EN 202 Harvard University Asynchronous Lesson Packet Paper

  

Description

I uploaded the directions and the powerpoint associated with the question.

EN 202
Neoclassical Poetry (and other Notable Writers of the
Enlightenment): Characteristics, Themes and Formal
Design
Week 1 Asynchronous Lesson Packet
1. This Packet contains 2 Parts. The time required to complete this packet is
approximately 1 hour – 1 hour 20 minutes, depending on your individual
work pace. Please be sure to complete all sections before you submit your
work!
2. Part 1 Contains three short poems and a variety of Focus Questions that
follow. These are designed to help you practice close reading, scrutiny and
critical contemplation of the text. There are 10 Focus Questions in total.
3. Part 2 Contains some background information about a highly influential
Enlightenment Philosopher, and includes a link to a short video that
analyzes an excerpt from one of his texts. One reflection question
prompting you to extend the analysis further is included at the end of Part
2.
4. Green Text indicates where your response is required.
5. Please refer to the 2 PowerPoints in the Week 1 Module on the
Enlightenment and Era, Genre and Canon to help you analyze and
discuss the literature herein.
6. When finished, please save and upload this completed packet to the
“Neoclassical Poetry Asynchronous Work Packet” Assignment on
eCampus.
PART I — Poetry
SECTION 1: “Dreams” by John Dryden
John Dryden (1631-1700) was an English poet and playwright. He was the first person to
ever receive the title of Poet Laurette in England. He is considered by many to be the
father of Restoration Age Neoclassical Poetry. Here is a poem he wrote during the height
of the Scientific Revolution:
Dreams
By John Dryden
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16.
17.
Dreams are but interludes which Fancy makes;
When monarch Reason sleeps, this mimic wakes:
Compounds a medley of disjointed things,
A mob of cobblers, and a court of kings:
Light fumes are merry, grosser fumes are sad;
Both are the reasonable soul run mad;
And many monstrous forms in sleep we see,
That neither were, nor are, nor e’er can be.
Sometimes forgotten things long cast behind
Rush forward in the brain, and come to mind.
The nurse’s legends are for truths received,
And the man dreams but what the boy believed.
Sometimes we but rehearse a former play,
The night restores our actions done by day;
As hounds in sleep will open for their prey.
In short, the farce of dreams is of a piece,
Chimeras all; and more absurd, or less.
Focus Question 1:
Underline, circle or highlight keywords in this poem that relate to the broad, cultural
characteristics of the Enlightenment. In other words, identify the terms that make this
poem “Enlightenment-y.” What kind of general Enlightenment
thoughts/topics/sentiments are present here?
Focus Question 2:
How does the speaker’s attitude about dreams compare with other opinions about
dreams? You can use a historic reference, a specific cultural or religious belief, a
psychological perspective, a scientific theory, and/or your own opinion of dreams to
answer this question.
Focus Question 3:
Take a closer look at the formal structure of the poem. What do you notice about how
many syllables each line contains? What do you notice about the sounds of the last
words of each line? How does the formal composition of the poem reflect
Enlightenment/Neoclassical ideals and pursuits?
(packet continues . . . )
SECTION 2: “On Time” by John Milton
John Milton (1608-1674) was a poet and civil servant during the first half of the 17th
century in England, when Enlightenment ideas challenged much of the accepted religious
and political order of his day. He is most widely known for his long, epic poem Paradise
Lost, but he also composed many other works. Let’s focus on this one, called “On Time.”
On Time
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Fly envious Time, till thou run out thy race,
Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours,
Whose speed is but the heavy Plummets pace;
And glut thy self with what thy womb devours,
Which is no more then what is false and vain,
And meerly mortal dross;
So little is our loss,
So little is thy gain.
For when as each thing bad thou hast entomb’d,
And last of all, thy greedy self consum’d,
Then long Eternity shall greet our bliss
With an individual kiss;
And Joy shall overtake us as a flood,
When every thing that is sincerely good
And perfectly divine,
With Truth, and Peace, and Love shall ever shine
About the supreme Throne
Of him, t’whose happy-making sight alone,
When once our heav’nly-guided soul shall clime,
Then all this Earthy grosnes quit,
Attir’d with Stars, we shall for ever sit,
Triumphing over Death, and Chance, and thee O Time.
Focus Question 4:
Milton is very clear in establishing the poem’s subject within the title and the first line of
