british literature course handbook · contents literature 12: british literature syllabus .....1...

158
British Literature Course Handbook

Upload: others

Post on 22-Jun-2020

156 views

Category:

Documents


3 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

British Literature

Course Handbook

Page 2: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5
Page 3: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus ..................................................................................... 1

Classroom Policies .................................................................................................................................. 5

Project Descriptions............................................................................................................................... 6

DEAR Reading Project ...................................................................................................................... 6

Literature Journal Project ............................................................................................................... 7

Faithful Learner Assessments ....................................................................................................... 7

Assignment Sheets.................................................................................................................................. 9

Literary Analysis Essay Guidelines ............................................................................................. 9

Chrysostom Oratory Contest Guidelines ................................................................................ 11

Grading Rubrics .................................................................................................................................... 13

Think Aloud Rubric ........................................................................................................................ 14

One-Sentence Summary Rubric ................................................................................................. 14

Harkness Rubric .............................................................................................................................. 15

Silent Conversation Rubric .......................................................................................................... 15

Faithful Learner Assessment ...................................................................................................... 16

Literary Analysis Paper Grading Rubric ................................................................................. 17

Chrysostom Oratory Assignment Grading Rubric .............................................................. 19

Supplemental Materials ..................................................................................................................... 21

Educational Devotionals ............................................................................................................... 21

Virtuous & Sinful Learners ..................................................................................................... 21

Faithfulness in the Little Things ........................................................................................... 23

What Does It Mean To Be Wise? ........................................................................................... 25

Become a Deeper Person ......................................................................................................... 27

Hide It Under a Bushel? No! Let Your Education Shine ............................................... 29

Prayers ................................................................................................................................................ 31

Writing Prompts (Poetry Selections) ...................................................................................... 41

School of the Ozarks Portrait of a Graduate.......................................................................... 43

School of the Ozarks Learning Skills ........................................................................................ 44

Handouts ................................................................................................................................................. 45

Reading Guides................................................................................................................................. 46

The Chronicles of Narnia Reading Guide ............................................................................ 47

Phantastes Reading Guide ....................................................................................................... 49

Till We Have Faces Reading Guide........................................................................................ 51

Page 4: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

The Man Who Was Thursday Reading Guide .................................................................... 53

DEAR Project Completion Chart & Approved Reading List (Fall—Literature) ....... 55

DEAR Project Completion Chart & Approved Reading List (Fall—Literature) ....... 57

Reading Log ....................................................................................................................................... 59

Supplemental Reading ....................................................................................................................... 61

Poetry Selections ............................................................................................................................. 63

“Song (Go and Catch a Falling Star)” by John Donne .................................................... 63

“The Indifferent” by John Donne .......................................................................................... 64

“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” by John Donne ................................................ 65

“The Altar, Easter, and Angel Wings” by George Herbert ........................................... 66

“An Essay on Man” by Alexander Pope .............................................................................. 68

“The Rape of the Lock” by Alexander Pope ...................................................................... 76

“A Prospect of Heaven Makes Death Easy” by Isaac Watts ........................................ 94

“Man Frail, and God Eternal” by Isaac Watts ................................................................... 95

“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” by Thomas Gray ....................................... 96

“The Lamb” by William Blake .............................................................................................. 100

“The Tyger” by William Blake .............................................................................................. 101

“The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake ..................................................................... 102

“Infant Sorrow” by William Blake ...................................................................................... 103

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge ........................... 104

“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley ........................................................................... 121

“Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley ........................................................ 122

“When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be” by John Keats ..................................... 125

“Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats ................................................................................ 126

“The Lady of Shalott” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson .......................................................... 128

“Ulysses” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson .................................................................................. 133

“My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning .......................................................................... 135

“Love Among the Ruins” by Robert Browning .............................................................. 137

“Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold .................................................................................... 139

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot ...................................................... 140

“The Wasteland” by T.S. Eliot............................................................................................... 144

Page 5: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

1

Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus

Course Information: TR 11:02am-12:34pm, F 11:49am-12:34pm School of the Ozarks, 2018-2019 Classroom: 303

Instructor Information: Dr. Kyle Rapinchuk

Phone: (417) 690-2325—Office Email: [email protected] Classroom 303

escription: Some have said that it is a waste of time for Christians to study literature because we live in the “real world” and fiction is just a means of escape from our duties

here. This is an unfortunate position, especially since we can see that Jesus used parables (fictional stories) to illustrate points. Fiction, fantasy, and poetry all provide us insight into the real world. In fact, G. K. Chesterton went so far as to say that fiction is preferred to books of science not only because they are more fun to read, but because “the novel is more true than they are.” This course explores several pieces of British literature from 1850-1950 and also aims to prepare students in rhetoric for a senior thesis that serves as the culmination of their education at School of the Ozarks.

ourse Expectations: This course meets three days per week. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we will read and discuss literature by means of all-class discussions, Harkness discussions,

and in-class writing assignments. On Fridays, students can expect to read a variety of poetry and literature to help students improve the breadth of their literary knowledge and familiarity. Students will be assessed primarily by means of Harkness discussions, in-class writing assignments, poetry memorization, reading completion, and examinations.

Course Objectives:

1. Improve reading and writing ability through immersion in the Great Books.

2. Expose students to various genres and writing styles of British authors.

3. Explore the motivation and message of each of these works in order to learn how to read

and critique literature.

4. Explore how a Christian worldview influences our approach to literature.

5. Learn how to write a literary piece that centers around a key theme and utilizes numerous

literary sources.

Grading Scale: A: 93 & above A-: 90-92 B+: 87-89 B: 83-86 B-: 80-82 C+: 77-79 C: 73-76 C-:70-72 D+: 67-69 D: 63-66 D-: 60-62 F: 59 & below

“Literature holds a mirror to life, and, in that mirror, it captures—or, better, holds in suspension—the subtle weave of beliefs and actions and passions that make us human.”

—Louis Markos, Literature: A Student’s Guide, 16 “People wonder why the novel is the most popular form of literature; people wonder why it is read more than books of science or books of metaphysics. The reason is very simple; it is merely that the novel is more true than they are.”

—G.K. Chesterton, Heretics

Page 6: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

2

Assignment Details: 1. Literary Essays

Each student will write two literary essays over the course of the year. One will be submitted near the conclusion of the fall semester and a second late in the spring semester. The first literary essay will explore specific works that have been read in class. Each student’s essay must demonstrate a firm grasp of the work as well as the ability to articulate and defend a thesis and develop an argument with evidence from the text. The second literary essay will be the culmination of the student’s literature education and will consist of exploring and arguing for a central thesis across a variety of literary works. This work will be due in April and will be presented orally. The best oral presentation will be submitted to the Chrysostom Oratory Contest of the ACCS.

2. Writing Notebook

In the first part of class each Friday, prior to the reading project, students will read selected poetry (see Supplemental Reading section) and respond in writing in their writing notebooks.

Required Texts: The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton

Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot

The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis

Phantastes by George McDonald

Suggested Reading: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by

Lewis Carroll

Through the Looking Glass by Lewis

Carroll

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Silas Marner by George Eliot

That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis

The Princess and the Goblin by George

McDonald

Morte Darthur by Thomas Malory

Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe

Edward II by Christopher Marlowe

The Jew of Malta by Christopher

Marlowe

Paradise Lost by John Milton

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spenser

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien

Page 7: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

3

Fall Week(s) Materials/Literature Topics/Themes Skills 1 Course Introduction

2 Narnia Narnia Code; Theology through the Eyes of Fiction

Research questions; thesis; literary analysis

3 Narnia; “Why Fairy Stories…”

Story as illuminator; storytelling

Storytelling

4 Phantastes Fantasy literature; change on the journey

Literary analysis; analytical reading

5 Phantastes Fantasy literature; change on the journey

Literary analysis; analytical reading

6 Phantastes Fantasy literature; change on the journey

Literary analysis; analytical reading

7 Phantastes Fantasy literature; change on the journey

Literary analysis; analytical reading

8 Phantastes Fantasy literature; change on the journey

Literary analysis; analytical reading

9 Till We Have Faces Literary devices; character development; identity

Literary analysis; analytical reading

10 Till We Have Faces Literary devices; character development; identity

Literary analysis; analytical reading

11 Till We Have Faces Literary devices; character development; identity

Literary analysis; analytical reading

12 Till We Have Faces Literary devices; character development; identity

Literary analysis; analytical reading

13 Till We Have Faces Literary devices; character development; identity

Literary analysis; analytical reading

14 Literary analysis paper Literary analysis; thesis; persuasive writing

15 Thanksgiving

16 Literary analysis paper Literary analysis; thesis; persuasive writing

17 Literary analysis paper Literary analysis; thesis; persuasive writing

18 Murder in the Cathedral Drama Literary analysis; analytical reading

19 Finals

Page 8: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

4

Spring Week(s) Materials/Literature Topics/Themes Skills 1 Quintilian; Chrysostom

Examples Introduce Chrysostom Oratory Contest

Rhetoric Skills

2 Aphthonius’ Progymnasmata Progymnasmata, Rhetoric Rhetoric Skills

3 Aphthonius’ Progymnasmata Progymnasmata, Rhetoric Rhetoric Skills

4 Orthodoxy ch. 1 Progymnasmata, Rhetoric Rhetoric Skills

5 Orthodoxy ch. 4 Progymnasmata, Rhetoric Rhetoric Skills

6 Orthodoxy ch. 5 Progymnasmata, Rhetoric Rhetoric Skills

7 Orthodoxy ch. 6 Progymnasmata, Rhetoric Rhetoric Skills

8 Orthodoxy ch. 7 Progymnasmata, Rhetoric Rhetoric Skills

9 Chrysostom Rhetoric Skills

10 Chrysostom Rhetoric Skills

11 Chrysostom Rhetoric Skills

12 Spring Break

13 Chrysostom Rhetoric Skills

14 Chrysostom Rhetoric Skills

15 The Man Who Was Thursday Mystery Reading for detail

16 The Man Who Was Thursday Mystery Reading for detail

17 The Man Who Was Thursday Mystery Reading for detail

18 Finals

Page 9: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

5

Classroom Policies

Students are to demonstrate Christ-like character at all times. Students who do not demonstrate such character will receive a demerit and may be sent to the Dean for further disciplinary action.

For all other inquiries regarding classroom policies, such as use of technology, phones, and dress code, students should consult the student handbook. All policies listed therein will be upheld in this classroom.

I will keep a daily record of attendance (including tardies) as well as dress code violations or other infractions that require class time to correct. Coming to class prepared, on time, and in accordance with the school’s policies allows us to begin class on time and maximize our time together.

Most of our assignments will be handwritten, but on occasions when I ask assignments, papers, and/or projects to be typed, they should be submitted both in paper copy and by Turn-It In.

Late work will not be accepted, except in accordance with the handbook policy for make-up work in the case of excused absences. All other late work for homework will result in a zero. Papers and projects will receive a 10% reduction per day.

COURSE MATERIALS: Many of the course materials and handouts are available on my website: http://kylerapinchuk.wordpress.com/school-of-the-ozarks/

Page 10: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

6

Project Descriptions

DEAR Reading Project An important aspect of a good education is reading widely on a variety of topics in order to get a broad grasp of key ideas and vocabulary in a specific discipline. Moreover, in an age of technology where we spend more and more time in front of a screen and less and less time in silence, the discipline of quietly reading for sustained periods of time is a lost art—but we are going to find it once again! Fridays will once again serve as DEAR reading days, but I hope that this year’s improvements help make this an even better experience. The school has generously provided a more abundant library for this project in order to continue to provide some freedom of choice yet limiting the choices enough to help save time in choosing a book from the millions available. Moreover, by having the books (and multiple copies of each) in class, students don’t have to lose time going to the library or hoping someone else doesn’t borrow the only copy of the book in the class. Students will be required to read “only” 500 pages each semester. There are two reasons for this smaller number than past years. First, I want most of this project to be completed at school instead of at home. Second, the first quarter of class each Friday will be devoted to reading and responding to poetry selections. A complete list of approved books and the DEAR reading completion chart can be found on page 55 of this course handbook. A few additional notes are below.

1. Once students complete the project for the semester they will still be expected to read quietly in the classroom, but the books chosen may be outside of the approved books for the project.

2. Students may not choose a book he or she has previously read. There is great value to re-reading books, but the design of this project is to introduce students to something new.

3. A student does not need to finish a book to earn the points. All pages read from approved books count, whether the book is completed or not.

4. Pages read cannot carry over to second semester, though an unfinished book could be finished during the next semester for the balance of previously unread pages (e.g., 300 pages read in fall, final 50 pages in spring of a 350 page book).

5. A minimum of 200 pages each semester must come from either Jane Austen or Charles Dickens. The reason is that those two authors have had an incredible impact on British literature and I want all students therefore to have at least some minimal exposure to their work.

Page 11: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

7

Literature Journal Project Students will make regular entries in their literature journal throughout the semester. The professor, teacher’s assistant, and/or house leader will check journals regularly and assign a 0 (not completed), 0.5 (completed poorly), or a 1 (completed at a level of B- or above). Journals entries will include the following:

Quotes heard or read that provide food for thought (minimum 2 per week)

Reflections on poetry writing prompts (see Poetry Readings in Supplemental Reading)

Some in-class writing to be completed in journal

Faithful Learner Assessments

Sometimes grades on assignments cause us to lose sight of the main point of education. In order to help keep our focus on becoming the right kind of people and the right kind of learners, I have written some “educational devotionals” and will require students on Fridays to complete a weekly self-assessment. Not only will this help keep the student and me on the same page regarding progress, but it also helps accomplish something that I think has been lacking in Christian Worldview class. Of all the classes, in Christian Worldview, the LEARNING is best evidenced by LIVING. We cannot rightly claim to have learned the Christian Worldview properly if we are not also trying to live in accordance with it daily. My hope is that by doing weekly reflection in one area of our Christian life—school—we can all grow in our spiritual formation and walk with Christ in ALL areas of life. Students will reflect each week on the following areas (see written “devotionals” later in the course handbook) and grade themselves in each category on a 1-10 scale.

1. Virtuous and Sinful Learners

2. Faithfulness in the Little Things

3. What Does It Mean to Be Wise?

4. Become a Deeper Person

5. Hide It Under a Bushel? No! Let Your Education Shine

Page 12: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

8

Page 13: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

9

Assignment Sheets

Literary Analysis Essay Guidelines

Each student will write a literary essay over one of the assigned books from the course (The Chronicles of Narnia, Phantastes, or Till We Have Faces). The purpose of this essay is to help students learn how to read analytically and then sustain an argument over several pages using supporting evidence from the text. The essay will follow the guidelines outlined below. Guidelines

The paper must be typed, double-spaced, in 12-pt Times New Roman font

The paper must be 4 full pages minimum and no longer than 7 full pages

The paper will follow APA style, therefore it should have a title page and

bibliography, and students will follow APA guidelines for pagination, in-text citations, and bibliographic entries.

The paper should include a final page (does not count toward the page

requirements) that outlines the research question, thesis statement, and main points of the paper.

Tips The thesis should be clearly understood and all points of the paper must work

towards proving the thesis.

Make sure your thesis goes beyond a surface level exploration. I want you to dig

deep. For example:

Poor: In The Man Who Was Thursday, G. K. Chesterton uses the color red

regularly.

Surface level: In The Man Who Was Thursday, G. K. Chesterton uses the color

red symbolically.

Medium level: In The Man Who Was Thursday, G. K. Chesterton uses the color red symbolically to mean both anger and passion.

Deeper level: In The Man Who Was Thursday, G. K. Chesterton uses the color

red symbolically as both anger and passion to reflect the message of the

story, namely that the reality of evil can be explained by recognizing the

apparent anger and indifference of nature yet the passionate love of God

behind it.

Page 14: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

10

How can you learn to write deeper and better thesis statements?

Ask friends for help. They should be able to summarize your vision for the paper after reading the thesis statement.

Ask a teacher for help. Bring examples of what you have so the teacher can

make suggestions on how to improve it, not write it for you.

Ask yourself: Does my thesis answer the why or so what questions?

Poor: In The Man Who Was Thursday, G. K. Chesterton uses1 the color

red regularly.

Surface level: In The Man Who Was Thursday, G. K. Chesterton uses the

color red symbolically.2

Medium level: In The Man Who Was Thursday, G. K. Chesterton uses

the color red symbolically to mean both anger and passion.3

Deeper level: In The Man Who Was Thursday, G. K. Chesterton uses the

color red symbolically as both anger and passion to reflect the

message of the story, namely that the reality of evil can be explained

by recognizing the apparent anger and indifference of nature yet the

passionate love of God behind it.4

1Why does he use this color? In what contexts does he use this color? Does it mean something? So what—why does it matter or how does it help us understand the story? 2How does he use it symbolically? What is the purpose of making the color red symbolic? So what—why does it matter or how does it help us understand the story? 3So what? How does this relate to the message of the story? Go one step deeper. 4Great thesis! You shall do well, young scholar

Page 15: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

11

Chrysostom Oratory Contest Guidelines

Objectives: 1. To showcase the rhetorical skills of senior and junior students from ACCS member schools. 2. To further promote the benefits of classical Christian education, ACCS membership, and ACCS accreditation. Abbreviated Guidelines:

Submitted student presentations must be original works (e.g., a senior thesis) and are to be between 15 to 20 minutes in length. Submission themes should be carefully and wisely chosen to be showcase each student's rhetorical skills, presentation content, and wisdom. Topics must be appropriate for presentation at the annual conference. ACCS reserves the right to reject any presentation that is considered inappropriate.

Submissions must contain arguments that articulate the best way to resolve a dispute or persuade people to take action. The judges' criteria assume a classical arrangement structure, and thus speeches without those six elements clearly evident–exordium, narration, partitio, confirmatio, refutatio, and peroratio–will be at a disadvantage.

Chrysostom Project Expectations Seven to ten pages, double spaced, 12pt Times New Roman

Clearly articulated and defensible thesis

Understandable and defensible topic sentences that support thesis

Provide strong arguments in favor of your position and respond to strongest

counterarguments to your position

It helps to give illustrations to your points, especially literary ones

Turn in an outline by ________________

o Research Question

o Thesis Statement

o Main points outline

Final paper due _________________

Students will present their speech to small groups of 4-5

Three students will give speech to the whole class (and possibly the whole school)

Best speech will be submitted to the ACCS Chrysostom Oratory Contest

Page 16: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

12

Page 17: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

13

Grading Rubrics The grading rubrics are given as a general guideline of expectations and how I will assess the overall quality. For Think Aloud, One-Sentence Summaries, and Silent Conversations, I will typically I will assign a grade out of 100 immediately without filling out individual rubrics for each student.5 If you have questions about areas in which you need improvement, I will be happy to answer those. If I notice a consistent pattern that is lowering your overall quality, I will try to initiate a conversation to help you improve that area. With Harkness, I will also assign a grade out of 100, but I will have the Harkness chart with my comments available for you to view at your request. Again, you can ask for my feedback at any time, and I may initiate a conversation with you if I notice a consistent pattern that needs improvement. Concerning the Faithful Learner Assessments, I will put those in the gradebook so that you can have a record of those, but I will find a way to use these to assess an overall Faithful Learner Grade (formerly Participation and Attendance) at the end of the semester. With respect to class specific grading rubrics, which usually relate to major papers and/or projects, I will typically fill these out for each student and hand them back with the final grade and my comments.

5Notice that each rubric is out of 40, so take the total and multiply by 2.5 to get the grade of 100. Not all assignments are weighted the same, so a Harkness will be worth more than a one-sentence summary, but for ease of reference each grade will be on a 100 point scale.

Page 18: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

14

Think Aloud Rubric

Demonstrates a proper understanding of the main point of the text

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Demonstrates an understanding of the pertinent issues related to the text

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Speaks intelligently on the topic

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Demonstrates a depth of understanding of the text

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Comments: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

One-Sentence Summary Rubric

Made an evident effort to complete a good summary

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Demonstrates a proper understanding of the main point of the text

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Clearly articulates the key points in the summary in a concise fashion

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Delivers the summary to the class with confidence and clarity

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Comments: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 19: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

15

Harkness Rubric

Participates actively in the discussion

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Demonstrates a depth of understanding of the topic/text

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Demonstrates a breadth of understanding of pertinent related issues

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Comments and/or questions help advance the conversation and not distract

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Comments: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Silent Conversation Rubric

Demonstrates a proper understanding of the question and its related topic

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Demonstrates an understanding of the pertinent issues related to the topic

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Speaks intelligently on the topic

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Demonstrates a depth of understanding of the text

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Comments: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 20: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

16

Faithful Learner Assessment Student Name:___________________________________ Week of ____________ Virtuous and Sinful Learners Have I put in my best effort this week? Am I getting the most out of my potential?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Faithfulness in the Little Things Have I come to class prepared, attended class consistently and on time, adhered to the dress code, used my time well, and followed instructions carefully?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

What Does It Mean to Be Wise? Have I sought what is true, good, and beautiful in my classes and relationships? Am I walking in the fear of the LORD?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Become a Deeper Person Have I asked questions, done additional reading, or pursued research outside of class to deepen my understanding? Have I been motivated primarily by grades, scholarships, and other external rewards for education, or have I pursued learning as a means of becoming more Christ-like?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hide It Under a Bushel? No! Let Your Education Shine Have I remained silent when I should speak? Am I participating in class, sharing what I’m learning with my family, or using what I’m learning to help others?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Comments/Reflections:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 21: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

17

1 Clarity of Expression Points Possible--30 Earned

a. No typographical errors f. Formal, academic writing

b. Correct Spelling and Capitalization g. Clear, understandable wording

c. Correct Punctuation h. Nice transitions between paragraphs and points

d. No use of 2nd person, minimal to no use of 1st i. Appropriate vocabulary

e. Grammatically correct j. No contractions

A (27-30) B (23-26) C (20-22) D (16-19) F (0-15)a-j are all represented.

