Your final exam will have four sections. You will not be permitted to use notes during the exam. I will provide ample paper, but be sure to bring several working pens or pencils. Your exam begins at 8:00AM on Tuesday, May 26th in DCL 1310. You will have 90 minutes to complete the exam.
A. Identification passages (35 points – 5 IDs, 7 points each)
Prepare to identify the author, title, and speaker of the following passages, and to make two significant observations about each. An observation can comment on the importance of the passage in relation to the book as a whole, suggest how it connects to central themes and issues of the book, explain what it illustrates about a character or the a relationship between characters, or connect it to discussions we’ve had in class.
From The Importance of Being Earnest:
• P. 132 “I am glad to hear it … far too many idle men in London as it is.”
• P. 134-135 “The line is immaterial… a recognized position in good society.”
• P. 141 “Child, you know how anxious your guardian is … lays stress on your German when he is leaving for town.”
• P. 156 “You see, it is simply a very young girl’s record… quite ready for more.”
• P. 162 “Outside the family circle, papa, I am glad to say … It makes men so very attractive.”
• P. 187 “Unmarried! I do not deny… Mother, I forgive you.”
From Heart of Darkness:
• P. 193 “Good heavens! I was going to take charge of a two-penny-half-penny river steamboat… I ventured to hint that the Company was run for profit.”
• P. 196 “I avoided a vast artificial hole … the philanthropic desire of giving the criminals something to do.”
• P. 201 “He originated nothing… a door opening into a darkness he had in his keeping.”
• P. 201 (very bottom) - 202 “They wandered here and there… waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion.”
• P. 205 “I would not have gone so far as to fight for Kurtz … that Kurtz who at the time I did not see – you understand.”
• P. 212 “The earth seemed unearthly … a meaning in it which you – so remote from the night of first ages – could comprehend.”
• P. 231 “He forgot that I hadn’t heard any of these splendid monologues on … Those rebellious heads looked very subdued to me on their sticks.”
• P. 237 “He was alone, and before him I did not know whether I stood on the ground … of phrases spoken in nightmares.”
• P. 246 “She knew. She was sure. I heard her weeping … But I couldn’t. I could not tell her. It would have been too dark – too dark altogether. . . .”
From Things Fall Apart:
• P. 13 “That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman … One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness.”
• P. 52-53 “Okonkwo was inwardly pleased … ten and one wives and not enough soup for his foo-foo.”
• P. 61-62 “Nwoye had heard that twins were put in earthenware pots and thrown away in the forest … It descended on him again, this feeling, when his father walked in, that night after killing Ikemefuna.”
• P. 67 “The Earth cannot punish me for obeying her messenger … A child’s fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which its mother puts into its palm.”
• P. 108 “As she stood gazing at the circular darkness … She would die with her.”
• P. 112 “Okonkwo was also feeling tired, and sleepy, for although nobody else knew it, he had not slept at all last night … by then he had become gravely worried.”
• P 124-125 “As soon as the day broke … They were merely cleansing the land which Okonkwo had polluted with the blood of a clansman.”
• P. 134 “Why is Okonkwo with us today? This is not his clan … And yet we say Nneka – ‘Mother is supreme.’ Why is that?”
• P. 185 “There was a saying in Umuofia that as a man danced so the drums were beaten for him … The over-zealous converts who had smarted under Mr. Brown’s restraining hand now flourished in full favor.”
• P. 208-209 “The story of this man who had killed a messenger and hanged himself would make interesting reading … He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.”
B. Vocabulary (20 points) Be prepared to demonstrate your understanding of the following words, both by defining in context (10 pts) and by matching words with definitions (10 pts).
