Xanadu, An Albatross, Opium, and Nature's Revenge

For Tuesday and Thursday, we are going to continue to post our responses to the blog as opposed to bringing written responses to class. Your responses may be original posts, comments on the posts of others, or (ideally) both. At this point in the semester, you definitely don't have to answer my questions (although you are welcome to). You can combine the prompts, alter them, or just go your own way.

1. "Kubla Khan" is one of the best examples of something we have been discussing about poetry, namely that it is not prose and therefore cannot be paraphrased. Indeed, any extractable "meaning" of "Kubla Khan" is probably much less important than the effect the poem has upon the reader because of its sounds and rhythms. Read the poem out loud a few times. What is your biological response to it? What do you feel? What do you envision? Try, at least the first time you read it, to immerse yourself in its sonic properties instead of analyzing "what it means."

2. In what way(s) could "Kubla Khan" be called a poem about writer's block? Please read the introductory note and reference it as part of your response.

3. Do you believe that "Kubla Khan" could have been written in a drug-induced state? Why or why not?

4. In Biographia Literaria (629-641), Coleridge writes that he and Wordsworth, when planning Lyrical Ballads, decided that Coleridge's part in the volume "should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic; yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith" (634). What do you think this means? Does "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" require a "willing suspension of disbelief?"

5. During this period, much of popular literature was gothic in nature. Gothic literature has sometimes been described as a blend of romance and horror. How is "Rime" a gothic poem?

6. In his Lectures on Shakespeare (641-642), Coleridge argues that there is a difference between poetry written in "mechanic form" and that written in "organic form." A poem is "mechanic," according to Coleridge, "when on any given material we impress a pre-determined form, not necessarily arising out of the properties of the material;--as when to a wet mass of clay we give whatever shape we wish it to retain when hardened. The organic form, on the other hand, is innate; it shapes, as it develops itself from within, and the fulness of its development is one and the same with the perfection of its outward form" (642). He goes on to argue that just as Nature is "inexhaustable," so are its forms. I would like for you to look for places in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" or in "Kubla Khan" where the form seems organic, as opposed to predetermined, and to discuss what it is about the poem's material that is causing the form to change. In other words, how is the form of the poem changing to meet the needs of its material?

7. Did you find Coleridge's marginalia/commentary helpful? Why or why not?

The World Is Too Much With Us

I am reading this poem right now, looking out my hotel window at the Las Vegas strip, I wonder what Wordsworth would have to say about this place? Ironically enough, as I was walking past some of the mammoth buildings in the area today, I was thinking about this same principle of waste, about the amount of money required to build something like these, and how much else could have been done with this money. I really feel that when Wordsworth says 'We lay waste to our powers' 

I get the impression that our power is reffering to our potential, the ability that all men have in them. We have the ability to do so much, and yet often times we waste them on worthless things, on things that distract from nature, that cause us to throw away our potential. This thing called 'Social Progress' is often not progress at all. I really enjoyed his thoughts on the subject, especially considering my current surroundings they were especially powerful. 

The Wonder of Childhood

This isn't really a response to any of the prompts, but the most overwhelming feeling I got from reading Wordsworth's Ode is that of not just a lament of childhood innocence lost, but also a loss of the feeling of wonder and excitement at the newness of everything in life that a child experiences. I'm grateful, however, that the tone of the poem wasn't just one of sadness, but also of hope, fond memory, and optimism for the future. Yes, everyone loses most of the naivete and innocence of childhood as they grow older, but the memories of being children can't be taken away from us, and we can also focus on things we gain from the wisdom of experience as we age. I think this is a big part of the meaning that Wordsworth was trying to convey. We can look backwards with regret, or we can look forward with appreciation and determination to make the best of what still lies before us.

Actors of our own reality

First of all, I've never posted on a blog before, so replying to comments about the influence of technology, I feel pretty darn inadequate.
When I read lines 99-103 I couldn't help but think of my little nephews, ages two and three, who are so excited about everything and anything new! They also are quick to gravitate towards anything you seem to be remotely interested in. If you like it, they have to have it! Constantly fighting over each others toys, they always want what they don't have. "Ere this be thrown aside, / And with new joy and pride / The little Actor cons another part" (lines 100-102). Are we as a society very far from being "little Actors" in our own reality?
Some of us that have commented have brought up how we get older and lose our child-like ways, but I believe we still hold some of these ways. Who doesn't still see something bigger and better and want it for themselves? Fads come and go, phones get nicer, ipods hold more space, the world gets faster paced, and we move on to different things to fill up our "stage". Someone commented that the sad thing is we have done it to ourselves; I agree wholeheartedly. Perhaps it is human nature that we feel this way, and sometimes it can't all be bad. We simply want to better ourselves and to make our dreams come true! Although our dreams may have changed from when we were younger, we still have our fantasies. What we do with our dreams and aspirations is up to us as individuals. Perhaps our child-like fantasies are the ones that get us into debt and waste our time in front of the tv, but our adult-like fantasies are the ones that will lead us to be more productive and give lasting happiness in our life.

