"In order to fulfill the duties of life, and to be able to pursuade with vigour the various employments which form the moral character, a master . . .

and a mistress of a family ought not to continue to love each other with passion."

Johanna Araujo
-from Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
-anticipates equality and the rights of women
-women should also have human rights because they have intellectual capacity
-virtues for women are different than the virtues of men
-women and men should have education htat the other sex has (revolution of manners)
-traditional style
-Chapter 2 discusses the impact of literature on women
-Introduction is important
-Waldo presented lecture on Thursday 02/14
-Wollstonecraft in Norton Vol. D

levelers

Johanna Araujo

The Levelers was a group of people who came together during the English Civil War (1642-1648) to demand constitutional reform and equal rights under the law. The war brought upon instability but it also gave rise to creativity (intellectually, religious, artistic, etc.) Levelers believed all men were born free and equal and possessed natural rights; rights not given by the government. They believed the law should equally protect the poor and the wealthy and that all men should have full voting rights. "Leveler" was a term of abuse, used by their opponents to exaggerate the threat of their ideas.

The Leveler's goals were discussed at the Putney debates. The Leveler proposals were totally rejected by Ireton. A pamphlet published after the execution of Charles I resulted in severe suppression of the Levelers by Oliver Cromwell, who had constantly opposed them.

See lecture notes on Tuesday, January 15th. Theme: Religion

Me-thinks already, from this chymic flame, / I see a city of more precious mold: / Rich as the town which gives the Indies name . . .

Jenn Park
Ian Newman

Excerpt from Dryden's "London After the Great Fire" written in 1666.
Correlated with Dryden's Annus Mirabilis

Throughout the poem, description of a beautiful London is at hand.
With the Great Fire of London in 1666, majority of the city is burned down, left as nothing but rubble and stones.
Poem is Dryden's patriotic call to rebuild the city from its ashes touching upon commentary of the great city of Rome.
Rising from the ashes like a phoenix (visual imagery. correlated with mythical significance of phoenix, the most beautiful bird in existence, that is supposedly resurrected from worthless mere ashes.
"More great than human, now, and more August, / New deified she from her fires does rise." John Dryden even imbues the fire with the characteristics of some sort of redemptive act.
Ultimately stating that London shall achieve a sort of salvation and grow greater with the expectation that the world is going to change for the better. London will be the predominant force to lead it.

Charlotte Smith

Johanna Araujo

-began writing to make money when her husband was in prison
-successful novelist
-liberal political views within her written work made her books key contributions to the Revolution Controversy in Britain
-Smith refashioned the sonnet form as a medium of mournful feeling
-Coleridge noted in 1796 that "Charlotte Smith...first made the Sonnet popular among the present English"
-Romantic poet

(Charlotte Smith: Norton Anth. Vol D page 39)

Byronic hero

Russell Stoll – 1B

The concept of the “Byronic Hero” was one first conceived by (hold onto your hats) Lord Byron. This type of characterization was mainly constructed out of Byron’s own idea of himself, and the identity that Byron exhibited to the world around him. Byron understood the importance and allure of having an attractive, interesting, gossip-worthy personal life; because his work seemed to be semi-autobiographical, many people bought and read Byron’s books (back in the day) just to try to get a hint of the scandalous, provocative, over-extravagant lifestyle that Byron said he lived. The classic classification that Byron built for himself, and thus a classic classification of a Byronic Hero, is that they are “mad, bad, and dangerous to know.” (In essence, Lord Byron was the Colin Farrell or even the Britney Spears of the late 18th century…except that Byron actually had talent; no offense intended to fans of Farrell or Spears.)

