Paper and Grade Pick Up

I am still working frantically on grades for your class.  I'll be in the office most of today, but probably won't be done with all grades until this afternoon.  If you need/want to come by earlier, email so that we can work something out! 

I'll also be in the office Friday afternoon by about 1:00. 

Review

FINAL EXAMINATION REVIEW


ENG 265: British Literature Milton to the Romantics

Here are the concepts and works that you need to be familiar with for the exam. The exam itself will be composed of passage IDs, multiple choice questions and definitions. You must bring paper and writing utensils with you. The exam will take place on Monday, March 16 at 11:30 in our usual classroom. Happy Studying!



The Following is a list of genres we have read/seen this term. Please know what they are and be able to cite at least one example of each:

Ballad Opera
Epic Poem
Mock Epic
Gothic Novel
Satire
Philosophical Treatise
Lyric Poetry

The following is a list of terms/people we have discussed this term. Please know who and what they are, and how they relate to our readings.

Romantic
Enlightenment
Predestination
French Revolution
Prelapsarian
Hanoverian
Rousseau
Frame Story
Newgate
Transportation
Beauty Marks
Illumination
Old English/Middle English/Modern English


The following is a list of characters you should be familiar with:

God
Satan
Sin and Death
Raphael
Lemuel Gulliver
Beggar
Macheath
Polly Peachum
Belinda
Ariel
the Baron
Isabella/Matilda/Theodore
Manfred/Hippolita
Frederic
The Ancient Bard
Tom Dacre
The Tiger/The Lamb
Don Juan
Ancient Mariner
La Belle Dame

Exam Example Questions

Passage Identifications:  Please read carefully the following passages.  Identify:  1) the author of the quotation; 2) the name of the work it is from; 3) if possible, the speaker in the passage. THEN please write a short paragraph discussing the significance of the passage.  You may want to think about the author’s work(s) generally, the work itself, the genre of the work, any important and/or identifying characteristics of the passage.  Please choose 4 of the passages to write on.  Each will be worth 10 points:  1 for the author, 1 for the work from which it comes, 2 for the speaker, 6 for discussion of significance.

16. For forms of government let fools contest;

Whate’er is best administered is best:


For modes of faith, let graceless zealots fight;


His can’t be wrong whose life is in the right:


In faith and hope the world will disagree,


But all mankind’s concern is charity:


All must be false that thwart this one great end,


And all of God, that bless mankind or mend.

Definitions:  Please define the following terms.  What text(s) do you associate them with and why?  These will be worth 5 points each—2 points for the definition, 3 for the association. 

Rousseau

Beauty Marks


There will also be some multiple choice questions.  Most of them will be reading checks. 

Short Answer Essays

What follows are five short answer questions.  Please choose 3 to write on.  Answer in no less than one longish and no more than 2 longish paragraphs.  Type your answers and bring them with you to the final during our last class period.  I will not accept take home essays at any time other than the final.

1.  Name a theme found in at least three separate pieces of literature you have read this term.  Briefly indicate 1) what the theme is 2) what texts you see it developed in and 3) how the theme manifests itself in each of the three texts you have named.

2.  Even though he has Gulliver narrate Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift gives readers several clues that Gulliver is not always to be trusted by us.  Give at least 3 examples, and explain how these moments (or statements or situtations) undermine Gulliver's authority or trustworthiness.

3.  List five features of the gothic novel found in Walpole's The Castle of Otranto.  Be as specific as you can.  Discuss the effects that these features have in the novella.  (In other words, besides for our entertainment, how is Walpole using these features?  What does he accomplish with them?)

4.  What are three differences you see between the literature of the Enlightenment (Swift, Pope) and the literature of the Romantic period (Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats).  What historical or philosophical shifts or events might account for those differences?  Be as specific as possible.

5.  In what ways can The Vindication of the Rights of Women be seen as a reaction to Milton's Paradise Lost?  How, specifically, does Wollstonecraft use Milton's work as an important touchstone in her argument for women's education?

Readings for Wednesday

You can find all the Coleridge and Wordsworth readings in English Romantic Verse.

