For Credit: The Working-Class Poet

We've had a lot of readings up to now that made passing references to laborers, peasants, working people, "the mob," "the crowd," and of course, we've had the depiction of urban criminals in The Beggar's Opera.

The Thresher's Labour is something completely different: a poem written by an honest-to-God rural laborer, who became sufficiently educated to write these heroic couplets about his work. It was published and circulated widely--drawing enough interest to earn Duck the patronage of Queen Anne and, ultimately, a sinecure at court. He went on to publish more poetry, but he is largely remembered in the C20/21 for this, his first major work.

Respond to this post by answering one of the questions below:

1. What is the tone of this poem overall? What kind of attitude does Duck express towards his laboring life?

2. How does Duck use neoclassical images or allusions? Identify and analyze one instance of such an allusion.

3. How does Duck organize this poem? What key shifts or divisions can you identify that give the poem shape and direction?

As always, cite some lines to defend your claim.

Deadline: Monday (11/2), start of class.

Just to Set the Record Straight...

To be fair, not everyone was born to play John Gay's larger-than-life hero/bad boy. As a necessary corrective to the mess you watched today, here's Roger Daltrey doing what he does best:

For Credit: A Most Excellent Moral

At the end of Act III, the Beggar tells us, "Had the play remained, as I at first intended, it would have carried a most excellent moral. 'Twould have shown that the lower sort of people have their vices in a degree as well as the rich, and that they are punished for them." In order to "comply with the taste of the town" however, he agrees to forgo this moral and give the play a different ending than he had planned.

To prepare to wrap up our analysis of The Beggar's Opera, there are several related questions you can answer (in any part or combination you choose) about this ending (and you can as always offer a kind and collegial alternative to a classmate's response):

1. Would the Beggar's proposed ending have indeed portrayed the moral he outlines in the lines I quoted above?

2. What alternative moral does the ending as written convey?

3. How does the moral of the play explain the continuing popularity of this play?

4. What is Gay trying to say?

5. Is there a moral to this play?

Offer some text in support of your claims.

Deadline: Friday (10/30), start of class.

For Credit: Hussies, Sluts, and Impudent Jades

To complement today's video representation of John Gay's prostitute characters, here's a "real" C18 prostitute: the renowned Kitty Fisher.

Question: Is Beggar's Opera profoundly misogynistic, or are the various slurs against women just one dimension of Gay's equal-opportunity disparagement of just about everyone?

Cite some text to support your claims.

Deadline: Start of class Friday (10/30).

The Beggar's Opera Discussion

In Act II of The Beggar's Opera starting at Scene 11, we are introduced to the love triangle that exists between Macheath, Polly, and Lucy. As a satire, the play presents each of the female rivals in a particular, rather overblown fashion; yet they still present familiar sentiment. Throughout the course, we have been introduced to many other works featuring complicated romantic liaisons, from Fantomina to Eloisa to Abelard. It is from these works we have built up ideas about how the concept of love was portrayed in the period.

Since satire inevitably relies on previous knowledge to be amusing, in what way does the love triangle track with these ideas we have already conceived? In what way does it digress from them? How are they defied in order to create humor?

For Credit: Newgate Philosophers

At various points in Act II of Beggar's Opera, we see criminals discussing with each other the nature of their trade and defending its legitimacy. Identify one of these moments and discuss the nature of the satire that is in play.

Deadline: Wednesday (10/28), start of class.

For Credit: Questions, Confusion, Bafflement?

Post your questions, curiosity, or puzzlement about The Beggar's Opera here. Cite some text to illuminate your inquiry.

Deadline: Wednesday (10/28), start of class.

Scenes from the Beggar's Opera

No question for you to answer here--but seeing a few clips will help you to see how the songs and dialogue go together in this musical play, the first of its kind ever staged.

From Act I, scene 6, with Mrs. Peachum played by the incomparable Patricia Routledge (whom fans of British sit-coms on PBS may know as Hyacinth Bucket):




From the end of Act I (scenes 13 onward), with a young Sir Laurence Olivier playing MacHeath (an older production):

For Credit: Writing Process

Respond to this post by identifying a particular challenge that writing the second assignment is presenting for you. What aspects of writing about the literature of past are you finding difficult with this particular paper?

Deadline: Monday (10/26), start of class.

REMINDER: Beggar's Opera Next Week

Just a reminder: if you absolutely DON'T want to be called on to read a part in Beggar's Opera--or if you really enjoy that kind of thing and would like to be called on to read--please send me an e-mail to let me know.

For Credit: Polly Peachum

What do you make of Polly Peachum? Identify one adjective that you think best describes her (or best supplements descriptions your classmates have supplied) and cite some text to support your claim.