Errors are not pervasive.

Errors occurs in only 1-2

categories and no more

than 4 errors total.

Errors exist in 2-3

categories or 4-8 errors

exist overall. Any

pervasive issues only

occur in 1 category.

Errors exist in 3-4

categories or 9-12 errors

exist overall. Any

pervasive issues occur in

no more than 2

categories.

Greater than 12 errors

overall and pervasive

problems exist in 3 or

more categories.

Paper reflects only a few

of the requirements and

pervasive problems

reflect little or no

knowledge of the

standards.

2 Development of Argument Points Possible--80 Earned

a. Precise, understandable, defensible thesis g. Uses only strong arguments

b. Clear articulation of points h. Arguments clearly linked by transitions and thesis

c. Points are well organized i. Shows good grasp of the broader argument/topic

d. Arguments developed fully w/ supporting evidence j. Uses examples to demonstrate points

e. Answers questions asked by the assignment k. Creative, interesting approach to the issue

f. Deals with the most important issues l. Shows understanding of key features of genre

A (72-80) B (64-70) C (56-63) D (48-55) F (0-47)a-l are all represented.

Excellent argument with

good logic, organization,

and support.

Good argument with

minor issues in logic and

organization.

Lacks adequate support

at several points and has

issues with logic and

organization.

Little support of

assertions and poor logic

and organization.

Paper reflects only a few

of the requirements and

pervasive problems

reflect little or no

knowledge of the

standards.

3 Depth of Ideas/Insight into Text Points Possible--80 Earned

a. Recognition of key details in the text f. Insight into text is interesting

b. Observes & properly analyzes small details in text g. Connections made between points is compelling

c. Makes connections throughout book h. Creative and imaginative, yet responsible reading

d. Ties detailed analysis into overall message of book i. Demonstrates a deep knowledge of the book

e. Understands & articulates overall message of book j. Demonstrates broad & thorough knowledge of book

A (72-80) B (64-70) C (56-63) D (48-55) F (0-47)a-j are all represented.

Excellent insight into the

details and overall

message of the book.

Good insight into the

details of the text and

good connection with the

overall message of the

book.

Insight into text is more

surface level and/or only

shows a basic

connection with overall

message of book.

Inisights into text, when

present, are surface level

and fairly obvious

and/or does not connect

to or understand big

picture of book.

Meets almost none of the

standards and

expectations and shows

little understanding of

the book.

4 Style, Formatting, Outline Points Possible--10 Earned

a. Follows APA style:

Correct margins, font, pagination, bibliography,

line and paragraph spacing, use of quotes/citations.

A (9-10) B (8) C (7) D (6) F (0-5)All components of a-b

are represented. If errors

exist, they are not

pervasive. There are

only 1-2 categories in

which errors occur and

there are no more than 3

errors total.

Errors exist in 2-3

categories or 4-8 errors

exist overall. Any

pervasive issues only

occur in 1 category.

Greater than 8 errors

exist from all of the

categories with no

pervasive problems or

presence of pervasive

problems in only 2

categories.

Greater than 8 errors

overall and pervasive

problems exist in 3 or

more categories.

Paper reflects only a few

of the requirements and

pervasive problems

reflect little or no

knowledge of the

standards.

5 Penalties Penalty

Page length (4-7 pp.) (-10) per page short/long

Plagiarism Automatic 0/100

Other:

Comments:

Comments:

Comments:

Comments:

Literary Analysis Paper Grading Rubric

Page 22: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

18

Page 23: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

19

1 Clarity of Expression Points Possible--10 Earned

a. No typographical errors e. Formal, academic writing

b. Correct Spelling and Capitalization f. Clear, understandable wording

c. Correct Punctuation g. Nice transitions between paragraphs and points

d. Grammatically correct h. Appropriate vocabulary

A (9-10) B (8) C (7) D (6) F (0-5)a-h are all represented.

Errors are not pervasive.

Errors occurs in only 1-2

categories and no more

than 4 errors total.

Errors exist in 2-3

categories or 4-8 errors

exist overall. Any

pervasive issues only

occur in 1 category.

Errors exist in 3-4

categories or 9-12 errors

exist overall. Any

pervasive issues occur in

no more than 2

categories.

Greater than 12 errors

overall and pervasive

problems exist in 3 or

more categories.

Paper reflects only a few

of the requirements and

pervasive problems

reflect little or no

knowledge of the

standards.

2 Rhetorical Skills Points Possible--15 Earned

a. Employs quality rhetorical techniques e. Creative, interesting approach to the topic

b. Clear articulation of points and thesis for audience f. Written in an appropriate tone to the topic

c. Engages the audience with appropriate pathos g. Avoids fallacies of reasoning

d. Engages the audience with appropriate ethos h. Avoids alienating language or tone

A (14-15) B (12-13) C (10-11) D (8-9) F (0-7)a-h are all represented.

Excellent rhetorical

skills demonstrated.

Good use of rhetorical

techniques to engage

audience and present

points with clarity.

Moderate success in

using rhetorical

techniques to engage

audience and present

points with clarity.

Several points are

somewhat unclear or

lack pathos and/or

ethos.

Poor use of rhetorical

techniques, failure to

engage audience, and/or

numerous points that are

unclear.

Fails to demonstrate

rhetorical skills at an

acceptable level.

Confusion on most

points.

3 Development of Argument Points Possible--75 Earned

Exordium (~10 pts) Confirmatio (~25 pts)

Narratio (~10 pts) Refutatio (~15 pts)

Partitio (~5 pts) Peroratio (~10 pts)

A (68-75) B (60-67) C (53-59) D (45-52) F (0-44)All six features are done

with excellence.

Excellent argument with

good logic, organization,

and support.

Good argument with

minor issues in logic and

organization. No more

than one of the six

features is significantly

lacking.

Lacks adequate support

at several points and has

issues with logic and

organization. Two

features need fairly

significant improvement.

Little support of

assertions and poor logic

and organization. Three

or more features need

significant work to make

argument meaningful.

Paper reflects only a few

of the requirements and

pervasive problems

reflect little or no

knowledge of the

standards.

4 Penalties Penalty

Page length (7-10 pp.) (-5) per page short/long _______________

Plagiarism Automatic 0/100 _______________

Style Errors Single point deductions _______________

*Pagination, citations, etc.

Comments:

Comments:

Comments:

Chrysostom Oratory Assignment Grading Rubric

Page 24: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

20

Speaker Scoring Sheet Very

Weak Weak Average Good Excellent Outstanding

Invention & Arrangement

Exordium (introduction)

Student made the audience attentive and receptive. Displays

rather than tells of the value, timeliness, & fittingness of the

topic. Speaker exudes competence & conviction on content.

1 2 3 4 5 6

Narratio (statement of facts):

Student supplies essential facts or history, explains why the

issue is in dispute and important to the audience. Terms were

defined clearly in a manner that favors the speaker.

1 2 3 4 5 6

Partitio (division):

Issue is divided into its constituent parts. Points are clear,

concise, & vivid; separated by signposts or creative partition;

seamlessly integrated within the body. Thesis was obvious.

1 2 3 4 5 6

Confirmatio (affirmative arguments):

Arguments are persuasive; strongest arguments are featured,

evidence is strong, plentiful & varied; case is probable &

compelling. Biblical analysis and application was effective.

1 2 3 4 5 6

Refutatio (negative arguments):

The student anticipated all significant arguments that the

opposition could raise. Refutation is clear, plentifully

supported, & addresses the strongest opposing claim in a

probable manner; (for encomium speeches; comparison is

clear, delightful, & well suited).

1 2 3 4 5 6

Peroratio (conclusion):

Leading facts are summarized well; audience is well disposed

to speaker; audience’s memory of strongest argument is

refreshed; application is clear & insightful.

1 2 3 4 5 6

Style

Clarity & Appropriateness: Student achieves clarity through

the proper use of words. Appropriate choice of style, not too

formal, technical, or casual.

1

2

3

4

5

6

Ornateness: Speech was enhanced by figurative language like

metaphor, allusion, and maxim. Language pleases or delights

the audience.

1

2

3

4

5

6

Memory The student was well-practiced so that the speech was

delivered in a natural manner. 1 2 3 4 5 6

Delivery Use of the Voice: Natural, clear, audible, understandable; not

too fast; persuasive use of tone & pitch; good use of pause. 1 2 3 4 5 6

Use of the Body: Poised, good posture, relaxed—includes

facial expression. Eye-contact made the audience feel

personally addressed; natural gestures enhanced speech. 1 2 3 4 5 6

Page 25: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

21

Supplemental Materials

Educational Devotionals

Virtuous & Sinful Learners

In the Preface to his Didascalicon, Hugh of Saint Victor observes that intellect comes to each man or woman in different measure. Some are blessed with a profound intellect, while “there are many persons whose nature has left them so poor in ability that they can hardly grasp with their intellect even easy things.”6 Of the latter he identifies two types of people: the one who in their poor intellect “struggle after knowledge with all the effort they can put forth and who, by tirelessly keeping up their pursuit, deserve to obtain as a result of their will power what they by no means possess as a result of their work.”7 Some, however, who possess little intellect choose to remain ignorant and refuse to learn. In response to such people, Hugh of Saint Victor writes: “Not knowing and not wishing to know are far different things. Not knowing, to be sure, springs from weakness; but contempt of knowledge springs from a wicked will.”8

On the other hand, many are born with an astounding intellect and use it wisely, and the combination of their giftedness and effort will lead to great things. Yet the temptation of laziness or being distracted by the cares of the world is prevalent even among those who are gifted with intellect. Hugh of Saint Victor writes of them that they “bury the talent of God in earth, seeking from it neither the fruit of wisdom nor the profit of good work. These, assuredly, are completely detestable.”9

Although we could certainly delineate these categories further, Hugh of Saint Victor has helpfully identified four types of learners, two virtuous and two sinful. The goals of a classical Christian education include awakening wonder, inspiring the imagination, leaning and knowing and love the good, the true, and the beautiful, and becoming and making disciples for the kingdom of God. Although some students may struggle with their grades, they should be praised if they are making the most out of their intellect; similarly, other students, though receiving good grades, should receive godly rebuke and correction that leads to repentance. Successfully achieving our goals is not measured by grades or standardized test scores, but by how students are seeking to maximize the gift of intellect (in whatever measure) God has given them.

6Hugh of Saint Victor, Didascalicon, Trans. Jerome Taylor (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991), 43.

7Ibid.

8Ibid.

9Ibid.

Page 26: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

22

Page 27: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

23

Faithfulness in the Little Things

In Luke 16, Jesus tells a somewhat confusing parable about a dishonest manager. The manger is fired for mishandling his master’s possessions, but before the firing is public he goes and tries to make friends by lessening the debt that several of the master’s debtors owe. His notion seems to be that when he is finally turned away from the master’s house, he will have friends who will help him in his time of need. Although the act itself is dishonest, the master praises the manager for his shrewdness (v. 8). It certainly is a quick-thinking, creative move to save his own skin. But Jesus, while praising “shrewdness,” does not praise dishonesty, as becomes clear in the verses that follow.10 In Luke 16:10, Jesus makes one of his well-known statements, though it is rarely

heard in the context of this story. Jesus says, “One who is faithful in a very little is

also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in

much.” The shrewd manager is of course dishonest, and this helps clarify that Jesus

does not condone his actions. Jesus instead calls for his followers to be faithful in the

little things that they may be trusted with the big things. Jesus teaches similarly in

Matthew 25, another parable about handling the master’s wealth. In that parable,

two of the three servants take what the master gives them and bear fruit with it, but

the third hides the talent out of fear of the master. This third servant is called

wicked and slothful, but the first two servants receive the praise that all Jesus’

followers hope to hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful

over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”

These two passages demonstrate how important it is for Jesus’ followers to be faithful in little things. So often we want to be entrusted with great responsibility, but the way we have handled the little things betrays our inadequacy. If we aspire to be entrusted with big things (and this can be a good aspiration if done in humility), then we need to begin by being faithful in the little things. If we think we are too important for the little things, then we prove we are not mature enough for the big things. If we don’t discipline ourselves to take care in the little things, then we should not be given care of the big things. When Paul instructs Timothy about elders, he doesn’t look for men who are rich, powerful, or smart; instead, he tells him these men must manage their own households well. If a man can’t manage his household well, then he can’t shepherd the people of God. If a student can’t manage his or her little responsibilities at school—like listening in class, turning in assignments on time, or wearing the proper school uniform—then he or she is not ready to be entrusted with larger responsibility.

10That Jesus praises shrewdness is made clear also in Matthew 10:16: “I am sending you out

like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd/wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.”

Page 28: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

24

B. B. Warfield expounds upon this idea well in his wonderful essay, The Religious Life of Theological Students. Warfield writes: “You cannot build up a religious life except you begin by performing faithfully your simple, daily duties. It is not the question of whether you like these duties. You may think of your studies what you please. […] But you must faithfully give yourselves to your studies, if you wish to be religious men. No religious character can be built up on the foundation of neglected duty.”11 When it comes to our education, the faithful habit of disciplined study, whether we like it or not, is evidence of Christian character. If we lack discipline and diligence in our studies, others should be asking us about the state of our heart and relationship with Christ. Remember, Jesus himself taught that he who is faithful with little will be faithful with much. So be faithful in your studies, in the little things set before you, that you might prove yourself as one who will be faithful with much.

11B. B. Warfield, The Religious Life of Theological Students (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 1983), 5.

Page 29: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

25

What Does It Mean To Be Wise?

What does it mean to be wise? We speak a lot in the church about wisdom. Classical Christian schools often identify the cultivation of wisdom as one of their key foundations. But do we really know what it means to be wise?

Wisdom stands out as one of the major themes of Scripture. Besides repeated discussions of wisdom in the Old and New Testaments, there is a whole collection of Old Testament books that are identified as wisdom books (Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and many Psalms). Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah stand out above all the magicians and learned men of Nebuchadnezzer’s kingdom in “every matter of wisdom and understanding.” Even Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, was said to grow in wisdom (Luke 2:52). James, the brother of Jesus, discusses the question of wisdom also, speaking of a wisdom that comes down from above and is manifested in our actions (James 3:13-18). According to James, true wisdom is a gift from God that manifests itself through purity, peace, gentleness, an openness to reason, mercy, good fruit, impartiality, and sincerity.

So if wisdom is a God-given gift that is itself a virtue that is cultivated by the practice of virtuous living, how can we be wise? And what does this wisdom look like in an educational setting?

First, how can we be wise? We can cultivate wisdom by the fear of the LORD (Prov 1:1-17; 9:10). Wisdom is given by God and cultivated in us as we walk in the fear of the LORD. In his plenary address at the 2018 ACCS Repairing the Ruins conference, Alistair Begg highlighted four questions drawn from Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Begg’s first questions was “Who is the LORD?” Knowing rightly the identity of the LORD is the first step towards wisdom. If we do not know God aright, we cannot know ourselves or our world. In fact, since all truth is God’s truth, to know anything as it truly is requires that we know the one who created it and sustains it. The second question is “What is this fear?” Begg argues that to fear God is love and serve Him, to walk in all His ways. It is not to be frightened of God, though terror may be the reaction of guilt in the face of God’s holiness. But when we realize our guilt has been dealt with, we don’t run from God in fear, but rather towards Him. If we are to be wise, we must fear God and know God in the right ways.

Begg’s third and fourth questions then make an excellent transition to our second question: “What does this wisdom look like in an educational setting?” Begg asks his third question: “In what sense is it the beginning of knowledge?” The fear of the LORD is the entry point, the gateway, the threshold, the foundation of all knowledge. This is possible because knowledge is not merely information about but a proper relationship with. If God is the creator of all things, then the entry point into knowing anything truly is to understand it through His eyes, His purposes, and His design, and this can only happen if we first have a right relationship with God, not merely a factual knowledge about God. Begg’s fourth question then addresses the second half of the proverb—if fools despise wisdom and instruction, “what is the

Page 30: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

26

folly of man?” The foolishness of man is the expression of moral and spiritual rebellion. This foolishness does not mean intellectual futility; those who rebel against God can still be incredibly smart. But herein lies the danger of education. We can be led to believe that because we are smart and get A’s in our classes that we are doing well in school. But if our education does not lead us to fear of the LORD, if our entry point to knowledge comes apart from God as the creator, then we are fools, regardless of our GPA. All educational endeavors must begin with the fear of the LORD and the mercy and grace of God. Only then can we be wise.

So to put it in practical terms, what does it mean to be wise in my educational endeavor? It means to seek the face of the LORD in all things. It means to understand truth in accordance with God’s revealed Word. It means to seek the true, the good, and the beautiful in my classes and my relationships. It means to be humble and peaceable, not jealous, selfish, boasting, or being false to the truth (James 3:14).

Page 31: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

27

Become a Deeper Person Education in the past century has been viewed through a primarily pragmatic lens, but it wasn’t always this way. In fact, the typical narrative of going to school to get good grades to get a good job to be successful is an entirely modern phenomenon. For most of human history, education has been viewed as a means of cultivating wisdom and virtue, more about becoming something than knowing something. In his book Beauty in the Word, Stratford Caldecott expresses this idea wonderfully:

Education is not primarily about the acquisition of information. It is not even about the acquisition of ‘skills’ in the conventional sense, to equip us for particular roles in society. It is about how we become more human (and therefore more free, in the truest sense of the word)…Too often we have not been educating our humanity. We have been educating ourselves for doing rather than for being.12

Classical Christian education aims at something much higher than a pragmatic goal of worldly success. Our goal is not primarily to be successful in the earthly kingdom but to be disciples of God’s heavenly kingdom. The manner, therefore, in which we approach our education must change. Instead of concerning ourselves with grades or other external rewards for academic success, we should concern ourselves with becoming the sort of people God intended us to be—in short, we need an education of re-humanization.

Brevard Childs was one of the most significant biblical scholars of the 20th century. He taught at Yale, which was—and still is—regarded as an elite academic institution. Any student who qualified for Yale, especially those in the graduate classes that Childs taught, were the best and the brightest. Yet one student approached Childs one day asking why he had received a low grade on an assignment and what he could do to improve it. Childs looked at him and said, “Become a deeper person.”13 Too often we, like this Yale student, get caught up in grades and the pragmatic aspects of education. What Childs understood and reminded this young man was that our education is about more than what we know—it is about who we are. Interestingly, Childs also seems to imply that becoming a deeper person would also be pragmatic; it will help the student do better on future assignments, but that is not the end goal.

When we look back on our education, can we answer truly that we have been good

stewards of it? Have we been asking what we can do with the stuff we have learned,

or are we asking what the stuff we have learned can and is doing in us?14 Have we

12Stratford Caldecott, Beauty in the Word: Rethinking the Foundations of Education (Tacoma, WA: Angelico Press, 2012), 11.

13Makoto Fujimura relates this story in his book, Culture Care. Makoto Fujimura, Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for Our Common Life (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2017), 47.

14Based on a quote from Arthur Holmes: “The question to ask about education, then, is not ‘What can I do with all this stuff anyway? ‘ because both I and my world are changing, but rather

Page 32: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

28

been focused on pragmatic ends or our true end (our telos) as citizens of God’s

heavenly kingdom? Caldecott is correct when he expresses another reason to think

about our education beyond mere pragmatism: “You cannot communicate a truth

that has not changed you. You cannot build a community on a truth that has not been

incorporated into you, making you the kind of person you are. The person is, to

some extent, the message.”15 We must begin to view education as a means of

deepening our understanding of who we are as creatures created in the image of

God, and how the things we learn help re-humanize us towards God’s created intent

for humanity.

How, then, do we become deeper and more human persons? According to Hugh of St

Victor in his medieval era classic The Didascalicon, we become deeper and more

human persons, we restore the divine likeness in man, through the contemplation of

truth and the practice of virtue. “This, then, is what the arts are concerned with, this

is what they intend, namely, to restore within us the divine likeness, a likeness

which to us is a form but to God is his nature. The more we are conformed to the

divine nature, the more do we possess Wisdom, for then there begins to shine forth

again in us what has forever existed in the divine Idea or Pattern coming and going

in us but standing changeless in God.”16 These words express a vision for education

that I can embrace. I hope you can embrace it, too.

‘What will all this stuff do to me?” Arthur Holmes, The Idea of a Christian College, Revised Edition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 24.

15Ibid., 86.

16Hugh of Saint Victor, The Didascalicon of Hugh of Saint Victor: A Medieval Guide to the Arts, trans. Jerome Taylor (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991), 61.

Page 33: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

29

Hide It Under a Bushel? No! Let Your Education Shine In Matthew 5-7, Matthew records Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, a beautiful and yet convicting sermon on the nature of Jesus’ true followers. There are some hard words in that sermon, and not just for his original audience. These statements still today dig into our hearts and expose our sinfulness; we stare in the mirror and see our failures; the words of Jesus lose no authority and are not softened two thousand years later. In the midst of this sermon, Jesus says one of his most famous lines: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt 5:14-16). As Christians, we often struggle to be light in a dark world. We have been illumined by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ who was Himself the true light (John 1). We possess the Word of God, too, so we are equipped to be lights in the darkness. Yet fear, passivity, doubt, and more lead us to hide this light, something that Jesus’ illustration about a lamp under a bed shows to be complete foolishness at best, and wickedness at worst. And I think the same can happen in our education.

