LITR 4232 American Renaissance UHCL 2nd meeting on Dickinson

LITR 4232 American Renaissance

Emily Dickinson: “I never lost as much but twice”; “These are the days when Birds come back—”; “Come Slowly—Eden!”; “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”; “I reason, Earth is short—”; “The Soul selects her own Society—”; “It sifts from Leaden Sieves—”; Letters to T.W. Higginson

research projects, assignments

lyric and lyricism; style sheet

reader: Heidi Gerke

life & legend of Emily

Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886

Thursday, 20 April: Emily Dickinson: “I never lost as much but twice”; “These are the days when Birds come back—”; “Come Slowly—Eden!”; “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”; “I reason, Earth is short—”; “The Soul selects her own Society—”; “It sifts from Leaden Sieves—”; Letters to T.W. Higginson

Reader: Heidi Gerke

Research projects

not officially late until lunchtime Friday, 21 April

If you're late beyond that, be in touch by phone or email and let me know what's going on--don't make me ask you!

I'll acknowledge receipt of email within 24-36 hours

projects posted to webpage

model assignments

assignments

Tuesday, 25 April: Dickinson

"There came a Day at Summer's full"

"Some keep the Sabbath going to Church--"

"A Bird came down the Walk--"

"I know that He exists."

"After great pain, a formal feeling comes--"

"Dare you see a Soul at the white heat?"

"A Route of Evanescence" [riddle poem]

Reader: Miriam Rodriguez

Thursday, 27 April: Dickinson

"I heard a Fly buzz--when I died--"

"This World is not Conclusion."

"I started Early--Took my Dog--"

"I cannot live with You--"

"Because I could not stop for Death--"

"A narrow Fellow in the Grass"

Tuesday, 2 May, 10:00am-12:50pm: final exam

lyric and lyricism

last class, "lyric" as "song lyrics"

(from Dickinson style sheet)

*The genre of Dickinson’s poetry is “lyric poetry.” (This term is also applicable to Poe, Whitman, and others.)

“Lyric: The Greeks defined a lyric as a song to be sung to the accompaniment of a lyre (lyra). The words to a popular song are still known as "the lyrics, but students of literature also use the term loosely to describe a particular kind of poem distinct from narrative or dramatic verse. A lyric is usually fairly short . . . and it usually expresses the feelings and thoughts of a single speaker (not necessarily the poet himself) in a personal and subjective fashion. (A Dictionary of Literary Terms)

“Lyric: A brief subjective poem strongly marked by imagination, melody, and emotion, and creating for the reader a single, unified impression. . . . No longer primarily designed to be sung to an accompaniment, the lyric nevertheless is essentially melodic since the melody may be secured by a variety of rhythm patterns and may be expressed either in rhymed or unrhymed verses. Subjectivity, too, is an important element of a form which is the personal expression of personal emotion imaginatively phrased. It partakes, in certain high examples, of the quality of ecstasy.” (A Handbook to Literature)

Heidi's first question:

"Other than rhyme, what other ways is Dickinson lyrical?"

define "lyrical"--

1st definition: of or relating to a lyric

other definitions

lyrical

3a expressing direct usually intense personal emotion

b exuberant; rhapsodic

rhapsody

3a (1) a highly emotional utterance or literary work

4 a musical composition of irregular form having an improvisational character

rhapsodic

2. extravagantly emotional: rapturous

rapture

a state of being carried away by overwhelming emotion

2 an expression or manifestation of ecstasy or passion

ecstasy

1a a state of being beyond reason and self-control

2 a state of overwhelming emotion, esp. rapturous delight

3 trance, esp. a mystic or prophetic trance

life and legend of Emily

attitude toward "finishing" writers like Whitman and Dickinson

We won't, don't, can't finish!

Frustrating for beginning students of literature--What are we supposed to know? What will be on the test? When can I say I know enough about this or that writer?

Advanced students of literature get used to idea of never finishing reading and learning--

People like us were reading and learning from these authors before we came along, and will be after we're gone.

Does this make the study of literature futile, frustrating, or fatuous?

Only if you stick to idea that it's a job to finish, something to be done with--

Alternative ways of looking at what we're about:

Teaching and reading as lifelong career of learning, self-improvement, and intellectual adventure

Literature not a test to be passed and forgotten but an ongoing conversation or dialogue that different writers and readers join and contribute to--

conversation or dialogue > model of civilization, democracy

transition to life of Emily?

from last class: broader questions on Dickinson

Why are people fascinated / troubled by Emily Dickinson's image, lifestyle, legend, etc.?

