Prometheus Unbound

jennifer comstock

Prometheus stole knowledge from the gods and gave it to humans, so Jupiter punishes him by having him chained and his heart torn out by vultures

Prometheus is the one who put jupiter in power in the first place, and has power over Jupiter because of a curse Prometheus made – tries to recall curse but cannot- phantasm comes and speaks them- prometeus repents/ forgives Jupiter for punishing him- this forgiveness takes away Jupiter’s power and Prometheus is released

Echoes Christ throughout

Critique of religion as used to justify war/oppression

Shift from hate to compassion: Love and forgiveness is what wins in the end

Percy Shelley

Johanna Araujo

-one of the major English Romantic poets
-wrote "Ozymandias" (Norton Vol. D); "Men of England" (Norton Vol. D); "A Defence of
Poetry" (Norton Vol. D); "Mont Blanc" (Norton Vol. C); "Prometheus Unbound" (Norton
Vol. C)
-Shelley's texts are found in the following themes: nature, the human, the nation, race and empire, criticism
-associated with John Keats and Lord Byron
-received early education at home and later entered college

Rights of Man

claimed by Anjali Rodrigues

"Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution" by Thomas Paine

This essay was written in response to Burke's "Reflections on the Revolution in France", and was published in March 1791, two years after the birth of the French Revolution. Thomas Paine was a revolutionary who escaped to France after being charged with treason in Britain, as he was an avid proponent of American independence from Britain. Paine critiques Burke's piece for three major reasons: 1. that France does not criticize the gov't affairs of Britain, so Britain should follow the same policy of "mind your own business" 2. Burke is overly emotional/passionate in his argument, which causes him to misinterpret the reasons for the French Revolution: Burke frames the French as revolting against Kind Louis XVI, but in reality they are revolting against the institution of the monarchy and the corruption that institution perpetuates. Paine argues that every new generation should be self-determinant, and that posterity should not determine the present. 

Main Point: Paine argues for self-determination over posterity and encourages the organizing of the people to determine their government. 

Thomas Paine

Rocio Ayala - Section 1B
(1737-1809)
-Lived his first 37 years in England
-Then went to American and became an advocate for its independence from England
-The British charged him with treason after publishing the second part of "Rights of Man"
-He fled to France and became a French citizen and part of the Convention
Works:
"Common Sense"
"Crisis" (16 pamphlets)
"Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr Burke's Attach on the French Revolution"
"Rights of Man" (Part II)
"The Age of Reason" (writted during the year spend in jail due to the Jacobins)

Reflections on the Revolution in France

Ai-May Tan. Section: 1A
Lecture notes from January 31, 2008.

(1790)
-Burke focuses on the social body as a whole. Social body is permanent, but its composition parts are transitory.
-The social body is constant, the elements (people, human) within it changes. For example, humans are born, they live, and then die..the composition parts are always transitory. So we do not really matter at all to the body. What's important is keeping the social body, the nation constant.
-Because of the unimportance of people, it is not for the people to decide anything.
-We are English, we do not read Rousseau, Voltaire..., we should refuse the idea of changing what makes English, English. By natural order, we are who we are.
-We shouldn't use our individual reasoning because it is limited and it is always changing, not constant.
-We should maintain a relationship between the king and the people as like the relationship of a father and a child.
-You can't question the order of society. By questioning the natural order of society, you will be causing the dissolvement of social link. The social link that connects the dead society, our ancestors to the living society, the present state. The link connects the invisible to the visible.
-By the order of society, we each have our appointed, pre-destined role.
-Ownership of lands gives you right to rule the country.
-Do not contemplate the state that we are born into because you are a temporary matter to a constant body.
For example, when a child questions the father about the order of the family. Once you question, you will be cast out to torture and unhappiness.
-Anyone who says that common people should be on the top will be reversing the natural order. There's a reason why the order exist the way it is. We are bound by a social contract that gives us certain moral values. The nobility has to take care of those who are below them. So there is no need for the people below the nobility to question anything.
-Asserts the need for mutual cooperation rather than individualism.
-For a farmer to improve himself through education is challenging the role that he was born into.
-Individual pursuits of wealth and education changes the natural structure of society.

