Great Works MW 5:40 Spring 2013

Before I first looked at the title, I had an impression that it is going to be a song that I had to blog about. However, it turned out to be a collaboration of poems with 52 sections in total. Having doubts on the name of the title, I did some research and find out that the it was named songs by Whitman as there seens to be an audible quality to his work. Whitman thinks that the true meaning won’t be understood if they are not heard by a listener, nor will it be understood as an individual if the “songs ” are not heard by the world. Hence, the poems are titled with the name “song” in order to attempt to make himself heard.

Another part to the title on “myself”, I noticed Walt Whitman had an emphasize on all powerful “I” in the poems which serves as a narrator, who should not be limited to or confused with the person or Walt Whitman himself. The poem transcends conversational boundary of self. Just take a look at any session of the poem, one can see the frequent use of “I” , “me” and “my” that directed to the narrator . For example, Session 1 by itself had already over ten uses of reference to the narrator.

Whitman’s subject is himself, but it is clear that Whitman means more than just his physical self. Whitman calls himself a universe of meanings. He uses the symbol of his naked self in nature to symbolize his own fusion with the world around him. Whitman’s self is the whole of America and the whole of nature. From Session 2, the line “I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked,” reflected Whitman’s idea of feeling the world. In this session, Whitman make uses of all our familiar pleasures senses to make others more appreciative about the world. In the same session, Whitman wrote that “You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me, You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.” Not only do Whitman wants to feel the world on his own, but urge others to do the same as way, to use not only his eyes or your own eyes, but uses all of our senses in interacting with the world.

Whitman believes in the equality of humanity. In session 1, ” For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you”, reflects the thought of Whitman that what he have do not differ from what others have, that everyone is equal. They are born in this world in the same manner as anyone else. They, too, are allowed to develop in any manner that they desires, letting nature takes its course.

From the style of writing of Whitman in “Song of Myself”, there is a sense of realism within the poem. There is a symbiotic relationship between poet and the society. As it is written at the time right after American Civil War, there are certain aspect of the poems that could be especially related to that period of time. In Session 8, it directly relates to the situation after the American Civil War.  For examples, there are ” The heavy omnibus, the driver with his interrogating thumb, the clank of the shod horses on the granite floor” , “The meeting of enemies, the sudden oath, the blows and fall” and “Arrest of criminals, slights, adulterous offers made, acceptances, rejections with convex lips,” could be related to the situation at that point of time.

Another thing to point out is that Whitman chose to write in free verse, that which he thinks it is the perfect form to explore the themes of identity, nationality and transcendence in a free country, the United States.

From reading “Song of Myself”, I feel that Whitman is an optimistic and positive man. I feel that not only Whitman wants to express his thoughts on his life, he also wanted to inspire and educate others in their values and the view of life. In almost every session by “Song of myself”, there are lessons left to be unpacked and learnt. For example, in session 3, Whitman had implied to live and appreciate the present and be satisfied with what we have. He mentions to live in the present and be contend of what every part of the world is. The sentence “Shall I postpone my acceptation and realization and scream at my eyes…”, seems to be that he knows that in the future, everyone will be changed by the society in one way or another through experience and be selfish and self-centered, but he phased and sounded as though he gave the idea of “let’s leave that thought in the future”. In addition, in session 7,  he seems to believes that everyone has a latent potential within themselves and in their unique way, everyone is good. He believes in community and joint efforts. He also believes in humanity, and even though humans and borne flawed, they should not be bounded by their own worried or guilt. It also infers that Whitman had his own guilty but he is able to conquer from his negativity with his will power and stay strong.

There is one session that I especially liked on the poem, the view points on the life and death. In session 6, Whitman use the metaphor of grass and related it to the democracy of people. A child asks him what the grass is, and he doesn’t have an answer, which gets him thinking about all kinds of things, but especially about all the people buried in the earth who came before him. Whitman then gave the idea that “They smallest sprout shows there is no really death”. What I think he meant is that when a grass dies, it will be given a new life. When a life ceased, another life appears. There is a never ending cycle to life processes, it does not mean when your live end with your death but it signifies a new life is born. That positive outlook on life and death that Whitman hold intrigued me. However, I still have doubts should it even be considered “lucky” to die.