One of the great detriments of the past century of education has been the belief that education is about the individual alone. Certainly each individual must take ownership of his education, and teachers, parents, and administrators care whether each individual child is learning. But rarely have students seen it as their joy and responsibility to share in another individual student’s education. As Christians, however, I think we do recognize that we were called to live in community. We serve in the Church according to our giftings, strengthening the body by using our strength to help another in their weakness, and they do the same in return. So why, then, when it comes to classical Christian education, would we keep our learning to ourselves? Shouldn’t we use our strengths to build up and support another’s weakness? Shouldn’t we be humble enough to realize our own weaknesses and allow another to help us on account of his or her strength? I think the answer is an obvious yes.

So when it comes to our education, are we remaining silent when we should speak? Do I have a thought that could benefit others that I have kept to myself? Am I sharing what I’m learning with my peers, my family, and my friends, or am I hiding my education under a basket? I encourage all of us to share what we are learning, to let the light that we see brightening each day in our minds and hearts shine forth that God may be glorified.

Page 34: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

30

Page 35: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

31

Prayers

1. O Educator, be gracious to thy children, O Educator, Father, Guide of Israel, Son and

Father, both one, Lord. Give to us, who follow thy command, to fulfill the likeness of

thy image, and to see, according to our strength, the God who is both a good God and

a Judge who is not harsh. Do thou thyself bestow all things on us who dwell in thy

peace, who have been placed in thy city, who sail the sea of sin unruffled, that we

may be made tranquil and supported by the Holy Spirit, the unutterable Wisdom, by

night and day, unto the perfect day, to sing eternal thanksgiving to the one only

Father and Son, Son and Father, Educator and Teacher with the Holy Spirit.

~Clement of Alexandria

2. God, in the course of this busy life, give us times of refreshment and peace; and grant

that we may so use our leisure to rebuild our bodies and renew our minds, that our

spirits may be opened to the goodness of your creation; through Jesus Christ our

Lord. Amen. ~Book of Common Prayer, 825

3. Sovereign Lord, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in

them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father

David: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth

take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his

Anointed One.” Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and

the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom

you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should

happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your

word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous

signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. ~Acts of the Apostles

4. I know that thou art the author and finisher of faith, that the whole work of

redemption is thine alone, that every good work or thought found in me is the effect

of thy power and grace, that thy sole motive in working in me to will and to do is for

thy good pleasure. O God, it is amazing that men can talk so much about man’s

creaturely power and goodness, when, if thou didst not hold us back every moment,

we should be devils incarnate. This, by bitter experience, thou hast taught me

concerning myself. ~The Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayer, 4

5. We pray and we entreat God, whom those men [persecutors] do not cease to

provoke and exasperate, that they may soften their hearts, that they may return to

health of mind when this madness has been put aside, that their hearts, filled with

the darkness of sin, may recognize the light of repentance, and that they may rather

seek that the intercession and prayers of the bishop be poured out for themselves

than that they themselves shed the blood of the bishop. ~Cyprian

Page 36: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

32

6. Three in one, one in three, god of my salvation, Heavenly Father, blessed Son,

eternal Spirit, I adore thee as one Being, one Essence, one God in three distinct

Persons, for bringing sinners to thy knowledge and to thy kingdom. O Father, thou

hast loved me and sent Jesus to redeem me; O Jesus, thou hast loved me and

assumed my nature, shed thine own blood to wash away my sins, wrought

righteousness to cover my unworthiness; O Holy Spirit, thou hast loved me and

entered my heart, implanted there eternal life, revealed to me the glories of Jesus.

~The Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayer, 3

7. Lord, We thank you for your church, founded upon your Word, that challenges us to

do more than sing and pray, but go out and work as though the very answer to our

prayers depended on us and not upon you. Help us to realize that humanity was

created to shine like the stars and live on through all eternity. Keep us, we pray, in

perfect peace. Help us to walk together, pray together, sing together, and live

together until that day when all God’s children — Black, White, Red, Brown and

Yellow — will rejoice in one common band of humanity in the reign of our Lord and

of our God, we pray. Amen. ~The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

8. Heavenly Father, who hast filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to

behold thy gracious hand in all thy works; that, rejoicing in thy whole creation, we

may learn to serve thee with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things

were made, thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ~Book of Common Prayer, 814

9. O Father, thou art enthroned to hear my prayers, O Jesus, thy hand is outstretched to

take my petitions, O Holy Spirit, thou art willing to help my infirmities, to show me

my need, to supply words, to pray within me, to strengthen me that I faint not in

supplication. O Triune God, who commandeth the universe, thou hast commanded

me to ask for those things that concern thy kingdom and my soul. Let me live and

pray as one baptized into the threefold Name. ~ Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayer, 3

10. Almighty and everlasting God, you made the universe with all its marvelous order,

its atoms, worlds, and galaxies, and the infinite complexity of living creatures: Grant

that, as we probe the mysteries of your creation, we may come to know you more

truly, and more surely fulfill our role in your eternal purpose; in the name of Jesus

Christ our Lord. Amen. ~Book of Common Prayer, 827

11. Look upon us, O Lord, and let all the darkness of our souls vanish before the beams

of thy brightness. Fill us with holy love, and open to us the treasures of thy wisdom.

All our desire is known unto thee, therefore perfect what thou hast begun, and what

thy Spirit has awakened us to ask in prayer. We seek thy face, turn thy face unto us

and show us thy glory. Then shall our longing be satisfied, and our peace shall be

perfect. ~St. Augustine

Page 37: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

33

12. O Lord, who hast mercy upon all, take away from me my sins, and mercifully kindle

in me the fire of thy Holy Spirit. Take away from me the heart of stone, and give me a

heart of flesh, a heart to love and adore thee, a heart to delight in thee, to follow and

to enjoy thee, for Christ's sake. ~Ambrose of Milan

13. Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,

where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of

sin I behold thy glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that

to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite

spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have

nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to

receive, that the valley is the place of vision. ~The Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayer, xv

14. O good shepherd, seek me out, and bring me home to thy fold again. Deal favourably

with me according to thy good pleasure, till I may dwell in thy house all the days of

my life, and praise thee for ever and ever with them that are there. ~Jerome

15. God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and

us from prejudice to truth: deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge;

and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you, through Jesus

Christ our Lord. Amen. ~Book of Common Prayer, 816

16. Lord, because you have made me, I owe you the whole of my love; because you have

redeemed me, I owe you the whole of myself; because you have promised so much, I

owe you my whole being. Moreover, I owe you as much more love than myself as

you are greater than I, for whom you gave yourself and to whom you promised

yourself. I pray you, Lord, make me taste by love what I taste by knowledge; let me

know by love what I know by understanding. I owe you more than my whole self,

but I have no more, and by myself I cannot render the whole of it to you. Draw me to

you, Lord, in the fullness of your love. I am wholly yours by creation; make me all

yours, too, in love. ~St. Anselm of Canterbury

17. O Sovereign and almighty Lord, bless all thy people, and all thy flock. Give thy peace,

thy help, thy love unto us thy servants, the sheep of thy fold, that we may be united

in the bond of peace and love, one body and one spirit, in one hope of our calling, in

thy divine and boundless love. ~Liturgy of St Mark

18. Lord, be with us this day, Within us to purify us; Above us to draw us up; Beneath us

to sustain us; Before us to lead us; Behind us to restrain us; Around us to protect us.

~St. Patrick

Page 38: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

34

19. God our Father, you see your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing

world: Show them that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and that

following you is better than chasing after selfish goals. Help them to take failure, not

as a measure of their worth, but as a chance for a new start. Give them strength to

hold their faith in you, and to keep alive their joy in your creation; through Jesus

Christ our Lord. Amen. ~Book of Common Prayer, 829

20. Lord Jesus…When my mind acts without thee it spins nothing but deceit and

delusion; When my affections act without thee nothing is seen but dad

works. O how I need thee to abide in me, for I have no natural eyes to see

thee, but I live by faith in one whose face to me is brighter than a thousand

suns. ~The Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayer, 25

21. We ask you, Master, be our helper and defender. Rescue those of our number in

distress; raise up the fallen; assist the needy; heal the sick; turn back those of your

people who stray; feed the hungry; release our captives; revive the weak; encourage

those who lose heart. Let all the nations realize that you are the only God, that Jesus

Christ is your Child, and that we are your people and the sheep of your pasture. ~1

Clement

22. Give harmony and peace to us and to all who dwell on the earth, just as you did to

our fathers when they reverently "called upon you in faith and trust," that we may

be saved, while we render obedience to your almighty and most excellent name, and

give harmony and peace to our rulers and governors on earth. ~Clement of Rome

23. We bless Thee, O most high God and Lord of mercy, Who art ever doing numberless

great and inscrutable things with us, glorious and wonderful; Who grantest to us

sleep for rest from our infirmities, and repose from the burdens of our much toiling

flesh. We thank Thee that Thou hast not destroyed us with our sins, but hast loved

us as ever, and though we are sunk in despair, Thou hast raised us up to glorify Thy

power. Therefore we implore Thy incomparable goodness, enlighten the eyes of our

understanding and raise up our mind from the heavy sleep of indolence; open our

mouth and fill it with Thy praise, that we may be able undistracted to sing and

confess Thee, Who art God glorified in all and by all, the eternal Father, with Thy

only-begotten Son, and Thy all-holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever,

and to the ages of ages. Amen. ~St. Basil the Great

24. May I remember the dignity of my spiritual release, never be too busy to attend to

my soul, never be so engrossed with time that I neglect the things of eternity; thus

may I not only live, but grow towards thee. ~The Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayer, 60

Page 39: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

35

25. Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love;

where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt,

faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is

sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be

understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we

receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born

to eternal life. Amen. ~A prayer of St. Francis, Book of Common Prayer, 833

26. Three Persons and one God, I bless and praise thee, for love so unmerited, so

unspeakable, so wondrous, so mighty to save the lost and raise them to glory. O

Father, I thank thee that in fullness of grace thou hast given me to Jesus, to be his

sheep, jewel, portion; O Jesus, I thank thee that in fullness of grace thou hast

accepted, espoused, bound me; O Holy Spirit, I thank thee that in fullness of grace

thou hast exhibited Jesus as my salvation, implanted faith within me, subdued my

stubborn heart, made me one with him for ever. ~The Valley of Vision, Puritan

Prayer, 3

27. God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us

grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions;

take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly

union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our

calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be

all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith

and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus

Christ our Lord. Amen. ~Book of Common Prayer, 818

28. My Father…My sin is not so much this or that particular evil, but my

continual separation, disunion, distance from thee, and having a loose spirit

towards thee…O thou who hast the hearts of all men in thine hand, form my

heart according to the Word, according to the image of thy Son, So shall

Christ the Word, and his Word, be my strength and comfort. ~The Valley of

Vision, Puritan Prayer, 17

29. Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with

injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon

us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who

spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities

for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this

land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ~Book of Common Prayer, 826

Page 40: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

36

30. O MY SAVIOUR, Help me. I am so slow to learn, so prone to forget, so weak to

climb; I am in the foothills when I should be on the heights; I am pained by

my graceless heart, my prayerless days, my poverty of love, my sloth in the

heavenly race, my sullied conscience, my wasted hours, my unspent

opportunities. I am blind while light shines around me: take the scales from

my eyes, grind to dust the evil heart of unbelief. Make it my chiefest joy to

study thee, meditate on thee, gaze on thee, sit like Mary at thy feet, lean like

John on thy breast, appeal like Peter to thy love, count like Paul all things

dung. Give me increase and progress in grace so that there may be more

decision in my character, more vigour in my purposes, more elevation in my

life, more fervour in my devotion, more constancy in my zeal. ~The Valley of

Vision, Puritan Prayer, 182

31. We beseech thee, Master, to be our helper and protector. Save the afflicted among

us; have mercy on the lowly; raise up the fallen; appear to the needy; heal the

ungodly; restore the wanderers of thy people; feed the hungry; ransom our

prisoners; raise up the sick; comfort the faint-hearted. ~Clement of Rome

32. God our heavenly Father, you have blessed us and given us dominion over all the

earth: Increase our reverence before the mystery of life; and give us new insight into

your purposes for the human race, and new wisdom and determination in making

provision for its future in accordance with your will; through Jesus Christ our

Lord. Amen. ~Book of Common Prayer, 828

33. O Father of Jesus…I am never so much mine as when I am his, or so much

lost to myself until lost in him; then I find my true [self]…O Lord Jesus, come

to me, O Divine Spirit, rest upon me, O Holy Father, look on me in mercy for

the sake of the well-beloved. ~The Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayer, 24

34. Eternal God, bless all schools, colleges, and universities [and especially School and

College of the Ozarks], that they may be lively centers for sound learning, new

discovery, and the pursuit of wisdom; and grant that those who teach and those who

learn may find you to be the source of all truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

~Book of Common Prayer, 824

35. Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart

[and especially the hearts of the people of this land], that barriers which divide us

may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being

healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ~Book

of Common Prayer, 823

Page 41: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

37

36. God of the highest heaven, occupy the throne of my heart, take full

possession and reign supreme, lay low every rebel lust, let no vile passion

resist thy holy war; manifest thy mighty power, and make me thine for ever.

~The Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayer, 47

37. Lord…There is no treasure so wonderful as that continuous experience of

thy grace toward me which alone can subdue the risings of sin within: give

me more of it. ~The Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayer, 71

38. Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of

righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love: So mightily spread

abroad your Spirit, that all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince

of Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and glory, now and for

ever. Amen. ~Book of Common Prayer, 815

39. Lord of all being…There is one thing that deserves my greatest care, that

calls forth my ardent desires, that is, that I may answer the great end for

which I am made—to glorify thee who has given me being, and to do all the

good I can for my fellow men…Time is a moment, a vapour, and all its

enjoyments are empty bubbles, fleeting blasts of win, from which nothing

satisfactory can be derived…Help me to know continually that there can be

no true happiness, no fulfilling of thy purpose for me, apart from a life lived

in and for the Son of thy love. ~The Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayer, 13

40. Lord, thou hast given us thy Word for a light to shine upon our path; grant us so to

meditate on that Word, and to follow its teaching, that we may find in it the light that

shines more and more until the perfect day; through Jesus Christ our Lord. ~Jerome

41. Almighty God our heavenly Father, guide the nations of the world into the way of

justice and truth, and establish among them that peace which is the fruit of

righteousness, that they may become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus

Christ. Amen. ~Book of Common Prayer, 816

42. Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you all poor and neglected

persons whom it would be easy for us to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the

old and the sick, and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those who

are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy. Grant this, Father, for

the love of your Son, who for our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

~Book of Common Prayer, 826

Page 42: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

38

43. Gracious Father, we pray for thy holy Catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, in all

truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it;

where in any thing it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in

want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ thy

Son our Savior. Amen. ~Book of Common Prayer, 816

44. As I rise from sleep I thank Thee, O Holy Trinity, for through Thy great goodness and

patience Thou wast not angered with me, an idler and sinner, nor hast Thou

destroyed me in my sins, but hast shown Thy usual love for men, and when I was

prostrate in despair, Thou hast raised me to keep the morning watch and glorify Thy

power. And now enlighten my mind's eye and open my mouth to study Thy words

and understand Thy commandments and do Thy will and sing to Thee in heartfelt

adoration and praise Thy Most Holy Name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and

ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. ~St. Basil the Great

45. Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: We humbly

beseech thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and

glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure

manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance,

and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people

the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the

spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of

government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through

obedience to thy law, we may show forth thy praise among the nations of the earth.

In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble,

suffer not our trust in thee to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our

Lord. Amen. ~Book of Common Prayer, 820

46. Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who settest the solitary in families: We

commend to thy continual care the homes in which thy people dwell. Put far from

them, we beseech thee, every root of bitterness, the desire of vainglory, and the

pride of life. Fill them with faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness.

Knit together in constant affection those who, in holy wedlock, have been made one

flesh. Turn the hearts of the parents to the children, and the hearts of the children to

the parents; and so enkindle fervent charity among us all, that we may evermore be

kindly affectioned one to another; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ~Book of

Common Prayer, 828-829

Page 43: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

39

47. Our God, God of all men, God of heaven and earth, seas and rivers, God of sun and

moon, of all the stars, God of high mountain and lowly valley, God over heaven, and

in heaven, and under heaven. He has a dwelling in heaven and earth and sea and in

all things that are in them. He inspires all things, he quickens all things. He is over all

things, he supports all things. He makes the light of the sun to shine, He surrounds

the moon and the stars, He has made wells in the arid earth, Placed dry islands in

the sea. He has a Son co-eternal with himself... And the Holy Spirit breathes in them;

Not separate are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ~St. Patrick

48. Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy most gracious favor, and further us

with thy continual help; that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in thee,

we may glorify thy holy Name, and finally, by thy mercy, obtain everlasting life;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ~Book of Common Prayer, 832

49. O God of unsearchable greatness…May [Christ’s] blood make me more

thankful for thy mercies, more humble under thy correction, more zealous in

thy service, more watchful against temptation, more contented in my

circumstances, more useful to others. ~The Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayer,

46

50. God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light riseth up in darkness for

the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou

wouldest have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices,

and that in thy light we may see light, and in thy straight path may not stumble;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ~Book of Common Prayer, 832

Page 44: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

40

Page 45: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

41

Writing Prompts (Poetry Selections) There are 25 selections below (plus 2 bonus assignments). Choose 15 of the 25 and complete these in your writing journal. I don’t care which ones you choose or which order (although you may want to read the multiple week ones in order), but you should complete one each Friday.

1. Read “Song (Go and Catch a Falling Star)” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 2. Read “The Indifferent” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 3. Read “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 4. Read “The Altar, Easter, and Angel Wings” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 5. Read “An Essay on Man” sections 1-3 and write a 2-3 sentence response. 6. Read “An Essay on Man” sections 4-6 and write a 2-3 sentence response. 7. Read “An Essay on Man” sections 7-10 and write a 2-3 sentence response. 8. Read “An Essay on Man” Epistle 2, Section 1 and write a 2-3 sentence response. 9. Read “A Prospect of heaven Makes Death Easy” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 10. Read “Man Frail, and God Eternal” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 11. Read “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 12. Read “The Lamb” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 13. Read “The Tyger” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 14. Read “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” Parts I-IV (104-111) and write a 2-3

sentence response. 15. Read “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” Parts V-VII (111-120) and write a 2-3

sentence response. 16. Read “Ozymandias” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 17. Read “Ode to the West Wind” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 18. Read “When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 19. Read “Ode to a Nightingale” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 20. Read “The Lady of Shalott” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 21. Read “Ulysses” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 22. Read “My Last Duchess” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 23. Read “Love Among the Ruins” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 24. Read “Dover Beach” and write a 2-3 sentence response. 25. Read “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and write a 2-3 sentence response.

Bonus:

Read “The Rape of the Lock” (76-93) and write a one page reflection on the poem and its meaning.

Read “The Chimney Sweeper” (102) and “Infant Sorrow” (103) and write a one page explanation of Blake’s worldview in these poems. Make sure to point to specific examples in the text to support your points.

Page 46: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

42

Page 47: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

43

School of the Ozarks Portrait of a Graduate To develop citizens of Christ-like character who are well-educated, hard-working, and patriotic.

Christian Goal: To foster a deeper knowledge of Christ, a desire to be conformed to His image, and the desire to live a life that reflects a Christian worldview.

*Love God *Love Neighbor

*Live a Virtuous Life by Faith in the Spirit *Imitate Christ

Cultural Goal: To cultivate Christian leaders who influence the culture at large because of their pursuit of excellence, their determination to stand for truth, and their willingness to live out their faith.

*Two-Kingdom Citizens (Heavenly &

Earthly)

*Producers and Influencers *Prepared to be poured out

Academic Goal: To provide students with the opportunity to develop their God-given knowledge and wisdom to their fullest potential so that they might become producers and influencers.

*Curious Learner *Reasonable Thinker *Articulate Communicator *Creator of New Knowledge *Winsome *Understanding of Trivium & Quadrivium

Vocational Goal: To promote a strong work ethic and to demonstrate a servant’s heart in the workplace whether as an employer or employee.

*Quality Worker *Farm Mentality *Humble Servant *Perseverance and Grit

Patriotic Goal: To encourage an understanding of American heritage, the value and responsibility of living in a country that has a constitution, a love of country, and a willingness to defend it.

*Love of Country *Pursuit of Liberty *Community Influence *Respect and Dignity *Courage and Bravery

Christ-like Character

Citizenship

Well-Educated Hard-Working Patriotic

Page 48: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

44

HISTORY SKILLSa

1. Information Retrieval 2. Empathy for Historical

Actors 3. Develop Meaningful

Comparisons across Different Historical Contexts

4. Identify Core Comparisons and Anachronisms

5. Identify and Assess Different Types of Historical Causation

i. Environmental ii. Social iii. Intellectual iv. Cultural v. Ethical vi. Technological

RHETORIC SKILLS Five Faculties of Rhetoricb

1. Invention 2. Arrangement 3. Elocution 4. Memory 5. Delivery

Progymnasmatac

1. Fable 2. Narration 3. Anecdote/Chreia 4. Maxim 5. Refutation 6. Confirmation 7. Common Topic 8. Encomium 9. Invective 10. Comparison 11. Characterization 12. Description 13. Thesis 14. Proposal of Law

READING SKILLSd

1. Elementary Reading i. Reading Recognition ii. Reading Comprehension iii. Reading Retention

2. Inspectional Reading 3. Analytical Reading

i. Reading for Meaning ii. Reading for Answers iii. How to Mark a Book

4. Syntopical Reading i. Synthesis ii. Research

REASONING SKILLSe

1. Basic logical concepts 2. Analyzing arguments 3. Recognizing fallacies 4. Categorical propositions 5. Categorical syllogisms 6. Symbolic logic 7. Methods of induction 8. Methods of deduction 9. Analogical reasoning 10. Causal reasoning 11. Science and hypothesis 12. Probability 13. Theory and proof 14. Problem Solving 15. Apply knowledge to new

problems

FINE ARTS SKILLS 1. Observation 2. Analysis 3. Technique/Technical 4. Creativity

School of the Ozarks Learning Skills

aHistory skills have been adopted from a presentation by Chris Schlect at the 2015 ACCS “Repairing the Ruins” Conference.

bThe five faculties of rhetoric are from pseudo-Cicero, Rhetoric Ad Herennium, Loeb Classical Library 403, trans. Harry Caplan (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954), 7.

cA classical discussion of the progymnasmata is available in Appendix C: “Apthonius’s Progymnasmata.”

dThe four types of reading outlined under Reading Skills are found in Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading, Revised Edition (New York: Touchstone, 1972).

eThe majority of these Reasoning Skills are drawn from the content and chapter divisions of Irving M. Copi, Carl Cohen, and Kenneth McMahon Introduction to Logic, 14th ed (New York: Routledge, 2016).

