ENG 206 Final Prep

Lines Written in Early Spring

Wordsworth; the author laments why man cannot be as happy as Nature. Wordsworth is connected to nature but wonders why the rest of man doesn't act like it

"What has man made of man"

from "Lines Written in Early Spring" by Wordsworth. Questions why humanity has done this (growing up, industrializing) instead of following Nature's direction

Spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility

Wordsworth's definition for poetry

"I heard a thousand blended notes / While in a grove I sate reclined, / In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts / Bring sad thoughts to the mind."

from "Lines Written in Early Spring" by Wordsworth. Discusses the tragic fall from childhood into adulthood. Childhood has an innocent connection with nature, adulthood is experience

London

Blake; observations made by the author as he walks through the London streets, seeing only misery. Contrasts urbanism with Wordsworth's natural scenery. Children would hold hope for the future, but London corrupts them + cycle continues

"And blights with plagues the marriage hearse"

from "London" by Blake, industrialization is corrupting conventional society, marriage is compared to death

Written at the Close of Spring

Charlotte Smith; spring fades, but it will be back! Humanity mirrors this, but without the cyclical aspect. Unlike Nature, humanity can corrupt and happiness can fade forever.

"Why has happiness no second Spring?"

from "Written at the Close of Spring" by Charlotte Smith. Questions why human happiness has the ability to fade away forever, while nature runs on a cycle

The Romantic Period

characterized by revolution, nature, supernatural, childhood, imagination, memory, poet, prophet, emotion, spontaneity, originality, the sublime. Begins with the French Revolution. Poets include Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats. Romantics radiate from the self and write about the poet's emotional response to a scene, rather than the scene itself

The Ballad Revival

a search for "majestic simplicity" of the commonfolk. An alternative to the refinement and elegance of 18th c. literature. Ballads connected poetry to the voice and must use language related to popular masses

Simon Lee: The Old Huntsman

Wordsworth; discusses Simon's life now that he has aged. Poem about decay, criticizing literature's role in romanticizing poverty, pitying and empathy. Simon represents Wordsworth: the poem is a chance for Wordsworth to provide charity for Simon, but this makes him uncomfortable

"I fear that you expect some tale will be related"

from "Simon Lee" by Wordsworth; Simon represents pre-industrial glory, but he has aged. You expect there to be a story about heroism but instead you get a sad man whose wife is stronger than him

The beggar

A stereotypical literary stock figure. The beggar's role is to allow the protagonist to be charitable. His presence is an opportunity for a good deed to be done.

We Are Seven

Wordsworth; romanticizes poverty, likens growing up to a tragic fall. Adults and children have a hard time understanding each other due to a gap in innocence.

"The little maid would have her will / And said "Nay, we are seven."

from "We Are Seven" by Wordsworth; this is the epitome of childhood innocence and ignorance about death

The wild child

Another literary stock figure. Usually female, represents childhood innocence and freedom, usually associated with nature. Contrasted with the Victorian angel in the house.

The Thorn

Wordsworth; places the reader in the Gothic (infanticide, madness, fascination with death). About outcast woman Martha Ray who was abandoned by her community after they spread rumors about her killing her child

"O misery, o misery! / O woe is me, o misery!"

from "The Thorn" by Wordsworth; lines Martha Ray cries when sitting near the Thorn, which is possibly where her child is buried

Tintern Abbey

Wordsworth; journeys back to an old place where he'd spent his childhood. Loss of innocence, growing up means nature grows distant, a mirror of the Biblical fall. Says the problem is growing up, and the solution is memory, meditation, return to the past

"I cannot paint what then I was"

from "Tintern Abbey" by Wordsworth; he cannot remember his childhood, and this makes him sad. Returning to nature allows him to access those memories once more

Felix Culpa

the fortunate fall. A common theme in Wordsworthian poetry. Growing up is a loss of innocence but also allows the protagonist to look on nature as something sublime, to see it for what it is. The self learns it is the self--this is tragic, but necessary.

The Lucy Poems

Wordsworth; 5 poems that discuss a girl named Lucy, a purely lyric representation of death. Lucy is more conceptual than real, she is likened to objects, she lives to die so that Wordsworth may write poetry about her. Lucy would mean nothing to Wordsworth if she hadn't died.