By Samual Shing.

Joseph Madera

Before I dived into Keats selected poems and letters I decided to do some research on his background to get a feel for his character and get a sense of what emotions or thoughts he tried to evoke in his writing. As a child he lost his father at the age of 8 and then 6 years later his mother also passed away due to tubercolosis. Unfortunately Keats also succumbed to the same disease at just the age of 25. It is safe to say that  he definitely endured much pain and anguish throughout his short lived life and his writings exemplified that pain.

In his letter to his brothers George and Thomas he talks about various subjects. In the beginning of the letter one of the first things that stood out to me was when he briefly brings up the subject of Christmas. He tells his brothers that in todays “Champion”; which Ibelieve refers to a newspaper, they will find “very proper lamentation on the obsoletion of Christmas Gambols and pastimes”. I immediately thought, could he be referring to his own past experiences around christmas time? Why would he talk about Christmas in this manner? Keep in mind that this letter was written a few days before Christmas and a few years after the death of his mother.  Christmas as you may know is a time of celebration and unity usually spent with your family. I think this is him lamenting his parents deaths and not being able to experience a traditional Christmas with his parents. Another thing that stood out to me in the letter was his critique of the picture “Death on the Pale Horse”. Its a picture portraying humans being slaughtered at the hands of a horsemen. I think the picture in a way represents Keats own exposure to death and the pain that he feels as result of his parents death. The picture symbolizes death and grief both of which have an emotional attachment to Keats.

His poem “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” is a great example of Keats poetic prowess. It begins with a a lonely knight who is “loitering” in a land where  the “sedge has wither’d from the lake, And no birds sing”. So right off the bat Keats paints a picture of a lone knight trespassing on a barren, lifeless land. As he progresses the knight  meets a beautiful lady in the meads. He describes her as “Full Beautiful- a faery’s child, Her hair was long, her foot was light, And her eyes were wild”.  In the 7th stanza the knight says “And sure in language strange she said I love thee true” How does the knight know she said that if it was told in a strange language?  It is at this point where I begin to question whether this whole encounter is real or just an  illusion. A beautiful lady and a lone night having a romantic encounter on a desolate land seems too good to be true.  Finally in the 9th stanza it is revealed that the knight was indeed dreaming the whole time. The beautiful woman was just an illusion that he created to divert him from the grim reality. When he awoke on the “cold hill’s side” he saw “death-pale warriors” who cried ” La Belle Dame Sans Merci Hath Thee in thrall” which translates to the beautiful lady without mercy has you as an unfree servant.

I Think its important to also note that Keats was an admirer of Shakespeare’s work.  In his letter to his two brothers he refers to Shakespeare as a man who possessed an enormous amount of achievement. Shakespeare is well renown for his brilliant tragedies such as Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. Keats poem “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”  as well as Shakepseares works  draw parallels between the perception of reality and a true dark reality.

– Joseph Madera

 Death On the Pale Horse

Father of jealousy! Be thou accursed from the earth!” Is this not a place of religion, the rewards of continence? Visions of the Daughters of Albion by William Blake can be seen as a collection of love stories. Blake may have used his own personal disagreement towards raped girls as a broken human being where, they’re unable to find love. There is also a sense of jealousy coming from Blake because he consider woman to be property, which is surprisingly common in this century.
There is a great sense of thoughts and feelings in terms of relationships between man and woman. “With what sense does the parson labour of the farmer? What are his nets & gins and traps; & how does he surround him with cold floods of abstraction, and with forests of solitude, to build him castles and high spires”. Oothoon can be seen as a typical person in America where his life goal is to find her true love and staring up a new life. But that was never the case because, Theotormon is raped by Bromion, where he represents law; making slavery illegal. Even though slavery is illegal is there happening in this world. In the beginning of the story Blake states, “Enslav’ed, the Daughters of Albion weep; a trembling lamentation upon their mountains; in their valleys, sighs towards America”. Blake, who had a daughter and decided to move her to America because he believed there was a better a better life without any discrimination. There was a sense of false misrepresentation how we see America as a great country with freedoms. For example we can relate this to many immigrants that left their homelands because they thought there was a better life was waiting for them in America but turns out to be false for some immigrants.

