Reminder: test two will be on Wednesday, 21 March. The format will be similar to that of test one. It will cover:
–Chaucer, beginning with the Friar’s portrait in the General Prologue and including The Miller’s Tale and The Pardoner’s Tale
–Malory
–The poems we covered by Wyatt, Sidney, Marlowe, Ralegh, and Shakespeare (through sonnet 116)
March 22, 2007 at 7:24 pm
In Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress,” lines 33-46 very vividly describe the sexual encounter he is going to have with this woman. He starts the poem telling her all these nice things he would do if he had the time to, but there is not enough time for him to spend courting her, so they should just have sex. It seems strange that Marvell tells this woman all these nice things he would do but they are just a waste of time,so they should just have sex instead. Does he really believe this argument will work on this woman?
March 27, 2007 at 10:33 pm
In Donne’s “The Bait”, his approach is much different than that of “The Flea”. He attempts to woo his mistress rather than to try to seduce her as in “The Flea”.
March 27, 2007 at 10:55 pm
In George Herberts’s sonnet “The Collar” it is almost like he is saying God is his master. Just like pet owners put collars on their pets to show ownership of them. He seems to be saying that God put a collar on him to mark that he belongs to God.
March 27, 2007 at 10:58 pm
I enjoy how Donne takes “The Flea” and turns it around so immensely. I think that the way he turns it around and makes it out to be like a flea biting someone and then having sex are like the exact same thing is incredibly well thought out.
March 27, 2007 at 11:11 pm
I think is neat that Herbert’s “Easter Wings” is written almost in the shape of wings. It kind of adds to the poem.
April 3, 2007 at 7:37 pm
In Lycidas, i dont really understand why it says lycidas is dead. How can poetry be dead?!?
April 3, 2007 at 8:32 pm
In Paradise Lost why does Milton place Hell three times as far away from earth as heaven is from earth.
April 4, 2007 at 12:19 am
In Lycidas, I don’t understand why the author is writing this poem if, according to him, he is not ready to. This is demonstrated by the footnote talking about the evergreens being the 3 emblems of poetic achievement.
April 4, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Lycidas seems very ambiguous to me. It is very vague; maybe i just missed the idea behind it (other than his friend drowning).
April 5, 2007 at 3:36 pm
In Lycidas, why does Milton call on and blame mystical beings for Lycidas’s death and then also make references to Moses and other holy places? It seems strage that he mixes myth with religion.
April 10, 2007 at 9:36 pm
All throughout book 2 of Paradise Lost I think it is almost funny how Satan leads us to believe he knows he will never be able to overthrow God but he is not willing to give up trying and just face that God is an ALL powerful God and he doesnt have enough power to overthrow him.
April 10, 2007 at 10:24 pm
It seems to me that Satan is to stuborn to realize that he is never going to win against God
April 10, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Paradise Lost is a symbol of Satan’s pride. He is not willing to admit that there is no way he can overpower God. That shows an almost humanlike quality which explains why he could never make it as an angel.
April 12, 2007 at 10:43 am
In Book 3, God gave Satan and his followers the choice to follow him or fall, and they choice to fall because of their own suggestion. God knows that man will also fall to Satan’s suggestions, but unlike Satan, Man is capable of recieving mercy. This just shows that awesomeness of God and the stupidity of Satan to belive he can decieve God and ruin Mankind because it all plays into God’s plan.
April 13, 2007 at 8:27 am
I think that although at times it may seem as if in Paradise Lost, Satan may seem appealing, when it comes down to it, I think that he looks somewhat ignorant and stupid to think that he would be able to be more powerful then God.. who is omnipotent..
April 13, 2007 at 12:59 pm
In Paradise Lost, it is almost like God is sitting there smirking at Satan while he crawls his way out of hell. God knows what is going to happen, so he is not worried at all about it.
It is also really disturbing in Book 2 when Milton describes Death raping Sin. That’s just weird.
April 20, 2007 at 8:10 am
I enjoy reading about Gulliver and his naivity. Sometimes it may seem as if he is doing it all on purpose.. But when you realize that he isnt.. It really adds that extra comic relief.