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

Poetry Explication Wiki

The sophmore poetry explication wiki project has begun! To view the assignment and wiki entries in progress, click the image above!

Frankenstein Syllabus

Poetry Explication Project and Frankenstein
(Note: all page numbers refer to the Dover edition)

Mon 11/17 Computer work time. All classes Siebel 0218

Tue 11/18 Computer work time. 1st: Siebel 0218, 3rd: PC Lab, 4th: Various Labs
Paraphrase of poem due

Wed 11/19 Percy Bysshe Shelley, “England in 1819” and “Ozymandias” (Packet 37, 39). Vocab: tempestuous, visage, colossal. Can you find a specific argument in “Ozymandias”? Read the poem carefully several times, and consider what point Shelley might be attempting to make with this story.

Thu 11/20 Computer work time. 1st: Siebel 0218, 3rd: PC Lab, 4th: Various Labs Wiki format and rough draft of entry due to group / turn in skeleton of analysis section to Ms. Linder

Fri 11/21 Independent reading and book talks.

Mon 11/24 Introduction to Romanticism & Frankenstein. Read William Wordsworth “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.” (Packet 38) and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, note and Author’s Intro (pp. iii-x) . Vocab (Frankenstein): eponymous (iii), dilate (v), mortifying (vii),. In “I Wandered,” what role do the daffodils play in the speaker’s life when he first sees them, and afterward?

Tue 11/25 Read Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, Letters 1-IV, ch. 1-2 (pp. 1-23). Vocab: fervent, satiate (1), inure (2), poignant (11) divine (verb, 18), predilection (20). In “Letter I,” Walton mentions his former desire to become a poet. He names certain poets he had hoped to be compared to. Which poets does he name, and what might this aspiration tell us about Walton?

Thanksgiving Break

Mon 12/1 In Class Reading Day--Frankenstein, chaps. 3-7 (pp. 23-54). Vocab: repugnance (25), abstruse (29), precept (31), tumult (35), diffident (44), salubrious (45). We hear the name Frankenstein for the first time in this section. In what context? Why now? How this moment important? Why does Victor decide to build a man (instead of, say, a dog)? Why a huge man? What is strange and/or surprising about Victor’s life in the hours, days, and months after he successfully brings the creature to life? Generally speaking, what impression do you get of Victor Frankenstein?

Tue 12/2 Frankenstein, chaps. 8-10 (pp. 54-70). Vocab: obdurate, ignominy, perdition (58), efface (62), sublime (64), ascent, precipitous (66), odious (70). Characterize the creature’s speech during his conversation with Victor. What do you notice about the way he talks and/or the things he says? Does his speech surprise you and, if so, how?

Wed 12/3 Frankenstein, chaps. 11-12 (pp.70-81). Vocab: slake (71), inclemency (74), disconsolate (75), exhortation (79). Where does the creature finally find shelter? What does he observe in this place, and why does it please him so much? Assign sublime scrapbook

Thur 12/4 Frankenstein, chaps. 13-16 (pp. 81-104). Vocab: diffuse (82), scion (84), abject (84), consummation (87), expostulate (89), sagacity (93), respite (100). As the creature learns about human society and history, what things bother him? What view of human culture(s) does the story of the DeLaceys and Safie seem to offer the creature? Why do you think he refers to his feelings toward the DeLaceys as “innocent, half-painful self deceit”? In Chapter XVI we learn that the creature has killed one person, and caused the death of another. Who, and how? As the creature finishes his story, what demand does he make of Victor Frankenstein, and why? View scenes from Frankenstein (1930)

Fri 12/5 Independent reading and book talks.

Mon 12/8 Computer work time. All classes Siebel 0218
Complete second draft due by end of class

Tue 12/9 Frankenstein, chaps. 17-18 (pp. 104-14). Vocab: concede (104), abhorred, enjoin (108), guise (110), sedulous (111). What does the creature promise in exchange for Victor granting his request? How does Victor initially respond to this demand and these promises?

Wed 12/10 Frankenstein, chaps. 19-20 (pp. 114-27). Vocab: expedite (118), sophism (121), insuperable (123), sanguinary (126), mutable (126). Where does Victor go to create a mate for the creature? Why do you think he chooses this area? How is the process different for Victor this time than last time? What are some of Victor’s specific apprehensions about creating a female creature? View scenes from Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

Thu 12/11 Frankenstein, chaps. 21-22 (pp. 128-43). Vocab: precarious (133), dissipate (133), torpor (134), erroneous (136), consternation (137), conjure (check context, 138). What impression do you get of Elizabeth from her letter in this section? Does it coincide with the view of her that Victor has given us? How does Victor interpret the “wedding day” threat? What do you think the creature is planning?

Fri 12/12 Book talks and independent reading. No reading journal entry required this week.
Final draft of poetry project due in class.

Mon 12/15 Frankenstein, chap. 23-end (pp. 143-66). Vocab: lour (146), acme (146), physiognomy (148), gibe (153). What vow does Victor Frankenstein make in this last section of the book, and what actions must he take to fulfill it? What significance does his journey have, aside from its necessity in carrying out his vow? (Consider where he goes, how he gets there, what he experiences along the way – do these things seem to have symbolic or thematic importance?) Choose what you think is the most important or interesting passage in Frankenstein. Begin Young Frankenstein (1974; Dir. Mel Brooks; 106 min) Sublime scrapbook due.

Tue 12/16 Young Frankenstein continued

Wed 12/17 finish Young Frankenstein / 2nd quarter exam review

Thu 12/13 & Fri 12/14 Exam days—English II exam, Friday AM

Choral Reading Example

Here is the video example of a choral reading that we watched in class. Be inspired.

Theme Music Assignment

Paradise Lost
Theme Music Paragraph

Using Milton’s depiction of Satan and the temptation of Eve as your point of departure, compose a single, well-developed paragraph that discusses the representation of the devil in one of these contemporary songs (Sympathy for the Devil, Hell is Chrome, Let the Devil In). Think about what the song seems to be saying about the nature of evil, how its portrayal of the devil and/or hell compares to Milton’s or to other common portrayals, or anything else that seems interesting or important. Refer to specific lines and phrases to illustrate your observations.

A good paragraph should be coherent and thoroughly developed.

• It should be organized around a single, unifying idea (introduced clearly at the start of the paragraph), and it should proceed to explore and develop this idea in detail.

• Length and word count will vary, but a good paragraph should be at least five sentences long, and it should elaborate and illustrate its main idea thoroughly, without unnecessary repetition.

• We should feel as if we’ve gotten somewhere new by the end of it.

Your first step should be to have something to say—a paragraph should have a distinct purpose. Start by thinking through your ideas, to see where they lead you, what further insights you might uncover. Once you know what you want to say, draft and edit your paragraph. As always, aim for a clear and direct style, and try to be as specific as possible.

Due (typed, double-spaced) in class, Tuesday, November 11.