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Wild Civility – Charms and Riddles From the OED Charm, n.1 Etymology: Middle English charme, < French charme charm < Latin carmen Song, verse, oracular response, incantation The chanting or recitation of a verse supposed to possess magic power or occult influence; incantation, enchantment; hence, any action, process, verse, sentence, word, or material thing, credited with such properties; a magic spell; a talisman, etc. A charm places people under hypnosis, or puts them to sleep. A riddle engages the mind and encourages it to rebel. Frye on charm: “Refrain, rhyme, alliteration, assonance…Every repetitive device…is called into play” (Frye 126) “The basis of [some charms] is the reciting of powerful names which set up an energy capable of driving out everything opposed to them” (Frye 125). Examples: Belzebub, Demogorgon, Jehovam, Gehennam “When the TV commercial comes on, and the ordinary viewer goes to the bathroom, the literary critic should stay where he is, listening to the alliteration, antithesis…and similar rhetorical devices that invade the sound track as soon as the subject becomes really important. The products are presented as magical objects, and the hypnotic voice of the announcer compels us to go straight down to the store and demand that product, not forgetting the name” (Frye, 129). Upon Julia’s Clothes “Come live with me, and be my love” come/love – assonance live/love – alliteration with/live – assonance me/be – assonance me/my – alliteration Frye (137) characterises the riddle as “essentially a charm in reverse” that “represents the revolt of the intelligence against the hypnotic power of commanding words.” Riddle is from the same root as read: in fact “read a riddle” was once practically a verb and a cognate [closely related] object, like “tell a tale” or “sing a song” (Frye 124).

Solving a riddle is not only a victory for intelligence, it also means the defeat of something else. In Greek Mythology, when Oedipus solves the riddle of the sphinx, the sphinx kills herself. Poems are like charms, where they tend to internal sameness; where they are musical. They are like riddles, where they tend to diversification and change, complication; where they are graphic. Most poems combine the characteristics of charms and riddles.

Wild Civility – Poetry and Love (1) Literature and love – a main theme Poems have a special status in relation to the expression of love Most often men addressing women Love poems reuse many of the same conventions Loving in truth – Sir Philip Sidney “But words came halting forth, wanting Inventions stay, Invention, Natures child” Struggles with expressing himself whilst avoiding convention topos: “a convention or motif, especially in a literary work; a rhetorical convention” (dictionary.com) Original topos = a conventional expression of the idea of originality OED 3b. In art and literary composition: The devising of a subject, idea, or method of treatment, by exercise of the intellect or imagination […] Perception of crafting romantic poetry had changed by the 18th century; Wordsworth: “poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity” Invention using convention? The craft of the love sonnet is expressing one’s self despite the restrictions A few metaphors Season Jewellery Religion Shepherds

Wild Civility – Poetry and Love (2) Nymphs – Spirits of nature in Greek mythology “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepheard” is a commentary on pastoral poetry as an unrealistic fantasy of life and love Invention and convention OED 3b. In art and literary composition: The devising of a subject, idea, or method of treatment, by exercise of the intellect or imagination - “A new combination of those images which have been previously gathered and deposited in memory My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun… > Subversion of conventions – The convention of ditching the convention

Wild Civility – Lyric Poetry and Loss Charms > where poems tend to sameness; where they are musical Riddles > where they tend to diversification and change; where they are graphic Poems combine characteristics of charms and riddles They cast a spell over you (charms) They challenge you (riddles) Invention and Convention - Changing definition of ‘invention’ > devising a topic; emphasis on intellect and imagination - Acknowledgement of tradition and form The sonnet The pastoral (and the piscatory pastoral) Topos of originality – The struggle of expression Key question is not what the poem means, but how does it produce a response in the audience? The context of poetry and loss Poetry and love: desire Poetry and address to the beloved (‘dear’, ‘hart’): hunt and reciprocity (yes, you) Poetry and time: mortality (life is short and there’s no time to waste) Poetry and loss: the awareness of absence OED ‘Loss’ key points - Being deprived of, or the failure to keep

