice of which argument to follow is largely a matter of personal temperament. But unless one seeks a purely biographical understanding of Donne, it is probably best to understand the poem as the sort of droll, passionate speech-act it is, a highly sophisticated defense of love against the corrupting values of politics and privilege.
-John Donne
Donne’s idea of ecstasy is drawn from Plotinus. Plotinus (A.D. 204-270), an Egyptian by birth, lived and studied under Ammonius Sakkas in Alexandra at a time when it was the centre of the intellectual world, seething with speculation and schools, teachers and philosophies of all kinds, platonic and Oriental, Egyptian and Christian. He drew much of his thought from Plato and from Hermetic philosophy but much of his philosophical speculation was based upon his personal experience Porphyry, his biographer, who lived six years with him, recorded that during that period Plotinus attained four times to ecstatic union with “the one.” Plotinus had the intellect of a great metaphysician and the temperament of a great psychic; and, therefore, he could analyze the subtlest and the most complicated spiritual experience with the most precise dialectic. Donne, we may say, shares in common with Plotinus the metaphysical experience and the dialectical analysis. We may quote from his Enneads, which explain the source of ecstasy: “A soul that knows itself must know that the proper direction of energy is not outward in a straight line, but round a centre which is within it.”
Plotinus conceives of the whole universe as one vast Organism and of the Heart of God at the centre as the main source of all life – in which all finite things have their being, and to which they mush flow back. This Organism has a double circulatory movement – an eternal out-breathing and in-breathing, the way down and the way up; the first is the outgoing of the undivided “One” towards manifestation. The “Nous,” or Over-Mind of the universe. God as thought is an emanation from the undivided “One”. The “Mind” again throws out an image, the Soul of all things. This, like the “Nous” is immaterial, but it can act no matter. It has a higher and lower side. The lower side desires a body and so creates it, but it is not merged in the body. Note the stages in the process of evolution – first, the undivided “One”; then the “Nous,” or Over-Mind of the Universe; then the soul of all things, or the World Soul. From the latter proceed the individual souls of men. The soul of man is threefold—(1) the animal or sensual soul, closely bound to the body; (2) the logical reasoning human soul; (3) the intellectual soul, which is one with the Divine Mind. All these ideas are in the background of Donne’s mind in the poem.
Plotinus conceives of the whole universe as one vast Organism and of the Heart of God at the centre as the main source of all life – in which all finite things have their being, and to which they mush flow back. This Organism has a double circulatory movement – an eternal out-breathing and in-breathing, the way down and the way up; the first is the outgoing of the undivided “One” towards manifestation. The “Nous,” or Over-Mind of the universe. God as thought is an emanation from the undivided “One”. The “Mind” again throws out an image, the Soul of all things. This, like the “Nous” is immaterial, but it can act no matter. It has a higher and lower side. The lower side desires a body and so creates it, but it is not merged in the body. Note the stages in the process of evolution – first, the undivided “One”; then the “Nous,” or Over-Mind of the Universe; then the soul of all things, or the World Soul. From the latter proceed the individual souls of men. The soul of man is threefold—(1) the animal or sensual soul, closely bound to the body; (2) the logical reasoning human soul; (3) the intellectual soul, which is one with the Divine Mind. All these ideas are in the background of Donne’s mind in the poem.
Now how the stage of ecstasy is reached. First, the soul is to rise up to Nous. It seeks unity with the Divine Mind – a concentration of all the faculties – will, intellect, and feeling upon God. Then follows the stage of rapt contemplation. This is described by Plotinus as ecstasy – the ascension to the one above thought; it cannot be explained in words, for it is “a mode of vision which is ecstasy.” When the soul attains to this state, there is the total merging of it in the One, and, as Plotinus puts it, “and they are no more two but one; and the soul is no more conscious of the body or of whether she lives or is a human being or an essence; she knows only that she has what she desired, that she is where no deception can come, and that she would not exchange her bliss for the whole of Heaven itself. The canonization is a love poem. It reveals Donne’s Platonic love. It expresses Donne’s positive attitude towards love. It was written after the accession of King James I (1603). The theme is that the world has been lost for love. It explores the implication of this loss. Neither account is true; a reading of the poem will show that Donne takes both love and religion seriously; it will show, further, that the paradox is here his inevitable instrument. But to see this plainly will require a closer reading than most of us to poetry. The physical relationship is finally transformed into a spiritual experience. This is the mystery of love imagery.
Coleridge said of this poem, “one of my favorite poems. As late as ten years ago, I used to seek and find out grand lines and fine stanzas; but my delight has been far greater since it has consisted more in tracing the leading thought thro’out the whole. The former is too much like coveting your neighbor’s goods, in the latter you merge yourself in the author, and you become He.”
Coleridge said of this poem, “one of my favorite poems. As late as ten years ago, I used to seek and find out grand lines and fine stanzas; but my delight has been far greater since it has consisted more in tracing the leading thought thro’out the whole. The former is too much like coveting your neighbor’s goods, in the latter you merge yourself in the author, and you become He.”
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Paradise Lost
-John Milton
Paradise Lost Book 9 Summary
- Book 9 opens with Milton's final invocation; he says he must now change his "notes" (i.e., his poem) to "tragic."
- Milton says that his theme is more heroic than all the martial epics of Homer, Virgil, and Spenser that have preceded him. The themes of those poems are "Not that which justly gives heroic name/ To person or to poem" (9.40-41).
- The sun sets and night falls as Satan returns – "fearless" and "bent on man's destruction" – to the garden. He's been gone for about a week.
- There's a river (the Tigris) that flows underground and remerges as a fountain in Paradise; Satan uses this river to get back into the garden.
- He decides to become a serpent to execute his designs against Adam and Eve.
- Before that, though, he bursts out in complaint, saying the earth is really beautiful; "With what delight could I have walked thee round," he exclaims.
- It turns out, though, that Satan really can't enjoy it; the whole thing just makes him mad. He's not hoping to become happy because of what he's doing; he just wants to make others as miserable as he is.
- He searches throughout the night for the serpent. He finds him (the serpent), enters through his mouth, and waits until dawn.
- As the sun rises, Adam and Eve come forth. Eve suggests to Adam that they divide their labor; often, when working together, they don't get anything done.
- Adam responds by saying labor isn't such a big deal that they can't rest and take it easy. But, if
- Eve wants to get away for a while, that's OK with him because "Solitude sometimes is best society."
- Adam is uneasy though; he reminds Eve that they've been warned about Satan and that they're better off together.
- Eve isn't crazy about Adam's comment, so she says in return that she's upset that Adam has his doubts about her.
- Adam responds by saying that he doesn't doubt her ability to resist temptation; he just thinks it would be dishonorable for her to suffer temptation alone.
- Eve responds, saying that temptation in itself isn't a bad thing; it will only prove how strong she and Adam are, and how evil Satan is.
- Adam replies with some remarks about the importance of trial and concludes by telling Eve that he doesn't want to make her work with him against her will.
- Eve says she'll back by noon or so and that such a proud foe as Satan is wouldn't dare attempt to mess with the "weaker" sex because that would make his punishment all the more shameful.
- Satan is waiting in the bushes for Eve; he had been hoping to find her alone and lo and behold his wish has come true!
- Satan can't believe how gorgeous Eve is; seeing her is like being pent up in a disgusting city and then going out to the country for some fresh air. For a moment, Satan forgets his hate.
- Then he snaps out of it and tells himself not to forget about the hate and revenge that brought him here. He also makes some remark about how much easier this is going to be with just Eve.
- He moves towards Eve, except he moves in a sideways motion, almost as if he didn't want to interrupt her. Oh, and he's walking upright, not crawling on his belly.
- He approaches here, and makes some noise in an effort to get her attention; she doesn't notice because she's used to it, so he makes some bolder gestures. He even licks the ground she walks on!
- By the way, the first letter of each line from 510-514 spells "Satan." That's called an acrostic.
- Satan addresses Eve, telling her not to wonder. He tells her she's so beautiful that everybody should be able to gaze on her, not just Adam.
- Eve is surprised ("not unamazed"); she says she didn't think animals could talk and wants to know how it is that he can speak.
- Satan responds, again with flattery, by saying he used to be as dumb as the other animals. But then he saw a tree whose fruit looked soooooo good; he couldn't resist so he slithered up the trunk and took some.
- It was marvelous, he says, because then he could talk and think and reason.
- Eve is amazed. She asks the Satan (disguised as a serpent) which tree it was and to lead her to it, which he gladly does.
- He's clearly deceiving her; he's kind of like a mirage or fire at night that distracts wandering travelers and leads them astray.
- He leads Eve to the "Tree/ Of prohibition." Eve tells Satan that she's not allowed to eat from it and makes a cute pun as well: it is "Fruitless…though fruit be here to excess," she says. Hehe.
- Satan can't believe it and realizes he will have to more persuasive. He starts moving around like some ancient orator in Greece or Rome.
- He tells Eve that the fruit won't kill her; just look at him! He ate from it, and he's fine! Besides, why shouldn't she be able to eat the same stuff as the beasts (i.e., the serpent)?
- What is more, he says, God will admire her boldness in eating what will make her smarter, despite God's threats of death!
- God wouldn't hurt Eve, he continues, because that wouldn't be just. The only reason he's forbidden her to eat is because he wants to "keep ye low and ignorant."
- If she eats the fruit, she'll become like the gods and possess a much clearer vision of things, just like the serpent.
- The only death that will result is that she will put off her human nature and assume a godlike one, he claims. So eat the fruit, he says to her.
- Eve is tricked by Satan; his words have "too easy entrance won" into her heart. It's near lunchtime, and she's hungry; that fruit looks so good, and she can't stop staring at it.
- Eve addresses the fruit, saying it is quite powerful (it gave the serpent the ability to speak) and the fact that it is forbidden makes it even more desirable.
- Why should mankind be denied knowledge, she asks? It has done wonders for the serpent so why shouldn't she be allowed to have it too? Was death made only for mankind?
- She eats the fruit; or rather, she stuffs her face with it until she's full. Nature shudders as Eve eats death.
- She addresses the fruit then as the most "precious" of all trees. She vows to sing to it everyday, and eat from it everyday until she grows wise.
- But what about Adam? Should she tell him? If he doesn't eat, and she dies because she ate it, Adam will get a new Eve. She decides to tell him.
- Meanwhile, Adam has been weaving a little garland for Eve's hair. Anxious, he goes looking for her and eventually bumps into her near the Tree of Knowledge.
- Eve runs up to him with a bunch of fruit and tells Adam that the tree isn't like what they've been told. It has not caused death but has rather opened her eyes. She wants Adam to eat some of the fruit too.
- Adam is shocked; his blood turns icy cold. He drops the pretty garland he has made for her and then speaks to himself.
- He says, "How art thou lost, how on a sudden lost" (9.900). He can't believe it; he's doomed too, he says, because he can't stand to be without Eve, or to watch her suffer.
- He then tells Eve that she's done a bold thing; however, it's clear that the fruit will cause them to become like gods.
- God won't kill his first-made creatures, says Adam; besides, he would have to un-create the world too, which was made for and is dependent on Adam and Eve.
- Adam loves Eve too much, and he will go down with her.
- Eve says everything she's thought about Adam has been confirmed. She encourages him to eat with similar language that Satan used with her: "Adam, freely taste."
- With that, Eve offers Adam a healthy portion of the fruit; he eats it, and the earth groans again. Thunder is heard, and some rain drops fall.
- They both feel like gods, and experience lust for the first time ("in lust they burn"). Adam gives Eve a look, she returns it, and then Adam says "now let us play."
- They have sex for a while in some thicket, fall asleep, and then wake up "as from unrest." The fruit is bad, almost a drug, and they're now waking up with a hangover.
- They now realize they are naked, and Adam tells Eve that the serpent lied and that they have lost their innocence.
- He suggests that they find something to cover up their private parts; they choose some fig leaves. They then sit down and cry while various passions like anger and hate tear up their insides.
- Adam tells Eve that if she had only stayed home that morning this wouldn't have happened; Eve responds by saying it could just as easily have happened because the serpent was so persuasive.
- They spend the rest of the day accusing/blaming each other.
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The Rape of the Lock
-Alexander Pope
Analysis:
The Rape of the Lock is a humorous indictment of the vanities and idleness of 18th-century high society. Basing his poem on a real incident among families of his acquaintance, Pope intended his verses to cool hot tempers and to encourage his friends to laugh at their own folly.
