Reflections on the Class

I thought I might follow Bethany's examples and post my reflections on the class as a final post. I agree that this class has covered a lot. I was prepared for a Doug-class but I don't think I was prepared for a Doug-survey class. I wish I had had more time to dedicate to this class because I think I could have gotten more out of it. There are so many demands on my time, and so often I wouldn't be able to finish the reading because my eyes wouldn't stay open. I felt like we focused a lot on Renaissance and not as much on the Restoration. I wish we could have had more time to devote to the changes that happened between early modern and Restoration because that is a big theme for our final, and I don't think we covered it as clearly as we could have. I would have liked less time in Anglo-Saxon and medieval time because there is so much more that happens during the Renaissance. While A-S works are important as a nationalistic foundation for English writing, Renaissance and Restoration literature, when not focusing on the many societal issues of the time, develops classical ideals which weren't covered in this class. I feel ready for the final in the sense that I have a fairly stable grasp on the authors, terms, movements, and works. I don't feel ready in that I will not have enough time to take this final. I wish this wasn't true, but I know I am going to be hurting for time by the time this experience is over.
Lauren Sandelius

EL 207

Now that Brit Lit is near its end, I am going mad bonkers because my head is spinning around all the terms, dates, authors, and movements I need to know for the final. I feel the EL 207 was a class that however stressful was overall enlightening. Prior to this class I regarded British Literature as being limited to Shakespeare, Donne, Pope, Marlowe, and Gray (obviously limited in my exposure). <span style="font-style: italic;">Beowulf</span> was always the name of a movie, never a literary work, and Queen Elizabeth was all her name said- Queen Elizabeth. I never expected this course to test me as much as it did not only in my comprehension of the works but how I wrote about them. Writing papers has never been a strong suit for me, and I sure as heck didn't know what an 'enthymeme' is; for goodness sakes I can barely say it. But now that I can use it for the most part, I feel more confident both in my writing and my literary analysis and being able to draw conclusions instead of taking the text for its literal meaning. I love being and English major because I am exposed to so many works that I otherwise would never have given a chance or even heard of. But now my ever expanding library just collected a few more great works of art and now I can brag that I have not only read them, but I even understand them! :)

Country living

Gray’s Elegy is a quite low class poem. It focuses on nature, as many other poems have in the past but more on the quaint countryside. He focuses on the country folk and his life and take on his surroundings. The death of the common people, as well as his own is what he focuses on as well. He compares rural life with urban life and seems to support the hard working country folk and look down on those that don’t work. He lifted up the simple people living in the country over the rough, money seeking city dwellers. How he analyzes the lives of the different people and how they live allow him to take a deeper look at how he wants to live out his life and his face his eventual death.

Not so epic after all

The Rape of the Lock is a mock epic for sure. It takes trivial actions and makes them into epic events, similar to City Shower. In this poem, instead of wars being waged it is ladies and gentlemen that are the heroes and heroines, exchanging banter and in their salons. Sylphs and gnomes interfere instead of the gods and goddesses and the usual journey to the underworld is represented by a trip to the Cave of Spleen. The exaggeration of the everyday events makes them seem even more inferior and meaningless. The whole “epic poem” is set around beautiful backgrounds and objects, decorations and dainty little utensils. The poem highlights and makes fun of the vanity of that society and the little, worn out values they have.

Enslaving a Prince

In Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko she doesn’t outright speak out against slavery but it is quite apparent that she disagrees the enslavement of ‘natural kings.’ Oroonoko is described as “ceasar-like” and compared to other great European leaders, he is even given the name Ceasar. He is seen as being more civilized and still a leader even though he was in shackles. Behn showed what the men were doing to these apparent “savages.” The Europeans were taking strong, “roman” like men and tricking and dehumanizing them. Oroonoko shows his worth by starting a slave revolt and his princelike nature is shown when they surrender and their captors, instead of giving them the amnesty they promised, whip them and punish them. Oroonoko and Inoinda decide that he will kill her to keep her safe after he kills Bynam but he ends up getting executed. Instead of crying out like any normal man would at being dismembered, he calmly and very prince-like takes the pain. Behn makes it very clear that, even if she isn’t against slavery as a whole, she does not support true rulers being removed from their position and being enslaved,  

Cat praising God?

