Prompt: Final Paper

DUE: 6 pm, Friday, December 16, 2011

Explanation

This essay will be a demonstration of the skills you have learned and practiced throughout the semester. You will close read, interpret, and contextualize a passage from a text, and you will make a unique and compelling argument based on your reading. By now, the operation of close reading and interpretation should be familiar to you, and the method we’ve developed so far applies to the final essay. However, while weekly assignments could pass without attention to argument or context, this essay must include extensive and appropriate contextualizing elements as well as a clearly articulated argument based on your reading. Finally, this is your opportunity to compare works that we’ve read. Your primary text (that is, the text that provides the focus for your paper) must be from the second half of the class; however, you can compare that work to anything we have read this semester. We have not practiced comparative work, so it is not required. But, if you’re feeling ambitious please feel free to make an attempt. The successful paper will include the following elements, not necessarily in this order:

• Introduction and thesis statement. The introduction should not be general, but should introduce your specific reading and argument. Give the reader details that matter, including some reference to your critical lens. The thesis should be one or two declarative sentences that make an arguable assertion. General, non-argumentative statements will not count as a thesis.
• Close reading of one or two passages. Close read one or two passages from your chosen text. Remember, close reading begins with an identification of one or two important rhetorical techniques. Do not catalogue techniques; instead, choose the most relevant. Define the technique, identify it in the passage, and then describe HOW it creates meaning in the passage. This last part is the beginning of your interpretation. If you decide to close read more than one passage, be sure the second passage is related, in some way, to the first. Both should advance and support your argument.
• Expanded interpretation. After you close read, apply the meaning you’ve derived from the passage to the rest of the text, explaining why your interpretation of the passage helps us better understand the larger meanings of the text.
• Contextualization. You can provide context in any number of ways. For our purposes, we might classify context in three ways: personal, historical, and critical. Personal context explains what kind of approach or lens you’re using; historical context focuses on relevant historical details that enhance your close reading; critical context introduces another’s argument about the same text, which you will challenge, complicate, or extend. Unlike the midterm, your final close reading should be extensively contextualized and should include a combination of the three types of contexts. Here are some things about context to keep in mind:
• It is absolutely imperative that you use acceptable sources, namely, the Bedford Glossary, the Oxford Online Reference, and articles from the MLA Bibliography.
• Be thorough in your definitions of terms and ideas.
• Always, always, always properly identify and cite your sources.
• Finally, remember that context can come at any moment in your essay, and it should be integrated in a way that supports your argument and improves the organization and coherence of your ideas.
• Conclusion. Always include some brief concluding remarks about your reading and why it matters.

Suggestions

Keep in mind, this is not a five paragraph essay but a much more complex piece of writing and therefore should be organized accordingly. Only the introduction and conclusion have a fixed place in the essay. The other elements may be organized at your discretion and in a manner that best suits your argument. Write them in whatever combination you feel is most effective.

Also, keep in mind that I expect these papers to be more advanced than first drafts. Please reread and revise your papers to improve their organization (the order of paragraphs and other blocks of information), coherence (of transitions between ideas), clarity (of sentences), and correctness (of grammar, spelling, punctuation, and citation). You must have an identifiable thesis statement in the form of one or two declarative sentences that make an arguable assertion. Without this, it will be impossible to effectively organize your ideas.

You will have no opportunity to revise your final paper, so the grade you receive will stand as your permanent grade for the paper.

Requirements

• Choose any one short story or novel as the target text for your final paper.
• Use a range of contextual information, including engagement with at least one critical article, obtained from the MLA bibliography, and relevant to your target text.
• Include an identifiable thesis, written as a single, declarative sentence that makes a compelling argument. The thesis should be integrated into the introduction.
• Include a Works Cited page, properly formatted.
• Devise an interesting title that reflects the thesis of your paper.
• Write 1,600 words minimum.
• Email me your midterm essay in .doc, .docx, or .rtf. I will not accept any other formats.
• All midterm essays must be emailed to me by 6 pm on Friday, December 16. Late essays will automatically receive no credit.

Ashley Fisher - Week 10 Example

In her essay "Hills Like White Elephants": The Jilting of Jig," Nilofer Hashmi close reads the short story "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway while discussing the various possibilities of what may have happened past the last page of the written story. He predicts what ensued between the couple by employing details, symbolism, and the title to support his argument. Hashmi addresses the many ideas concerning the future of the troubled couple of the story. However, he settles on the argument that in the end the girl, Jig, will decide to have the abortion, expecting that this is the way she can stay with the American, yet the American will leave her after she has the operation.

The details within the story that the author utilizes to support this argument include the specifics that the girl smiles at the American when he says he must move the bags, urges him to hurry back so they can finish their drink together, and smiles again when he returns from placing their bags. Hashmi argues that these details all point towards the idea that the girl indeed wants to remain with the American.

Next, Hashmi interprets the title of the story to mean that the American will leave Jig after she has the abortion because their relationship will be filled with painful memories and he will no longer have any obligation to her. Hashmi argues that the hills in the title represent Jig’s dream of family relationships, and the American’s unwillingness to endorse it symbolizes the killing of the dream. And it is not just the dream that the American longs to push away, but also the girl herself. The careless fun they used to have has been drained from their relationship, so the American has no reason to return to it, since all he wanted was fun from the start.

Throughout his journal Hashmi constructs a well-supported argument, and I agree with his reasoning. The girl in this story is confused, even when she says that the hills look like white elephants she later changes her mind and says that “they don’t really look like white elephants” (224). This shows how easily she can be persuaded, and that she acts to please the American, which implies that she will end up getting the abortion like he wants her too. Also, in the end of the story the American sits at the bar to take a drink with others who were “all waiting reasonably for the train” (227). He chooses sitting with people who wait reasonably – unlike Jig – with no apparent worry in the world, which is how he wishes to continue living his life. As Hashmi said, the story of this couple will conclude with the girl getting the abortion to please the American, only to have him leave her once the deed is done.

Week 10 Prompt: Research

DUE: Friday, October 28, 2011, no later than 6 pm

This week you will be performing research on one text from the readings. Choose one text and search for that text in the MLA Bibliography, located on the WSU library website.

Method

• Choose a text 
• Go to the MLA Bibliography 
• Type in the text’s title in the search field and search 
• Limit the list to journal articles 
• Review the results and find an article that looks interesting to you 
• Read the article and write a summary of and response to it 
• Attach your assignment AND the pdf article to an email and send it to me 

I’ve put a link to the MLA Bibliography under the Readings section at the top left of the website. Hamlet is already in the search field. Be sure to erase it and enter the title of the work you want to research. Once you choose an article, download the pdf version of it, read it, summarize its argument and supporting evidence, and then respond. You may agree, disagree, or find yourself somewhere in the middle, but you must explain why.

Requirements

• Find an article using the MLA Bibliography 
• Read the article 
• Write a summary of and response to the article, no less than 250 words 

Email the assignment AND pdf article to me by Friday, October 28, no later than 6 pm. If I receive it after 6 pm it will be considered late and will receive a reduction in points. If I do not receive it before Monday, October 31, it will receive no credit.