The poem is perhaps the most outstanding example in the English language of the genre of mock-epic. The epic had long been considered one of the most serious of literary forms; it had been applied, in the classical period, to the lofty subject matter of love and war, and, more recently, by Milton, to the intricacies of the Christian faith. The strategy of Pope’s mock-epic is not to mock the form itself, but to mock his society in its very failure to rise to epic standards, exposing its pettiness by casting it against the grandeur of the traditional epic subjects and the bravery and fortitude of epic heroes: Pope’s mock-heroic treatment in The Rape of the Lock underscores the ridiculousness of a society in which values have lost all proportion, and the trivial is handled with the gravity and solemnity that ought to be accorded to truly important issues. The society on display in this poem is one that fails to distinguish between things that matter and things that do not. The poem mocks the men it portrays by showing them as unworthy of a form that suited a more heroic culture. Thus the mock-epic resembles the epic in that its central concerns are serious and often moral, but the fact that the approach must now be satirical rather than earnest is symptomatic of how far the culture has fallen.
Pope’s use of the mock-epic genre is intricate and exhaustive. The Rape of the Lock is a poem in which every element of the contemporary scene conjures up some image from epic tradition or the classical world view, and the pieces are wrought together with a cleverness and expertise that makes the poem surprising and delightful. Pope’s transformations are numerous, striking, and loaded with moral implications. The great battles of epic become bouts of gambling and flirtatious tiffs. The great, if capricious, Greek and Roman gods are converted into a relatively undifferentiated army of basically ineffectual sprites. Cosmetics, clothing, and jewelry substitute for armor and weapons, and the rituals of religious sacrifice are transplanted to the dressing room and the altar of love.
The verse form of The Rape of the Lock is the heroic couplet; Pope still reigns as the uncontested master of the form. The heroic couplet consists of rhymed pairs of iambic pentameter lines (lines of ten syllables each, alternating stressed and unstressed syllables). Pope’s couplets do not fall into strict iambs, however, flowering instead with a rich rhythmic variation that keeps the highly regular meter from becoming heavy or tedious. Pope distributes his sentences, with their resolutely parallel grammar, across the lines and half-lines of the poem in a way that enhances the judicious quality of his ideas. Moreover, the inherent balance of the couplet form is strikingly well suited to a subject matter that draws on comparisons and contrasts: the form invites configurations in which two ideas or circumstances are balanced, measured, or compared against one another. It is thus perfect for the evaluative, moralizing premise of the poem, particularly in the hands of this brilliant poet.
Summary:
Belinda arises to prepare for the day’s social activities after sleeping late. Her guardian sylph, Ariel, warned her in a dream that some disaster will befall her, and promises to protect her to the best of his abilities. Belinda takes little notice of this oracle, however. After an elaborate ritual of dressing and primping, she travels on the Thames River to Hampton Court Palace, an ancient royal residence outside of London, where a group of wealthy young socialites are gathering for a party. Among them is the Baron, who has already made up his mind to steal a lock of Belinda’s hair. He has risen early to perform and elaborate set of prayers and sacrifices to promote success in this enterprise. When the partygoers arrive at the palace, they enjoy a tense game of cards, which Pope describes in mock-heroic terms as a battle. This is followed by a round of coffee. Then the Baron takes up a pair of scissors and manages, on the third try, to cut off the coveted lock of Belinda’s hair. Belinda is furious. Umbriel, a mischievous gnome, journeys down to the Cave of Spleen to procure a sack of sighs and a flask of tears which he then bestows on the heroine to fan the flames of her ire. Clarissa, who had aided the Baron in his crime, now urges Belinda to give up her anger in favor of good humor and good sense, moral qualities which will outlast her vanities. But Clarissa’s moralizing falls on deaf ears, and Belinda initiates a scuffle between the ladies and the gentlemen, in which she attempts to recover the severed curl. The lock is lost in the confusion of this mock battle, however; the poet consoles the bereft Belinda with the suggestion that it has been taken up into the heavens and immortalized as a constellation.
Characters
Belinda - Belinda is based on the historical Arabella Fermor, a member of Pope’s circle of prominent Roman Catholics. Robert, Lord Petre (the Baron in the poem) had precipitated a rift between their two families by snipping off a lock of her hair.
The Baron - This is the pseudonym for the historical Robert, Lord Petre, the young gentleman in Pope’s social circle who offended Arabella Fermor and her family by cutting off a lock of her hair. In the poem’s version of events, Arabella is known as Belinda.
Caryl - The historical basis for the Caryl character is John Caryll, a friend of Pope and of the two families that had become estranged over the incident the poem relates. It was Caryll who suggested that Pope encourage a reconciliation by writing a humorous poem.
Goddess - The muse who, according to classical convention, inspires poets to write their verses
Shock - Belinda’s lapdog
Ariel - Belinda’s guardian sylph, who oversees an army of invisible protective deities
Umbriel - The chief gnome, who travels to the Cave of Spleen and returns with bundles of sighs and tears to aggravate Belinda’s vexation
Brillante - The sylph who is assigned to guard Belinda’s earrings
Momentilla - The sylph who is assigned to guard Belinda’s watch
Clarissa - A woman in attendance at the Hampton Court party. She lends the Baron the pair of scissors with which he cuts Belinda’s hair, and later delivers a moralizing lecture.
Thalestris - Belinda’s friend, named for the Queen of the Amazons and representing the historical Gertrude Morley, a friend of Pope’s and the wife of Sir George Browne (rendered as her “beau,” Sir Plume, in the poem). She eggs Belinda on in her anger and demands that the lock be returned.
Sir Plume - Thalestris’s “beau,” who makes an ineffectual challenge to the Baron. He represents the historical Sir George Browne, a member of Pope’s social circle.
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Samson Agonistes
- John Milton
Samson Agonistes is a blank verse play by John Milton. The work is heavily indebted to Greek tragedy, but with a Biblical hero. This mix of two different cultures presents Samson as a tragic hero, who rather than raging against the Olympian deities, supplicates himself to the the one, true Christian God, whom he calls upon to save him. Samson's blindness has led many to see him as a character with whom Milton identified with strongly (since he was blinded later in life).
Samson Agonistes plays out the final part of Samson's life, in which he is chained in Gaza. He was tricked by his lover Delilah, his hair was shorn, and he lost his God-given strength. He is a slave and he is torn with the guilt that he betrayed God by giving up the secret he was commanded to keep close (that the source of his strength was his hair).
The play is told by a minor character--much like Greek drama, with the climax often occurred off-stage. In the final moments of the play, Samson is tied to two great columns. As Samson pulls the columns down, the mockery by the Philistines of Samson suddenly turns to panic. Samson destroys his tormentors, and himself, in one final tragic act.
The play is told by a minor character--much like Greek drama, with the climax often occurred off-stage. In the final moments of the play, Samson is tied to two great columns. As Samson pulls the columns down, the mockery by the Philistines of Samson suddenly turns to panic. Samson destroys his tormentors, and himself, in one final tragic act.
With this final desperate suicidal pull, Samson acts rather than bemoaning his terrible fate. We see Samson's inner strength--his ability to withstand hardships. Through Samson Agonistses, Samson must find serenity in suffering, and reconcile himself with the God, by whom he thinks has abandoned him.
In this way Milton makes an important contribution to the "tragic hero," particularly as it was imagined by the Greeks and later by Elizabethan writers like William Shakespeare. In Greek tragedy, the hero was one who raged against his fate and, often, went to his death in one final stand against the Gods--it was their attempt to overcome the force of God's cruelty that made him great.
However, in the Christian tragedy that Milton writes, it is Samson's own passion that he must overcome before he can find greatness: both his anger at his captors and his betrayer, and his anger at God for allowing him to be imprisoned. In his final soliloquy we are led to believe that this reconciliation does take place, and that he accepts God's will as all-powerful and irresistable. In this way Samson becomes a Protestant hero--Milton himself was a Puritan--and embodies the doctrine of Predetermination that Protestantism believed in so fervently. No matter what a man did in this life, his fate had already been decided as part of the Divine Plan.
However, in the Christian tragedy that Milton writes, it is Samson's own passion that he must overcome before he can find greatness: both his anger at his captors and his betrayer, and his anger at God for allowing him to be imprisoned. In his final soliloquy we are led to believe that this reconciliation does take place, and that he accepts God's will as all-powerful and irresistable. In this way Samson becomes a Protestant hero--Milton himself was a Puritan--and embodies the doctrine of Predetermination that Protestantism believed in so fervently. No matter what a man did in this life, his fate had already been decided as part of the Divine Plan.
A powerful and affecting drama, Samson Agonistes, was written as a chamber play, and was therefore not to be performed. Perhaps because of the standing of plays under Puritan rule--they were considered frivilous and sinful--Milton did not want to be associated with the theatre. What's more, he thought that his message would be best served by being approached philosophically rather than dramatically. He wanted his work to be mused over whilst being read rather than passively accepted as a theatre audience might. Despite this caveat however, Samson Agonistes is not merely a dry treatise on the nature of fate, it is also a vital, dramatic play, with characters that make us feel, as well as think.
Samson agonistes...Autobiographical elements,
Samson Agonistes by milton strikes a parallel to milton's life itself. The narrative has a serious personal undertone that hardly escapes the attention of a normal reader.probably the life of samson has drawn milton's attention because he could see his own life very much ""alike"" in Samson . while we read the play it's quite obvious that we could feel the authors intrusion or a kind of subjective approach especially while dealing with women characters.Samson's anguish is just a extended image of the plight of commonwealth at the hands of the Restoration royalists.both had a strict codes to life and living and they both had an unhappy married life..probably that left milton with a different attitude towards women.milton was blind like samson,the former among the restored royalists who ignored and rejected him and the latter at the hands of the philistines. milton failed to walk on eggshells with the restored royalists thus he was ignored and that might have made him think that he was impotent and blind saavy. it is very hard to remove or rip milton out of the the text because we find milton very much visible in Samson's clothing.
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Affliction I
-George Herbert
Youth
Affliction I divides up naturally according to the stages in the poet's life. The first four stanzas deal with his early spiritual experiences. He uses the traditional image of entering God's service. Everything seemed to be going marvellously for him: there was the natural exuberance of youth together with real excitement in serving God:
both heaven and earth
Paid me my wages in a world of mirth
Paid me my wages in a world of mirth
A dark period
However, at the end of the fourth stanza there is a transition to something darker. He became ‘a party unawares for woe’. The next two stanzas spell this out:- The first source of sorrow was ill-health,
- The second was losing friends through death.
A reluctant academic
Stanzas 7 and 8 talk of his career not developing as he would have wished. He would have preferred a career in London, perhaps at the Stuart court, as John Donne also wanted. Instead, he remained at Cambridge University, as an academic. For many people, that would have been wonderful, but not for Herbert. From time to time he was encouraged by academic success which made it difficult to continue his argument with God, but his life was still not as he wished.I could not go away, nor persevere
Help me!
Finally, he became ill again and really had something to complain about (stanza 9). Which brings him to the present: he doesn't know what he is to do and feels completely useless. In a fit of pique, he declares he'll serve someone else: but it is an empty gesture. He doesn’t really want to turn his back on God. So, in the end, all he can do is offer up a prayer to be able to love God no matter what his circumstances may be.Investigating Affliction I
- Read through Affliction I.
- What phrases does Herbert use in the poem to suggest that much of his earlier devotion to God was conditional?
- How has his response changed?
IMAGE & SYMBOLISM
The main image is that of service to a King. This is a commonplace in Christian thought, with Jesus often referred to as ‘king’, but Herbert manages to breathe new life into it by using details suggesting he was lured unawares into this service. He uses ‘Entice’ (l.l), repeated as ‘'tice’ (l.10) and ‘entangled’ (l.39). This sets up a tension – has entering God’s service been a trap or deception? Any deception, however, is seen in the end to stem from Herbert's early self-centred approach to religious experience.
Stanza 4 suggests the surface attraction of God's service:
- ‘thou gavest me milk and sweetness’
- ‘My days were strew'd with flowers and happiness’.
By contrast, stanza 6 has images of desolation:
- ‘a blunted knife/ Was of more use than I’
- ‘I was blown through with every storm and wind’.
Herbert picks up the imagery of uselessness in stanza 10, in which he wishes he were a tree so that at least he could provide shelter for other creatures.
Metonymy
- ‘a lingering book’
- ‘a gown’
are both metonymies for the academic life, taking some aspect associated with that life to represent it. The real force is in the word ‘lingering’, which comes out of nowhere and lights up the image.