These are common qualities of a Byronic Hero:
-in a constant state of self-contradiction
-introspective / brooding
-self-abusive / self-destructive
-lacking or struggling with integrity
-unable to cope with their own past
-has sexual identity crisis
-jaded
-moody
-lacking self-respect or self-confidence
-socially outcast and/or degenerate
-cynical
-never content / always looking for more

Characters from Byron’s works that are possibly Byronic Heroes:
-Childe Herald
-Manfred
-Don Juan

Pop-culture characters that I think could be considered Byronic Heroes:
-Sweeney Todd (Sweeney Todd)
-Severus Snape (Harry Potter)
-Wolverine (X-Men)
-Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights)
-The Prince of Persia (Prince of Persia series)
-Ellen Ripley (Alien films)
-Dr. Mark Sloan (Grey’s Anatomy)
-Sarah Connor (Terminator films…not the crap TV show – don’t even get me started!)
-Kratos (God of War)
-Hamlet (Hamlet – I know, the chronology is off, but I think it works)
-Simba (The Lion King – one follows the other)
-Beatrix Kiddo / The Bride / ‘Black Mamba’ (Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2)
-Rick Blaine (Casablanca)
-Bruce Wayne / Batman (Um…all that Batman stuff)
-Jean Valjean (Les Miserables)
-Dr. Christian Troy (Nip/Tuck)
-Anakin Skywalker (seriously…come on…)

Some of these I borrowed, some of these I very proudly thought of on my own, but all are up for discussion for anyone who wishes to challenge me on them. I feel that all have traits that embody the Byronic Hero, and if you keep a few of these characters in mind then you are at least in the ball park.

(Feel free to e-mail me at rstoll@ucla.edu with queries, questions, qualms, etc. Thanks!)

hanoverian succession

Sarah Densmore

The opposition to the Jacobite revolts that followed the political crisis surrounding the Popish Plot and the Exclusion Act of 1681. The idea behind Hanoverian Succession is the belief that the crown should pass to the German King George, a Protestant, and very distant relative of Charles, rather than to Charles' Catholic brother James, for the sake of maintaining a Protestant Britain.

The Hanoverian and Jacobite controversy is one of the three major conflicts that Professor Makdisi encouraged us to remember. These are as follows:

Jacobite v. Hanoverian
Protestant v. Catholic
The British monarchy v. The pressure of external forces (caused instability until 1845)

From: Prof. Makdisi's lecture on John Dryden's "Absolom and Achitophel" (Feb 19, 2008)

Jacobite

Sarah Densmore

A Jacobite is a believer in the royal British bloodline during the politically tumultuous times following the Popish Plot (1678) and the Exclusison Crisis (1681). The Jacobites believed that parliament should not interfere with the ascension to the British throne. Rather, they believed that the crown ought to pass to the staunchly Catholic James, brother of Protestant King Charles, following the King's death. Because Charles bore no legitimate sons, the Jacobite revolts were an effort to relieve the country of its anti-Catholic sentiments and policies by restoring James to the throne.

Jacobite is not to be confused with Jacobean, the period of rule under James I (1603-1625)

From: Norton Vol. C (p. 2087-2088)
Prof. Makdisi's lecture on John Dryden's "Absolom and Achitophel" (Feb 19, 2008)

Glorious Revolution

Johanna Araujo

James II came to the throne of England in 1685, after Charles II his brother died. He desired to rule and re-establish the Roman Catholic religion in England. The common people did not like this. They rose in revolt. There was a struggle between the King and the Parliament and William of Orange, the Protestant son-in-law of James, was asked to intervene. William and his wife Mary (daughter of James II) removed the Catholic power from James III, and William re-established the Protestant power. Days later, James was allowed to escape to France and as a result Parliament establishes Bill of Rights which states that the power of the country lies within Parliament and the Prime Minister, the power does not lie within the King and Queen. Mary and William had no children, after their death, the crown was passed to Anne, Mary's sister.

See lecture notes of 02/19

Torries & Whigs

Johanna Araujo

Parliament was split between Whigs and Torries. The Whigs represented the merchant class and after the Industial Revolution, they would encourage economic expansion. Whigs pushed the exclusion crisis that tried to make Charles II's illegitimate son the future heir of England, and would exclude James from the crown. The Torries represented the land holding aristocracy. They rejected the Whigs' exclusion law and wanted James as king.

In 1681, Charles II dissolves Parliament and locks up Whig leaders and they are later executed.

