The Honey Pot (Creative Engagement)

One of my mother's favorite movies is a 1967 film called, "The Honey Pot." I saw it a few times when I was younger but didn't remember it well. Reading "Volpone," reminded me a lot of that old movie. And, as it turns out, for good reason. The movie was meant to be reminiscent of the play, part of the action is based on "Volpone."

Although the plots diverge a good deal, they both deal with an apparently wealth man and three potential inheritors. Both are also comedic, if a little dark.

You can actually watch the entire movie on Hulu if you so desire (it doesn't suck). I didn't remember at all, but the first scene of the movie shows the wealthy man watching a theatrical performance of "Volpone," so at least that might be worth checking out, if not the whole movie.

My Utopia, Your Utopia (Creative Engagement)

I did not interpret Thomas More's "Utopia" as ironic. Certainly, there was irony in it, but as a whole I think he was genuinely proposing his image of a more perfect society.

Since finishing the reading I've been thinking about what my own personal Utopia would look like. If I had the power to re-design society, what would I do? And while ultimately I'm glad I don't live in a Utopia of any sorts (how boring that would be) there are some things that I would change.

I would shy away from the pure communism without any private property that More seems to advocate. However, I would try to more substantially redistribute wealth than we currently do with higher graduated income taxes and broader (and more efficient) welfare programs. There would also be more diversity in my world: differences in religions, desires, and opinions on morality.

Even if you disagree with my reading of More, I'd love to hear what your vision of a utopic society would look like, or even one aspect of it. Comment below if you care to.

Priests and Politics

The early 17^th century was a period of tremendous political upheaval in England. A Civil War was fought, a King was executed, and a monarchy was restored; all within 18 years. The turmoil is evident in the literature of the time and more explicitly in the non-fiction writing. However, the same time period was also a time of religious uncertainty. The creation of the Church of England by Henry VIII had occurred in the previous century, but its legacy of disunity and confusion continued to pervade England into the 17^th century and can be seen in texts of every genre.

As is to be expected the overthrow of the King occasioned a swell of political theorizing in England. Robert Filmer, John Milton, and Gerrard Winstanley all wrote on the nature of government. Their ideas were radically different; the only constant was the presence of Christianity in their writing. Filmore argued that human’s have no natural liberty; it was Adam’s desire for liberty that “was the first cause of the fall.” He went on to use the biblical history of the patriarchs to prove that man is naturally subordinated to rulers. Milton, by contrast, used biblical history to prove the God does not support the rule of Kings, after all God wasn’t pleased when the Israelites asked for a King. Winstanley also used religion to argue that while God was a righteous King, Parliament was not living up to God’s demands.

While all of these examples of Christianity influencing political argument are significant in that they show the pervasiveness of religion in 17^th century, English society, they are all simply examples of differing interpretations. Even more interesting is the more contentious religious conflict that these texts hint toward, division not only of interpretation but also of practice and structure. When discussing the misplaced logic of human liberty Filmer wrote, “This tenet was first hatched in the schools, and hath been fostered be all succeeding Papists for good divinity.” Clearly there was a division with the community of believers if Filmer could take such a position regarding the beliefs of the clergy. Gerrard Winstanley makes his anti-clerical position clearer in his essay; he explains that the “tithing priests” are part of the problem facing common Englishmen since they horde land and refuse to provide the fair share to public. Of course the essential distinction to be made is between the Church and “true religion.” While the clergy was part of the problem, “Surely the earth was never made by God that the younger brother should live in the earth unless he would work for and pay his elder brother rent for the earth.”

The fractioning that the Protestant Reformation helped to bring about, in which many people lost loyalty to the clergy of any kind (Catholic or Church of England) is also evident in the writings of Lucy Hutchinson. For Hutchinson, part of the King and Queen’s weakness was their close ties to the Episcopal power structure. Although she too, like all the writers examined here, maintained Christian beliefs she disapproved strongly of the organized Church in England.

A professed belief in Christ and the Bible was essentially a given in 17^th century England, but how those beliefs manifested themselves and how they were framed in political arguments varied greatly.

Pedestrian Mall Letter (Wild Card)

Dear Marlies,

I hope everything is well with you since we were last able to speak in person on February. Are you still dating that nice boy from Texas? I'm disappointed I haven't had the chance to meet him yet, but your sister and my mother have told me nothing but great things about him.

