ENGL 45C MIDTERM- Mark Goble Fall 2026

The souls of Black Folk author

W.E.B. DuBois

The Wretched on the Earth author

Frantz Fanon

Ulysses author

Alfred Lord Tennyson

The Lotos Eaters author

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Passage to India Author

Walt Whitman

Dover Beach author

Matthew Arnold

The Brain is Wider than the Sky author

Emily Dickinson

Daisy Miller Author

Henry James

Turn of the Screw author

Henry James

Heart of Darkness author

Joseph Conrad

The New Negro author

Alain Locke

Heritage author

Countee Cullen

Yet do I Marvel author

Countee Cullen

The Black Finger author

Angelina Weld Grimke

The Negro Speaks of Rivers author

Langston Hughes

Weary Blues author

Langston Hughes

Cross author

Langston Hughes

Dream Boogie author

Langston Hughes

Harlem (poem) author

Langston Hughes

Cane- Kabnis author

Jean Toomer

Veil

The souls of black folk- WEB DuBois

doubled consciousness, doubled sight, ability to see through the veil- across the color line- between the spiritual/physical world, etc.

color line

associated with many texts- a social divide between white and colored society, sometimes legal, usually social

metonymy

A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it- (the "white house" meaning executive branch. "the crown" meaning the monarchy. "the color line" meaning racialized society

"The colonized world is a world divided in two"

Frantz Fanon

decolonization is a violent process

Frantz Fanon

the "colons" have been made to be ready for violence since time immemorial

Frantz Fanon- the Wretched on the Earth

importance of pursuit over achievement

Ulysses- Alfred Lord Tennyson

importance of experience

Ulysses- Alfred Lord Tennyson

Body vs Will (aging)

Ulysses- Alfred Lord Tennyson

Ulysses poetic form

Blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter)- also called heroic verse

intentional archaicism

using outdated, antiquated forms of speech to lend authority to the text. trying to sound old timey to seem cool

The Lotos Eaters poetic form

hybrid poetic structure that goes from rigid, rhyming iambic pentameter that switches to an uneven meter and lengthened rhyme scheme which reflects the mariners succumbing to the effects of the lotus and the island

freedom from life of toil, inversion of genesis

The Lotos Eaters- Alfred Lord Tennyson

The lotus is the forbidden fruit that hollows the men out, draining knowledge and care FROM them, and leaving them to idleness- complete inversion of the forbidden fruit from the bible which instills knowledge, death, shame and necessity of labor within Adam and Eve

anxiety surrounding loss of religion

Dover Beach Matthew Arnold

crisis of faith (religious faith) sea of faith- tides representing change

Dover Beach Matthew Arnold

can one love and be loved in a loveless world

Dover Beach Matthew Arnold

Dover Beach poetic form

varied meter/rhyme which reflects uncertainty in a changing world

predicated on the opening of the Suez Canal

Passage to India- Walt Whitman

the east as a mysterious place that will rejuvenate the soul

Passage to India- Walt Whitman

contrasts Arnold's Dover beach, is excited for the change the future brings

Passage to India- Walt Whitman

commands that connectivity and forward progress not stop

Passage to India Walt Whitman

truth lies in this place and has always lived in other places, but is easier found here

Passage to India Walt Whitman

3 four line stanzas with an ABCB rhyme scheme

The Brain is Wider than the Sky Emily Dickinson

tension between the physical and metaphysical (consciousness, soul)

The Brain is Wider than the Sky Emily Dickinson

the mind is immensely capable of knowledge/imagination thanks to God, but is expressly not greater than God

The Brain is Wider than the Sky Emily Dickinson

the mind contains worlds

The Brain is Wider than the Sky Emily Dickinson

the brain differs from God as syllable differs from sound

The Brain is Wider than the Sky Emily Dickinson

syllable is structure (meaning) that God gives to sound (uncultivated, nonsensical)?