School of the Ozarks Core Knowledge

With respect to Core Knowledge, the required reading and subject matter identified in the Big Picture Plans of Part II help identify the elements of Core Knowledge we think students should explore in order to be well-educated. However, below are several books we recommend to introduce students or parents to some of the Great Books and Great Ideas covered in our curriculum.

Mortimer Adler: The Great Ideas Susan Wise Bauer: The History of the Ancient World; The History of the Medieval

World; The History of the Renaissance World; The Well-Educated Mind Louise Cowan: Invitation to the Classics

Page 49: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

45

Handouts

Page 50: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

46

Reading Guides

Page 51: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

47

The Chronicles of Narnia Reading Guide Read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle. As you read, consider the following questions and take notes on this sheet and in your book. You will turn in this reading guide in the fall for a grade.

1. Louis Markos, a well-known literature professor and Lewis scholar, suggests

that the beauty of the Narnia stories is that we don’t just learn theology, we

feel it. How and where do we feel theology in these stories?

2. List some of the things we learn about Aslan’s character in each story.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Prince Caspian

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Silver Chair

The Last Battle

The Magician’s Nephew (optional)

The Horse and His Boy (optional)

Page 52: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

48

3. List places in the series where Lewis deals with issues of appearance vs.

reality.

4. List places in the series where Lewis emphasizes suffering and trials.

5. Make note of literary devices, strategies, or structural patterns that Lewis

employs.

6. Make note of biblical imagery, themes, or allusions.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Prince Caspian

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Silver Chair

The Last Battle

The Magician’s Nephew (optional)

The Horse and His Boy (optional)

Page 53: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

49

Phantastes Reading Guide Consider the following themes in the story. It would help to take notes and record page numbers where these themes occur as you encounter them. Good vs Evil

Dream vs Wakefulness (Unconscious vs Conscious)

Light vs Darkness

Order vs Chaos

Childlikeness

Obedience

Nature

Page 54: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

50

Consider the following questions, how Phantastes answers them, and what these answers can teach us. What does it mean to be human?

What is the purpose of life?

How do we live a good life?

What is the nature of sin and temptation?

Reflective Question What lessons does Anodos’ journey in Fairy Land teach me about my own journey in life?

Page 55: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

51

Till We Have Faces Reading Guide Keep notes in your Writing Notebook on the following topics as you read the book.

A. List references to face and veil imagery throughout the book. How is Lewis using

this motif?

B. Make note of any times when a passage in Till We Have Faces reminds you of

another C. S. Lewis book.

C. Make note of occasions where Lewis has changed his story from the original myth.

Page 56: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

52

D. Make note of how this work addresses the following themes that are

common in Lewis’ other works.

Distorted Love Self-knowledge

and identity Reason vs. Imagination

Sacrifice Beauty and Ugliness

Thick and clear religions17

17From God in the Dock: We may salva reverential [without outraging reverence] divide religions, as we do soups, into ‘thick' and ‘clear'. By Thick I mean those which have orgies and ecstasies and mysteries and local attachments: Africa is full of Thick religions. By Clear I mean those which are philosophical, ethical and universalizing: Stoicism, Buddhism, and the Ethical Church are Clear religions. Now if there is a true religion it must be both Thick and Clear: for the true God must have made both the child and the man, both the savage and the citizen, both the head and the belly.... But Christianity really breaks down the middle wall of the partition. It takes a convert from central Africa and tells him to obey an enlightened universalist ethic: it takes a twentieth-century academic prig like me and tells me to go fasting to a Mystery, to drink the blood of the Lord. The savage convert has to be Clear: I have to be Thick. That is how one knows one has come to the real religion.

Page 57: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

53

The Man Who Was Thursday Reading Guide

*This reading guide will be submitted at the end of the novel as a quiz grade in the reading comprehension category.

1. List references to scenery/landscape/weather changes throughout the book.

2. List places where the novel deals with issues of mistaken identity (friend vs.

foe).

3. List places where the novel deals with issues of appearance vs. reality.

4. List places where the novel emphasizes suffering and trials.

5. Make note of biblical imagery.

Page 58: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

54

6. Make note of literary devices, strategies, or structural patterns that

Chesterton employs in the novel.

7. Make note of places where the novel touches on other works you are familiar

with, especially Orthodoxy or other Chesterton works you have read.

8. Make note of the use of colors. Red More red (trust me) White Blue Other

Page 59: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

55

DEAR Project Completion Chart & Approved Reading List (Fall—Literature)

Student Name:____________________________________________

Book Title Author Pages Read

Multiplier (1x or 1.5x)

Total Weighted

Pages

Total

Initials: _________ *By initialing I certify that I have completed the reading recorded above.

Approved Reading List

1. At least 200 weighted pages (134 pages x 1.5 multiplier) each semester must come from Charles Dickens and/or Jane Austen

2. The other 300 pages may come from a fiction book by a non-American author from 1600-1960.

Page 60: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

56

Page 61: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

57

DEAR Project Completion Chart & Approved Reading List (Fall—Literature)

Student Name:____________________________________________

Book Title Author Pages Read

Multiplier (1x or 1.5x)

Total Weighted

Pages

Total

Initials: _________ *By initialing I certify that I have completed the reading recorded above.

Approved Reading List

1. At least 200 weighted pages (134 pages x 1.5 multiplier) each semester must come from Charles Dickens and/or Jane Austen

2. The other 300 pages may come from a fiction book by a non-American author from 1600-1960.

Page 62: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

58

Page 63: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

59

Reading Log

Student Name:_____________________________________ Date:__________ Assigned Reading:_______________________________ I read the text:

Yes

No

I annotated the text: Yes

No

One sentence summary:_____________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Focus Question:______________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Date:__________ Assigned Reading:_______________________________ I read the text:

Yes

No

I annotated the text: Yes

No

One sentence summary:_____________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Focus Question:______________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Date:__________ Assigned Reading:_______________________________ I read the text:

Yes

No

I annotated the text: Yes

No

One sentence summary:_____________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Focus Question:______________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 64: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

60

Page 65: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

61

Supplemental Reading

Page 66: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

62

Page 67: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

63

Poetry Selections

“Song (Go and Catch a Falling Star)” by John Donne Go and catch a falling star,

Get with child a mandrake root, Tell me where all past years are,

Or who cleft the devil's foot, Teach me to hear mermaids singing,

Or to keep off envy's stinging, And find

What wind Serves to advance an honest mind.

If thou be'st born to strange sights,

Things invisible to see, Ride ten thousand days and nights, Till age snow white hairs on thee,

Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me, All strange wonders that befell thee,

And swear, No where

Lives a woman true, and fair.

If thou find'st one, let me know, Such a pilgrimage were sweet;

Yet do not, I would not go, Though at next door we might meet;

Though she were true, when you met her, And last, till you write your letter,

Yet she Will be

False, ere I come, to two, or three.

Page 68: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

64

“The Indifferent” by John Donne I can love both fair and brown,

Her whom abundance melts, and her whom want betrays, Her who loves loneness best, and her who masks and plays,

Her whom the country formed, and whom the town, Her who believes, and her who tries,

Her who still weeps with spongy eyes, And her who is dry cork, and never cries; I can love her, and her, and you, and you,

I can love any, so she be not true.

Will no other vice content you? Will it not serve your turn to do as did your mothers?

Or have you all old vices spent, and now would find out others? Or doth a fear that men are true torment you?

O we are not, be not you so; Let me, and do you, twenty know.

Rob me, but bind me not, and let me go. Must I, who came to travail thorough you,

Grow your fixed subject, because you are true?

Venus heard me sigh this song, And by love's sweetest part, variety, she swore,

She heard not this till now; and that it should be so no more. She went, examined, and returned ere long,

And said, “Alas! some two or three Poor heretics in love there be,

Which think to ’stablish dangerous constancy. But I have told them, ‘Since you will be true,

You shall be true to them who are false to you.’”

Page 69: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

65

“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” by John Donne As virtuous men pass mildly away, And whisper to their souls to go,

Whilst some of their sad friends do say The breath goes now, and some say, no:

So let us melt, and make no noise,

No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move; 'Twere profanation of our joys

To tell the laity our love.

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears, Men reckon what it did, and meant;

But trepidation of the spheres, Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers' love

(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit Absence, because it doth remove

Those things which elemented it.

But we by a love so much refined, That our selves know not what it is,

Inter-assured of the mind, Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.

Our two souls therefore, which are one,

Though I must go, endure not yet A breach, but an expansion,

Like gold to airy thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so As stiff twin compasses are two;

Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show To move, but doth, if the other do.

And though it in the center sit,

Yet when the other far doth roam, It leans and hearkens after it,

And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must, Like th' other foot, obliquely run; Thy firmness makes my circle just,

And makes me end where I begun.

Page 70: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

66

“The Altar, Easter, and Angel Wings” by George Herbert

The Altar A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears, Made of a heart and cemented with tears;

Whose parts are as thy hand did frame; No workman's tool hath touch'd the same.

A HEART alone Is such a stone, As nothing but

Thy pow'r doth cut. Wherefore each part

Of my hard heart Meets in this frame

To praise thy name. That if I chance to hold my peace,

These stones to praise thee may not cease. Oh, let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,

And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine.

Easter

Rise heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise Without delays, Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise With him may’st rise: That, as his death calcined thee to dust, His life may make thee gold, and much more just. Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part With all thy art. The cross taught all wood to resound his name, Who bore the same. His stretched sinews taught all strings, what key Is best to celebrate this most high day. Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song Pleasant and long: Or, since all music is but three parts vied And multiplied, Oh let thy blessed spirit bear a part, And make up our defects with his sweet art.

Page 71: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

67

I got me flowers to strew thy way; I got me boughs off many a tree: But thou wast up by break of day, And brought’st thy sweets along with thee. The sun arising in the East, Though he give light, & th’ east perfume; If they should offer to contest With thy arising, they presume. Can there be any day but this, Though many suns to shine endeavor? We count three hundred, but we miss: There is but one, and that one ever.

Angel Wings

Lo

rd, w

ho

cre

ated

st m

an i

n w

ealt

h a

nd

sto

re,

Th

ou

gh f

oo

lish

ly h

e lo

st t

he

sam

e,

Dec

ayin

g m

ore

an

d m

ore

, T

ill h

e b

ecam

e M

ost

po

or:

W

ith

th

ee

Oh

let

me

rise

A

s la

rks,

har

mo

nio

usl

y,

An

d s

ing

this

day

th

y vi

cto

ries

: T

hen

sh

all t

he

fall

fu

rth

er t

he

flig

ht

in m

e.

M

y te

nd

er a

ge i

n s

orr

ow

did

beg

in

An

d s

till

wit

h s

ick

nes

ses

and

sh

ame.

T

ho

u d

idst

so

pu

nis

h s

in,

Th

at I

bec

ame

Mo

st t

hin

. W

ith

th

ee

Let

me

com

bin

e,

An

d f

eel t

his

day

th

y vi

cto

ry:

Fo

r, if

I im

p m

y w

ing

on

th

ine,

A

ffli

ctio

n s

hal

l ad

van

ce t

he

flig

ht

in m

e.

Page 72: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

68

“An Essay on Man” by Alexander Pope

In Four Epistles To Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke From Epistle 1

Awake, my ST.JOHN ! leave all meaner things To low ambition, and the pride of kings. Let us (since life can little more supply Than just to look about us and to die) Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man; A mighty maze! but not without a plan; A wild, where weeds and flow'rs promiscuous shoot; Or garden, tempting with forbidden fruit. Together let us beat this ample field, Try what the open, what the covert yield; The latent tracts, the giddy heights explore Of all who blindly creep, or sightless soar; Eye Nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies, And catch the manners living as they rise; Laugh where we must, be candid where we can; But vindicate the ways of God to man. 1. Say first, of God above, or man below, What can we reason, but from what we know? Of man what see we, but his station here, From which to reason, or to which refer? Through worlds unnumber'd though the God be known, 'Tis ours to trace him only in our own. He, who through vast immensity can pierce, See worlds on worlds compose one universe, Observe how system into system runs, What other planets circle other suns, What varied being peoples ev'ry star, May tell why Heav'n has made us as we are. But of this frame the bearings, and the ties, The strong connections, nice dependencies, Gradations just, has thy pervading soul Look'd through? or can a part contain the whole? Is the great chain, that draws all to agree, And drawn supports, upheld by God, or thee? 2. Presumptuous man! the reason wouldst thou find, Why form'd so weak, so little, and so blind? First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess, Why form'd no weaker, blinder, and no less! Ask of thy mother earth, why oaks are made

Page 73: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

69

Taller or stronger than the weeds they shade? Or ask of yonder argent fields above, Why Jove's satellites are less than Jove? Of systems possible, if 'tis confessed That Wisdom infinite must form the best, Where all must full or not coherent be, And all that rises, rise in due degree; Then, in the scale of reas'ning life, 'tis plain There must be somewhere, such a rank as man: And all the question (wrangle e'er so long) Is only this, if God has placed him wrong? Respecting man, whatever wrong we call, May, must be right, as relative to all. In human works, though labored on with pain, A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain; In God's, one single can its end produce; Yet serves to second too some other use. So man, who here seems principal alone, Perhaps acts second to some sphere unknown, Touches some wheel, or verges to some goal; 'Tis but a part we see, and not a whole. When the proud steed shall know why man restrains His fiery course, or drives him o'er the plains: When the dull ox, why now he breaks the clod, Is now a victim, and now Egypt's God: Then shall man's pride and dullness comprehend His actions', passions', being's, use and end; Why doing, suff'ring, checked, impelled; and why This hour a slave, the next a deity. Then say not man's imperfect, Heav'n in fault; Say rather, man's as perfect as he ought: His knowledge measured to his state and place, His time a moment, and a point his space. If to be perfect in a certain sphere, What matter, soon or late, or here or there? The blest today is as completely so, As who began a thousand years ago. 3. Heav'n from all creatures hides the book of fate, All but the page prescribed, their present state: From brutes what men, from men what spirits know: Or who could suffer being here below? The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed today, Had he thy reason, would he skip and play? Pleased to the last, he crops the flow'ry food, And licks the hand just raised to shed his blood.

Page 74: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

70

Oh blindness to the future! kindly giv'n, That each may fill the circle marked by Heav'n: Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, A hero perish, or a sparrow fall, Atoms or systems into ruin hurled, And now a bubble burst, and now a world. Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar; Wait the great teacher Death; and God adore! What future bliss, he gives not thee to know, But gives that hope to be thy blessing now. Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blest: The soul, uneasy and confined from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come. Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutored mind Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind; His soul, proud science never taught to stray Far as the solar walk, or Milky Way; Yet simple nature to his hope has giv'n, Behind the cloud-topped hill, an humbler Heav'n; Some safer world in depth of woods embraced, Some happier island in the wat'ry waste, Where slaves once more their native land behold, No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold. To be, contents his natural desire, He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire; But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, His faithful dog shall bear him company. 4. Go, wiser thou! and, in thy scale of sense Weigh thy opinion against Providence; Call imperfection what thou fanciest such, Say, here he gives too little, there too much: Destroy all creatures for thy sport or gust, Yet cry, if man's unhappy, God's unjust; If man alone engross not Heav'n's high care, Alone made perfect here, immortal there: Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod, Rejudge his justice, be the God of God. In pride, in reas'ning pride, our error lies; All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies. Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes, Men would be angels, angels would be gods. Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell, Aspiring to be angels, men rebel: And who but wishes to invert the laws

Page 75: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

71

Of ORDER, sins against th' Eternal Cause. 5. Ask for what end the heav'nly bodies shine, Earth for whose use? Pride answers, " 'Tis for mine: For me kind Nature wakes her genial pow'r, Suckles each herb, and spreads out ev'ry flow'r; Annual for me, the grape, the rose renew, The juice nectareous, and the balmy dew; For me, the mine a thousand treasures brings; For me, health gushes from a thousand springs; Seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise; My foot-stool earth, my canopy the skies." But errs not Nature from this gracious end, From burning suns when livid deaths descend, When earthquakes swallow, or when tempests sweep Towns to one grave, whole nations to the deep? "No, ('tis replied) the first Almighty Cause Acts not by partial, but by gen'ral laws; Th' exceptions few; some change since all began: And what created perfect?"—Why then man? If the great end be human happiness, Then Nature deviates; and can man do less? As much that end a constant course requires Of show'rs and sunshine, as of man's desires; As much eternal springs and cloudless skies, As men for ever temp'rate, calm, and wise. If plagues or earthquakes break not Heav'n's design, Why then a Borgia, or a Catiline? Who knows but he, whose hand the lightning forms, Who heaves old ocean, and who wings the storms, Pours fierce ambition in a Cæsar's mind, Or turns young Ammon loose to scourge mankind? From pride, from pride, our very reas'ning springs; Account for moral, as for nat'ral things: Why charge we Heav'n in those, in these acquit? In both, to reason right is to submit. Better for us, perhaps, it might appear, Were there all harmony, all virtue here; That never air or ocean felt the wind; That never passion discompos'd the mind. But ALL subsists by elemental strife; And passions are the elements of life. The gen'ral ORDER, since the whole began, Is kept in nature, and is kept in man. 6. What would this man? Now upward will he soar,

Page 76: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

72

And little less than angel, would be more; Now looking downwards, just as grieved appears To want the strength of bulls, the fur of bears. Made for his use all creatures if he call, Say what their use, had he the pow'rs of all? Nature to these, without profusion, kind, The proper organs, proper pow'rs assigned; Each seeming want compensated of course, Here with degrees of swiftness, there of force; All in exact proportion to the state; Nothing to add, and nothing to abate. Each beast, each insect, happy in its own: Is Heav'n unkind to man, and man alone? Shall he alone, whom rational we call, Be pleas'd with nothing, if not bless'd with all? The bliss of man (could pride that blessing find) Is not to act or think beyond mankind; No pow'rs of body or of soul to share, But what his nature and his state can bear. Why has not man a microscopic eye? For this plain reason, man is not a fly. Say what the use, were finer optics giv'n, T' inspect a mite, not comprehend the heav'n? Or touch, if tremblingly alive all o'er, To smart and agonize at ev'ry pore? Or quick effluvia darting through the brain, Die of a rose in aromatic pain? If nature thunder'd in his op'ning ears, And stunn'd him with the music of the spheres, How would he wish that Heav'n had left him still The whisp'ring zephyr, and the purling rill? Who finds not Providence all good and wise, Alike in what it gives, and what denies? 7. Far as creation's ample range extends, The scale of sensual, mental pow'rs ascends: Mark how it mounts, to man's imperial race, From the green myriads in the peopled grass: What modes of sight betwixt each wide extreme, The mole's dim curtain, and the lynx's beam: Of smell, the headlong lioness between, And hound sagacious on the tainted green: Of hearing, from the life that fills the flood, To that which warbles through the vernal wood: The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine! Feels at each thread, and lives along the line:

Page 77: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

73

In the nice bee, what sense so subtly true From pois'nous herbs extracts the healing dew: How instinct varies in the grov'lling swine, Compar'd, half-reas'ning elephant, with thine: 'Twixt that, and reason, what a nice barrier; For ever sep'rate, yet for ever near! Remembrance and reflection how allied; What thin partitions sense from thought divide: And middle natures, how they long to join, Yet never pass th' insuperable line! Without this just gradation, could they be Subjected, these to those, or all to thee? The pow'rs of all subdu'd by thee alone, Is not thy reason all these pow'rs in one? 8. See, through this air, this ocean, and this earth, All matter quick, and bursting into birth. Above, how high, progressive life may go! Around, how wide! how deep extend below! Vast chain of being, which from God began, Natures ethereal, human, angel, man, Beast, bird, fish, insect! what no eye can see, No glass can reach! from infinite to thee, From thee to nothing!—On superior pow'rs Were we to press, inferior might on ours: Or in the full creation leave a void, Where, one step broken, the great scale's destroy'd: From nature's chain whatever link you strike, Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike. And, if each system in gradation roll Alike essential to th' amazing whole, The least confusion but in one, not all That system only, but the whole must fall. Let earth unbalanc'd from her orbit fly, Planets and suns run lawless through the sky; Let ruling angels from their spheres be hurl'd, Being on being wreck'd, and world on world; Heav'n's whole foundations to their centre nod, And nature tremble to the throne of God. All this dread ORDER break—for whom? for thee? Vile worm!—Oh madness, pride, impiety! 9. What if the foot ordain'd the dust to tread, Or hand to toil, aspir'd to be the head? What if the head, the eye, or ear repin'd To serve mere engines to the ruling mind?