It comes down to the question are we surrounded by evil or just Bromion as an individual. There was also a sense of false religion in the poem. What I mean by that is, does having a moral value promote religion? For example, during Oothoon’s lament, there was a long series of questions from, “with what sense does the parson clamin the labour…etc”
“Take thy bliss, O man! And sweet shall be thy taste, and sweet thy infant joys renew!” I think Blake is trying to explain that we viewed sex as a hidden and forbidden place where no one can intervene. Also Blake also asked, “A solitary shadow wailing on the margin of nonentity?” There was some jealousy going on within the poem. For example, Theotormon’s jealousy caused Oothoon out from the shadow where she cries for non-existent.
Another question came to my mind while I was reading the poem is that do we perceive our lover or spouse as a possession? In the poem Oothoon indicates she was ready to have experience with men. But was that the case? Bromion raped Oothook and he later stated he impregnated her, making her his possession.
Bromion stated the following when he was raping Oothoon. “Thy soft American plains are mine, and min thy north and south: Stamp’d with my signet are they swarthy children of the sun”. They are obedient, they resist not, they obey the scourge. The “soft American” is Oothoon body and the physical land where he shows no sympathy over it. While the “swarthy child of the sun” is the slaves he has control over. Not only Bromion took Oothoon virginity, but acquires her identity. Losing your virginity is seen as the end of innocence, integrity, and purity for Oothoon.

How can “Visions of the Daughters of Albion”, by William Blake, be seen as a critique of colonial oppression and imperialism in relation to the ethics and standards of religion?  That is to say, how does Blake asses the actions of imperialism and its effects on the pursuance of establishing religious morals and virtues?  Oothoon’s desire is to be with Theotormon, but Bromion makes this impossible by raping her.  Once Oothoon is raped by Bromion, Theotormon no longer reciprocates Oothoon’s love.  How can this represent the adherence to religious codes and the repercussions of following, or abandoning, religious standards?  Oothoon leaves Leutha in search of love and identity, which can be paralleled to man seeking a relationship with God.  Bromion, or the embodiment of imperialism and oppression, effectively ends Oothoon’s pilgrimage. Although Oothoon was forcefully placed in association with the evils that define Bromion, her relationship with Theotormon is still in shambles.  How can this illustrate the necessities of being morally virtuous in the context of proclaiming a religion that preaches certain values?

How can this relationship be contextualized within a global or national scope?  Oothoon may be seen as the potential for America, and it may also be said that she leaves England.  Her endeavors of being united with Theotormon may represent a chance for a new start and an opportunity to create a new identity that follows the standards of morality and love.  In this case, Bromion symbolizes the former settlers who promoted slavery and other evils.  Since Oothoon is not able to win Theotormon’s love after being raped, is Blake stating that America cannot achieve moral success after a foundational history of evil?  Is Blake saying that America, or Oothoon, is possessed and owned by evil, or Bromion?  What implications does Bromion’s rape have, other than affecting the relationship between Oothoon and Theotormon? For instance what affect does Bromion’s actions, and identity in general, have specifically on Theotormon alone?