Edmund Burke

Tina Ta, Dis 1H

-greatest political theorist
-author of Reflections on the Revolution in France
-a letter in reply to Price's Discourse
-involved mob's violence towards the French king and queen
-favors monarchy, aristocracy, property, and hereditary succession
-bestseller with thirteen thousand copies sold
-earlier supported Americans' fight for independence, but believed the French Revolution a catastrophe

(Norton Anthology: vol D, p. 152)

"Essay on Man"

Kevin Twohy -- DIS 1I

Alexander Pope

Kimberlee Vander Most--1B
Taken from The Norton Anthology, Volume C


*Excluded on the basis of his religion, Roman Catholicism, from attending a university, voting, holding public office, or receiving patronage.

*His translation of Homer's Iliad and the Odyssey gave him the means to live comfortably.

*Politically, his group of friends/fellow writers changed from Whigs to Tories.
--Tories was more his true political allegance; when he associated with Congreve, Walsh, and Addison and Steele it was more excitement at long due recognition.

*We covered his "Essay on Man" and "Essay on Criticism"

*His verse is notable for its rhythmic variety: the heroic couplet (rhyming iambic pentameter)

*Considered a satirist (a satirist uses humor or irony to critique human failings)

"Satire Against Reason and Mankind"

In "Satyre against Reason and Mankind", Rochester employs his reason as a means in which
to discount man's reasoning and the actions that result. Due to each man's baseless
faith in their own reasoning and under the impression that theirs is the superior,
Rochester demonstrates that this thinking results in "mountains of whimseys" and only
leads one "to death", destroying their happiness. Comparing his reasoning with that of
others, Rochester refers to his as a "friend" that summons an appetite and enables him to
enjoy life. He continues to question which is more base between man and beast, reaching
the conclusion "savage man alone does man betray", referring to lust for power, envy,
"pride, sloth, and gluttony" as vices in human nature that attribute to this. Rochester
concludes that man differs more from his own kind then from "beast", due to their ability
to "reason".

Jonathan Swift

Tina Ta

- invasion of Ireland made Swift flee to England
- supported Anglican Church
- greatest political journalist of the day
- 1724 leader of Irish resistance to English oppression
- Had Meniere’s disease- affects inner ear by causing dizziness, nausea, and deafness
- Master of prose; style involves concrete diction, simple syntax, avoids “flowery” diction
- wrote satires
- Author of Gulliver’s Travels
- opposes the view that human nature is fundamentally good

(Norton Anthology of English Literature, vol C)

John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester

Yvette Martinez
Discussion 1A / Ian Newman

John Wilmot 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647 1680)



• Rochester was born in Ditchley, Oxfordshire. He attended Wadham College and it is said that it was there that he became corrupted or debauched. He was renowned for his bluntness, drunkenness and womanizing ways. He had a notorious reputation.
• Much of Rochester's poetry suggests that he was bisexual. For example, in “Imperfect Enjoyment” he says:
o “That it through every cunt reached every heart/ Stiffly resolved, ‘twould carelessly invade/ Woman or man, nor aught its fury stayed:” Prior to his impotence, his penis would invade anyone, male or female.
• The idea of sexual identity is brought up in his works, especially “Imperfect Enjoyment.” One’s sexual performance is related to their gender identity, for example to be on top equates to being dominant. Sexual identity relates to the theme of Love, Sex, and Marriage.

Essay on Understanding

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John Locke

-1632-1704
-theorist of human individuality
-Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)
a. individual selves, ideas come through the senses
-born into world as blank slates (tabula rasa)
b. understanding is passive--objects impose themselves on the senses
- give us capability to think
c. problems/misunderstandings occur when basic ideas are blurred/do not refer to definite things
d. man not capable of creating new life (like God), but can reason

Nancy Giang

French Revolution

Jacqueline Hoang (Brendan O'Kelly - Section 1E)
- 1789-1799
- During the revolution the French governmental structure went from an absolute monarchy (with privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy) to a radical change based on Enlightenment principles of nationalism, inalienable rights, and citizenship.
- Accompanying these changes were the Reign of Terror (rival factions became violent and had mass executions of enemies of the revolution) and the French Revolutionary Wars (a series of major conflicts in which the French Revolutionary government fought several European states)
- The economic factors in the cause of the Revolution are:
-Louis XVI added to the debt incurred by Louis XV (fighting numerous wars) by providing support to the colonists in the American Revolution.
-Inefficient financial system which couldn’t manage the national debt; worsened by its system of taxation.
-Roman Catholic Church, being the largest landowner, levied a tax on crops which worsened the troubles of the poor because suffered from malnutrition.
-The noble class’s continued extravagant lifestyle despite the financial burden already placed on the people.