the poem. What is the poem’s subject? How does this subject tie into the larger context
of Enlightenment thought?
Focus Question 5:
Go back over the poem and underline/circle/highlight any adjectives or other words
that give you a sense of how Milton feels about time. Does he seem to have a favorable
or unfavorable opinion of it?
Focus Question 6:
In this poem, Milton personifies Time – that is, he gives this non-living entity human
qualities. Pick out 2 or 3 lines/phrases where Milton personifies time, and copy/paste
them here. How does the personification of time shape our understanding of it in this
poem? Does it seem to have a good influence or a negative influence over humankind,
in the speaker’s view?
Focus Question 7:
Perform a close, careful reading of the 4th and 10th lines in the poem. What do you think
Milton wants time to do to itself? Next, carefully ponder lines 11-16, as well as the last
two lines of the poem. How will humankind benefit if time does the thing Milton
suggests it should do to itself?
SECTION 3: “Death be Not Proud” by John Donne
John Donne (1572-1631) was a scholar, poet and soldier who also wrote during the first
half of the 17th century in England, when Enlightenment ideas gave thinkers from the era
a new perspective of the natural world, as well as humanity’s role within it. More
specifically, Donne is associated with the sub-genre of Metaphysical poetry from the
Neoclassical period. Metaphysical poetry often concerns itself with topics such as love,
morality and mortality, and combines them with notions of scientific advancement. Let’s
take a look at one of Donne’s more famous poems, “Death be not Proud.”
Death be not Proud
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.,
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
Focus Question 8:
In lines 1-4, Donne asserts that even though death has long been considered “mighty”
and “dreadful” by many, he is no match for man, who is, in fact, death’s ultimate
destroyer (line 14). How can this be so? How does man defy and “kill” death? Look at
line 13 for a clue.
Focus Question 9:
In many ways, Dryden is talking mad shit to death here. Pick a line or two where the
speaker is insulting, belittling, disrespecting, ridiculing or otherwise dissing death.
Interpret the line – what is the speaker really saying about death here?
Focus Question 10: Putting it all Together
As with Dryden’s poem about dreams and Milton’s poem about time, Donne personifies
death here. What might be the purpose of personifying things such as dreams, death
and time, as is often the case in neoclassical poetry? Consider this question in relation to
the larger historical context – this was an age where scientific advancement gave man
more control over the natural world through deepened knowledge and understanding.
PART II – Philosophical Text
INTRODUCTION
John Locke (1632-1704) was not a Neoclassical poet, but he was a tremendously
influential writer of the Enlightenment nonetheless. Locke was a philosopher who
published widely on his theories of politics, religion, society, and the mind. Even after his
death, Locke remained a prominent figure in Enlightenment thought, and his ideas even
helped shape the founding documents of the United States.
Here is an excerpt from one of Locke’s popular treatises, entitled, Second Treatise
Concerning Civil Government:
The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and
reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all
equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or
possessions: for men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent, and infinitely wise
maker; all the servants of one sovereign master, sent into the world by his order, and
about his business; they are his property, whose workmanship they are, made to last
during his, not one another’s pleasure: and being furnished with like faculties, sharing
all in one community of nature, there cannot be supposed any such subordination
among us, that may authorize us to destroy one another, as if we were made for one
another’s uses, as the inferior ranks of creatures are for our’s. Every one, as he is bound
to preserve himself, and not to quit his station wilfully, so by the like reason, when his
own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve
the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away,
or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb,
or goods of another.
DIRECTIONS
View this short, 8-minute video about the Scientific Revolution and the Age of
Enlightenment, paying careful attention to the excerpted interpretation of Locke’s Second
Treatise Concerning Civil Government:
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/whp-origins/era-6-the-long-nineteenthcentury-1750-ce-to-1914-ce/61-liberal-and-national-revolutions-betaa/v/watch-thescientific-revolution-and-the-age-of-enlightenment-world-history-khan-academy