How does “Visions of the Daughters of Albion” propose the falseness and deceitful freedom of America?  What claims does it make towards the identity and qualities of America in general?  At the very beginning of “Visions”, Blake states, “Enslav’ed, the Daughters of Albion weep; a trembling lamentation upon their mountains; in their valleys, sighs towards America”.  Amongst other identities, the Daughters of Albion may be defined as immigrants who desire to travel to America.  This passage shows how their current situation causes them torment and how America is viewed as the reliever of that sadness.  They cannot emigrate, so the perception of America remains one of hope and positivity.  When Oothoon goes to America, or becomes the embodiment of America, then the true nature of America is shown.  Bromion   This exactly coincides with the common early misperceptions of America; immigrants traveled to America in hopes of equality, fair opportunity, racial tolerance, but they found the exact opposite treatment and values.  How may this poem represent a deeper political claim regarding the social structure of America?  Slavery and oppression created a huge divide within socioeconomic classes; how does this pertain to Oothoon and Theotormon?  If Theotormon is positioned as American success and the acquisition of the American dream, then what implications does this have for Oothoon who symbolizes the raped, or enslaved?  Furthermore, in a more general context, does this claim that a national foundation based off slavery and oppression can only produce more slavery and oppression?  Can Oothoon’s, or the oppressed’s, relationship with Theotormon, or American success, not be fulfilled because the socio-economic and political structure of America has already been inextricably linked to slavery?  How can this be solved- must Bromion be completely eliminated from the equation?

Innocence and Experience — Ideal or Reality

As a rule, people are used to describing a simple person as a child, since childhood is considered as the most innocent age in human entire lifetime. While time goes by, child grows up and becomes conscious of the real world. In William Blake’s collection of poems Songs of Innocence and of Experience, he displays two distinct stages of human emotion, which is joy and sorrow, triggering the serious thinking about the religious idealism and human existence.

William Blake is well known not only as a poet, but also as a print-maker and a painter. With more than twenty years experience in printing and painting, Blake’s accomplishment towards fine arts has a great influence on his poems, which helps to depict vivid pictures by the wording and then makes readers feel as if they were actually there. Typically, Blake expresses romantic themes in the poems of SONGS OF INNOCENCE, creating such a lively and cheerful environment. For instance, in THE ECHOLING GREEN, the skylark and thrush’s “louder” singing proclaims that everything comes to life again with the advent of the spring; kids are playing in the green woods and echoes of their voice indicate an absolutely energetic and joyful situation; the old men with “white hair” watching them are affected by the lovely sight, recalling their own carefree childhood with smiles (Blake, 3). Even though the vocabulary that Blake uses here is not complex, he puts plenty of components in his green image, such as birds, kids, old men, and the simile between family and birds’ nest, so that readers could connect to their beautiful memories of the past days as well.

From “Innocence” to “Experience”, child grows up and transforms the unconscious mind to new awareness. Songs of Innocence and of Experience, which costs Blake five years to adjust attitude and develop ideas, reveals his progress of maturation. In 1789, Blake first printed Songs of Innocence including nineteen poems; as a romanticism poet, he focuses on piety, love and worship of God.  To illustrate, “Lamb”, “child”, and “God” are the three main characters that appear in these works. The “Lamb”, which symbolizes the pure soul that people originally have since they were born, always has “white hair”, inferring the innocent conception of the world: without any interruption, infants come to a peaceful earth; they satisfy with food and clothing provided to them and response the world with “tender voice”, for they are docile as the “meek” and “mild” sheep (Blake, THE LAMB). In THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER, Blake designates a little child named Tom Dacre, who was sold by his father as a slave and he lives with thousands of sweepers in dark soot. Compared to the “coffins of black”—the shocking housing conditions of slaves, the child still keeps his innocence of “white hair”, since he immediately cheers up and will not be afraid anymore after he dreams an angel comes and sets them free, passing on God’s love and blessing all of them (Blake, 7). The ideal world that Blake shows in Songs of Innocence brings hope that everyone shares God’s love fairly and all good people could be in heaven eventually. In Blake’s poem THE SHEPHERD, he compares God with the “shepherd”, who should “be filled with praise”, stating his appreciation to God’s great creation and protection (2).