Fits of Passion, Untrodden Ways, Three Years

Some of the Lucy poems. Exemplify lyricism at best, Gothic at worst

"'O mercy,' to myself I cried, 'if Lucy should be dead!'"

from "Fits of Passion" by Wordsworth; discusses how the speaker emphasizes Lucy's status as dead more than the fact that she was once alive. Nothing is more poetic than a beautiful dead woman.

"But she is in her grave, and o / the difference to me!"

from "Untrodden Ways" by Wordsworth; more preaching about beautiful dead women

"Then Nature said, 'A lovelier flower / On this earth was never sown. / This child to myself I will take, / She shall be mine, and I will make / A lady of my own.'"

from "Three Years" by Wordsworth; nature created this woman, it combines the two things Wordsworth loves most: nature and childhood

"Rolled round in earth's diurnal course, / with rocks and stones and trees."

from "A slumber did my spirit seal" by Wordsworth; romanticizes death to an almost Gothic point

Lime Tree Bower

Coleridge; conversational poem that poses a question, analyzes question, and poses solution. In this case, Coleridge struggles with loneliness and finds peace in nature. The imagination also plays a large role

Conversation poem

A form associated with Coleridge. Conversation poems are written in blank verse; they describe a problem in the poet's own voice and end with posing a solution.

"My gentle-hearted Charles, for thou hast pined and hungered after nature"

from "Lime Tree Bower" by Coleridge; Coleridge projecting his love of nature onto Charles and using his imagination to picture what his friends must be seeing without him

Kubla Khan

Coleridge; imagined city, landscape characterized by opposites and their connection. This is the triumph of the imagination is that it can reconcile opposites, but this power also cuts him off from others. Poetry (and imagination) is incompatible with business and life

"I would build that dome in air, / that sunny dome, those caves of ice"

from "Kubla Khan" by Coleridge; the speaker talks about being able to create a kingdom in his imagination, expressing the power he possesses as a poet.

Frost at Midnight

Coleridge; in a quiet night, the speaker is left to his thoughts. Discusses differences in Coleridge's childhood vs his son's (city vs countryside). Memory is enchanting and restorative, seeks to escape atheism and rebellion

"But thou, mine babe, shall wander like a breeze by lakes and sandy shores"

from "Frost at Midnight" by Coleridge; explains how his son will get to have the childhood he wished he did. Raised in industrialization vs the countryside

A Mother to Her Waking Infant

Joanna Baillie; poses a question: there's not much poetry in a baby, but the whole poem is spent discussing it. Everyone coos over the baby, but no one loves it like the speaker does

Negative Capability

a theory of the poet John Keats describing the capacity of artists to pursue ideals of beauty, perfection and sublimity even when it leads them into intellectual confusion and uncertainty

Ode to a Nightingale

Keats; wishes to be free and unburdened with worry like the nightingale is. To do this, he escapes through poetry, pure sense, pure imagination. The nightingale is immortal because it represents the poet, but the price of immortality is originality. Keats chooses mortal originality over the nightingale's immortality.

"Away! away! for I will fly to thee, / Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards, / But on the viewless wings of Poesy"

from "Ode to a Nightingale" by Keats; illustrates how Keats will join the nightingale in immortality through his poetry

Ekphrastic poem

a literary representation of a work of visual art. Examples include "Ode to a Grecian Urn" and "Musee des Beaux Arts"

Ode to a Grecian Urn

Keats; trying to make sense of the plot illustrated on the urn, he asks it questions it cannot answer. Explores the idea of immortality through art--in the urn, happiness can last forever, but it is haunted by the loss of human passion. Keats chooses life and all its flaws over static perfection.

cold pastoral

refers to "Ode to a Grecian Urn" by Keats; life is haunted by the loss of human passion, there cannot be life in static perfection

"When old age shall this generation waste, / thou shalt remain in midst of other woe"

from "Ode to a Grecian Urn" by Keats; Keats outlines his jealousy of the urn's immortality, but also draws attention to the fact that it must live forever in the midst of woe

