Monthly Archives: February 2019

1. Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” What do you think he means by this?
2. Compare the mode of creation described in “The Lamb” with that of “The Tyger.” How are they similar? How are they different?
3. In “London” the speaker says he hears “mind-forged manacles” (line 8) What do you think that phrase means?
4. What differences do you see between the two “Chimney Sweeper” poems?
5. The introductory poem to Songs of Innocence refers to a poet/singer/piper who composes “…happy songs,/Every child may joy to hear.” To what extent does this line describe the poems in Songs of Innocence?

There appears to be a problem accessing the reading for Monday.  The excerpt from Mary Wollstonecraft’s book  A Vindication of the Rights of Woman that I assigned you is part of a larger electronic resource created specifically as an accompaniment to Great Works courses and administered by the Newman Library here at Baruch.  I have been in touch with the library and am waiting to see if they can straighten out the problem and get the resource back on line.

However, assuming that that doesn’t happen in time for you to access the reading and prepare for Monday’s class, do not despair!  I will bring hard copies of the reading to class on Monday, and we will work through it together!

Don’t forget to read over the assignment for your first essay (posted above under the “Assignments” tab) before coming to class on Monday!

See you on Monday!

Professor Sylvor

You can find information about your first formal essay for this course (due on Sunday, March 10th) under the “Assignments” tab at the top of this page. Please read through the essay prompt and the general guidelines carefully before Monday’s class. We will be discussing the assignment in class.

Have a great weekend!

1. What aspects of women’s lives does Wollstonecraft seem interested in changing? Why?

2. Wollstonecraft quotes Pope’s famous line “Whatever is, is right.” How does she interpret this line? Does she agree with Pope?

3. Do you think women are still raised to be “pleasing”? Why or why not?

4. What does Wollstonecraft have to say about marriage? In her view, what would allow a woman to be a good wife and mother?

1.  What is the narrator’s purpose in writing these “confessions”?  How do you know?

2.  For Rousseau, what is the relationship between feeling and thinking?

3.  How does Rousseau describe his childhood?  What significance can we draw from this description

4. Why do you think Rousseau chooses to include the anecdote about stealing from his employer?

5. Using your own language, how would you describe the narrator, given his self-presentation in The Confessions?

1.  Pope describes the purpose of his poem as “to vindicate the ways of God to man.”  What do you think he means by this?

2. Choose one metaphor that Pope uses to describe the universe and explain its significance.

3.  What would it mean to believe that “whatever is, is right?”  How would that affect one’s outlook or behavior?

4.  According to Pope, what place do human beings have in the universe in relation to other creatures?

Hello my name is Jeremy Acevedo and I’m a Marketing major. I may be the youngest one in the class, i’m 18 years old and i’m a transfer student from Kingsborough College. I’m from New York, Brooklyn more specifically but I moved around a lot in my life and now I reside in Staten Island. Right now I work at a movie theatre that’s close to my house. Been working there for a little over a year now, but I don’t plan on staying much longer. The biggest interest in my life right now is music, I’ve been writing for about three years maybe a little longer and it is easily the most enjoable and fruitful activity I’m apart of. I’ve only performed twice on stage thus far, the first at a small music festival in New Jersey and the second time for a school event in New Jersey over the summer. But that will change this year, with more shows already in the works. I chose to go to school for marketing to further this interest and also because my mother wants me to go to college. I figured if I was gonna go to college I might a well learn more about how to navigate and understand markets, because being able to sell anything is a valuable skill. Besides that however my life is a bit of a bore. If I’m not at school or work I try to be in the gym and I’m in none of those places I’m with some friends working on music and hanging out. In case you’re wondering I mainly rap but that’s not the only music I’m interested in. I’ll listen to anything from Jay-z to Marvine Gaye really. I just like music and the challenge of always trying to make something better than my last. That being said I’m only 18 so the room for improvment is immeasurable and hopefully this takes me to places I can only dream of, and allows me to meet and work with all the people I idolize. Then I won’t have to go to college, but I still may I’m undecided.

Tartuffe puts on the mask of a religious, saint-like person. When Orgon first meets Tartuffe he is awed by his virtue and humility. Therefore, he brings Tartuffe into the household in order to teach his family how to be as virtuous and humble as Tartuffe. Orgon gives Tartuffe full confidence and eventually manages to trust and confide in him more than his own family. Tartuffe plays a character that is righteous and immune to criticism from the rest of the family members, solely because he appears as a religious and humble person that is “pitied” by Orgon. Where in the reality Tartuffe has been manipulating Orgon to leverage some power over the other members of the household.

Except for Elmire, who actually have power over Tartuffe. Tartuffe’s motivation and goal was to take over the household in place of Orgon and acquire his own, over everyone, through deceit. Elmire has acquire power over Tartuffe by using her own feminine charm to seduce Tartuffe into not being able to manipulate her and having her will be heard.

Madam has also fallen for the tricks of Tartuffe himself. Madam accuses everyone of being inept and considers that everyone should follow in the footsteps of Tartuffe. Madam brings up how everyone is flaunting their own riches, Elmire, wearing extravagant clothing and having carriages parked outside. Implying that Elmire was a tramp of some sort by her “appearance” or the look she is going for. Appearances are but the shallow look on an individual, in Elmire’s case, she wasn’t dressing up to be attract other men because she was cheating or anything. Tartuffe played and dressed like a religious saint, however, was actually a conniving trickster that was trying to take over. The masks they put on are techniques of deceit and manipulation, in order to achieve some sort of power over others.

Hello my name is Jean. I am a finance major here at baruch. I’ve been attending school on and off as my interests in subjects have been shifting, however, i think im going to stick to finance since it has always been so interesting to me. I work full-time as a server at a casual fine dining restaurant and been there for three years so far. I do enjoy everything a restaurant has to offer, since i’m in NYC, there is endless opportunities to explore the delicacy of food and beverage. Who doesn’t like to eat and drink? One of my hobbies is going to the gym and hitting the weights. Always been a huge part of my life since high school, and it has taught many lessons aside from also revitalizing me. I’m hoping to absorb as much as i can from these great readings that we will be exploring this semester.