From The Importance of Being Earnest: provincial (128), metaphysical (129), gorgon
(135), utilitarian (141), skepticism (174), insuperable (175), mercenary (179), ostentatious (180), heretical (183), capacious (185)
From Heart of Darkness: ascetic (185), august (186), lurid (187), erroneous (192),
lugubrious (194), inscrutable (200), entrails (201), rapacity (202), prevaricator (203), pate (213), incontinent (215), recondite (216), prodigious, wraith (223), jocose (230), hovel (231), tenebrous (233), aspiration (237), inexorable (238), infernal (239), abject (243)
From Things Fall Apart: plaintive (6), incipient (13), brusqueness (26), valediction (32),
arduous (34), harbinger (56), elusive (59), esoteric (88), sinister (104), incipient (106), tremulous (121), callow (147), zeal (179), desecrate (186).
C. Essay (25 points) I will include two of the following three essay questions on your exam, and you will choose one to answer. Your essay should have an overall argument, and at least three major points contributing to that argument supported by specific examples and evidence from the texts you discuss (you may use rough approximations of quotations and/or examples which are specific though not direct quotation). You need not include a fully developed intro and conclusion, but be sure to state your overall argument at the beginning and possibly again at the end of your essay.
1. Compare The Importance of Being Earnest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. What do these two comedies have in common, and in what ways are they different? What generalizations about comedy can you make based on a comparison of these two plays, if any? If you feel the plays present two such different sets of issues and characteristics that no generalizations can be drawn, what might this tell us about the genre of comedy and its potential range?
2. Compare Frankenstein and Heart of Darkness in terms of their perspective on human nature and human culture. Which is more at fault in the tragedy/chaos depicted in each novel, human nature or the values and institutions of human culture? Can you draw any connections between the two books, particularly in relation to the primary obsessions of their central character (in the case of Frankenstein) or characters (in the case of Heart of Darkness)?
3. Compare Things Fall Apart and Oedipus Rex. To what extent are the cultures represented in each text alike and different? Consider especially the role of the hero, people’s relationships to the gods, the importance of community, the place of ritual, and the different roles of men and women in each culture. Does this comparison shed any new perspectives on either of these texts, or any of the other texts, stories, or poems we’ve read this year?
D. Dialogue (20 points) Be prepared to write a brief dialogue between specific characters from two different texts we’ve read this year. Two of the following pairs of characters will appear on the exam, and you’ll be asked to write a dialogue between one of the pairs: 1. Oedipus and Okonkwo, 2. Col. Pickering and Marlow, 2. Emma Woodhouse and Eliza Doolittle, or 3. any one of the four lovers from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and any one of the Four Lovers from The Importance of Being Earnest. Through this dialogue, demonstrate something significant you’ve learned about both of the texts, and shed light on potentially interesting connections (and/or meaningful distinctions) between them. Include in particular how each character might represent his or her culture to the other character, and indicate whether the characters sympathize with and like each other, or not. Make each of the characters consistent with what we see of them in their text of origin. Avoid cliché. Be creative. Length guideline: no more than a single page. I’m looking for quality of insight, not quantity of words.
Showing posts with label exam review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exam review. Show all posts
Monday, May 18, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Corrected Pygmalion Pages
Here are the Pygmalion quotations with the page numbers for Penguin Classics edition.
From Pygmalion:
• P. 29 (Act Two): “Oh, don’t say that, sir: there’s more ways than one of turning a girl’s head; and nobody can do it better than Mr. Higgins, though he may not always mean it. I do hope, sir, you won’t encourage him to do anything foolish.”
• P. 32: “Oh, pay her whatever is necessary … She’ll only drink if you give her money.”
• P. 45: “I’m one of the undeserving poor: that’s what I am … and I drink a lot more.”
• P. 48: “I tell you, it’s easy to clean up here … Wish they could see what it is for the like of me.”
• P. 54 (Act Three): “What are you doing here today? It is my at-home day: you promised not to come.”
• P. 60: “Why should she die of influenza? … he kept ladling gin down her throat ‘til she came to so sudden that she bit the bowl off the spoon.”
• P. 67: “The advantages of that poor woman who was here just now? … Is that what you mean?”
• P. 79 (Act Four): “I’m sorry. I’m only a common ignorant girl … what belongs to me and what doesn’t?”
• P. 95 (Act Five): “I am not blaming him. It is his way … you always treat me as a lady, and always will.”
