British Lit Final Exam
What is Adam's Curse saying about work? Is work a curse? In what sense must a woman "labor to be beautiful"?
"Adam's Curse" praises the amount of work that old-fashioned love requires, which he says is similar to the hard work that poets must do in order to craft their lines. "to be born a woman is to know that one must work at being beautiful, even though that kind of work is not discussed at school."
What does the second coming present?
"The Second Coming" presents a nightmarish apocalyptic scenario, as the speaker describes human beings' increasing loss of control and tendency towards violence and anarchy. Surreal images fly at the reader thick and fast, creating an unsettling atmosphere that suggests a world on the brink of destruction.
In the last stanza of channel firing it calls to a past historical significance, what is the significance?
"historical sweep" this is a dark part of history and things have gotten worse. The promise of Christianity is gone. The last stanza "As far inland as Stourton Tower, And Camelot, and starlit Stonehenge." -all civilizations /cultures have died.
Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.
Arnold Dover Beach
Sophocles long ago Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
Arnold Dover Beach
The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world.
Arnold Dover Beach
The sea is calm tonight. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Arnold Dover Beach
I can do with my pencil what I know, What I see, what at bottom of my heart I wish for, if I ever wish so deep— Do easily, too—when I say, perfectly, I do not boast, perhaps: yourself are judge, Who listened to the Legate's talk last week, And just as much they used to say in France. At any rate 'tis easy, all of it!
Browning "Andrea del Sarto"
Pouring his soul, with kings and popes to see, Reaching, that heaven might so replenish him, Above and through his art—for it gives way; That arm is wrongly put—and there again— A fault to pardon in the drawing's lines, Its body, so to speak: its soul is right, He means right—that, a child may understand.
Browning "Andrea del Sarto"
Well, less is more, Lucrezia: I am judged. There burns a truer light of God in them, In their vexed beating stuffed and stopped-up brain, Heart, or whate'er else, than goes on to prompt This low-pulsed forthright craftsman's hand of mine. Their works drop groundward, but themselves, I know, Reach many a time a heaven that's shut to me, Enter and take their place there sure enough, Though they come back and cannot tell the world.
Browning "Andrea del Sarto"
the whole seems to fall into a shape As if I saw alike my work and self And all that I was born to be and do, A twilight-piece. Love, we are in God's hand. How strange now, looks the life he makes us lead; So free we seem, so fettered fast we are! I feel he laid the fetter: let it lie! This chamber for example—turn your head— All that's behind us! You don't understand Nor care to understand about my art, But you can hear at least when people speak:
Browning "Andrea del Sarto"
Will't please you rise? We'll meet The company below, then. I repeat, The Count your master's known munificence Is ample warrant that no just pretense Of mine for dowry will be disallowed; Though his fair daughter's self, as I avowed At starting, is my object. Nay, we'll go Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though, Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity, Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!
Browning "My Last Duchess"
Would draw from her alike the approving speech, Or blush, at least. She thanked men—good! but thanked Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blame This sort of trifling? Even had you skill In speech—which I have not—to make your will Quite clear to such an one, and say, "Just this Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss, Or there exceed the mark"—and if she let Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse— E'en then would be some stooping; and I choose Never to stoop.
Browning "My Last Duchess"
How such a glance came there; so, not the first Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 'twas not Her husband's presence only, called that spot Of joy into the Duchess' cheek; perhaps Fra Pandolf chanced to say, "Her mantle laps Over my lady's wrist too much," or "Paint Must never hope to reproduce the faint Half-flush that dies along her throat." Such stuff Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough For calling up that spot of joy.
Browning "My last Duchess"
I propped her head up as before, Only, this time my shoulder bore Her head, which droops upon it still: The smiling rosy little head, So glad it has its utmost will, That all it scorned at once is fled, And I, its love, am gained instead! Porphyria's love: she guessed not how Her darling one wish would be heard. And thus we sit together now, And all night long we have not stirred, And yet God has not said a word!
