british literature 2

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Humanities

british literature 2

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Be sure to cite your sources for I and II. Do not use any sources other than those assigned for class.

I – Poetry Analysis -50 points (25 each)

In a fully developed paragraph or more per poem, explain how 2 of the following poems exemplify the themes of the Romantic Period. Use specific examples from the poems, videos, podcast, and assigned readings in your text. General statements, not grounded in specific detail from the poems or other assigned materials, will receive no credit.

Blake – “The Chimney Sweeper”

Wordsworth – “The Ruined Cottage”

“Ode on Intimations of Immortality”

Coleridge – “Frost at Midnight “

Shelley – “Ode to the West Wind”

“Mutability”

Keats – “When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be”

“Ode on a Grecian Urn”

II. Wollstonecraft – 50 points (25 each)

Re-read Mary Wollstonecraft’s “from A Vindication of the Rights of Men” pp194-199 and “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” pp 208-238, and then respond to the following questions. Be sure to include specific references to the works (cite them) to support your responses. Choose 2 of the 4 questions below and respond to each in a fully developed paragraph or more:

  • What do you make of Wollstonecraft’s assertion that women are also like the rich of both sexes, trained in vice and folly, and soldiers, instructed in gallantry, prejudice and blind submission to authority? What is the effect of her making such disparate comparisons?
  • How does Wollstonecraft explain the paradox that women’s artificial weakness leads to tyranny?
  • How is romantic love used to degrade women? In what sense can passion (i.e. love) be rational according to Wollstonecraft.
  • What arguments does Wollstonecraft make in favor of expanding women’s education? Whom is she trying to persuade?

III. Victorian Gothic Fiction – Complete A and B. 100 points (50 each)

A. Write a 2-3 page English Gothic short story, paying particular attention to the elements of either male OR female gothic (if you are setting your story in Victorian England) or a combination of both male AND female gothic elements if your story is contemporary. Contemporary Gothic generally includes elements of both. Remember – this is Brit Lit II, so the story must be set in England or somewhere else in Europe.

B. Then write a 1-2 page analysis of your story, identifying the elements of male/female gothic and explaining how those elements combine to make your story a Gothic masterpiece! You may write your analysis from your own point of view, or you may adopt the persona of a critic analyzing the story you have written.

Note: Have fun with this one!I am not evaluating your abilities as a creative writer. Points will be assigned according to your effective use and clear analysis of the elements of female/male gothic as well as your understanding of the elements of narrative fiction.

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Explanation & Answer

Attached.

Surname 1
Name
Professor
Course
Date
British Literature
Part I: Poetry Analysis
“Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake
The poem “Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake focusses on the theme of the Romantic
period. The poem unites the two preoccupations of the romantic period including childhood and
the effects of industrial revolution on the natural world. It gets explored through the character,
Tom, a boy who has been betrayed by the father and sold to become a chimneysweeper. He notes
that “When my mother died, I was very young, and my father sold me while yet my tongue could
scarcely cry” (Blake 1-3). The children in the poem have to wake up early before dawn to clean
up the chimneys, something that has stolen their innocence. He remains unable to deal with the
harsh realities of getting sold into slavery and hence he finds refuge in God and religion. In his
dream, he sees the typical innocence children should enjoy where “down a green plain leaping,
laughing, they run, and shine in the sun” (Blake 15). They get forced to live a life covered in soot
which might result in premature death. It also emphasizes on the idea that resorting to God and
religion as a way of ignoring or accepting the situation remains a hypocritical attitude. For
example, Tom believes that if he does his duties, no harm will come to him. Overall, it intends to
create awareness to the society about the miserable life experienced by working children.

Surname 2
“Frost at Midnight” by Taylor Coleridge
Written in 1978 by Taylor Samuel Coleridge, “Frost at Midnight” is a poem that speaks
to the people in a more direct form of language and also outlines the theme of the romantic
period. It focusses on the connection between humanity especially the children and the natural
world as a source of wisdom. Childhood gets attributed to the period that offers an opportunity to
an individual to bond with nature, humanity, and God. The poem presents the connecting
between nature and childhood as the image of a deep an ice-encrusted landscape in the slumber
complemented by the sleeping baby. It makes the speaker reflect on his childhood, and he
mourns at his inability to experience the connection because he “was reared in the great city, mid
cloister dim, and saw naught lively but the sky and stars (Coleridge 58). Because of this, he vows
that his infants shall experience the connection, as he will make them “wander like a breeze, by
lakes and sandy shores” (Coleridge 59). The speaker relates children and the natural world to
God and demonstrates how the act...


Anonymous
This is great! Exactly what I wanted.

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