Jubilate Agno is comical to say the least. Smart's reflection on his cat’s actions are ridiculous. Up till now poems using this type of language and referencing God has been in glorification of God or a king or other noble. This poem is about how every action his cat Jeoffry does is in honor to God. Normal, every day actions are transformed into having holy and calculated meanings, at the “first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his Way…wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness… leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.” It’s ridiculous to compare a cats simple actions to ones of praise to God. The cat doesn’t care about any of this. This most definitely could be compared to the actions of the nobles and others who attempt to look good by going through their religious practices. That they really aren’t thinking about what they are doing, like the cat, but are just going through their day to day motions. It’s not meaningful to them; it’s just what they have always done. Just like Jeoffry, they “praise” God every day with their actions.

The City's Corruption

The Deserted Village addresses how the lure of the city corrupts even the most innocent of people. The virgin country girl is lured in by the city and the promise of success and wealth, but she ends up facing homelessness. She is forced to beg and loses her virginity, her purity. The city strips away everything good about her. Goldsmith draws the metaphor of the girl standing for the village, Auburn, itself. The goodness and innocence of the village has been destroyed by the city, just like the girl. All the friends, nature, purity has disappeared due to urbanization. In Beggar’s Opera the vulgarity of the city characters show the corruption of the city in comparison to the country. Polly’s parents are wishing for MacHeath’s death who is a thief, both showing the evils of the city whereas the country in The Deserted Village was at one time bright and beautiful but the aristocrats and nobles destroyed it grasping for more money. Goldsmith definitely highlights the evils of the high class and the city as opposed to the hard working low class and innocent nature.ntex

Speaker Rafaela Acevedo-Field: E.C.

On October 17th, Professor Rafaela Acevedo-Field spoke about her dissertation regarding the inquisition of Mexico as well as introduce the Medieval and Early Modern Studies Minor. The introduction to the lecture was poorly structured in that after introducing herself, she dove right into speaking about Spain and Portugal colonialism and its relation to the Spanish Inquisition. I found it completely fascinating because like many, I never expected the Spanish Inquisition to have happened because I was oblivious to how many Jews lived in Mexico. Having come from descendants of both Spain and Mexico, I was especially curious about a history that I had never gone to great lengths to study. Judaism was not the religion my ancestors kept, to me they were always devoted Catholics. But I wondered if during the Spanish Inquisition, if they were some of the many families that were forced to recant their Jewish faith or if they had always been Catholic. These questions will probably never be answered when concerning my family, but Professor Acevedo-Field had done extensive research into three specific families and their involvement in the Spanish Inquisition. Deciphering between the families is inconceivable when looking at my notes because I lost track of when she switched from family to the next. But what I did learn is that many younger generations rebelled against their elders and when arrested, the young became incriminating witnesses against their parents and older relatives as a resonance against Judaism. Sources included Inquisition trials which are located in the archives in Mexico and also research was conducted from financial records of commerce between Spain and the New World. Looking back at all the works we have read through, the authors we have looked at, and the presentations given, Galileo, Milton and Marlowe specifically relate to the victims of the Spanish Inquisition. Whether it was religion, a question of loyalty, or sexual preference, all victims were forced to recant their beliefs because it went against the common law that was in place by the crown.

Better Are the Poor

Throughout this course I have been fascinated by the contrasts of high/low cultures in plays from Twelfth Night to Beggar's Opera and poems like "Deserted Village". It is interesting how the evolving societies still maintained a high/low social class system regardless of the writings that spoke against both. Going from what Lauren said, I agree that "Deserted Village" is promoting the poor and how virtuous their humble living is. The constant references to pastoral landscapes and the sacrifices made for luxury, Gray reiterates that rich or poor, we will all die some day and we shouldn't focus on the riches because they won't prevent the inevitable death we will face. Gray may have been crazy, I don't doubt it, but I do believe he was on to something when he wrote "Deserted Village". Even today there are countless people who strive to rich in life. There are many movies who portray the unhappy rich, the rich who are lonely, who have everything but are missing something. The poor are portrayed as being happy with the little that they have. Today's society reflects Gray's poem in that the cost of luxury is too high and what matters most is being lost. We need to return to the days before our vision was clouted by desires of riches and gold and go back to the days where happiness was good enough. High/low cultures appear clearer now even more so after reading the literature we've read this semester. I may be poor, but at least I'm happy.