Deadline: Monday (10/26), start of class.

For Credit: The Beggar and the Player

What would you say is the purpose of the "Introduction" to The Beggar's Opera, in which the Beggar and the Player converse on stage prior to the beginning of the first act?

Deadline: Monday (10/26), start of class.

For Credit: Democracy Better for Enlightenment? (Deadline extended--last chance to post for Week 9)

Today's in-class writing exercises revealed more discomfort with Kant's equation of Enlightenment with monarchy than emerged in class discussion. As one of your classmates eloquently put it:

I disagree with Kant's idea that a monarch is better for the Enlightenment than a republic...[Relevant quotes redacted.] While I understand what he is saying (that a monarchy allows people to feel secure enough to question), I disagree because with a republic the people have more of a say in what happens and therefore people must think and question things more than they would if all the decisions were made for them like in a monarchy. Also in a republic you're able to publicly question and make observations, but in a monarchy you privately question, but this will not create a widespread Enlightenment (instead of just questioning yourself)...[More quotes] Monarchy can eventually lead to an enlightenment, but a republic sort of forces enlightenment to take place. A republic forces people to question, observe, make mistakes, correcting the mistakes, etc. People become more knowledgeable in a republic.

Discuss. Are there crucial features of a republic that Kant does not take into account? Cite relevant text and be kind and collegial in responding to your classmates.

Deadline: Friday (10/23) Saturday (10/24), midnight.

Upcoming Assignments

Just to reiterate what I said in class today:

1. Topics for the second assignment (Parts I and II) were distributed in class today. If you weren't there, or didn't get one, there's a link over there in the sidebar. (I finally got updated to Word 2008, so that's a docx file. If I'm not the last person on the planet to have had trouble with docx files, please let me know and I'll put it up in doc as well.)

2. The syllabus list another writing assignment in addition to the one I've just assigned, the "ECCO assignment." It will be due in between Part I and Part II of the second paper. It will be somewhat shorter than the syllabus say, though--3 to 4 pages, instead of 4 to 6.

3. We will NOT be reading Joseph Addison's Cato, unless I hear strong protests to the contrary (please protest strongly by e-mail, if you are so inclined). Instead we will read John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, which is included in the Longman Anthology. Same dates on the syllabus, different play.

Please feel free to e-mail me, respond to this post, or talk to me after class if you have questions.

For Credit: A Distinctly Conservative Document?

The historian Margaret Jacobs writes (in a different anthology containing Kant's "What is Enlightenment") that this essay

is a distinctly conservative document. Think for yourself, Kant seems to be saying, but cause no trouble. Leave the state and its institutions alone; conform; think original thoughts after hours, in the privacy of your own home.

(The Enlightenment: A Brief History with Documents, 2002).

Based on your reading of Kant's essay, do you agree with this assessment? Why or why not? Cite some text to support your claim.

Deadline: Friday (10/23), start of class.

For Credit: Public or Private Use of Reason?

Kant makes a distinction in "What is Enlightenment?" between "public use of reason" and "private use of reason." This distinction uses the terms "public" and "private" in rather unusual ways. To help to clarify what Kant means by these two different forms of reason, try applying his distinction in real life. Think about this class, English 206/CWL 257. When you read for class, participate in class, write on the blog, or work on a paper, are you using your reason "publicly" or "privately," according to Kant's definitions? Quote Kant's precise words to support your claim.

Deadline: Wednesday (10/21), start of class.

For Credit: "Their Father's God and Property..."

Locke alludes to God at various points in the passage you've been assigned for Monday. How crucial is God to his argument?

Cite some text to support your claims.

Deadline: start of class Monday (10/19).

For Credit: John Locke

How does Locke define "property"? Why is the definition of property so essential to the Treatise, and how does that definition correspond to our perception of property today?

Deadline: Monday (10/19), start of class.

NOT for credit: the story lives on...

Believe it or not, there's a stage musical. If you were casting the Hollywood version of the movie, who would play the principals and why?

For Credit: Another Outlier? (last chance to post for week 8)

Is "Eloisa to Abelard" (like Fantomina, as some of you argued on the midterm) an outlier in this course? Or does it connect, in significant and interesting ways, to the picture of the Enlightenment that is emerging from the readings/lecture/discussion in this class? Cite some text to support your claims.

Deadline: Saturday (10/17), midnight.

Abelard to Eloisa Discussion

In the closing stanzas of Pope’s Eloisa to Abelard there seems to be a dramatic break in Eloisa’s frantic struggle with her rekindled passion for Abelard.


“Oppose thyself to Heav'n; dispute my heart;Come, with one glance of those deluding eyesBlot out each bright idea of the skies;Take back that grace, those sorrows, and those tears;Take back my fruitless penitence and pray'rs;Snatch me, just mounting, from the blest abode;Assist the fiends, and tear me from my God!