(this is just my interpretation, i think the inverse could just as easily make sense)

starts as an info guide for tourists

Daisy Miller Henry James

innocence vs culpability

Daisy Miller Henry James

moral responsibility vs convention

Daisy Miller Henry James

the male gaze

Daisy Miller Henry James

double standards

Daisy Miller Henry James

narrative game of telephone- story about stories

Turn of the Screw Henry James

plays with form, published and circulated in many parts

Turn of the Screw Henry James

written through dictation, then possibly shared orally

Turn of the Screw Henry James

the ethics of telling stories with the intent to frighten

Turn of the Screw Henry James

what does the changing world do to the spirit

Turn of the Screw Henry James

corruption

Turn of the Screw Henry James

ambiguity

Turn of the Screw Henry James- "the bad"

protection/possession

Turn of the Screw Henry James- the governess' obsession with protecting innocence is reflective of her own inner repression

repression

Turn of the Screw Henry James

female desire

Henry James, Turn of the Screw and Daisy Miller

eyes, vision, perception

Turn of the Screw Henry James- perception is not always reliable, how does this change when someone tells a story about their own perceptions?

nostalgia and empire

Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad

asks what are the ethical demands of a narrator/narrative

Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad

Atavism

reversion to primitive or outdated ways- Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad

primitivism

looking to non-western/indigenous cultures for a simpler life- Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad

denial of coevalness

the belief that all cultures are on one developmental timeline, and less technologically advanced cultures are stuck in the past- coevalness- to be within the same time- Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad

imperialism as a humanitarian effort

Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad

morality succumbing to savagery under imperialism

Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad

anti heroic journey

Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad

inherent madness or absurdity of empire

Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad

darkness

the inability to see or be seen. Darkness within, projecting darkness (evil, void, hollow, ambivalent) The unknown- Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad

the river in heart of darkness

separation+movement- penetrate the land without ever having to actually enter into that world (color line?)

plot (story told) vs events (as it happened)

Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad

race is not an issue of heredity, but an issue of culture

The New Negro Alain Locke

don't just change the law, uphold change socially/culturally

The New Negro Alain Locke

the old negro is a myth

The New Negro Alain Locke

the new negro is proud, capable, and independent

The New Negro Alain Locke

spiritual emancipation- reject paternalism

The New Negro Alain Locke

paternalism

The idea that one group of people needs to have limited autonomy for their own good, someone else should be making decisions for them

historical distance from ancestry

Heritage- Countee Cullen

strict rhyme scheme and meter that holds up a tradition

Heritage- Countee Cullen

the exotic vs the abstract

Heritage- Countee Cullen

new faith vs old culture

Heritage- Countee Cullen

displacement

Heritage- Countee Cullen

traditional 14 line sonnet in iambic pentameter

Yet do I Marvel- Countee Cullen

why does a loving God allow pain?

Yet do I Marvel- Countee Cullen

make a poet black and bid him sing

Yet do I Marvel- Countee Cullen

make moles blind

Yet do I Marvel- Countee Cullen

broken lines which become narrow under longer lines

The Black Finger- Angelina Weld Grimke

visually fragmented line groups- disallusion with upward trajectory

The Black Finger- Angelina Weld Grimke

4 Rivers

Euphrates

Congo

Nile

Mississippi

The Negro Speaks of Rivers Langston Hughes

euphrates- cradle of civilization

congo- African roots+ ancestry

Nile- Egyptian civilization+ monuments, memory, history

Mississippi- American enslavement and enduring hope

Euphrates river

The Negro Speaks of Rivers Langston Hughes

cradle of civilization

Congo river (Harlem Renaissance)

The Negro Speaks of Rivers Langston Hughes

African roots+ ancestry

Nile River

The Negro Speaks of Rivers Langston Hughes

Egyptian civilization, monument, memory, history

Mississippi River

The Negro Speaks of Rivers Langston Hughes

American enslavement and enduring hope, forward movement

Loneliness, sorrow, fatigue, art, resilience + resistance of culture

Weary Blues Langston Hughes

Multimedia, musically expressive- Onomatopoeia

Weary Blues Langston Hughes

Biracial identity

Cross Langston Hughes