Rape of the LockCritical Approaches

HomeworkStudy for Vocab Week 2 Quiz (Tomorrow)If you haven’t already, check out Crime and Punishment from the library; pages 1-42 will be due on Monday (Group A will post Sunday night).Class Jump: questions/concerns?Tomorrow: AP essay analysis; introduction to Crime and Punishment (time permitting)

Imperialism and Commodity Culture

“Rape of the Lock displays England’s growing empire on a lady’s dressing table.” –Helen Deutsch“Belinda is both an item to be traded and a consumer of commodities.”ROTL “aestheticizes the products of mercantile capitalism, obscuring the actual production of the commodities so glowingly evoked.” –Laura Brown“India’s glowing Gems,” Arabian perfumes, French fashions, Spanish card game (Ombre), “Altars of Japan,” China, etc.

“Whether the Nymph shall break Diana’s Law / Or some frail China Jar receive a Flaw”“From silver Spouts the grateful Liquors glide / While China’s Earth receives the smoking Tyde”

Card Game in Canto III

The British Empire (18-20

C.)

MenstruationNancy Marie Brown (“The Lesson of the Lock”)

Canto IV: Cave of the Spleen“Here, in a grotto, sheltred close from Air, / And screen’d in Shades from Day’s detested Glare, / She sighs forever on her pensive Bed, Pain at her side, and Megrim at her head.”Umbriel (line 57): “Hail, wayward Queen! / Who rule the Sex to Fifty from Fifteen.”“Unnumber’d Throngs on ev’ry side are seen / Of Bodies changed to various Forms by Spleen. / Here living Teapots stand, one arm held out, / One bent; the handle this, and that the Spout . . . Men prove with Child, as pow’rful Fancy works / And maids turn’d Bottles call aloud for corks” (line 47).

What may this represent?

Poetry and Patriarchy“The Disappointment,” “To His Coy Mistress,” and “The Imperfect Enjoyment”

“Imperfect Enjoyment” Poetry

Common motif in 17th Century French poetry (particularly by male poets), although it first appeared in Ovid’s Amores (written in 16 B.C.) Typically, the male’s desire is ruined because: (1) he is unable to perform, (2) he discovers something unattractive about the woman, or (3) the woman is an incompetent lover. How does this apply to “TIE” and “TD”?

The woman is almost always blamed, and the point-of-view is almost always from the male perspective.

John Wilmot (“Lord Rochester”) (1647-

1680)

Graduated from Oxford.Carried out a “Grand Tour” of Europe before becoming a prominent member of Charles II’s court.Renowned for drunkenness, vivacious conversation, and “extravagant frolics.”Married Elizabeth Malet, an heiress who he had attempted to abduct two years earlier.Briefly went underground after friend’s murder, impersonating a quack physician who treated infertility and other “gynecological disorders.”Died at age 33 from venereal disease and alcoholism.

Aphra Behn (1640-1689)

One of first professional female writersPolitical spy in Antwerp for King Charles II (used her code name, Astrea, in her writing)

Close friends with Lord Rochester, who influenced her poetry. “The Disappointment” was first attributed to Rochester.Buried at Westminster Abbey.Woolf: "All women together, ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn . . . for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.”

Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)

Metaphysical poetAttended CambridgeWent on “Grand Tour” of the ContinentFriend of John Milton (Paradise Lost), who helped him gain the role as “Latin Secretary to the Council of State” under Oliver Cromwell

Discussion Questions1. In HTRLLAP, the author states “when [authors] write about

something else, they really mean sex, and when they write about sex, they really mean something else” (144). Is there something more, then, to “The Imperfect Enjoyment”? (Celina)

2. Compare and contrast “The Imperfect Enjoyment” and “The Disappointment.” How are women treated? Does the gender of the poet influence your reading of either?

3. Compare these three poems with “Rape of the Lock.” (Jing)4. What time of day is the setting for the opening stanza of

"The Disappointment"? How is this time of the sun going down symbolically or ironically appropriate for later events in the narrative?

“TIE” vs. “TD”Love vs. sex (could Rochester’s be biographical/his own psychological confession?)Vulnerability, pride, and self-loathing vs. frailty and weaknessBlame placed on male vs. on female (and how treat women in general in “TIE”)Rochester’s focuses almost only on man’s feelings; Behn’s, on both.Reasons for impotence (stamina vs. nerves/psyche)Woman (Corinna) isn’t given a name until the end; whereas, Cloris (who is more modest, innocent) is named from the beginningForeplay/sexual act itselfThe titles (“The Disappointment” seems more heartfealt, that there are aspirations for something better next time from both Lysander and Cloris, that there is hope for something outside of sexual relationship)

“To His Coy Mistress”1. “THCM”: In the second stanza, the text begins with

what conjunction? What does that conjunction suggest about this stanza in contrast with the "Had we..." that commences the first stanza?

2. “THCM”: The speaker compares himself and the mistress to what "amorous" animals? Why does this seem like an unusual analogy? Why does it seem appropriate given his attitude about sex?

3. “THCM”: What do the final lines mean: "Thus, though we cannot make our sun / Stand still, yet we will make him run"?

HomeworkRead Crime and Punishment pp. 1-42Group A posts Sunday PM on Class JumpAnalyze the use of at least 5 poetic devices in “To His Coy Mistress.”

Suggestions: metaphor, allusion, personification, symbolism, hyperbole, rhyme, meterList an example from the text AND how it lends meaning to the poem (essentially write a mini-AP essay).

I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain -- and back in rain.I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.I have passed by the watchman on his beat And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet When far away an interrupted cry Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye; And further still at an unearthly height, O luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. I have been one acquainted with the night.-Robert Frost

We grow accustomed to the Dark --When light is put away --As when the Neighbor holds the LampTo witness her Goodbye --

A Moment -- We uncertain stepFor newness of the night --Then -- fit our Vision to the Dark --And meet the Road -- erect --

And so of larger -- Darkness --Those Evenings of the Brain --When not a Moon disclose a sign --Or Star -- come out -- within --

The Bravest -- grope a little --And sometimes hit a TreeDirectly in the Forehead --But as they learn to see --

Either the Darkness alters --Or something in the sightAdjusts itself to Midnight --And Life steps almost straight.

-Emily Dickinson