- Being deprived by death, separation, estrangement; often the death of a person regretted - Failure to take advantage The Nymphs reply to the Shepheard “The flowers doe fade” “To wayward winter reckoning yeeldes” “Is fancies spring, but sorrows fall” “Soone breake, soone wither, soone forgotten” “In follie ripe, in reason rotten” Cyclical seasons > circularity, ongoing cycle of life and death Short span of human life > oblivion If we lived in a vacuum, outside of time, then, yes > impossibility Two ways of responding to loss: Carpe diem: “Seize the day” (Horace, Carmina 1.11) Exegi monumentum [aere perennius]: “I have erected a monument [which will outlast bronze]’ (Horace, referring to his own poetry in Carmina 3.30) -------Shakespeare – Sonnet 18 “Shall I compare thee to a Summers day?” “Thou art more lovely and more temperate” “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of Maie” “And Sommers lease hath all too short a date” - Seasons - Comparison - Transience Sonnet 71 “So long lives this, and this give life to thee” - The poem (‘this’) survives - The survival of the poem guarantees the survival of the addressed lover. “But let your love even with my life decay” - Loss of lover - Loss of life - Loss of memory Shakespeare – Sonnet 73 “In me thou seest the twi-light of such day, As after Sun-set fadeth in the West, Which by and by blacke night doth take away, Deaths second selfe that seals up all in rest” - Shift from season to span of one day - Emphasis on gradual, but inevitable process

“Consum’d with that which it was nurrisht by” - The ashes are extinguishing, choking (‘consuming’) the fire - The ashes used to be the wood which nourished or fed the flame - Consuming and nourishing are combined Couplet: “This thou percev’st, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well, which thou must leave ere long”. - The awareness of loss strengthens love Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745) 1726 – Gulliver’s Travels 1729 – A Modest Proposal Satire > satira > lanx satura: a full dish, a hotch-potch OED In a satire ‘prevailing vices or follies are held up to ridicule - Chaucer, Swift, Pope (The Rape of the Lock) - Emphasis on the body A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed - Anti-pastoral - Setting: Drury Lane, London - Covent Garden, theatres, prostitution ‘For whom no shepherd signs in vain (p. 32) > Compare with ‘come live with me and be my love’ Final preparations for bed (29 – 38) - Make-up removal, wrinkles, bolus - Anatomy of artificial body parts and props; glass eye, artificial hair and eyebrows, false teeth Representing a grotesque dis-assembling, fragmentation Corinna’s sleep (39 - 56) - With pains of love tormented lies - Dreams of Bridewell and the Compter - Fear of pimps - Transportation - Reduced to soliciting near Fleet Ditch - Fear of police and debt collectors These nightmare scenarios could be a reality Corinna’s awakening (57-64) - Domestic abuse - Animal imagery

- Loss of her props - Loss of her earnings - Loss of her self A satirical approach to loss > loss of beauty driven to its logical extreme Loss of body parts (hair, eyes, teeth) and loss of self Supplanted by artificial aids which are stolen or spoilt overnight > the sad loss of Corinna’s livelihood and dignity Anti-pastoral

Wild Civility – Chaucer and the Miller’s Tale Historical Context - Claudius occupied Britain in 55 BC - The Romans ruled for a century - Withdrew from Britain due to pressure from the Hun empire - Anglo-Saxon invaded and ruled by King Alfred - Spoke a Germanic, Anglo-Saxon language, however Celtic words eventually found their way into the vocabulary Anglo-Saxon vocabulary As, us, we, am, did, do, go, should, will, after, down, love, friend, sharp, snow, sheep, oak, tree, give, old When the Anglo-Saxons became literate, they converted from Paganism to Christianity Inflections Se mann iteeþ docgan = Docgan se mann iteeþ Anglo-Saxons understood that both sentences say that it is the man that eats the dog. This was because of the “an” ending, the “inflection,” of the word for dog (that tells us that it is the object of the verb, that it is what got eaten, not what did the eating). Se docga iteeþ þone mann iteeþ se docga Anglo-Saxons understood that both sentences say that it is the dog that eats the man. This was because of the “a” ending, the inflection of the word for dog (that tells us that it is the subject of the verb). Þ = Anglo Saxon “thorn”, for “th” sound

Syntax = word order The Norman-French army under William, the Conqueror were victorious against the Anglo-Saxon army at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. In the late fourteenth century, John Cornwall complained that children in England “conneth [know] no more French than can their left heel, and that is harm for them if they should cross the sea and travel in strange lands.” Chaucer chose to write in English, at a time when people were ambivalent towards the language. Hence the reason he is considered the “Father of English Poetry” Chaucer watered his use of English with French words, similar to the way we have introduced words from Te Reo Maori into our grammar Absolum and Alison, 11. 616 ff. “…I am a lord, at alle degrees; For after this I hope ther cometh moore. Lemman, thy grace, and swete byrde, thyn oore!” The wyndow she undooth, and that in haste. Have do, quod she, com of, and speed thee faste Lest that oure neghebores thee espye French words Anglo-Saxon words Absolum is thrilled Alison has agreed to kiss him and hopes sex will follow.