TOP GIRLS

hey guys,

i found an audiobook vsn. of top girls online. it's free. hopefully it helps...

http://www.scpr.org/programs/la-theatre-works/2011/04/02/top-girls/

kat

Prompt: Midterm Paper

DUE: 6 pm, Monday, October 17, 2011

Explanation

This essay will be a demonstration of your ability to close read and interpret a text. By now, the operation of close reading and interpretation should be familiar to you, and the method we’ve developed so far applies to the midterm essay. However, while weekly assignments could pass without attention to argument or context, this essay must include some contextualizing elements as well as a clearly articulated argument based on your reading. The successful paper will include the following elements, not necessarily in this order:

• Introduction and thesis statement. The introduction should not be general, but should introduce your specific reading and argument. Give the reader details that matter, including some reference to your critical lens or filter. The thesis should be one or two declarative sentences that make an arguable assertion. General, non-argumentative statements will not count as a thesis. 
• Close reading. Close read one or two passages from your chosen text. Remember, close reading begins with an identification of one or two important rhetorical techniques. Do not catalogue techniques; instead, choose the most relevant. Define the technique, identify it in the passage, and then describe HOW it creates meaning in the passage. This last part is the beginning of your interpretation. If you decide to close read more than one passage, be sure the second passage is related, in some way, to the first. Both should advance and support your argument. 
• Expanded interpretation. After you close read, apply the meaning you’ve derived from the passage to the rest of the text, explaining why your interpretation of the passage helps us better understand the larger meanings of the text. 
• Contextualization. You can provide context in any number of ways. For our purposes, we might classify context in three ways: personal, historical, and critical. Personal context explains what kind of approach or lens you’re using; historical context focuses on relevant historical details that enhance your close reading; critical context introduces another’s argument about the same text, which you will either challenge, complicate, or extend. Your contextual material does not have to be extensive, but it does have to be appropriate. You may use outside sources, but always properly cite your sources. 
• Conclusion. Always include some brief concluding remarks about your reading and why it matters. 

Keep in mind, this is not a five paragraph essay but a much more complex piece of writing and therefore should be organized accordingly. Only the introduction and conclusion have a fixed place in the essay. The other elements may be organized at your discretion and in a manner that best suits your argument. Write them in whatever combination you feel is most effective.

Requirements

• Choose any text assigned within the first eight weeks 
• Write 1,100 words minimum 
• Email me your midterm essay in .doc, .docx, or .rtf. 
• All midterm essays must be emailed to me by 6 pm on Monday, October 17. Late essays will automatically receive a ten percent reduction in grade. Essays not emailed to me by 6 pm, Friday, October 21, will receive no credit.

Week 7 Prompt: Prewriting and Argument Formation

Due: Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Explanation

This week, you will begin work in service of your midterm paper. Think of this work as a prewriting exercise that will help focus the scope of your project. For this assignment, you will answer a series of questions that will require you to narrow your attention on a single work, and on one or two passages within that work. These questions will also help you think about your own predispositions (what we may call a filter, screen, or lens) that incline you to read in a certain way.

For instance, Laura, in her presentation on Hamlet, focused her reading through the lens of performance and the difference between reality and representation. Phillip focused his reading through the lens of the gyre and the relation between unity and chaos. Susan, who talked about sonnets, focused her reading through the lens of gender difference; Lauren through the lens of the tragic hero; and Brittney through the lens of individual will versus preordained fate.

But, keep in mind that your lens is not synonymous with your close reading. They are two different operations. This week you will not be doing a close reading, but you will be preparing for it by identifying the text, the passage/s, your potential lens (you don’t have to be certain yet), and your potential argument (also, at this point, an uncertainty, but give it your best guess).

Method

Answer the following questions as an essay, organized into paragraphs as you see fit:

• What text do you pan to write about and why? What drew you to the text? Be specific in your explanation of why. I will assume that you find the text interesting or provocative, but go further, and tell me why it’s worth your attention. Talk about the features of the text you think are worth talking about, whether it be plot, character, the use of generic features, the formal qualities of the language, the strong visual imagery, the political and social content, etc. Each of you will have your own reasons, and these reasons could be anything, but they must be fully explained and clearly articulated. 
• What passage within the text are you going to focus on and why? What was it about the passage that drew your attention? Again, explain in detail using the technical language we’ve developed over the semester. If you need help explaining, use your Bedford glossary, or any of the other resources I’ve made available on the website. This is not a close reading, just a general discussion. No need to talk about specific rhetorical effects unless you want to. 
• What is your lens (see above) and how is it related to the passage/s you’ve chosen to focus on? This is really the second part of the question above, and you can answer them together. By answering this question in relation to which passage you’ve chosen, you will better understand the nature of your argument. 
• Finally, what is your (preliminary) argument about the text, based on the passage you’ve chosen? This is a tricky one and, at this point in the writing process, it puts the cart before the horse since you haven’t even done your close reading yet. However, it is an important step in conceptualizing the kind of argument you hope to make. Before we make our final arguments, we always create preliminary arguments that we know will evolve as our reading of the text becomes more advanced. 

Requirements

• Answer the above four questions as an essay organized into coherent paragraphs. The way you decide to organize your essay is up to you. 
• Your essay should be no less than 550 words. 
• EMAIL ME YOUR WRITTEN ARGUMENT IN .DOC OR .RTF FORMAT 
• All assignments must be emailed to me by Wednesday, 6 pm. All late posts will automatically receive half credit. If the post is not emailed to me by Friday, 6 pm, it will receive no credit. 

Week 6 Prompt: Close Reading Hamlet or Glossary Work (Choose One)

Due: Wednesday, September 28, 2011

This week you must choose from ONE of two options:

• Option One: Choose a passage from Hamlet and perform a close reading. This is the same assignment you’ve been doing since the beginning of the semester. If you feel like you need practice close reading, you may want to choose this option. 
• Option Two: Use the Bedford Glossary to answer a series of questions having to do with drama and plays. This option is intended to help you focus on the generic distinctions and nuances of drama. If you feel comfortable with your close reading skills, you may want to choose this option. 

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OPTION ONE

Explanation

Close reading involves reading carefully and keeping your senses attuned to things within the text that strike you as interesting, disturbing, significant, etc. Be certain to mark the passage or passages that strike you, so that you can come back to them. Once finished, reread the striking parts, choose one that you find the most compelling, and describe how it works and what it means.

Remember, you do this by:

• identifying what rhetorical effect/s are at work within the particular passage; 
• explaining the way the rhetorical effect/s function in the context of the passage; 
• and, finally, suggesting why the meaning, derived from the effect, is important for understanding the entire work. 

Close reading always moves from the particular (passage/effect) to the universal (entire text). From the effect you will provide a new way of reading the entire work. In many ways, this new reading forms the basis of your argument.

Requirements

• Read Hamlet and perform a close reading 
• Focus on a single passage that you feel is important 
• Identify and interpret no more than two rhetorical effects at work within the passage 
• Write your argument in 450 to 650 words 
• EMAIL ME YOUR WRITTEN ARGUMENT IN .DOC OR .RTF FORMAT 
• All assignments must be emailed to me by Wednesday, 6 pm. All late posts will automatically receive half credit. If the post is not emailed to me by Friday, 6 pm, it will receive no credit. 