Deserted Village

I think that it is interesting how many of the works that we have read have addressed the high/low culture topic, but Goldsmith is the one who addresses it most blatantly. Beowulf and Canterbury Tales had elements of class such as ring-giver vs. thane or the order in which Chaucer describes the pilgrims based on class. Twelfth Night discusses how Malvolio's desire for Olivia is totally preposterous because he is a steward and she is a lady and then The Duchess of Malfi takes that same plot idea and shows how it would end if it actually happened. The Beggar's Opera boldly states that lawyers and politicians are just as honest as the thieves and murderers of the lower class. All of these works discuss the high/low idea to some extent, but Goldsmith's The Deserted Village seems to go the furthest in saying that the pleasure-loving aristocrats cause the land to be "adorned for pleasure all/ In barren splendor feebly awaits the fall" (285-6). Goldsmith mourns the land and his country because aristocrats have ruined the land and taken it away from the only people who do anything worthwhile--the lower class and the farmers.

Rachel Means

Romantic Nature

Overall, I found Oliver Goldsmith's The Deserted Village to be far too contrived and overwrought for my tastes. While there is passionate feeling in Goldsmith's eulogizing of the village, the overall image that one receives is of an idealistic rural setting reminiscent of the Shire in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. This feels far too perfect, as if Goldsmith's ideas of the countryside have no real grounding. The language describing the bucolic setting and the extreme emphasis on the simplicity of its denizens gives a sense of disconnect from reality, relying instead on popular views that romanticize elements of life in pastoral England.

Poor Better or Equal?

In contrast to what Hannah said, I think that Gray really was saying the poor are better in his poem. While he continues to insist that everyone will be on the same level when they die, Gray talks about how futile gathering riches and trophies for yourself is. While the upper-class are able to pursue academic interests and art, it is often only for the purpose of getting a "storied urn" or "animated bust" which does nothing to immortalize the soul. I see this poem as an elevation of the poor over the current situation in London because the poor are innocent and more appreciative of nature and Nature. Gray discredits the upper-class for pursuing riches in life, and even though the poor may be uneducated, their potential for artistic ability is more pure and better because the poor do not think about achieving status. The state of London is an ambitious, fortune-driven cultural center. As the Romantics would have it, a return to nature allows a poet to discover himself without the influences of the outside world. Gray focuses on the self through human nature, emphasizing that the poor are able to know themselves better than the artists in London without societal rules and regulations imposed upon them.

Smart's quirks

Personally I found Jubilate Agno to be delightfully absurd when considered against some of the more serious minded poetry of the 18th century. Although, as we know, Smart was considered a madman of dubious ability, the fact that one of his more famous exhibitions of lucidity is a poem about his cat. The archaic, religious language only serves to highlight the absurdity of the work yet at the same time hint to the surprising depth of its feeling and thought.

Macheath: Misunderstood or Morally Inept?

In class, we discussed the idea that John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera rails against the Neo-classical form in quite a few ways, but mainly by focusing on members of the lower class. The Neo-classical has many guidelines, and one of them is that no character can change more than what is realistically possible within the 24 hour period of time. As I was reading, I was curious about if MacHeath would count as Neo-classical character or if his character is going against the Neo-classical form. In Scene 13, MacHeath seems like the perfect gentleman. He professes his love to Polly, saying “suspect anything but my love” (13). He appears to be someone she can trust, a man of honor.

However, later in the opera, MacHeath is seen in a less than honorable position. In Scene 4 of Act 2, Macheath visits a large group of prostitutes, all of whom he knows by name. He previously stated “I must have women” (Scene 3). He doesn’t want Polly, he wants every woman. Macheath is not the man he was in previous scenes. His love for Polly seems to have dissipated. He exclaimes, “what a fool is fond wench!” (3). Macheath plays Polly for a fool, showing that he is not a good person worthy of trust. My question is whether the contrasting Macheaths show a change in character or if Macheath is simply being false in one of these scenes. If he is being false in a scene, which one would it be?