Page 78: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

74

Just as absurd for any part to claim To be another, in this gen'ral frame: Just as absurd, to mourn the tasks or pains, The great directing Mind of All ordains. All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body Nature is, and God the soul; That, chang'd through all, and yet in all the same, Great in the earth, as in th' ethereal frame, Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees, Lives through all life, extends through all extent, Spreads undivided, operates unspent, Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part, As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart; As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns, As the rapt seraph that adores and burns; To him no high, no low, no great, no small; He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. 10. Cease then, nor ORDER imperfection name: Our proper bliss depends on what we blame. Know thy own point: This kind, this due degree Of blindness, weakness, Heav'n bestows on thee. Submit.—In this, or any other sphere, Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear: Safe in the hand of one disposing pow'r, Or in the natal, or the mortal hour. All nature is but art, unknown to thee; All chance, direction, which thou canst not see; All discord, harmony, not understood; All partial evil, universal good: And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite, One truth is clear, “Whatever IS, is RIGHT.”

From Epistle 2

1. Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man. Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state, A being darkly wise, and rudely great: With too much knowledge for the sceptic side, With too much weakness for the stoic's pride, He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest; In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast; In doubt his mind or body to prefer;

Page 79: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

75

Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err; Alike in ignorance, his reason such, Whether he thinks too little, or too much: Chaos of thought and passion, all confused; Still by himself abused, or disabused; Created half to rise, and half to fall; Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all; Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled: The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!

Page 80: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

76

“The Rape of the Lock” by Alexander Pope

CANTO 1 What dire offence from am'rous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things, I sing—This verse to Caryl, Muse! is due: This, ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view: Slight is the subject, but not so the praise, If she inspire, and he approve my lays. Say what strange motive, Goddess! could compel A well-bred lord t' assault a gentle belle? O say what stranger cause, yet unexplor'd, Could make a gentle belle reject a lord? In tasks so bold, can little men engage, And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty rage? Sol thro' white curtains shot a tim'rous ray, And op'd those eyes that must eclipse the day; Now lap-dogs give themselves the rousing shake, And sleepless lovers, just at twelve, awake: Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knock'd the ground, And the press'd watch return'd a silver sound. Belinda still her downy pillow press'd, Her guardian sylph prolong'd the balmy rest: 'Twas he had summon'd to her silent bed The morning dream that hover'd o'er her head; A youth more glitt'ring than a birthnight beau, (That ev'n in slumber caus'd her cheek to glow) Seem'd to her ear his winning lips to lay, And thus in whispers said, or seem'd to say. "Fairest of mortals, thou distinguish'd care Of thousand bright inhabitants of air! If e'er one vision touch'd thy infant thought, Of all the nurse and all the priest have taught, Of airy elves by moonlight shadows seen, The silver token, and the circled green, Or virgins visited by angel pow'rs, With golden crowns and wreaths of heav'nly flow'rs, Hear and believe! thy own importance know, Nor bound thy narrow views to things below. Some secret truths from learned pride conceal'd, To maids alone and children are reveal'd: What tho' no credit doubting wits may give? The fair and innocent shall still believe. Know then, unnumber'd spirits round thee fly, The light militia of the lower sky;

Page 81: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

77

These, though unseen, are ever on the wing, Hang o'er the box, and hover round the Ring. Think what an equipage thou hast in air, And view with scorn two pages and a chair. As now your own, our beings were of old, And once inclos'd in woman's beauteous mould; Thence, by a soft transition, we repair From earthly vehicles to these of air. Think not, when woman's transient breath is fled, That all her vanities at once are dead; Succeeding vanities she still regards, And tho' she plays no more, o'erlooks the cards. Her joy in gilded chariots, when alive, And love of ombre, after death survive. For when the fair in all their pride expire, To their first elements their souls retire: The sprites of fiery termagants in flame Mount up, and take a Salamander's name. Soft yielding minds to water glide away, And sip with Nymphs, their elemental tea. The graver prude sinks downward to a Gnome, In search of mischief still on earth to roam. The light coquettes in Sylphs aloft repair, And sport and flutter in the fields of air. Know further yet; whoever fair and chaste Rejects mankind, is by some sylph embrac'd: For spirits, freed from mortal laws, with ease Assume what sexes and what shapes they please. What guards the purity of melting maids, In courtly balls, and midnight masquerades, Safe from the treach'rous friend, the daring spark, The glance by day, the whisper in the dark, When kind occasion prompts their warm desires, When music softens, and when dancing fires? 'Tis but their sylph, the wise celestials know, Though honour is the word with men below. Some nymphs there are, too conscious of their face, For life predestin'd to the gnomes' embrace. These swell their prospects and exalt their pride, When offers are disdain'd, and love denied: Then gay ideas crowd the vacant brain, While peers, and dukes, and all their sweeping train, And garters, stars, and coronets appear, And in soft sounds 'Your Grace' salutes their ear. 'Tis these that early taint the female soul, Instruct the eyes of young coquettes to roll,

Page 82: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

78

Teach infant cheeks a bidden blush to know, And little hearts to flutter at a beau. Oft, when the world imagine women stray, The Sylphs through mystic mazes guide their way, Thro' all the giddy circle they pursue, And old impertinence expel by new. What tender maid but must a victim fall To one man's treat, but for another's ball? When Florio speaks, what virgin could withstand, If gentle Damon did not squeeze her hand? With varying vanities, from ev'ry part, They shift the moving toyshop of their heart; Where wigs with wigs, with sword-knots sword-knots strive, Beaux banish beaux, and coaches coaches drive. This erring mortals levity may call, Oh blind to truth! the Sylphs contrive it all. Of these am I, who thy protection claim, A watchful sprite, and Ariel is my name. Late, as I rang'd the crystal wilds of air, In the clear mirror of thy ruling star I saw, alas! some dread event impend, Ere to the main this morning sun descend, But Heav'n reveals not what, or how, or where: Warn'd by the Sylph, oh pious maid, beware! This to disclose is all thy guardian can. Beware of all, but most beware of man!" He said; when Shock, who thought she slept too long, Leap'd up, and wak'd his mistress with his tongue. 'Twas then, Belinda, if report say true, Thy eyes first open'd on a billet-doux; Wounds, charms, and ardors were no sooner read, But all the vision vanish'd from thy head. And now, unveil'd, the toilet stands display'd, Each silver vase in mystic order laid. First, rob'd in white, the nymph intent adores With head uncover'd, the cosmetic pow'rs. A heav'nly image in the glass appears, To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears; Th' inferior priestess, at her altar's side, Trembling, begins the sacred rites of pride. Unnumber'd treasures ope at once, and here The various off'rings of the world appear; From each she nicely culls with curious toil, And decks the goddess with the glitt'ring spoil. This casket India's glowing gems unlocks, And all Arabia breathes from yonder box.

Page 83: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

79

The tortoise here and elephant unite, Transform'd to combs, the speckled and the white. Here files of pins extend their shining rows, Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux. Now awful beauty puts on all its arms; The fair each moment rises in her charms, Repairs her smiles, awakens ev'ry grace, And calls forth all the wonders of her face; Sees by degrees a purer blush arise, And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes. The busy Sylphs surround their darling care; These set the head, and those divide the hair, Some fold the sleeve, whilst others plait the gown; And Betty's prais'd for labours not her own.

CANTO 2

Not with more glories, in th' etherial plain, The sun first rises o'er the purpled main, Than, issuing forth, the rival of his beams Launch'd on the bosom of the silver Thames. Fair nymphs, and well-dress'd youths around her shone, But ev'ry eye was fix'd on her alone. On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore, Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore. Her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose, Quick as her eyes, and as unfix'd as those: Favours to none, to all she smiles extends; Oft she rejects, but never once offends. Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazers strike, And, like the sun, they shine on all alike. Yet graceful ease, and sweetness void of pride, Might hide her faults, if belles had faults to hide: If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all. This nymph, to the destruction of mankind, Nourish'd two locks, which graceful hung behind In equal curls, and well conspir'd to deck With shining ringlets the smooth iv'ry neck. Love in these labyrinths his slaves detains, And mighty hearts are held in slender chains. With hairy springes we the birds betray, Slight lines of hair surprise the finney prey, Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare, And beauty draws us with a single hair.

Page 84: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

80

Th' advent'rous baron the bright locks admir'd; He saw, he wish'd, and to the prize aspir'd. Resolv'd to win, he meditates the way, By force to ravish, or by fraud betray; For when success a lover's toil attends, Few ask, if fraud or force attain'd his ends. For this, ere Phoebus rose, he had implor'd Propitious Heav'n, and ev'ry pow'r ador'd, But chiefly love—to love an altar built, Of twelve vast French romances, neatly gilt. There lay three garters, half a pair of gloves; And all the trophies of his former loves; With tender billet-doux he lights the pyre, And breathes three am'rous sighs to raise the fire. Then prostrate falls, and begs with ardent eyes Soon to obtain, and long possess the prize: The pow'rs gave ear, and granted half his pray'r, The rest, the winds dispers'd in empty air. But now secure the painted vessel glides, The sun-beams trembling on the floating tides, While melting music steals upon the sky, And soften'd sounds along the waters die. Smooth flow the waves, the zephyrs gently play, Belinda smil'd, and all the world was gay. All but the Sylph—with careful thoughts opprest, Th' impending woe sat heavy on his breast. He summons strait his denizens of air; The lucid squadrons round the sails repair: Soft o'er the shrouds aerial whispers breathe, That seem'd but zephyrs to the train beneath. Some to the sun their insect-wings unfold, Waft on the breeze, or sink in clouds of gold. Transparent forms, too fine for mortal sight, Their fluid bodies half dissolv'd in light, Loose to the wind their airy garments flew, Thin glitt'ring textures of the filmy dew; Dipp'd in the richest tincture of the skies, Where light disports in ever-mingling dyes, While ev'ry beam new transient colours flings, Colours that change whene'er they wave their wings. Amid the circle, on the gilded mast, Superior by the head, was Ariel plac'd; His purple pinions op'ning to the sun, He rais'd his azure wand, and thus begun. "Ye Sylphs and Sylphids, to your chief give ear! Fays, Fairies, Genii, Elves, and Dæmons, hear!

Page 85: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

81

Ye know the spheres and various tasks assign'd By laws eternal to th' aerial kind. Some in the fields of purest æther play, And bask and whiten in the blaze of day. Some guide the course of wand'ring orbs on high, Or roll the planets through the boundless sky. Some less refin'd, beneath the moon's pale light Pursue the stars that shoot athwart the night, Or suck the mists in grosser air below, Or dip their pinions in the painted bow, Or brew fierce tempests on the wintry main, Or o'er the glebe distil the kindly rain. Others on earth o'er human race preside, Watch all their ways, and all their actions guide: Of these the chief the care of nations own, And guard with arms divine the British throne. "Our humbler province is to tend the fair, Not a less pleasing, though less glorious care. To save the powder from too rude a gale, Nor let th' imprison'd essences exhale, To draw fresh colours from the vernal flow'rs, To steal from rainbows e'er they drop in show'rs A brighter wash; to curl their waving hairs, Assist their blushes, and inspire their airs; Nay oft, in dreams, invention we bestow, To change a flounce, or add a furbelow. "This day, black omens threat the brightest fair That e'er deserv'd a watchful spirit's care; Some dire disaster, or by force, or slight, But what, or where, the fates have wrapt in night. Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law, Or some frail china jar receive a flaw; Or stain her honour, or her new brocade, Forget her pray'rs, or miss a masquerade; Or lose her heart, or necklace, at a ball; Or whether Heav'n has doom'd that Shock must fall. Haste, then, ye spirits! to your charge repair: The flutt'ring fan be Zephyretta's care; The drops to thee, Brillante, we consign; And, Momentilla, let the watch be thine; Do thou, Crispissa, tend her fav'rite lock; Ariel himself shall be the guard of Shock. "To fifty chosen Sylphs, of special note, We trust th' important charge, the petticoat: Oft have we known that sev'n-fold fence to fail, Though stiff with hoops, and arm'd with ribs of whale.

Page 86: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

82

Form a strong line about the silver bound, And guard the wide circumference around. "Whatever spirit, careless of his charge, His post neglects, or leaves the fair at large, Shall feel sharp vengeance soon o'ertake his sins, Be stopp'd in vials, or transfix'd with pins; Or plung'd in lakes of bitter washes lie, Or wedg'd whole ages in a bodkin's eye: Gums and pomatums shall his flight restrain, While clogg'd he beats his silken wings in vain; Or alum styptics with contracting pow'r Shrink his thin essence like a rivell'd flow'r. Or, as Ixion fix'd, the wretch shall feel The giddy motion of the whirling mill, In fumes of burning chocolate shall glow, And tremble at the sea that froths below!" He spoke; the spirits from the sails descend; Some, orb in orb, around the nymph extend, Some thrid the mazy ringlets of her hair, Some hang upon the pendants of her ear; With beating hearts the dire event they wait, Anxious, and trembling for the birth of fate.

CANTO 3

Close by those meads, for ever crown'd with flow'rs, Where Thames with pride surveys his rising tow'rs, There stands a structure of majestic frame, Which from the neighb'ring Hampton takes its name. Here Britain's statesmen oft the fall foredoom Of foreign tyrants and of nymphs at home; Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey, Dost sometimes counsel take—and sometimes tea. Hither the heroes and the nymphs resort, To taste awhile the pleasures of a court; In various talk th' instructive hours they pass'd, Who gave the ball, or paid the visit last; One speaks the glory of the British queen, And one describes a charming Indian screen; A third interprets motions, looks, and eyes; At ev'ry word a reputation dies. Snuff, or the fan, supply each pause of chat, With singing, laughing, ogling, and all that. Meanwhile, declining from the noon of day, The sun obliquely shoots his burning ray; The hungry judges soon the sentence sign,

Page 87: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

83

And wretches hang that jury-men may dine; The merchant from th' Exchange returns in peace, And the long labours of the toilet cease. Belinda now, whom thirst of fame invites, Burns to encounter two adventrous knights, At ombre singly to decide their doom; And swells her breast with conquests yet to come. Straight the three bands prepare in arms to join, Each band the number of the sacred nine. Soon as she spreads her hand, th' aerial guard Descend, and sit on each important card: First Ariel perch'd upon a Matadore, Then each, according to the rank they bore; For Sylphs, yet mindful of their ancient race, Are, as when women, wondrous fond of place. Behold, four Kings in majesty rever'd, With hoary whiskers and a forky beard; And four fair Queens whose hands sustain a flow'r, Th' expressive emblem of their softer pow'r; Four Knaves in garbs succinct, a trusty band, Caps on their heads, and halberds in their hand; And parti-colour'd troops, a shining train, Draw forth to combat on the velvet plain. The skilful nymph reviews her force with care: "Let Spades be trumps!" she said, and trumps they were. Now move to war her sable Matadores, In show like leaders of the swarthy Moors. Spadillio first, unconquerable lord! Led off two captive trumps, and swept the board. As many more Manillio forc'd to yield, And march'd a victor from the verdant field. Him Basto follow'd, but his fate more hard Gain'd but one trump and one plebeian card. With his broad sabre next, a chief in years, The hoary Majesty of Spades appears; Puts forth one manly leg, to sight reveal'd; The rest, his many-colour'd robe conceal'd. The rebel Knave, who dares his prince engage, Proves the just victim of his royal rage. Ev'n mighty Pam, that kings and queens o'erthrew And mow'd down armies in the fights of loo, Sad chance of war! now destitute of aid, Falls undistinguish'd by the victor Spade! Thus far both armies to Belinda yield; Now to the baron fate inclines the field. His warlike Amazon her host invades,

Page 88: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

84

Th' imperial consort of the crown of Spades. The Club's black tyrant first her victim died, Spite of his haughty mien, and barb'rous pride: What boots the regal circle on his head, His giant limbs, in state unwieldy spread; That long behind he trails his pompous robe, And of all monarchs, only grasps the globe? The baron now his diamonds pours apace; Th' embroider'd King who shows but half his face, And his refulgent Queen, with pow'rs combin'd Of broken troops an easy conquest find. Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, in wild disorder seen, With throngs promiscuous strow the level green. Thus when dispers'd a routed army runs, Of Asia's troops, and Afric's sable sons, With like confusion diff'rent nations fly, Of various habit, and of various dye, The pierc'd battalions disunited fall. In heaps on heaps; one fate o'erwhelms them all. The Knave of Diamonds tries his wily arts, And wins (oh shameful chance!) the Queen of Hearts. At this, the blood the virgin's cheek forsook, A livid paleness spreads o'er all her look; She sees, and trembles at th' approaching ill, Just in the jaws of ruin, and codille. And now (as oft in some distemper'd state) On one nice trick depends the gen'ral fate. An Ace of Hearts steps forth: The King unseen Lurk'd in her hand, and mourn'd his captive Queen: He springs to vengeance with an eager pace, And falls like thunder on the prostrate Ace. The nymph exulting fills with shouts the sky; The walls, the woods, and long canals reply. Oh thoughtless mortals! ever blind to fate, Too soon dejected, and too soon elate! Sudden, these honours shall be snatch'd away, And curs'd for ever this victorious day. For lo! the board with cups and spoons is crown'd, The berries crackle, and the mill turns round. On shining altars of Japan they raise The silver lamp; the fiery spirits blaze. From silver spouts the grateful liquors glide, While China's earth receives the smoking tide. At once they gratify their scent and taste, And frequent cups prolong the rich repast. Straight hover round the fair her airy band;

Page 89: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

85

Some, as she sipp'd, the fuming liquor fann'd, Some o'er her lap their careful plumes display'd, Trembling, and conscious of the rich brocade. Coffee, (which makes the politician wise, And see through all things with his half-shut eyes) Sent up in vapours to the baron's brain New stratagems, the radiant lock to gain. Ah cease, rash youth! desist ere 'tis too late, Fear the just gods, and think of Scylla's fate! Chang'd to a bird, and sent to flit in air, She dearly pays for Nisus' injur'd hair! But when to mischief mortals bend their will, How soon they find fit instruments of ill! Just then, Clarissa drew with tempting grace A two-edg'd weapon from her shining case; So ladies in romance assist their knight Present the spear, and arm him for the fight. He takes the gift with rev'rence, and extends The little engine on his fingers' ends; This just behind Belinda's neck he spread, As o'er the fragrant steams she bends her head. Swift to the lock a thousand sprites repair, A thousand wings, by turns, blow back the hair, And thrice they twitch'd the diamond in her ear, Thrice she look'd back, and thrice the foe drew near. Just in that instant, anxious Ariel sought The close recesses of the virgin's thought; As on the nosegay in her breast reclin'd, He watch'd th' ideas rising in her mind, Sudden he view'd, in spite of all her art, An earthly lover lurking at her heart. Amaz'd, confus'd, he found his pow'r expir'd, Resign'd to fate, and with a sigh retir'd. The peer now spreads the glitt'ring forfex wide, T' inclose the lock; now joins it, to divide. Ev'n then, before the fatal engine clos'd, A wretched Sylph too fondly interpos'd; Fate urg'd the shears, and cut the Sylph in twain, (But airy substance soon unites again). The meeting points the sacred hair dissever From the fair head, for ever, and for ever! Then flash'd the living lightning from her eyes, And screams of horror rend th' affrighted skies. Not louder shrieks to pitying Heav'n are cast, When husbands or when lap-dogs breathe their last, Or when rich China vessels, fall'n from high,

Page 90: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

86

In glitt'ring dust and painted fragments lie! "Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine," The victor cried, "the glorious prize is mine! While fish in streams, or birds delight in air, Or in a coach and six the British fair, As long at Atalantis shall be read, Or the small pillow grace a lady's bed, While visits shall be paid on solemn days, When num'rous wax-lights in bright order blaze, While nymphs take treats, or assignations give, So long my honour, name, and praise shall live! What time would spare, from steel receives its date, And monuments, like men, submit to fate! Steel could the labour of the gods destroy, And strike to dust th' imperial tow'rs of Troy; Steel could the works of mortal pride confound, And hew triumphal arches to the ground. What wonder then, fair nymph! thy hairs should feel The conqu'ring force of unresisted steel?"

CANTO 4

But anxious cares the pensive nymph oppressed, And secret passions labour'd in her breast. Not youthful kings in battle seiz'd alive, Not scornful virgins who their charms survive, Not ardent lovers robb'd of all their bliss, Not ancient ladies when refus'd a kiss, Not tyrants fierce that unrepenting die, Not Cynthia when her manteau's pinn'd awry, E'er felt such rage, resentment, and despair, As thou, sad virgin! for thy ravish'd hair. For, that sad moment, when the Sylphs withdrew, And Ariel weeping from Belinda flew, Umbriel, a dusky, melancholy sprite, As ever sullied the fair face of light, Down to the central earth, his proper scene, Repair'd to search the gloomy cave of Spleen. Swift on his sooty pinions flits the Gnome, And in a vapour reach'd the dismal dome. No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows, The dreaded East is all the wind that blows. Here, in a grotto, shelter'd close from air, And screen'd in shades from day's detested glare, She sighs for ever on her pensive bed, Pain at her side, and Megrim at her head.