We will not discuss the Keats/Byron/Shelly poems in class--but read them before the final--there may be questions on them.


OZYMANDIAS (P. B. Shelley)


I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.

And on the pedestal these words appear:

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Information/Readings for Wednesday

I apologize for not being in class today, guys.  Here is some important news and some readings for Wednesday.

I am in my office tonight (Monday) until 6 or 6:30.  I'll be back in the morning by 7:30 and will be in the building until almost 12:30 pm Tuesday.  You are VERY welcome (encouraged even) to come by and get midterms from me in my office.  If you want to do that, you are also encouraged to email me and let me know that you are coming so that I can pull papers for you. 

We'll discuss Wollstonecraft Wednesday.  You can read Wordsworth over the weekend.  But I would like you to read the following Blake poems for Wednesday.

The Lamb
The Tygre
The Chimney Sweeper (both versions--there are two)
Holy Thursday (both versions--there are two)
Nurse's Song (both versions--there are two)

These are from Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.  You can find all of them here. 

Please, please email me if you have any questions or concerns.

Explications and Creative Responses

According to your syllabus, you have an explication due next Wednesday (February 23), and a creative response assignment due on March 9th.  We do not have class on Monday, February 21st, for Presidents' Day.  And, I have been very slow in getting things back to you.  SO, this is what I propose.

Please turn in your second explication by March 2nd.  You may turn in your creative response at any time between next week and the final class day, March 14th.  I will take rewrites of first explications until the last class day. 
Please do NOT write exclusively on the same text for the creative response and for the second explication. (You must show that you have read/understood several pieces.)

For the explication: You may write on anything we have read since Paradise Lost. The expectations for this explication are the same as for the first--so I refer you back there for instructions.

For the creative assignment: You have a few choices.

1. Write a dialogue between 3 or 4 of the writers that we have read this term. Provide them with a context (why are they all gathered together); a topic or topics of conversation; and have each character speak in the voice that you think best represents him/her.

2. Retell or explain a text for an audience of 6-year-olds. You can do this in any form that you like. You may illustrate, if you like. (So, think about "Essay on Man" for 6-year-olds. Or a retelling of The Castle of Otranto C'mon. You can have fun with this one.)

3. Write a letter in the voice of a particular character asking for advice about a problem he/she might be having (based the problem on something you have read). Then, write thoughtful advice back to the character. (What should he or she do/do differently?)

4. Pick a character or writer from the class so far. Write diary entries that represent the character's secret, personal responses to the events in the novel or in their period of history. Entries should be consistent with the portrayal of the character in the novel.
5. Write a book review of Gulliver's Travels or The Castle of Otranto or The Vindication of the Rights of Woman. You can write it as if you are reviewing the book now, or try to write it as if you are reviewing it when it was published. Think carefully about your audience and its expectations.

These seem like "fun" activities, but remember that I am going to be reading them to see how well you have read the pieces that you are using as background. Try to emulate voice, think about the historical position of the characters/writers, weave in contemporary events and preoccupations.

These should be 4 or 5 pages, unless you really get going. I'll read as much as you will write.

Discussion/Study Questions for "An Essay on Man"

These are some general questions to consider as you are reading Pope (or after you have read Pope).  Tomorrow we will focus our discussion on Epistle I after we finish discussing "The Rape of the Lock."  (But you are responsible for the whole of "An Essay on Man." 
1.  As you read "An Essay On Man," are there any ideas, or even any phrases, that seem familiar to you?  If so, what are they and where do you think you have heard them before?

2.  Does Pope seem to agree or disagree with Milton about the nature of Man and the nature of the Fall?  Consider lines 16, 69-74 and 123-130.  Where does Pope seem to come out on the issue of freewill vs. predestination?

3.  What is Pope's stated reason for writing "An Essay on Man?"  What is he trying to accomplish?

4.  What are some of the different metaphors Pope uses to describe the natural world?  What do those metaphors reveal about the way that he understands the world?

