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ENG 242 Roadmap: Week 8

This week concludes Module 3: The 17th Century (1603-1660), Part 2. We will have spent 2 weeks in this part of the module.

This document has 4 sections:

· Overview

· Readings

· Resources

· Responsibilities

You can either do the Readings first, or look at the Resources first to give you some background and then do the readings.

Notes:

· Anything you see below in blue and underlined is a hyperlink. You need to download the document to be able to link from it.

· This week, we will take the same approach as last week, analyzing poetry of the era through ART WARS. If you need to review the video that explains the concept, please visit:

How to analyze a poem you have never seen before - YouTube

Overview

The dominant writer of the early 17th Century is John Milton, whom many critics say is the English language’s second greatest poet (next to Shakespeare). His masterpiece is an epic poem called Paradise Lost , which is his retelling through poetry of the Christian story of Adam and Eve, and how they lost Paradise. His goal, as he says in the first book of the poem, is “to justify the ways of God to men” (l. 26).

Much of the imagery Christians have of Satan comes not from the Bible but from John Milton. The Bible doesn’t have much to say about Satan at all. Milton makes him a central character in his story. Readers are enthralled with Satan’s impressive rhetoric and beautiful poetry. An old movie you might sometimes come across on television is The Devil’s Advocate with Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino. It’s a 90s movie, but borrows heavily from Paradise Lost. The character Al Pacino plays is called John Milton (nudge nudge, wink wink).

Paradise Lost is a difficult read, even for graduate student pursuing advanced degrees in English. Still, I want you simply to familiarize yourselves with this epic poem.

I will also ask you to read some shorter poems, typical of the era, this week.

Readings

1. Mary Wroth

a. Sonnet 16 You will see the original, plus modernizations. Go with the most recent modernizations, i9n the middle and to the far right. (NAEL, 722)

b. Sonnet 74: Song (NAEL, 723-724)

2. Robert Herrick

a. The Vine (NAEL, 740-741)

b. To The Virgins, to Make Much of Time (NAEL, 743)

3. Richard Lovelace

a. To Lucasta, Going to the Wars (NAEL, 744)

b. To Althea, from Prison (NAEL, 745)

4. Katherine Philips

a. A Married State (NAEL, 746-747)

b. Epitaph: On Hector Philips (NAEL, 749)

5. Andrew Marvell

a. To his Coy Mistress (NAEL, 751-752)

b. The Mower’s Song (NAEL, 755-756)

6. Paradise Lost Study Guide This is a huge resource, but you’re required only to look through some of it. You will see different links at the bottom of the webpage. Be sure to read Overview. Then click the link to its right, Poem. Go to the third link on that page, Paradise Lost: In Plain English. You then get a list of sample pages you can click on to see different parts of the poem. In my f2f class we read Book 1 (Satan wakes up in Hell), but you may choose any link you want. I just want you to get a feel for the sound of the poem. Feel free also to browse other parts of the site if you are intrigued. (NAEL, 799-929)

Resources

Here are some Resources you might find useful:

1. "The Vine" by Robert Herrick (poetry reading) - YouTube

2. To the Virgins, to Make Much Time by: Robert Herrick - YouTube

3. To Lucasta on Going to the Wars - YouTube

4. "To Althea, from Prison" by Richard Lovelace - YouTube

5. To His Coy Mistress - YouTube

6. Classics Summarized: Paradise Lost

7. Paradise Lost by John Milton (read by Tom O'Bedlam) - YouTube (some of Book 1)

Responsibilities

1. Module 3 Quiz (Check Course Calendar for deadline.)

2. Weekly Discussion Forum (20 points) See next page.

Week 8 Discussion Post

Before making your choice on which poem you want to analyze, make sure you remember or review the YouTube video on how to analyze a poem you have never seen before (link on p. 1).

Next, decide which poem you want to do for your analysis (see p. 2). You may also choose 10-15 lines from a section of Paradise Lost you would like to analyze. Only 3 students may choose the same poem for their major analysis. Be sure to check Discussions as soon as you think you know which poem you want to analyze. If you want to make sure you get your first choice, leave a message stating you will be working with that poem. You can always go back and edit the post later. Be sure to put your poem’s title in your Subject line.

Once you have chosen which poem you want to analyze, do the following:

1. Paraphrase the poem line by line (Exception: if you have chosen Lovelace’s To Althea, From Prison, Marvell’s To His Coy Mistress, or Marvell’s The Mower’s Song, you may paraphrase every 3-4 lines or every stanza).

2. Using ART WARS, tell what the poem is about (A).

3. Using the remaining elements of ART WARS, choose 3 of the 6 to comment on:

· Repeated themes/ideas

· Tone

· Words

· Alliteration

· Rhyme/Rhythm

· Structure

Don’t just say “I see alliteration here” or “These words rhyme”, but be sure to explain what effect these elements have on the poem overall. Try at least 1 new element you did not use last week!

4. Tell us why you chose this poem to analyze. How did it speak to you?

5. Create a question to ask the class about your poem. “You” questions can work very well.