Browning "Porphyria's Lover"
Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl, And laid her soiled gloves by, untied Her hat and let the damp hair fall, And, last, she sat down by my side And called me. When no voice replied, She put my arm about her waist, And made her smooth white shoulder bare, And all her yellow hair displaced, And, stooping, made my cheek lie there, And spread, o'er all, her yellow hair, Murmuring how she loved me —
Browning "Porphyria's Lover"
That moment she was mine, mine, fair, Perfectly pure and good: I found A thing to do, and all her hair In one long yellow string I wound Three times her little throat around, And strangled her. No pain felt she; I am quite sure she felt no pain. As a shut bud that holds a bee, I warily oped her lids: again Laughed the blue eyes without a stain.
Browning "porphyria's lover"
Victorian
Dramatic
what were the roles of women in the victorian era? how did Rossetti call to this in Goblin Market?
During this time women were expected to remain sexually innocent or face serious consequences. In the poem it critiques the unfairness of society's double standards. Lauren achieves a happy ending despite her transgression which is very uncommon for women in Victorian literature. both Lizzie and Laura's ultimate redemption involves a return to motherly duties and caring for the next generation of girls.
What is hardy talking about in Hap?
Hap short for perhaps; Hardy expresses his grief for all the misfortunes in his life. he says that he could live with the idea of God being behind the endeavors but he does not believe in god so he has no choice but to conclude that the suffering he has faced is due to blind chance rather than a "grand divine plan"
But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain, And why unblooms the best hope ever sown? —Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain, And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan. . . . These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain.
Hardy "hap"
Then would I bear it, clench myself, and die, Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited; Half-eased in that a Powerfuller than I Had willed and meted me the tears I shed.
Hardy "hap"
"That this is not the judgment-hour For some of them's a blessed thing, For if it were they'd have to scour Hell's floor for so much threatening.... "Ha, ha. It will be warmer when I blow the trumpet (if indeed I ever do; for you are men, And rest eternal sorely need)."
Hardy, "Channel Firing"
So down we lay again. "I wonder, Will the world ever saner be," Said one, "than when He sent us under In our indifferent century!" And many a skeleton shook his head. "Instead of preaching forty year," My neighbour Parson Thirdly said, "I wish I had stuck to pipes and beer." Again the guns disturbed the hour, Roaring their readiness to avenge, As far inland as Stourton Tower, And Camelot, and starlit Stonehenge.
Hardy, "Channel Firing"
That night your great guns, unawares, Shook all our coffins as we lay, And broke the chancel window-squares, We thought it was the Judgment-day And sat upright. While drearisome Arose the howl of wakened hounds: The mouse let fall the altar-crumb, The worms drew back into the mounds,
Hardy, "Channel Firing"
The glebe cow drooled. Till God called, "No; It's gunnery practice out at sea Just as before you went below; The world is as it used to be: "All nations striving strong to make Red war yet redder. Mad as hatters They do no more for Christés sake Than you who are helpless in such matters.
Hardy, "Channel Firing"
Alien they seemed to be; No mortal eye could see The intimate welding of their later history, Or sign that they were bent By paths coincident On being anon twin halves of one august event, Till the Spinner of the Years Said "Now!" And each one hears, And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.
Hardy: "The Convergence of the Twain"
In a solitude of the sea Deep from human vanity, And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she. Steel chambers, late the pyres Of her salamandrine fires, Cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres.
Hardy: "The Convergence of the Twain"
Over the mirrors meant To glass the opulent The sea-worm crawls — grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent. Jewels in joy designed To ravish the sensuous mind Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind. Dim moon-eyed fishes near Gaze at the gilded gear And query: "What does this vaingloriousness down here?" ...
Hardy: "The Convergence of the Twain"
Well: while was fashioning This creature of cleaving wing, The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything Prepared a sinister mate For her — so gaily great — A Shape of Ice, for the time far and dissociate. And as the smart ship grew In stature, grace, and hue, In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.
Hardy: "The Convergence of the Twain"
At once a voice arose among The bleak twigs overhead In a full-hearted evensong Of joy illimited; An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small, In blast-beruffled plume, Had chosen thus to fling his soul Upon the growing gloom.