See lecture notes of Tuesday, February 19. Theme: The Nation

Exclusion Crisis

Johanna Araujo

The exclusion crisis takes place in Protestant England between 1679-1681. Parliament tries to exclude James II from reigning the country after Charles II's death because he (James)was Catholic. Usually, when a king did not have an heir, the crown would be passed over to another family member. The exclusion crisis gave rise to Torries and Whigs. Ultimately, the House of Lords blocks the exclusion law.

Dryden wrote "Absalom and Achitophel": an allegorical story about the exclusion crisis.

Lecture notes: 02/19. "Absalom and Achitophel" from Norton Vol. C

Titus Oats

Johanna Araujo

Titus Oates fabricated the "Popish Plot", a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles II of Great Britain. Oates also claimed the Queen was working with the King's physician to poison him. The King personally interrogated Oates, caught his lies, and had Oates arrested.

Popish Plot

Sarah Densmore

In 1678, two English clergymen attempted to undermine the growing influence of the Catholic church, both on British society and in Parliament by claiming to have uncovered a Catholic plan against the life of King Charles II. Titus Oates and Israel Tonge claimed that a Jesuit (an order of the Catholic church) meeting had taken place at a local tavern, in which the various methods of assassination were discussed. This falsification set off the debate surrounding Charles' successor, further dividing Britain into Jacobites and Hanoverians. This rupture threatened to undo the Restoration resolutions and even worse, ignite a British civil war. The tug of war between politics and religion in Britain proved to be one of the institutions that the colonists tried to avoid when founding our spin-off nation. Yet, it seems that a complete separation of church and state remains difficult.

Swift: A Modest Proposal

Kelley Lonergan - Waldo - 1H

A Modest Proposal

Let’s eat babies!

o Written in 1729 by Jonathan Swift
o Page 2462 in Norton Volume C
o THEME: The Nation
        o Britain versus England
        o England is the predominant ruling force of Great Britain
               • Ireland, Scotland and Wales try to define their own cultures


o Elaboration of “The English are devouring the Irish”
        o English landlords were taking over Ireland
        o English did not care for the Irish people, only their land
             • Ignored, the Irish population was dwindling because they were no longer in control of their land and the English were not taking care of them
o Satire
o Deadpan
o Mocks the persistent famine in Ireland and England’s inability and unwillingness to confront it
o The irony of the essay relies on the relationship to its outside context, ie. the famine
o Proposing the unacceptable (cannibalism) makes one think about the situation that brought about the unacceptable
o Parody of similar “proposals” made at this time
o Style and tone convincing

“I have no children by which I can propose to get a single penny; the youngest being nine years old, and my wife past childbearing.” Page 2468 in Norton Volume C

Lecture on The Nation in early texts: 2.19.08

Lecture on Modest Proposal: 2.21.08

John Dryden: "Absalom and Achitophel"

Kevin Twohy -- DIS 1I

Dryden's "Absalom and Achitophel" appeared during the height of the Exclusion Crisis in England. Dryden employs the Biblical allegory of Absalom's rebellion against King David from the Old Testament's second book of Samuel (King David representing Charles II) to engage the political climate surrounding the Exclusion Crisis as well as some of the the Popish Plot. Dryden's poem ultimately upholds the stability of the English monarchy, arguing against a change of regime that might be more easily corrupted.

Lord George Gordon Byron: Don Juan, Canto I

Kevin Yee
Discussion 1B

George Gordon Lord Byron retells a famous legend of a Spanish libertine hero, Don Juan, through a long, satirical poem penned in 1817. It’s a poem, a long and satirical one at that. We were assigned to read the first Canto, found on pages 670-697 (Romantic Period), which introduces Don Juan through his family history, childhood, and early life experience with his first encounter with seduction. Byron’s version of Don Juan is different than the rest; it is an ironic revaluation of the traditional story, casting Don Juan as more of an innocent victim than the promiscuous womanizer he was conjured up to be. In the first Canto, Don Juan is approached by his mother’s friend, Donna Julia.