• P. 99: “The great secret is not having bad manners or good manners … and one soul is as good as another.”
From Pygmalion:
• P. 29 (Act Two): “Oh, don’t say that, sir: there’s more ways than one of turning a girl’s head; and nobody can do it better than Mr. Higgins, though he may not always mean it. I do hope, sir, you won’t encourage him to do anything foolish.”
• P. 32: “Oh, pay her whatever is necessary … She’ll only drink if you give her money.”
• P. 45: “I’m one of the undeserving poor: that’s what I am … and I drink a lot more.”
• P. 48: “I tell you, it’s easy to clean up here … Wish they could see what it is for the like of me.”
• P. 54 (Act Three): “What are you doing here today? It is my at-home day: you promised not to come.”
• P. 60: “Why should she die of influenza? … he kept ladling gin down her throat ‘til she came to so sudden that she bit the bowl off the spoon.”
• P. 67: “The advantages of that poor woman who was here just now? … Is that what you mean?”
• P. 79 (Act Four): “I’m sorry. I’m only a common ignorant girl … what belongs to me and what doesn’t?”
• P. 95 (Act Five): “I am not blaming him. It is his way … you always treat me as a lady, and always will.”
• P. 99: “The great secret is not having bad manners or good manners … and one soul is as good as another.”
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Pygmalion Emma Exam Review
Exam identification passages:
From Pygmalion:
• P. 41 (Act Two): “Oh, don’t say that, sir: there’s more ways than one of turning a girl’s head; and nobody can do it better than Mr. Higgins, though he may not always mean it. I do hope, sir, you won’t encourage him to do anything foolish.”
• P. 43: “Oh, pay her whatever is necessary … She’ll only drink if you give her money.”
• P. 58: “I’m one of the undeserving poor: that’s what I am … and I drink a lot more.”
• P. 61: “I tell you, it’s easy to clean up here … Wish they could see what it is for the like of me.”
• P. 67 (Act Three): “What are you doing here today? It is my at-home day: you promised not to come.”
• P. 76: “Why should she die of influenza? … he kept ladling gin down her throat ‘til she came to so sudden that she bit the bowl off the spoon.”
• P. 84: “The advantages of that poor woman who was here just now? … Is that what you mean?”
• P. 104 (Act Four): “I’m sorry. I’m only a common ignorant girl … what belongs to me and what doesn’t?”
• P. 122 (Act Five): “I am not blaming him. It is his way … you always treat me as a lady, and always will.”
• P. 126: “The great secret is not having bad manners or good manners … and one soul is as good as another.”
From Emma:
• p. 1 (Vol. I, ch. I): “The real evils, indeed of Emma's ... as misfortunes with her.”
• p. 13-14 (Vol. I, ch. III): “She would notice her; she would improve ... her leisure, and powers.”
• p. 17 (Vol. I, ch. IV): “That may be – and I may have seen him … a young farmer … as in every other way he is below it.”
• p. 84-85 (Vol. I, ch. XV): "To restrain him as much as might be … Mr. Elton actually making violent love ... It really was so."
• p. 89 (Vol. I, ch. XVI): "The first error and the worst lay at her door... to do such things no more. "
• p. 100 (Vol. II, ch. I or ch. 19): "Thank you. You are so kind! … I was reading [Jane's letter] to Mrs. Cole, and, since she went away, I was reading it again ... the whole paper and crosses half."
• P. 144 (Vol. II, ch. VIII, or ch. 26): "He started ‘Thank you for rousing me,… whether she colours."
• p. 171 (Vol. II, ch. XIII or ch.31): "Emma continued to entertain no doubt... forming a thousand amusing schemes ... she refused him."
• p. 196 (Vol. II, ch. XVII or ch. 35): "I did not mean, I was not thinking ... I do not know where it lies … something that would do."
• p. 218 (Vol. III, ch. IV or ch. 39): "Such an adventure as this, --a fine young man ... as her mind had already made."