-The social and political factors (focused on through the rise of Enlightenment ideals):
-Resentment of royal absolutism
-Resentment by peasants, wage-earners, etc. towards the nobles who had privileges only possible to them.
-Anti-clericalism
-Large Protestant minorities’ continued hatred of Catholic control and influence on institutions.
-Also, Louis XVI’s overall failure to deal with these problems effectively contributed to the Revolution’s beginning.

-In the summer of 1789 there was the Storming of the Bastille and later in the fall of the same year there was the “Women’s March on Versailles” in which they responded to their harsh economic situation, especially bread shortages. There was also violent repression of the Catholic clergy who had to either give an oath of loyalty to the new government or would suffer imprisonment and massacres. When the royal family was captured later there was a compromise that Louis XVI would still be king but his powers would be limited and shared with the legislative assembly. But disagreements rose and problems intensified. Politics of the time inevitably drove France to war with Austria and its allies. Then a few months later, insurgents kidnapped the king and queen. They then declared the nation a republic. The next year Louis XVI was executed followed a few months later by Marie Antoinette. Circumstances provided the Jacobins to seize power and the Reign of Terror began. They put Maximilien Robespierre in power, but only a few months later he began to execute many Jacobins. His support dwindled and he was arrested and executed later. After the Terror had ended, a constitution was voted upon and passed as the new constitution for the nation.

"Written at the Close of Spring"

Stephanie Chang 1A
-1784
-Written in Shakespearean sonnet form
-Begins with nature in the first 2 quatrains and jumps to questions of humanity in the 3rd quatrain
-sad and melancholic tone
-Human life can be represented through nature
-correlates the fleeting beauty of nature with that of the beauty and vulnerability of humans
-Nature is paralleled to human innocence, but while nature can be renewed with the coming of Spring in a cycle that recurs year after year, innocence has no "second Spring" and instead fades away because of "tyrant passion and corrosive care"

Charlotte Smith

1749 - 1806

Charlotte Smith was married at 15 and had 12 kids (3 of which died soon after birth) before she divorced her husband, Benjamin Smith. She wrote in order to make money while her husband was in prinson in 1783.

Smith was a novelist, beginning in 1788, but eventually focused on Sonnets, influencing the likes of Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth, and Coleridge. Smith used the sonnet as a way of interpreting a melancholy type of feeling, and as time passed, others followed suit.

Coleridge stated in his 1796 essay on the sonnet that Smith's sonnets "... appear to me the most exquisite, in which moral Sentiments, Affections, or Feelings, are deduced from, and associated with, the scenery of Nature." Nature eventually became a large part of Romantic literature, and eventually worked its way into the genre now known as "the greater Romantic lyric."


Winnie Jaing - TA: Amanda Waldo - Discussion 1H

"Introduction" from Songs of Innocence

With the use of the images of a child, and the Lamb (which is an allusion to Jesus Christ, because He is the Lamb of God) and not to mention the pastoral language these elements establish the tone of the entire work of “The Songs of Innocence” as being just that innocent, guiltless, free from harm and sin. However, many of the songs are full of injustice, evils and suffering of the world.
Even the plate that corresponds to the introduction gives this pastoral feeling as it shows a woman with children gathered round looking at a book she has on her lap. Resting on the “I” of the word innocence leans the piper.
Interesting to note that the introduction has a piper and children, which reminds me of the story of the Pied Piper, where he was hired to lead the rats out of town. After he performed this task the townspeople refused to pay, thus he lured the children away and none were seen again.
Thinking of this the Piper in the introduction is luring this child by his stories and songs, he has captured his interest.

Monica Sandoval section 1B TA Waldo

The Task

Matthew Nunez 1B

Task: (1785)
William Cowper’s “The Task” is a work that describes how nature frames itself into beautiful pictures of it’s own design. Cowper describes how the point of view of the spectator is directed by nature. “Conducts the eye along its sinuous course” (165). In viewing the nature around him, he sees how the streams, clouds and vales encapsulate the world around him and creates something in which humans can find enjoyment from. Cowper’s thoughts of nature are positive and he even includes humans and villagers in his description, which suggests that Cowper saw the symbiotic relationship of nature and mankind.