Despite the insistent respect of God, in Songs of Experience that Blake published in 1794, he questions the traditional theories of religions and criticizes the corruption occurred in those days, which was the root reason for poverty and slavery. Unlike the cheerful and bright scene in Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience is suffused with depressing atmosphere. For instance, instead of a belief in God that a sweeper Tom had previously, the little chimney sweeper complains slavery tearfully in Songs of Experience, “who make up a heaven of our misery”, is it “God”, “his priest”, or the “king” (Blake, THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER)? Through the sweeper’s crying, readers could feel Blake’s antagonism but also helpless, since he recognizes that freedom and innocence was bound up in fetters by theology, religious institutions, and the rulers. Moreover, using a repeating rhetoric question “What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry”, the poet make a sharp contrast between the “tiger” and the “lamb”; “tiger”, who has a beautiful appearance of “symmetry”, implies the wealth that capitalists grab from the slavery trade; “dread hand and feet” indicates the terrifying power of the social system, which oppress the working people (Blake, THE TIGER). Conversely, as Blake describes in Innocence, the “lamb” epitomizes the group of submissive people; they are innocent and peaceful, waiting for salvation with hollow beliefs while suffering exploitation of slaves (Blake, THE LAMB).

Songs of Innocence and of Experience is not only a pastoral, which Blake writes for children’s pleasure, is a contradictory combination that discloses the poet’s growth from idealism to realism, involving his self-exploration of religious viewpoints. Although Blake still some confuses and fears of the privileged stratum while asking God how he could create the “tiger” and the “lamb” and why in Songs of Experience, the poet has already moved a big step on conveying his own opinions and puzzlement towards the old theological perceptions.

Please read from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence & Experience, the following poems:

From Innocence:

The Introduction, The Lamb, The Little Black Boy, The Chimney-Sweeper, Divine Image, Infant Joy, and On Another’s Sorrow.

From Experience:

The Introduction, The Chimney-Sweeper, The Tiger, The Sick Rose, London, Human Abstract, and A Poison Tree.

Of course, you may read all of the poems, or the ones that seem to correspond with others, etc.

Anna Savina: Blog Post

In the Moliere’s play “Tartuffe” there are only two characters who liked hypocrite Tartuffe. They are mother and son, Madame Pernelle and Orgon. Orgon is one of the main characters in the play but his mother appeared only twice. The play started with Madame Pernelle. But what was Moliere’s reason to introduce Madame Pernelle’s character? There could be two possible reasons for it.
The first reason is to put Orgon in the same situation as his whole family was before, when he was blind and obsessed with Tartuffe. Finally, in the fourth Act he realized who Tartuffe was. We can compare Act 1 Scene 5 and Act 5 Scene 3. Two scenes are exactly the same. But the characters changed. In the first scene the whole family confronts Orgon about Tartuffe. And in the second scene Orgon has already took everybody’s side and tried to explain his mother who Tartuffe was. Of course, she did not believe him and this was clear parallel of the plot lines. In such way Molier taught Orgon a lesson and punished for his silliness and absurdness. Scene 3 in the Act V starts with Madame Pernelle and her son’s conversation. He tried to explain her the reality about Tartuffe. Orgon sustained a defeat. To make it more severe the author used Dorine with her ironic remarks. At first, through her character we hear: “Poor fellow!” These were exactly the same words which were used by Orgon in the first Act. Moliere wanted to remind the audience how ridiculous Orgon was in the beginning. Later on Dorine said: “It’s your turn now, Sir, not to be listen to; / You’d not trust us, and now she won’t trust you.” The author one more time made the accent on the similarity of the plot lines.
The second reason to have Madam Pernelle’s character in the play is to show the biggest danger of hypocrisy: it is difficult to believe in hypocrite’s villainy and amorality until you directly experience his criminal and immoral activity and see his face without fake pious mask. With the help of Orgon’s and Madame Pernelle’s characters we can see the plot spiral. Both mother and son realized the true Tartuffe’s nature only when they could see the real proof. Finally, in the Act 5 Orgon was convinced that Tartuffe was completely a different person. Both mother and son followed the same plot path. But Orgon was the first one and Madame Pernelly followed him. In the first Act and second Act we could find the similarities in their speeches. Orgon: “Say of him, then, /That he’s very worthiest of men, And that you’re fond of him, …” Madame Pernelle: “He’s out to save your souls, and all of you / Must love him, as my son would have you do.” Both tried to convince others to love Tartuffe as they did. Right after the scene when Orgon experienced evil intentions of Tartuffe we could see that he finally realized what was happening all that time. Orgon: “That man’s a perfect monster, I must admit! / I’m simply stunned. I can’t get over it.” The same repeated with madame Pernelle. She was able to believe her son only when Tartuffe proved his hypocrisy in front of her. It happened when Monsieur Loyal told news about eviction. Madame Pernelle: “ I’m thunderstruck. I’m utterly aghast.” The scary thing in both situations is that neither Orgon nor madame Pernelle had any doubts about honesty and sacredness of Tartuffe until he uncovered his true face.