• p. 244 (Vol. III, ch. VII or ch. 43): "Happy couple! … rued it all the rest of his life! "
• p. 246 (Vol. III, ch. VII or ch. 43): "She was vexed beyond what could have been expressed ... of common kindness."
• p. 295 (Vol III, ch XV or ch. 51): " … Mr. Woodhouse taken from Hartfield! … her home, it should be his likewise. "
• p. 315 (Vol. III, ch.XVIII or ch. 54): "If not in our dispositions … so much superior to our own. "
• p. 317-318 (Vol. III, ch. XIX or ch. 55): "Harriet, necessarily drawn away … in the most gradual, natural manner. "
Vocabulary:
From Pygmalion:
gumption (11), brogue (26), bilious (27), prodigal (31), petulance (34), pathos (36), dogmatic (49), blackguard (53), remonstrate (54), incensed (64), brusque (70), straitened (70), pedantic (73), imprecation (75), extricate (75), voluble (87), cant (103), asunder (108), repudiate (116), incorrigible (123), reproach (123)
From Emma:
inducement (22), approbation (28), countenance (29), indisposed (71), incongruity (89), presumption (89), ingenuousness (92), mortification (93), insidious (102), diffidence (110), foppery (132), auspices (179), licentiousness (185), penury (185), impelled (219), reproof (230), arrear (231), abhor (247), dilatory (253), solicitude (264), tautology (268), captious (275), intimation (278), parley (285), wan (291), archly (315)
Terms:
• Didactic Literature
• Comedy of manners (or novel of manners)
• Free Indirect Discourse
• Bildungsroman
• Subtext
• Pastiche
Essay options for Pygmalion – Emma exam:
Two of the following essays will appear on your exam. You will choose to answer one. Be sure to prepare an answer that addresses each section of the question and uses specific examples from both texts.
1. George Bernard Shaw emphasizes in his preface to Pygmalion that his play is an example of “didactic art.” Could Jane Austen’s Emma be considered a didactic novel? How would you articulate the “lesson” each of these texts seeks to teach its reader? Evaluate both texts in terms of their success at convincingly conveying their respective lessons.
2. Emma is clever but continually mistaken, well intentioned but capable of callous behavior. Austen commented that Emma is a heroine "no one but myself will much like." By the end of the novel, do you find Emma a likable character? Why or why not?
3. Toward the end of Emma, Mr. Knightley observes that “everything serve[s] to prove more and more the beauty of truth and sincerity in all our dealings with each other” (Vol. II, ch. 15, p. 293 or ch. 51, p. 354). Does the novel as a whole support this statement or not, and why or why not?
From Pygmalion:
• P. 41 (Act Two): “Oh, don’t say that, sir: there’s more ways than one of turning a girl’s head; and nobody can do it better than Mr. Higgins, though he may not always mean it. I do hope, sir, you won’t encourage him to do anything foolish.”
• P. 43: “Oh, pay her whatever is necessary … She’ll only drink if you give her money.”
• P. 58: “I’m one of the undeserving poor: that’s what I am … and I drink a lot more.”
• P. 61: “I tell you, it’s easy to clean up here … Wish they could see what it is for the like of me.”
• P. 67 (Act Three): “What are you doing here today? It is my at-home day: you promised not to come.”
• P. 76: “Why should she die of influenza? … he kept ladling gin down her throat ‘til she came to so sudden that she bit the bowl off the spoon.”
• P. 84: “The advantages of that poor woman who was here just now? … Is that what you mean?”
• P. 104 (Act Four): “I’m sorry. I’m only a common ignorant girl … what belongs to me and what doesn’t?”
• P. 122 (Act Five): “I am not blaming him. It is his way … you always treat me as a lady, and always will.”
• P. 126: “The great secret is not having bad manners or good manners … and one soul is as good as another.”
From Emma:
• p. 1 (Vol. I, ch. I): “The real evils, indeed of Emma's ... as misfortunes with her.”
• p. 13-14 (Vol. I, ch. III): “She would notice her; she would improve ... her leisure, and powers.”
• p. 17 (Vol. I, ch. IV): “That may be – and I may have seen him … a young farmer … as in every other way he is below it.”
