Monthly Archives: April 2021

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? … (Lines 70-73)

1. Alred Prufrock had just left a room full of women pondering to himself whether he should’ve approached them or not. In the lines I’ve chosen, Prufrock is walking down a street during the evening and sees lonely men smoking from their windows. I chose these specific lines because it was one of the few sections where I fully understood what was literally happening. But also I thought these lines were exceptionally ordinary. This is definitely a Literary Modernism trait, when there isn’t a why to it but rather as the professor said “A stream of consciousness”. These lines provided further evidence of isolation in the community because he didn’t just describe the men as men but as lonely men. With the added fact that the women were in one room and men were by themselves, I think that these lines could be how Prufrock felt about himself. He felt isolated since he didn’t approach the women in that room, and can also see himself as one of those lonely men. Although my passage was quite straightforward, I still want to know if there were specific reasons for his word choice. Why did he use dusk? Was there perhaps a connection between Prufrock’s state of mind and the specific time?

In this poem the most part I familiar is this part “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,”” for my own understanding is that the author really desire about love, he wants his lover is in his spirit make him does not feel so lonely, I want to explain this part because a lot people think about my lover what is going to be like, however I think the most important thing about lovers is the lover can help you in the spirit, can stimulate you. The author using metaphor for the second and third phrase. The word that I do not understand I highlight in the hypothes.is. So I think author use metaphor is trying to show the reader feel more realistic the lover in his mind.

After reading ‘Punishment,’ I noticed one of the central themes within the text, as well as one of the greatest issues the characters faced was the death of Radha. Additionally, how the characters responded to her murder were equally as significant to the story, because this is what led Chandara to confess to a murder she never committed. An intestresting aspect in the story ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ has a similar textual context, in that although Ilyich’s death is one of the main focal points, the reactions of his peers shortly before and after his death are also notable. Firstly, in Punishment, one of choices Chidam makes after an additional witness to the murder appears, Ramlochan, is to lie about what happened, so as to try to protect his brother from being charged for the murder he committed by pinning the blame on Chandara. As the story writes, “But why is Dukhi crying so?’ asked Ramlochan, stepping towards the verandah. Seeing no way out now, Chidam blurted out, “In their quarrel, Chotobau struck at Barobau’s head with a farm-knife.” (p. 894) According to the story, Chidam’s rash thinking placed a higher value over his brother than his wife, which caused him to put the blame on her. From this, we can see that Chidam was quick to make decisions, but did not think them through before proceeding. At first glance, this is understandable, in that Chidam is trying to protect his only brother from incrimination, but this false accusation spirals into Chandara being executed for Dukhiram’s crime. On the other hand, when looking at The Death of Ivan Ilyich, the character’s reactions to the death are not so consequential, but still very notable. When being faced with Ilyich’s death, his colleagues responded with thinking, “Well, he’s dead but I’m alive!” (p. 741) They anticipated the “very tiresome demands of propriety by attending the funeral service and paying a visit of condolence to the widow.” (p. 741) From this, we can see that Ilyich’s peers did not care that much about his death, and were very pleased to remember that they still had their own lives to live and enjoy, although their peer had lost his life. In this light, although in both stories the characters have to deal with a death, their reactions to the death adds even more details and textual evidence to their character traits, and who they are as a person, and what their values are.

1.Read T.S. Eliot’s long poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”    As I mentioned last week, I would like us to give Hypothes.is another try.  Please access the poem HERE  and as you read, use Hypothes.is to make notes, ask questions, record the meanings of any unfamiliar words, and add anything other thoughts or connections that occur to you as you are reading.   In order to annotate the text and share your annotations with our class, you need to first sign in to Hypothes.is, then select ENG2850 from the pull-down menu (The alternative is “Public”).    You may also enjoy hearing Eliot read his poem aloud, which you can do HERE.   Please make 4-6 annotations before we discuss the poem on Wednesday 4/28 during our Zoom call.

2.Choose a moment in the poem that seems to you to be crying out for more extensive explication and analysis.  This could be a passage that you find really challenging, or it could be a passage that you feel you already have some insight into.  I would recommend choosing a passage of 2-4 lines.  Offer a detailed analysis of your passage, including the following:

-copy the lines you are analyzing, and be sure to identify their line numbers.

-explain the literal meaning of the passage.

-what made you choose this passage?

-what words, terms, or names did you need to look up? What do they mean?

-what symbolism, imagery, or other poetic devices is Eliot employing in these lines?

-how do these lines connect to the central concerns of the poem as a whole?

-what do you still not understand about your passage?

-what resources (if any) did you consult in order to complete this assignment?  My preference would be that you rely on. your own native intelligence and curiosity to complete this assignment, but if you do consult any outside sources, they must be acknowledged appropriately.  (Remember that any time you offer an idea that you found in another source, whether you quote from that source or not, you must include a parenthetical citation identifying your source.  Failure to do so is plagiarism, a serious academic offense.  Consult me if you have questions about this!)

Please post this assignment (as a free-standing blog post) by Friday, April 30th.

3.Introduction to Literary Modernism – Please stay tuned for a brief video I recorded introducing the next major aesthetic movement we will be exploring (Literary Modernism) and saying a few words about the beginning of the 20th Century.  My original lecture did not record properly, so I will be re-recording and posting this, hopefully by Friday evening, April 23rd.

4. Slight Schedule Change: If you have been following along on our syllabus, you will note that I have deviated slightly from the reading schedule listed on the syllabus.  This coming week, we are only reading T.S. Eliot.  The following week (5/3 and 5/5), we will be reading and discussing Kafka, “The Metamorphosis.”  It is a longer text, so you might want to begin reading it now, while our reading load is modest.  After Kafka, we will be reading Borowski’s “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen” ( May 10th), Salih’s “The Doum Tree of Wad Hamid” (May 12th), and Allende’s “And of Clay are We Created” (May 17th)

5. Any Questions? Please feel free to reach out to me via email or Slack if you have questions about any of this.  We are approaching the end of the semester, and I don’t want you to fall behind or lose your momentum as life gets increasingly busy.  You can sign up for office hours HERE.