The reason I'm writing is to inform you about a proposal that a University official is making regarding Academy Street. He wants to turn part of it into a pedestrian mall, closed to cars. I assume the blocks to be closed would be those nearest the Perkins Student Center. I'm sure you haven't already forgotten the way students cross the street there. I'm particularly interested in what you have to say about this since you moved into the city and live so close to the Times Square pedestrian mall.

To me, the proposal seems entirely unnecessary. The campus is already relatively pedestrian friendly. If anything it's quite difficult to navigate the area by car and blocking off Academy St. won't make it any better. I know you've said you often go and sit on Broadway now that its closed to cars, but I can't imagine that happening in Newark with both the beach and the Green in such close proximity.

Your Cousin,
Steven

Henry Hudson and Robert Juet (Creative Engagement)

This week’s reading included a few excerpts describing some early European discoveries of Virginia. And while Virginia is all well and good I also wanted to look up some early European descriptions of what was to become New York. Since this is a British Literature class I willfully ignored Giovanni Verrazzano and several other explorers and instead researched the 1609 voyage of Henry Hudson. Although he sailed under the Dutch flag, Hudson was an Englishman as was his first mate Robert Juet. Juet kept a detailed account of all his travels with Hudson and I’ve attached a link below to some of it. What is most interesting about Juet’s writing is his scientific specificity and detail. As the Norton mentions, many explorers sought be as precise as possible to avoid being accused of exaggeration. Juet went beyond the others we read in his references to weather, location, navigation, and landmasses. He also described the inconsistent relations the crew had with the natives, who he refers to as savages, sometimes one of mutual assistance and sometimes one of cruelty and murder. For me the most interesting part of the journal was the period after September 2^nd when the ship entered New York harbor and sailed up what today is the Hudson River, trading and interacting with natives. Juet repeatedly praised both the harbor and river and suggested a successful city could be built there.

http://documents.nytimes.com/robert-juet-s-journal-of-hudson-s-1609-voyage

September 2009 was the 400^th anniversary of Hudson’s entrance into New York Harbor and it was celebrated in New York and the Netherlands. Here is a brief video of some of the festivities. As you can see, the oysters, that Juet mentioned the natives giving the crew, were part of the fun.

Praise and Patronage

Writing poetry in the 16^th century was a difficult business for anyone trying to make a living. Without copyrights, manuscripts of poems circulated between readers who freely copied them into their own anthologies and whatever profits were made went to the powerful booksellers. In order to survive serious poets often had to rely on the gifts of wealthy patrons who supported their work. For English explorers and adventurers of the time period the stakes were just as high, if not higher. To create poetry one only needs something to write on and something to write with; to sail across the Atlantic Ocean, or around the tip of Africa, required a ship outfitted with supplies and a crew. It was an expensive enterprise and the captains of the expeditions were forced to rely on the wealth and patronage of others, usually the Queen.

To ensure that future journey’s would be financed the men who chronicled them had to ensure the patrons or supporters were pleased with the results and the pleased with the amount of glory they were receiving. George Best took part in Martin Frobisher’s search for a Northwest Passage and wrote about the voyage in 1578. In his account he includes a passage praising the foremost promoter of the expedition, Lord Ambrose Dudley, “whose noble mind and good countenance in this, as in all other actions, gave great encouragement,” (929). Although Dudley was already dead by the time the report was published, his mention in such glowing terms may have been aimed at attracting new patrons who wanted similar glorification. One person who consistently received this type of veneration was Queen Elizabeth. Sir Walter Ralegh elevated her to nearly divine status when he wrote with regards to Guiana, “I trust…that he which is King of all Kings and Lord of Lords will put it into her heart which is Lady of Ladies to posses it,” (926). Certainly, Ralegh respected the Queen, but this exaltation was meant to elicit more patronage for a potential conquest (one that never happened).

The Queen was also rewarded for her patronage in slightly more tangible ways. When Sir Francis Drake was supposedly offered California by the native inhabitants he accepted “in the name and to the use of Her Majesty…wishing that the riches and treasure thereof might so conveniently be transported to the enriching of her kingdom at home,” (934). Arthur Barlowe did the same thing during his voyage to Virginia, claiming the land in honor of the Queen (936). Once again, while these men may have truly desired to increase the Queen’s glory they also wanted to ensure her continued financial support for their exploits.