Page 91: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

87

Two handmaids wait the throne: alike in place, But diff'ring far in figure and in face. Here stood Ill Nature like an ancient maid, Her wrinkled form in black and white array'd; With store of pray'rs, for mornings, nights, and noons, Her hand is fill'd; her bosom with lampoons. There Affectation, with a sickly mien, Shows in her cheek the roses of eighteen, Practis'd to lisp, and hang the head aside, Faints into airs, and languishes with pride, On the rich quilt sinks with becoming woe, Wrapp'd in a gown, for sickness, and for show. The fair ones feel such maladies as these, When each new night-dress gives a new disease. A constant vapour o'er the palace flies; Strange phantoms, rising as the mists arise; Dreadful, as hermit's dreams in haunted shades, Or bright, as visions of expiring maids. Now glaring fiends, and snakes on rolling spires, Pale spectres, gaping tombs, and purple fires: Now lakes of liquid gold, Elysian scenes, And crystal domes, and angels in machines. Unnumber'd throngs on ev'ry side are seen Of bodies chang'd to various forms by Spleen. Here living teapots stand, one arm held out, One bent; the handle this, and that the spout: A pipkin there, like Homer's tripod walks; Here sighs a jar, and there a goose pie talks; Men prove with child, as pow'rful fancy works, And maids turn'd bottles, call aloud for corks. Safe pass'd the Gnome through this fantastic band, A branch of healing spleenwort in his hand. Then thus address'd the pow'r: "Hail, wayward Queen! Who rule the sex to fifty from fifteen: Parent of vapours and of female wit, Who give th' hysteric, or poetic fit, On various tempers act by various ways, Make some take physic, others scribble plays; Who cause the proud their visits to delay, And send the godly in a pet to pray. A nymph there is, that all thy pow'r disdains, And thousands more in equal mirth maintains. But oh! if e'er thy gnome could spoil a grace, Or raise a pimple on a beauteous face, Like citron waters matrons' cheeks inflame,

Page 92: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

88

Or change complexions at a losing game; If e'er with airy horns I planted heads, Or rumpled petticoats, or tumbled beds, Or caus'd suspicion when no soul was rude, Or discompos'd the head-dress of a prude, Or e'er to costive lap-dog gave disease, Which not the tears of brightest eyes could ease: Hear me, and touch Belinda with chagrin; That single act gives half the world the spleen." The goddess with a discontented air Seems to reject him, though she grants his pray'r. A wondrous bag with both her hands she binds, Like that where once Ulysses held the winds; There she collects the force of female lungs, Sighs, sobs, and passions, and the war of tongues. A vial next she fills with fainting fears, Soft sorrows, melting griefs, and flowing tears. The Gnome rejoicing bears her gifts away, Spreads his black wings, and slowly mounts to day. Sunk in Thalestris' arms the nymph he found, Her eyes dejected and her hair unbound. Full o'er their heads the swelling bag he rent, And all the Furies issu'd at the vent. Belinda burns with more than mortal ire, And fierce Thalestris fans the rising fire. "Oh wretched maid!" she spread her hands, and cried, (While Hampton's echoes, "Wretched maid!" replied) "Was it for this you took such constant care The bodkin, comb, and essence to prepare? For this your locks in paper durance bound, For this with tort'ring irons wreath'd around? For this with fillets strain'd your tender head, And bravely bore the double loads of lead? Gods! shall the ravisher display your hair, While the fops envy, and the ladies stare! Honour forbid! at whose unrivall'd shrine Ease, pleasure, virtue, all, our sex resign. Methinks already I your tears survey, Already hear the horrid things they say, Already see you a degraded toast, And all your honour in a whisper lost! How shall I, then, your helpless fame defend? 'Twill then be infamy to seem your friend! And shall this prize, th' inestimable prize, Expos'd through crystal to the gazing eyes, And heighten'd by the diamond's circling rays,

Page 93: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

89

On that rapacious hand for ever blaze? Sooner shall grass in Hyde Park Circus grow, And wits take lodgings in the sound of Bow; Sooner let earth, air, sea, to chaos fall, Men, monkeys, lap-dogs, parrots, perish all!" She said; then raging to Sir Plume repairs, And bids her beau demand the precious hairs: (Sir Plume, of amber snuff-box justly vain, And the nice conduct of a clouded cane) With earnest eyes, and round unthinking face, He first the snuffbox open'd, then the case, And thus broke out—"My Lord, why, what the devil? Z——ds! damn the lock! 'fore Gad, you must be civil! Plague on't! 'tis past a jest—nay prithee, pox! Give her the hair"—he spoke, and rapp'd his box. "It grieves me much," replied the peer again "Who speaks so well should ever speak in vain. But by this lock, this sacred lock I swear, (Which never more shall join its parted hair; Which never more its honours shall renew, Clipp'd from the lovely head where late it grew) That while my nostrils draw the vital air, This hand, which won it, shall for ever wear." He spoke, and speaking, in proud triumph spread The long-contended honours of her head. But Umbriel, hateful gnome! forbears not so; He breaks the vial whence the sorrows flow. Then see! the nymph in beauteous grief appears, Her eyes half-languishing, half-drown'd in tears; On her heav'd bosom hung her drooping head, Which, with a sigh, she rais'd; and thus she said: "For ever curs'd be this detested day, Which snatch'd my best, my fav'rite curl away! Happy! ah ten times happy, had I been, If Hampton Court these eyes had never seen! Yet am not I the first mistaken maid, By love of courts to num'rous ills betray'd. Oh had I rather unadmir'd remain'd In some lone isle, or distant northern land; Where the gilt chariot never marks the way, Where none learn ombre, none e'er taste bohea! There kept my charms conceal'd from mortal eye, Like roses, that in deserts bloom and die. What mov'd my mind with youthful lords to roam? Oh had I stay'd, and said my pray'rs at home! 'Twas this, the morning omens seem'd to tell,

Page 94: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

90

Thrice from my trembling hand the patch-box fell; The tott'ring china shook without a wind, Nay, Poll sat mute, and Shock was most unkind! A Sylph too warn'd me of the threats of fate, In mystic visions, now believ'd too late! See the poor remnants of these slighted hairs! My hands shall rend what ev'n thy rapine spares: These, in two sable ringlets taught to break, Once gave new beauties to the snowy neck. The sister-lock now sits uncouth, alone, And in its fellow's fate foresees its own; Uncurl'd it hangs, the fatal shears demands, And tempts once more thy sacrilegious hands. Oh hadst thou, cruel! been content to seize Hairs less in sight, or any hairs but these!"

CANTO 5

She said: the pitying audience melt in tears, But Fate and Jove had stopp'd the Baron's ears. In vain Thalestris with reproach assails, For who can move when fair Belinda fails? Not half so fix'd the Trojan could remain, While Anna begg'd and Dido rag'd in vain. Then grave Clarissa graceful wav'd her fan; Silence ensu'd, and thus the nymph began. "Say, why are beauties prais'd and honour'd most, The wise man's passion, and the vain man's toast? Why deck'd with all that land and sea afford, Why angels call'd, and angel-like ador'd? Why round our coaches crowd the white-glov'd beaux, Why bows the side-box from its inmost rows? How vain are all these glories, all our pains, Unless good sense preserve what beauty gains: That men may say, when we the front-box grace: 'Behold the first in virtue, as in face!' Oh! if to dance all night, and dress all day, Charm'd the smallpox, or chas'd old age away; Who would not scorn what housewife's cares produce, Or who would learn one earthly thing of use? To patch, nay ogle, might become a saint, Nor could it sure be such a sin to paint. But since, alas! frail beauty must decay, Curl'd or uncurl'd, since locks will turn to grey, Since painted, or not painted, all shall fade, And she who scorns a man, must die a maid;

Page 95: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

91

What then remains but well our pow'r to use, And keep good humour still whate'er we lose? And trust me, dear! good humour can prevail, When airs, and flights, and screams, and scolding fail. Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll; Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul." So spoke the dame, but no applause ensu'd; Belinda frown'd, Thalestris call'd her prude. "To arms, to arms!" the fierce virago cries, And swift as lightning to the combat flies. All side in parties, and begin th' attack; Fans clap, silks rustle, and tough whalebones crack; Heroes' and heroines' shouts confus'dly rise, And bass, and treble voices strike the skies. No common weapons in their hands are found, Like gods they fight, nor dread a mortal wound. So when bold Homer makes the gods engage, And heav'nly breasts with human passions rage; 'Gainst Pallas, Mars; Latona, Hermes arms; And all Olympus rings with loud alarms. Jove's thunder roars, heav'n trembles all around; Blue Neptune storms, the bellowing deeps resound; Earth shakes her nodding tow'rs, the ground gives way; And the pale ghosts start at the flash of day! Triumphant Umbriel on a sconce's height Clapp'd his glad wings, and sate to view the fight: Propp'd on their bodkin spears, the sprites survey The growing combat, or assist the fray. While through the press enrag'd Thalestris flies, And scatters death around from both her eyes, A beau and witling perish'd in the throng, One died in metaphor, and one in song. "O cruel nymph! a living death I bear," Cried Dapperwit, and sunk beside his chair. A mournful glance Sir Fopling upwards cast, "Those eyes are made so killing"—was his last. Thus on Mæeander's flow'ry margin lies Th' expiring swan, and as he sings he dies. When bold Sir Plume had drawn Clarissa down, Chloe stepp'd in, and kill'd him with a frown; She smil'd to see the doughty hero slain, But at her smile, the beau reviv'd again. Now Jove suspends his golden scales in air, Weighs the men's wits against the lady's hair; The doubtful beam long nods from side to side; At length the wits mount up, the hairs subside.

Page 96: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

92

See, fierce Belinda on the baron flies, With more than usual lightning in her eyes, Nor fear'd the chief th' unequal fight to try, Who sought no more than on his foe to die. But this bold lord with manly strength endu'd, She with one finger and a thumb subdu'd: Just where the breath of life his nostrils drew, A charge of snuff the wily virgin threw; The Gnomes direct, to ev'ry atom just, The pungent grains of titillating dust. Sudden, with starting tears each eye o'erflows, And the high dome re-echoes to his nose. "Now meet thy fate", incens'd Belinda cried, And drew a deadly bodkin from her side. (The same, his ancient personage to deck, Her great great grandsire wore about his neck In three seal-rings; which after, melted down, Form'd a vast buckle for his widow's gown: Her infant grandame's whistle next it grew, The bells she jingled, and the whistle blew; Then in a bodkin grac'd her mother's hairs, Which long she wore, and now Belinda wears.) "Boast not my fall," he cried, "insulting foe! Thou by some other shalt be laid as low. Nor think, to die dejects my lofty mind; All that I dread is leaving you benind! Rather than so, ah let me still survive, And burn in Cupid's flames—but burn alive." "Restore the lock!" she cries; and all around "Restore the lock!" the vaulted roofs rebound. Not fierce Othello in so loud a strain Roar'd for the handkerchief that caus'd his pain. But see how oft ambitious aims are cross'd, The chiefs contend 'till all the prize is lost! The lock, obtain'd with guilt, and kept with pain, In ev'ry place is sought, but sought in vain: With such a prize no mortal must be blest, So Heav'n decrees! with Heav'n who can contest? Some thought it mounted to the lunar sphere, Since all things lost on earth are treasur'd there. There hero's wits are kept in pond'rous vases, And beaux' in snuff boxes and tweezercases. There broken vows and deathbed alms are found, And lovers' hearts with ends of riband bound; The courtier's promises, and sick man's prayers, The smiles of harlots, and the tears of heirs,

Page 97: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

93

Cages for gnats, and chains to yoke a flea, Dried butterflies, and tomes of casuistry. But trust the Muse—she saw it upward rise, Though mark'd by none but quick, poetic eyes: (So Rome's great founder to the heav'ns withdrew, To Proculus alone confess'd in view) A sudden star, it shot through liquid air, And drew behind a radiant trail of hair. Not Berenice's locks first rose so bright, The heav'ns bespangling with dishevell'd light. The Sylphs behold it kindling as it flies, And pleas'd pursue its progress through the skies. This the beau monde shall from the Mall survey, And hail with music its propitious ray. This the blest lover shall for Venus take, And send up vows from Rosamonda's lake. This Partridge soon shall view in cloudless skies, When next he looks through Galileo's eyes; And hence th' egregious wizard shall foredoom The fate of Louis, and the fall of Rome. Then cease, bright nymph! to mourn thy ravish'd hair, Which adds new glory to the shining sphere! Not all the tresses that fair head can boast Shall draw such envy as the lock you lost. For, after all the murders of your eye, When, after millions slain, yourself shall die: When those fair suns shall set, as set they must, And all those tresses shall be laid in dust, This lock, the Muse shall consecrate to fame And 'midst the stars inscribe Belinda's name!

Page 98: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

94

“A Prospect of Heaven Makes Death Easy” by Isaac Watts

There is a land of pure delight Where saints immortal reign; Infinite day excludes the night,

And pleasures banish pain.

There everlasting spring abides, And never-withering flowers; Death like a narrow sea divides This heavenly land from ours.

Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood

Stand dressed in living green: So to the Jews old Canaan stood, While Jordan rolled between.

But timorous mortals start and shrink

To cross this narrow sea, And linger shivering on the brink,

And fear to launch away.

Oh could we make our doubts remove, These gloomy doubts that rise, And see the Canaan that we love,

With unbeclouded eyes;

Could we but climb where Moses stood And view the landscape o’er,

Not Jordan’s stream, nor death’s cold flood, Should fright us from the shore.

Page 99: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

95

“Man Frail, and God Eternal” by Isaac Watts Our God, our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast,

And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of thy throne Thy saints have dwelt secure; Sufficient is thine arm alone,

And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood, Or earth received her frame,

From everlasting thou art God, To endless years the same.

Thy word commands our flesh to dust,

"Return, ye sons of men:" All nations rose from earth at first,

And turn to earth again.

A thousand ages in thy sight Are like an evening gone;

Short as the watch that ends the night Before the rising sun.

The busy tribes of flesh and blood,

With all their lives and cares, Are carried downwards by the flood,

And lost in following years.

Time, like an ever-rolling stream, Bears all its sons away;

They fly, forgotten, as a dream Dies at the op'ning day.

Like flowery fields the nations stand

Pleased with the morning light; The flowers beneath the mower's hand

Lie with'ring ere 'tis night.

Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come,

Be thou our guard while troubles last, And our eternal home

Page 100: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

96

“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” by Thomas Gray

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea, The plowman homeward plods his weary way,

And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, And all the air a solemn stillness holds,

Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds;

Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower

The moping owl does to the moon complain Of such, as wand'ring near her secret bower,

Molest her ancient solitary reign.

Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap,

Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn,

The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed, The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,

No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, Or busy housewife ply her evening care:

No children run to lisp their sire's return, Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.

Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,

Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke; How jocund did they drive their team afield!

How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;

Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile The short and simple annals of the poor.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,

And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.

The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Page 101: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

97

Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault,

If Mem'ry o'er their tomb no trophies raise, Where thro' the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.

Can storied urn or animated bust

Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,

Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death?

Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd,

Or wak'd to ecstasy the living lyre.

But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll;

Chill Penury repress'd their noble rage, And froze the genial current of the soul.

Full many a gem of purest ray serene,

The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear: Full many a flow'r is born to blush unseen,

And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast The little tyrant of his fields withstood; Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,

Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.

Th' applause of list'ning senates to command, The threats of pain and ruin to despise,

To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, And read their hist'ry in a nation's eyes,

Their lot forbade: nor circumscrib'd alone

Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin'd; Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne, And shut the gates of mercy on mankind,

The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide, To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,

Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride With incense kindled at the Muse's flame.

Page 102: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

98

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;

Along the cool sequester'd vale of life They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

Yet ev'n these bones from insult to protect, Some frail memorial still erected nigh,

With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd, Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.

Their name, their years, spelt by th' unletter'd muse,

The place of fame and elegy supply: And many a holy text around she strews, That teach the rustic moralist to die.

For who to dumb Forgetfulness a prey,

This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd, Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,

Nor cast one longing, ling'ring look behind?

On some fond breast the parting soul relies, Some pious drops the closing eye requires;

Ev'n from the tomb the voice of Nature cries, Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires.

For thee, who mindful of th' unhonour'd Dead Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;

If chance, by lonely contemplation led, Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate,

Haply some hoary-headed swain may say,

"Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn Brushing with hasty steps the dews away

To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.

"There at the foot of yonder nodding beech That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high, His listless length at noontide would he stretch, And pore upon the brook that babbles by.

"Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,

Mutt'ring his wayward fancies he would rove, Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,

Or craz'd with care, or cross'd in hopeless love.

"One morn I miss'd him on the custom'd hill,

Page 103: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

99

Along the heath and near his fav'rite tree; Another came; nor yet beside the rill,

Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he;

"The next with dirges due in sad array Slow thro' the church-way path we saw him borne.

Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay, Grav'd on the stone beneath yon aged thorn."

THE EPITAPH

Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth

A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown. Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth, And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.

Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,

Heav'n did a recompense as largely send: He gave to Mis'ry all he had, a tear,

He gain'd from Heav'n ('twas all he wish'd) a friend.

No farther seek his merits to disclose, Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,

(There they alike in trembling hope repose) The bosom of his Father and his God.

Page 104: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

100

“The Lamb” by William Blake

Little Lamb who made thee Dost thou know who made thee

Gave thee life & bid thee feed. By the stream & o'er the mead; Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing wooly bright; Gave thee such a tender voice,

Making all the vales rejoice: Little Lamb who made thee

Dost thou know who made thee

Little Lamb I'll tell thee, Little Lamb I'll tell thee: He is called by thy name,

For he calls himself a Lamb: He is meek & he is mild, He became a little child: I a child & thou a lamb,

We are called by his name. Little Lamb God bless thee. Little Lamb God bless thee.

Page 105: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

101

“The Tyger” by William Blake

Tyger Tyger. burning bright, In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.

Burnt the fire of thine eyes! On what wings dare he aspire!

What the hand, dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? & what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain,

In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp,

Dare its deadly terrors clasp!

When the stars threw down their spears And water'd heaven with their tears:

Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger, Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Page 106: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

102

“The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake

When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue

Could scarcely cry ‘Weep! weep! weep! weep!' So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.

There’s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head,

That curled like a lamb’s back, was shaved; so I said, ‘Hush, Tom! never mind it, for, when your head’s bare, You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.'

And so he was quiet, and that very night,

As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight!-- That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack,

Were all of them locked up in coffins of black.

And by came an angel, who had a bright key, And he opened the coffins, and set them all free;

Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing, they run And wash in a river, and shine in the sun.

Then naked and white, all their bags left behind,

They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind; And the angel told Tom, if he’d be a good boy,

He’d have God for his father, and never want joy.

And so Tom awoke, and we rose in the dark, And got with our bags and our brushes to work.

Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm: So, if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

Page 107: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

103

“Infant Sorrow” by William Blake

My mother groand! my father wept. Into the dangerous world I leapt:

Helpless, naked, piping loud; Like a fiend hid in a cloud.

Struggling in my fathers hands:

Striving against my swaddling bands: Bound and weary I thought best To sulk upon my mothers breast.

Page 108: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

104

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Part I

It is an ancient mariner And he stoppeth one of three.

--“By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, Now wherefore stoppest thou me?

The bridegroom’s doors are opened wide,

And I am next of kin; The guests are met, the feast is set:

Mayst hear the merry din.”

He holds him with his skinny hand, “There was a ship," quoth he.

“Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!” Eftsoons his hand dropped he.

He holds him with his glittering eye--

The wedding-guest stood still, And listens like a three-years’ child:

The mariner hath his will.

The wedding-guest sat on a stone: He cannot choose but hear;

And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed mariner.

“The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,

Merrily did we drop Below the kirk, below the hill,

Below the lighthouse top.

The sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he!

And he shone bright, and on the right Went down into the sea.

Higher and higher every day, Till over the mast at noon--"

The wedding-guest here beat his breast, For he heard the loud bassoon.

The bride hath paced into the hall,

Red as a rose is she;

Page 109: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

105

Nodding their heads before her goes The merry minstrelsy.

The wedding-guest he beat his breast,

Yet he cannot choose but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man,

The bright-eyed mariner.

“And now the storm-blast came, and he Was tyrannous and strong;

He struck with his o’ertaking wings, And chased us south along.

With sloping masts and dipping prow,

As who pursued with yell and blow Still treads the shadow of his foe,

And forward bends his head, The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,

And southward aye we fled.

Listen, stranger! Mist and snow, And it grew wondrous cold:

And ice mast-high came floating by, As green as emerald.

And through the drifts the snowy clifts

Did send a dismal sheen: Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken--

The ice was all between.

The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around:

It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound!

At length did cross an albatross,

Thorough the fog it came; As if it had been a Christian soul,

We hailed it in God’s name.

It ate the food it ne’er had eat, And round and round it flew.

The ice did split with a thunder-fit; The helmsman steered us through!

And a good south wind sprung up behind;

Page 110: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

106

The albatross did follow, And every day, for food or play,

Came to the mariners’ hollo!

In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, It perched for vespers nine;

Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white, Glimmered the white moon-shine.”

“God save thee, ancient mariner!

From the fiends, that plague thee thus!-- Why lookst thou so?” “With my crossbow

I shot the albatross. Part II

The sun now rose upon the right: Out of the sea came he,

Still hid in mist, and on the left Went down into the sea.

And the good south wind still blew behind,

But no sweet bird did follow, Nor any day for food or play Came to the mariners’ hollo!

And I had done an hellish thing,

And it would work ‘em woe: For all averred, I had killed the bird

That made the breeze to blow. Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,

That made the breeze to blow!

Nor dim nor red, like God’s own head, The glorious sun uprist:

Then all averred, I had killed the bird That brought the fog and mist.

‘Twas right, said they, such birds to slay, That bring the fog and mist.

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,

The furrow followed free; We were the first that ever burst

Into that silent sea.

Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down, ‘Twas sad as sad could be;

And we did speak only to break

Page 111: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

107

The silence of the sea!

All in a hot and copper sky, The bloody sun, at noon,

Right up above the mast did stand, No bigger than the moon.

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, everywhere,

And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink.

The very deeps did rot: O Christ! That ever this should be!

Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs Upon the slimy sea.