• p. 84-85 (Vol. I, ch. XV): "To restrain him as much as might be … Mr. Elton actually making violent love ... It really was so."
• p. 89 (Vol. I, ch. XVI): "The first error and the worst lay at her door... to do such things no more. "
• p. 100 (Vol. II, ch. I or ch. 19): "Thank you. You are so kind! … I was reading [Jane's letter] to Mrs. Cole, and, since she went away, I was reading it again ... the whole paper and crosses half."
• P. 144 (Vol. II, ch. VIII, or ch. 26): "He started ‘Thank you for rousing me,… whether she colours."
• p. 171 (Vol. II, ch. XIII or ch.31): "Emma continued to entertain no doubt... forming a thousand amusing schemes ... she refused him."
• p. 196 (Vol. II, ch. XVII or ch. 35): "I did not mean, I was not thinking ... I do not know where it lies … something that would do."
• p. 218 (Vol. III, ch. IV or ch. 39): "Such an adventure as this, --a fine young man ... as her mind had already made."
• p. 244 (Vol. III, ch. VII or ch. 43): "Happy couple! … rued it all the rest of his life! "
• p. 246 (Vol. III, ch. VII or ch. 43): "She was vexed beyond what could have been expressed ... of common kindness."
• p. 295 (Vol III, ch XV or ch. 51): " … Mr. Woodhouse taken from Hartfield! … her home, it should be his likewise. "
• p. 315 (Vol. III, ch.XVIII or ch. 54): "If not in our dispositions … so much superior to our own. "
• p. 317-318 (Vol. III, ch. XIX or ch. 55): "Harriet, necessarily drawn away … in the most gradual, natural manner. "
Vocabulary:
From Pygmalion:
gumption (11), brogue (26), bilious (27), prodigal (31), petulance (34), pathos (36), dogmatic (49), blackguard (53), remonstrate (54), incensed (64), brusque (70), straitened (70), pedantic (73), imprecation (75), extricate (75), voluble (87), cant (103), asunder (108), repudiate (116), incorrigible (123), reproach (123)
From Emma:
inducement (22), approbation (28), countenance (29), indisposed (71), incongruity (89), presumption (89), ingenuousness (92), mortification (93), insidious (102), diffidence (110), foppery (132), auspices (179), licentiousness (185), penury (185), impelled (219), reproof (230), arrear (231), abhor (247), dilatory (253), solicitude (264), tautology (268), captious (275), intimation (278), parley (285), wan (291), archly (315)
Terms:
• Didactic Literature
• Comedy of manners (or novel of manners)
• Free Indirect Discourse
• Bildungsroman
• Subtext
• Pastiche
Essay options for Pygmalion – Emma exam:
Two of the following essays will appear on your exam. You will choose to answer one. Be sure to prepare an answer that addresses each section of the question and uses specific examples from both texts.
1. George Bernard Shaw emphasizes in his preface to Pygmalion that his play is an example of “didactic art.” Could Jane Austen’s Emma be considered a didactic novel? How would you articulate the “lesson” each of these texts seeks to teach its reader? Evaluate both texts in terms of their success at convincingly conveying their respective lessons.
2. Emma is clever but continually mistaken, well intentioned but capable of callous behavior. Austen commented that Emma is a heroine "no one but myself will much like." By the end of the novel, do you find Emma a likable character? Why or why not?
3. Toward the end of Emma, Mr. Knightley observes that “everything serve[s] to prove more and more the beauty of truth and sincerity in all our dealings with each other” (Vol. II, ch. 15, p. 293 or ch. 51, p. 354). Does the novel as a whole support this statement or not, and why or why not?
Thursday, December 11, 2008
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.
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.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Vocabulary Pictures
Check out the wiki for some excellent vocabulary pictures that will help you review for your exam! Here are a couple of my favorites...
inconstant--adj: changeable, fickle, variable. Not constant.
affront--n. a show of disrespect
inconstant--adj: changeable, fickle, variable. Not constant.
affront--n. a show of disrespect
foreboding--n. a strong inner feeling or notion of a future misfortune, evil, et cetera.