Byron’s story is found under the theme of “Love, Sex, and Marriage”. Byron’s retelling is a reversal of legend of Don Juan, whose name would be used as synonymous with a promiscuous womanizer. In Byron’s version however, he is portrayed as innocent and naïve. He is not the one pursuing Donna Julia, rather he is noticed by her and seduced. The Norton introduction illuminates how Byron’s version diverges from other writings about Don Juan: “Throughout Byron’s version the unspoken but persistent joke is that this archetypal lady-killer of European legend is in fact more acted upon than active…Unfailingly amiable and well-intentioned, he is guilty largely of youth, charm, and a courteous and compliant spirit. The women do all the rest.” (Norton, 669).

This can also be viewed in the context of “Race and Empire”, appealing to “Orientalism”. Byron’s manipulation of Spanish pronunciation in this poem reveals how this legend is filtered through the lense of a decidedly English perspective. In the first official stanza, in lines 4-6, Byron forces the reader to conform the reading of the last name “Juan” to “Ju-an”. Byron forces this two-syllabled pronunciation through his rhyme scheme – rhyming the name “Ju-an” (line 6) with the preceding phrase “true one” (line 4). Similarly, in lines 1519-1520, Byron alters the pronunciation of the Spanish city “Cadiz” by forcing it to rhyme with the previous word “ladies”. This English-influenced inflection upon the rhymes forces incorrect pronunciation of Spanish names. This satirical turn reveals the ethnocentric mindset renders all in relationship to the central focus of England. In addition, as the TA guest lecturer pointed out, Byron correlates England with forward progressive thinking, exploration, and pioneering, as well as importance. He does so in the with the listing “North, forth, worth”, which strings together England (“North”) with progress and value – “forth” and “worth”, respectively.

William Blake: Visions of the Daughters of Albion

Anna Roberts
Section IA

-Blake new Mary Wollstonecraft, because they had the same publisher
-his work came out one year before Vindication of the Rights of Women
-he agrees with her that women are enslaved and subservient to men
- they differ in terms of desire which is not seen in Mary's work
-They both use words of slavery but Mary argues passion disturbs society
-Mary's vindication (reason, thought, controlled rhetoric) vs Blake's vision (prophecy, seeing beyond five senses, seeing beyond restrictions)
-nature of sexuality and sexual repression are important concepts in Blake's work as well
-contemporary men and even more so women are oppressed in terms of socially acceptable concepts and codes in their thoughts, perceptions, actions, and social institutions

-"Visions" is a retelling of the fall of man-->Corruption occurs because of Eve's mistake
-ends with pessimistic note-cannot return back to life before fall of human
-Orthoon tries to go back to before this fall; where sex can be enjoyed without societal standards
-Orthoon represents the subjugated nature of all women in a patriarchal society; she is like a slave who has been abused, raped, and impregnated by her "master"; she seeks sexual freedom for both men and women; tries to convince Theotormon she still is pure despite being raped
-Bromion represents a slave owner who sexually exploits women; rejects sexuality as a form of joy
-Theotormon denies himself joys of life and refuses intellect and the imagination to improve human life

Mary Wollstonecraft: from Vindication of the Rights of Woman

claimed by Anjali Rodrigues

Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" was published in 1792 , again in the context of the French Revolution. This essay advocates the rights of women and recognizes how society pushed men into roles as oppressors and women into the roles of the oppressed. She criticizes women's use of coquetry and cunning  in their relationships with men, arguing that education for women is essential and necessary, because they are responsible for raising the next generation. She discusses the attributes associated with masculinity and femininity, and how women are expected to take on roles as weak, uneducated, and inferior, as opposed to men's roles as the dominant, power-wielding, superior gender. She encourages women to pursue nobler ambitions and for society to grant them the social, educational and political rights that are given to men. 

Anna Laetitia Barbauld: "The Rights of Woman"

claimed by Anjali Rodrigues

"The Rights of Woman" is a poem by Anna Laetitia Barbauld that is often interpreted as a response to Mary Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman", though the poem was published posthumously. The poem is in agreement with Wollstonecraft until the last two lines, in which Barbauld clearly differentiates herself from Wollstonecraft, ending with " In Nature's school, by her soft maxims taught/That separate rights are lost in mutual love". This is often interpreted as Barbauld's anti-feminist reaction to Wollstonecraft; however, Barbauld's activism in terms of women's rights in politics and education would seem to counter that theory. An alternative interpretation is that the poem elucidates problems that could occur in the fight for women's rights and warns against making men out as the enemy and also against letting passion override logic and rationale in the fight for and clarification of women's rights. 