Hardy: "The Darkling Thrush"
I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-grey, And Winter's dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires.
Hardy: "The Darkling Thrush"
So little cause for carolings Of such ecstatic sound Was written on terrestrial things Afar or nigh around, That I could think there trembled through His happy good-night air Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew And I was unaware.
Hardy: "The Darkling Thrush"
The land's sharp features seemed to be The Century's corpse outleant, His crypt the cloudy canopy, The wind his death-lament. The ancient pulse of germ and birth Was shrunken hard and dry, And every spirit upon earth Seemed fervourless as I.
Hardy: "The Darkling Thrush"
How does Ulysses feel about Telemachus?
He feels that he is the rightful leader of their people.
Where does Andrea place his blame for his artistic and personal failures?
He somewhat blames Lucrezia for his failures. he claims that she is only a beautiful woman nothing more, wishing that she was blessed with brains as well as beauty. "fine line between great and greatness, a woman with beauty but no brains"
How does her lover shift the roles between them?
He strangles her with her hair. Now that she is dead she holds no power over him instead it is he that controlled her in the end.
Andre had a deep regard for his wife, how did this affect him according to Browning?
His 'beautiful widow' Lucrezia was an artful woman who made him do as she pleased. This to browning,"caused him to neglect the studies demanded by his art." The infatuation had more "influence over him than the glory and honor towards his art"
What does Duke mean within the las lines of the poem?
In the last section of the poem the guest he is telling all of this to works for the Count; who is the father of his new bride. Here he reveals that he would not turn down money from the Count, but claims that he is doing it to have the Count's daughter's hand in marriage.
For each of the five pictures we require: It saves a model. So! keep looking so— My serpentining beauty, rounds on rounds! —How could you ever prick those perfect ears, Even to put the pearl there! oh, so sweet—
In this part of the poem Andrea del Sarto, he speaks on how he would rather paint his wife than his religious paintings that he is known for.
What is The Convergence of Twain centered around? How is he talking about the subject?
It centers around the sinking of the Titanic. He is asking questions without any answers.
Who is the 'we' in Adam's Curse?
It is Yeats, his sister Cathleen, and Maud Gonna.
Who is the son of Utilitarianism?
John Mill
Romantism
Lyrical
"Originality is the one thing which unoriginal minds cannot feel the use if. They cannot see what it is to do for them; how should they? If they could see what it is to do for them it would not be originality."
Mill On Liberty
"Persons of genius, it is true, are, and are always likely to be, a small minority; but in order to have them, it is necessary to preserve the soil in which they grow. Genius can only breathe freely in an atmosphere of freedom."
Mill On Liberty
But society has now fairly got the better of individuality; and the danger which threatens human nature is not the excess, but the deficiency, of personal impulses and preferences.
Mill On Liberty
It is the duty of governments, and of individuals, to form the truest opinion they can; to form them carefully, and never impose them them upon others unless they are quite sure of being right.
Mill On liberty
In the Darkling Thrush there is a winter landscape what is this a symbol for?
On a symbolic level, this landscape is an extended metaphor: its bleakness and decay reflect the state of Western culture at the end of the 19th century. The speaker describes Western culture in a state of desolation: it seems to be damaged and dead, without the possibility of rebirth or resurrection.
One had a cat's face, One whisk'd a tail, One tramp'd at a rat's pace, One crawl'd like a snail, One like a wombat prowl'd obtuse and furry, One like a ratel tumbled hurry skurry. She heard a voice like voice of doves Cooing all together: They sounded kind and full of loves In the pleasant weather.
Rossetti "Goblin Market"
Like two pigeons in one nest Folded in each other's wings, They lay down in their curtain'd bed: Like two blossoms on one stem, Like two flakes of new-fall'n snow, Like two wands of ivory Tipp'd with gold for awful kings. Moon and stars gaz'd in at them, Wind sang to them lullaby, Lumbering owls forbore to fly, Not a bat flapp'd to and fro Round their rest: Cheek to cheek and breast to breast Lock'd together in one nest.
