How does poetry act in the world?

An editorial: What W. B. Yeats’s ‘Second Coming’ Really Says About the Iraq War (NYTimes.com link -- free registration may be required.)

Shelley confronts the problem of how poetry acts can act politically in the world. This editorial from yesterday's New York Times offers one answer to this problem. We'll be tackling "The Second Coming" later this semester, but it might be worth looking through the Times's argument now (before the editorial moves behind a subscription wall) to think about the way poetry interacts with politics.

Creating your own hebdomadals

For the first couple weeks, I encouraged you to answer the hebdomadal topics that I've posted on the blog. As we move deeper into the semester, you should feel welcome to follow the urgings of your individual egos -- be you Edward Casaubon, Tertius Lydgate, or Rosamond Vincy -- and answer questions of your own devising.

My only request: if you use your hebdomadal to answer a question of your own devising, begin your hebdomadal by letting me know what that question is.

Hebdomadal topics (week 4)

Topic 1: Brainstorming

Craft a précis of your essay. Include in it

1. The you will be tackling in the essay
2. The portion of the text with which you will be working
3. What you think is the larger argument the author is making with this text (e.g. "I read Book II of Middlemarch as GE's exploration of authority and authorship")
4. In brief, the close reading at the center of your argument
5. The developmental stages of your argument (e.g. "First I will examine the X of Y; then I will look at how the X/Y relationship feeds into problems with Z; then I will investigate the consequences of Z in the context of X and Y; I will conclude by connecting these consequences back to the general project of the author")
6. How you think your essay will improve the way we understand the text (be specific)
7. Any questions or problems you find yourself running into

You're welcome to include more in your précis -- possible thesis statements, a description of the critical context of your argument, a connection between your reading and the topics that Prof. Ortiz-Robles has been developing in lecture, etc. -- but those are the building blocks. Again, feel free to be creative and to take risks. I will try to respond promptly to hebdomadals answering this topic so you can proceed with your essay in a timely way.

Topic 2: Textstorming

Return to the Romantic Epiphanies handout we began working through in class last week. What are the significant similarities in the ways in which our four Romantic poets understand the relationship between nature and epiphanic realizations about the order of the world? What significant ideas do the poets have in common in the ways they treat the role of the imagination in constructing these epiphanies? What are the significant differences among the poets on both of these points?

Alternatively, you might consider offering a specific definition of Romanticism -- or at least of Romantic epiphanies -- on the basis of these four excerpts. Your definition can acknowledge what isn't shared in common among the authors, but should dwell on their similarities and the significance of these similarities.

Essay 1 conferences, a sign-up sheet (Updated 2/13)

Hi, all! If you'd like to meet to discuss the first essay, I'd appreciate it if you would send me an email to sign up for one of the conference slots listed below. If these times don't work for you -- or if the times that would have worked have gotten filled -- just let me know and I'll be happy to meet you at a time convenient to you.

My one request is that when you come to chat with me you have a fairly specific idea of what you would like to write about -- or at least one or two directions you could go, and that you have specific questions to ask. Drafts of anything -- theses, close readings, partial or whole essays -- are welcome!

Tuesday 13 February (Steep & Brew)
12:30 pm - Mark
12:45 - Jenna
1:00 -
1:15 -
1:30 -
1:45 - Heidi
2:00 -
2:15 -

Wednesday 14 February (Fair Trade Coffee House)
10:00 am - Stephen
10:15 -
10:30 -
10:45 -
11:00 -
11:15 - Mia
11:30 -

Thursday 15 February (Steep & Brew In the foyer of Humanities 3650)
10:00 am -
10:15 -
10:30 - Marysa

Tuesday 20 February (Steep & Brew)
12:30 pm - Andy V. P.
12:45 - Kelly
1:00 -
1:15 - John
1:30 - Dan
1:45 -
2:00 - Justine
2:15 -

(Continued above.)

That Darwin quotation from lecture yesterday

In case, like me, you didn't get a chance to copy it down it time:

We can clearly see how it is that all living and extinct forms can be grouped together in one great system; and how the several members of each class are connected together by the most complex and radiating lines of affinities. We shall never, probably, disentangle the inextricable web of affinities between the members of any one class; but when we have a distinct object in view, and do not look to some unknown plan of creation, we may hope to make sure but slow progress.

From Chapter 13 of The Origin of Species (1859).