A Death Deserved

In Act 3 Scene 11 MacHeath is about to die. Polly and Lucy and recently found out about both being his wife and are both equally mourning over his imminent death. Their duet has alternating lines with them each singing a line after the other. This does not happen often and is showing the agreement between them. The music is meant to add to the mood and help support what is happening. In having Polly and Lucy sing in this duet it is highlighting the sadness and despair of these two women. This section also goes against the pop culture of the time. In normal Opera’s the execution would usually be that of a nobleman who is either dying an honorable death or is wrongly accused. In this play MacHeath is a thief and deserves his death. Gay is once again featuring the low class instead of honoring the upper class

The Prophetic Voice of "The Deserted Village"

I loved Oliver Goldsmith's "The Deserted Village"! I love the way he takes a counter-cultural stance on the increasing industrialization and urbanization of this time in England.  He is basically calling out the entire new way of thinking about society that was developing and pointed out the horrible, hidden flaws that people did not want to address.  I think that this could also be viewed as an early Romantic piece; he is urging for the return to the natural state of living an agrarian and connected to the earth lifestyle.  He argues that "ill fares the land...where wealth accumulates, and men decay" (51-2).  This new focus on materialistically advancing yourself causes a loss of innocence in people; he sees beyond the draw of wealth and status and possesses nostalgia for the way things were.  Goldsmith also exhorts the people of his age to  "turn thine eyes where the poor houseless shivering female lies" (324-5).  People are being consumed by their own selfish ambitions and in the end it is going to do damage to individuals and society as a whole.  What a warning he gives the British people! It's very interesting to look back in history and see the combination of progress and negatives that such extreme modernization caused in British society---there was a whole new way of living that was replicated in countless other countries around the world and Goldsmith could discerningly see how this was going to permanently change the face of his country.  I think he unconsciously also takes a very biblical viewpoint with his idea that man's "best riches, ignorance of wealth" (62).  Overall, Goldsmith ushers in many Romantic ideas with beliefs that are chillingly prophetic.

Feline Repentance

I have to admit the section of Jubilant Agno we read today was thoroughly amusing. I have never heard of an everyday event discussed in such an amusing and holy way. By using a religious form and a Biblical structure to describe his cat’s everyday habits Smart is creating an interesting juxtaposition. This text brings up the interesting question of whether a text is determined by its form or its content. The form is religious and not to be laughed at but the content is amusing and trivial. So which is more influential to the text?

Though the poem is done very formally with end stops and concise statements of Godly reverence; the topic is so absurd. The idea of a cat praying to God almost makes the text laughable. The only surprising thing about this text is that I can’t tell if it was written as a parody of religious texts or if he really believed this. His biography leads me to believe that he did not write this as a joke. What do you think? Was Smart trying to make fun of the religious, structured writing or did he really find holy repentance in the actions of his cat?

Death Obscures Individuality

Despite what we learned in class today about “Elegy written in a Country Churchyard,” I found that the poem was more about the iniquities that result in death in that it obscures individuals, rather than the prospect that it elevates them by placing them on common ground. It is true that all humans must die; therefore making everyone the same in the end, but it also does not elevate any one class of man above the other. Instead, everyone is loped into the same category, making even that small distinction that the common people had going for them meaningless. I think Thomas Gray’s main comment on human nature is that all humans desire to be remembered despite their station in life, as shown when he says “even from the tomb the voice of Nature cries” (91). We know that the “Nature” mentioned refers to humanity, suggesting that it is human nature to cry out for attention and remembrance, even after death. At the end of the poem, the speaker finally resigns himself to his own inevitable fate that he must die. He then speaks of death in a more direct manner and laments how his circumstances in life kept him from being great. Despite this morose ending to the poem, it is also has an optimistic tone, such as when it says: “Heaven did a recompense as largely send: / He gave to Misery all he had, a tear, / He gained from Heaven (‘twas all he wished) a friend (122-124).

Giving away the daughter

Beggar’s Opera definitely has an underlying sense of poking fun at the upper class. Here is Peachum, an accountant, who is absolutely infuriated with his daughter Polly because she went off and got married. And even worse, for love and no thoughts of money. He no longer can use her for his own good and barter with her. She’s of no monetary use to him anymore. But then he and Mrs. Peachum come to the decision that if MacHeath dies then it will be acceptable to them because Polly will be a rich widow. They have no consideration for their daughter whatsoever. But as harsh and vulgar as this appears, its exactly what the upperclass does with their daughters. They raise them up to be appealing and perfect for the just the right man. But “just the right man” is one who has money and is of high standing, one that will elevate their family and bring more money into their hands. They betroth their daughter and chose the husband they wish for her, not her choosing for love. The noble families sell off their daughters just as much, maybe even more than these lower class folk. This family is just more vocal and vulgar about it, Gay is showing us the inner workings of what goes on in the control of parents over their daughters in that age.