William Cowper

Alice Hang
Dis 1B Fridays 11-12pm
He committed suicide at 1763 but failed. Then he thought he would be forever damned because he committed this "unforgivable act of God." He lived with a family by the name of Unwin and absorbed Evangelical teachings. However in 1773, he had an attack of madness or mental breakdown and thought that God really casted him out. He never again attended church. Instead of Church, he diverted his mind from despair my doing innocent chores like tending his garden or taking a walk.

Cowper wrote "The Task." It's a mock-heroic account about a sofa becoming a stool but it developed into a detailed account of his life and analysis of London, England.
In this poem, nature is framed. In line 165 of the poem, the landscape shapes and directs our point of view. He says that nature inspires us and becomes our muse, rather than us controlling it.

"Ode to Evening"

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William Collins

Alice Hang
Dis 1B Fridays 11-12pm

William Collins wrote "Ode to Evening." He wanted to be an author but ended up writing poems. His odes address personified abstractions which are imagined as vivid presences that overwhelm the poet as he calls them life.

His poem is about the natural countryside and the person perceiving it.
He says that we need to learn to view from nature itself.
In line 15 of the poem, he proclaims to nature "Teach me, you guide me, you tell me."

"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"

-written by Thomas Gray (1716-1771) from 1742-50
-Blake produced some of the artwork for this poem

-uses same line (decasyllabic quattrains) as Dryden's "Annus Mirabilis"
-contrasts Dryden's exultant, triumphant tone w/ his melancholy sadness

-poem more interested in ordinary rather than extraordinary
a. English culture as possession of English common folk
b. stanza 15: "some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,/ Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood."--anybody can become a Milton or a Cromwell, all just a matter of circumstance
-death levels all
c. emphasis on evening/death (as opposed to rebirth)

-possible themes: nature, the human, nation

Nancy Giang

"The Seasons"

Jackson Leung
Discussion 1B

Thomson’s The Seasons describes the envisioning of the northern lights, the aurora. The text falls under the topic of nature, but can be read as a piece that urges readers to discover the characteristics of the self. What Thomson attempts to do is show readers that what a person observes depends on who the person is; no two persons will have exactly identical interpretations of a phenomenon; i.e., the views of uneducated mobs differing from the views of philosophical men. Thomson uses The Seasons to iterate and relay the idea that a person’s perception matters much more than reality.

Thomas Gray

Yesenia Collier
DIS 1H

-1716-1771

-Lived the quiet life of a university professor

-Only surviving child out of 12. Had an unhappy family life.

-Attended Cambridge, but left without taking a degree to take a tour of France and Italy. He went back to cambridge and spent the rest of his life there, writing letters and poetry.

-Most of his poetry goes against the "wit and satiric elegance" of Pope's couplets.

-Uses archaic words and latin words in his poetry because he believes that is the language of poetry.

-He was more interested with the common people than with the elite.

James Thompson

Yesenia Collier
Dis 1H

- 1700-1748

- The centuries' first and most popular nature poet

- Grew up in Roxboroughshire in Scotland

- Studied divinity in Edinburgh

- Did not see London until he was 25

- His poetry contrasts between the uneducated/popular way of thinking about nature and the educated/elite way of thinking. (what the eye sees vs what it percieves)

Enclosure

Caty Zick
Discussion 1H

In rural areas of Britain and Wales, land was held in common by all the people in the surrounding community. This land was available to everyone to use for grazing their sheep and even keeping small plots of vegetables.

Between 1760 and 1820, the process of enclosure began throughout the countryside as a result of Parliament passing various Enclosure Acts. Enclosure was the process of taking this common property and giving it to private landowners. Stone walls built between plots of land were physical evidence of this division and enclosure of once-public land. Without land, the common people no longer had a source of livelihood, and were forced to roam the countryside looking for work, which eventually led many people to find jobs in the new factories in London.

Enclosure was an enormously controversial issue, as it abolished a centuries-old system of agriculture in rural England, and caused many commoners to lose their source of income. The process of enclosure provides another example of the rich gentry taking from the poor commoners for their own economic advancement. The outrage over enclosure helped create the social, political, and economic climate that led the British populace to call for a stronger voice in their own government.

Professor Makdisi discussed enclosure in his lecture on January 22nd.

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Yesenia Collier
DIS 1H

- Blake reverses the role of "good" and "evil". Evil/Devils are the good guys and are associated with the body and its desires: energy, abundance, actions, and freedom. The angels are portrayed as the bad guys and have the qualities of reason, restraint, passivity, and prohibition.