As long as we're on about this, here's the Coleridge quotation that was on the screen last Thursday:

In this idea originated the plan of the LYRICAL BALLADS; in which it was agreed, that my endeavours 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. Mr. Wordsworth, on the other hand, was to propose to himself as his object, to give the charm of novelty to things of every day, and to excite a feeling analogous to the supernatural, by awakening the mind's attention to the lethargy of custom, and directing it to the loveliness and the wonders of the world before us; an inexhaustible treasure, but for which, in consequence of the film of familiarity and selfish solicitude, we have eyes, yet see not, ears that hear not, and hearts that neither feel nor understand.

This is from Chapter XIV of his Biographia Literaria (1817). This bit is also available on page 478 of our Norton anthology.

A strong answer to the first quiz

The first quiz seems to have been a bit tough, partly because you were having to deal with a new form and a fairly lengthy passage in an unusually short amount of time. I don't think we'll get much of a chance to talk about IDs again until a week from this Friday, when there will be a second quiz; however, I wanted to share with you one particularly strong response to part c. ("state briefly the significance of the passage for the themes of the text"), which Kelly M. (305) has generously agreed to share:

Prevalent throughout this passage is the theme of autonomy and control of one's own lif -- while Casaubon has always lived for the "higher" cause of intellectual pursuit, he still does not lead a full life. This lack of happiness ties directly into the theme of courtship and its social role. Casaubon loses control of his happiness because of the rigidity of the social system in place -- without a spouse and with only the seemingly worthless pursuit of his studies, Casaubon cannot be happy.

Although this answer could have engaged even more directly with the text of the passage -- pointing towards, for example, the contradiction at the beginning of the passage: "he was in danger of being saddened by the very conviction that his circumstances were unusually happy" -- it does a remarkably strong job of revealing the play of thematic concerns in this passage.

Hebdomadal topics (week 2): To the borders of bullshit

Tame textual interpretations often result when literary critics are unsure what distinguishes a risky but persuasive reading from utter bullshit. Critical temerity consists in straddling the border between the two, and this is the skill I would like you to develop early in the semester.

Topic 1: The prosodic and the prosaic

Last Thursday, Prof. Ortiz-Robles pointed out that nearly every line of "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" has an official interpretation endorsed by critics; this can be expanded to the rest of the poems we are reading this semester, for which authoritative interpretations have been more or less locked down. This can be dreadfully boring, as there is nothing quite so deflating as being told to memorize that a poem means such-and-such a thing. Fight against this literary interpretive history with this hebdomadal:

1. Pick a small chunk of a text that has an obvious or at least received interpretation (e.g. ll. 58-66 of "Ode: Intimations," ll. 31-36 or 37-44 of "Kubla Khan," ll. 9-14 of "Elgin Marbles" -- you can pick any small chunk of whatever you like, but for my sanity please avoid the last stanza of "Grecian Urn")
2. Briefly explain the obvious or received meaning of this passage -- this meaning can come from lecture, from prior experience with the poem, or just with your guess at what thousands of students and critics have said about the passage
3. Explain, at length, why this reading is incorrect.

Note: Your reading doesn't have to be correct! You need only be persuasive.

Topic 2: Practicing persuasion

Develop a close, analytical reading that defends one of the following interpretations:

1. In Middlemarch, George Eliot urges nineteenth-century women to castrate British men (literally or figuratively)
2. The nightingale of Keats's ode is a symbol of British industrialization
3. "Frost at Midnight" is an anti-Wordsworthian screed
4. Kubla Khan is Coleridge's vision that his son will usurp him, perhaps in a Oedipal sort of way
5. The preface to "Kubla Khan" is a better poem than the poem itself
6. Mrs. Cadwallader is, in fact, the narrator of Middlemarch

(You are welcome to shift these interpretations or to develop a new one; just let me know what you're up to.)

Your defense must (1) build out of a close reading of the text, and (2) address basic counterarguments. Although you are arguing a silly interpretation, your audience is persnickety and needs to be thoroughly persuaded by careful analysis of textual evidence.

Two quick notes about hebdomadals, and one quick note about office hours

Hi! I forgot to say one important thing about hebdomadals to my first section, and I forgot a different important thing for my second section:

1. You must turn in a hebdomadal before discussion on Friday February 9th. This first hebdomadal replaces the one-page paper assignment Prof. Ortiz-Robles has been mentioning in class. For this first hebdomadal, I ask that you please stick fairly close to the topics I post online, if only so you get a sense of how I'm asking you ta tackle texts.
2. If you write more than the required 5 hebdomadals, you will be able to accrue extra credit. I will keep counting hebdomadals until you reach 15 points -- that's 5 points over the amount set aside for hebdomadals.