Thanks to Lisa, Serena and Fiona for getting the ball rolling!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Oedipus Rex-Midsummer Night's Dream Exam Review
Your quarterly exam over Oedipus Rex-Midsummer Night's Dream is scheduled for Tuesday, October 14. We will have review time in class on Thursday, October 9. I will talk through the format of the exam and the kind of answers I will be looking for next week in class (in particular I will explain my expectations for the quotation identification section). If you would like to get a jump start on reviewing for the exam, here is your review sheet. The terms, vocabulary, passages, and essay questions on the review sheet are all fair game. Only some of them will appear on the exam and in the quotation identification section you will have some choice of which questions you answer.
From Oedipus Rex:
Vocabulary:
carrion, parry, incarnate, foreboding, affront, bane
Terms:
-Tragedy
-Tragic flaw (or “fatal” flaw)
-Dramatic irony
-Greek chorus
Passages/Quotations:
• Page 8 – “Then once more must I bring what is dark to light … I act for the murdered king in my own interest”
• Page 12 – “Listen to me. You mock my blindness … Will bring you to yourself among your children”
• Page 16 – “Set your mind at rest … His son, born of his flesh and mine!”
• Page 20 – “Why should anyone in this world be afraid … No reasonable man is troubled by such things”
• Page 21 – “Let it come! … How could I not be glad to know my birth?”
Poetry:
Be able to identify and briefly discuss the following poems:
-Marlowe, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”
-Raleigh, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”
-Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress”
-Herrick, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”
Vocabulary: transpire, wanton
Terms: carpe diem poetry, pastoral
From A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Vocabulary:
extenuate feigning
yoke filch
dote flout
inconstant dissemble
beguile enmity
progeny surfeit
fawn (v.) enamored
Terms:
Blank Verse
Stock characters
Subtext
Malapropism
Passages/Quotations:
1.1.61-66: “I know not by what power I am made bold… The worst that may befall me in this
case,/ If I refuse to wed Demetrius.”
1.2.68-71: “Let me play the lion too…. Let him roar again’”
2.1.66-75: “Then I must be thy lady. But I know/ When thou hast stolen away… and you come
to bring their bed joy and prosperity.”
2.1.125-42: “Set your heart at rest./ The fairyland buys not the child of me…. And for her sake
I will not part with him.”
2.1.165-74: “A certain aim he took…. And maidens call it ‘love-in-idleness.’”
2.2.62-66: “But, gentle friend, for love and modesty… and good night, sweet friend.”
2.2.122-23: “The will of man is by his reason swayed,/ And reason says you are the worthier
maid.”
2.2.144-49: “For as a surfeit of the sweetest things/ The deepest loathing… So thou, my surfeit
and my heresy,/ Of all be hated, but the most of me!”
3.1.145-48: “…to say the truth, reason and love keep little company nowadays. The more the
pity that some honest neighbors will not make them friends. Nay, I can gleek upon
occasion.”
3.2.241-45: “Ay, do … This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled.”
3.2.490-93: “Jack shall have Jill… all will be well.”
4.1.171-75: “…I wot not by what power--/ But some power it is… an idle gaud/ Which in my
childhood I did dote upon.”
4.1.220-26: “the eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen… what my dream
was… It shall be called ‘Bottom’s Dream,’ because it hath no bottom.”
5.1.7-11: “The lunatic, the lover, and the poet … sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt.”
5.1.155-56: “Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade,/ He bravely broached his boiling
bloody breast.”
5.1.224-25: “The best in this kind are but shadows, and/ the worst are no worse, if imagination
amend them.”
Essay questions:
1. Evaluate the happy ending of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Puck reassures us that “Jack shall have Jill;/ Naught shall go ill” (3.2.490-491). Is this indeed the case? Do you find the triple-wedding resolution of the farcical events of this play believable? Consider especially the role that the forest plays in the transformation of characters and the role of the magical herbs in making the various loves requited. What does this play seem to say about love, and/or about perception and its relation to reality? Is this reassuring or troubling?