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OPTION TWO

In essay form (that is, with complete sentences and coherent, well-organized paragraph), please answer the following questions using your Bedford Glossary for assistance:

• What is the difference between story and plot? 
• What is the difference between drama and play? 
• How does an Elizabethan tragedy, like Hamlet, differ from an ancient tragedy, like Oedipus Rex? 
• What is a soliloquy and why is it important to understanding Hamlet? 
• There are a number of soliloquy’s in Hamlet. In your opinion, which is the most important and why? 

Requirements

• Read Hamlet and then begin answering the above questions 
• Use your Bedford Glossary or the Oxford online resources to assist you in developing complete answers 
• Write your answers in essay form, NOT as a list. Be sure that your essay is a coherent, well-organized response. In style, it should resemble a summary. 
• Writer your answers in 450 to 650 words 
• EMAIL ME YOUR WRITTEN ARGUMENT IN .DOC OR .RTF FORMAT 
• All assignments must be emailed to me by Wednesday, 6 pm. All late posts will automatically receive half credit. If the post is not emailed to me by Friday, 6 pm, it will receive no credit. 

Week 5: Hailey Sherwood

In Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex, the age-old question, “Who am I?” is presented in the pursuit of the protagonist, Oedipus, to find the truth about the murder of his father, Laius, which in turn reveals a forbidden relationship with his wife, Iokaste. In the pivotal moment where Oedipus comes to believe the truth he had sought out and simultaneously refused to accept, he gouges his eyes out. It is in this passage that the play comes to its head, highlighting the ironical nature of the story, and developing further questions about identity, ignorance, and crime and punishment.

“For the king ripped from her gown the golden brooches that were her ornament, and raised them and plunged them down straight into his own eyeballs, crying ‘No more, no more shall you look on the misery about me, the horrors of my own doing! Too long you have known the faces of of those whom I should have never seen, too long been blind to those for whom I was searching! From this hour, go in darkness!”’

The passage at first is rhetorically significant through the use of vivid imagery that expresses the gravity of the situation. Using diction such as “ripped,” “plunged,” and “down straight” contribute to the brutality of Oedipus blinding himself, and suggest that the act was swift and desperate (Lines 43-45). Juxtaposed next to a word as flowery as “ornament”, the association between the beautiful weapon and grotesque has an ironical feel (Line 44). Furthermore, detailing the brooches as “golden” suggest that they are representative of the “light” or truth in the story in Oedipus’ relationship with Iokaste (Line 43). The brooches are rich with meaning, and taking them, and using them as an instrument to inflict darkness is a literal and visual display of what Oedipus had been¾blind. It is then that Oedipus’s identity becomes centered around his own ignorance.

Oedipus’s own words hold important meaning in expressing the complex nature of the play. Through the instance of anaphora in Oedipus crying “too long”, there is a parallel created between the knowledge the others had possessed and the ignorance Oedipus had carried, with the words “know” and “blind” further depicting this contrast (Lines 47-49). Furthermore, a double entendre exists in Oedipus’s cry that “no more, no more shall you look on the misery about me, the horrors of my own doing” (Lines 46-47). Although it can be interpreted that the horrors of his doing can be recognized as killing his father and sleeping with his mother, the fact that Oedipus would punish himself in such an extreme and unflattering way suggest that the “horrors of his own doing” could be blinding himself (Line 47). In this, one can derive that Sophocles was possibly making a statement about a punishment literally fitting a crime, which contributes more to an ironic effect. It is in this passage, when Oedipus discovers his identity of the past that he consequently creates a new one for himself¾a banished blind man, a stark contrast to his once kingly status. He also gives a new meaning to the entire dynamic of his family, with Antigone and Ismene having meaningful and detrimental social implications from the affirmation of his identity. This passage is vital to the play in that as everything comes crashing down, some resolution exists in the knowledge that what is said to be true is true in fact. If a crime is committed, is there resolution in a punishment? Is ignorance truly bliss? Do two wrongs make a right? Oedipus Rex poses all of the above questions, and doesn’t necessarily give a clear answer. It is in this passage that these questions are brought to full front, and are vital to understanding the play.

Week 5: Jasmine Amin

In the play, Lysistrata, the emerging theme is feminism. The main character, Lysistrata, wants to end the war that is occurring in Athens, and her solution is to have all the women withhold having sex with their husbands. Lysistrata herself states that women are ignorant and are not given a bigger role in society other than to marry and raise children. Her wish, along with other women of Greece, is to have women make an impact on the world and change history. She concurs that more involvement needs to be made by women in society.

Lysistrata's speech about wool is a clever use of a metaphor in comparing womens' duties to Athens as a whole. This is apparent in the passage between her and the Commissioner:

Do you know anything about weaving?
Say the yarn gets tangled: we thread it
this way and that through the skein, up and down,
until it's free. And it's like that with war.
We'll send our envoys
up and down, this way and that, all over Greece,
until it's finished (Lysistrata, 198-204)

In this passage, Lysistrata is fed up with how society looks down upon women and says that women "mold society" into what it is today, by being able to fix bad situations, as is represented in the line, "Say the yarn gets tangled: we thread it / this way and that through the skein, up and down/ until it's free " (199-201). The yarn being " threaded this way and that, up and down" is a symbol of unity, of how Athens is attempting to keep society together as a whole. Women are the fabric of the community, because without them, the world would not function the way it does. In other words, Lysistrata is also describing the distress she feels about the war. She is stressing the unfairness of the men being taken away from their families to fight in a useless war. The passage is a contrast between the way men think (war) and the way women think (peace). In Lysistrata's point of view, if women were in charge, there would be no war. "Untangling wool" takes great patience, and men only believe in violence and cruel acts in war, whereas women can handle any type of situation with a more caring nature.

Continuing her speech, Lysistrata goes on to state that cruel men need to be turned away from society, that they are spoiling the earth with their presence, "Isn't there too much dirt here in Athens? You must wash those men away (208-209). In order for Athens to stay together as a city, "unclean" individuals need to be removed from power, so that the "wool" or "city" won't be spoiled.

Week 5: Lauren Hansen

Oedipus Rex: Until the Blind See 

The only ones who can truly see are blind. Teiresias, the only physically blind character in the play Oedipus Rex, is the only person that can actually see what has happened, is happening and will happen to Oedipus and the other characters in the play. In Scene 1 (lines 152-157), Teiresias and Oedipus get into an argument that can be determined by the following:

OED: But not for you, not for you,
          You sightless, witless, senseless, mad old man!

TEIR: You are the madman. There is no one here
           Who will not curse you soon, as you curse me.

OED: You child of total night! I would not touch you;
          Neither would any man who sees the sun.

Oedipus says, “You sightless, senseless, witless old man!”—a statement that is full of meaning, both literal and figuratively. The alliterative use of the ‘S’ sound makes the phrase linger longer than necessary, but its uniqueness among other lines was what initially attracted me to this passage. Each word cuts deep with its cruel meaning, but dramatic irony cleverly resurfaces before the exclamation point can be tacked onto the end of the sentence. The words ‘sightless, witless, and senseless’ may be directed at Teiresias, but they actually apply more to Oedipus. To solidify his argument, Teiresias tells Oedipus the following prophecy: “there is no one here / Who will not curse you soon, as you curse me.”