About, about, in reel and rout

The death-fires danced at night; The water, like a witch’s oils,

Burnt green, and blue and white.

And some in dreams assured were Of the spirit that plagued us so;

Nine fathom deep he had followed us From the land of mist and snow.

And every tongue, through utter drought,

Was withered at the root; We could not speak, no more than if

We had been choked with soot.

Ah! wel-a-day! what evil looks Had I from old and young!

Instead of the cross, the albatross About my neck was hung.

Part III There passed a weary time. Each throat

Was parched, and glazed each eye. A weary time! A weary time! How glazed each weary eye,

Page 112: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

108

When looking westward, I beheld A something in the sky.

At first it seemed a little speck,

And then it seemed a mist; It moved and moved, and took at last

A certain shape, I wist.

A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist! And still it neared and neared: As if it dodged a water sprite,

It plunged and tacked and veered.

With throats unslaked, with black lips baked, We could nor laugh nor wail;

Through utter drouth all dumb we stood! I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,

And cried, A sail! a sail!

With throats unslaked, with black lips baked, Agape they heard me call:

Gramercy! they for joy did grin, And all at once their breath drew in,

As they were drinking all.

See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more! Hither to work us weal;

Without a breeze, without a tide, She steadies with upright keel!

The western wave was all aflame.

The day was well nigh done! Almost upon the western wave

Rested the broad bright sun; When that strange shape drove suddenly

Betwixt us and the sun.

And straight the sun was flecked with bars, (Heaven’s mother send us grace!)

As if through a dungeon grate he peered With broad and burning face.

Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud)

How fast she nears and nears! Are those her sails that glance in the sun,

Like restless gossameres?

Page 113: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

109

Are those her ribs through which the sun

Did peer, as through a grate? And is that woman all her crew?

Is that a Death? and are there two? Is Death that woman’s mate?

Her lips were red, her looks were free,

Her locks were yellow as gold: Her skin was as white as leprosy,

The nightmare Life-in-Death was she, Who thicks man’s blood with cold.

The naked hulk alongside came, And the twain were casting dice;

‘The game is done! I’ve won! I’ve won!' Quoth she, and whistles thrice.

The sun’s rim dips; the stars rush out:

At one stride comes the dark; With far-heard whisper, o’er the sea,

Off shot the spectre bark.

We listened and looked sideways up! Fear at my heart, as at a cup, My lifeblood seemed to sip!

The stars were dim, and thick the night, The steersman’s face by his lamp gleamed white;

From the sails the dews did drip-- Till clomb above the eastern bar

The horned moon, with one bright star Within the nether tip.

One after one, by the star-dogged moon,

Too quick for groan or sigh, Each turned his face with ghastly pang,

And cursed me with his eye.

Four times fifty living men, (And I heard nor sigh nor groan)

With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, They dropped down one by one.

Their souls did from their bodies fly--

They fled to bliss or woe! And every soul, it passed me by,

Page 114: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

110

Like the whizz of my crossbow!” Part IV

“I fear thee, ancient mariner! I fear thy skinny hand!

And thou art long, and lank, and brown, As is the ribbed sea-sand.

I fear thee and thy glittering eye,

And thy skinny hand, so brown.”-- “Fear not, fear not, thou wedding-guest!

This body dropped not down.

Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea!

And never a saint took pity on My soul in agony.

The many men, so beautiful!

And they all dead did lie: And a thousand thousand slimy things

Lived on; and so did I.

I looked upon the rotting sea, And drew my eyes away;

I looked upon the rotting deck, And there the dead men lay.

I looked to heaven, and tried to pray;

But or ever a prayer had gushed, A wicked whisper came, and made

My heart as dry as dust.

I closed my lids, and kept them close, Till the balls like pulses beat;

For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky Lay like a load on my weary eye,

And the dead were at my feet.

The cold sweat melted from their limbs, Nor rot nor reek did they:

The look with which they looked on me Had never passed away.

An orphan’s curse would drag to hell

A spirit from on high; But oh! more horrible than that

Page 115: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

111

Is the curse in a dead man’s eye! Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,

And yet I could not die.

The moving moon went up the sky, And nowhere did abide: Softly she was going up,

And a star or two beside--

Her beams bemocked the sultry main, Like April hoar-frost spread;

But where the ship’s huge shadow lay, The charmed water burnt alway

A still and awful red.

Beyond the shadow of the ship, I watched the water snakes:

They moved in tracks of shining white, And when they reared, the elfish light

Fell off in hoary flakes.

Within the shadow of the ship I watched their rich attire:

Blue, glossy green, and velvet black, They coiled and swam; and every track

Was a flash of golden fire.

O happy living things! No tongue Their beauty might declare:

A spring of love gushed from my heart, And I blessed them unaware:

Sure my kind saint took pity on me, And I blessed them unaware.

The selfsame moment I could pray;

And from my neck so free The albatross fell off, and sank

Like lead into the sea. Part V

Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing, Beloved from pole to pole!

To Mary-Queen the praise be given! She sent the gentle sleep from heaven,

That slid into my soul.

The silly buckets on the deck,

Page 116: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

112

That had so long remained, I dreamt that they were filled with dew;

And when I awoke, it rained.

My lips were wet, my throat was cold, My garments all were dank;

Sure I had drunken in my dreams, And still my body drank.

I moved, and could not feel my limbs:

I was so light--almost I thought that I had died in sleep,

And was a blessed ghost.

And soon I heard a roaring wind: It did not come anear;

But with its sound it shook the sails, That were so thin and sere.

The upper air bursts into life!

And a hundred fire-flags sheen, To and fro they were hurried about!

And to and fro, and in and out, The wan stars danced between.

And the coming wind did roar more loud,

And the sails did sigh like sedge; And the rain poured down from one black cloud;

The moon was at its edge.

The thick black cloud was cleft, and still The moon was at its side:

Like waters shot from some high crag, The lightning fell with never a jag,

A river steep and wide.

The loud wind never reached the ship, Yet now the ship moved on!

Beneath the lightning and the moon The dead men gave a groan.

They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose,

Nor spake, nor moved their eyes; It had been strange, even in a dream,

To have seen those dead men rise.

Page 117: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

113

The helmsman steered, the ship moved on; Yet never a breeze up-blew;

The mariners all ‘gan work the ropes, Where they were wont to do;

They raised their limbs like lifeless tools-- We were a ghastly crew.

The body of my brother’s son

Stood by me, knee to knee: The body and I pulled at one rope,

But he said nought to me.”

“I fear thee, ancient mariner!” “Be calm, thou wedding-guest!

‘Twas not those souls that fled in pain, Which to their corses came again,

But a troop of spirits blessed.

For when it dawned--they dropped their arms, And clustered round the mast;

Sweet sounds rose slowly through their mouths, And from their bodies passed.

Around, around, flew each sweet sound,

Then darted to the sun; Slowly the sounds came back again,

Now mixed, now one by one.

Sometimes a-dropping from the sky I heard the skylark sing;

Sometimes all little birds that are, How they seemed to fill the sea and air

With their sweet jargoning!

And now ‘twas like all instruments, Now like a lonely flute;

And now it is an angel’s song, That makes the heavens be mute.

It ceased; yet still the sails made on

A pleasant noise till noon, A noise like of a hidden brook

In the leafy month of June, That to the sleeping woods all night

Singeth a quiet tune.

Page 118: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

114

Till noon we silently sailed on, Yet never a breeze did breathe:

Slowly and smoothly went the ship, Moved onward from beneath.

Under the keel nine fathom deep, From the land of mist and snow,

The spirit slid: and it was he That made the ship to go.

The sails at noon left off their tune, And the ship stood still also.

The sun, right up above the mast,

Had fixed her to the ocean: But in a minute she ‘gan stir, With a short uneasy motion--

Backwards and forwards half her length With a short uneasy motion.

Then like a pawing horse let go,

She made a sudden bound: It flung the blood into my head,

And I fell down in a swound.

How long in that same fit I lay, I have not to declare;

But ere my living life returned, I heard and in my soul discerned

Two voices in the air.

‘Is it he?' quoth one, ‘Is this the man? By him who died on cross,

With his cruel bow he laid full low The harmless albatross.

The spirit who bideth by himself

In the land of mist and snow, He loved the bird that loved the man

Who shot him with his bow.'

The other was a softer voice, As soft as honeydew:

Quoth he, ‘The man hath penance done, And penance more will do.'

Part VI FIRST VOICE

Page 119: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

115

‘But tell me, tell me! speak again,

Thy soft response renewing-- What makes that ship drive on so fast?

What is the ocean doing?'

SECOND VOICE

‘Still as a slave before his lord, The ocean hath no blast;

His great bright eye most silently Up to the moon is cast--

If he may know which way to go;

For she guides him smooth or grim. See, brother, see! how graciously

She looketh down on him.'

FIRST VOICE

‘But why drives on that ship so fast, Without or wave or wind?'

SECOND VOICE

‘The air is cut away before,

And closes from behind.

Fly, brother, fly! more high, more high! Or we shall be belated:

For slow and slow that ship will go, When the mariner’s trance is abated.'

I woke, and we were sailing on

As in a gentle weather: ‘Twas night, calm night, the moon was high;

The dead men stood together.

All stood together on the deck, For a charnel-dungeon fitter:

All fixed on me their stony eyes, That in the moon did glitter.

The pang, the curse, with which they died,

Had never passed away: I could not draw my eyes from theirs,

Page 120: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

116

Nor turn them up to pray.

And now this spell was snapped: once more I viewed the ocean green,

And looked far forth, yet little saw Of what had else been seen--

Like one, that on a lonesome road

Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turned round walks on,

And turns no more his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend

Doth close behind him tread.

But soon there breathed a wind on me, Nor sound nor motion made: Its path was not upon the sea,

In ripple or in shade.

It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek Like a meadow-gale of spring--

It mingled strangely with my fears, Yet it felt like a welcoming.

Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,

Yet she sailed softly too: Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze--

On me alone it blew.

O dream of joy! is this indeed The lighthouse top I see?

Is this the hill? is this the kirk? Is this mine own country?

We drifted o’er the harbour bar,

And I with sobs did pray-- O let me be awake, my God!

Or let me sleep alway!

The harbour bay was clear as glass, So smoothly it was strewn!

And on the bay the moonlight lay, And the shadow of the moon.

The rock shone bright, the kirk no less,

That stands above the rock:

Page 121: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

117

The moonlight steeped in silentness The steady weathercock.

And the bay was white with silent light,

Till rising from the same, Full many shapes, that shadows were,

In crimson colours came.

A little distance from the prow Those crimson shadows were:

I turned my eyes upon the deck-- O Christ! what saw I there!

Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat,

And, by the holy rood! A man all light, a seraph man, On every corse there stood.

This seraph band, each waved his hand:

It was a heavenly sight! They stood as signals to the land,

Each one a lovely light;

This seraph band, each waved his hand, No voice did they impart--

No voice; but oh! the silence sank Like music on my heart.

But soon I heard the dash of oars,

I heard the pilot’s cheer; My head was turned perforce away

And I saw a boat appear.

The pilot and the pilot’s boy, I heard them coming fast:

Dear Lord in heaven! it was a joy The dead men could not blast.

I saw a third--I heard his voice:

It is the hermit good! He singeth loud his godly hymns

That he makes in the wood. He’ll shrieve my soul, he’ll wash away

The albatross’s blood. Part VII

This hermit good lives in that wood

Page 122: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

118

Which slopes down to the sea. How loudly his sweet voice he rears!

He loves to talk with mariners That come from a far country.

He kneels at morn, and noon, and eve--

He hath a cushion plump: It is the moss that wholly hides

The rotted old oak stump.

The skiff boat neared: I heard them talk, ‘Why, this is strange, I trow!

Where are those lights so many and fair, That signal made but now?'

‘Strange, by my faith!' the hermit said--

‘And they answered not our cheer! The planks look warped! and see those sails,

How thin they are and sere! I never saw aught like to them,

Unless perchance it were

Brown skeletons of leaves that lag My forest-brook along;

When the ivy tod is heavy with snow, And the owlet whoops to the wolf below,

That eats the she-wolf’s young.'

‘Dear Lord! it hath a fiendish look,' The pilot made reply,

‘I am a-feared’--‘Push on, push on!' Said the hermit cheerily.

The boat came closer to the ship,

But I nor spake nor stirred; The boat came close beneath the ship,

And straight a sound was heard.

Under the water it rumbled on, Still louder and more dread:

It reached the ship, it split the bay; The ship went down like lead.

Stunned by that loud and dreadful sound,

Which sky and ocean smote Like one that hath been seven days drowned

Page 123: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

119

My body lay afloat; But swift as dreams, myself I found

Within the pilot’s boat.

Upon the whirl, where sank the ship, The boat spun round and round; And all was still, save that the hill

Was telling of the sound.

I moved my lips--the pilot shrieked And fell down in a fit;

The holy hermit raised his eyes, And prayed where he did sit.

I took the oars: the pilot’s boy,

Who now doth crazy go, Laughed loud and long, and all the while

His eyes went to and fro. ‘Ha! ha!' quoth he, ‘full plain I see,

The devil knows how to row.'

And now, all in my own country, I stood on the firm land!

The hermit stepped forth from the boat, And scarcely he could stand.

‘Oh shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man!'

The hermit crossed his brow. ‘Say quick,' quoth he, ‘I bid thee say--

What manner of man art thou?'

Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched With a woeful agony,

Which forced me to begin my tale; And then it left me free.

Since then, at an uncertain hour,

That agony returns: And till my ghastly tale is told,

This heart within me burns.

I pass, like night, from land to land; I have strange power of speech; The moment that his face I see,

I know the man that must hear me: To him my tale I teach.

Page 124: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

120

What loud uproar bursts from that door!

The wedding-guests are there: But in the garden-bower the bride

And bridemaids singing are: And hark the little vesper bell, Which biddeth me to prayer!

O wedding-guest! This soul hath been

Alone on a wide wide sea: So lonely ‘twas, that God himself

Scarce seemed there to be.

Oh sweeter than the marriage feast, ‘Tis sweeter far to me,

To walk together to the kirk With a goodly company!--

To walk together to the kirk,

And all together pray, While each to his great Father bends,

Old men, and babes, and loving friends And youths and maidens gay!

Farewell, farewell! but this I tell

To thee, thou wedding-guest! He prayeth well, who loveth well

Both man and bird and beast.

He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us,

He made and loveth all.”

The mariner, whose eye is bright, Whose beard with age is hoar,

Is gone: and now the wedding-guest Turned from the bridegroom’s door.

He went like one that hath been stunned,

And is of sense forlorn: A sadder and a wiser man, He rose the morrow morn.

Page 125: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

121

“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:

And on the pedestal these words appear: ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Page 126: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

122

“Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,

Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,

Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou, Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low,

Each like a corpse within its grave, until Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow

Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill

(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) With living hues and odours plain and hill:

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;

Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear! II

Thou on whose stream, ‘mid the steep sky’s commotion, Loose clouds like Earth’s decaying leaves are shed,

Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,

Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread On the blue surface of thine airy surge,

Like the bright hair uplifted from the head

Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge Of the horizon to the zenith’s height,

The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge

Of the dying year, to which this closing night Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre

Vaulted with all thy congregated might

Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: O hear!

III

Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,

Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams,

Page 127: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

123

Beside a pumice isle in Baiae’s bay,

And saw in sleep old palaces and towers Quivering within the wave’s intenser day,

All overgrown with azure moss and flowers

So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou For whose path the Atlantic’s level powers

Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear

The sapless foliage of the ocean, know

Thy voice, and suddenly grow grey with fear, And tremble and despoil themselves: O hear!

IV

If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear; If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;

A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share

The impulse of thy strength, only less free Than thou, O Uncontrollable! If even

I were as in my boyhood, and could be

The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven, As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed

Scarce seemed a vision; I would ne’er have striven

As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need. Oh! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.

V

Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is: What if my leaves are falling like its own!

The tumult of thy mighty harmonies

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone, Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,

My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe

Page 128: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

124

Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth! And, by the incantation of this verse,

Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth

Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! Be through my lips to unawakened Earth

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

Page 129: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

125

“When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be” by John Keats

When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,

Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the night’s starred face,

Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, And think that I may never live to trace

Their shadows with the magic hand of chance; And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more,

Never have relish in the faery power Of unreflecting love—then on the shore Of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

Page 130: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

126

“Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,

Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:

‘Tis not through envy of thy happy lot, But being too happy in thine happiness,—

That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees, In some melodious plot

Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, Singest of summer in full-throated ease.

O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been

Cool’d a long age in the deep-delved earth, Tasting of Flora and the country green,

Dance, and Provencal song, and sunburnt mirth! O for a beaker full of the warm South,

Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene, With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,

And purple-stained mouth; That I might drink, and leave the world unseen, And with thee fade away into the forest dim:

Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget

What thou among the leaves hast never known, The weariness, the fever, and the fret

Here, where men sit and hear each other groan; Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs,

Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies; Where but to think is to be full of sorrow

And leaden-eyed despairs, Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,

Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.

Away! away! for I will fly to thee, Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,

But on the viewless wings of Poesy, Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:

Already with thee! tender is the night, And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,

Cluster’d around by all her starry Fays; But here there is no light,

Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.

Page 131: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

127

I cannot see what flowers are at my feet, Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs, But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet

Wherewith the seasonable month endows The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild; White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;

Fast fading violets cover’d up in leaves; And mid-May’s eldest child,

The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine, The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.

Darkling I listen; and, for many a time

I have been half in love with easeful Death, Call’d him soft names in many a mused rhyme,

To take into the air my quiet breath; Now more than ever seems it rich to die,

To cease upon the midnight with no pain, While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad

In such an ecstasy! Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—

To thy high requiem become a sod.

Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird! No hungry generations tread thee down;

The voice I hear this passing night was heard In ancient days by emperor and clown:

Perhaps the self-same song that found a path Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,

She stood in tears amid the alien corn; The same that oft-times hath

Charm’d magic casements, opening on the foam Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell

To toil me back from thee to my sole self! Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well As she is fam’d to do, deceiving elf.

Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades Past the near meadows, over the still stream,

Up the hill-side; and now ‘tis buried deep In the next valley-glades:

Was it a vision, or a waking dream? Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?

Page 132: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

128

“The Lady of Shalott” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Part I

On either side the river lie Long fields of barley and of rye,

That clothe the wold and meet the sky; And through the field the road runs by

To many-towered Camelot; And up and down the people go,

Gazing where the lilies blow Round an island there below, The island of Shalott.

Willows whiten, aspens quiver, Little breezes dusk and shiver

Through the wave that runs for ever By the island in the river

Flowing down to Camelot. Four grey walls, and four grey towers,

Overlook a space of flowers, And the silent isle imbowers The Lady of Shalott.

By the margin, willow-veiled, Slide the heavy barges trailed By slow horses; and unhailed

The shallop flitteth silken-sailed Skimming down to Camelot:

But who hath seen her wave her hand? Or at the casement seen her stand?

Or is she known in all the land, The Lady of Shalott?

Only reapers, reaping early

In among the bearded barley, Hear a song that echoes cheerly From the river winding clearly,

Down to towered Camelot: And by the moon the reaper weary,

Piling sheaves in uplands airy, Listening, whispers "‘Tis the fairy

Lady of Shalott.”

Part II

Page 133: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

129

There she weaves by night and day A magic web with colours gay. She has heard a whisper say, A curse is on her if she stay

To look down to Camelot. She knows not what the curse may be,

And so she weaveth steadily, And little other care hath she,

The Lady of Shalott.

And moving through a mirror clear That hangs before her all the year,

Shadows of the world appear. There she sees the highway near

Winding down to Camelot: There the river eddy whirls,

And there the surly village-churls, And the red cloaks of market girls, Pass onward from Shalott.

Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,

An abbot on an ambling pad, Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad,

Or long-haired page in crimson clad, Goes by to towered Camelot;

And sometimes through the mirror blue The knights come riding two and two:

She hath no loyal knight and true, The Lady of Shalott.

But in her web she still delights

To weave the mirror’s magic sights, For often through the silent nights A funeral, with plumes and lights

And music, went to Camelot: Or when the moon was overhead,

Came two young lovers lately wed; “I am half sick of shadows," said

The Lady of Shalott.

Part III

A bow-shot from her bower-eaves, He rode between the barley-sheaves,

The sun came dazzling through the leaves, And flamed upon the brazen greaves

Page 134: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

130

Of bold Sir Lancelot. A red-cross knight for ever kneeled

To a lady in his shield, That sparkled on the yellow field,

Beside remote Shalott.

The gemmy bridle glittered free, Like to some branch of stars we see

Hung in the golden Galaxy. The bridle bells rang merrily

As he rode down to Camelot: And from his blazoned baldric slung

A mighty silver bugle hung, And as he rode his armour rung,

Beside remote Shalott.

All in the blue unclouded weather Thick-jewelled shone the saddle-leather,

The helmet and the helmet-feather Burned like one burning flame together,

As he rode down to Camelot. As often through the purple night, Below the starry clusters bright,

Some bearded meteor, trailing light, Moves over still Shalott.

His broad clear brow in sunlight glowed;

On burnished hooves his war-horse trode; From underneath his helmet flowed

His coal-black curls as on he rode, As he rode down to Camelot.

From the bank and from the river He flashed into the crystal mirror,

“Tirra lirra," by the river Sang Sir Lancelot.

She left the web, she left the loom,

She made three paces through the room, She saw the water-lily bloom,

She saw the helmet and the plume, She looked down to Camelot. Out flew the web and floated wide;

The mirror cracked from side to side; “The curse is come upon me," cried

The Lady of Shalott.