William Hogarth: "Marriage a la Mode"

Johanna Araujo

-the life of the city fill Hogarth's work
-won a reputation for portraits and conversation pieces (groups portraits in which
members of a family or assembly interact in a social situation)
-writers have loved Horgarth's satiric art
-pictures have plots and morals yet are open to interpretation
-In "Marriage-a-la-Mode" his audence and subject matters belonged to high society
-a forced marriage where husband and wife have nothing in common
-"Hogarth's satire warns against the spreaing corruption of modern times, when self-interest eats into marriage and old values die" (Norton Vol.C pg.2657).

William Congreve: "Way of the World"

[this post is available]

Rochester: "The Imperfect Enjoyment"

Kelley Lonergan - Waldo - 1H

The Imperfect Enjoyment

o Written in 1672 by John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester
o Poem on page 2169 of Norton Volume C
o THEME: Love, Sex and Marriage

o In a glance: Rochester comes too early, causing frustration to the woman as well as himself.
o Man is the extension of his penis
          o Genre of poems using this metaphor derives from Ovid
          o A man’s penis dictates his pride
o Sex is a metaphor for power→ emphasis on the aggressive
o The female in the poem has a voice—she speaks about her disappointment
          o “Is there then no more?” line 22
          o This is very unusual
o identity vs sexual identity → which is more important?
          o crisis of the self
          o the last two stanzas show the speaker’s inner battle
          o man needs to separate his SELF from his PENIS
o In the final couplet, the woman, Corrina, is personalized
          o The speaker, the man, is just a prick

Lecture from 2.12.08

John Keats: "Ode to a Nightingale"

Russell Stoll – 1B

The most important thing to understand about Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale” is the moment of the poem. This has some major implications in how one reads the poem, and why Makdisi’s theme of self and imagination comes into play.

The poem is about a moment of intense spiritual and emotional connection that Keats feels with a nightingale that he sees and hears out of his window. He sees the bird and hears it singing with a joy that he wishes he had, and for an instant he is inspired by the bird’s ability to sing so joyously in the dead of the night. The inspiration that Keats draws from this is to find happiness in his own sorrows, instead of being burdened and feeling depressed or anxious. But, the bird leaves and Keats is left feeling depressed again.

However, while this is what the poem is about, this event of his connection with the bird is not the moment of the poem. This moment of grand connection happens before the poem begins, and the actual moment of the poem is what happens to Keats after the bird leaves. Every description of the bird, the bird’s song, and the happiness that he felt from the bird is all based on his recollection of what happened in the recent passed. He writes about having seen the bird, but not about seeing the bird; it a past thing, not a present thing. What is happening in the “present” of the poem is that Keats is going through various game-plans to try to reconnect, to try to hold on, and to try to feel happy again before everything fades completely away into his memory.

Then, at the end of the poem, Keats wonders: “Was it a vision, or a waking dream? / Fled is that music:- Do I wake or do I sleep?” So now, looking beyond the end of the poem, we see that Keats has opened a discussion about whether or not the bird even existed in the first place, and consequently whether or not he even felt that moment of happiness. Perhaps it was real, or perhaps it was a figment of his imagination. This leaves the reader, and presumably Keats, with a question: if something profound in your life turned out to have never really happened, is the effect it had on you truly profound? In other words, can your own imagination affect your self in a way that can bring about a significant change in attitude? This is a question that Keats leaves unanswered, but it seems that an argument for either side could be reached depending on how one reads the text further.

To sum up: The coming and going of the bird and Keats’ happiness is in the past.
The effort and attempt to reconnect with fleeting happiness is in the now.
The question of imagination and its effect on the self is implied in the future.

Things to look for: usage of music imagery/diction, usage of nature imagery/diction, usage of punctuation (especially exclamation marks at points of woe/pain), repetition of “death” or “die,” repetition of “fade.”

(Feel free to e-mail me at rstoll@ucla.edu with queries, questions, qualms, etc. Thanks!)