Investigating Affliction I
- Look through the notes on Herbert’s use of metonymy in Affliction I
- Why ‘lingering’ (l.39?)
- What does ‘book’ represent in ‘None of my books will show’ (l.56)?
- Find at least three other images. Are they conceits as such?
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The Pulley
-George Herbert
In the poem, the central idea posited by Herbert is that when God made man, he poured all his blessings on him, including strength, beauty, wisdom, honor and pleasure. However, as in Pandora's box, one element remained. We are told that God "made a stay," that is, He kept "Rest in the bottome." We might, in modern parlance, call this God's ace. God is aware that if He were to bestow this "jewel" (i.e. rest) on Man as well then Man would adore God's gifts instead of God Himself. God has withheld the gift of rest from man knowing fully well that His other treasures would one day result in a spiritual restlessness and fatigue in man who, having tired of His material gifts, would necessarily turn to God in his exhaustion. God, being omniscient and prescient, knows that there is the possibility that even the wicked might not turn to Him, but He knows that eventually mortal man is prone to lethargy; his lassitude, then, would be the leverage He needed to toss man to His breast. In the context of the mechanical operation of a pulley, the kind of leverage and force applied makes the difference for the weight being lifted. Applied to man in this poem, we can say that the withholding of Rest by God is the leverage that will hoist or draw mankind towards God when other means would make that task difficult. However, in the first line of the last stanza, Herbert puns on the word "rest" suggesting that perhaps God will, after all, let man "keep the rest," but such a reading would seem to diminish the force behind the poem's conceit. The importance of rest -and, by association, sleep- is an idea that was certainly uppermost in the minds of Renaissance writers. Many of Shakespeare's plays include references to sleep or the lack of it as a punishment for sins committed. In Macbeth, for example, the central protagonist is said to "lack the season of all natures, sleep" and both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are tormented by the lack of sleep. Even Othello is most disconcerted by the fact that he is unable to sleep peacefully once Iago has poisoned him with the possibility of his wife's infidelity with Cassio. Herbert's Pulley, then, does not present a new concept. In fact, the ideas in the poem are quite commonplace for seventeenth century religious verse. What is distinctly metaphysical about the poem is that a religious notion is conveyed through a secular, scientific image that requires the reader's acquaintance with, and understanding of, some basic laws of physics.
Pulleys and hoists are mechanical devices aimed at assisting us with moving heavy loads through a system of ropes and wheels (pulleys) to gain advantage. We should not be surprised at the use of a pulley as a central conceit since the domain of physics and imagery from that discipline would have felt quite comfortable to most of the metaphysical poets.
Pulleys and hoists are mechanical devices aimed at assisting us with moving heavy loads through a system of ropes and wheels (pulleys) to gain advantage. We should not be surprised at the use of a pulley as a central conceit since the domain of physics and imagery from that discipline would have felt quite comfortable to most of the metaphysical poets.
To His Coy Mistress
-Marvell
Summary
"To His Coy Mistress" is divided into three stanzas or poetic paragraphs. It’s spoken by a nameless man, who doesn’t reveal any physical or biographical details about himself, to a nameless woman, who is also biography-less.
During the first stanza, the speaker tells the mistress that if they had more time and space, her "coyness" (see our discussion on the word "coy" in "What’s Up With the Title?") wouldn’t be a "crime." He extends this discussion by describing how much he would compliment her and admire her, if only there was time. He would focus on "each part" of her body until he got to the heart (and "heart," here, is both a metaphor for sex, and a metaphor for love).
In the second stanza he says, "BUT," we don’t have the time, we are about to die! He tells her that life is short, but death isforever. In a shocking moment, he warns her that, when she’s in the coffin, worms will try to take her "virginity" if she doesn’t have sex with him before they die. If she refuses to have sex with him, there will be repercussions for him, too. All his sexual desire will burn up, "ashes" for all time.
In the third stanza he says, "NOW," I’ve told you what will happen when you die, so let’s have sex while we’re still young. Hey, look at those "birds of prey" mating. That’s how we should do it – but, before that, let’s have us a little wine and time (cheese is for sissies). Then, he wants to play a game – the turn ourselves into a "ball" game. (Hmmm.) He suggests, furthermore, that they release all their pent up frustrations into the sex act, and, in this way, be free.
In the final couplet, he calms down a little. He says that having sex can’t make the "sun" stop moving. In Marvell’s time, the movement of the sun around the earth (we now believe the earth rotates around the sun) is thought to create time. Anyway, he says, we can’t make time stop, but we can change places with it. Whenever we have sex, we pursue time, instead of time pursuing us. This fellow has some confusing ideas about sex and time. Come to think of it, we probably do, too. "To His Coy Mistress" offers us a chance to explore some of those confusing thoughts.
During the first stanza, the speaker tells the mistress that if they had more time and space, her "coyness" (see our discussion on the word "coy" in "What’s Up With the Title?") wouldn’t be a "crime." He extends this discussion by describing how much he would compliment her and admire her, if only there was time. He would focus on "each part" of her body until he got to the heart (and "heart," here, is both a metaphor for sex, and a metaphor for love).
In the second stanza he says, "BUT," we don’t have the time, we are about to die! He tells her that life is short, but death isforever. In a shocking moment, he warns her that, when she’s in the coffin, worms will try to take her "virginity" if she doesn’t have sex with him before they die. If she refuses to have sex with him, there will be repercussions for him, too. All his sexual desire will burn up, "ashes" for all time.
In the third stanza he says, "NOW," I’ve told you what will happen when you die, so let’s have sex while we’re still young. Hey, look at those "birds of prey" mating. That’s how we should do it – but, before that, let’s have us a little wine and time (cheese is for sissies). Then, he wants to play a game – the turn ourselves into a "ball" game. (Hmmm.) He suggests, furthermore, that they release all their pent up frustrations into the sex act, and, in this way, be free.
In the final couplet, he calms down a little. He says that having sex can’t make the "sun" stop moving. In Marvell’s time, the movement of the sun around the earth (we now believe the earth rotates around the sun) is thought to create time. Anyway, he says, we can’t make time stop, but we can change places with it. Whenever we have sex, we pursue time, instead of time pursuing us. This fellow has some confusing ideas about sex and time. Come to think of it, we probably do, too. "To His Coy Mistress" offers us a chance to explore some of those confusing thoughts.
The Pilgrim’s Progress
-John Bunyan
The narrator defends the story he is about to tell, which is framed as a dream. He explains that he fell asleep in the wilderness and dreamed of a man named Christian, who was tormented by spiritual anguish. A spiritual guide named Evangelist visits Christian and urges him to leave the City of Destruction. Evangelist claims that salvation can only be found in the Celestial City, known as Mount Zion.
Christian begs his family to accompany him, unsuccessfully. On his way, Christian falls into a bog called the Slough of Despond, but he is saved. He meets Worldly Wiseman, who urges him to lead a practical, happy existence without religion. Refusing, Christian is sheltered in Goodwill’s house. Goodwill tells Christian to stop by the Interpreter’s home, where Christian learns many lessons about faith.
Walking along the wall of Salvation, Christian sees Christ’s tomb and cross. At this vision, his burden falls to the ground. One of the three Shining Ones, celestial creatures, hands him a rolled certificate for entry to the Celestial City. Christian falls asleep and loses his certificate. Since the certificate is his ticket into the Celestial City, Christian reproaches himself for losing it. After retracing his tracks, he eventually finds the certificate. Walking on, Christian meets the four mistresses of the Palace Beautiful, who provide him shelter. They also feed him and arm him. After descending the Valley of Humiliation, Christian meets the monster Apollyon, who tries to kill him. Christian is armed, and he strikes Apollyon with a sword and then proceeds through the desert-like Valley of the Shadow of Death toward the Celestial City.
Christian meets Faithful, a traveler from his hometown. Faithful and Christian are joined by a third pilgrim, Talkative, whom Christian spurns. Evangelist arrives and warns Faithful and Christian about the wicked town of Vanity, which they will soon enter. Evangelist foretells that either Christian or Faithful will die in Vanity.
The two enter Vanity and visit its famous fair. They resist temptation and are mocked by the townspeople. Eventually the citizens of Vanity imprison Christian and Faithful for mocking their local religion. Faithful defends himself at his trial and is executed, rising to heaven after death. Christian is remanded to prison but later escapes and continues his journey.
Another fellow pilgrim named Hopeful befriends Christian on his way. On their journey, a pilgrim who uses religion as a means to get ahead in the world, named By-ends, crosses their path. Christian rejects his company. The two enter the plain of Ease, where a smooth talker named Demas tempts them with silver. Christian and Hopeful pass him by.
Taking shelter for the night on the grounds of Doubting Castle, they awake to the threats of the castle’s owner, the Giant Despair, who, with the encouragement of his wife, imprisons and tortures them. Christian and Hopeful escape when they remember they possess the key of Promise, which unlocks any door in Despair’s domain.
Proceeding onward, Christian and Hopeful approach the Delectable Mountains near the Celestial City. They encounter wise shepherds who warn them of the treacherous mountains Error and Caution, where previous pilgrims have died. The shepherds point out travelers who wander among tombs nearby, having been blinded by the Giant Despair. They warn the travelers to beware of shortcuts, which may be paths to hell.
The two pilgrims meet Ignorance, a sprightly teenager who believes that living a good life is sufficient to prove one’s religious faith. Christian refutes him, and Ignorance decides to avoid their company. The travelers also meet Flatterer, who snares them in a net, and Atheist, who denies that the Celestial City exists. Crossing the sleep-inducing Enchanted Ground, they try to stay awake by discussing Hopeful’s sinful past and religious doctrine.
Christian and Hopeful gleefully approach the land of Beulah, where the Celestial City is located. The landscape teems with flowers and fruit, and the travelers are refreshed. To reach the gate into the city, they must first cross a river without a bridge. Christian nearly drowns, but Hopeful reminds him of Christ’s love, and Christian emerges safely from the water. The residents of the Celestial City joyously welcome the two pilgrims. In his conclusion to Part I, the narrator expresses hope that his dream be interpreted properly.
In the Introduction to Part II, Bunyan addresses the book as “Christiana,” which is the name of Christian’s wife. This part of The Pilgrim’s Progresstells the story of Christiana and her children’s journey to the Celestial City. The narrator recounts having met an old man, Sagacity, who tells the beginning of Christiana’s story. She decides to pack up and follow Christian to the Celestial City, taking her four sons and a fellow townswoman named Mercy along as a servant. On the way, they cross the Slough of Despond but are blocked at the gate by an angry dog. The gatekeeper lets them through. Continuing on, the sons steal fruit from the devil’s garden, and two ruffians threaten to rape the women, but they escape.
The pilgrims are lodged in the Interpreter’s house. The Interpreter orders his manservant Great-heart to accompany them to the House Beautiful. Mr. Brisk pays court to Mercy but soon stops courting her because of her involvement in charity work. As a result of eating the devil’s fruit, Matthew falls ill but is cured by Dr. Skill. The pilgrims descend into the Valley of Humiliation and cross the Valley of the Shadow of Death. They encounter the giant Maul and slay him. After meeting the old pilgrim Honest, they take shelter with Gaius. The pilgrims continue on their journey and kill the Giant Good-slay then rescue the pilgrims Feeble-mind and Ready-to-Halt. They lodge with Mnason. Crossing the river of life, they kill the Giant Despair and greet the kind shepherds who welcome them into the Delectable Mountains.
Christiana meets the great fighter Valiant-for-truth, who accompanies them. They cross the Enchanted Ground and meet the pilgrim Standfast, who has just spurned Madam Bubble, a beautiful temptress. The pilgrims are welcomed in the Celestial City. Christiana goes to meet her maker, the Master. The other pilgrims soon follow.
Tom Jones
-Henry Fielding
The distinguished country gentleman Allworthy, who lives in Somersetshire with his unmarried sister Bridget Allworthy, arrives home from a trip to London to discover a baby boy in is bed. Allworthy undertakes to uncover the mother and father of this foundling, and finds local woman Jenny Jones and her tutor, Mr. Partridge, guilty. Allworthy sends Jenny away from the county, and the poverty-stricken Partridge leaves of his own accord. In spite of the criticism of the parish, Allworthy decides to bring up the boy. Soon after, Bridget marries Captain Blifil, a visitor at Allworthy's estate, and gives birth to a son of her own, named Blifil. Captain Blifil regards Tom Jones with jealousy, since he wishes his son to inherit all of Allworthy possessions. While meditating on money matters, Captain Blifil falls dead of an apoplexy.