the curious cage of society

I loved what Jaree said. It is a curious thing that in our world today, we manufacture childhood in a way. Oftentimes when looking back on childhood, we recall pop culture or the toys we loved. Children are now growing up addicted to television, computers, nintendo, and whatever else is out there. the sad part: we did this to ourselves. We made nature work for us instead of trying to understand and commune with what's out there. It's just as Wordsworth says: as soon as we are born, the cage descends on us. Is it even possible to break free anymore? Technology is creeping in to every single facet of daily life. Sometimes I wonder if it's good or bad. It makes things easier, to be sure; but I also think as a whole we are too complacent, too sure of ourselves. Our society is crushing down on the individual, squandering what life was left in imagination. We let the world think for us. Is there a way to come back from that, collectively as a society?

Powers of Humanity

I am responding to the question in prompt #4.

I think that "powers" could be interpreted in many different ways. One meaning is the power of the mind. But it could be deeper than that. It could mean the power of the mind to think, ponder and imagine. The mind is a very powerful tool. Take some psychological disorders for instance, some can create a completely different reality for the person. Romantically speaking, power of the mind would most likely be the power of imagination. It could mean just simply pondering the world around you, not only the natural world but the human society around you.

Another meaning of "powers" could be that emotions are powers that we are laying waste to. He says in the same line that we are "Getting and Spending", what kind of emotion leads man to "getting and spending"? It could be the need to always have more and than thinking that it will make you happy, then it is spent, then the cycle of needing more, gettiing it and spending it starts over. I think Wordsworth is trying to say how much of an exhausting waste of emotion(s) that is. Then he tries to get the point across that the "power" of the emotions is just being wasted. You could have other emotions (powers) that will benefit you and others more in the long run. One can assume that those emotions are pretty much opposite of the emotions it takes for "getting and spending" (greed, envy). The less wasteful emotions that could do more for you could include compassion, love, and appreciation of nature.

Is Life So Bad?

But for those first affections,

Those shadowy recollections,

Throughout "Ode" I felt hope. Wordsworth fills his lines with loss; and then, he will put a single or a few "hope" lines. For example: after stating the "Rainbow comes and goes" and "That there hath past away a glory from the earth," and "To me alone there came a thought of grief," he writes, "A timely utterance gave that thought relief,/ And again I am strong:" Wordsworth's structure really amazes me how it, with a pattern of "loss, loss, loss, hope," takes you on a trip in a life. In lines 151-155 Wordsworth reveals how our "first affections" and our "shadowy recollections" have a power. Since we have experienced some grief and loss and that those times seem prolonged (longer than the good sometimes) these recollections will "uphold" us. He says they have ". . .power to make/ Our noisy years seem moments in the being/ Of the eternal Silence: truths that wake,/ To perish never;" If we have the wisdom to know these moments will come and if we give time to recollection, the loss won't be as bad, and possibly of no matter if there is an Eternal Silence.

With Maturity Comes A Certain Death

"Wither is fled the visionary gleam?
Where is it now, the glory and the dream?"

I venture to say that Wordsworth saw maturity as a kind of death concerning the visions of immortality. The idealized view of nature and the world seems like something portrayed through a child's eyes. What other time in life, besides perhaps very old age, are we so open to the wonders and mysteries of nature?
If our birth is "but a sleep and a forgetting", it makes sense to me that our childhood would be the time of remembrance, a mere re-discovery of glory previously known. I never really understood how Wordsworth could retain such an idealized perspective on the world. He has a sort of rose-colored glasses perspective that is intriguing. In finding modern day application to his poems, I've decided that sometimes rose-colored glasses are what we need in order to see things clearly.
Emily made a great comment on how the loss of childhood is sometimes what drives our society today. Wordsworth is also seeing this in his time and is pleading with us to take the time, make it count. He is truly grieving for this loss of glory from the earth. It almost makes it sound like the earth is losing something, but in fact the loss is in us. In line 23, I love that he makes the comment "a timely utterance gave that thought relief". It makes me feel that though we may be at the point where we have lost that glory in the earth, all hope is not lost. Time may bring it back to us as we reflect upon nature's mysteries.
Point: we have to put away the Nintendo and get out into nature. Childhood isn't going to be found in computer games, technology, and virtual reality. Who needs Virtual when we have Actual all around us? It's a bit ironic in our time that we create all of these things to supposedly make our lives more full. In reality, we are straying further and further from the "clouds of glory" in which we came.