An Epic Rainshower

Swift exaggerates a very simple, every day event, making it into a horrendous storm. A simple city shower turned into a hurricane, an epic event. He describes the coming storm as “the South, rising with dabbled wings, a sable cloud athwart the welkin flings, that swilled more liquor than it could contain,” (13-15), making the shower seem ominous and swiftly coming on its way. He even invokes the Gods in line 21, “You fly, invoke the gods” to try and intervene. When Swift mentions the Tories and Whigs running into the salons to escape the storm he also compares it to the fall of Troy and the Trojan horse in lines 47-50. This comparison shows that the politicians were not to be trusted, they were deceitful and would “run them through” if it was to their advantage. The last triplet is a very neoclassic form and is meant to draw attention to the three lines. They describe all the filth that is  “tumbling down the flood” (63), to aristocratic readers this would have been offensive in a way. They were reading about “dung, guts and blood” (61), which are all extremely base and lowly, not what the nobles would be used to reading about. Swift does a fantastic job of poking fun at the aristocrats and their need to dramatize everything as well as showing the deceit of the politicians of the time.

Too High a View of the Poor in "Elegy"

I thought this poem by Thomas Gray was beautiful.  After reading the introduction to the author I assumed it was going to be nature-based but instead it looked more at the difference between the rich and the poor.  I still thought the poem was of course well written, but I had some problems with Gray's point of view.  To me, he viewed the poor too highly in this poem.  Gray recognizes the problems with knowledge and power, that it leads to corruption.  For example in line 66 this man never had to "wade through slaughter to a throne," or line 71 "heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride."  This right here was a signal to me that Gray was a little bit bitter.  Not all kings had to obtain their throne by bloodshed and not all leaders are luxurious and prideful.  So this sweeping stereotype sets Gray up to be a bit biased toward the opposite of the politicians: the poor.
His view of the poor is obviously too rosy.  In line 74 Gray writes that the poor man's "sober wishes never learned to stray." Who's to say that the poor only have nice thoughts? Obviously even uneducated folk have unholy desires like pride that another farm is bigger than the other.  Gray seems to blame money as the root of all evil when truly evil is something in all people.  Even the poor. His positive view of the poor and his decision to see them as all good is endearing but also false.
-Molly Hakso

Momento mori

After reading Thomas Gray's, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard," a few elements stood out to me. When thinking of the differences between high and low class, Gray is definately advocating for the common folk. In lines 37-40, Gray talks about the lavishly sculpted headstones of the rich, "Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault, If Memory o'er their tomb no trophies raise, Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault." He comments that the "trophies," or and ornamental or symbolic group of figures depictiong the achievements of the deceased, are excessive and will perish along with the people. There is an overarching theme of this piece and that is the momento mori. The momento mori essentially means that everything will eventually die. As Gray reveres the common people who have deceased he makes it a point to note that the rich or "proud" will also perish along with their wealth and beauty. I thought is was interesting that as aristocrats or people of importance are often remembered after their death, Thomas Gray gave importance and reverence to the people who were average do gooders maybe suggesting that riches and wealth are not important in the next life.

Jubilate Agno

"Jubilate Agno" is a very interesting poem as it combines the mundane topic of a cat with a very formal style of writing. While it is definitely exaggerating the virtues of a cat, I think that it is very clever with its references to Scripture and obvious hyperbole. However, while the author is definitely trying to be funny, I imagine that if he was locked up for years with only a cat, the cat would become very important to him as one of the only objects of his attention. So while the author is exaggerating about how "blessed" (69) the cat is, I'm sure the author believes that there is some element of truth in his praise of the cat. Most of the descriptions of the cat, while exaggerated, are based on fact, and would be very precious to a lonely prisoner. For example, the "ten degrees" that the cat "performs" (8) are totally true for most cats. Most cats "will not do destruction if [they] are well-fed" (31), and they "can creep" (74). This poem simply points out and expands on the virtues of any cat, and shows the affection of the author for his cat.