The narrator skips forward twelve years. Blifil and Tom Jones have been brought up together, but receive vastly different treatment from the other members of the household. Allworthy is the only person who shows consistent affection for Tom. The philosopher Square and the reverend Thwackum, the boys' tutors, despise Tom and adore Blifil, since Tom is wild and Blifil is pious. Tom frequently steals apples and ducks to support the family of Black George, one of Allworthy's servants. Tom tells all of his secrets to Blifil, who then relates these to Thwackum or Allworthy, thereby getting Tom into trouble. The people of the parish, hearing of Tom's generosity to Black George, begin to speak kindly of Tom while condemning Blifil for his sneakiness.
Tom spends much time with Squire Western—Allworthy's neighbor—since the Squire is impressed by Tom's sportsmanship. Sophia Western, Squire Western's daughter, falls deeply in love with Tom. Tom has already bestowed his affection on Molly Seagrim, the poor but feisty daughter of Black George. When Molly becomes pregnant, Tom prevents Allworthy from sending Molly to prison by admitting that he has fathered her child. Tom, at first oblivious to Sophia's charms and beauty, falls deeply in love with her, and begins to resent his ties to Molly. Yet he remains with Molly out of honor. Tom's commitment to Molly ends when he discovers that she has been having affairs, which means Tom is not the father of her child and frees him to confess his feelings to Sophia.
Allworthy falls gravely ill and summons his family and friends to be near him. He reads out his will, which states that Blifil will inherit most of his estate, although Tom is also provided for. Thwackum and Square are upset that they are each promised only a thousand pounds. Tom experiences great emotion at Allworthy's illness and barely leaves his bedside. A lawyer named Dowling arrives and announces the sudden and unexpected death of Bridget Allworthy. When the doctor announces that Allworthy will not die, Tom rejoices and gets drunk on both joy and alcohol. Blifil calls Tom a "bastard" and Tom retaliates by hitting him. Tom, after swearing eternal constancy to Sophia, encounters Molly by chance and makes love to her.
Mrs. Western, the aunt with whom Sophia spent much of her youth, comes to stay at her brother's house. She and the Squire fight constantly, but they unite over Mrs. Western's plan to marry Sophia to Blifil. Mrs. Western promises not to reveal Sophia's love for Tom as long as Sophia submits to receiving Blifil as a suitor. Blifil thus begins his courtship of Sophia, and brags so much about his progress that Allworthy believes that Sophia must love Blifil. Sophia, however, strongly opposes the proposal, and Squire Western grows violent with her. Blifil tells Allworthy that Tom is a rascal who cavorted drunkenly about the house, and Allworthy banishes Tom from the county. Tom does not want to leave Sophia, but decides that he must follow the honorable path.
Tom begins to wander about the countryside. In Bristol, he happens to meet up with Partridge, who becomes his loyal servant. Tom also rescues a Mrs. Waters from being robbed, and they begin an affair at a local inn. Sophia, who has run away from Squire Western's estate to avoid marrying Blifil, stops at this inn and discovers that Tom is having an affair with Mrs. Waters. She leaves her muff in Tom's bed so that he knows she has been there. When Tom finds the muff, he frantically sets out in pursuit of Sophia. The Irishman Fitzpatrick arrives at the inn searching for his wife, and Western arrives searching for Sophia.
On the way to London, Sophia rides with her cousin Harriet, who is also Fitzpatrick's wife. In London, Sophia stays with her lady relative Lady Bellaston. Tom and Partridge arrive in London soon after, and they stay in the house of Mrs. Miller and her daughters, one of whom is named Nancy. A young gentleman called Nightingale also inhabits the house, and Tom soon realizes that he and Nancy are in love. Nancy falls pregnant and Tom convinces Nightingale to marry her. Lady Bellaston and Tom begin an affair, although Tom privately, continues to pursue Sophia. When he and Sophia are reconciled, Tom breaks off the relationship with Lady Bellaston by sending her a marriage proposal that scares her away. Yet Lady Bellaston is still determined not to allow Sophia and Tom's love to flourish. She encourages anoter young man, Lord Fellamar, to rape Sophia.
Soon after, Squire Western, Mrs. Western, Blifil, and Allworthy arrive in London, and Squire Western locks Sophia in her bedroom. Mr. Fitzpatrick thinks Tom is his wife's lover and begins a duel with Tom. In defending himself, Tom stabs Fitzpatrick with the sword and is thrown into jail. Partridge visits Tom in jail with the ghastly news that Mrs. Waters is Jenny Jones, Tom's mother. Mrs. Waters meets with Allworthy and explains that Fitzpatrick is still alive, and has admitted to initiating the duel. She also tells Allworthy that a lawyer acting on behalf of an unnamed gentleman tried to persuade her to conspire against Tom. Allworthy realizes that Blifil is this very gentleman, and he decides never to speak to him again. Tom, however, takes pity on Blifil and provides him with an annuity.
Mrs. Waters also reveals that Tom's mother was Bridget Allworthy. Square sends Allworthy a letter explaining that Tom's conduct during Allworthy's illness was honorable and compassionate. Tom is released from jail and he and Allworthy are reunited as nephew and uncle. Mrs. Miller explains to Sophia the reasons for Tom's marriage proposal to Lady Bellaston, and Sophia is satisfied. Now that Tom is Allworthy's heir, Squire Western eagerly encourages the marriage between Tom and Sophia. Sophia chastises Tom for his lack of chastity, but agrees to marry him. They live happily on Western's estate with two children, and shower everyone around them with kindness and generosity.
The School For Scandal
-Richard Sheridan
Play Summary
Before the action of the play begins, the following events are assumed to have taken place.
Mirabell, a young man-about-town, apparently not a man of great wealth, has had an affair with Mrs. Fainall, the widowed daughter of Lady Wishfort. To protect her from scandal in the event of pregnancy, he has helped engineer her marriage to Mr. Fainall, a man whom he feels to be of sufficiently good reputation to constitute a respectable match, but not a man of such virtue that tricking him would be unfair. Fainall, for his part, married the young widow because he coveted her fortune to support his amour with Mrs. Marwood. In time, the liaison between Mirabell and Mrs. Fainall ended (although this is not explicitly stated), and Mirabell found himself in love with Millamant, the niece and ward of Lady Wish-fort, and the cousin of his former mistress.
There are, however, financial complications. Half of Millamant's fortune was under her own control, but the other half, 6,000 pounds, was controlled by Lady Wishfort, to be turned over to Millamant if she married a suitor approved by her aunt. Unfortunately, Mirabell had earlier offended Lady Wishfort; she had misinterpreted his flattery as love.
Mirabell, therefore, has contrived an elaborate scheme. He has arranged for a pretended uncle (his valet, Waitwell) to woo and win Lady Wishfort. Then Mirabell intends to reveal the actual status of the successful wooer and obtain her consent to his marriage to Millamant by rescuing her from this misalliance. Waitwell was to marry Foible, Lady Wishfort's maid, before the masquerade so that he might not decide to hold Lady Wishfort to her contract; Mirabell is too much a man of his time to trust anyone in matters of money or love. Millamant is aware of the plot, probably through Foible.
When the play opens, Mirabell is impatiently waiting to hear that Waitwell is married to Foible. During Mirabell's card game with Fainall, it becomes clear that the relations between the two men are strained. There are hints at the fact that Fainall has been twice duped by Mirabell: Mrs. Fainall is Mirabell's former mistress, and Mrs. Marwood, Fainall's mistress, is in love with Mirabell. In the meantime, although Millamant quite clearly intends to have Mirabell, she enjoys teasing him in his state of uncertainty.
Mirabell bids fair to succeed until, unfortunately, Mrs. Marwood overhears Mrs. Fainall and Foible discussing the scheme, as well as Mirabell and Mrs. Fainall's earlier love affair. Since Mrs. Marwood also overhears insulting comments about herself, she is vengeful and informs Fainall of the plot and the fact, which he suspected before, that his wife was once Mirabell's mistress. The two conspirators now have both motive and means for revenge. In the same afternoon, Millamant accepts Mirabell's proposal and rejects Sir Wilfull Witwoud, Lady Wishfort's candidate for her hand.
Fainall now dominates the action. He unmasks Sir Rowland, the false uncle, and blackmails Lady Wishfort with the threat of her daughter's disgrace. He demands that the balance of Millamant's fortune, now forfeit, be turned over to his sole control, as well as the unspent balance of Mrs. Fainall's fortune. In addition, he wants assurance that Lady Wishfort will not marry so that Mrs. Fainall is certain to be the heir.
This move of Fainall's is now countered; Millamant says that she will marry Sir Wilfull to save her own fortune. Fainall insists that he wants control of the rest of his wife's money and immediate management of Lady Wishfort's fortune. When Mirabell brings two servants to prove that Fainall and Mrs. Marwood were themselves guilty of adultery, Fainall ignores the accusation and points out that he will still create a scandal which would blacken the name of Mrs. Fainall unless he gets the money.
At this point, Mirabell triumphantly reveals his most successful ploy. Before Mrs. Fainall married Fainall, she and Mirabell had suspected the man's character, and she had appointed her lover trustee of her fortune. Fainall is left with no claim to make because Mrs. Fainall does not control her own money. He and Mrs. Marwood leave in great anger. Sir Wilfull steps aside as Millamant's suitor; Lady Wishfort forgives the servants and consents to the match of Mirabell and Millamant.
All for Love
-John Dryden
All for Love or, the World Well Lost, is a heroic drama by John Dryden written in 1677. Today, it is Dryden’s best-known and most performed play. It is a tragedy written in blank verseand is an attempt on Dryden's part to reinvigorate serious drama. It is an acknowledged imitation of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, and focuses on the last hours of the lives of itshero and heroine.[1]
Combining the unities of classical theatre and the style of Shakespearean drama, Dryden creates an elaborately formal production in which fashionable philosophies of the time could be discussed and debated in a public atmosphere.[citation needed] Dryden used the theatre as a forum for testing problematic philosophical, moral and political questions.[citation needed] The results of these investigations were to form the basis of his later works.[citation needed]
The original 1677 production by the King's Company starred Charles Hart as Marc Antony and Elizabeth Boutell as Cleopatra, with Michael Mohun as Ventidius and Katherine Corey asOctavia.[2] All for Love; also called, The World Well Lost is a tragedy by John Dryden, first acted and printed in 1677. Dryden deals in this play with the same subject as that of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Whilst, however, the elder poet "diffused the action of his play over Italy, Greece, and Egypt," Dryden laid every scene in the city of Alexandria. Moreover, he "contents himself with the concluding scene of Antony's history, instead of introducing the incidents of the war with Pompey, the negotiation with Lepidus, death of his first wife, and other circumstances which, in Shakespeare, only tend to distract our attention from the main interest of the drama" (Sir Walter Scott). Dryden, says Saintsbury, "omits whatever in the original story is shocking and repulsive from the romantic point of view.... The best pieces of All for Love cannot, of course, challenge comparison with the best pieces of Shakespeare ... but the best passages of this play, and, what is more, its general facture and style, equal, with certain time-allowance, the best things of Beaumont and Fletcher, and therefore the best things of almost any English tragedian save Shakespeare." The original cast included Hart as Antony, Mohun as Ventidius, Clarke as Dolabella, Goodman as Alexas, Griffin as Serapion, Mrs. Boutell as Cleopatra, Mrs. Corey as Octavia. The play was revived at Lincoln's Inn Fields in February, 1704, with Betterton as Antony, Mrs. Barry as Cleopatra, Wilks as Dolabella, and Mrs. Bracegirdle as Octavia; at Drury Lane in December 1718, with Booth as Antony, Mrs. Oldfield as Cleopatra, and Mrs. Porter as Octavia.
Act One
Serapion describes foreboding omens (of storms, whirlwinds, and the flooding of the Nile) of Egypt’s impending doom. Alexas, Cleopatra’s eunuch, dismisses Serapion’s claims and is more concerned with Cleopatra’s relationship with Antony. He sees that Cleopatra dotes on Antony and worries that Antony will not continue seeing Cleopatra. Thus, Serapions hosts a festival to celebrate Antony’s honor.
Ventidius, a Roman general, comes to aide Antony in Alexandria. Ventidius disagrees with Antony’s relationship with Cleopatra and offers to give Antony troops if he leaves her. Although Antony is insulted by Ventidius’s opinions regarding Cleopatra (and refuses to hear anything negative about her), Antony agrees.