Rossetti "goblin maket"
"Come buy our orchard fruits, Come buy, come buy: Apples and quinces, Lemons and oranges, Plump unpeck'd cherries, Melons and raspberries, Bloom-down-cheek'd peaches, Swart-headed mulberries, Wild free-born cranberries, Crab-apples, dewberries, Pine-apples, blackberries, Apricots, strawberries;— All ripe together
Rossetti "goblin market"
Her lips began to scorch, That juice was wormwood to her tongue, She loath'd the feast: Writhing as one possess'd she leap'd and sung, Rent all her robe, and wrung Her hands in lamentable haste, And beat her breast. Her locks stream'd like the torch Borne by a racer at full speed, Or like the mane of horses in their flight, Or like an eagle when she stems the light Straight toward the sun, Or like a caged thing freed, Or like a flying flag when armies run.
Rossetti "goblin market"
Signalling each other, Brother with sly brother. One set his basket down, One rear'd his plate; One began to weave a crown Of tendrils, leaves, and rough nuts brown (Men sell not such in any town); One heav'd the golden weight Of dish and fruit to offer her: "Come buy, come buy," was still their cry.
Rossetti "goblin market"
Sweeter than honey from the rock, Stronger than man-rejoicing wine, Clearer than water flow'd that juice; She never tasted such before, How should it cloy with length of use? She suck'd and suck'd and suck'd the more Fruits which that unknown orchard bore; She suck'd until her lips were sore; Then flung the emptied rinds away But gather'd up one kernel stone, And knew not was it night or day As she turn'd home alone.
Rossetti "goblin market"
Would talk about the haunted glen, The wicked, quaint fruit-merchant men, Their fruits like honey to the throat But poison in the blood; (Men sell not such in any town): Would tell them how her sister stood In deadly peril to do her good, And win the fiery antidote: Then joining hands to little hands Would bid them cling together, "For there is no friend like a sister In calm or stormy weather; To cheer one on the tedious way, To fetch one if one goes astray, To lift one if one totters down, To strengthen whilst one stands."
Rossetti "goblin market"
Down the glen tramp little men. One hauls a basket, One bears a plate, One lugs a golden dish Of many pounds weight. How fair the vine must grow Whose grapes are so luscious; How warm the wind must blow Through those fruit bushes."
Rossetti Goblin Market"
What does Porphyria have over her lover?
She has control over him. She lives in the big castle but he is hidden away in the cottage. She is the dominant one in the relationship.
In Dover Beach the speaker speaks of Sophocles, why is this important to speaker and what is the 'thought' he finds?
Sophocles was a Greek Tragedy writer. Arnold hears the sound of the waves and is reminded which Sophocles has written about in one of his tragedies, this bring a stronger melancholy feeling to Arnold. "it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery;"
His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd; On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode; From underneath his helmet flow'd His coal-black curls as on he rode, As he rode down to Camelot. From the bank and from the river He flash'd into the crystal mirror, "Tirra lirra," by the river Sang Sir Lancelot.
Tennyson "The Lady of Shalott"
Lying, robed in snowy white That loosely flew to left and right-- The leaves upon her falling light--Thro' the noises of the night She floated down to Camelot: And as the boat-head wound along The willowy hills and fields among, They heard her singing her last song,
Tennyson "The Lady of Shalott"
For always roaming with a hungry heart Much have I seen and known; cities of men And manners, climates, councils, governments, Myself not least, but honour'd of them all; And drunk delight of battle with my peers, Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy. I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethro' Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades For ever and forever when I move.
Tennyson "Ulysses"
This is my son, mine own Telemachus, To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,— Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil This labour, by slow prudence, to make mild A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees Subdue them to the useful and the good. Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere Of common duties, decent not to fail In offices of tenderness, and pay Meet adoration to my household gods, When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.
Tennyson "Ulysses"
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Tennyson "Ulysses"
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks: The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, 'T is not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars, until I die.