Wild Civility – Geoffrey Chaucer -

Born in 1434 Grew up during the time of the Black Death Lived in the court Edward III, considered a great honour for a commoner Lived in Aldgate during the Peasants’ revolt Despite being loyal to government he survived the revolt, survival became a theme of his work - Died in October 1400, nine months after Richard II was executed Chaucer doesn’t insert himself into his work, he is a “dialogic” author Dialogic – Characterised by dialogue and its many voices

Wild Civility – Story Categories Genre Fable – fictional stories

Fablel - short fictional story Fabileaux - plural form Fabliau - false singular Other types of little story: Lai, legend, exemplum Preachers used exempla and legends in their homilies From Anatomy of Criticism (1957) - Gods myth - Fairies, magicians romance - National leaders epic - People like us novel - Contemptible people fabliau - Animals animal fable - Devils myth Fabliau: Stereotypical characters

Wild Civility – Comedy & Tragedy Tragedy About one hero (sometimes two) Usually male (or a man and a woman) Usually upper class (noblemen, kings) Moves from order to disaster Mistakes are irrevocable Ends with the hero’s death (and others) Aristotle: tragedy evokes in the audience pity and fear Comedy About a group of people Often women as central characters About any class, or a mix Moves from (order to) chaos to order Mistakes are corrected by the end Ends with a marriage (or several) No pity or fear, but laughter and the knowledge that it will turn out all right Conventions of Romance: Stories in the style of the Romance languages (esp. French) Usually (but not always) about love Often about adventure Obstacles to be overcome/quest Often an element of the supernatural Usually focus on the higher classes

Typical structure; Love begun, love challenged, love confirmed The medieval romance typically doesn’t involve romance, but rather an adventure or a quest. A romantic hero is another term for an adventurer Typical Romance plot - Two lovers of high status…are separated by circumstances - One believes the other to be unfaithful - One believes the other to be dead – (other likely plots might include: kidnapping; being forced to marry someone else…) - The obstacle is overcome - The lovers are reunited Comedy plot recipe - Highbrow, upper class - Largely in verse - Not necessarily funny; a serious story - The story that drives the plot The comedy subplot - Low brow, common - Basic humour - Mostly in prose - Not essential for the plot

Wild Civility – Elegy Lyric: loss and love The Miller’s Tale: fabliau, vitality, pranks Much Ado About Nothing: romantic comedy, lust, love, reciprocity, honour - Juxtaposition of life and death figures prominently in all these texts - Definitions of life and death refer to each other Epitaphs are the short form of elegies A song of lamentation, esp. a funeral song or lament for the dead” (OED) In its “modern sense”: “a short poem, usually formal or ceremonious in tone and diction, occasioned by the death of a person” (Princeton Encyclopedia of Peotry and Poetics) Also “sombre meditations on mortality” (PEPP) Greek elegy: - A “sad song”, a “sung lament about death” - Or a poem in elegiac metre: alternating 6- and 5- stress lines (hexameter and pentameter)

Roman elegy: - Included a large body of erotic love poems n elegiac meter (e.g. Ovid, Catullus)

Wild Civility – Renaissance Elegy Mistress (OEDO) 5. a. A woman loved and courted by a man; a female sweetheart Master (OEDO) 12. b. …as the Master, with reference to a revered artist, writer, etc. 13. a. A person of approved learning, a respected scholar; an authority in (lso of) a particular subject Renaissance women - Educated at home; and only in the most aristocratic households o Schools for middle-class girls from the mid-17th century - Didn’t attend grammar schools or universities; not typically educated in the classical tradition - Wrote prayers, meditations, some “rhetorically modest” (i.e. unambitious poetry - A large number of poems by women in the Renaissance are elegies - “[t]he stance of grief was a well-established basis for public speech” (Danielle Clarke) Elegies could be inspired by the loss of a child or family member, universal to everyone and one didn’t require an academic background to express their feelings on the subject i.e. grief was a place of authority from which women could write poetry Hester Pulter - Born in 1605 in Dublin - Bore at least 15 children, all but one predeceased her, some as young adults - Educated at home? Her sister, Lady Margaret Ley, was a friend of John Milton - Child-loss elegies include “Upon the death of my dear and lovely daughter, Jane Pulter” and “On the Same” (WC 43-46) Elegy: A genre that enabled Renaissance women to write about a wide range of topics, public as well as private? The English Revolution - Civil Wars, 1642-49

- King Charles I imprisoned 1647, beheaded January 1649 - Oliver Cromwell: Lord Protector, 1649-1658 - 1660: Restoration of the monarchy (Charles II)