Act Two
Cleopatra mourns about her situation without Antony. Charmion, Cleopatra’s lady in waiting, attempts to set up a meeting between Cleopatra and Antony, but she is deemed unsuccessful. Cleopatra thus sends Alexas to try to win back Antony using gifts (jewels including a bracelet). Alexas suggests that Cleopatra should tie the bracelet onto Antony’s wrist. In the subsequent meeting between Cleopatra and Antony, Ventidius appears and tries to proclaim how Cleopatra is not Antony’s rightful partner and would betray him for her own safety. However, Cleopatra wins this argument by demonstrating a letter showing that she refused Egypt and Syria from Octavius. Antony is overjoyed by Cleopatra’s decision and proclaims his love for her.
Act Three
Antony is returning from battle and is overwhelmed with love for Cleopatra. Ventidius comes to speak with Antony, who attempts to flee unsuccessfully. Antony does not want to go back to war but doesn't know how to stop it. He believes Dolabella can help him and Ventidius brings Dolabella out. Dolabella, Antony’s friend, appears after Antony’s success in battle. Dolabella was banished for his love for Cleopatra, but he returns to a warm welcome from Antony. Dolabella offers a gift that will bring peace between Antony and Caesar. The gift is Octavia, Antony's true wife and Caesar's sister, and Antony’s two daughters. Octavia tells Antony the war will stop when he returns to his rightful place, by her side. Antony and Octavia reunite, and Alexas’s attempts to meddle for the sake of Cleopatra are dismissed. Cleopatra appears informed of her defeat. Alexas tells her to avoid Octavia but Cleopatra chooses to face her as a rival. Cleopatra and Octavia have an argument, it seems clear that Octavia is whom Antony rightfully belongs to, even if it is not she whom he loves most.
Act Four
Antony has been convinced by Octavia that his rightful place is by her side, in Rome, with his children. Antony plans to leave but does not have the strength to tell Cleopatra himself. Antony asks Dolabella to tell Cleopatra he is leaving so that Antony will not be persuaded to stay. Ventidius overhears that Dolabella will be going to Cleopatra to bid her farewell. He also sees her divising a plan with Alexas to inspire jealousy in Antony by way of Dolabella. Ventidius and Octavia see Dolabella taking Cleopatra’s hand, but when the time comes to make a move romantically, both of them fall apart from the guilt of their betrayal. Ventidius tells Antony that Cleopatra and Dollabella have become lovers and Octavia also bears witness. Ventidius then asks Alexas to testify to the same story, which Alexas believes to be. Antony is infuriated by this information, but is still looking for some loophole that would confirm Cleopatra's innocence. Antony's belief in Cleopatra's innocence hurts Octavia and she leaves permanently. When Dolabella and Cleopatra try to explain themselves Antony refuses to believe them.
Act Five
Antony takes Cleopatra's naval fleet and sails to Caesar where he is greeted like an old friend. They then sail back to Alexandria. When Cleopatra hears of this Alexas tells her to flee and that he will attempt to make amends with Caesar. Cleopatra tells him this would make him a traitor and that he cannot go to Caesar. Cleopatra flees and Alexas is left behind. Antony and Ventidius meet up and prepare to fight. Alexas, Cleopatra’s messenger, comes and informs Antony that Cleopatra is dead. Antony then tells Ventidus to end his life, but Ventidius refuses and kills himself. With Ventidius dead, Antony then tried and failed to commit suicide. Cleopatra then comes in and sees the dying Antony, and living on the verge of death. Cleopatra then kills herself. Serapion delivers their eulogy.
Themes
Love
Honor
In "All for Love," honor is a concept associated chiefly with Rome. Antony's military and political strength are inextricably tied to his strong loyalties to the Roman empire.
Personal and political
Every character in this play is influenced by both personal and political motivations from the powerful Marc Antony to the rest of the cast. Personal and political motives affect the central themes of love and honor. Marc Antony has an internal conflict in choosing between his family, Octavia and his two daughters, and his mistress, Cleopatra.The main character, Marc Antony, shirks his political duty for the sake of his love relationship with Cleopatra. His peers deem Marc Antony's actions to be irresponsible and believe will be the cause of his downfall. In the end, Marc Antony dies (V.402), Cleopatra dies (V.498), and Octavius wins the war. In the end, Marc Antony and Cleopatra, who cared more about personal matters, die, while Octavius, who cares more about political power, becomes Caesar.
Death
The deaths taking place within this plot is "all for love." They show "love" for one's country and/or loved ones. Antony kills himself after falling under the false pretense that Cleopatra is dead. His servant, in an act of loyalty and honour to his country and master, kills himself before Antony. Cleopatra distraught over the death of her beloved Antony, applies the aspes' venom to her arm and falls to eternal death on Antony's chest. The Eygyptian servants decide to follow their Queen in death.
Culture
Throughout "All for love," Dryden illustrates the vast cultural differences. Rome is characterized by its military predominance. The Egyptian culture focus more on domestic affairs instead of political matters. Antony's presence in Egypt represents Rome's political culture, while Cleopatra's presence reflects the personal or domestic aspects of Egyptian society. Their deaths symbolize their cultures.
Emotional weaknesses
Despite holding great positions of power, both Antony and Cleopatra are weakened by their overwhelming love for one another. Antony's ability to fulfill his military and political duties is hindered by his consistent emotional preoccupation with his love, Cleopatra. Cleopatra rejects offers of other kingdoms, prevents Egypt's growth, neglects her queenly duties, and throws her country into submission to the Romans all because of her infatuation with Antony.
Betrayal
Antony betrays Caesar by going back to Cleopatra and not staying with Octavia. Antony leaves his troops behind during battle to follow Cleopatra; complete betrayal to his own troops.
Jealousy
Jealousy is predominately demonstrated in the interactions of Cleopatra towards Octavia. We can see through the passages that Cleopatra is jealous not only of Octavia's affiliation with Mark Antony, but additionally her great beauty.
Power
Power in this play is exhibited in many ways. In the beginning Cleopatra tries to get power over Antony. There are many types of power exhibited, such as the power of beauty and the power of over the people.
Strategy
There are two types of strategies in this play, the strategy of war and the strategy of love. The strategy of love is more important in this play then the strategy of war. The strategy of war is based on the relationships that all the main characters share with other powerful countries. In Antony’s case, his army is spread out all over the Middle East and lacks a Navy, so these two factors severely hurt his army’s chances of winning against the Romans. Antony and Cleopatra are trying to make their love work. The people around are using any means possible to pull the lovers apart.
The Play's Dedication and its Political Context
John Dryden dedicated his play All For Love to the leader of the anti-French movement at court, Thomas Osborne, Lord Treasurer and Earl of Danby. The Dedication critiques Whiggeryand “republican” politics, or political practices which strove to continue the Reformation in England. The Dedication also critiques the aggressive and intolerant Anglicanism present in England. Danby was himself prejudiced against Catholics. This prejudice led to his opposition of Charles II’s alliances with the Catholic French. When the Dedication was published in 1678, Danby was at a difficult point in his career. Shortly before the fall of Ghent to Louis XIV’s forces, and the signing of a peace treaty at Nimeguen between Holland and France, Danby was attempting to arrange an unpopular Anglo-Dutch alliance against the French. Using his Dedication, Dryden took advantage of this political turmoil by attempting to befriend Danby, one of the most powerful members of the Cabinet. There were many potential benefits for Dryden’s decision to dedicate his play to Danbury. One reason for Dryden’s choice was the economic advantages he incurred. As treasurer, Danbury had the opportunity to monetarily reward underpaid poets. Danbury paid Dryden his full salary as poet laureate from 1673-77 even though the treasury was heavily depleted at the time. However, Dryden’s choice of dedicatee also allowed him to highlight the political, as well as romantic, follies within the play. Dryden uses the Dedication to advise Danby to adopt a more moderate political stance. Additionally, Dryden uses the Dedication to demonstrate the similarities between his patron’s life and the characters in All for Love.Dryden uses the Dedication to not only offer advice on political matters, but he also seems to offer advice on how Danby should navigate his romantic relationship. In Dryden’s play All for Love, it is implied that Cleopatra’s foreign country, religion and appearance all contribute to her allure for Antony. Biographical information indicates that her foreign beauty is also what attracted Danby to de Kéroualle. Dryden implies that a more acceptable relationship for Danby might resemble Dollabella’s relationship with Cleopatra. Dollabella respects Cleopatra’s beauty and admits to his past love for her; however he is no longer actively pursuing her during the play, stepping aside instead for Antony. Dryden seems to suggest that Danby replicate Dollabella’s model of moderation, and love de Kéroualle from afar while allowing her to be mistress solely to King Charles.In the Dedication, Dryden offers his benefactor, Lord Treasurer Danby, both political and love advice that emphasizes the value of moderation. Dryden’s advice also corresponds with the predominant plot lines throughout his play All for Love. By counseling moderation, Dryden is suggesting that both politically and romantically, Danby should become more like Dollabella and less like the militant Ventidius and the impassioned Antony.
She Stoops to Conquer
She Stoops to Conquer is a comedy by Irish author Oliver Goldsmith that was first performed in London in 1773. The play is a favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in Britain and the United States. It is one of the few plays from the 18th century to have an enduring appeal, and is still regularly performed today. It has been adapted into a film several times, including in 1914 and 1923.
Initially the play was titled Mistakes of a Night, and indeed, the events within the play take place in one long night. In 1778 John O'Keeffe wrote a loose sequel, Tony Lumpkin in Town.
Plot
Wealthy countryman Mr. Hardcastle arranges for his daughter Kate to meet Charles Marlow, the son of a wealthy Londoner, hoping the pair will marry. Unfortunately Marlow is nervous around upper-class women, yet the complete opposite around lower-class females. On his first acquaintance with Kate, the latter realises she will have to pretend to be common, or Marlow will not woo her. Thus Kate stoops to conquer, by posing as a maid, hoping to put Marlow at his ease so he falls for her. Marlow sets out for the Hardcastle's manor with a friend, George Hastings, an admirer of Miss Constance Neville, another young lady who lives with the Hardcastles. During the journey the two men become lost and stop at an alehouse, The Three Pigeons, for directions.
Tony Lumpkin, Kate's half-brother and cousin to Constance, comes across the two strangers at the alehouse and, realising their identity, plays a practical joke by telling them that they are a long way from their destination and will have to stay overnight at an inn. The "inn" he directs them to is in fact the home of the Hardcastles. When they arrive, the Hardcastles, who have been expecting them, go out of their way to make them welcome. However, Marlow and Hastings, believing themselves in an inn, behave extremely disdainfully towards their hosts. Hardcastle bears their unwitting insults with forbearance, because of his friendship with the father.
Kate learns of her suitor's shyness from Constance and a servant tells her about Tony's trick. She decides to masquerade as a serving-maid (changing her accent and garb) in order to get to know him. Marlow falls in love with her and plans to elope with her but, because she appears of a lower class, acts in a somewhat bawdy manner around her. All misunderstandings are resolved by the end, thanks to an appearance by Sir Charles Marlow.
The main sub-plot is that of the secret romance between Constance and Hastings. Constance needs her jewels, an inheritance, that are guarded by Tony's mother, Mrs. Hardcastle; the latter wants Constance to marry her son to keep the jewels in the family. Tony despises the thought of marrying Constance—he prefers a barmaid at the alehouse—and so agrees to steal the jewels from his mother's safekeeping for Miss Neville, so she will then flee to France with Hastings.
The play concludes with Kate's plan succeeding, thus she and Marlow become engaged. Tony discovers he is of "age", despite his mother not telling him so, thus he receives the money he is entitled to. He refuses to marry Constance, who then is eligible to receive her jewels and to become engaged to Hastings, which she does.[1]
The original production opened in London at Covent Garden Theatre on 15 March 1773 and was an immediate success.[2] Lionel Brough is supposed to have played Tony Lumpkin 777 times. Lillie Langtry had her first big success in this play in 1881.
Perhaps one of the most famous incarnations of "She Stoops to Conquer" was Peter Hall's version, staged in 1993 and starring Miriam Margolyes as Mrs. Hardcastle. The most famous TV production is the 1971 version featuring Ralph Richardson, Tom Courtenay, Juliet Mills and Brian Cox, with Trevor Peacock as Tony Lumpkin. It was shot on location near Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire and is part of the BBC archive.