John Clare: "I Am"

Anna Roberts
Section IA

John Clare (1793-1864)
-son of a field laborer and an illiterate mother
-began writing to vent his frustrations for having to be a field laborer
-a blank notebook would cost him a week's wages
-he became a brief celebrity in 1820 but after the failure of his next three books he became insane in 1837 and spent the rest of his life in an asylum

"I Am" (1848)
-under the theme "Imagination and Self"
-ways self and thought were put together changes dramatically during Romantic period
-concept of what it means to inhabit an imagination and view the world as an individual explored during this time as well
-the poem expresses sense of "What am I?"
-wrote when he was locked up in an insane asylum
-demonstrates ways we articulate ourselves against others
-Makdisi put up this quote by Blake, "I am like an atom/A nothing left in darkness, yet I am an identity/I wish and feel and weep and groan. Ah terrible terrible"
-individuality not something to celebrate
-awful to be locked up in the self
-late 19th century/19th century construction of self ends up not being as wonderful as we were told it would be

Coleridge: "This Lime Tree Bower My Prison"

Stephanie Chang 1A
-1795
-Written when his friends Charles Lamb, and Dorothy and William Wordsworth visited
-Due to an accident he could not join them on a walk and instead sat in the garden-bower (Hence the name of the poem)
-Listed as “Self and Imagination” but focuses on how nature elevates his mind and allows his imagination to remove himself from his “prison” of not being able to walk
-In the first two stanzas his imagination is used to picture what his friends are doing and the beautiful nature they are enjoying
-First stanza: dejected because he is missing out on the joys nature will provide his mind in the future, and presently as well
-Stanza two: he pictures how scenes of nature uplifts his friends' spirits as they gaze upon the landscapes
-In the third stanza his tone takes an optimistic shift and he embraces his current surrounding environment, and realizes that even in the most unfortunate situations nature will find a way into the mind
-Nature evokes imagination , sense of self, nature is everywhere and always present
-Nature awakens human emotions
-The imagination can be used as an escape from physical limitations and constraints, and it helps him realize that he is not limited at all because nature inspires his mind to create infinitely

William Wordsworth: "Tintern Abbey"

Katie McAvoy
Section 1E - Brendan O'Kelly
[Final exam review handout]

Tintern Abbey – Misc. Notes

• Written by William Wordsworth, who was in favor of carrying the revolutionary sentiment from France to England and whose poems are obsessed with common people and nature
• Part of the Romantic period
• Eighteenth century to nineteenth century - time of revolution
• Romanticism - revolutionary moment
• Nature, the conception of nature
• An awareness of the self
• Awareness of the torture of the self
• Natural beauty versus being locked in "the self"
• Landscape becomes a mirror of the human soul
• Expression of the sense of anxiety
• About the self viewing the landscape rather than viewing the landscape itself
• Written in blank verse
• Tranquil scenery
• Centered around memory
• Time lapse: 5 years
• Wordsworth is trying to reattach himself though he knows that it isn’t possible
• Wordsworth tries to console himself about the loss of his past through memory
• He examines his memories for this consolation; but sees what the progression of time has done to them
• Dorothy: Wordsworth’s sister
• Wordsworth loved the joy that nature brought him

Notable Lines/Passages

· Five years have past; five summers, with the length
Of five long winters! and again I hear
These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
With a soft inland murmur. -- Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.
The day is come when I again repose
Here, under this dark sycamore, and view

These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts,
Which at this season, with their unripe fruits,
Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves
'Mid groves and copses.

· These beauteous forms,
Through a long absence, have not been to me
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:
But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;
And passing even into my purer mind,
With tranquil restoration:--feelings too

Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,
As have no slight or trivial influence
On that best portion of a good man's life,
His little, nameless, unremembered, acts
Of kindness and of love.

· We stood together; and that I, so long
A worshipper of Nature, hither came
Unwearied in that service: rather say
With warmer love--oh! with far deeper zeal
Of holier love. Nor wilt thou then forget,
That after many wanderings, many years
Of absence, these steep woods and lofty cliffs,
And this green pastoral landscape, were to me
More dear, both for themselves and for thy sake!