Rachel Means

Heh heh, cat poem

Before I began "Jubilate Agno" my roommate commented on how she liked this poem-I joking asked if it was about cats about two seconds before opening to the page. I couldn't believe that I was right! Why would a 17th century author write about a cat? (and why not a dog?) The cat has certain practical uses, applicable to people. The cat has a certain way of living-also applicable. And whether you are a cat person or not, you can still "see God" through the cat as one of his creations. It makes worshiping God a basically simple act of BEING OURSELVES. The cat worships by doing what he knows by instinct, we should do the same.

With that being said, I think Jeoffry is once special cat because I have never seen a cat that friendly or that willing to do tricks. I also thought the poem was a little lengthy for the point that I think Smart was trying to make. After reading the poem, I can easily believe the author spent time in a madhouse. He can describe a free creature with Jeoffry who was with him in prison.

God Cat...seriously?

Christopher Smart’s “Jubilate Agno” was quite possibly the most ridiculous piece of work we’ve read in this class. I understand that Smart was intending to write something “crammed with puns” (2874). However, this excerpt comes across as more stupid than funny. It’s like he was trying way too hard to be funny, like that lame friend that everyone had in high school. The “ten degrees” that the cat performs are longwinded and offer little significance to the overall work, while the parts that could be deep in meaning are simply glossed over.

For example, Smart states that the cat “is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon”(32). As he has been comparing the cat to God, this line carries a greater meaning. Does he also mean that God is just an entity parents use to teach children to be good? This would be an interesting point, but Smart doesn’t pursue it in any way; he’s too busy trying (and failing) to be witty.

Neoclassicism

In reading Beggar's Opera, I didn't see the neoclassicism influence until Doug pointed it out. I still am having trouble understanding how and why Gay used neoclassical ideals. Charles's French influence brought the neoclassical ideals to England, but they went through many different channels to arrive in England. The Italians developed neoclassical ideals from their interpretation of what the Greeks were doing, but most of this interpretation is based off the Roman interpretation, which is not the most accurate of interpretation. The problem with the neoclassical ideals is that they are prescriptive instead of descriptive as in Aristotle's Poetics where he describes why Oedipus is an effective tragedy. The Italians focused on the rules of neoclassicism, and the French took this a step further, creating the French national theatre. However, England, it appears, did not take to this prescriptive (and restrictive) development of theatre. Beggar's Opera is episodic, a mixture of tragedy and comedy, violates all three unities, decorum, and verisimilitude, and requires no elaborate scenic effects. I don't see Gay as imitating neoclassical ideals so much as playing with the audience's expectations of theatre and opera. Audiences, now mostly upper-class, would have certain expectations of theatre, but would not expect a rigid adherence to the neoclassical ideals. As a result, I believe Gay is violating every existing type of drama in order to create something that is completely different from everything else. 

-Lauren Sandelius

"My Cat Jeoffry"

This poem by Christopher Smart is an seems like such a scandalous and visionary thing for a man to write in the mid eighteenth century.  To personify a lowly creature like a cat and then to attribute god-like characteristics appears to be drastically different from the preceding religious works that we have read in class.  I also thoroughly enjoyed the connection Smart makes about seeing and learning about God through nature and animals.  He make Jeoffry's miniscule, commonplace actions to be these beautiful things that reveal God's nature and the nature of the physical world.  The speaker finds that "for by stroking of him I have found out electricity" (66).  This bridges to gap between the high class and isolated audience that was the likely reader of Smart's poetry and the everyday "lowly" things that "common" people interact with---this takes them out of their idea of a God who is only in the church or in the sacred religious things.

Gray's Different Take on Death

In Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, Thomas Gray comments on the mortality of man. The poem takes place in a graveyard, where the narrator examines the headstones of the dead. In true literary form, there is a segment that describes the finality of death. The tone is one of lament for the dead. The narrator ominously states, “For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn” (line 21). Basically, the narrator feels sorry for the dead because they’re missing out on so much. This sentiment is nothing new to poetry about death. There are many lines that follow the same kind of tone. However, Gray takes a sharp turn when he continues on, saying “Let not Ambition mock their useful toil” (line 29). Just because the people are dead now doesn’t mean they never lived. He goes on to discuss the dead as they were in life. They had their joys, sorrows, beauty, wealth, and other things when they were living too. Instead of looking down on the dead or pitying them, Gray forces his readers to see the truth; the dead in the churchyard are no different from what the currently living people will be like in a century. Instead of mourning a live lost, Gray states that we should celebrate a life lived.