Type of comedy
The type of comedy which She Stoops to Conquer represents has been much disputed. However there is a consensus amongst audiences and critics that the play is a comedy of manners (see below for details). It can also be seen as one of the following comedy types:
Laughing comedy or sentimental comedy
When the play was first produced, it was discussed as an example of the revival of laughing comedy over the sentimental comedy seen as dominant on the English stage since the success of The Conscious Lovers, written by Sir Richard Steele in 1722. In the same year, an essay in a London magazine, entitled "An Essay On The Theatre; Or, A Comparison Between Laughing And Sentimental Comedy", suggested that sentimental comedy, a false form of comedy, had taken over the boards from the older and more truly comic laughing comedy.
Some theatre historians believe that the essay was written by Goldsmith as a puff piece for She Stoops to Conquer, as an exemplar of the laughing comedy which Goldsmith (perhaps) had touted. Goldsmith's name was linked with that of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, author of The Rivals and The School for Scandal, as standard-bearers for the resurgent laughing comedy.
Comedy of manners
The play can also be seen as a comedy of manners, where, set in a polite society, the comedy arises from the gap between the characters' attempts to preserve standards of polite behaviour, that contrasts to their true behaviour.
Romantic comedy
It also seen by some critics as a romantic comedy, which depicts how seriously young people take love, and how foolishly it makes them behave (similar to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream); in She Stoops to Conquer, Kate’s stooping and Marlow’s nervousness are good examples of romantic comedy.
Satire
Alternatively, it can be seen as a satire, where characters are presented as either ludicrous or eccentric. Such a comedy might leave the impression that the characters are either too foolish or corrupt to ever reform, hence Mrs. Hardcastle.
Farce or comedy of errors
The play is sometimes described as a farce and a comedy of errors, because it is based on multiple misunderstandings, hence Marlow and Hastings believing the Hardcastles' house is an inn.
The dramatic technique of the three Unities is employed by Goldsmith to some extent in She Stoops to Conquer.
The Unity of Action - This is the one Unity that Goldsmith does not rigorously follow; there is the inclusion of the Constance-Hastings eloping sub-plot that distracts from the main narrative of the play. However, it shares similar themes of relationships and what makes the best ones (mutual attraction or the arrangement of a parent or guardian). Furthermore, the sub-plot is inter-weaving with the main plot, for example, when Hastings and Marlow confront Tony regarding his mischief making.
The Unity of Time - The alternative title of Mistakes of the Night illustrates that the Unity of Time is carefully observed. With all of the events occurring in a single night, the plot becomes more stimulating as well as lending more plausibility to the series of unlucky coincidences that conspire against the visitors.
The Unity of Place - Whilst some may question whether She Stoops to Conquer contains the Unity of Place — after all, the scene at the "The Three Pigeons" is set apart from the house — but the similarity between the alehouse and the "old rumbling mansion, that looks all the world like an inn" is one of close resemblance; enough that in past performances, the scenes have often doubled up the use of the same set backdrop. Also, there is some debate as to whether the excursion to "Crackskull common" counts as a separate setting, but since the truth is that the travellers do not leave the mansion gardens, the Unity of Place is not violated.
Title
The title refers to Kate's ruse of pretending to be a barmaid to reach her goal. It originates in the poetry of Dryden, which Goldsmith may have seen misquoted by Lord Chesterfield. In Chesterfield's version, the lines in question read: "The prostrate lover, when he lowest lies, But stoops to conquer, and but kneels to rise."
Characters
§ Charles Marlow - The central male character, who has set out to court the young attractive Kate Hardcastle. A well-educated man, "bred a scholar", Marlow is brash and rude to Mr. Hardcastle, owner of "Liberty Hall" (a reference to another site in London), whom Marlow believes to be an innkeeper. Because Marlow's rudeness is comic, the audience is likely not to dislike him for it. Marlow is sophisticated and has travelled the world. Around lower-class women Marlow is a lecherous rogue, but around those of an upper-class card he is a nervous, bumbling fool. Thus, his interview with Kate exploits the man's fears, and convinces Miss Hardcastle she'll have to alter her persona drastically to make a relationship with the man possible. The character of Charles Marlow is very similar to the description of Goldsmith himself, as he too acted "sheepishly" around women of a higher class than himself, and amongst "creatures of another stamp" acted with the most confidence.
§ George Hastings - A close friend of Charles Marlow and the admirer of Miss Constance Neville. Hastings is also an educated man who cares deeply about Constance, with the intention of fleeing to France with her. However the young woman makes it clear that she can't leave without her jewels, which are guarded by Mrs. Hardcastle, thus the pair and Tony collaborate to get hold of the jewels. When Hastings realises the Hardcastle house isn't an inn, he decides not to tell Marlow who would thus leave the premises immediately.
§ Tony Lumpkin - Son of Mrs. Hardcastle and stepson to Mr. Hardcastle, Tony is a mischievous, uneducated playboy. Mrs. Hardcastle has no authority over Tony, and their relationship contrasts with that between Hardcastle and Kate. He is promised in marriage to his cousin, Constance Neville, yet he despises her and thus goes to great effort to help her and Hastings in their plans to leave the country. He cannot reject the impending marriage with Neville, because he believes he's not of age. Tony takes an interest in horses, "Bet Bouncer" and especially the alehouse, where he joyfully sings with members of the lower-classes. It is Tony's initial deception of Marlow, for a joke, which sets up the plot.
§ Mr. Hardcastle - The father of Kate Hardcastle, who is mistaken by Marlow and Hastings as an innkeeper. Hardcastle is a level-headed countryman who loves "everything old" and hates the town and the "follies" that come with it. He is very much occupied with the 'old times' and likes nothing better than to tell his war stories and to drop names, such as theDuke of Marlborough, into conversations. Hardcastle cares for his daughter Kate, but insists that she dress plainly in his presence. It is he who arranges for Marlow to come to the country to marry his daughter. Hardcastle is a man of manners and, despite being highly insulted by Marlow's treatment of him, manages to keep his temper with his guest until near the end of the play. Hardcastle also demonstrates a wealth of forgiveness as he not only forgives Marlow once he has realised Marlow's mistake, but also gives him consent to marry his daughter.
§ Mrs. Hardcastle - Wife to Mr. Hardcastle and mother to Tony, Mrs. Hardcastle is a corrupt and eccentric character. She is an over-protective mother to Tony, whom she loves, but fails to tell him he's of age so that he is eligible to receive £1,500 a year. Her behaviour is either over-the-top or far-fetched, providing some of the play's comedy. She is also partly selfish, wanting Neville to marry her son to keep the jewels in the family; she's blissfully unaware however, that Tony and Neville despise each other, and that Constance is in fact planning to flee to France with Hastings. Mrs. Hardcastle is a contrast to her husband, which provides the humour in the play's opening. She loves the town, and is the only character who's not happy at the end of the play. She is too corrupt and far-fetched for the audience to sympathise with her.
§ Miss Kate Hardcastle - Daughter to Mr. Hardcastle, and the play's stooping-to-conquer heroine. Kate respects her father, dressing plainly in his presence to please him. The formal and respectful relationship that she shares with her father, contrasts with that between Tony and Mrs. Hardcastle. Kate enjoys "French frippery" and the attributes of the town, much as her mother does. She is both calculating and scheming, posing as a maid and deceiving Marlow, causing him to fall in love with her.
§ Miss Constance Neville - Niece of Mrs. Hardcastle, she is the woman whom Hastings intends to court. Constance despises her cousin Tony, she is heir to a large fortune of jewels, hence her aunt wants her to remain in the family and marry Tony; she is secretly an admirer of George Hastings however. Neville schemes with Hastings and Tony to get the jewels so she can then flee to France with her admirer; this is essentially one of the sub-plots of She Stoops to Conquer.
§ Sir Charles Marlow - A minor character and father to Charles Marlow; he follows his son, a few hours behind. Unlike his son, he does not meet Tony Lumpkin in the Three Pigeons, and thus is not confused. He is an old friend of Mr. Hardcastle, both of them once having been in the British military, and is quite pleased with the union of his son and his friend's daughter. Sir Charles enjoys the follies of his son, but does not understand these initially. However, he is quite upset when his son treats Kate as a maid.[1]
Intimations of Immortality
- William Wordsworth
Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood (also known as Ode, Immortality Ode or Great Ode) is a poem byWilliam Wordsworth, completed in 1804 and published in Poems, in Two Volumes (1807). The poem was completed in two parts, with the first four stanzas written among a series of poems composed in 1802 about childhood. The first part of the poem was completed on 27 March 1802 and a copy was provided to Wordsworth's friend and fellow poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who responded with his own poem, Dejection: An Ode, in April. The fourth stanza of the ode ends with a question, and Wordsworth was finally able to answer it with 7 additional stanzas completed in early 1804. It was first printed as Ode in 1807, and it was not until 1815 that it was edited and reworked to the version that is currently known, Ode: Intimations of Immortality.
The poem is an irregular Pindaric ode in 11 stanzas that combines aspects of Coleridge's Conversation poems, the religious sentiments of theBible and the works of Saint Augustine, and aspects of the elegiac and apocalyptic traditions. It is split into three movements: the first of 4 stanzas discusses concerns about lost vision, the second of 4 stanzas describes how age causes man to lose sight of the divine, and the third of 3 stanzas is hopeful in that the memory of the divine allows us to sympathise with our fellow man. The poem relies on the concept of pre-existence, the idea that the soul existed before the body, to connect children with the ability to witness the divine within nature. As children mature, they become more worldly and lose this divine vision, and the ode reveals Wordsworth's understanding of psychological development that is also found in his poems The Prelude and Tintern Abbey. Wordsworth's praise of children as the "best philosopher" was criticised by Coleridge and became the source of later critical discussion.
Modern critics sometimes referred to Wordsworth's poem as the "Great Ode"[1][2] and ranked it among his best poems,[3] but this wasn't always the case. Contemporary reviews of the poem were mixed, with many reviewers attacking the work or, like Lord Byron, dismissing the work without analysis. The critics felt that Wordsworth's subject matter was too "low" and some felt that the emphasis on childhood was misplaced. Among the Romantic poets, most praised various aspects of the poem however. By the Victorian period, most reviews of the ode were positive with only John Ruskin taking a strong negative stance against the poem. The poem continued to be well received into the 20th-century, with few exceptions. The majority ranked it as one of Wordsworth's greatest poems.
STYLE:
The poem uses an irregular form of the Pindaric ode in 11 stanzas. The lengths of the lines and of the stanzas vary throughout the text, and the poem begins with an iambic meter. The irregularities increase throughout the poem and Stanza IX lacks a regular form before being replaced with a march-like meter in the final two stanzas. The poem also contains multiple enjambments and there is a use of an ABAB rhyme scheme that gives the poem a singsong quality. By the end of the poem, the rhymes start to become as irregular in a similar way to the meter, and the irregular Stanza IX closes with an iambic couplet. The purpose of the change in rhythm, rhyme, and style is to match the emotions expressed in the poem as it develops from idea to idea. The narration of the poem is in the style of an interior monologue,[15] and there are many aspects of the poem that connects it to Coleridge's style of poetry called "Conversation poems", especially the poem's reliance on a one sided discussion that expects a response that never comes.[16] There is also a more traditional original of the discussion style of the poem, as many of the prophetic aspects of the poem are related to the Old Testament of the Bible.[17] Additionally, the reflective and questioning aspects are similar to the Psalms and the works of Saint Augustine, and the ode contains what is reminiscent of Hebrew prayer.[18]
In terms of genre, the poem is an ode, which makes it a poem that is both prayer and contains a celebration of its subject. However, this celebration is mixed with questioning and this hinders the continuity of the poem.[19] The poem is also related to the elegy in that it mourns the loss of childhood vision,[20] and the title page of the 1807 edition emphasises the influence of Virgil's Eclogue 4.[21] Wordsworth's use of the elegy, in his poems including the "Lucy" poems, parts of The Excursion, and others, focus on individuals that protect themselves from a sense of loss by turning to nature or time. He also rejects any kind of fantasy that would take him away from reality while accepting both death and the loss of his own abilities to time while mourning over the loss.[22] However, the elegy is traditionally a private poem while Wordsworth's ode is more public in nature.[23] The poem is also related to the genre of apocalyptic writing in that it focuses on what is seen or the lack of sight. Such poems emphasis the optical sense and were common to many poems written by the Romantic poets, including his own poem The Ruined Cottage, Coleridge's Dejection: An Ode and Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Percy Bysshe Shelley's Hymn to Intellectual Beauty and The Zucca.