This particular section of lines stood out to me because of the use of dramatic irony, which is the most common literary device used in Oedipus Rex. Oedipus makes a show out of the fact that Teiresias is physically blind, but the audience knows that reality is quite the opposite. Dramatic irony creates a concept of knowledge that seems to be brought to life through the deeper contrast between light and darkness. In this, it appears that Oedipus’s own sight blinded him to the truth, which had been told to him many times. He decided not to listen to the truth, but instead seek it out on his own.

On more than one occasion throughout the play, Sophocles refers to the fact that Oedipus is blind to the truth just as Teiresias is blind to the world. Also, to be blind in ironical terms could also mean unknowingly doing something. I think this ties in nicely to the action going on behind the scenes with Oedipus and the fact that he doesn’t realize what he has done by killing his father and marrying his mother. Despite his intelligence, Oedipus’s lack of knowledge is the path to his downfall because he refused to follow the advice of those who knew what was happening. (Oh, the irony!)

These exchanges set up the purpose of the entire play and, in a sense, foreshadow the fate of Oedipus. According to Sophocles, a person must not only be able to see something, but be able to understand it as well. After learning of his mistakes, Oedipus realizes he had never ‘seen’ his life in the ‘light.’ Ashamed of his actions, he blinds himself in an attempt to return to the ‘darkness,’ which he had previously occupied, returning to a state where he could not see the evil he lived in and the misery he caused.

Week 5 Prompt: Close Reading Plays

Due: Wednesday, September 21, by 6 pm

Explanation

This week, we begin our unit on plays. So far, our close reading exercises have attended to shorter works (or short sections of longer works), but now we will have to use our powers of explication to explore longer, more sustained texts. This at first may seem daunting, but be assured, the method is no different.

As we reviewed in class this past Thursday, close reading involves reading carefully and keeping your senses attuned to things within the text that strike you as interesting, disturbing, significant, etc. Be certain to mark the passage or passages that strike you, so that you can come back to them. Once finished, reread the striking parts, choose one that you find the most compelling, and describe how it works and what it means.

Remember, you do this by:

• identifying what rhetorical effect/s are at work within the particular passage; 
• explaining the way the rhetorical effect/s function in the context of the passage; 
• and, finally, suggesting why the meaning, derived from the effect, is important for understanding the entire work. 

Close reading always moves from the particular (passage/effect) to the universal (entire text). From the effect you will provide a new way of reading the entire work. In many ways, this new reading forms the basis of your argument.

Details

• Read both plays for this week (Oedipus Rex and Lysistrata) 
• Perform a close reading and interpretation on one and only one play 
• Focus on only a single passage 
• Identify and interpret no more than two important rhetorical effects at work within the passage. 
• Write your argument in 450 to 650 words. 
• EMAIL ME YOUR WRITTEN ARGUMENT IN .DOC OR .RTF FORMAT. 
• All assignments must be EMAILED TO ME by Wednesday, 6 pm. All late posts will automatically receive half credit. If the post is not EMAILED TO ME by Friday, 6 pm, it will receive no credit.

Week 4: George Stearn

In Sonnet 130, William Shakespeare displays his mastery of the form by not only penning a successful satire of a Petrarchan blazon, but also creating an honest love poem for his mistress. With any Sonnet the first rhetorical device to examine is the form, and this one appears to be a fairly standard Shakespearean. The key difference in this poem from the majority of Shakespeare’s work is that it is a blason; namely, the poem describes a woman by singling out her individual features in turn. It can be further sub-classified as a Petrarchan blason, or a blazon where the subject is described from head to toe. Petrarch, a 16th century Italian poet, was one of the original masters of both sonnet, and blason. This style of poetry, where the subject is described from head to toe, is named for him, as he often employed it.

When one initially reads the poem it appears to be a satire; the style and form are clearly copied from Petrarch. In addition, the similes and metaphors used to describe the subject are almost negative—Shakespeare’s honestly regarding the features of his beloved would be unheard of in this sort of poetry, and he does it all with a humorous flair. For example, in line thirteen, Shakespeare reverses the stereotypical Petrarchan “soft golden hair” and instead compares her hair to black wires sprouting from her skull: “If hairs be wires black wires grow on her head” (13). However, the obvious satire is slightly undermined by the Sonnet’s resolution in the final couplet, “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare” (13-14). Those last two lines transform the meaning of the poem, altering it from a slightly rude satire, to a tender acceptance of her virtues. In lines ten and twelve, Shakespeare begins connecting subtly to his resolution, “My mistress…treads on the ground” (12). Shakespeare’s beloved, he says, is no goddess, she walks on the ground like everyone else, and an honest expounding of her virtues is more than enough to convey the love he feels. In the last line too, “false compare” surely refers to the inaccurately flattering descriptions of other poets. It’s almost as if Shakespeare is saying that his love is greater than most because he has no need to embellish, and that the exaggerations of his peers are entirely unnecessary.

Week 4: Nathan McQuarrie

In Langston Hughes’ poem “Cross,” the speaker talks about how his family is divided by race and the conflict that comes upon him at their deaths. The first two lines of the first stanza, "My old man’s a white old man / And my old mother’s black," set up the parallelism that is to continue throughout the poem. For the rest of the poem, the speaker continues this contrast of race while he asks forgiveness from his parents in the lines

If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.

If ever I cursed my black old mother
And wished she were in hell,
I’m sorry for that evil wish
And now I wish her well.

It is interesting that he does not ask for forgiveness from both his parents together; instead, he addresses them separately. This parallelism becomes even more blatant in the final stanza, where he describes how both of his parents died:

My old man died in a fine big house,
My ma died in a shack.
I wonder where I’m gonna die,
Being neither white nor black?

The parallelism is an important reminder of the time that Langston Hughes lived in. He wrote the poem “Cross” in 1925, which in the United States was in the middle of the Roaring Twenties and at the height of the Jim Crow South. In this time period, the Ku Klux Klan was rampant throughout the Deep South, and anyone who was white (like the speaker’s father) segregated the people who had darker skin (like the speaker’s mother). The parallelism within the poem reflects the racial segregation within that time period.

The most important aspect of this poem, however, lies in the final stanza.

The irony of the poem finally becomes obvious with the contrast of how the parents died. To understand the irony in this stanza, one must look at the context of the poem. Again, this poem was written when blacks were viciously segregated. This last stanza reveals that the speaker is not white or black, but of mixed race which at the time was called “Mulatto.” This term denoted a distinction of the mixed race people born of a white and a black parent; therefore, because they were viewed as not white, they were treated the same as blacks by white Americans. With this in mind, while the speaker states that he doesn’t know where he’ll die, it is clear that he knows perfectly well that because he is of a mixed race, it is almost certain that he will die poor like his mother.

Week 4: Katherine Sung

Emily Dickinson’s poem, #214, is written as a quatrain with alternating lines of tetrameter (4 measures or 8 syllables) and trimeter (3 measures or 6 syllables) in each stanza of four lines. Aside from the first stanza, the each stanza follows a rhyming scheme of ABCB. The speaker uses the metaphors of drunkenness or inebriation throughout the poem to describe his or her transcendental experience with nature.

In the first stanza,

I taste a liquor never brewed,
From tankards scooped in pearl;
Not all the vats upon the Rhine
Yield such an alcohol!