No, fly me, fly me, far as pole from pole;Rise Alps between us! and whole oceans roll!Ah, come not, write not, think not once of me,Nor share one pang of all I felt for thee…”
(Lines 282-292)


What do you think is the point of this break in the context of the poem? Is there an “out” being proposed for Eloisa’s passion in the cessation of the poem? Is there some conflict in the end of the poem, if Eloisa’s will be united with Abelard in heaven, as opposed to in earthly life?

For Credit: Questions Posed by Your Classmates

The writing exercises turned up some excellent questions. I post them here, with some slight modifications, for you to think about and respond to.

1. What is the purpose of the heroic couplets in this format? You can respond by identifying (and briefly discussing) 2 - 4 lines that illustrate how the poetic form is more expressive than a prose rendition would be.

2. What is it that makes this poem necessary in our study of the Enlightenment?

3. (This question got asked a number of different ways by different people): After all this turmoil within Eloisa does she still have faith? Does her relationship with God remain relevant at the end of the poem?

4. "Reason most certainly has a power over her, but not in a good way, in an oppressive way. She's starving for love and Abelard is a feast: her love of God is just water. Enough to sustain but not fulfill." Discuss.

Specify which question you're responding to, and cite some text to support your response.

Deadline: start of class Friday (10/16).

For Credit: More Words to Describe Eloisa

Some words to describe Eloisa that did NOT come up in discussion today, but did emerge on the in-class writing exercises:

"weak, because she cannot decide who she wants to love more"

"insane"

"moderately scary"

"merely believe[s] in God because that's what everyone tells her to do"

These assessments portray a less sympathetic Eloisa than the one who emerged from class discussion today.

Which is right? Is Eloisa (as portrayed by Pope) a passionate if conflicted woman thwarted by circumstance, or is she confused and indecisive to the point of insanity and incoherence?

Deadline: start of class Friday (10/16).

For Credit: How to Read this Poem?

Alexander Pope's Eloisa to Abelard takes the form of a dramatic monologue/letter in which Eloisa addresses Abelard. It requires the same kind of interpretive attention that you gave to Johnson's Vanity of Human Wishes and Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel but the subject matter is more straightforward.

That said, any long poem is easier to understand if you have some ideas about how to break it down into smaller coherent units. For our two previous long poems, I supplied an outline or "Map" (in the case of Absalom and Achitophel), or I indicated on the blog what how the poet had divided up the subject matter (Vanity of Human Wishes). With those models in mind, give some thought to how this poem is organized. Where do you perceive transitions or major breaks in direction? What key ideas or concerns guide the structure and movement of the poem?

Offer some suggestions about how to identify the smaller parts that together make up the whole of the poem, and about how those smaller parts work together. You don't have to take on the poem as a whole--feel free to identify one or two key moments of transition, or refine the divisions your classmates have identified. Just make sure to specify the line numbers (and a brief quote) where you see significant breaks or changes in direction.

Deadline: Wednesday (10/14), start of class.

For Credit: There's Something about Abelard

Pope doesn't give us any hints about how Abelard responds to Eloisa's epistle to him; we only get Eloisa's side of the story. That said, what can you gather about Abelard from reading Eloisa's letter to him? What sort of person does he seem to be?

Offer some text (no more than four lines) in support of your claim.

Deadline: Wednesday (10/14), start of class.

For Credit: In the Cloister

What elements of the religious life appeal to Elouisa? Eloisa to Abelard is a long poem, and I'm using the term "religious life" loosely to cover a number of different things that Eloisa expresses longing for at different points in the poem as she seeks alternatives to her feelings for Abelard. Comment on this thread by identifying some lines (no more than four) in which you can isolate what it is she seeks in religion and why. You can also comment on this thread by improving (kindly and collegially) on someone else's interpretation of lines that interest you.

Deadline: Wednesday (10/14), start of class.

For Credit: Holes in the Midterm? (Deadline Extended)

In your view, what got left out of the midterm?

Respond to this post with knowledge, information, insights, that you have gained in 206/257 so far this semester, but will not have the opportunity to demonstrate on the midterm. Be sure to ground what you have to say in a relevant quote from one of our course readings. You don't need to respond at great length (it's not necessary, for example, to invent a whole new essay question and your answer to it!)--a few sentences that might have been part of a longer response to an unasked question are fine. If it feels a bit random--that's okay.

Deadline: Tuesday (10/13), noon.

For Credit: Amazing Grace

You may be familiar with this famous eighteenth-century poem:



If you click on the image, you can see it in a more readable format (though in its original 18th-century context).

You may be more familiar with the poem when it is presented like this: