Alexander Pope ''An Essay on Criticism''
24 lutego 2014
20:34
ANALYSIS:
The layout on a principle on criticism,
The description of nature:
It is important to follow the nature,
Nature is a kind of judge, it's unchangeable,
Standards of nature are not affected by time or place - they are universal,
Nature is flawless, unerring, wise, of God's origin,
It has an absolute value,
We should look at things through the perspective of nature, taking into consideration its criteria,
We cannot see atoms or substances, but we can sense it and see the effects
A speaker describes those who take advantage of the nature and uses them as an example,
The purpose of poetry is still to teach and delight,
'Wise and judgement...' - Judgement refers to analytical way of looking at things, that should be combined with wit (delight),
Nature is discovered, not invented
DEISM - a theory which says that God created the world, but he is not involved in being responsible for it.
Jonathan Swift ''Gulliver's Travels''
29 March 2014
19:50
Gulliver thinks that he is much better than Yahoos, but he once becomes depressed.
Female Yahoo felt desire to Gulliver, which shows that he was similar to them. He discovered who he really is.
Yahoos and horses hate each other
| Yahoos | Houyhnhnyms |
|---|---|
|
|
DISTOPIAN NOVEL - a novel which seems to present a perfect country, but in fact is shows a country which is not perfect at all.
Thomas Gray ''Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard''
29 March 2014
19:57
A speaker is somewhat extraordinary,
Iambic pentameter, ABAB system of rhyming,
A part of a day is the evening,
The climate shows the end of the day,
Animals go to sleep,
Everyone is having a rest after a tiring day.
A speaker feels out of place,
describes people who lay in graves:
Nothing will wake them up,
They were not wealthy,
Uncivilised,
They would wake up early to work,
Cultivating the land was their profession - it was not very ambitious,
They didn't achieve anything,
They might have achieved more if they weren't born poor. It prevented them from being successful,
They were prevented from achieving the throne by means of slaughter, assassination or cruelty,
They are not models to follow,
Just because they were separated from the noble, they were dedicated to be poor,
They should be remembered, we should learn from them,
Their life is full of morality,
They maintain morality which prevents them from being cruel,
A speaker may also be dead and that is why he feels so different.
THE EPITAPH - a speaker is also dead, he knows a lot about the young man who was lying in the grave,
He criticises rich people.
William Blake: ''The Lamb'', ''The Tyger'', ''The Chimney Sweeper'', ''And did those feet''
29 March 2014
20:07
THE LAMB:
Easy, basic structure,
There's a question who created the lamb?
The whole world is happy when it sees the lamb,
A lamb is the embodiment of softness and kindness,
God takes all the characteristics of a lamb:
Gentle,
Meek,
Delightful
A speaker is a child, an addressee is a lamb,
Didactic poetry,
Very easy generalisations, typical for children.
THE TYGER:
A poem from Songs of Experience,
Only questions without answers,
Rhetorical questions,
The word ''symmetry'' is very important,
A creator must have been very skilful with his tolls to make a tiger,
Symmetry means beauty,
Nature was full of despair when tiger was created,
Was the creator happy? - tiger was created against nature
How is it possible that the one who created the lamb, also made a tiger?
| INNOCENCE (Lamb) | EXPERIENCE (Tiger) |
|---|---|
|
|
THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER:
A story told by a child, A child solaces Tom Dacre,
He's got a dream vision - thousand of chimney sweepers were all locked in coffins, but they are freed by an angel. They wash themselves in a river and they are white again.
He thinks he will be happy one day and that he will have everything he want.
He is comforted that his life will be better one day.
______________________________________
He is a chimney sweeper, he is covered with soot, he lays alone in snow - a contrast between sooted boy and snow,
His parents went to church, he doesn't know why they left him.
Parent believe that they did no harm to their child working as a chimney sweeper,
Chimney sweepers were clothed in 'clothes of death' - it may refer to a chimney sweeper's uniform or an outfit of a dead person who lays in a coffin - this work led children to death from suffocation.
Parents taught him to do this job and forced him to do it. Parents are responsible for his woe.
Children were employed as chimney sweepers because they were small,
His father sold him before he could even say a word, he was then a toddler,
His parents are not aware that they harmed him,
'be miserable and you will deserve Heaven'
God, priest and king enjoy themselves at the child's expense.
Blake criticises social institutions through the words of a child.
AND DID THOSE FEET:
It is a poem inspired by the history of Jesus who accompanied by Joseph of Arimathea travelled to England,
Jerusalem was destroyed and needed to be rebuilt,
A question is: did Jesus visit England?
Satanic mills - refer to the early Industrial Revolution and its destruction of nature.
In order to rebuild Jerusalem, a mental change needs to be applied,
Chariot of fire - refers to Elijah who was taken straight to heaven on a chariot of fire,
Mental fight in not to be stopped, he will fight for human minds,
What existed once, can exist again but only through the strong effort of its citizens.
William Wordsworth ''Tintern Abbey'', ''Daffodils''.
15 maja 2014
19:52
TINTERN ABBEY:
A poet looks back when he was in this place 5 years ago,
He remembers lots of details,
His view on the place is more mature and deeper than it was earlier,
Parts of nature are still the same, but a speaker has changed and sees it through a different perspective,
He uncovers lots of things, he can feel and see lots of things thanks to his memory,
The world is unintelligible to us, it's mysterious,
He can understand the world thanks to nature,
People can see lots of things which brings lots of responsibility,
Being close to the nature gives him pleasure that can come back with memories and excitement,
His experience of nature was different from that which is now,
Nature for him is sacred, it is a guard, nature heals him, takes care of him,
Nature as a moral teacher, it never betrayed him, it never judges him,
He is like a priest of nature, nature and God are the same,
Whatever you achieve from nature, it's like you got it from God.
THE DAFFODILS:
A speaker compared with a cloud - he goes wherever he wants,
He saw a set of golden daffodils which made him stop for a while to admire them,
The daffodils are lovely, graceful, they stand in never-ending line
He is not aware of the value of this view, that is why he gazed and gazed...
Thinking may spoil perception,
He experiences EPIPHANY - an overflow of powerful feelings.
The view, when brought back again, gives him this feeling again as well,
First there was perception, then conception to write a poem. After that, when a poem is ready, a reader is to find the conception and perception of a poet. But on the way, some details can be missed.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'', ''Kubla Khan''
15 maja 2014
20:19
THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER:
I:
An ancient mariner meets three people who are going to a wedding and he makes them stop,
They can't help looking at mariner's eyes.
Mariner wants to tell a tale to them,
He tells how the ship sailed to the south with a good wind and fair weather, till they reached the Line.
A ship was driven by a storm toward the South Pole, they were lost,
They reached the land of ice, they felt lonely, there was no wind to move their ship,
Suddenly the Albatross appeared and it was greeted with joy,
Unfortunately one day a mariner killed the albatross on impulse,
II:
The shipmates cry out against the mariner, for killing the bird of good luck, but after some time they don't feel sorry anymore,
The fair breeze continues, a ship reaches the Pacific Ocean, they stopped sailing because there was no wind,
Then the albatross begins to be avenged.
The crew didn't have anything to drink, they were hungry,
The crew blames the mariner for everything and he puts the albatross [instead of the cross] around his neck.
III:
A mariner sees the sing on the see,
As it approached nearer and nearer he discovered that is was a ship,
The crew feels a bit of hope,
They are surprised that a ship sails without the wind,
A mariner sees two creatures on the board: DEATH and LIFE-IN-DEATH
Two creatures were playing dice for the souls of the crew,
The LIFE-IN-DEATH wins and takes lives of the crew except from The Ancient Mariner
They were rather turned to the state between life and death,
IV:
Mariner is full of fear, he tries to pray,
He is scared of the eyes of the crew, they look at him as if they were still alive - he was seeing it for 7 days,
He sees monsters which he cannot stand + he sees God's creatures who are beautiful and bring happiness,
Then the albatross fell off his neck and he found consolation,
V:
He goes to sleep, the rain comes, the wind blows, everything comes to norm,
He feels happy,
VI:
His vessel drives northward,
The Mariner awakes, and his penance comes,
The curse is expired,
He reaches his native country,
VII:
The ship sinks, but mariner is alive,
Hermit helps him,
The conclusion and moral is that everything in nature which is made by God deserves love. Reality is made of things that are equally important. When you kill the albatross, nature is destroyed. Everything is interconnected.
Jane Austen ''Pride and Prejudice''
15 maja 2014
21:07
SUMMARY:
Pride and Prejudice is the story of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and their five unmarried daughters. They live in the estate of Longbourn in Hertfordshire, a rural district about thirty miles from London. The family is not rich. Their property is ‘entailed’ to pass to the nearest male heir in the family, in this case to Mr. Collins. The main concern of Mrs. Bennet’s life is to see that all her daughters are married, preferably to men with large fortunes. She sees an opportunity for her eldest daughter Jane when Mr. Charles Bingley, a wealthy gentlemen from the city, occupies the nearby estate of Netherfield Park. In her excitement, she urges her husband to visit Mr. Bingley on the very first day of his arrival, before any of the other neighbors. Mr. Bennet complies to his wife’s request and visits Mr. Bingley, but withholds information about his visit from the family.