The speaker claims that he or she has "taste[d] a liquor neverbrewed." This is an oxymoron because all alcohol (the liquor being referred to) must be fermented or brewed in order to be liquor. This presents a question: does the liquor really exist? He or she goes on to say that it was served in "tankards scooped in pearl." This phrase presents to the reader, a picture of a cup (especially for drinking liquor) decorated in pearls, and also gives the reader a feeling that the liquor is exquisite, expensive, and luxurious. The speaker then goes on to describe the liquor itself by saying that "not all the vats upon the Rhine [could] yield such an alcohol." The Rhine is a river in Germany, an area that is famous for its wine.

In the second stanza,

Inebriate of air am I,
And debauchee of dew,
Reeling, through endless summer days,
From inns of molten blue.

The speaker states that they are inebriate or drunk. The structure of the first sentence also suggests being drunk because it differs from the others. Instead of saying "I am inebriate of air," a total reverse of the pattern is used, similar to drunk incoherent speech. We assume that the speaker is drunk because of the alcohol that was drunk in the first stanza but they go on to elaborate that they are drunk because of "air" and "dew." Air and dew are both part of nature, so we can assume that the speaker is saying that they are drunk on nature. The fact that the liquor was "never brewed" also supports this and the drunkenness can be perceived as a metaphor for how nature makes them feel: drunk, sensual, and timeless. The use of the word "reeling" also supports the drunken tone throughout the text. Because this stanza is based on nature, we can assume that the "molten blue" the speaker is referring to is the sky and is a very good use of imagery. When the word "molten" is used, we usually think of something warm and melted, kind of like lava; there is a kind of layered texture to it. In the last sentence, "from the inns of molten blue," we learn that the earth is the speaker’s home, or perhaps, rather temporary home, through the use of the word "inn."

The third stanza,

When landlords turn the drunken bee
Out of the foxglove’s door,
When butterflies renounce their drams,
I shall but drink the more!

The first two lines of the stanza are similar to the third because they both reference stopping drinking. In the first two lines, the "drunken bee" is forced to stop drinking by the landlord, and in the third line, the "butterflies" recognize that they are too drunk and use self control to stop drinking. The fourth line, "I shall but drink the more!" sets the speaker apart from everyone else because he or she is not only continuing to drink but also being proud for doing so (juxtaposition). Using "foxglove," an ornamental, purple-tinted flower, was interesting because this flower is also poisonous to humans. Another interesting point was that the foxglove flower is in the shape of a cup or chalice, which parallels the tankard the speaker drinks out of in the first stanza.

The last stanza,

Till seraphs swing their snowy hats,
And saints to windows run,
To see the little tippler
Leaning against the sun!

is a continuation of the third stanza. The speaker is saying that he or she will drink until the "seraphs swing their snowy hats, and saints to windows run." Seraphs are the highest-ranking angels in heaven and reside above the throne of God. A saint is defined as one of the blessed dead in Heaven. The way the stanza is phrased, offers the idea that heaven is the narrator’s true home and the seraphs and saints are excited and celebrating the return home. The third and fourth line still echo the idea of drunkenness. The "little tippler" in the third line is the speaker referring to his or her tipsy self "leaning against the sun" as if he or she is gaining support from it. Something that was interesting to me was the use of the word "sun" because is it a homonym to the word son, which can be referred to as Jesus Christ.

Week 4: Keagan Tice

In Langston Hughes's poem "The Weary Blues" the persona uses repetition to create a drowsy or weary effect on the audience. This is true from the first line, "Droning a drowsy syncopated tune." Here Hughes uses two words that have a weary effect, "Droning" and "drowsy," to emphasis the title's meaning. It works, too. Right away the audience feels the effects used from the simple repetition of two similar words, and it doesn’t stop there. In line seven Hughes repeats line six: “He did a lazy sway . . .” The repetition here is actually quite genius because the lines reflect what they convey. To sway is to move listlessly from side to side and that is what lines six and seven do; they sway from side to side then again from side to side. This direct repetition adds to the overall effect of weariness that is consistently repeated throughout the poem.

The next instance that the persona uses repetition is in lines ten and seventeen where the persona personifies the piano's noise, when played, as a "moan." In line ten the persona says, "He made that poor piano moan with melody." This gives the image that the piano is being played softly. In line seventeen the piano again moans, "I heard that negro sing, that old piano moan--," here the auditory image is repeated for emphasis. Lines eighteen and nineteen use anaphora, "Ain't got nobody in all this world, Ain't got nobody but ma self." Repeating verses can be in itself tiring, when a lazy word such as "Ain't is used it contributes to the weariness that is construed from the anaphora.

In the final section of the poem the persona repeats three words in line twenty two, "Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor." Here the onomatopoeia of the thump, a lazy one at that, reinforces the weary tune on which this poem is built upon. In lines twenty four through twenty seven, lines twenty four and five are repeated but not to the letter. "I got the Weary Blues, And I can’t be satisfied. Got the Weary Blues, And can’t be satisfied--." The lines that are repeated are without the pronoun "I"; perhaps the persona was lax in repeating the lines so he or she simply left them out. The repetition in this poem creates an effect of weariness that not only affects the audience but the persona as well.

Prompt, Week 4: Close Reading Poetry

DUE: Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Explanation

Last week we began looking at poetry in a new way. Rather than reading a poem and trying to say something general about it, we began with the poem itself, looked at its rhetorical effects, and then derived meaning from those effects. This process results in careful reading and true interpretation. In fact, it can be considered a kind of invention. From the language of the poem we invent meaning.

For this week, you will be required to perform this kind of close reading on a poem of your choice. Just as we did in class last week with Wordsworth’s “A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal,” you will begin by identifying and examining particular rhetorical effects. Remember, this process is akin to observing and describing the parts of an image. During this initial phase you don’t yet make any judgments or create meaning; instead, you catalogue what’s there. Some of these things will be important, some will not, but try to see everything you can.

In the second phase, you will select the most important rhetorical effect and begin to interpret its meaning. In “A Slumber,” we identified two significant rhetorical effects, parallelism and ambiguous pronoun use, and we then did interpretive work on both effects, deriving meaning from each. In interpreting your poem, you will do the same work. After selecting the most important rhetorical effects for interpretation, you will argue for a particular understanding based on those effects. For example, in class we noticed the ambiguous use of the pronoun “she,” and from that effect, we came up with different ways of interpreting it. For your reading you will do the same, but you will argue for only one meaning, the meaning you feel is best.

Method

First, Observe

• Carefully read your target text 
• Identify all rhetorical effects that you can. Use your Bedford Glossary or the Figures of Speech posted on the blog site. Do not limit yourself to the master tropes, but look at all figures of speech and versification. 
• Ask questions about what things mean, either effects or particular words (when we identified parallelism, we then began to ask what things were parallel and why did it matter). 
• Narrow down those rhetorical effects you believe are the most significant 

Then, Interpret

• Think about how your chosen rhetorical effects influence the meaning of the entire poem 
• Form an argument for reading the poem based on your interpretation of the effects. 
• Writer your interpretation in a valid argumentative form: begin by asserting your argument, follow by close reading the rhetorical effect/s that support your argument, describing how the effect operates in the poem, and finally interpret the meaning of those effects. 

If you get stuck, think about the work we did in class last week. We effectively performed this exact process, we just didn’t write it down in argumentative form.