Page 135: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

131

Part IV

In the stormy east-wind straining, The pale yellow woods were waning,

The broad stream in his banks complaining, Heavily the low sky raining

Over towered Camelot; Down she came and found a boat

Beneath a willow left afloat, And round about the prow she wrote

The Lady of Shalott.

And down the river’s dim expanse, Like some bold seër in a trance Seeing all his own mischance--

With a glassy countenance Did she look to Camelot.

And at the closing of the day She loosed the chain, and down she lay;

The broad stream bore her far away, The Lady of Shalott.

Lying, robed in snowy white

That loosely flew to left and right-- The leaves upon her falling light--

Through the noises of the night She floated down to Camelot: And as the boat-head wound along The willowy hills and fields among,

They heard her singing her last song, The Lady of Shalott.

Heard a carol, mournful, holy, Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,

Till her blood was frozen slowly, And her eyes were darkened wholly, Turned to towered Camelot. For ere she reached upon the tide The first house by the water-side,

Singing in her song she died, The Lady of Shalott.

Under tower and balcony,

By garden-wall and gallery, A gleaming shape she floated by,

Dead-pale between the houses high,

Page 136: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

132

Silent into Camelot. Out upon the wharfs they came,

Knight and burgher, lord and dame, And round the prow they read her name,

The Lady of Shalott.

Who is this? and what is here? And in the lighted palace near Died the sound of royal cheer;

And they crossed themselves for fear, All the knights at Camelot: But Lancelot mused a little space;

He said, “She has a lovely face; God in his mercy lend her grace,

The Lady of Shalott.”

Page 137: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

133

“Ulysses” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

It little profits that an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags,

Matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race,

That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me. I cannot rest from travel; I will drink

Life to the lees. All times I have enjoyed Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when

Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades Vext the dim sea. I am become a name;

For always roaming with a hungry heart Much have I seen and known--cities of men

And manners, climates, councils, governments, Myself not least, but honored of them all,-- And drunk delight of battle with my peers,

Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy. I am a part of all that I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch where through Gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades

For ever and for ever when I move. How dull it is to pause, to make an end,

To rust unburnished, not to shine in use! As though to breathe were life! Life piled on life

Were all too little, and of one to me Little remains; but every hour is saved

From that eternal silence, something more, A bringer of new things; and vile it were

For some three suns to store and hoard myself, And this gray spirit yearning in desire

To follow knowledge like a sinking star, Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

This is my son, mine own Telemachus, To whom I leave the scepter and the isle,

Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill This labor, by slow prudence to make mild A rugged people, and through soft degrees

Subdue them to the useful and the good. Most blameless is he, centered in the sphere

Of common duties, decent not to fail In offices of tenderness, and pay

Meet adoration to my household gods, When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

Page 138: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

134

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail; There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,

Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me, That ever with a frolic welcome took

The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed Free hearts, free foreheads--you and I are old;

Old age hath yet his honor and his toil. Death closes all; but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with gods. The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;

The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,

‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths

Of all the western stars, until I die. It may be that the gulfs will wash us down; It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. Though much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are, One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Page 139: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

135

“My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning

That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call

That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf’s hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands. Will ‘t please you sit and look at her? I said

‘Frà Pandolf’ by design, for never read Strangers like you that pictured countenance, The depth and passion of its earnest glance,

But to myself they turned (since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)

And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst, How such a glance came there; so, not the first

Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ‘t was not Her husband’s presence only, called that spot

Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek: perhaps Frà Pandolf chanced to say, ‘Her mantle laps

Over my lady’s wrist too much,' or ‘Paint Must never hope to reproduce the faint

Half-flush that dies along her throat:' such stuff Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough

For calling up that spot of joy. She had A heart -- how shall I say? -- too soon made glad,

Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.

Sir, ‘t was all one! My favour at her breast, The dropping of the daylight in the West, The bough of cherries some officious fool

Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule She rode with round the terrace -- all and each

Would draw from her alike the approving speech, Or blush, at least. She thanked men, -- good! but thanked

Somehow -- I know not how -- as if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame

This sort of trifling? Even had you skill In speech -- (which I have not) -- to make your will

Quite clear to such an one, and say, ‘Just this Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss, Or there exceed the mark’ -- and if she let

Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse,

-- E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose Never to stoop. Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,

Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without

Page 140: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

136

Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands

As if alive. Will ‘t please you rise? We’ll meet The company below then. I repeat,

The Count your master’s known munificence Is ample warrant that no just pretence Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;

Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go

Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though, Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,

Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!

Page 141: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

137

“Love Among the Ruins” by Robert Browning Where the quiet-coloured end of evening smiles, Miles and miles On the solitary pastures where our sheep Half-asleep Tinkle homeward thro’ the twilight, stray or stop As they crop— Was the site once of a city great and gay, (So they say) Of our country’s very capital, its prince Ages since Held his court in, gathered councils, wielding far Peace or war. Now the country does not even boast a tree, As you see, To distinguish slopes of verdure, certain rills From the hills Intersect and give a name to, (else they run Into one) Where the domed and daring palace shot its spires Up like fires O’er the hundred-gated circuit of a wall Bounding all Made of marble, men might march on nor be prest Twelve abreast. And such plenty and perfection, see, of grass Never was! Such a carpet as, this summer-time, o’er-spreads And embeds Every vestige of the city, guessed alone, Stock or stone— Where a multitude of men breathed joy and woe Long ago; Lust of glory pricked their hearts up, dread of shame Struck them tame; And that glory and that shame alike, the gold Bought and sold. Now—the single little turret that remains On the plains, By the caper overrooted, by the gourd Overscored, While the patching houseleek’s head of blossom winks Through the chinks—

Page 142: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

138

Marks the basement whence a tower in ancient time Sprang sublime, And a burning ring, all round, the chariots traced As they raced, And the monarch and his minions and his dames Viewed the games. And I know, while thus the quiet-coloured eve Smiles to leave To their folding, all our many-tinkling fleece In such peace, And the slopes and rills in undistinguished grey Melt away— That a girl with eager eyes and yellow hair Waits me there In the turret whence the charioteers caught soul For the goal, When the king looked, where she looks now, breathless, dumb Till I come. But he looked upon the city, every side, Far and wide, All the mountains topped with temples, all the glades’ Colonnades, All the causeys, bridges, aqueducts,—and then All the men! When I do come, she will speak not, she will stand, Either hand On my shoulder, give her eyes the first embrace Of my face, Ere we rush, ere we extinguish sight and speech Each on each. In one year they sent a million fighters forth South and North, And they built their gods a brazen pillar high As the sky Yet reserved a thousand chariots in full force— Gold, of course. O heart! oh blood that freezes, blood that burns! Earth’s returns For whole centuries of folly, noise and sin! Shut them in, With their triumphs and their glories and the rest! Love is best.

Page 143: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

139

“Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold

The sea is calm tonight. The tide is full, the moon lies fair

Upon the straits; on the French coast, the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!

Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,

Listen! you hear the grating roar

Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand,

Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring

The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow

Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought,

Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore

Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear

Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath

Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true

To one another! for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams,

So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;

And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,

Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Page 144: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

140

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot

S’io credesse che mia risposta fosse A persona che mai tornasse al mondo, Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma percioche giammai di questo fondo

Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero, Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo.

Let us go then, you and I,

When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherized upon a table;

Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats

Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument

Of insidious intent To lead you to an overwhelming question ...

Oh, do not ask, “What is it?” Let us go and make our visit.

In the room the women come and go

Talking of Michelangelo.

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes, The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes,

Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening, Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,

Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys, Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap, And seeing that it was a soft October night,

Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

And indeed there will be time For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,

Rubbing its back upon the window-panes; There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet; There will be time to murder and create,

And time for all the works and days of hands That lift and drop a question on your plate;

Time for you and time for me, And time yet for a hundred indecisions, And for a hundred visions and revisions,

Before the taking of a toast and tea.

Page 145: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

141

In the room the women come and go

Talking of Michelangelo.

And indeed there will be time To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?” Time to turn back and descend the stair,

With a bald spot in the middle of my hair — (They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)

My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin, My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin —

(They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”) Do I dare

Disturb the universe? In a minute there is time

For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

For I have known them all already, known them all: Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;

I know the voices dying with a dying fall Beneath the music from a farther room.

So how should I presume?

And I have known the eyes already, known them all— The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,

And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin, When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,

Then how should I begin To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?

And how should I presume?

And I have known the arms already, known them all— Arms that are braceleted and white and bare

(But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!) Is it perfume from a dress That makes me so digress?

Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl. And should I then presume?

And how should I begin?

Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes

Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? ...

I should have been a pair of ragged claws

Page 146: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

142

Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully! Smoothed by long fingers,

Asleep ... tired ... or it malingers, Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.

Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?

But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed, Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,

I am no prophet — and here’s no great matter; I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,

And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, And in short, I was afraid.

And would it have been worth it, after all,

After the cups, the marmalade, the tea, Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,

Would it have been worth while, To have bitten off the matter with a smile, To have squeezed the universe into a ball

To roll it towards some overwhelming question, To say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead,

Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all”— If one, settling a pillow by her head

Should say: “That is not what I meant at all; That is not it, at all.”

And would it have been worth it, after all,

Would it have been worth while, After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,

After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor— And this, and so much more?—

It is impossible to say just what I mean! But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:

Would it have been worth while If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,

And turning toward the window, should say: “That is not it at all,

That is not what I meant, at all.”

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; Am an attendant lord, one that will do

To swell a progress, start a scene or two, Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,

Deferential, glad to be of use,

Page 147: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

143

Politic, cautious, and meticulous; Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—

Almost, at times, the Fool.

I grow old ... I grow old ... I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?

I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves

Combing the white hair of the waves blown back When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown

Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

Page 148: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

144

“The Wasteland” by T.S. Eliot

FOR EZRA POUND IL MIGLIOR FABBRO I. The Burial of the Dead April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow, feeding A little life with dried tubers. Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade, And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten, And drank coffee, and talked for an hour. Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch. And when we were children, staying at the arch-duke’s, My cousin’s, he took me out on a sled, And I was frightened. He said, Marie, Marie, hold on tight. And down we went. In the mountains, there you feel free. I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter. What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, You cannot say, or guess, for you know only A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, And the dry stone no sound of water. Only There is shadow under this red rock, (Come in under the shadow of this red rock), And I will show you something different from either Your shadow at morning striding behind you Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; I will show you fear in a handful of dust. Frisch weht der Wind Der Heimat zu Mein Irisch Kind, Wo weilest du? “You gave me hyacinths first a year ago; “They called me the hyacinth girl.” —Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden, Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not

Page 149: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

145

Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither Living nor dead, and I knew nothing, Looking into the heart of light, the silence. Oed’ und leer das Meer. Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante, Had a bad cold, nevertheless Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe, With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she, Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor, (Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!) Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks, The lady of situations. Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel, And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card, Which is blank, is something he carries on his back, Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find The Hanged Man. Fear death by water. I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring. Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone, Tell her I bring the horoscope myself: One must be so careful these days. Unreal City, Under the brown fog of a winter dawn, A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many, I had not thought death had undone so many. Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled, And each man fixed his eyes before his feet. Flowed up the hill and down King William Street, To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine. There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying: “Stetson! “You who were with me in the ships at Mylae! “That corpse you planted last year in your garden, “Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year? “Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed? “Oh keep the Dog far hence, that’s friend to men, “Or with his nails he’ll dig it up again! “You! hypocrite lecteur!—mon semblable,—mon frère!” II. A Game of Chess The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne, Glowed on the marble, where the glass

Page 150: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

146

Held up by standards wrought with fruited vines From which a golden Cupidon peeped out (Another hid his eyes behind his wing) Doubled the flames of sevenbranched candelabra Reflecting light upon the table as The glitter of her jewels rose to meet it, From satin cases poured in rich profusion; In vials of ivory and coloured glass Unstoppered, lurked her strange synthetic perfumes, Unguent, powdered, or liquid—troubled, confused And drowned the sense in odours; stirred by the air That freshened from the window, these ascended In fattening the prolonged candle-flames, Flung their smoke into the laquearia, Stirring the pattern on the coffered ceiling. Huge sea-wood fed with copper Burned green and orange, framed by the coloured stone, In which sad light a carvéd dolphin swam. Above the antique mantel was displayed As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king So rudely forced; yet there the nightingale Filled all the desert with inviolable voice And still she cried, and still the world pursues, “Jug Jug” to dirty ears. And other withered stumps of time Were told upon the walls; staring forms Leaned out, leaning, hushing the room enclosed. Footsteps shuffled on the stair. Under the firelight, under the brush, her hair Spread out in fiery points Glowed into words, then would be savagely still. “My nerves are bad tonight. Yes, bad. Stay with me. “Speak to me. Why do you never speak. Speak. “What are you thinking of? What thinking? What? “I never know what you are thinking. Think.” I think we are in rats’ alley Where the dead men lost their bones. “What is that noise?” The wind under the door. “What is that noise now? What is the wind doing?” Nothing again nothing. “Do

Page 151: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

147

“You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember “Nothing?” I remember Those are pearls that were his eyes. “Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?” But O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag— It’s so elegant So intelligent “What shall I do now? What shall I do?” “I shall rush out as I am, and walk the street “With my hair down, so. What shall we do tomorrow? “What shall we ever do?” The hot water at ten. And if it rains, a closed car at four. And we shall play a game of chess, Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door. When Lil’s husband got demobbed, I said— I didn’t mince my words, I said to her myself, HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME Now Albert’s coming back, make yourself a bit smart. He’ll want to know what you done with that money he gave you To get yourself some teeth. He did, I was there. You have them all out, Lil, and get a nice set, He said, I swear, I can’t bear to look at you. And no more can’t I, I said, and think of poor Albert, He’s been in the army four years, he wants a good time, And if you don’t give it him, there’s others will, I said. Oh is there, she said. Something o’ that, I said. Then I’ll know who to thank, she said, and give me a straight look. HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME If you don’t like it you can get on with it, I said. Others can pick and choose if you can’t. But if Albert makes off, it won’t be for lack of telling. You ought to be ashamed, I said, to look so antique. (And her only thirty-one.) I can’t help it, she said, pulling a long face, It’s them pills I took, to bring it off, she said. (She’s had five already, and nearly died of young George.) The chemist said it would be all right, but I’ve never been the same. You are a proper fool, I said. Well, if Albert won’t leave you alone, there it is, I said,

Page 152: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

148

What you get married for if you don’t want children? HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME Well, that Sunday Albert was home, they had a hot gammon, And they asked me in to dinner, to get the beauty of it hot— HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME Goonight Bill. Goonight Lou. Goonight May. Goonight. Ta ta. Goonight. Goonight. Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night. III. The Fire Sermon The river’s tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed. Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song. The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers, Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed. And their friends, the loitering heirs of city directors; Departed, have left no addresses. By the waters of Leman I sat down and wept . . . Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song, Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or long. But at my back in a cold blast I hear The rattle of the bones, and chuckle spread from ear to ear. A rat crept softly through the vegetation Dragging its slimy belly on the bank While I was fishing in the dull canal On a winter evening round behind the gashouse Musing upon the king my brother’s wreck And on the king my father’s death before him. White bodies naked on the low damp ground And bones cast in a little low dry garret, Rattled by the rat’s foot only, year to year. But at my back from time to time I hear The sound of horns and motors, which shall bring Sweeney to Mrs. Porter in the spring. O the moon shone bright on Mrs. Porter And on her daughter They wash their feet in soda water Et O ces voix d’enfants, chantant dans la coupole! Twit twit twit Jug jug jug jug jug jug So rudely forc’d.

Page 153: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

149

Tereu Unreal City Under the brown fog of a winter noon Mr. Eugenides, the Smyrna merchant Unshaven, with a pocket full of currants C.i.f. London: documents at sight, Asked me in demotic French To luncheon at the Cannon Street Hotel Followed by a weekend at the Metropole. At the violet hour, when the eyes and back Turn upward from the desk, when the human engine waits Like a taxi throbbing waiting, I Tiresias, though blind, throbbing between two lives, Old man with wrinkled female breasts, can see At the violet hour, the evening hour that strives Homeward, and brings the sailor home from sea, The typist home at teatime, clears her breakfast, lights Her stove, and lays out food in tins. Out of the window perilously spread Her drying combinations touched by the sun’s last rays, On the divan are piled (at night her bed) Stockings, slippers, camisoles, and stays. I Tiresias, old man with wrinkled dugs Perceived the scene, and foretold the rest— I too awaited the expected guest. He, the young man carbuncular, arrives, A small house agent’s clerk, with one bold stare, One of the low on whom assurance sits As a silk hat on a Bradford millionaire. The time is now propitious, as he guesses, The meal is ended, she is bored and tired, Endeavours to engage her in caresses Which still are unreproved, if undesired. Flushed and decided, he assaults at once; Exploring hands encounter no defence; His vanity requires no response, And makes a welcome of indifference. (And I Tiresias have foresuffered all Enacted on this same divan or bed; I who have sat by Thebes below the wall And walked among the lowest of the dead.) Bestows one final patronising kiss, And gropes his way, finding the stairs unlit . . .

Page 154: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

150

She turns and looks a moment in the glass, Hardly aware of her departed lover; Her brain allows one half-formed thought to pass: “Well now that’s done: and I’m glad it’s over.” When lovely woman stoops to folly and Paces about her room again, alone, She smoothes her hair with automatic hand, And puts a record on the gramophone. “This music crept by me upon the waters” And along the Strand, up Queen Victoria Street. O City city, I can sometimes hear Beside a public bar in Lower Thames Street, The pleasant whining of a mandoline And a clatter and a chatter from within Where fishmen lounge at noon: where the walls Of Magnus Martyr hold Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold. The river sweats Oil and tar The barges drift With the turning tide Red sails Wide To leeward, swing on the heavy spar. The barges wash Drifting logs Down Greenwich reach Past the Isle of Dogs. Weialala leia Wallala leialala Elizabeth and Leicester Beating oars The stern was formed A gilded shell Red and gold The brisk swell Rippled both shores Southwest wind Carried down stream The peal of bells White towers Weialala leia Wallala leialala

Page 155: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

151

“Trams and dusty trees. Highbury bore me. Richmond and Kew Undid me. By Richmond I raised my knees Supine on the floor of a narrow canoe.” “My feet are at Moorgate, and my heart Under my feet. After the event He wept. He promised a ‘new start.’ I made no comment. What should I resent?” “On Margate Sands. I can connect Nothing with nothing. The broken fingernails of dirty hands. My people humble people who expect Nothing.” la la To Carthage then I came Burning burning burning burning O Lord Thou pluckest me out O Lord Thou pluckest burning IV. Death by Water Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead, Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell And the profit and loss. A current under sea Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell He passed the stages of his age and youth Entering the whirlpool. Gentile or Jew O you who turn the wheel and look to windward, Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you. V. What the Thunder Said After the torchlight red on sweaty faces After the frosty silence in the gardens After the agony in stony places The shouting and the crying

Page 156: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

152

Prison and palace and reverberation Of thunder of spring over distant mountains He who was living is now dead We who were living are now dying With a little patience Here is no water but only rock Rock and no water and the sandy road The road winding above among the mountains Which are mountains of rock without water If there were water we should stop and drink Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand If there were only water amongst the rock Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit There is not even silence in the mountains But dry sterile thunder without rain There is not even solitude in the mountains But red sullen faces sneer and snarl From doors of mudcracked houses If there were water And no rock If there were rock And also water And water A spring A pool among the rock If there were the sound of water only Not the cicada And dry grass singing But sound of water over a rock Where the hermit-thrush sings in the pine trees Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop But there is no water Who is the third who walks always beside you? When I count, there are only you and I together But when I look ahead up the white road There is always another one walking beside you Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded I do not know whether a man or a woman —But who is that on the other side of you? What is that sound high in the air Murmur of maternal lamentation

Page 157: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

153

Who are those hooded hordes swarming Over endless plains, stumbling in cracked earth Ringed by the flat horizon only What is the city over the mountains Cracks and reforms and bursts in the violet air Falling towers Jerusalem Athens Alexandria Vienna London Unreal A woman drew her long black hair out tight And fiddled whisper music on those strings And bats with baby faces in the violet light Whistled, and beat their wings And crawled head downward down a blackened wall And upside down in air were towers Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells. In this decayed hole among the mountains In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing Over the tumbled graves, about the chapel There is the empty chapel, only the wind’s home. It has no windows, and the door swings, Dry bones can harm no one. Only a cock stood on the rooftree Co co rico co co rico In a flash of lightning. Then a damp gust Bringing rain Ganga was sunken, and the limp leaves Waited for rain, while the black clouds Gathered far distant, over Himavant. The jungle crouched, humped in silence. Then spoke the thunder DA Datta: what have we given? My friend, blood shaking my heart The awful daring of a moment’s surrender Which an age of prudence can never retract By this, and this only, we have existed Which is not to be found in our obituaries Or in memories draped by the beneficent spider Or under seals broken by the lean solicitor In our empty rooms

Page 158: British Literature Course Handbook · Contents Literature 12: British Literature Syllabus .....1 Classroom Policies.....5

154

DA Dayadhvam: I have heard the key Turn in the door once and turn once only We think of the key, each in his prison Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison Only at nightfall, aethereal rumours Revive for a moment a broken Coriolanus DA Damyata: The boat responded Gaily, to the hand expert with sail and oar The sea was calm, your heart would have responded Gaily, when invited, beating obedient To controlling hands I sat upon the shore Fishing, with the arid plain behind me Shall I at least set my lands in order? London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down Poi s’ascose nel foco che gli affina Quando fiam uti chelidon—O swallow swallow Le Prince d’Aquitaine à la tour abolie These fragments I have shored against my ruins Why then Ile fit you. Hieronymo’s mad againe. Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata. Shantih shantih shantih