Sublime Case Study

The sophomore Sublime Case Studies have been turned in and they are much more (more thoughtful, more creative, more in-depth) than I expected.  I had a suspicion that my students would do a good job with this assignment (Uni students are very impressive when given free reign to be creative) but these projects were even better than my wildest imaginings.  There are a number of projects that can be viewed on the wiki (while you are these, you should also check out the poetry explication entries). I've listed some other electronic projects of note below.  Several students made movies and I am hoping they will give me copies to put online or upload them on their own.  I'll add more examples as they come online.  In the meantime, please enjoy.

Stefanie S. website (featuring sublime photos from Uni's own Sindha A.) 

Eric C. website

Raina M. movie

Paradise Lost-Frankenstein Exam Review

Poetry:
Be able to identify and briefly discuss the following poems:

-William Wordsworth, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
-Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ozymandias”

Terms:
Romanticism

From Paradise Lost

Vocabulary:
invoke (I.13), confound (I.53), impetuous (I.175), guile (I.646), impious (I.686), zenith (I.345), jocund (I.787), tumultuous (IV.16), venial (5), harbinger (13), imp (89), redound (128) ply (201), affront (328), sapient (442), pent (445), credulous (644), concupiscence (1078), impute (1145), facile (1158)

Terms:
Epic poem
Allusion
Invocation
Epic simile
Blank verse

Passages for identification:
• I.1-16: “Of man’s first disobedience . . . unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.”

• I.635-42: “For me be witness . . . tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall.”

• III.45-55: “ever-during dark . . . invisible to mortal sight.”

• IV.32-41: “O thou that with surpassing glory . . . heaven’s matchless king.”

• IV.744-57: “Whatever hypocrites austerely talk . . . first were known.”

• IX.114-28: “With what delight . . . worse to me redound.”

• IX.322-41: “If this be our condition . . . no Eden thus exposed.”

• IX.602-12: “Thenceforth to speculations . . . universal dame.”

• IX.811-25: “And I perhaps am secret . . . inferior who is free?”

• IX.1022-33: “Much pleasure we have lost . . . virtuous tree.”


From Frankenstein

Vocabulary:
inure (2), poignant (11), indefatigable (14), abstruse (29), precept (31), diffident (44), salubrious (45), obdurate, ignominy (58), efface (62), sublime (64), precipitous (66), slake (71), exhortation (79), scion (84), abject (84), consummation (87), sagacity (93), respite (100), concede (104), abhorred (108), guise (110), sedulous (111), expedite (118), sophism (121), mutable (126), precarious (133), torpor (134), erroneous (136), consternation (137), acme (146), gibe (153)

Terms:
The Sublime
Frame narrative
Tabula rasa
Epistolary novel
Orientalism

Passages for identification:
• P. 2 – “ I imagined that I might also obtain a niche … the channel of their earlier bent”

• P. 12 – “Unhappy man! Do you share my madness? … dash the cup from your lips!”

• P.15 – “I was their plaything and their idol … all seemed but one train of enjoyment to me”

• P. 23 – “It was a strong effort of the spirit of good … her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.”

• P. 28 – “So much has been done, exclaimed the soul … the deepest mysteries of creation”

• P. 32 – “I doubted at first whether I should attempt … as complex and wonderful as man”

• P. 33 – “The summer months passed while I was thus engaged … insensible to the charms of nature”

• P. 64 – “The weight upon my spirit was sensibly lightened … displayed in their most terrific guise”

• P. 68 – “I expected this reception … The blood of your remaining friends”

• P. 69 – “Believe me, Frankenstein: I was benevolent … the only one which man does not grudge”

• P. 92 – “But Paradise Lost excited far deeper emotions … the bitter gall of envy rose within me”

• P. 115 – “His design was to visit India … the execution of his plan”

• P. 116-117 – “But I am a blasted tree … pitiable to others and intolerable to myself”

• P. 138 – “You well know… that our union had been the favorite plan … may not such also be our case?”