Both Drake and Barlowe also further glorified their patron, the Queen, through naming. Drake called his territory Nova Albion, Latin for New England; and Barlowe mentions that the land called Wingandacoa by the natives is “now, by Her Majesty, Virginia,” (937). Even non-royal patrons were honored by naming; the previously mentioned Lord Ambrose Dudley and his wife were immortalized with Mount Warwick and Countess’s Island (929, 931).

T.S. Eliot and Metaphysical Poetry (Creative Engagement)

The term “Metaphysical Poet,” is the type of term that I typically underline during my second pass through a text but then rarely come back to. Metaphysical. Such a long, difficult to define word, why bother? But the introduction to John Donne in the Norton Anthology also has some other information in it as well. The term was originally applied to a loose collection of poets as a negative criticism of their style; that’s interesting. And centuries later, T.S. Eliot took it upon himself to make a rebuttal of sorts; even more interesting.

I pursued this a little and found an essay Eliot wrote called, “The Metaphysical Poets.” I’ve inserted a link below for anyone who is interested (although after having read it I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it unless you have a strong interest). To make it easy I’ll outline a few of the major points that relate most to Donne:

· The term “metaphysical” was initially meant as abuse.

· One defining characteristic of metaphysical poetry is “the elaboration (contrasted with the condensation) of a figure of speech to the furthest stage to which ingenuity can carry it.” A reference to the extended conceits of John Donne, such as the lovers as points of a compass.

· One of Samuel Johnson’s points of criticism was that in Donne’s poetry, “the most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together.” Meaning that the extended metaphors are too much forced. Eliot doesn’t mind this and sees it in the work of most poets, even Johnson.

· According to Eliot, another important hallmark of metaphysical poets is that their language is for the most part “pure and simple.” Their sentences, by contrast, are long, although not to the exclusion of feeling.

· The poetry is intellectual, but that does not mean un-emotional. These poets experience a though the same way other poets experienced the smell of a rose.

· Eliot saw parallels between the complex Modernism of his own day and the work of the metaphysical poets.

http://personal.centenary.edu/~dhavird/TSEMetaPoets.html

Defeating Death: Shakespeare and Donne

Love is perhaps the most oft expressed theme in poetry, or in any art form for that matter. However, the expression of love is often complicated, and sometimes it is complicated by death. Mortality, the inevitability of one’s own death, and the relentlessness of time all appeared in the poems of both William Shakespeare and John Donne. The two poets expressed concern regarding death in many of their works, but they were both also able to find unique ways to rise above and conquer death in their minds’.

In Shakespeare’s sonnets the issue of ravaging time and mortality were raised mostly with reference to a beautiful male lover who the speaker did not want to see become a victim of decay and death. The speaker finds the solution in poetry. It is through the written word that the speaker in Shakespeare’s sonnets is able to conquer death. He believes in his own ability to “ingraft” his lover a new in his verse (1063). In “Sonnet 18,” he brags, “When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:/So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,/So long lives this, and this gives life to thee,” (1063). The sonnets are filled with similar boasts of the speaker’s ability to defy death through poetry.

The speakers in John Donne’s poems try to defeat death as well, but with different methods. For these speakers, love itself is the way to escape the forceful decay of time and death. In the first stanza of “The Sun Rising,” the speaker explains, “Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,/Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time,”(1266). The speaker believes that love defeats the movement of time; for people in love there is no movement forward, no decay. The female narrator of “Break of Day,” questions the power of time as well, “Why should we rise because ‘tis light?/Did we lie down because ‘twas night?” (1270). Although these lines are delivered in a carefree, playful mood they still evidence Donne’s hope that in love there existed a respite from the power of time.

Donne’s “Holy Sonnets” also witness a speaker who is concerned with mortality but is able to conquer it in his mind, in his case, through God. In the opening line of the first sonnet the speaker asks, “Thou has made me, and shall thy work decay?” (1295). Clearly death is on his mind and is causing him angst, but he is able to find strength in God. The best representation of the belief that eternal life lies with faith in God is “Sonnet 10.” In this poem the speaker questions the power of death, “And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die,” (1297). In the face of God’s promise of forgiveness and heaven, death has no sway and gives no reason to fear.

One’s own mortality and the inescapable procession of time are concepts that can drive a person mad. In reality they are impossible to stop, but since the problem isn’t so much time itself as the angst it causes, what is truly important is only mentally defeating it. Shakespeare and Donne put forth several options for how best to overcome. Whatever works.