To Autumn

Keats; a meditation on death, how nature seemingly stays the same while people age and die. A contrast to the cold pastoral of Grecian Urn, Keats projects emotions onto nature and values its fleetingness

Eve of St Agnes

Keats; Follows a Shakespearean echo of Romeo and Juliet, contrasts the old with the young, a love story where the girl can conduct a ritual to see her future husband on a specific night. Exploration of heaven on earth: revelry, love, feasting

"Beyond a mortal man impassion'd far / At these voluptuous accents, he arose, / Ethereal, flush'd, and like a throbbing star / Seen mid the sapphire heaven's deep repose; / Into her dream he melted, as the rose / Blendeth its odour with the violet, -- / Solution sweet..."

from "Eve of St Agnes" by Keats; Porphyro "entering Madeline's dream" and seducing her. Note flower imagery and sexual euphemism

Madeline

The female protagonist of "Eve of St Agnes" by Keats. Characterized by innocence, fancifulness, obliviousness to reality

Porphyro

Male protagonist of "Eve of St Agnes" by Keats. Characterized by practicality, sexual desire. Critics debate on his status as a lover vs a rapist, as the poem has evidence supporting both views.

Wuthering Heights

Emily Bronte; marks the transition between the Romantic and Victorian period. Rejects industrialization by taking place in the country. Physical characters replace poetic emotion. Discusses realism vs the supernatural, dreams, unreliable narrators

Thrushcross Grange

Wuthering Heights; A very clean, fancy house where Isabella and Edgar Linton grew up. When Catherine marries Edgar this is where they live and where Edgar raises their daughter Cathy after Catherine dies.

Wuthering Heights (house)

the weird area where the weirdos hang out, like Heathcliff and Joseph. Symbolizes Romantic passion and serves as a counterpart for Thrushcross Grange

Lockwood

1st narrator of Wuthering Heights. Lockwood is confused about WH and is unable to understand it. He projects his own characteristics upon Heathcliff. He is a literary symbol for the reader. He is constantly breaking boundaries and forcing himself through doors + into the story

Heathcliff

An orphan brought to live at Wuthering Heights by Mr. Earnshaw, Heathcliff falls in love with Mr. Earnshaw's daughter Catherine. Constantly abused by Hindley as well as the majority of the characters in WH. Heathcliff's humiliation and misery prompt him to spend most of the rest of his life seeking revenge on Hindley, Catherine, and their children. A good example of the Byronic Hero. Representative of the class struggle, triumph over capitalism, reverse colonization

Byronic Hero

A non conformist, isolated, guilty but unrepentant. Heathcliff from WH is a good example of this

Angel in the House

a phrase used to describe the ideal Victorian woman. She should be devoted to her husband, caring for the household, seen more as an object than a person. Commonly contrasted with the wild child trope

Nelly Dean

a servant and the chief narrator of WH. She is unreliable in her retelling of events due to her own closeness with them. Occasionally acts as a reality check on what marriage and love is like

Catherine Earnshaw

Main love interest of WH. Transforms from a wild child at the start of the novel to a lady, which is her tragic fall. She wants to have both Romantic individualism + passion and Victorian domestic realism, and the inability to get both is what causes her downfall. Questions what women need to give up in order to become a hero in the Victorian era.

Bildungsroman

a book of education, about maturity, growing up. Wuthering Heights is an example of this

Coverture

married women give their money to their husbands and are only recognized through their husbands

Cathy and Hareton

the second generation at WH. Their marriage is a solution to the previous problem between Catherine and Heathcliff. They move away from the Heights to the Grange, showing the progress they made that Catherine and Heathcliff couldn't.

Edgar and Isabella Linton

Siblings from Thrushcross Grange, represent Victorian civility. Edgar marries Catherine, and Isabella marries Heathcliff.

The Victorian Era

Characterized by three things: industrialization and the "Condition of England", gender and sexuality and "The Woman Problem", and art and culture and "Spectacle". Explosion of information means texts are more wide spread and more people are reading.