The ode contains 11 stanzas split into three movements. The first movement is four stanzas long and discusses the narrator's inability to see the divine glory of nature, the problem of the poem. The second movement is four stanzas long and has a negative response to the problem. The third movement is three stanzas long and contains a positive response to the problem.[25] The ode begins by contrasting the narrator's view of the world as a child and as a man, with what was once a life interconnected to the divine fading away:[26]
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;—
Turn wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more. (lines 1–9)
In the second and third stanzas, the narrator continues by describing his surroundings and various aspects of nature that he is no longer able to feel. He feels as if he is separated from the rest of nature until he experiences a moment that brings about feelings of joy that are able to overcome his despair:[27]
To me alone there came a thought of grief:
A timely utterance gave that thought relief,
And I again am strong:
The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep;
No more shall grief of mine the season wrong; (lines 22–26)
The joy in stanza III slowly fades again in stanza IV as the narrator feels like there is "something that is gone".[27] As the stanza ends, the narrator asks two different questions to end the first movement of the poem. Though they appear to be similar, one asks where the visions are now ("Where is it now") while the other doesn't ("Whither is fled"), and they leave open the possibility that the visions could return:[28]
A single Field which I have looked upon,
Both of them speak of something that is gone:
The Pansy at my feet
Doth the same tale repeat:
Whither is fled the visionary gleam?
Where is it now, the glory and the dream? (lines 52–57)
The second movement begins in stanza V by answering the question of stanza IV by describing a Platonic system of pre-existence. The narrator explains how humans start in an ideal world that slowly fades into a shadowy life:[27]
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy,
But He beholds the light, and whence it flows,
He sees it in his joy; (lines 58–70)
Before the light fades away as the child matures, the narrator emphasises the greatness of the child experiencing the feelings. By the beginning of stanza VIII, the child is described as a great individual,[29] and the stanza is written in the form of a prayer that praises the attributes of children:[30]
Thou, whose exterior semblance doth belie
Thy Soul's immensity;
Thou best Philosopher, who yet dost keep
Thy heritage, thou Eye among the blind,
That, deaf and silent, read'st the eternal deep,
Haunted for ever by the eternal mind, —
Mighty Prophet! Seer blest!
On whom those truths do rest,
Which we are toiling all our lives to find,
In darkness lost, the darkness of the grave; (lines 108–117)
The end of stanza VIII brings about the end of a second movement within the poem. The glories of nature are only described as existing in the past, and the child's understanding of morality is already causing them to lose what they once had:[28]
Full soon thy Soul shall have her earthly freight,
And custom lie upon thee with a weight,
Heavy as frost, and deep almost as life! (lines 129–131)
The questions in Stanza IV are answered with words of despair in the second movement, but the third movement is filled with joy.[25] Stanza IX contains a mixture of affirmation of life and faith as it seemingly avoids discussing what is lost.[29] The stanza describes how a child is able to see what others do not see because children do not comprehend mortality, and the imagination allows an adult to intimate immortality and bond with his fellow man:[31]
Hence in a season of calm weather
Though inland far we be,
Our Souls have sight of that immortal sea
Which brought us hither,
Can in a moment travel thither,
And see the Children sport upon the shore,
And hear the mighty waters rolling evermore. (lines 164–170)
The children on the shore represents the adult narrator's recollection of childhood, and the recollection allows for an intimation of returning to that mental state. In stanza XI, the imagination allows one to know that there are limits to the world, but it also allows for a return to a state of sympathy with the world lacking any questions or concerns:[32]
The Clouds that gather round the setting sun
Do take a sober colouring from an eye
That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality;
Another race hath been, and other palms are won. (lines 199–202)
The poem concludes with an affirmation that, though changed by time, the narrator is able to be the same person he once was:[33]
Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. (lines 203–206)
TINTERN ABBEY
-William Wordsworth
"Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey on revisiting the banks of the Wye during a tour, 13 July 1798"[1] (often abbreviated to "Tintern Abbey", "Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey" or simply "Lines") is a poem by William Wordsworth. Tintern Abbey is an abbey abandoned in 1536 and located in the southern Welsh county ofMonmouthshire. The poem is of particular interest in that Wordsworth's descriptions of the Banks of Wye outline his general philosophies on nature.
It also has significance as the terminal poem of the 1798 edition of Lyrical Ballads, although it does not fit well into the titular category, being more protracted and elaborate than its predecessors.
Themes and context
"I cannot paint/ What then I was," Wordsworth writes, reflecting and almost puzzling over his "boyish days" when the natural world of Tintern Abbey was to him an unmixed "passion" and a "feeling" that had no need of "any interest/ Unborrowed from the eye." Yet the poet insists that age compensates for this loss of thoughtless passion by giving him instead a sense of the sublimity of nature, of "something far more deeply interfused," and here the poem seems in a sense to grope for God, invoking a "spirit" that "rolls through all things."
The poem has its roots in history. Accompanied by his sister Dorothy (whom he addresses warmly in the final paragraph as "thou my dearest Friend, / My dear, dear Friend"[2]), Wordsworth did indeed revisit the abbey on the date stipulated after half a decade's absence. His previous visit had been on a solitary walking tour as a twenty-three-year-old in August 1793. His life had since taken a considerable turn: he had split with his French lover and their illegitimate daughter, while on a broader note Anglo-French tensions had escalated to such an extent that Britain would declare war later that year. The Wye, on the other hand, had remained much the same, affording the poet opportunity for contrast. A large portion of the poem explores the impact of preterition, contrasting the obviousness of it in the visitor with its seamlessness in the visited. This theme is emphasized from the start in the line "Five years have passed..."[3]
Although written in 1798, the poem is in large part a recollection of Wordsworth's visit of 1793. It also harks back in the imagination to a time when the abbey was not in ruins, and dwells occasionally on the present and the future as well. The speaker admits to having reminisced about the place many times in the past five years. Notably, the abbey itself is nowhere described.
Wordsworth claimed to have composed the poem entirely in his head, beginning it upon leaving Tintern and crossing the Wye, and not jotting so much as a line until he reached Bristol, by which time it had just reached mental completion. In all, it took him four to five days' rambling about with his sister.[4] Although Lyrical Ballads was by then already in publication, he was so pleased with this offering that he had it inserted at the eleventh hour, as the concluding poem. It is unknown whether this placement was intentional, but scholars generally agree that it is apt, for the poem represents the climax of Wordsworth's first great period of creative output and prefigures much of the distinctively Wordsworthian verse that followed.
Although never overt, the poem is riddled with religion, most of it pantheistic. Wordsworth styles himself as a "worshipper of Nature" with a "far deeper zeal / Of holier love",[5] seeming to hold that mental images of nature can engender a mystical intuition of the divine.
Style and structure
The poem is written in tightly-structured blank verse and comprises verse-paragraphs rather than stanzas. It is unrhymed and mostly in iambic pentameter. Categorising the poem is difficult, as it contains elements of all of the ode, the dramatic monologue and the conversation poem. In the second edition of Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth noted:
I have not ventured to call this Poem an Ode but it was written with a hope that in the transitions, and the impassioned music of the versification would be found the principle requisites of that species of composition.
At its beginning, it may well be dubbed an Eighteenth-Century "landscape-poem", but it is commonly agreed that the best designation would be the conversation poem.[6]
Lines 1–24
Revisiting the natural beauty of the Wye fills the poet with a sense of "tranquile restoration".
first visit in 1793 ; second visit in 1798..
Line 37
Lines 35–49
Wordsworth says that the gifts given him by the abbey (such as "tranquil restoration") have in so doing accorded him yet another, still more sublime: it has relieved him of a giant burden – his doubts about God, religion and the meaning of life.
Lines 88–111
After contemplating the few changes in scenery since last he visited, Wordsworth is overcome with "a sense sublime of something far more deeply interfused, whose dwelling is the light of setting suns".[7] He is met with the divine as "a motion and a spirit, that impels all thinking things, all objects of thought, and rolls through all things".[8] These are perhaps the most telling lines in Wordsworth's connection of the "sublime" with "divine creativity", the result of allowing nature to become "the anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse, the guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul of all my moral being".[9]
Lines 114–160
In the final stanza, Wordsworth addresses his sister Dorothy, who did not accompany him on his original visit to the abbey, and perceives in the delight she shows at the resplendence and serenity of their environs a poignant echo of his former self.
Dejection: An Ode
-S.T.Coleridge
Dejection: An Ode was a poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1802. The poem in its original form was written to Sara Hutchinson, a woman who was not his wife, and discusses his feelings of love for her. The various versions of the poem describe Coleridge's inability to write poetry and living in a state of paralysis, but published editions remove his personal feelings and mention of Hutchinson.
Background
Coleridge wrote in his notebook about Hutchinson, a woman that was not his wife, and possible poems:[1] "Can see nothing extraordinary in her — a Poem nothing all the virtues of the mild & retired kind [...] Poem on this night on Helvellin /William & Dorothy & Mary / —Sara & I — [...] Poem on the length of our acquaintance / all the hours that I have been thinking of her &c."[2] During this time in 1802, Coleridge was separated from his family and he eventually returned home during March. The relationship between him and his wife was restarted and they had a daughter in December 1802. However, of the poems he intended to write about Hutchinson, he managed to complete one and an early draft was sent to her in a letter on 4 April 1802.[3]
The original draft was titled "Letter to Sara Hutchinson", and it became Dejection when he sought to publish it. There are many differences between the versions beyond the original being 340 lines and the printed 139 lines as they reflect two different moments in Coleridge's emotional struggle. Also, passages describing his childhood and other personal matters were removed between versions.[4] It was published in the 4 October 1802 Morning Post (see 1802 in poetry). This date corresponding to Wordsworth's wedding to Mary Hutchinson and Coleridge's own wedding anniversary.[5] The poem was grouped with the Asra poems, a series of poems discussing love that were dedicated to Hutchinson. Eventually, Coleridge cut himself off from Hutchinson and renounced his feelings for her, which ended the problems that resulted in the poem.[6]
Poem
The poem begins with a claim that the narrator has lost his ability to write, which fuels the mood of dejection:[1]
Well ! If the Bard was weather-wise, who made
This night, so tranquil now, will not go hence
Unroused by winds, that ply a busier trade
Than those which mould yon cloud in lazy flakes,
Or the dull sobbing draft, that moans and rakes
Upon the strings of this Æolian lute,
Which better far were mute.
For lo! the New-moon winter-bright! (lines 1–9)
O Lady ! in this wan and heartless mood,
To other thoughts by yonder throstle woo'd,
All this long eve, so balmy and serene,
Have I been gazing on the western sky,
And its peculiar tint of yellow green:
And still I gaze—and with how blank an eye!
And those thin clouds above, in flakes and bars,
That give away their motion to the stars;
Those stars, that glide behind them or between,
Now sparkling, now bedimmed, but always seen:
Yon crescent Moon, as fixed as if it grew
In its own cloudless, starless lake of blue;
I see them all so excellently fair,
I see, not feel how beautiful they are!
My genial spirits fail ;
And what can these avail
To lift the smothering weight from off my breast ?
It were a vain endeavour,
Though I should gaze for ever
On that green light that lingers in the west :
I may not hope from outward forms to win
The passion and the life, whose fountains are within.
The poem continues with the narrator hoping that the woman he desires can bha Joy, Lady ! is the spirit and the power,
Which wedding Nature to us gives in dower
A new Earth and new Heaven,
Undreamt of by the sensual and the proud—
Joy is the sweet voice, Joy the luminous cloud—
We in ourselves rejoice!