• P. 150 – “And I call on you, spirits of the dead … let him feel the despair that now torments me.”


Possible essay questions
You will write one essay, choosing from two of the following. Whichever essay topic you choose, be sure to refer to specific details from the text to support your answer.

1. Mary Shelley uses a passage from Milton’s Paradise Lost as en epigraph to Frankenstein, and Miltonic themes and language appear throughout the novel. In a brief essay, explore some of the ways Shelley uses Paradise Lost in Frankenstein. You may want to consider the creature’s own reading of the epic poem, which profoundly influences his understanding of himself, as well as Shelley’s representations of knowledge (scientific knowledge as well as knowledge of the self and others), good and evil, innocence and experience, ambition, envy, hubris, revenge, and the act of creation.

2. Mary Shelley’s husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, was among the first to propose that Satan is in fact the unintended “hero” of Milton’s Paradise Lost—the most dynamic figure in the poem, and the most accessible for a reader to identify with. With Shelley’s suggestion in mind, who, in your view, is the “hero” of Frankenstein: the ambitious, even ingenious scientist and title character, or the spurned “monster” he creates? Keep in mind that both Victor and the creature display a number of “satanic” qualities, and both act in ways that are bound to alienate an audience’s sympathies.

3. Both Paradise Lost and Frankenstein present knowledge as dangerous and potentially fatal. Evaluate Eve’s desire for knowledge in the form of fruit from the forbidden tree and Victor Frankenstein’s pursuit of the “secrets of the universe,” which lead him to create life from dead human matter. In both cases, a character seeks knowledge that is as yet inaccessible to humankind. Is Eve’s desire for knowledge justified? Is Frankenstein’s? Why or why not? Does this desire seem inevitable in one or both cases? Do you identify with one character more than the other in their desire for knowledge, and if so, why? Address the ultimate effect of the quest for knowledge on each character, and whether their fates seem appropriate given their transgressions.

Sublime Case Study

Sublime—a theory and/or attitude toward beauty, nature, and spirituality marked by a combination of awe/pleasure and terror/fear inspired by natural beauty (usually of a huge, dark, and/or dangerous variety).

Your task is to compile a case study of the sublime in art, literature and music. Your examples should be from 18th Century Romanticism (Mary Shelley’s contemporaries) as well as more recent examples that demonstrate a contemporary understanding of the sublime (this understanding may have evolved).

You should have a minimum of four examples, two from historical Romanticism and two more recent examples (these can be artistic artifacts—photos, poems, songs—from your own life as well as published art, music, and writing).

The nature of your artifacts will dictate the format in which you present your case study.

• If all of your artifacts are music, you may want to submit a CD with a cover you design (can you make the cover a representation of the sublime?) and liner notes that identify the musical pieces and briefly explain how they illustrate the sublime.

• If your artifacts are visual, you may want to create scrapbook pages that include the images as well as brief explanations of how the images reflect the sublime. Can you make the pages look like a representation of the sublime as well as contain information about the sublime?

• If your artifacts are literary (poetry, passages from other literary works, etc) you may want to produce a small chap book with a cover you design and brief explanations of how the writing reflects an understanding of the sublime. Can you create a cover that also represents the sublime?

• If your artifacts are a combination of sound, image and words, you may want to create a wiki entry, webpage, or short movie. Be sure to include a brief explanation of how the artifacts represent the sublime.

Regardless of how you choose to present your case study, the final object that you submit should be a visual representation of the sublime as well as contain examples of the sublime (form should reflect content). Additionally, regardless of form, it should contain brief written (or spoken) explanations of how the artifacts illustrate the sublime and you should include your sources for the artifacts. How you include sources will depend on the format (on a webpage, you would use links, for a CD, scrapbook pages, movie, you would need an MLA formated list of sources).

Project due: Monday, December 15

header image: Shipwreck by Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1805