Logistics

• Read the poems assigned for week 4 and choose one. 
• Perform a close reading and interpretation on one and only one poem, focusing on only a single, important rhetorical effect. 
• Write your argument in 350 to 550 words. 
• EMAIL ME YOUR WRITTEN ARGUMENT IN .DOC OR .RTF FORMAT. 
• All assignments must be EMAILED TO ME by Wednesday, 6 pm. All late posts will automatically receive half credit. If the post is not EMAILED TO ME by Friday, 6 pm, it will receive no credit. 

NOTE: You will no longer post assignments to the blog. Instead, all assignments will be emailed to me, and I will publish a small selection of them to the blog on a weekly basis.

Week 3: Nina- Dante, Infernos, Cantos

Dante starts off being woken by the morning sun during Easter when it’s a time of resurrection. The rest of the chapters have similar religious themes and sayings. However, being of the non-religious type, I read it as more of a intervention type reading. I felt that in order for Dante to understand heaven, he must experience hell itself. That’s where Virgil plays his roll in guiding Dante through this journey.

“‘Master, what is the meaning of his harsh inscription?’

And he then as initiate to novice:
‘Here musty you put by all division of spirit and gather your should against all cowardice.

This is the place I told you to expect.
Here you shall pass among the fallen people, souls who have lost the good of intellect.’

So saying, he put forth his hand to me, and with a gentle and encouraging smile he led me through the gate of mystery.” (12-18)

After this passage, Dante is then led to the shore where he must cross. However, the guard there realizes he is human and refuses to let him pass. This stood out to me because why would any living man want to cross into such a deathly place when it is not necessary? Virgil persists and, overcome with fear, Dante passes out and awakens on the other side. This goes back to my theme that if Dante wants to truly understand heaven, he must be lead by Virgil into the depths of hell. You don’t have to be religious to understand the meaning of this story. It’s context reaches farther than that and explains that sometimes it’s necessary to see evil to comprehend the good in life.

“I saw a banner upon the mist.
Circling and circling, it seemed to scorn all pause
So it ran on, and still behind it pressed

a never ending rout of souls in pain.
I had not thought death had undone so many
as passed before me in that mournful train.

And some I knew among them; last of all
I recognized the shadow of that soul
who, in his cowardice, made the Great Denial.



At once I understood for certain: these
were of that retrograde and faithless crew
hateful to God and His enemies.
These wretches never born and never dead
ran naked in a swarm of wasps and hornets
that goaded them the more the more they fled,

and made their faces stream with bloody gouts
of pus and tears that dribbled to their feet
to be swallowed there by loathsome worms and maggots.”

I feel that this is where Dante truly saw hell and all of it’s evil. He describes the souls of the dead who made it down here and how much pain they will go through the rest of their after life. The Sage told Dante that you will feel this when you cross into the Joyless beach.

Week 3: Brittany Shiroma

In this short passage from Seamus Heaney and Daniel Donoghue’s Beowulf A Verse Translation, the formation of identity is shown. The people of Heorot, so-called, loved or admired Hygelac’s “thane” (pg.4, line 194) or warrior. They did not stop him from going on his journey to stop Grendel, the demon who haunts Heorot. Hygelac’s warrior and his men went off to their destination; they spoke with King Hrothgar and informed him on their mission to purify Heorot from Grendel. Beowulf, Hygelac’s warrior, makes his journey to Heorot he identifies himself as the son of his famous father, Ecgtheow. When he and his men are introduced to King Hrothgar, the King instantly identifies Beowulf as the young boy who is son to the great Ecgtheow and has come to follow up on some old friendship (pg.12, lines 372-376). Within this epic poem, Beowulf’s identity is repeated upon different characters; he is well known by his ancestry and by his heroic actions.

“In his day, he was the mightiest man on earth,

high born and powerful…

whilst he moved about

like the leader he was, enlisting men,

the best he could find”

(Heaney & Donoghue, Beowulf, A Hero Comes To Heorot, Lines197-198 & 205-207)

This passage resembles to Culler’s Literary Theory A Very Short Introduction when he states, “there are narratives where identity is essentially determined by birth” (Culler 110). When a character is born he/she is either, in this case, high born and powerful, or of a lower class and born with nothing. Identity is made by fate or through ancestry. If a character’s identity is made through fate, the character gains his/her identity through actions that he/she does throughout his/her life or through a prophecy. Now, if a character’s identity is made through ancestry, the character has a “title” to live up to and show that he/she will do good/bad deeds that his/her ancestors has done in the past. In the epic poem Beowulf, Beowulf’s identity is made from his ancestry and his past battles and gives others the image of a man who is a hero and will be able to defeat the demonic Grendel. Identity plays a role in any poem, short story, novel, or text; it just takes time to point out when and where identity in a character is mentioned.

Week 3 Conor Therrien

“Grendel was the name of the grim demon haunting the marches, marauding round the heath and the desolate fens, he had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters Cain's clan, whom the Creator had outlawed and condemned as outcasts”( Beowulf lines 102-106).

In this passage the Grendel identity is that of a monsters, it even states that he is a monster. But I noticed that even though his identity is that of a monsters it is not that different from a Hero in the Danes society. In the Danes society a hero is supposed to be wise,strong, courageous, and to win all of his fights and never lose. The Danes tested these traits in battle where they fought, and killed others, then took the losers land for themselves. This sounds remarkably similar to the Grendel who stole Heroet hall, and killed around thirty of the Danes. The Grendel is considered a monster though, and Beowulf who is a famous warrior is considered a hero. Why is Grendel a monster while Beowulf is a hero?

Both Beowulf and Grendel have killed, and conquered, but they have remarkably different identities, and the only reason I can tell of their difference of identities is because the point of view of the story is of the Danes, and their hero is Beowulf. If the author had the point of view of monsters the Grendel would have been the hero, after successfully conquering the danes before Beowulf arrived, and his death would have been that of a tragic one dying by the villain Beowulf. So in a sense the identity of a character is made up by not only his actions, but what point of view you are looking at in the novel. Because no matter what your actions are, what determines your identity, is the point of view the novel is at, and that of the person who is reading the novel.

Identity is a major theme in Beowulf, every character has one no matter how minor it may be or how bad it is such as Grendel.

Week 3: Shelby Kirk

“There was no one else like him alive. In his day, he was the mightiest man on earth, highborn and powerful. He ordered a boat that would ply the waves. He announced his plan: to sail the swan’s road and seek that king, the famous prince who needed defenders. Nobody tried to keep him from going, no elder denied him, dear as he was to them.” (194-203)

In this passage of Beowulf, the author is describing Beowulf’s plan to sail overseas to help destroy Grendel. In Culler’s Literary Theory, it states that, “A literary work- Hamlet, for instance- is characteristically the story of a fictional character: it presents itself as in some way exemplary, but it  simultaneously declines to define the range or scope of exemplarity- hence the ease with which readers and critics come to speak about the ‘universality’ of literature.” (Pg. 36)

This quote from Beowulf shows that the story is a literary work at its face value. As the quote states, “there was no one else like him alive.” Beowulf is the hero of this story. One could argue that he was destined to be the one to slay Grendel. Beowulf knew that he had a good chance of dying and never seeing his home land again, but he says “I meant to perform to the uttermost what your people wanted or perish in the attempt, in the fiend’s clutches.  And I shall fulfill that purpose, prove myself with a proud deed or meet my death here in the mead-hall.” To him it did not matter that he could die. “He was the mightiest man on earth, highborn and powerful.” If Beowulf could not defeat Grendel, then no one could.