Tennyson "ulysses"
How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use! As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life Were all too little, and of one to me Little remains: but every hour is saved From that eternal silence, something more, A bringer of new things; and vile it were For some three suns to store and hoard myself, And this gray spirit yearning in desire To follow knowledge like a sinking star, Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
Tennyson Ulysses
"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Tennyson uses this line to show a romantic view of the journey.
By the margin, willow veil'd, Slide the heavy barges trail'd By slow horses; and unhail'd The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd Skimming down to Camelot: But who hath seen her wave her hand? Or at the casement seen her stand? Or is she known in all the land, The Lady of Shalott?
The Lady of Shalott Tennyson
What idea does the darkling thrush explore? when was it written, why is this important?
The poem explores the idea of life without God. It was written in the last day of the 18th century, the end of the victorian period beginning of modern era.
In the poem Convergence of Twain what is being attacked?
The poem is attacking human pride/vanity (unsinkable). Even though the rich were all powerful to get on the Titanic when the unsinkable ship sunk the rich had no longer any value.
what does the convergence of the twain say about materialistic things/beings?
The poem shows that the ship is a material being, human uniqueness vs. materialism. Hardy plays with the idea of destiny; that the ship sinking could not be prepared for.
What is important about the song the bird is singing?
The song signifies Hope and renewal for faith in religion. "The speaker thus presents renewed religious faith as a solution to the cultural crisis he or she describes in the first half of the poem."
Who is the speaker in channel firing? What is informing the dead of?
The speaker is God. He is talking to a graveyard full of the dead from the war. He informs them that nothing has changed by doing this he is undermining unconventional hopes.
What is the tone in the beginning of Dover Beach? How does it change?
The speaker starts to sense something is not quite right, he then identifies the sound of the pebbles as the waves hit the beach with the sound of internal sadness. He uses the sound as a symbol for his own inner thoughts.
What is happening in England that has causes Arnold's despair in Dover Beach?
There was a crisis of faith among the people of England. This was due from the German's new take on the Bible, evidence of the panotholgy (age of the earth), and the Darwin crisis (natural selection-humans were not first on Earth)
What does the statue of Neptune signify?
This statue he believes is a reflection of himself. Neptune being known for his power and authority; the stature shows Neptune taming a seahorse. This mention of the statue only adds to his plans to dominate and control his future wife just as he had in the past. Its uniqueness also is notable because he sees himself as important because of his ownership of the statue.
What is the significance of her yellow hair?
Throughout the poem her lover is obsessed with Porphyria's hair. Her hair serves as a symbol of female beauty, power, and danger to her lover. He is eager to rob her of this power which is why he choses her hair to strangle her with.
summary of goblin market:
Two sisters Laura and Lizzie go into the Gobin Market, Laura has fallen victim to the Goblins. Lizzie protecting her coin and staying string defeats the Goblins by tricking them and gets her sister back. At the very end they are marriage and have children but feel nostalgic of their time in the Goblin Market. More specifically, Lizzie feeling that the time there was her prime and she is now bored with everyday life, they view this time when their sisterhood was stronger than ever and gives warnings to their children. has a modern ending.
Themes throughout Goblin Market:
Women's role in society, Salvation and sacrifice , and temptation.
And thereupon That beautiful mild woman for whose sake There's many a one shall find out all heartache On finding that her voice is sweet and low Replied, 'To be born woman is to know— Although they do not talk of it at school— That we must labour to be beautiful.' I said, 'It's certain there is no fine thing Since Adam's fall but needs much labouring. There have been lovers who thought love should be So much compounded of high courtesy That they would sigh and quote with learned looks Precedents out of beautiful old books; Yet now it seems an idle trade enough.'
Yeats: "Adam's Curse"
I had a thought for no one's but your ears: That you were beautiful, and that I strove To love you in the old high way of love; That it had all seemed happy, and yet we'd grown As weary-hearted as that hollow moon.
Yeats: "Adam's Curse"
We sat grown quiet at the name of love; We saw the last embers of daylight die, And in the trembling blue-green of the sky A moon, worn as if it had been a shell Washed by time's waters as they rose and fell About the stars and broke in days and years.