Tartuffe As a Social Type

Moliere created Tartuffe as a character that meant to depict one of the most widespread problems of the French society in 17th century – religious hypocrisy. The name Tartuffe translates as a liar from one of the French dialects. However, over the centuries this name became a common name for all kind of double-faced social types of behavior and hypocrisy. Catholic Church and Monarchy defined every level of French social structure in 17th century and as such Moliere’s Tartuffe is a person, who exaggeratedly using these strict morals and principles of religion in order to present himself as a “saint,” and thus, to manipulate his way in society.
Throughout the play Tartuffe has clearly defined characteristics. He has distinctly stated goals in his life. In the beginning of the play we are told that he started out as a starved “wretched pauper” (p.356), transforming himself throughout the play towards the last scenes, where he nearly reaches his goal and becomes “a lord and master” (p.359) of Orgon’s estate. It is undeniable, that Tartuffe is smart and very determined in his ambitions. But foremost, he possesses excellent psychoanalytical skills. He shows good knowledge and understanding of social structure and people’s character, which instantly helps him to identify weaknesses in others and how to manipulate them towards his own interest. The most obvious example is his relations with Orgon. Orgon is a wealthy patriarch, whose opinion is the only one that matters in the family. Therefore, Tartuffe’s first milestone goal is to be adored and highly praised by Orgon, despite other family members’ opinions.
Orgon’s life is determined by his religious beliefs. He looks at religion as a way to become a better human being. Thus, having such a “saint” as Tartuffe as a mentor brings Orgon to a whole new level of existence: “under his tutelage his soul’s been freed from earthy loves, and every human tie” (p.320). The rich patriarch unconditionally follows all of Tartuffe’s precepts, which leads Orgon to showering his “saint” with gifts, offering him his only daughter as a wife, assigning him his son’s inheritance and even letting Tartuffe be in an intimate proximity to his own wife. But Tartuffe doesn’t stop there. He plans his game a few steps ahead. Besides all the luxury he receives, Tartuffe also secures his positions by obtaining compromising information about Orgon. Tartuffe knows Orgon’s secret regarding a “certain strong-box,” that Orgon agreed to hide for his friend. By manipulating another trusty patriarch’s weakness, “vexed conscience” about the papers inside the box, Tartuffe effortlessly gets the compromising documents in his possession.
Still, another interesting Tartuffe’s characteristic is revealed in the last scene of the play, where he comes across as a chameleon. As it was mentioned in the beginning of this post, there were two ruling powers in French society: Church and Monarchy. Throughout the play Tartuffe hypocritically uses religion to achieve his goals. However, in the very end he takes 180-degree turn and becomes a devoted servant to the King and states, “that obligation is so paramount that other claims, besides it, do not count” (p.361).
Such well-portrayed Tartuffe’s social type, which was typical in 17th century, remains highly relevant in modern society. People continually hypocritically use religion and politics as armor in their lives. A vivid example of it would be such a debatable religious movement as Scientology, which often recognized as a cult and associated with money and power.