Peggy

Girl from "First Report of the Commissioners, Mines", Peggy is a child worker. Her objectivism is contrasted with the sentimental radicalism of the middle class. The rich have no idea what children like her are going through, and her matter of factness about working is a cause for horror

Cry of the Children

Elizabeth Barrett Browning; contrasts actual child workers' objectiveness with tragic emotion. Children are made jealous of death, work takes physical toll on their bodies, can't comprehend anything other than work. Contrast this view with the Romantic version of childhood

"'It is good when it happens,' say the children, / 'that we die before our time'"

from "Cry of the Children" by Barrett Browning; illustrates how the children working in the mines are so miserable that they prefer death. Reads kind of hyperbolic, since the purpose of the poem is to gather sympathy from the public about the children

Watercress Girl and Boy Crossing Sweepers and Tumblers

Interviews conducted by Henry Mayhew. Similarly to Peggy's account of working in the mines, these children only know their work. Interviews are performative for the middle class, they provide drama, something to entertain

A Living Wage for Factory Girls at Crewe

Ada Nield Chew; reform literature book advocating for rights for women and children. States that there is no time for living and seeks to enlighten the public about independence and self respect

The Lady of Shalott

Tennyson; poem uses the figure of the Lady as a double for Tennyson to explore the consequences of desiring both art and life. Lady is unable to look directly at Camelot without dying. Seeing Lancelot in her mirror is what draws her to the castle. Fairy-tale Arthurian myth style poem to convey a moral lesson

"From the bank and from the river, / he flashed into the crystal mirror, / 'Tirra lirra' by the river / sang sir Lancelot"

from "The Lady of Shalott" by Tennyson; illustrates the turn of the poem where the Lady sees/hears Lancelot and goes down to Camelot. Lancelot's singing serves to symbolize his freedom and the fact that he is not a serious person.

Ulysses

Tennyson; poem about a war hero planning a new quest, a longing for the epic. The conquering father vs the Victorian son. Ulysses wants to go on a journey simply for the sake of it--he's bored with kingly duties and leaves them to his son. Represents the moment before the fall, leaves Ulysses standing weary on the shore

"This is my son, mine own Telemachus, / to whom I leave the scepter and the isle"

from "Ulysses" by Tennyson; the moment where Ulysses hands over power to his son and leaves to on his epic quest

"Made weak by time and fate but strong in will, / to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield"

from "Ulysses" by Tennyson; Ulysses is unwilling to accept that he is not the same young man who went on all those journeys earlier. Instead he still wishes for the adventure that comes with an epic quest

Charge of the Light Brigade

Tennyson; outlines British cavalry charging against a Russian artillery unit. The order proved to be suicidal, and the brigade was destroyed. Highlights self sacrifice and heroism, stating that bravery is doing your duty even if it results in your death.

Porphyria's Lover

Robert Browning; outlines Porphyria being murdered by her lover after returning from a feast. Explores themes of dominance, control, the angel in the house, mental insanity, and these actions going unpunished.

"All night long we have not stirred / and yet God has not said a word!"

from "Porphyria's Lover" by Browning; illustrates how the speaker is free to control women and will get away with killing Porphyria. Could be likening God to Browning himself or the audience for their complicity in the crime

Dramatic monologue

the imaginary utterances of imaginary people. The speaker of the poem is divided from the poet. All human experience is open to the poet, but the dramatic monologue confines him to specific and separate POVs. Good example is Robert Browning's poetry

My Last Duchess

Robert Browning; outlines a Duke speaking to an agent about getting married again after his last duchess died. He is jealous, self important, he wants his wife's exclusive attention. Sees his wife as something to be tamed and added to his art collection. Explores masculinity, power, control

Fra Lippo Lippi

Robert Browning; a monk out after curfew tries to get out of being punished by watchmen. Tells his life story and goes into the philosophy of his art. His superior says he should be painting souls, not people, but the monk says that they are the same. He wants to show love for God's creation, not try to replicate it

"Your business is to paint the souls of men"

from "Fra Lippo Lippi" by Browning; The soul is the link between man and god, and to only paint the soul emphasizes the difference between the two beings, rather than their similarities.

Goblin Market

Christina Rossetti; cautionary tale about sexuality and homoerotic fantasy, explores themes of desire, temptation, sisterhood, gender, addiction, consequences. Sisters Lizzie and Laura must resist the goblins' fruit. When Laura fails, Lizzie comes to her rescue. Places value on passive and unwavering resistance.