Themes
The poem was a reply to William Wordsworth's "Resolution and Independence".[9] It is also connected to Wordsworth's Immortality Ode in theme and structure.[10] The poem expresses feelings of dejection and the inability to write poetry or to enjoy nature. Wordsworth is introduced into the poem as a counter to Coleridge, because Wordsworth is able to turn such a mood into a benefit and is able to be comforted. However, Coleridge cannot find anything positive in his problems, and he expresses how he feels paralyzed by his emotions. This source of their paralysis was Coleridge's feelings for Hutchinson and problems dealing with his marriage.[11] However, Coleridge couldn't have been completely in dejection or he would have been unable to create the poem.[12]
The poem also captures some feelings in Coleridge's previous works, especially in analyzing a problematic childhood and an exploration of religion. Partly, these feelings were fueled by his inability to accept his opium addiction and other problems. The poems also contain Coleridge's desires for Hutchinson, but these were later removed from the printed edition of the works. The editions are so different that they reflect the conflict and division that Coleridge felt during 1802. The tone of the poems are different, as the original was passionate and emotional, and the printed version was organized and philosophical.[13]
There is a connection between Dejection and Frost at Midnight in everything but its form. This is primarily true of the original version, but many of the personal elements of the poem continue over into the published version. The trimming of the poem allows for Coleridge to emphasize the most important poetic aspects of the original and to create a separation of the form from the subject area which allows for a strong incongruity not in the original.[14]
SOURCES:Coleridge is responding and interacting with many of Wordsworth's poems. Coleridge's views on dejection and inability to find a positive in such feelings is connected to Wordsworth's Expostulation and Reply. The poem's describing about nature and unable to enjoy natural scenes anymore is connected to the inability to see nature in the same way as previously possible within Wordsworth's Immortality Ode.[15] Like theImmortality Ode, Dejection is a Pindaric Ode.
KUBLA KHAN
-S.T.Coleridge
Summary
The speaker describes the “stately pleasure-dome” built in Xanadu according to the decree of Kubla Khan, in the place where Alph, the sacred river, ran “through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea.” Walls and towers were raised around “twice five miles of fertile ground,” filled with beautiful gardens and forests. A “deep romantic chasm” slanted down a green hill, occasionally spewing forth a violent and powerful burst of water, so great that it flung boulders up with it “like rebounding hail.” The river ran five miles through the woods, finally sinking “in tumult to a lifeless ocean.” Amid that tumult, in the place “as holy and enchanted / As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted / By woman wailing to her demon-lover,” Kubla heard “ancestral voices” bringing prophesies of war. The pleasure-dome’s shadow floated on the waves, where the mingled sounds of the fountain and the caves could be heard. “It was a miracle of rare device,” the speaker says, “A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!”
The speaker says that he once saw a “damsel with a dulcimer,” an Abyssinian maid who played her dulcimer and sang “of Mount Abora.” He says that if he could revive “her symphony and song” within him, he would rebuild the pleasure-dome out of music, and all who heard him would cry “Beware!” of “His flashing eyes, his floating hair!” The hearers would circle him thrice and close their eyes with “holy dread,” knowing that he had tasted honeydew, “and drunk the milk of Paradise.”
Form
The chant-like, musical incantations of “Kubla Khan” result from Coleridge’s masterful use of iambic tetrameter and alternating rhyme schemes. The first stanza is written in tetrameter with a rhyme scheme of ABAABCCDEDE, alternating between staggered rhymes and couplets. The second stanza expands into tetrameter and follows roughly the same rhyming pattern, also expanded— ABAABCCDDFFGGHIIHJJ. The third stanza tightens into tetrameter and rhymes ABABCC. The fourth stanza continues the tetrameter of the third and rhymes ABCCBDEDEFGFFFGHHG.
Commentary
Along with “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” “Kubla Khan” is one of Coleridge’s most famous and enduring poems. The story of its composition is also one of the most famous in the history of English poetry. As the poet explains in the short preface to this poem, he had fallen asleep after taking “an anodyne” prescribed “in consequence of a slight disposition” (this is a euphemism for opium, to which Coleridge was known to be addicted). Before falling asleep, he had been reading a story in which Kubla Khan commanded the building of a new palace; Coleridge claims that while he slept, he had a fantastic vision and composed simultaneously—while sleeping—some two or three hundred lines of poetry, “if that indeed can be called composition in which all the images rose up before him as things, with a parallel production of the correspondent expressions, without any sensation or conscious effort.”
Waking after about three hours, the poet seized a pen and began writing furiously; however, after copying down the first three stanzas of his dreamt poem—the first three stanzas of the current poem as we know it—he was interrupted by a “person on business from Porlock,” who detained him for an hour. After this interruption, he was unable to recall the rest of the vision or the poetry he had composed in his opium dream. It is thought that the final stanza of the poem, thematizing the idea of the lost vision through the figure of the “damsel with a dulcimer” and the milk of Paradise, was written post-interruption. The mysterious person from Porlock is one of the most notorious and enigmatic figures in Coleridge’s biography; no one knows who he was or why he disturbed the poet or what he wanted or, indeed, whether any of Coleridge’s story is actually true. But the person from Porlock has become a metaphor for the malicious interruptions the world throws in the way of inspiration and genius, and “Kubla Khan,” strange and ambiguous as it is, has become what is perhaps the definitive statement on the obstruction and thwarting of the visionary genius.
Regrettably, the story of the poem’s composition, while thematically rich in and of itself, often overshadows the poem proper, which is one of Coleridge’s most haunting and beautiful. The first three stanzas are products of pure imagination: The pleasure-dome of Kubla Khan is not a useful metaphor for anything in particular (though in the context of the poem’s history, it becomes a metaphor for the unbuilt monument of imagination); however, it is a fantastically prodigious descriptive act. The poem becomes especially evocative when, after the second stanza, the meter suddenly tightens; the resulting lines are terse and solid, almost beating out the sound of the war drums (“The shadow of the dome of pleasure / Floated midway on the waves...”).
The fourth stanza states the theme of the poem as a whole (though “Kubla Khan” is almost impossible to consider as a unified whole, as its parts are so sharply divided). The speaker says that he once had a vision of the damsel singing of Mount Abora; this vision becomes a metaphor for Coleridge’s vision of the300-hundred-line masterpiece he never completed. The speaker insists that if he could only “revive” within him “her symphony and song,” he would recreate the pleasure-dome out of music and words, and take on the persona of the magician or visionary. His hearers would recognize the dangerous power of the vision, which would manifest itself in his “flashing eyes” and “floating hair.” But, awestruck, they would nonetheless dutifully take part in the ritual, recognizing that “he on honey-dew hath fed, / And drunk the milk of Paradise.”
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ODE ON A GRECIAN URN
-John Keats
Summary
In the first stanza, the speaker stands before an ancient Grecian urn and addresses it. He is preoccupied with its depiction of pictures frozen in time. It is the “still unravish’d bride of quietness,” the “foster-child of silence and slow time.” He also describes the urn as a “historian” that can tell a story. He wonders about the figures on the side of the urn and asks what legend they depict and from where they come. He looks at a picture that seems to depict a group of men pursuing a group of women and wonders what their story could be: “What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? / What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?”
In the second stanza, the speaker looks at another picture on the urn, this time of a young man playing a pipe, lying with his lover beneath a glade of trees. The speaker says that the piper’s “unheard” melodies are sweeter than mortal melodies because they are unaffected by time. He tells the youth that, though he can never kiss his lover because he is frozen in time, he should not grieve, because her beauty will never fade. In the third stanza, he looks at the trees surrounding the lovers and feels happy that they will never shed their leaves. He is happy for the piper because his songs will be “for ever new,” and happy that the love of the boy and the girl will last forever, unlike mortal love, which lapses into “breathing human passion” and eventually vanishes, leaving behind only a “burning forehead, and a parching tongue.”
In the fourth stanza, the speaker examines another picture on the urn, this one of a group of villagers leading a heifer to be sacrificed. He wonders where they are going (“To what green altar, O mysterious priest...”) and from where they have come. He imagines their little town, empty of all its citizens, and tells it that its streets will “for evermore” be silent, for those who have left it, frozen on the urn, will never return. In the final stanza, the speaker again addresses the urn itself, saying that it, like Eternity, “doth tease us out of thought.” He thinks that when his generation is long dead, the urn will remain, telling future generations its enigmatic lesson: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty.” The speaker says that that is the only thing the urn knows and the only thing it needs to know.
Form
“Ode on a Grecian Urn” follows the same ode-stanza structure as the “Ode on Melancholy,” though it varies more the rhyme scheme of the last three lines of each stanza. Each of the five stanzas in “Grecian Urn” is ten lines long, metered in a relatively precise iambic pentameter, and divided into a two part rhyme scheme, the last three lines of which are variable. The first seven lines of each stanza follow an ABABCDE rhyme scheme, but the second occurrences of the CDE sounds do not follow the same order. In stanza one, lines seven through ten are rhymed DCE; in stanza two, CED; in stanzas three and four, CDE; and in stanza five, DCE, just as in stanza one. As in other odes (especially “Autumn” and “Melancholy”), the two-part rhyme scheme (the first part made of AB rhymes, the second of CDE rhymes) creates the sense of a two-part thematic structure as well. The first four lines of each stanza roughly define the subject of the stanza, and the last six roughly explicate or develop it. (As in other odes, this is only a general rule, true of some stanzas more than others; stanzas such as the fifth do not connect rhyme scheme and thematic structure closely at all.)
Themes
If the “Ode to a Nightingale” portrays Keats’s speaker’s engagement with the fluid expressiveness of music, the “Ode on a Grecian Urn” portrays his attempt to engage with the static immobility of sculpture. The Grecian urn, passed down through countless centuries to the time of the speaker’s viewing, exists outside of time in the human sense—it does not age, it does not die, and indeed it is alien to all such concepts. In the speaker’s meditation, this creates an intriguing paradox for the human figures carved into the side of the urn: They are free from time, but they are simultaneously frozen in time. They do not have to confront aging and death (their love is “for ever young”), but neither can they have experience (the youth can never kiss the maiden; the figures in the procession can never return to their homes).
The speaker attempts three times to engage with scenes carved into the urn; each time he asks different questions of it. In the first stanza, he examines the picture of the “mad pursuit” and wonders what actual story lies behind the picture: “What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?” Of course, the urn can never tell him the whos, whats, whens, and wheres of the stories it depicts, and the speaker is forced to abandon this line of questioning.
In the second and third stanzas, he examines the picture of the piper playing to his lover beneath the trees. Here, the speaker tries to imagine what the experience of the figures on the urn must be like; he tries to identify with them. He is tempted by their escape from temporality and attracted to the eternal newness of the piper’s unheard song and the eternally unchanging beauty of his lover. He thinks that their love is “far above” all transient human passion, which, in its sexual expression, inevitably leads to an abatement of intensity—when passion is satisfied, all that remains is a wearied physicality: a sorrowful heart, a “burning forehead,” and a “parching tongue.” His recollection of these conditions seems to remind the speaker that he is inescapably subject to them, and he abandons his attempt to identify with the figures on the urn.
In the fourth stanza, the speaker attempts to think about the figures on the urn as though they were experiencing human time, imagining that their procession has an origin (the “little town”) and a destination (the “green altar”). But all he can think is that the town will forever be deserted: If these people have left their origin, they will never return to it. In this sense he confronts head-on the limits of static art; if it is impossible to learn from the urn the whos and wheres of the “real story” in the first stanza, it is impossibleever to know the origin and the destination of the figures on the urn in the fourth.
It is true that the speaker shows a certain kind of progress in his successive attempts to engage with the urn. His idle curiosity in the first attempt gives way to a more deeply felt identification in the second, and in the third, the speaker leaves his own concerns behind and thinks of the processional purely on its own terms, thinking of the “little town” with a real and generous feeling. But each attempt ultimately ends in failure. The third attempt fails simply because there is nothing more to say—once the speaker confronts the silence and eternal emptiness of the little town, he has reached the limit of static art; on this subject, at least, there is nothing more the urn can tell him.
In the final stanza, the speaker presents the conclusions drawn from his three attempts to engage with the urn. He is overwhelmed by its existence outside of temporal change, with its ability to “tease” him “out of thought / As doth eternity.” If human life is a succession of “hungry generations,” as the speaker suggests in “Nightingale,” the urn is a separate and self-contained world. It can be a “friend to man,” as the speaker says, but it cannot be mortal; the kind of aesthetic connection the speaker experiences with the urn is ultimately insufficient to human life.
The final two lines, in which the speaker imagines the urn speaking its message to mankind—”Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” have proved among the most difficult to interpret in the Keats canon. After the urn utters the enigmatic phrase “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” no one can say for sure who “speaks” the conclusion, “that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” It could be the speaker addressing the urn, and it could be the urn addressing mankind. If it is the speaker addressing the urn, then it would seem to indicate his awareness of its limitations: The urn may not need to know anything beyond the equation of beauty and truth, but the complications of human life make it impossible for such a simple and self-contained phrase to express sufficiently anything about necessary human knowledge. If it is the urn addressing mankind, then the phrase has rather the weight of an important lesson, as though beyond all the complications of human life, all human beings need to know on earth is that beauty and truth are one and the same. It is largely a matter of personal interpretation which reading to accept.