Remember that my office hours are today after lecture (12:30 to 2:30 pm) at the Steep & Brew on State Street. Come visit me! I'd love to get a chance to meet you.

Hebdomadal topic (week 2)

All hebdomadal topics are suggestions; feel free to write on a variation of this topic or on a topic entirely of your own devising. All hebdomadals, written on whatever topic, must be at least 300 words and must include

1. An original argument backed up by
2. A persuasive close reading subjected to
3. Risky and interesting analysis.

Risky readings and claims are rewarded.

Hebdomadal topic (week 2)

On 1/25, Prof. Ortiz-Robles demonstrated an exceptionally close reading by spending an hour looking at the first 110 lines of "Tintern." Imitate that lecture by reading a small chunk of "Ode: Intimations of Immortality" or Middlemarch as closely as you can. (You should choose a chunk that Prof. Ortiz-Robles hasn't discussed in lecture and which we haven't discussed in section.) Work with at most 8 lines of the "Ode" or four sentences of Middlemarch. You should consider -- but not necessarily write about -- the following points:

1. What is the surface meaning of this passage? (This question is more relevant if you're reading the "Ode.")
2. What words carry multiple meanings and how are those multiple meanings important?
3. What rhetorical tricks does the author use in the passage? (E.g. symbols, simile, metaphor, allusion, oxymoron, and other lingual tricks that have to do with word choice.)
4. What formal tricks does the author use in this passage? (E.g. assonance, alliteration, rhyme, rhythm, repeated words, and other lingual tricks that have to do with word order.)
5. What is the structure of the passage and how is that structure significant?

Alternate topic:

Ask a question of one of the texts we have read. These should be questions that can't be easily answered. Two quick examples:

1. Why does Wordsworth footnote -- albeit vaguely -- the Edward Young allusion in line 106 of "Tintern"? He doesn't footnote his many other allusions (e.g. the allusion to Milton at 128f).
2. Why does George Eliot begin Middlemarch with that scene about the Brooke sisters' late mother's jewelry? The jewelry plays no role in the plot of the novel, but yet it is given rather a good deal of narrative importance at the beginning of the book. You might reframe this question as one about symbol: given that GE is probably trying to introduce the sisters' personalities, why does she use a dispute over jewelry (and not over money, philosophy, religion, politics, science, or the other major themes of the text) to accomplish this?

Your goal in this hebdomadal is not only to suggest possible answers to the question you ask (if it can be answered) but to use your focused, narrow question as a way of way of getting at the larger questions of the text.

From the archives

In the past few semesters I have accumulated around 200 posts on my class blogs. Although these were introductory literature courses and my comments subsequently geared towards a somewhat less experienced level of student, these posts nonetheless offer concrete examples and baseline advice about what I'm looking for. If you have a few minutes to kill and you're looking to kill them productively, you might click through one or two of these posts:

• Hebdomadals
  
  
  
  • General notes about successful hebdomadals
    
  • Strong answers to Hebdomadal 1 (167, Fall 05)
    
  • Strong answers to Hebdomadal 2
    
  • A strong answer to Hebdomadal 5
    
  • Strong answers to Hebdomadal 6
    
  • Notes and a strong answer to Hebdomadal 1 (168, Spring 06)
    
  • Strong answers to Hebdomadal 3
    
  • Strong answers to Hebdomadal 7
    
  • Strong answers to Hebdomadal 9
    
  • A strong answer to Hebdomadal 1 (167, Fall 06)
    
  • Two strong answers to Hebdomadal 2
    
  • A smorgasbord of exemplary hebdomadals
    
  
  
• Essays
  
  
  
  • A strong first essay
    
  • Things that lowered essay grades
    
  • How to structure your essays
    
  • Citation and more citation
    
  • Word use
    
  • Apostrophes
    
  • Formatting
    
  
  
• Exams
  
  
  
  • Strong IDs on the midterm (167, Fall 05)
    
  • Strong IDs on the final
    
  • Strong final essays
    
  • A couple strong midterm essays and one more (168, Spring 06)
    
  • Some suggestions about writing strong exam essays (167, Fall 06)
    
  • Strong answers to final exam IDs (167, Fall 06)
    
  
  
• Other
  
  
  
  • Using dictionaries well
    
  
  

Prof. Ortiz-Robles taught both the English 167 classes listed above; the examples from those particular archives might therefore be the most immediately relevant.

(An earlier version of this post appeared here.)