After Death

Christina Rossetti; sonnet told from the POV of a dead woman, illustrates what it feels like to be a woman in the Victorian era. States that the goal of woman should not be to satisfy desire but to escape from it.

"He did not love me living, but once dead he pitied me"

from "After Death" by Rossetti; illustrates how men viewed women, she has to die to be seen as important enough to write about

Volta

the turn of a sonnet, happens after line 8

In an Artist's Studio

Christina Rossetti; places importance upon what the artist wants the model to be instead of who she actually is. She is only beautiful when man or art deems her to be, not because she has inherent value. Subject is erased and seen only as object.

"He feeds upon her face by day and night, / and she with true kind eyes looks back on him / fair as the moon and joyful as the light"

from "In an Artist's Studio" by Rossetti; describes how the woman is only beautiful in the eyes of man and art. The male artist only sees her as a muse or object to be painted

No, Thank You, John

Christina Rossetti; written from POV of a woman and outlines a conversation between her and a man. Explores dynamic between a man romantically pursuing a woman who does not want to be pursued. Challenges traditional love poetry by only letting the woman speak.

A Triad

Christina Rossetti; tells of three women and how they've ended up after marriage. States that artistry and identity are taken away in marriage, cautions against fulfilling desire. Love is seen as a burden, death is seen as more appealing than marriage

Winter My Secret

Christina Rossetti; a playful poem for children. The voice is masculine and confessional, but perhaps could be seen as turning the female poet's autobiography into art

Dover Beach

Matthew Arnold; draws on many other works to complete this one. Discusses the loss of faith that the Victorians suffer. Is it better to be deluded and saved by God, or seek truth and despair? He wonders how to find meaning and decides that the solution is to love each other.

The Function of Criticism at the Current Time

Matthew Arnold; seeks to redefine criticism and states that it is the new originality, a creative process. He is for reading books, circulating ideas, Greek culture and Hellenism, fresh ideas, curiosity. He is against bad poems, English Constitution, ulterior motives and party politics, self satisfaction

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson; A gothic story that discusses class, homosexuality, good vs evil. Places an importance on boundaries, windows, doors, crossing into things. Characters often repress what they enjoy most. A critique of the double life

Mr. Utterson

lawyer and friend of Dr Jekyll, Utterson is the main narrator of A Strange Case. He opens with all the things he's not allowed to do. He changes across the story from being disinterested to obsessed with mystery

Jekyll and Hyde

Two parts of the same whole. Jekyll is "good", Hyde is "bad". Jekyll has a reputation, he is proper, has credentials, is intelligent. Hyde represents the lower class, is described as being physically smaller, brutal, a degenerate.

Decadence

art for art's sake to an extreme; scandal, egocentrism, decline, bizarre, sexual ambiguity, artificiality

Bunburying

the invention of an imaginary person that allows one to experience freedom from Victorian middle class society

The Importance of Being Earnest

Wilde; earnestness is satirized and corrupted when characters are forced into lying to maintain earnest moral values. Characterized by the double life, identity, family, marriage, names, ridiculousness, education, religion

Epigrams

catchy slogans with compressed meaning, often seen as rules for living. Wilde's epigrams force us to question moral lessons and epitomize art for art's sake (polite meaningless words)

Jack Worthing

in love with Gwendolen, he is Jack in the country and Earnest in London. Was discovered in a handbag when he was a baby. Represents conventional values but desires more and behaves hypocritically

Algernon Moncrieff

secondary hero, in love with Cecily. Invented Bunbury, a fictional ailing man who allows him to escape social settings he dislikes. Stands out because he knows everything is a game; literary figure for Wilde

Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew

Jack's and Algernon's love interests. Both have a ridiculous fascination with the name Earnest, and refuse to marry men who don't have that name. Gwendolen is ironically sophisticated, practical, intellectual. Cecily is a romantic, often daydreams, imaginative

Lady Bracknell / Aunt Augusta

Gwendolen's mother, she represents traditional Victorian society and marriage views, is initially opposed to Gwendolen and Jack's marriage because Jack has no known parents