This passage is important to think about because this is the true heroic story. This lead today’s standard story-line, of the hero overcoming a great obstacle and defeating the bad guy. This can be seen in almost every great story from Beowulf to Shakespeare’s, Hamlet to Disney’s, Sleeping Beauty. The hero always wins in the end.

Katie Greene Week 3

After reading The Odyssey I had a deeper understanding of the historical content of Grecian life and what the people of Greece actually were about, culturally and what was most important to them. What their values were. It became a pattern. The hero always triumphing over evil, and having Odysseus come out on top. Having that leader to look up to was important to the people of Greece, to have a, not always a fictional character, but to have someone they can be proud to have represent their home land.

The Odyssey tells a tale of a man that could easily be described as a god because of the way he speaks about himself, and where he comes from. The events that Odysseus had gone through were only to be achieved by one true hero. A leader of a crew that could not have gone on with out his strength, determination, knowledge, and courage. All of these virtues make up the identity of Odysseus and the man that he was. “I dragged it from the flames, my men clustering round as some god breathed enormous courage though us all” (Homer pg.223).

Homer then goes into detail about how Odysseus was the man behind that action, the stabbing of Polyphemus’s eye with the steak. No one out of the crew even bothered to come forward and volunteer to do the dirty work, they all assumed their captain would, and he did with out a doubt. He made the brave decision to harm the creature so their crew could escape, well what was left of them anyway. Being able to understand the fact that it was no ones responsibility to stab the Cyclopes, but Odysseus.Even after Polyphemus had awoken other Cyclops’s earlier in the poem Odysseus had told Polyphemus that his name was ‘Nobody.’ With his cunning, and clever ways, this had come to his advantage. No on came to Polyphemus’s aid, he Cyclops was left to die. “They lumbered off but laughter filled my heart to think how nobody’s name-my great cunning stroke-had duped them one and all” (Homer pg. 224).

Once Odysseus and what was left of his crew got out of the Cyclops’s cave, did he have the edacity to cried back “So, Cyclops, no weak coward it was whose crew you bent to devour there in your vaulted cave-you with your brut force!” (Homer pg. 226).By Odysseus doing this, it proves that he had no fear of what was left to come if anything. By dissecting what Homer meant by having Odysseus taunt the Cyclops even after defeating him with out any struggle.

In the end of this passage what the reader is left with is the identity of Odysseus. A strong willed hero that will always come out on top, and that is part of why the Odyssey was so important to Greece, they hero was someone who they could possible relate to and who they could look up to as a character.

Week 3: Kat Sung

Beowulf is an Old English epic poem written in England, consisting of 3,182 lines. The translator’s introduction included in the text suggests that it was written, “some time between the middle of the seventh and the end of the tenth century of the first millennium.” During this time, Anglo-Saxon England was slowing beginning to convert their religion from Paganism to Christianity due to the efforts of Pope Gregory I.

This conversion to Christianity, is shown throughout the text through the actions of the characters (specifically the reason behind their actions). But, although they believe they are Christian (thank the Lord, bless each other, and relate biblical stories in their lives), it could be argued that they are not truly Christian due to their Germanic warrior-culture.

Lines 26-50 describe the extravagant funeral of Beow’s father, who died a Christian. The warriors

“stretched their beloved lord in his boat,

laid out by the mast, amidships,

the great ring-giver. Far-fetched treasures

were piled upon him, and precious gear.” (Lines 34-37)

The narrator does not describe this as the warriors’ intention for the burial. It was done this way because this is what the deceased,

“bade them

when he laid down the law among the Danes” (Lines 28-29)

The narrator goes on to say that he or she has

“never heard before of a ship so well furbished

with battle-tackle, bladed weapons

and coats of mail.” (Lines 38-40)

Although it may be normal for warriors to bury their leaders in this way, commanding your army to bury you in this fashion seems kind of ironic for a Christian. Ships and gold and treasures are all worldly possessions that are unable to accompany you into the afterlife. You would not need them in heaven. As part of the funeral, the warriors also “bewail[ed] him and mourn[ed] their loss.” Although it may be hard for them to not feel sad after a death, they should also feel happy for him because he is able to go to heaven and meet God.

One thing I found interesting was the way the narrator, who is supposedly Christian, described the Pagans in lines 175-180. The narrator described the Pagan hopes as “heathenish” and kind of looked down on their ways of “vow[ing] offerings to idols, swear[ing] oaths that the killer of souls might come to their aid and save their people.” (Lines 175-178) He or she also goes on to say, “Oh, cursed is he who in time of trouble has to thrust his soul in the fires embrace, forfeiting help; he has nowhere to turn. But blessed is he who after death can approach the Lord and find friendship in the Father’s embrace.” (Lines 183-188) implying that Pagans will not enter heaven as the Christians will.

Similar to The Odyssey, another theme in this story, is identity. The characters of this story (Beow) identify themselves by stating who their ancestors were and their acts of courage and heroism.

“We belong by birth to the Geat people

and owe allegiance to Lord Hygelac.

In his day, my father was a famous man,

a noble warrior-lord named Ecgtheow.

… All over the world

men wise in counsel continue to remember him.” (lines 260-266)

This type of identification was important because it helped them define their own character. Their ancestors were their idols, and they strove to become as heroic as they were as well as declare a name for themselves and create their own reputation.

Week 3: Susan Schroeder

Throughout Dante Alighieri’s Inferno the focus is on identity; identity of not only the narrator, but also of all those trapped within the circles of hell.  When analyzing these identities as outlined in Culler’s Literary Theory, it is evident that they are primarily seen as figures whose self is socially constructed.  The first example of this is from Virgil himself as he recalls his identity

  

“Not man, though man I once was and my blood

                                was Lombard, both my parents Mantuan.

                                I was born, though late, sub Julio, and bred

Inferno, Canto I, lines 67-69, John Ciardi Translation

The use of socially constructed culture groups by Virgil, indicates the dependence of Dante on these social norms.  Culturally, at this point in time, (1300 CE) socially constructed identity was everything.  You were told who you were, which social class you fitted into, and how you related to others within and without your class.  Identity was rigidly defined, and breaking these socially constructed norms made one an outcast of that society.  This is the world in which Dante created the Divine Comedy.  Again, in this example of dialog between Virgil and Dante, the identity of the damned are socially constructed as those who are lost to the living. 

This is the place I told you to expect.

                                Here you shall pass among the fallen people,

                                Souls who have lost the good of intellect.”

Inferno, Canto III, lines 16-18, John Ciardi Translation

Even though identity was socially constructed at this time, Dante did incorporate the idea that an individual can create their identity, as seen in the opening lines of Inferno.

Midway in our life’s journey, I went astray

                from the straight road and woke to find myself

                alone in a dark wood.  How shall I say

Inferno, Canto I, lines 1-3, John Ciardi Translation

Here, at the beginning, Dante sees his identity as a sinner, someone whose inner ‘self’ is revealed by his actions.  However, throughout the journey, from hell, to purgatory, and eventually to heaven, we are shown how Dante’s identity is changed as he over comes each interaction with the damned.  Dante is no longer a sinner damned, but a repentant sinner who is worthy to enter the gates of heaven and see God. 