The Peculiar Power of Poetry

Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, A Midsummer’s Night Dream. There are few high school students who manage to graduate without encountering at least one of Shakespeare’s famous plays. Today, Shakespeare is unquestionably better remembered for his dramatic works than for his poems. His plays survived the passage of centuries and immortalized their author. However, there is evidence in the texts of several of Shakespeare’s sonnets that suggest he believed it was poetry, not plays, that had the greater capacity to immortalize.

According to the Norton Anthology’s introduction to William Shakespeare, he had “apparently no interest in preserving for posterity the sum of his writings… He wrote plays for performance by his company, and his scripts existed in his own handwritten manuscripts… None of these manuscript versions has survived.” The sonnets, by contrast were written down carefully, with patronage money in mind. The difference between an art form meant for performance and one meant to be read was tremendous. Plays may never be performed again and would certainly not be performed in quite the same way, and surprisingly Shakespeare didn’t seem to put much effort into ensuring the plays survived. Written poems were bound to survive longer simply because they were written down and published with care.

That Shakespeare believed poetry possessed a certain everlasting quality, unique compared to other art forms, is evidenced by the narrators claim in “Sonnet 55,” that “Not marble, nor the gilded monuments/ Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme.” Whereas sculpture was bound to fade, poetry would last forever. It isn’t too much of a stretch to think that Shakespeare may have been including drama in the category of art that will not last, as many of his early plays were indeed monuments of sorts to past royal figures (think Richard II and the Henry plays).

Shakespeare also seems to place drama in the category of things that will not last, that time will destroy, in “Sonnet 15.” Here, Shakespeare spends three quatrains lamenting the decay of all things before the onslaught of time. Amidst this is set the line, “That this huge stage presenteth nothing but shows.” Shows and indeed the very stage are both, by their position in the poem made to be as temporary as a growing flower or a man’s youth. It is only in the poem’s volta that Shakespeare makes his claim that poetry alone has the power to “ingraft you new.”

Another allusion to stage performance is made at the beginning of “Sonnet 23,” and here again it demonstrates the inability of drama to do what poetry can. The sonnet is about a lover who is unable to express his feelings verbally, but is able to do so through poetry. Although, not necessarily a critique of stage performance the sonnet begins with a metaphor that compares the tongue-tied man to an “unperfect actor on the stage/ Who with his fear is put besides his part.” Shakespeare’s reference to a single actor’s inability harkens to the larger inability of drama to immortalize.

Given the way we perceive Shakespeare today as mainly a playwright, it is interesting to question what he saw as the unique benefits of poetry and drama.

Blood on the Tracks: Dylan's Lyrical Sequence

A lyrical sequence is a remarkably consistent genre, with regards to its internal tone, theme, and point of view. It’s rare to find a modern musical album that is as homogeneous. Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks is not entirely in the first person, like Sideny’s Astrophil and Stella or Spenser’s Amoretti. However, most of the songs do share the first person perspective of those lyrical sequences. More importantly though, Dylan’s album shares themes: first person or not, the songs deal with the difficulty of love and of a love falling apart. Unlike many lyrical sequences, the narrators in Dylan’s songs don’t appear to be the same person, but their melancholy tone and deep sadness is the same. Blood on the Tracks is a lyrical sequence in a way because all the songs address the same issues of an old lover, the desire to regain love, and the sadness of time apart slipping by.

*Dylan played with point of view a lot on this album and in this version he uses "he" and "they" instead of "I" and "we." But the original album version of the song is first person.

I couldn't find good videos on youtube, but I also recommend: "You're Going to Make Me Lonesome When You Go," "You're a Big Girl Now," "Simple Twist of Fate," "If You See Her, Say Hello,"

"The Wanderer": Poetry in Transition

The broad selection of poems we read this week represents, in several important ways, a transition in English language poetry from narrative poems to poems more concerned with the internal struggle of characters. In these lyrical poems less emphasis is placed on story and more on mind-set. “The Wanderer,” is in itself a self contained demonstration of this larger shift in poetic style. The Norton Anthology gives no date for the poem, because no date is known, but we know it was written before any of the other poems we read, with the possible exception of “The Wife’s Lament.” Thus, the change is not yet fully developed and “The Wanderer,” is a combination, in narrative style and content, of the Beowulf style of the poetry and the one that would come to dominate in the 16^th century with the work of poets like Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard.