Once you have completed the video, please respond to the following reflection question
(length should be determined by fully satisfying the question, not word count):
How does the excerpt from Locke’s Second Treatise Concerning Civil Government reflect
or correspond to the prevailing attitudes, ambitions and accomplishments of the
Scientific Revolution? In what ways can we detect cultural undercurrents from the
Scientific Revolution in this work? What does this kind of Enlightenment writing have
in common with Neoclassical poetry?
Era, Genre and Canon
Some general considerations of what we read, how we read
it, and why.
Era
•
Cultural eras are distinct periods of time that are characterized by the commonalities in
the trends, patterns, attitudes, behaviors or practices of that time period.
•
Example: The “Cold War” Era: characterized by high political tension with the Soviet
Union, growing concerns about communist ideology, and heightened social fears about
nuclear war.
•
Literature is often influenced by and reflective of the cultural era from which it
emerges.
•
Ideology: a system of ideas or prevailing perspective
of “truth” shared among a group of people
Genre
•
A literary genre is similar to a cultural era because it, too, refers to a collection (of
literature, not years) that is defined by the common features that characterize it.
•
Example: Science Fiction is characterized by fantastical imaginings of the future and/or
scientific advancement. Common themes include space travel, alien existence, and
artificial intelligence.
•
Contemplating genre in relation to era can help yield cultural insights about what the
genre’s characteristics emerge from, and what they might represent. Contemplating a
work of literature in relation to its genre can help yield insights about aesthetic
qualities of the work, such as rhyme scheme, imagery or motif .
•
Aesthetic qualities of literature refer to those elements
related to the beauty or artistry of the work
Canon
•
A literary canon is a specific collection of well-known literature, usually defined by era, but also
categorized in terms of genre. Titles in a literary canon are considered “the most important” or “the
best” literature from that era/genre, and worthy of continued representation and study.
•
Example: Literature from the English Cannon:
ï‚–
ï‚–
ï‚–
ï‚–
Beowulf
Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Animal Farm by George Orwell
•
English 201 and 202 courses typically contain “canonic” texts.
•
Questions about canon are important to the study of literature, because they can yield insights about
what different groups of people (both past and present) consider to be “best” or “most important” (and,
by contrast, what people don’t consider to be the “best” or “most important”). To this end, considering
questions of canon can also yield insights about who or what is excluded from the canon, and why. Who
are the writers we’ve never heard of? How are those voices participating in the literature of their day?
Who deemed them less important? Than what? Why?
The Eras and Genres We’ll Study
Literature in the era of Reformation and Enlightenment (mid 1600s-1700s Britain)
a. Neoclassical poetry
b. “Carpe Diem” poetry
c. Philosophical Text
The Romantic Literary Movement (late 1700s-early 1800s Britain)
a. Romantic poetry
Gothic Literature (late 1700s – mid 1800s Britain, mid-to-late 1800s America)
a. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (British novel)
b. Selected works from Edgar Allan Poe (American short story)
Early Feminist Drama (early 1900s America)
a. Susan Glaspell’s Trifles (play)
Modernist Text and the Jazz Age (early-to-mid 1900s America)
a. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (film)
Contemporary Adventure and Fantasy Fiction (late 1900s-present)
a. Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist (novel)
There are many more cultural eras, literary movements and genres between the 17th-20th centuries than represented
here – far too many to study in 14 weeks! What might the professor’s selections for the course suggest about what she
thinks is important to learn in Literature II?
Literature in the era of Reformation and Enlightenment (mid 1600s-1700s Britain)
a. Neoclassical poetry
b. “Carpe Diem” poetry
c. Philosophical Text
The Romantic Literary Movement (late 1700s-early 1800s Britain)
a. Romantic poetry
Gothic Literature (late 1700s – mid 1800s Britain, mid-to-late 1800s America)
a. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (British novel)
b. Selected works from Edgar Allan Poe (American short story)
Early Feminist Drama (early 1900s America)
a. Susan Glaspell’s Trifles (play)
Modernist Text and the Jazz Age (early-to-mid 1900s America)
a. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (film)
Contemporary Adventure and Fantasy Fiction (late 1900s-present)
a. Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist (novel)

Purchase answer to see full
attachment