- A marriage of contraries: desire & restraint, energy & reason, the promtings of Hell and the denials of Heaven. Blake states "Without contraries is no progression".

- Satire posing a direct challenge to the conventional religion and morality. One has to challenge and question what they are told.

"The Garden of Love"

"I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green."

- Published: 1794
- Author: William Blake
- Form: 3 Quatrains, usage of the word "and" repetitively (once in 1st stanza, twice in 2nd, 4x in third)
- Theme: Religion

The focus of this poem is mainly on religion because of the restrictions the church gives to its citizens - where one's relationship to God was once free, it now comes with obstacles that impede. The last line ends with "And binding with briars my joys & desires" because the speaker feels like Adam and Eve, cast out of the Garden of Eden, only able to look from the outside in.

Notes:
- The Christian point of view is directed toward the state view of Christianity.
- The Joys of expressing the self become binded by the Church.

Volume D p.94
Winnie Jaing - TA: Amanda Waldo - Discussion 1H

"Chimney Sweeper" (from Songs of Experience)

Carina Castro
Discussion 1G

Songs of Experience “Chimney Sweeper”

The Songs of Experience as opposed to those of innocence involve exposure to the world. “The Chimney Sweeper” in the Songs of Experience is shorter than that of the Songs of Innocence. The part that is omitted in the Songs of Experience is the Angel’s promise that as long as the boy works hard, he will live happily in the future. Contrastingly, The Songs of Experience conveys the idea that the Angel lies to the boy and that no hope exists for a life with “God” and full of “Joy.” This poem exhibits the realistic point of view in which Blake offers that through exposure to the world, the boy gains experience and questions the promise of Joy by the Angel (“Songs of Innocence”). In the Songs of Experience, Blake emphasizes that the “Priest and King” exploit the boy through labor and that the boy will not achieve the Joy promised to him in the Songs of Innocence.

"Chimney Sweeper" (from Songs of Innocence)

Tina Ta Dis 1H

"Then naked and white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,
He'd have God for his father & never want joy" (ll. 17-20)

author: Blake

Blake reverses the normal view of Angels as good and pure, to evil.
The Angel represents the conventional Church and their views. In the quotation above, the Angel tries to trick Tom by claiming that if man does what he should, God will protect him. But in order to gain God's love, man must suffer during his life and only be happy once he is dead.

The poem proposes a different way of thinking, separate from the Church. It encourages questioning and challenging authority. Through looking beneath the surface of the poem one can see that the Angel (Church) is trying to control Tom (man) to believe what he is told. Man will be kept under control if he does not question and form his own opinions.

see lecture notes 1/17 and Norton vol D p. 85

"Divine Image"

Rocio Ayala - Discussion 1B
Author: William Blake
Appears In: the Songs of Innocence
(1789)
-deals with the concept that all people are equal since they were created by God
-regardless of religion or race; these things just make us all different yet still equal
-people are unified in their differences since they are fundamentally equal
-controversial because this meant that Christians were not special in any sense
Tip:
You can recognize this poem because it mentions & describes "Mercy, Pity, Peace & Love" over & over

"The Lamb"

Rocio Ayala- Discussion 1B
Author: William Blake
Appears In: the Songs of Innocence
(1789)
-Speaks of the notion that we are all part of God
-Continues with Blake's theme of all peoples being equal
-Written in a childish tone

All Religions are One, There is no Natural Religion

Caty Zick

William Blake

Yvette Martinez
Disc. 1A / Ian Newman

William Blake (1757-1827)



• Born in London, England. He was a poet as well as a commercial book illustrator who did engravings. His work was intensely physical; he worked consistently with his hands and chose to do all of his work himself instead of having a division of labor. What’s important about Blake is that he constantly chose to break the laws of convention.
• All of the copies of his works were different from each other (with different colors, added lines, etc…) meaning there is no original copy of his works. One version of his poem “Little Black Boy” has some prints with a drawing of a boy with dark skin and in other versions it has a boy with light skin.
• He was known for having a two-dimensional format (pictures + words).
• “What you take for granted is something that misleads you” Blake wants his readers to look beyond the given or the obvious.
• Blake does not believe there is a distinction between the body and the soul. Instead, he sees the body as an extension of soul.
• The belief of antinomianism (which literally means “against law,”) is seen throughout his works.
• According to Blake:
o There is no afterlife. Since the body and soul are one, when the body dies, so does the soul.
o The bible is a code book.
o Act on impulse, seek your desires!