I love blogs! :)

I really enjoyed this reading compared to last classes’. It seemed to be much more mature and less sing-song. Also, it seemed to me that, although it was not as abstract as Blake’s literature, there was more depth to the poems and more to learn from them.

I want to talk about lines 99-107. I think that the key words in this section are “endless imitation.” To me, Wordsworth is suggesting that all of the seemingly important things that we do in life are attempts to capture a “fragment” of our “dream of human life.” As we go through life we try to find a place and purpose for our lives, when we already have a natural place. All of the acting that we do to fit into society and gain more things is just like a child pretending to be like an adult. But no matter how we much we pretend to belong in the material world, only nature brings our true reality. I think it is also talking about the variability of ourselves in comparison to the consistency of nature. Nature stays the same. But if it is constant, then why do we see it differently at various points in life? I think it is because life itself changes. New interests develop. New things are obtained. New relationships come and old ones die. According to my interpretation, Wordsworth is trying to say is that when all of the responsibilities, possessions, and worries go away we are the same child that we started out as, however our experience gives us a wise maturity that helps us to see nature differently. As he says in lines 192-193, “I love the Brooks which down their channels fret, Even more than when I tripped lightly as they”.

On a quick personal note, my favorite part of the poem was stanza 8. I loved how Wordsworth compared the child to a “Mighty Prophet!” How many times in life is it “out of the mouth of babes” that we learn the most profound truths? In many ways, I can really relate with this part of the poem. I was forced to grow up very quickly and, unfortunately, had an abnormally short childhood. When I read this I can understand Wordsworth’s intense plea for the child to enjoy their youth and not be so hasty to grow up. I think that this is a big problem in society today, especially with all of the new technology. I mean, what kid when I was growing up had a cell phone at eight? Yet now that is regarded as a necessity. Also, I think that all of the technology has taken away from the pastoral, carefree sense of childhood. Racing Yoshi in MarioKart just doesn’t seem to have the same connection with nature as frolicking with lambs through a meadow of pansies would. Just my opinion.

Wordsworth, Part II

Let's forego the 1-page response for Thursday. Instead, let's post our responses to the blog, which has been a bit of a slow starter. You can either write an original post or respond to someone else's original post. We had such a good conversation about Wordsworth in class that I would like to bring some of that to the blog. Feel free to respond to any of my questions, or to go your own way. At this point, you don't need to use my prompts if you have something else that interests you more.

1. Interpret and respond to these lines from "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood":

But it will not be long
Ere this be thrown aside,
And with new joy and pride
The little Actor cons another part;
Filling from time to time his "humorous stage"
With all the Persons, down to palsied Age,
That life brings with her in her equipage;
As if his whole vocation
Were endless imitation. (99-107)

2. Worsdworth writes of "years that bring the philosophic mind" ("Ode" 186). How is "the philosophic mind" different than the "meddling intellect"? ("The Tables Turned" 26). Or is this a contradiction?

3. Wordsworth completed "Ode" in 1815. How is it similar to what we read from Lyrical Ballads, which was composed almost two decades earlier? How is it different? (You can discuss form, content, or a combination of these.)

4. In "The world is too much with us," we read that "Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers." What "powers" do you think Wordsworth has in mind?

I look forward to reading your responses to these questions or to anything else in the poems that you wish to discuss.

-D

Well, Someone has to get this thing going...

Am I the only one that finds Wordsworth much easier to read than Blake?

Don't get me wrong, Blake wrote some amazing stuff, but it was very difficult to understand. I think Wordsworth accomplished his goal of speaking to the common man without dumbing it down. I found it quite easy to understand what he was saying, but still powerful enough to think about, and draw ideas from. Especially "Simon Lee", and "We Are Seven", they were so simple and yet poetic and profound. I was not distracted by the wording, I found that I could actually focus on what the poem was saying, and not be distracted by how it was saying it. I found myself reading them again, not because I had no idea what he was saying (like I did with Blake), but because I wanted to, Did anyone else feel that way?

