Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Summary
Swift:
Surface vs. depth The role of reason
Pope:
Surface vs. depth Decorum
More Summary
Modest GT
Review Questions
What did you learn about the following things in A Modest Proposal?
Surface vs. depth The role of reason
persona:_______::Swift:______
Epic
H&H: A long narrative poem in elevated style presenting characters of high position in adventures forming an organic whole through their relation to a central heroic figure and through their development of episodes important to the history of a nation or race.
Characteristics of an Epic
The hero has great stature. The setting is vast. Action = deeds that require courage and produce valor. The supernatural is present. Invocation of the muse. The epic starts in medias res (Latin, in the middle of things). Division into books and cantos. Catalogs. Epic/Homeric similes. Epic games.
Other Mockery
Epic stratagem (e.g., the Trojan horse) Descent into the underworld Epic battle Weapons A pinch of snuff Cave of Spleen Card game Hairpin, scissors, snuff
Epic Simile
angel forms, who lay entranc'd Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks In Vallombrosa, where th' Etrurian shades High over-arch'd embow'r; or scatter'd sedge Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion arm'd Hath vex'd the Red-Sea coast, whose waves o'erthrew Busiris and his Memphian chivalry, While with perfidious hatred they pursu'd The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld From the safe shore their floating carcases And broken chariot-wheels: so thick bestrown, Abject and lost, lay these, covering the flood, Under amazement of their hideous change. Milton, PL 1.301-13
Epic Simile
You compare A in your text to B outside the text. But B gets more description than A does. Thus H&H: The epic simile differs from an ordinary simile in being more involved and ornate, in a conscious imitation of the Homeric manner. The vehicle [i.e., the illustration] is developed into an independent aesthetic object, an image that for the moment upstages the tenor [i.e., the subject] with which it is compared.
The Point
When you use a high style and a poetic form associated with classical heroes, the result is that you undercut the characters in your poem. Example of a guy from my section of this class a few years ago.
The Point
An epic poet gives us characters (heroes, gods) who are larger than life. Pope, in his mock epic, gives us a female main character who fixates on a trivial situation connected to diminutive supernatural figures who relate to negative human characteristics. Thus the grandeur of epicthis includes its similes and the roles played by the godsunderscores the triviality and emptiness of the situation that Pope is describing. This is all good fun, but there is also serious commentary afootthe poem will delight and teach, as Sidney says, and virtue may be the result.
What is the function of Ariel, the sylphs, and the gnomes? Card game?
The sylphs purpose is not just to keep Belinda a virgin but also to keep her a coquette, a woman who uses her charm and beauty to appeal to men but who never lets anyone touch her. See II.9-12. The gnomes purpose is to turn Belinda into a prude. See I.79-82 Card game: III.143ff. Belinda wins the game, but she has feelings for the Baron. See especially III.127-46.
Question
So what is the moral of this story? How does what you now believe differ from what you wrote at the beginning of the period? Take 60 seconds to write your answer.
Short Version
Virgin coquette fall in love prude or wife (sylphs) (Baron) (Thalestris/gnomes or
Clarissa)
Belindas choice
END