2. Examine Shakespeare’s portrayal of different social classes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Do you think the “rude mechanicals” end up looking worse than the play’s more socially lofty characters? If so, how and in what way? If not, why not? Compare the different groups of characters using whatever set of criteria you think makes sense, but be specific about the particular qualities you’re comparing.
From Oedipus Rex:
Vocabulary:
carrion, parry, incarnate, foreboding, affront, bane
Terms:
-Tragedy
-Tragic flaw (or “fatal” flaw)
-Dramatic irony
-Greek chorus
Passages/Quotations:
• Page 8 – “Then once more must I bring what is dark to light … I act for the murdered king in my own interest”
• Page 12 – “Listen to me. You mock my blindness … Will bring you to yourself among your children”
• Page 16 – “Set your mind at rest … His son, born of his flesh and mine!”
• Page 20 – “Why should anyone in this world be afraid … No reasonable man is troubled by such things”
• Page 21 – “Let it come! … How could I not be glad to know my birth?”
Poetry:
Be able to identify and briefly discuss the following poems:
-Marlowe, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”
-Raleigh, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”
-Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress”
-Herrick, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”
Vocabulary: transpire, wanton
Terms: carpe diem poetry, pastoral
From A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Vocabulary:
extenuate feigning
yoke filch
dote flout
inconstant dissemble
beguile enmity
progeny surfeit
fawn (v.) enamored
Terms:
Blank Verse
Stock characters
Subtext
Malapropism
Passages/Quotations:
1.1.61-66: “I know not by what power I am made bold… The worst that may befall me in this
case,/ If I refuse to wed Demetrius.”
1.2.68-71: “Let me play the lion too…. Let him roar again’”
2.1.66-75: “Then I must be thy lady. But I know/ When thou hast stolen away… and you come
to bring their bed joy and prosperity.”
2.1.125-42: “Set your heart at rest./ The fairyland buys not the child of me…. And for her sake
I will not part with him.”
2.1.165-74: “A certain aim he took…. And maidens call it ‘love-in-idleness.’”
2.2.62-66: “But, gentle friend, for love and modesty… and good night, sweet friend.”
2.2.122-23: “The will of man is by his reason swayed,/ And reason says you are the worthier
maid.”
2.2.144-49: “For as a surfeit of the sweetest things/ The deepest loathing… So thou, my surfeit
and my heresy,/ Of all be hated, but the most of me!”
3.1.145-48: “…to say the truth, reason and love keep little company nowadays. The more the
pity that some honest neighbors will not make them friends. Nay, I can gleek upon
occasion.”
3.2.241-45: “Ay, do … This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled.”
3.2.490-93: “Jack shall have Jill… all will be well.”
4.1.171-75: “…I wot not by what power--/ But some power it is… an idle gaud/ Which in my
childhood I did dote upon.”
4.1.220-26: “the eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen… what my dream
was… It shall be called ‘Bottom’s Dream,’ because it hath no bottom.”
5.1.7-11: “The lunatic, the lover, and the poet … sees Helen’s beauty in a brow of Egypt.”
5.1.155-56: “Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade,/ He bravely broached his boiling
bloody breast.”
5.1.224-25: “The best in this kind are but shadows, and/ the worst are no worse, if imagination
amend them.”
Essay questions:
1. Evaluate the happy ending of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Puck reassures us that “Jack shall have Jill;/ Naught shall go ill” (3.2.490-491). Is this indeed the case? Do you find the triple-wedding resolution of the farcical events of this play believable? Consider especially the role that the forest plays in the transformation of characters and the role of the magical herbs in making the various loves requited. What does this play seem to say about love, and/or about perception and its relation to reality? Is this reassuring or troubling?
2. Examine Shakespeare’s portrayal of different social classes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Do you think the “rude mechanicals” end up looking worse than the play’s more socially lofty characters? If so, how and in what way? If not, why not? Compare the different groups of characters using whatever set of criteria you think makes sense, but be specific about the particular qualities you’re comparing.
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