Yeats: "Adam's Curse"
We sat together at one summer's end, That beautiful mild woman, your close friend, And you and I, and talked of poetry. I said, 'A line will take us hours maybe; Yet if it does not seem a moment's thought, Our stitching and unstitching has been naught. Better go down upon your marrow-bones And scrub a kitchen pavement, or break stones Like an old pauper, in all kinds of weather; For to articulate sweet sounds together Is to work harder than all these, and yet Be thought an idler by the noisy set Of bankers, schoolmasters, and clergymen The martyrs call the world.'
Yeats: "Adam's Curse"
I have heard that hysterical women say They are sick of the palette and fiddle-bow, Of poets that are always gay, For everybody knows or else should know That if nothing drastic is done Aeroplane and Zeppelin will come out, Pitch like King Billy bomb-balls in Until the town lie beaten flat.
Yeats: "Lapis Lazuli"
Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again; but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Yeats: "The Second Coming"
Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.
Yeats: "The Second Coming"
When you are old and grey and full of sleep, And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true, But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face; And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
Yeats: "When You Are Old"
in Hap god is depicted as?
a faith that good forces will overcome evil ones. the speaker prefers a judgmental supreme being; human life will be acknowledged this way.
emphasizes god and the authority of the Bible
calvinism
Cynical and pessimistic poems:
cynicism is an attitude of suspicion where you believe the future is bleak and that people are acting only out of self interest. Pessimistic describes the state of mind of someone who always expects the worst
absolute power, in a cruel and oppressive way
despotism
What does the Sea of Faith symbolize? The speaker compares faith to the of the tide that was once full. "it reached around the Earth like a girdle." Now he only hears the sad retreat of the sea, "as the sea of faith becomes smaller, it disappears into the atmosphere...'
essentially saying that this loss of faith is global, in turn suggesting the vast reach of scientific advancements at the time. The speaker doubles down on the idea that scientific advancement represents a loss rather than a gain
f but some vengeful god would call to me From up the sky, and laugh: "Thou suffering thing, Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy, That thy love's loss is my hate's profiting!"
hardy: "Hap"
How does Andrea separate himself from other authors like Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci?
he believes that God has blessed these men but also suffer from his gifts. He says that his work is of a "craftsman" this is an insult. "a craftsman does not create with heart, only with skill. His art and his mind are "shut" out of heaven where the other men are readily entering and exiting with the subjects they paint. He can get close to heaven, but not quite all the way.'
"But they are always a mass, that is to say, collective mediocrity. And what is a still greater novelty, the mass do not now take their opinions from dignitaries in Church or State, from ostensible leaders, or from books. Their thinking is done for them by men much like themselves, addressing them or speaking in their name, on the spur of the moment, through the newspapers."
mill On Liberty
What is the difference between Victorian and Romantic writers?
poets were the speakers in the romantic period vs in victorian literature its rarely from the speakers pov.
One day remembering her kernel-stone She set it by a wall that faced the south; Dew'd it with tears, hoped for a root, Watch'd for a waxing shoot, But there came none; It never saw the sun, It never felt the trickling moisture run: While with sunk eyes and faded mouth She dream'd of melons, as a traveller sees False waves in desert drouth With shade of leaf-crown'd trees, And burns the thirstier in the sandful breeze.
rossetti "goblin market"
What is the "Spiritus Mundi" that the Second Coming is mentioning?
the "Spiritus Mundi" mentioned by the poem is what Yeats thought of as the world's collective unconscious, from which the poet could draw insight. This vision of the beast, then, is suggestive of a worldwide shift into "anarchy," as the collective mind of humanity lets go of morality.
What is the tone of "When You Are Old"?
the poem can easily be interpreted as discussing love and romantic relationships more generally. The tone is cautionary - the' voice' in the poem is giving a warning to the person addressed that, because she has rejected the person who truly loves her, she may suffer a lonely old age.
intellectual progress and personal happiness are secured only through the freedom of the individual to search throughout life for the fullest development of what he calls "internal culture" What is this an example of?
utilitarianism