Wild Civility – Thomas Gray and the Age of Sensibility Thomas Gray: 1716-1771 - Born in London - Only surviving child of 12 [Child loss in the Renaissance] - 1725 – 1734: Eton College - 1735 – 1739: Cambridge - 1739 – 1741: Grand Tour - 1742 – 1771: Cambridge Age of Sensibility - Middle of the eighteenth century: a shift in emphasis, away from ‘Reason’ (Age of Enlightenment) - Emphasis on the individual mind - Emphasis on the imaginative response to the environment - Emphasis on emotional impressions - Emphasis on the vulnerability of the individual - Sympathetic response to plight of others (prison reform, insane asylum reform) - Reason versus sensibility - Cultivation of melancholy: vague grief, difficult to define, mental state - Sigmund Freud’s essay about ‘Mourning and Melancholia’: - “In mourning it is the world which has become poor and empty; in melancholia, it is the ego itself” (The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud 14.246). - Danger of sentimentality > pejorative connotation - Conflicting strains: removal from the group (“far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife”, line 73 in Elegy) > isolation, loneliness - But also: the importance of sympathy and fellow feeling o Kindness to animals, children, women o Beginnings of anti-slave trading movement; slave trade abolished in 1807 o Anti-slavery movement; slavery abolished in 1833 - Time and setting: evening, twilight and darkness; a certain flirtation with terror; graveyard; natural, rural setting (as opposed to urban, ‘civilised’ context). - Death as a leveller: the vanity of human wishes and human endeavour - A more inclusive literature? Focus on the rural poor, farm labourers; focus on those who in terms of status rank well below the literate and educated. [Compare to the status of women in the Renaissance] - Antiquarianism (Thomas Gray was a lifelong scholar of antiquities, one of the first regular users of the newly (1759, opening of the British Museum): interest in the past - Primitivism > accounts of voyages, history, artefacts

- Study of childhood - Ideas of innocence and experience; privileging of ‘innocence’ (untainted by experience or civilisation)

Wild Civility – From Chaucer to Pope Chaucer dies, 1400 War of Roses, ended 1485 Martin Luther protests Catholic abuses, 1517 (Germany) Henry VIII: Catholic > Protestant Act of Supremacy, 1534

Wild Civility – The Rape of the Lock The spleen was thought to be the origin of mental states like depression and madness. The cave’s contents embody these states At first it looks like a sick-room (as appropriate to hypochondriacs and those subject to psychosomatic disorders): - The fair ones feel such maladies as these, - When each new night-dress gives a new disease. (IV. 37-8) Then it embodies the visions of the sick themselves, visions of the disturbed and deluded. We see the victims of delusion as they see themselves—as if they have been “metamorphosed” into lower forms of life, or even into inanimate objects: - Unnumber’d throngs on every side are seen, - Of bodies chang’d to various forms by Spleen. (IV. 47-9) In general, this seems like classical underworld, Hell – but comical.

Wild Civility – Desire and Passion in the Poetry of Keats -

Born in London, 31 October 1795 The eldest of four: John, George, Tom, Fanny Death of father in 1804 Death of mother in 1810 from tuberculosis Apprenticed to surgeon Thomas Hammond in 1811 Enters Guy’s Hospital as a student in 1815 Qualifies at Apothecaries’ Hall in 1816

John Keats – La Belle Dame - John Keats: Selected Poetry, p. 166 - Written in April 1819 - Genre: literary ballad - Ballad: oral tradition, dramatic or intense episode, the supernatural, love, repetition, ballad stanza, dialogue - 1765: Thomas Percy, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry - Desire and the haggard knight at arms - Passion and perception

- Pursuit and ownership - Reciprocity or not - Fulfilment or not Title > medieval poem by Alain Chartier (see also The Eve of St Agnes and Lamia La belle dame sans merci: the beautiful lady without pity, femme fatale Dialogue: stanzas 1-3 are addressed to the knight > what is your problem, knight? The rest of the poem is the knight’s answer Imagery: autumn; lily and rose The knight’s account of the lady: how does he perceive her? Stanzas VI and VII: how does the knight interpret the lady’s expressions? (II. 17-24) Ballad stanzas: two stresses in the final line of each stanza > suspense Isabella Reading for emphasis: sentimentality or realism? Romantic or anti-romantic? Keats’s imagery: nature, human body, the physiology of love and desire The Eve of St. Agnes Stanzas 16-21 (pp. 152-4): - Porphyro’s stratagem: reali...