"Hudibras"

Kimberlee Vander Most--1B (taken in part from the Norton and lecture)

Hudibras, by Samuel Butler (1612-1680), is a burlesque. It takes a serious subject-in this case the English Civil War- and mocks it by either 1) a low, base style or 2) exaggeration. It is written in Iambic pentameter to only to ridicule the cause of the Commonwealth.

His hero, Sir Hudibras, is taken from Spenser's Faerie Queene. There is also a reference to Cervantes Don Quixote in the relationship the knight has with his squire Ralph. These references only serve to further mock the romantic cause of the Puritans since both Spenser and Cervantes were concerned with the warmth and chivalry humanity is capable of.

The basic purpose of Hudibras is to mock the entire Civil War. Bulter is trying to make the point that the War was a silly and pointless experiment since the monarchy was restored anyways. Therefore it is almost impossible to read this poem without understanding the political and historical context. For example, the first 14 lines have 3 important footnotes that explain his terms in their historical context (re-look at these lines, I think they might be important if he does pull any quotes from Hudibras)

Samuel Butler

Tina Ta, Dis 1H

-Author of Hudibras
-Hudibras: burlesque/ travesty (form of satire)- degrades a serious topic through exaggeration or a low style
-style: iambic tetrameter
-He expressed a hatred for Puritans and satirized them
-skeptical in philosophy, theoretical reasoning
-believed in common sense and wisdom gained by experience
-died in poverty
-monument built in his honor in Westminster Abbey

(Norton Anthology: Vol C, p. 2161)

Pilgrim's Progress

Ai-May Tan, Section 1A--TA:Ian Newman

1. Common people are seen as heroes.
2. Rich people, be it male or female are evil due to their intense selfish desire for wealth or possessions.
3. Political allegory: -Landlords are depicted as Giants who insists on the ownership of private properties.
-People who are not nailed to one particular way of belief or thought are depicted as trespassers who try to cut through a rich man's land or property.
-Christian: depicted as a person who is not bounded by anything.
-Men and women can take their lives into their own hands, they can have freedom in having their own choice, their own thoughts. For example, when Christian left his home for the journey, his wife can follow if she chooses to do so.
-Laws and courts are impediments a person's freedom of choice and thought. They are the things that block Christian path for salvation.
5. In Pilgrim's Progress: -moral and story are depicted as the same thing.
6. Language in PP: -people's language,
-no abstractions, not to entertain courtly language,
-expressions of Bunyan's political stand,
that it is written so that the common person can read it for himself and not necessarily dependent on anybody to translate the text.
7.Ultimately, religion is not a matter of after life, but it should be about the present, here and now.

John Bunyan

Alice Hang
Dis 1B Fridays 11-12

Brief Bio:

Bunyan never got a degree. He was self-educated. He was granted freedom from the revolution. He did metal work. From 1664-1167, he was drafted into the war. He read the Bible for the first time after the war. No one told him how to read the Bible. He got his own ideas and absorbed so much that its language became his own. In 1653, he became a preacher and formed a Baptist congregation. From 1660 to 1672, Bunyan was imprisoned. In prison, he wrote a lot of books. He was arrested again in 1675 and that’s when he started writing “The Pilgrim’s Progress.”

“The Pilgrim’s Progress”
Pg. 2143-2151 of Volume C

Basically, it’s about a dream some guy has of a guy named Christian and his journey to the Celestial City. Christian fears doom and leaves his family and friends from the City of Destruction to find the place of salvation and great things. “Evangelist” tells him where to go. He goes through a swamp and gets stuck, but is rescued by “Help” and then he enters the Vanity Fair where he is beaten. Then, he crosses the River of Death with his companion “Hopeful.” Christian drowns in the deep river but Hopeful tells him that the river is a test for him to remember the times that God has forgiven him and channel that goodness by living life in God’s graces. Christian crosses the river and enters through the gates of heaven.

This is an allegory (extended metaphor). It uses simple and clear direct language and is meant for the common man to be moved by. The story is played out for you. It wants to say that RELIGION IS HERE AND NOW. WE MAKE HEAVEN AND HELL HAPPEN.