                These two forms of identity found within the Inferno are the basis for analysis of this complex and dense text.

Work Cited

Culler, Jonathan. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Week 3: Phillip Ada

Assertion:
Whoever transcribed Beowulf threw Christian themes into the poem to facilitate conversion from the Scandinavian paganism beliefs to Christianity.

Citation:

·      Note from the translator: “…and they [scholars] devoted themselves to a consideration of the world-view behind the poem, asking to what extent (if at all) the newly established Christian religion, which was fundamental to the poet’s intellectual formation,” – Seamus Heaney, Translator’s Introduction.

·      Examples of discontinuity problems or paradoxes.

o   Lines 473-479.

§  Quote: “It bothers me to have to burden anyone with all the grief that Grendel has caused and the havoc he has wreaked upon us in Heorot, our humiliations.  My household guard are on the wane, fate sweeps them away into Grendel’s clutches—but God can easily halt these raids and harrowing attacks!”

§  Analysis: This is Hrothgar lamenting that Beowulf has to be troubled with such a task as killing Grendel when God can easily make the problem disappear if he wanted to.  The king of a culture based around a warrior code and masculinity would never lament in public, especially to guests.  Also, both fate AND God are mentioned in this excerpt.  You can’t have fate and an interfering god in the same universe.

o   Lines 799-804.

§  Quote: “When they joined the struggle there was something they could not have known at the time, that no blade on earth, no blacksmith’s art could ever damage their demon opponent.  He had conjured the harm from the cutting edge of every weapon.”

§  Analysis: Grendel’s body is impenetrable by any weapon through some sort of magic, a power separate from God.  This is blasphemous to Christian dogma.

·      Examples of fatalism.

o   Lines 32-36, 43-46.

§  Quote: “A ring-whorled prow rode in the harbor, ice-clad, outbound, a craft for a prince.  They stretched their beloved lord in his boat, laid out by the mast, amidships, the great ring-giver. … They decked his body no less bountifully with offerings than those first ones did who cast him away when he was a child and launched him alone out over the waves.”

§  Analysis: This scene describes the funeral of Ecgtheow, Beowulf’s father.  They put him in an ornate watercraft and set him adrift into sea keeping with the style he originally arrived to them.  Ecgtheow was bestowed upon his people through some preternatural means.  However, the Geats did not believe in the Judeo-Christian god and had a kind of Deist credo.  They accepted that they had no power over their lives and were fated to be thrown around at the whim of some divine being or beings.  While they accepted divine gifts given to them, they did not thank whatever god may exist for if a god did exist, it was also responsible for the curses visited upon them.

o   Lines 202-203.

§  Quote: “[When Beowulf decides to repay his father’s debt to Hrothgar, despite the danger] Nobody tried to keep him from going, no elder denied him, dear as he was to them.

§  Analysis: As everyone is powerless to the eventuality of one specific and unpredictable death, courage is not a hard trait to develop.  Fear of the deaths of loved ones is severely diminished for the same reason.

o   Lines 634-638.

§  Quote: “I meant to perform to the uttermost what your people wanted or perish in the attempt, in the fiend’s clutches.  And I shall fulfill that purpose, prove myself with a proud deed or meet my death here in the mead-hall.”

§  Analysis: Here, Beowulf nonchalantly talks about his death.  Why?  Because it doesn’t matter if he dies now or later; his death will come when it comes.  He simply doesn’t care.

·      Examples of implanted Christianity.

o   Lines 90-98.

§  Quote: “[Grendel hears] a skilled poet telling with mastery of man’s beginnings, how the Almighty had made the earth a gleaming plain girdled with waters; in His splendor He set the sun and the moon to be earth’s lamplight, lanterns for men, and filled the broad lap of the world with branches and leaves; and quickened life in every other thing that moved.”

§  Analysis: Why would a poet in Hrothgar’s hall be singing about Genesis?

o   Lines 104-114, 121, 169, 711.

§  Quote: “[Grendel is from] Cain’s clan, whom the Creator had outlawed and condemned as outcasts.  For the killing of Abel the Eternal Lord had exacted a price: Cain got no good from committing that murder because the Almighty made him anathema, and out of the curse of his exile there sprang ogres and elves and evil phantoms and the giants too who strove with God time and again until He gave them their reward. … God-cursed brute … he was the Lord’s outcast … God-cursed Grendel …”

§  Analysis: Such evil earthly creatures, if any, would have been destroyed in the deluge.  This translation of Beowulf temporally places it after Christ’s sacrifice which was well after the deluge.

o   Lines 128-129.

§  Quote: “[Survivors of Grendel’s initial attack] wept to heaven and mourned under morning.”

§  Analysis: Why would the Danes, who were fatalists like the Geats, cry to the skies?

o   Lines 175-188.

§  Quote: “Sometimes at the pagan shrines they vowed offerings to idols, swore oaths that the killer of souls might come to their aid and save the people.  That was their way, their heathenish hope; deep in their hearts they remembered hell.  The Almighty Judge of good deeds and bad, the Lord God, Head of the Heavens and High King of the World, was unknown to them.  Oh, cursed is he who in time of trouble has to thrust his soul in the fire’s embrace, forfeiting help; he has nowhere else to turn.  But blessed is he who after death can approach the Lord and find friendship in the Father’s embrace.”

§  Analysis: Any non-Christian ritual was considered pagan devil worship.  This is the original transcriber’s depiction of the moral wrongness of anything non-Christian.

o   Lines 227-228.

§  Quote: “[Upon arriving on the shores of their destination:] They thanked God for that easy crossing on a calm sea.

§  Analysis: This is the transcriber’s reinterpretation of the party’s offhanded notice of their uneventful trip as the seas were usually teeming with danger (sea monsters and storms in particular).  The warriors assumed that they were on the right track to their destinies since they crossed the waters unharmed.

o   Lines 316-318.

§  Quote: “[The guide to Beowulf and friends:] May the Almighty Father keep you and in His kindness watch over your exploits.”

§  Analysis: This seems randomly thrown in after the scene in which the guide takes the warriors to Hrothgar’s hall.

o   Lines 381-383, 626-628.

§  Quote: “[Hrothgar says] Now Holy God has, in His goodness, guided him here to the West-Danes, to defend us from Grendel.  [Later, Hrothgar expresses similar thanks] …With measured words she welcomed the Geat and thanked God for granting her wish that adeliverer she could believe in would arrive to ease their afflictions.”

§  Analysis: Why would any Dane, the king no less, thank God?  God didn’t deliver Beowulf, he came out of his own volition to repay a life debt.

o   Lines 440-442.

§  Quote: “[Beowulf about the possible outcome of his death says] Whichever one death fells must deem it a just judgment by God.  If Grendel wins, it will be a gruesome day…”

§  Analysis: This is an example of the exact opposite of something a warrior as youthful, cocky, brave, and obnoxious as Beowulf would ever say.

Explanation:

It is important to realize the presence of the didactic Christian lines in this epic in order to take in the story separate from them.  The fatalist themes of Beowulf are important and can be easily overlooked if God is taken into account.