The Beggar's Opera

Oh the love/hate relationship I have with John Gay's The Beggar's Opera! I know that it is too easy for me to look back on time and literature with a revisionist mindset and be critical of the sexism that is rampant in the play; however, it is quite interesting to see the ideas about gender in British society in 1728. Traditionally stereotypical representations of women have almost always included the "bitch or whore" dichotomy and the belief that their sole value is in their bodies.  The women in this play are no exception. Polly and Lucy are consistently referred to as "whores" and "sluts" by their respective parents, others around them, and even the object of their affection, Macheath himself.   Both think themselves in love and married to him even though they meet the other mistress.  Most disgusting is that up until the bitter end, both Polly and Lucy are still truly vying for the captain's affections, asking "No token of love?" in the most pathetic of manners (Act III, Sc. XV.) Macheath doesn't even reply, instead four more mistresses with his illegitimate children enter the cell.  Really? The fact that the author decides to end the play without justice for Macheath's iniquities is unfathomable.  But the author does not even stop there---he goes so far as to have Macheath take his pick of all the women while they try to seduce him again.  Each objectified woman "calls forth her charms, to provoke his desires"; once again the womens' bodies are there only chance for power or happiness (Act III, Sc. XVII).  I know it is literature, but the layers of meaning in it all makes it difficult for me to read.

Beggar's Opera

While reading The Beggar's Opera, I realized that I had seen the play performed in high school and was in complete aww of the performance. Of course small high school theatre programs in Texas aren't big on opera, the play was modernized by rap and pop, but all the more entertaining! I had never read the play before and while I did, all the missing pieces fell into place. Before I had never known why Macheath was in jail and I just assumed he was a notorious bachelor who loved the ladies, not a thief who had multiple wives. One day I wish to see this play performed again, on a larger scale; it's such a great play and I like it a lot!

A fascinating concept I followed throughout the play was "love"; to love for money, or to love for love. In scene one Polly said she married Macheath for love and her parents disregarded the concept all together. Although the prostitutes don't actually "love", they do fond over Macheath and without hesitation turn him over to Peachum. Their love of money came before any regard they had for the man, to him he was just another man to earn a buck off. Later, Macheath claimed to love Lucy because he wanted to be freed from the jail and she was the only way out. His love was out of necessity, not out of love. When it came to his other wives, love was never really a theme with any of his previous marriages. In the end, Macheath declared his true wife was Polly, out of love, she was his wife. Being the helpless romantic that I am, I ate this play right up :)

Another notion I was brought back to was the women and their fulfillment of the role they were assigned to play. To her parents, Polly was property and not a young woman who sought love and humanity. The women thieves at the bar fulfilled their roles as women and as thieves for the shiny penny they would receive. Both Polly and Lucy's father thought about the money they would take from their daughters if they became Macheath's widow, seeing their daughter's for their worth to them and the profit they could make. Women had roles to fill and were subjected to fulfill them, to fall short of that role was unjustifiable. I think of freedom for women in this play and how it was restricted. To be a free woman was to be an outcast and separated from society, their was no freedom in marriage, and the was certainly no freedom in death.

Women in Beggar's Opera

Oh my goodness. This play had some very absurd moments. With wives meeting wives meeting wives. Despite the crazier moments between Lucy and Polly, John Gay had some interesting commentary on female-male relationships.  Women to women relationships were portrayed as mostly good in this play.  For example, when Macheath is with all the prostitutes, their discussion among themselves is really nice. Mrs. Coaxer says "if any woman hath more art than another, to be sure, 'tis Jenny" (2631).  This is just one of the friendlier things said in the exchange. The same cordial attitude can be found when the men are all together.  When Macheath is with his men in Act 2 scene 2 they are very nice to each other.  They attribute to each other the highest compliments, honor, courage etc.  When Macheath admits that he cannot go out with the men because he is in a spot of trouble, none of the men are angry.  When men and women are separate in this play, it brings out the best of all the characters.
Interestingly enough, the ugly side of the characters is only present when the opposite gender is brought in.  I think the best example of this is the interaction between Polly and Lucy.  Although we don't see Lucy very much before we meet her fighting over Macheath, we do see Polly.  When Polly thinks that Macheath is all hers, she is very sweet. It is when she is confronted with the fact that he has another wife that things start to become ugly. Lucy is so possessed with guilt she even tries to poison Polly. Yet all of this revenge and anger dries up as soon as Macheath is out of the picture, dead.  Since neither of them will have him, they bond over their sorrow, "let us retire, my dear Lucy, and indulge our sorrows" (2653).  In sum, Gay is presenting the idea that the opposite gender causes us to act our worse.  That without the other gender, we are actually pretty good people. Interesting.
-Molly Hakso