At the next social gathering in Meryton, Bingley brings along his two sisters, Caroline Bingley and Louisa Hurst. But more importantly, he brings his closest friend, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. Bingley, who is charming and social, is immediately attracted to the modest and gentle Jane Bennet. Darcy, in contrast to Bingley, is proud, rude, and disagreeable. When Bingley suggests that Darcy dance with Elizabeth Bennet, he refuses and negatively comments on her looks. Elizabeth overhears the comment and develops a strong prejudice against Darcy. At the next ball in Netherfield, Darcy feels an attraction for Elizabeth and asks her for a dance. She refuses to dance with him, thereby avenging the earlier insults.
Jane and Bingley continue to be attracted to one another. Caroline Bingley invites Jane to Netherfield for a visit. While at Netherfield, Jane falls ill and Elizabeth comes to look after her sister. While at Netherfield, Elizabeth is forced to confront Darcy. She approaches him with wit and sarcasm. Since Darcy has known only flattery from others, he is charmed by Elizabeth’s frankness. During her short stay at Netherfield, Elizabeth realizes Caroline is very contemptuous of her family, its social status, and Mrs. Bennet’s vulgarity. Elizabeth concludes that Caroline’s friendship and cordiality towards Jane is only a pretense.
The male relative to whom the Longbourn estate is ‘entailed’ is Rev. William Collins of Hunsfort. Mr. Collins pays a visit to Longbourn with the intention of proposing marriage to one of the Bennet daughters. His pompous manners and his bloated rhetoric disgust everyone, except Mrs. Bennet, who looks upon him as a prospective son-in-law. Collins is attracted to Jane, but Mrs. Bennet informs him that she is about to be engaged. He then turns his attention to Elizabeth and makes a ridiculous proposal of marriage to her. When Elizabeth rejects him, he proposes to her friend Charlotte Lucas, who, to everyone’s shock, accepts him. Mrs. Bennet is distressed by Elizabeth’s rejection of Mr. Collins because it is the one opportunity she has of keeping the Longbourn estate in the family.
Bingley and his companions soon depart for London. Both Bingley and Caroline write to Jane to say that they have closed Netherfield and have no plans of returning to it in the near future. Jane is very disappointed. As Jane feels frustration over Bingley, Elizabeth finds a new attraction. She meets Mr. Wickham and is foolishly and magnetically drawn to him. They have a friendly conversation in which she reveals her dislike of Darcy. Taking advantage of this information, Wickham concocts a story and tells Elizabeth that he has been cheated by Darcy. Elizabeth takes pity on him and almost falls in love. Mrs. Gardiner, however, warns Elizabeth about Wickham, who soon marries Miss King.
At the invitation of the Gardiners, Jane goes to London for some rest and change of air. She hopes that she sees Bingley, even accidentally. Jane makes many attempts to get in touch with him, but Caroline does not even inform her brother about Jane’s presence in London. Jane is heart broken, but grows to accept her rejection.
Elizabeth goes to Hunsford to visit Mr. Collins and his new wife Charlotte, who is Elizabeth’s dear friend. During Elizabeth’s stay in Hunsford, Darcy happens to visit his aunt, who also lives there, and attempts to build a relationship with Elizabeth. To her surprise, Darcy proposes marriage to her in a language so arrogant that Elizabeth turns him down indignantly. She asks him how he dares to propose to her after separating Jane and Bingley, who were in love with each other, and after victimizing Wickham. She ends her tirade by saying that she would not marry him even if he were the last man on the earth. Darcy is upset and leaves in a huff. The next morning he meets Elizabeth when she goes out for a walk and hands her a long letter that answers all her accusations. He explains to her that he did not believe that Jane was really in love with Bingley. He also tells her the truth about Wickham. Elizabeth is shocked by his answers.
There is also another shock awaiting her. Her youngest sister Lydia has been invited to Brighton by a young officer’s wife. Lydia is very excited about the trip; but Elizabeth knows how stupid, scatter brained, and flirtatious Lydia is. She tries to persuade her father not to allow Lydia to go to Brighton. Her father, however, dismisses Elizabeth’s fears.
Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner plan a tour of the Lake District and take Elizabeth with them. At the last minute, however, the tour is cut short and the Gardiners decide to restrict their trip to Derbyshire, where Darcy has his vast estate in Pemberley. Elizabeth makes sure that Darcy is away on business and then agrees to visit Pemberley, out of sheer curiosity. Pemberley is one of the most beautiful places she has ever visited, and Darcy’s elegant tastes are evident everywhere. To top it all, Ms. Reynolds, the housekeeper who has known Darcy since his childhood, speaks very highly of him, saying he is just and fair. Elizabeth cannot believe that she has made such a mistake in judging his character. As Elizabeth is looking over Pemberley’s lovely grounds, Darcy himself appears, returning a day before he is expected. He looks surprised to see Elizabeth, and she is intensely embarrassed. He is polite to her and the Gardiners, and Elizabeth notices that there is no trace of pride in him.
The following day, Bingley calls on Elizabeth, and his anxious inquiries about Jane indicate that he is still in love with her. Darcy and his beautiful sister, Georgiana, also call on Elizabeth at the inn to invite her and the Gardiners to dinner. Elizabeth accepts the dinner invitation. During the dinner, Caroline tries her best to destroy the friendly relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth by running down Elizabeth’s family, but she does not succeed. Darcy is fond of Elizabeth.
News comes that Lydia has eloped with Wickham, so Elizabeth leaves Derbyshire with the Gardiners to return home. All attempts at tracing the runaway couple have failed. Darcy, touched by Elizabeth’s distress over Lydia, seeks to find her and catches up with the couple in London. Darcy convinces Wickham to marry Lydia, gives him ten thousand pounds, pays up his debts, and persuades him to settle in the North of London. Darcy then requests that the Gardiners not reveal his help to the Bennet family. Elizabeth, however, finds out the truth about Darcy’s assistance. She is impressed with his kindness.
Bingley makes an unannounced reappearance at Netherfield Park, and renews his courtship of Jane. They are soon engaged. Lady Catherine also arrives unannounced and acts very haughty towards the Bennet family. She threatens Elizabeth with dire consequences if she marries Darcy, but Elizabeth refuses to promise that she will not accept a proposal from Darcy. A few days later, Darcy comes to visit and makes a second proposal of marriage to Elizabeth. This time she accepts wholeheartedly. He thanks Elizabeth for teaching him the lesson of humility.
The two couples, Jane and Bingley and Elizabeth and Darcy, are married on the same morning. Mrs. Bennet is overjoyed at having three of her daughters married, two of them to very rich young men. After a year’s stay at Netherfield Park, Bingley purchases an estate in Derbyshire. His mother-in-law’s tiresome company and her vulgar behavior are too much even for his calm temperament. The novel finally ends on a note of reconciliation with all of the characters trying to forgive and forget past insults.
Elizabeth Bennet
The second daughter in the Bennet family, and the most intelligent and quick-witted, Elizabeth is the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice and one of the most well-known female characters in English literature. Her admirable qualities are numerous—she is lovely, clever, and, in a novel defined by dialogue, she converses as brilliantly as anyone. Her honesty, virtue, and lively wit enable her to rise above the nonsense and bad behavior that pervade her class-bound and often spiteful society. Nevertheless, her sharp tongue and tendency to make hasty judgments often lead her astray; Pride and Prejudice is essentially the story of how she (and her true love, Darcy) overcome all obstacles—including their own personal failings—to find romantic happiness. Elizabeth must not only cope with a hopeless mother, a distant father, two badly behaved younger siblings, and several snobbish, antagonizing females, she must also overcome her own mistaken impressions of Darcy, which initially lead her to reject his proposals of marriage. Her charms are sufficient to keep him interested, fortunately, while she navigates familial and social turmoil. As she gradually comes to recognize the nobility of Darcy’s character, she realizes the error of her initial prejudice against him.
Fitzwilliam Darcy
The son of a wealthy, well-established family and the master of the great estate of Pemberley, Darcy is Elizabeth’s male counterpart. The narrator relates Elizabeth’s point of view of events more often than Darcy’s, so Elizabeth often seems a more sympathetic figure. The reader eventually realizes, however, that Darcy is her ideal match. Intelligent and forthright, he too has a tendency to judge too hastily and harshly, and his high birth and wealth make him overly proud and overly conscious of his social status. Indeed, his haughtiness makes him initially bungle his courtship. When he proposes to her, for instance, he dwells more on how unsuitable a match she is than on her charms, beauty, or anything else complimentary. Her rejection of his advances builds a kind of humility in him. Darcy demonstrates his continued devotion to Elizabeth, in spite of his distaste for her low connections, when he rescues Lydia and the entire Bennet family from disgrace, and when he goes against the wishes of his haughty aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, by continuing to pursue Elizabeth. Darcy proves himself worthy of Elizabeth, and she ends up repenting her earlier, overly harsh judgment of him.
Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley
Elizabeth’s beautiful elder sister and Darcy’s wealthy best friend, Jane and Bingley engage in a courtship that occupies a central place in the novel. They first meet at the ball in Meryton and enjoy an immediate mutual attraction. They are spoken of as a potential couple throughout the book, long before anyone imagines that Darcy and Elizabeth might marry. Despite their centrality to the narrative, they are vague characters, sketched by Austen rather than carefully drawn. Indeed, they are so similar in nature and behavior that they can be described together: both are cheerful, friendly, and good-natured, always ready to think the best of others; they lack entirely the prickly egotism of Elizabeth and Darcy. Jane’s gentle spirit serves as a foil for her sister’s fiery, contentious nature, while Bingley’s eager friendliness contrasts with Darcy’s stiff pride. Their principal characteristics are goodwill and compatibility, and the contrast of their romance with that of Darcy and Elizabeth is remarkable. Jane and Bingley exhibit to the reader true love unhampered by either pride or prejudice, though in their simple goodness, they also demonstrate that such a love is mildly dull.
Mr. Bennet
Mr. Bennet is the patriarch of the Bennet household—the husband of Mrs. Bennet and the father of Jane, Elizabeth, Lydia, Kitty, and Mary. He is a man driven to exasperation by his ridiculous wife and difficult daughters. He reacts by withdrawing from his family and assuming a detached attitude punctuated by bursts of sarcastic humor. He is closest to Elizabeth because they are the two most intelligent Bennets. Initially, his dry wit and self-possession in the face of his wife’s hysteria make him a sympathetic figure, but, though he remains likable throughout, the reader gradually loses respect for him as it becomes clear that the price of his detachment is considerable. Detached from his family, he is a weak father and, at critical moments, fails his family. In particular, his foolish indulgence of Lydia’s immature behavior nearly leads to general disgrace when she elopes with Wickham. Further, upon her disappearance, he proves largely ineffective. It is left to Mr. Gardiner and Darcy to track Lydia down and rectify the situation. Ultimately, Mr. Bennet would rather withdraw from the world than cope with it.
Mrs. Bennet
Mrs. Bennet is a miraculously tiresome character. Noisy and foolish, she is a woman consumed by the desire to see her daughters married and seems to care for nothing else in the world. Ironically, her single-minded pursuit of this goal tends to backfire, as her lack of social graces alienates the very people (Darcy and Bingley) whom she tries desperately to attract. Austen uses her continually to highlight the necessity of marriage for young women. Mrs. Bennet also serves as a middle-class counterpoint to such upper-class snobs as Lady Catherine and Miss Bingley, demonstrating that foolishness can be found at every level of society. In the end, however, Mrs. Bennet proves such an unattractive figure, lacking redeeming characteristics of any kind, that some readers have accused Austen of unfairness in portraying her—as if Austen, like Mr. Bennet, took perverse pleasure in poking fun at a woman already scorned as a result of her ill breeding.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge ''Kubla Khan''
16 maja 2014
19:44
KUBLA KHAN:
poem describes Xanadu, the palace of Kubla Khan, a Mongol emperor and the grandson of Genghis Khan
A poem was written during the time of indisposition of the author, when he had to take anodyne - a medicament which was a popular addictive painkiller,
Then he fell asleep and had a dream vision
After awakening he wanted to put it all down, but he was distracted by a guest
All that he wrote down is just a fragment of what he had seen in his dream:
title character (Kubla Khan), description of the amazing setting of the poem (Xanadu),
Coleridge is talking about a real place and a real guy,
Kubla built a peaceful and beautiful palace,
The speaker begins to describe the geography of Xanadu. He starts by introducing us to the River Alph - associated with the river in Greece or with the first letter of Greek alphabet (symbol of beginning).
this landscape is both huge and unknowable
an imaginary landscape: caverns measureless to man, sunless sea, etc.
gardens around the palace
Everything about this place feels safe and happy. It's protected by the walls, it's "fertile," the gardens are "bright," even the trees smell good.
We can see the beautiful language of Coleridge, full of dynamism,
The place is unconventional
The king is like a creator, a man full of visions,
The king is able to hear the sound of war that come from behind the walls,
The twist of a poem:
A girl with dulcimer was seen in his visions,
He cannot revive the vision, because he had too many of them,
He doesn't have enough power to revive them,
He feels respect for those who is able to have bigger power,
The poet is in touch with the supernatural
All we can do with it is to follow, worship and protect.