Wordsworth, Part I

We will be discussing Wordsworth next week, both on Tuesday and on Thursday. Please write a 1-page response to one of the prompts below. You only need to write about one, but please come prepared to discuss all of them:

1. Many people believe that poetry is difficult to read because it uses pretentious language or an uncommon vocabulary. Others feel that poetry is for highly educated people with an extensive background in literature. How does Wordsworth address these ideas in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads? What is he trying to do differently? And, more importantly, do you think his poetry lives up to his goals and theories? Explain.

2. In "Expostulation and Reply" (401), "William" (probably Worsdworth, or at least a persona like him) suggests to his friend Matthew that "powers" can "impress" themselves upon us even if we are not looking for them. In fact, looking for inspiration, truth, knowledge, beauty, etc. may be too active a process. Wordsworth writes that "we can feed this mind of ours, / In a wise passiveness." What is "wise passiveness"? (Note: I promise I am not looking--and am never looking--for one specific answer, so take a shot at this.)

3. Discuss the last lines of "The Tables Turned" (402): "Come forth, and bring with you a heart / That watches and receives." How can one watch with the heart? What is it that can be received? Use other lines from the poem as part of your response.

4. Relate these lines from "Tintern Abbey" to something from Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience:

For I have learned

To look on nature, not as in the hour

Of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes

The still, sad music of humanity

5. How has the speaker of "Tintern Abbey" changed in the five years since he first visited? How is he the same? Do you think it is significant that he addresses his younger sister in the poem? Please use specific lines from the poem in your response.

6. How is Worsworth's poetry like Blake's? How is it different? If there is something that links them together, what is it? Use examples.

7. In his Preface, Wordsworth writes of "emotion recollected in tranquility" that leads to "the spontaneous overflow of feelings." What does this mean? Can it really happen? Has it happened to you? If you feel comfortable relating an experience where this has happened, I would love to read about it.

The Blake Archive

I wanted to let you know about the William Blake archive (blakearchive.org), sponsored by the Library of Congress. It's a bit tragic that most of the images in our textbook are in black and white, but the archive has all of the "illuminated" manuscripts in full color. There are also multiple examples of each one so that you can compare them and see the differences (the engraving and hand-coloring process means that none of the copies is exactly the same as any other). Spending an hour or so looking at Blake's art is really worth your time. I promise you will be moved by something you find.

Prompt 3 - Songs of Innocence and Experience

Please respond to one of the following prompts for Thursday's class:

1. In "A Vision of the Last Judgment," Blake writes this about Imagination:

"This world of Imagination is infinite and Eternal, whereas the world of Generation, or Vegetation, is Finite and Temporal. There Exist in that Eternal World the Permanent Realities of Every Thing which we see reflected in this Vegetable Glass of Nature."

Paraphrase this argument in your own words and then explain how it might illuminate one or more of the poems in Songs of Innocence and Experience.

2. In poems, rhyme (both internal rhyme and end-rhyme) is often used to compare/contrast/juxtapose important words. Therefore, looking at rhyming words can often tell us much about a given poem. Take one of the poems from Songs of Innocence and Experience and write about the "meaning" that is contained in its rhymes. So, for example, if you were to write about "The Little Black Boy," you would discuss some, or all, of the following rhymes: wild/child, white/light, tree/me, day/say, live/recieve (Blake's spelling), away/day, etc.

3. The last line of "The Chimney Sweeper" (161) is a nursery rhyme-like truism that stands in sharp contrast to the realities expressed in the poem. Point to other examples from Songs of Innocence and Experience where Blake uses a line, or lines, that seem out of place in the context of the poem, and explain why you think he does this. Or, alternatively, compare the idea of God from "The Chimney Sweeper" in Songs of Innocence (161) to the way God is portrayed in the poem from Experience of the same name (174).

4. This prompt relates to the last part of #3. Find poems in Songs of Experience that revisit themes or images from Songs of Innocence and, using those themes or images, draw some conclusions about the way Blake's worldview may have changed during the five years between the two volumes. (Note: this may or may not be accurate, but I am not interested in accuracy per se; I am more interested in your ability to find points of comparison in the two volumes and respond to them.)

5. If you had to define "innocence" and "experience" based on Blake's poems, how would you define them? I'm not interested in a rehashing of the book's introduction to these poems. Instead, I'd like you to think about these terms and then refer to specific poems as you define them. You can define one or both, depending on how much space you have.