tragedy and comedy?

Something i find interesting is that "the beggar's opera" and a lot of other plays we have read have been "comedies" and also really tragic too! The whole plot of this opera is parents who have sold their daughter to basically a sex trade, tries to convince her to kill her husband! And also looking at "Duchess of Malfi" and the tragic things that happen it's interesting that they also make it into a comedy. I'm sure the audience was confused whether to laugh or feel sad. This play also took place in 1728 which was the time of George II. This king forbid the succession of protestants and was always in wars with spain. I think this play could relate to the political time period because of the opposition of many for the conservative whig party. Another thing is that i think Macheath is kind of like a christ-figure who is plotted after although completely innocent. I really like this play and it's my favorite by far.

--Andrea Yarnell

Epic Rape of the Lock

I think that it is interesting and ironic how Pope's "The Rape of the Lock," describing a man cutting a lock of hair from Belinda, is written in a very epic and stylized fashion. The form is in the canto style similar to "The Faerie Queene," and the style of writing very much calls to mind the epic style of "Beowulf" or even "The Odyssey" or "The Illiad." However, while the style is that of serious epics, Pope makes a simple card game into a vicious mythological battle, and scenes such as the card game as well as the premise of losing a lock of hair make the whole story a farce and a satire on the epic style. I also like how it shows the importance of hair and beauty to Belinda when Pope makes such a big deal out of the loss of a lock of her hair. If only a few words were changed, a reader would think that someone had died or something equally terrible had happened, but while I wouldn't like someone to cut off some of my hair and it was very shocking, losing some hair is not even close to the same scale of terribleness as death. Altogether, I really liked how Pope made a simple, though shocking, event into the main event of an epic story.

Rachel Means

Beggar's Opera-Ending

As I read the play, I was expecting Macheath to die. Not only did he have multiple women hating him and loving him at the same time (a problem that honestly death makes an easy solution for-just saying) but he was already in prison sentenced to die. He did technically have money which associated him with the higher class audience that the beggar refers to, but when he said "it is difficult to determine whether the fine gentlemen imitate the gentlemen of the road or the gentlemen of the road the fine gentlemen" I missed the whole part when people were trying to imitate fine gentlemen. The beggar was making a point that both groups are very similar only the gentlemen of the road are looked down upon. I think Hogarth made the two rather indiscernible in the play to further illustrate the unfair treatment of the lower class and to make fun of the aristocracy. I still think Macheath could have and should have died. There would have been resolution that way instead of "ok well I guess I'll take Polly" and no one else says anything else. For the sake of the plot I call it a cop-out, but for the sake of the commentary that Hogarth is giving it's quite brilliant.

The Anti-Hero

After reading Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock," I found it interesting that in the first few paragraphs there were already a few instances that resemble this idea of a mock-epic. The second verse-paragraph encapsulates Pope’s subversion of the epic genre. In lines 11-12 Pope juxtaposes grand emotions with unheroic character-types, specifically “little men” and women: “In tasks so bold can little men engage, / And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty rage.” The irony of pairing epic characteristics with lowly human characters contributes to Pope’s mock-heroic style. In addition, the “mighty rage” of women evokes the rage of Achilles at the outset of The Iliad, this foreshadows the comic gender-reversal that characterizes the rest of the poem. Rather than distinguish the subjects of the poem as in a traditional epic, Pope uses the mock-heroic genre to elevate and ridicule his subjects simultaneously, creating a satire that scolds society for its misplaced values and emphasis on insignificant matters.I also found it interesting that there were similarities between this work and The Duchess of Malfi in regards to gender reversal. Did anyone else catch this similarity?