The Great Fire of London

Jackson Leung
Discussion 1B

The Great Fire of London occurred in September of 1666. The fire ended the plague at the time but also destroyed most of London itself. With such devastation comes restoration. Instead of restoring slums and crowded alleyways that had inhabited the open space created by the fire, London was physically reinvented, leading to economic and political reinvention as well. With a more spacious architectural build, the city became, in a sense, the center, the capital, of European nations; of the universe. In a sense, the Great Fire of London led to the Great Rebirth of London. It led to the rebirth of the city, country, and the nation.

from Book VII of The Prelude

John Calderon - Section 1G


Background Info:
Composed in 1791 during William Wordsworth's 3 month stay in London. The piece reflects his distaste for the drone-like society that overtook London at this time.

Key Ideas:
Anonymity
"The face of every one/That passes by me is a mystery!" - Wordsworth views the sea of humanity, which he refers to as a "huge fermenting Mass", as disgusting and disillusioning. The loss of individuality frightens him and taints his view of London as sterile and cold.
Desperate Quest For Individuality
"I was smitten/Abruptly with the view...Of a blind Beggar" - The blind beggar, despite his disability, stakes his claim as a human being rather than a drone like the rest of the masses by thrusting his personal story upon everyone who passes ("upon his chest/Wearing a written paper to explain/His Story, whence he came, and who he was.")
Spectacle & Debauchery As Unifying Agents
"All out-o'th'way, far-fetched, perverted things/All freaks of Nature" - The scene at Bartholomew Fair, which relies heavily on carnival sideshows to gain the attention of the drones of London, brings them together, but in a debauched way.

Recurring Imagery:
Descriptions of wretching and other "sickness"-related wording to describe the mass of people in London. Ex: "fermenting Mass of human-kind"; "Barbarian and infernal"; "one vast mill/Are vomiting, receiving, on all sides"


Overall Thoughts:
Wordsworth was disillusioned with the analogous nature of society in late 18th century London, which played down uniqueness except when holding it up for mocking (i.e., freak shows at Bartholemew Fair). However, the piece ends with Wordsworth citing that London's good must always been considered with its bad ("By nature an unmanageable sight/It is not wholly so to him who looks/In steadiness.../sees the parts/As parts, but with a feeling of the whole").

"London"

"How the Chimney-sweeper's cry
Every blackning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls."

Author: William Blake
Publication Date: 1794
Form: 4 quatrains in 4 ABAB formats
Theme: City and Country

This poem focuses mainly on industrialization in the late 18th century - that is, the transition from country to city. The speaker wanders through the streets of London and notices the four problems of industrialization: market, marriage, state, and church.

Lots of double meaning:
e.g. "How the Chimney-sweeper's cry/Every blackning church appalls"(ll.9-10).
Appall: the cry appalls the church but also means drapes, so it covers the church as well. (by cover, it could also mean hiding the truth).



Winnie Jaing - TA: Amanda Waldo - Discussion 1H (I think)

"London's Summer Morning"

Alice Hang
Dis. 1B Fridays 11-12pm

“London’s Summer Morning”
Written by Mary Robinson
Pg. 69 Volume D

Remember that in this time, that there was the relocation of London as the center of European and World Trade. The city is bustling. There are few rich people and a lot of impoverished people living in the city of London.

Summary of poem: This poem is about workers toiling in busy London. It moves from one lowly position to the next. It talks about the new gadgets and trinkets available from trade. Contrary to popular belief that London is beaming with opportunities, trading, and fortune, it is busy with workers working very hard to earn a living.

Robinson describes and handles the new London with a series of contrasts. It contrasts the exciting new things available to London by trade with the poor working and living conditions of its poor people. She does it with a total absence of moral judgment. There is subtle and implicit judging. She puts the burden on the reader to make his or her own interpretations about what the city of London has become. She keeps the poem in the present with the word “now.”

"The Deserted Village"

Rocio Ayala - Discussion 1B
Author: Oliver Goldsmith
Theme: The Country and The City
Early 18th C
-Commentry on that the great political and economical gains of London were driving the countryside into poverty
-Therefore there are few rich and many poor with the gap becoming greater
-He is trying to get away from the city and go back to the English country
-Claimed that if the country was turned over to globalization, the people would be getting robbed of the essence that exist in their country and instead would just have a little of everywhere

"The Royal Exchange"

[claimed by Janika Mohan]