Charlotte Smith: "To Night"

Written in sonnet form.
The sonnet is placed in the theme of self and imagination for the reasons that the speaker of the sonnet has been placed under extreme distress and thus the nighttime becomes a time of solace, and peace.
Although the night is associated to be melancholic, it can oddly enough bring comfort. It is in the dark, quiet, gloom of the night that one can find solace. It is calm, and it provides a time of rest for your body, mind, and soul.
The last lines are suggestive to a prayer:
“While to the winds and waves its sorrows given, / May reach – though lost on earth – the ear of Heaven!”
When someone has lost all hope in their life, they pray, hoping that their prayer reaches the ears of God, and thus “the ear of Heaven!”
So not only does the sonnet “To Night” deal with the self and imagination, but it also has a subtle dealing with religion.


Monica Sandoval section 1B TA Waldo

Charlotte Smith: "To Sleep"

Kelley Lonergan - Waldo - 1H

To Sleep

o Written in 1784 by Charlotte Smith
o Page 40 in Norton Volume D
o Theme: Self and Imagination
        o In Romantic period—the self becomes prime focal point
        o Growth of economic self-reliance
        o Introduction of doubt, loneliness
        o Even though given a concept of “self” – still feel as if trapped
        o Madness is evident

o Poem from the Elegiac Sonnets
        o Sonnet form: 14 lines, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
o Sonnet as a “medium of mournful feeling”
o Speaker of poem begs for sleep, but keeps awake
        o Not able to turn off mind
        o Does not have the luxury of exhaustion that the peasant has
o Self-awareness so strong and daunting even the “opiate aid” does not give relief. Ln 13.
o Sleep as metaphor for death
         o Speaker asks sleep “to calm the anxious breast; to close the streaming eye.” Ln 14
         o Cannot escape the self except through death



Lecture on 2.07.08

Equiano: from An Interesting Narrative

Molly Foltyn
Section 1G

"The Intersting Narrative" was published in 1789
Equiano is one of the first Africans to write in English
He became a major figure in the abolitionist movement

The narrative is of a man born in Nigeria, taken in the slave trade, shiped across the Atlantic, ultimately working to freedom by becoming an entrepreneur and then a best selling author
However, Equiano may have fabricated a large portion of his narrative. (May have been born in South Carolina)

but, does it make it any less true? should Equiano not be believed?
why do we privilege eye witness accounts?

In relation to the self:
our sense of self is merely a construction
(Like Pepys and Boswell)- we live as we are seen by other people
our identities are not just what we think of ourselves but constructions constituted by others

Important Passages:
"those white men with horrible looks, red faces, and loose hair" (2851)
"I even wished for my former slavery in preference to my present situation" (2852)
"the white people looked and acted, as I thought, in so savage a manner; for I had never seen among any people such instances of brutal cruelty" (2852)
"O, ye nominal Christians! might not an African ask you, learned you this from your God, who says unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you? Is it not enough that we are torn from our country and friends to toil for your luxury and lust of gain?" (2855)

(From Professor Makdisi's lecture on 2/5/08, and Norton Anthology, 2850-2859)

Boswell: from Life of Johnson

open; has not been claimed

Johnson: from Rambler No. 60

Alice Hang

Burney: from her journal

open; has not been claimed

Pepys: from his diary

Matthew Nunez 1B

Pepys 1633-1703

- His diary shows us the inter workings of a late 17th century Englishman.
-One of the few diaries written in this period.
-We are able to see Pepys’ two personas; His internal and external personas.
-Time plays a very important role in his life. The development of the clock changed the way that people were able to structure their lives in terms of clock time.
-His motivation lies in two things; money and womanizing.

Addison's "Pleasures of the Imagination"

Matthew Nunez 1B

Addison: [The Pleasures of the Imagination]

Addison finds that through the imagination, we can experience pleasures that go beyond our five senses. What Addison is trying to say is that people have a inside-self. This was a revolutionary idea that the power of the imagination could be cultivated, projected, and strengthened. This ideal of Addison is a example for the argument that each man and woman is, by nature, a individual self.