“The Wanderer,” is clearly a poem that deals heavily with the internal, emotional struggles of a single character. The poem’s main speaker outlines the feelings his recent hardships are causing him, “Then the wounds are deeper in his heart, sore for want of his dear one,” (112). However, the poem also has narrative elements to it, “…removed from my homeland, far from dear kinsmen…ever since that time, many years ago, that I covered my gold-friend in the darkness of the earth; and from there I crossed the woven waves, winter-sad, downcast for want of a hall, sought a giver of treasure,” (112). It isn’t the kind of well-defined story apparent in Beowulf or other more clearly narrative poems, but it also is a lot more than the typical lyrical poems where a vague, implied love affair is the only story.

The poem’s interesting narrative style is also evidence of the changing poetic style at the time. The lyrical genre of poetry that was to become popular was mostly characterized by the use of first person narration. At first glance, “The Wanderer,” follows this pattern. However, it doesn’t quite. The majority of the poem is the internal monologue of single character, but that character is not the poem’s narrator, and all his thoughts are set off by quotations. The poem’s narrator sets this up in the second paragraph, “So spoke the earth-walker, remembering hardships, fierce war-slaughters- the fall of dear kinsmen,” (112). This single sentence, along with the three concluding sentences, also delivered by the poem’s narrator, set us one extra step apart from “the earth-walker,” the poem is about. This poem then, while it feels like a first-person poem, isn’t there just yet.

Even when “the earth-walker,” is speaking he seems reluctant to use the pronoun “I.” Instead, he spends a majority of the poem discussing the emotions of a hypothetical man in an identical situation, “He who has experienced it knows how cruel a companion sorrow is to the man who has no beloved protectors,” (112). This separation of the characters and the emotions, and the even further separation of the narrator from the emotions is essentially the gap that still remained between “The Wanderer,” and the internal, first person poems of the future.

A Double Consciousness: Christianity in Beowulf

We don’t know much about the man who wrote Beowulf. We do know that he was a Christian, living in a recently converted Christian community, and telling an inherently Pagan story. As a result the poem has what can be described as a double consciousness to it. Although the poet was a Christian, he was able to display the differing values of Germanic Paganism and Christianity without passing judgment on the older system. Part of what allowed him to do this so successfully was that he turned many of the story’s main characters into natural Christians, men who, although nominally Pagan, often speak and act like Christians.

The values of Germanic society are presented in Beowulf even though they often contradict Christian values. The poem, mirroring Pagan society, values physical strength and courage in its citizens. Throughout the poem Beowulf is respected for possessing these characteristics. Upon arriving in Hrothgar’s kingdom, Beowulf is confronted by the lookout, who says, “Nor have I seen/ a mightier man-at-arms on this earth/ than the one standing here: unless I am mistaken/ he is truly noble,” (247-250)*. Before Beowulf even spoke the lookout made positive assumptions about his character, assumptions that don’t fit in a Christian world that believes, “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” The poem also puts a high value on gold and treasure, which are not merely sources of wealth but measurements of a man’s honor. Beowulf is given gifts after each victory and these gifts become symbols of his glory, a far cry from “Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The greatest discrepancy between the Pagan values presented and Christian values is with regards to revenge and forgiveness. Whereas Jesus taught to turn the other cheek, in Germanic society it was necessary to maintain honor that any killing be avenged. After Grendel’s mother kills Aeschere, Beowulf advises Hrothgar “It is always better/ to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning,” (1384-1385).

What truly gives Beowulf its double consciousness then is the fact that the poet is able to accurately portray the pre-Christian Germanic world without letting his own Christian beliefs, which are ever present, force him into judgments. What made this achievable for the author was that he endowed his Pagan characters with Christian respectability. He made it clear early on that his characters are not Christians. He describes the way they worshiped at “pagan shrines” (175) and explained “The Almighty Judge/ of good deeds and bad, the Lord God,/ Head of the Heaven and the High King of the World,/ was unknown to them,” (180-183). Nonetheless, the main characters often speak like Christians. Upon seeing Grendel’s severed arm Hrothgar says, “First and foremost, let the Almighty Father/ be thanked for this sight,” (927-928). Beowulf does the same thing, often addressing praise and requests to a single, seemingly monotheistic God. Hrothgar and Beowulf are both also presented as rulers who act in the best interest of their people, with genuine concern and compassion. So, although they are far from perfect Christians, they are even further from sinful, barbaric Pagans. The poet presented his characters with these Christian aspects as a way to soften the Pagan elements of their characters and to avoid the necessity of being overtly critical of the Pagan society he wrote about.

*All citations refer to numbers from the version of Beowulf that appears in The Norton Anthology: English Literature.

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