5.  How does Pope seem to understand/define perfection?

6.  According to Pope, how does Man best serve God?  How do you know?

7.  What is your understanding of what Pope means when he talks about "The Great Chain of Being?"  If you had to describe this concept to someone else, based on Pope's discussion of it, what would you say?

8.  What are some of the animals that Pope compares Man to?  What seems to be the point of these comparisons?  Provide an example or two.

9.  In Epistle I, part iii, lines 99-102, Pope contrasts "civilized man" to an Indian.  What is the point of this contrast, and which party emerges favored?

10.  What does Pope say about Man's tendency to classify natural occurrences as "evil?"  How does this relate to his overall argument/purpose in "An Essay on Man."

11.  Think about the final statement of Epistle One ("What is, is right.")  What do you think about this assertion?  What are the benefits of buying into this philosophy?  What are its dangers or pitfalls?  We will discuss---

Please bring in any questions or concerns that you may have about Pope.  We will find time to discuss them.

Midterm Exam and Scheduling

We are a little off schedule.  That is OK.  Here is how it is going to impact you:

1.  We will skip Johnson and Boswell and 18th Century Newspapers.
2.  We will discuss The Beggar's Opera on Monday, February 7th. 
3.  Read Pope ("Rape of the Lock" and "Essay on Man")for next week.

On to the Midterm.  This will be due on Wednesday, February 9th.  I suggest beginning work on it this weekend.  On Monday I will pass back explications and we'll talk about a few issues that should help you to finish the Midterm successfully.  Please remember that Midterms should be typed and formatted in MLA style (and also cited according to MLA guidelines).

You have two choices.  Please answer one of the following questions.  I expect that answers will range from about three to five pages.  But there are no minimum and no maximum page requirements.  You will have to decide how long it will take you to adequately answer the question you have chosen.

1.  Milton, Swift, and Gay all exhibit some uses of humor in the pieces you have read, although, one could argue, in very different ways.  Identify a passage in each text that could be considered humorous, witty, absurd, or even laugh-out-loud funny.  Write a short description/summary of each passage, then compare and contrast 1) the kind of humor being used (what makes it funny?  how would you characterize the humor?  what might you compare the humor to?) and 2) the purpose of the humor (what significance does the humor have to the work as a whole?  what work gets accomplished in the passage?  how does the author's sense of humor help readers understand the author or the work better?)  You might also wish to consider whether the humor is at the EXPENSE of any particular person/group of people and what that might indicate. 

If you are feeling bold, adventurous, and in need of extra credit, you may ALSO consider the humor in Pope's "The Rape of the Lock."  But don't do so in place of any of the other three texts.  Be sure that you have covered the required material first and thoroughly.

2.  If I were to give you unidentified passages from Milton, Swift, and Gay, you would likely be able to tell me who had written them, given the fact that the three are writing in different genres, use language in very different ways, and seem to have different purposes for writing in the first place.  Characterize these writers based on the texts you have read.  If it helps, think about how you might describe or represent each writer to someone who had not read any of these texts before.  (Milton is the ________________ writer.  Or Swift is the writer of _______________ and _______________.)  Then, support your characterizations with evidence that touches on all three elements of genre, language, and purpose.  Use quotation and summary to make your characterizations clear and understandable.  

If you are feeling bold, adventurous, and in need of extra credit, you may ALSO consider Pope's "Essay on Man."  But don't do so in place of any of the other three texts.  Be sure that you have covered the required material first and thoroughly.

**Please remember that, in either case, you need to 1) make a clear and consistent interpretative argument in answer to the question posed and 2) use direct evidence from the texts (quotation, paraphrase, summary), in order to write a successful midterm.

**You may contact me with questions or concerns about this exam, but you MAY NOT receive help from anyone else--do not discuss the exam with classmates and do not take the exam, or your answer, to the Tutoring Center.  Part of the purpose here is to ascertain if you have read and how well you have read these texts.  Also, please note that both of these essays can be written without the use of any secondary sources.  If it helps, you may use the introductions and notes from your texts (please cite them correctly if you DO use them), but please restrict yourself to these resources and the texts themselves.  Googling and wiki-ing will likely muddy the waters, in this case.