6. Blake was a visionary. He claimed to see God, angels, and prophets. His deceased brother's spirit visited him and, allegedly, gave him the idea for illustrated texts, or "Illuminated Printing" as he called it. Look at Color Plates 6-9 in your book (these are between pages 6 and 7). How would you describe Blake's engravings? how does your reading of a poem change when its text is part of a work of visual art rather than text alone? Your response should include a reference to "A Poison Tree," which appears here and in your book (181).

7. Use these lines from "The Divine Image" as a critical lens as you analyze another poem from Songs of Innocence and Experience:

For Mercy has a human heart
Pity, a human face:

And Love, the human form divine,

And Peace, the human dress.

8. Some critics have seen "The Sick Rose" as emblematic of all of the poems in Songs of Experience, which (they argue) are largely about lost innocence. Argue that the imagery of the poem amounts to more than a symbol of lost innocence.

The French Revolution and The Rights of Man

In the first paragraph of your response, summarize the arguments of Burke, Paine, and More. (If you are interested in further reading, the selections from Godwin, Wollstonecraft, and Young give further dimension to these debates.) Obviously you will not be able to go into great detail, but I would like you to try to condense the central arguments of these three writers so that I can see that you understand them.

In the remainder of your response, react to and/or comment on one of the following quotations:

1. “In this partnership all have equal rights; but not to equal things” (Burke 106).

2. “Each contract of each particular state is but a clause in the great primaeval contract of eternal society, linking the lower with the higher natures, connecting the visible and invisible world, according to a fixed compact sanctioned by the inviolable oath which holds all physical and all moral natures, each in their appointed place” (Burke 112).

3. “Every office and department has its despotism, founded upon custom and usage. Every place has its Bastille, and every Bastille its despot. [. . .] It strengthens itself by assuming the appearance of duty, and tyrannises under the pretence of obeying” (Paine 124).

4. “They are all so free, that there’s nobody safe” (More 138).

Assignment Schedule/Prompts

The reading and assignment schedule is now up on Blackboard, along with the course syllabus. As you have no doubt noticed, Blackboard has been very hit and miss so far this semester, so for the time being, I am going to post the writing prompts here as well as on Blackboard. I don't want you to have to wait for them if the site is acting a bit dodgy.

I will bring you a hard copy of the assignment schedule on Tuesday, and I will be posting the second writing prompt here shortly.

Have a great holiday weekend!

-D

Writing Prompt 1 – “The Romantics and Their Contemporaries”

Normally the writing prompts will be posted to Blackboard only, but since Blackboard has been a bit dodgy this week, I am posting the first set of prompts to the blog as well.

Please write a one-page response based on one of the following prompts. When you respond to a prompt, you don’t have to answer it exactly. It is meant to spur your thought process, not dictate your response. You certainly don’t need to quote the prompt or use its exact language. I also want to reemphasize that although I expect your responses to be thoughtful and well-written, I obviously don’t expect you to be an expert on the material. We have hardly read a word of the literature, after all.

1. “Imagination” is one of the most important concepts in all of literature, but it was the Romantics that zealously stressed its importance and made it fundamental to the creative act. However, the word “imagination” was used a little differently in the early 1800s from how it is used today. Based on what you read in the introductory material, how does a Romantic notion of “imagination” differ from a 2009 conception of that word? In answering this, you may want to mention one or two contemporary examples of how the word is used and contrast those with what you read about.

2. A common saying about literature is that it must either say something new, or it must say something old in a new way. Based on what you read, how might this saying be applied to the Romantic period?

3. The Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries profoundly affected British society on many levels. For one thing, the nature of the landscape was rapidly changing as the population increased dramatically and the socio-economic structure of Britain was turned on its ear. What had once been a largely-agricultural country was now a center of industry and manufacturing. You will recall our discussion in class today about the importance of the natural world, specifically a line from Wordsworth’s “The Tables Turned”: “Let Nature be your teacher.” It probably comes as no surprise, then, that many writers of the period, perhaps acting in the prophetic role of “the bard,” pointed out the dangers of industry and its destructive potential. Can you draw any contemporary parallels? In other words, is this exclusively a Romantic concern, or does it translate to 2009?

4. The Industrial Revolution, as you read, also made it possible to print a lot of books in a relatively short amount of time. Writers who had previously depended on patronage (financial support from wealthy individuals) could now brave the newly-created literary marketplace. One could argue that this was liberating and that as independent writers, free from patronage, writers were then more “free” to express themselves as they wished. But might there also be negative consequences to literature as a result of a free market? If so, what might they be?

I am looking forward to your responses. See you on Thursday.
-D