(Classes often divide between people fascinated by Dickinson and others who wish she'd lived a normal life so they wouldn't have to read her poetry)

Can the poetry be read apart from the legend of Dickinson's life? (compare Poe, Sylvia Plath)

Student comments 2004:

Emily as rebellious, esp. in terms of religion and family, non-conformist

attitudes towards religion appears in poems

Gothic? isolation in "gothic space"; is there a secret? (frustrated love, forbidden love), mystery; visually, she's descended from the Puritans and maintains dark and light clothing

"Woman in white" image--purity, bride, Miss Havisham

fond of children? playful avoidance of human contact, eccentric

writing as gothic: death, fly as decay, funerals, mourners, cathedrals, churches

+ What is the experience of reading a Dickinson poem? How does a Dickinson poem work?

Student comments 2004:

Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886

Dickinson homestead

Dickinson children

excerpts from letters:

1958 asked if she never felt want of employment, never going off any place & never seeing any visitor "I never thought of conceiving that . . . ."

1958 I know that is poetry

3019 When I state myself, as the Representative of the Verse--it does not mean me--but a supposed person

Instructor's comments:

objective 3. To use literature as a basis for discussing representative problems and subjects of American culture (New Historicism), such as equality; race, gender, class; modernization and tradition; the family; the individual and the community; nature; the writer's conflicted presence in an anti-intellectual society.

American equality, individualism, and independence have premises.

Premises: each person must be productive economically or reproductive biologically. (In plain English, for most Americans to think a grownup is not wasting his or her time on earth, s/he needs to be either making money or having / raising children.)

Emily Dickinson did neither . . . .

Neither did Walt Whitman . . . .

Leads us to problem of "bourgeois, middle-class, heterosexual society" and relations to art . . . . Uuhhh.

Art and literature as domain of the young, the celibate, the unmarried, the drama club, misfits

But up with misfits! If not for the strange, crazed, wayward, and passionate, human life and civilization might be stuck in a repetitious cycle without progress or variety.

Artists can drive you crazy, but they break the mold.

Assignment

Thursday, 2 December: Dickinson

2986 "Dare you see a Soul at the white heat?" 2989 "I heard a Fly buzz--when I died--" 2989-90 "This World is not Conclusion." 2990-91 "I started Early--Took my Dog--" 2994-96 "I cannot live with You--" 2998-9 "Because I could not stop for Death--" 3001-2 "A narrow Fellow in the Grass" 3006 "A Route of Evanescence" [riddle poem]

Web-highlighter: Mary Tinsley

+ additional question (maybe defer till Thursday):

What is the experience of reading a Dickinson poem? How does a Dickinson poem work?

Connect to last week's definitions of lyric poetry

*The genre of Dickinson’s poetry is “lyric poetry.” (This term is also applicable to Poe, Whitman, and others.)

“Lyric: The Greeks defined a lyric as a song to be sung to the accompaniment of a lyre (lyra). The words to a popular song are still known as "the lyrics," but students of literature also use the term loosely to describe a particular kind of poem distinct from narrative or dramatic verse. A lyric is usually fairly short . . . and it usually expresses the feelings and thoughts of a single speaker (not necessarily the poet himself) in a personal and subjective fashion. (A Dictionary of Literary Terms)

“Lyric: A brief subjective poem strongly marked by imagination, melody, and emotion, and creating for the reader a single, unified impression. . . . No longer primarily designed to be sung to an accompaniment, the lyric nevertheless is essentially melodic since the melody may be secured by a variety of rhythm patterns and may be expressed either in rhymed or unrhymed verses. Subjectivity, too, is an important element of a form which is the personal expression of personal emotion imaginatively phrased. It partakes, in certain high examples, of the quality of ecstasy.” (A Handbook to Literature)

also next class:

evaluations

houseplant gifts for graduating seniors

1957-1959 T. W. Higginson, “Letter to Mrs. Higginson on Emily Dickinson”

1957 a house where each member runs his or her own selves

1958 a parlor dark & cool & stiffish

1958 two day lilies . . . "These are my introduction"

1958 father . . . lonely & rigorous books

1958 I know that is poetry

1958 How do most people live without any thoughts?

1958 ecstasy in living

1958 asked if she never felt want of employment, never going off any place & never seeing any visitor "I never thought of conceiving that . . . ."

1958 "& people must have puddings" this very dreamily, as if they were comets--so she makes them . . . .

1959 [books hidden in a bush]

1959 Shakespeare

1959 drained my nerve power

1959 the remarkable cabinets of the College

3015-3019 letters to T. W. Higginson

3016 Thank you for the surgery . . . while my thought is undressed

3016 I had a terror . . . I could tell to none--and so I sing . . . .

3016 Keats, Brownings, Ruskin, Browne, Revelations

3016 My father . . . buys me many books, but begs me not to read them

3016 They are religious--except me--and address an Eclipse, every morning--whom they call their "Father."

3016 Could you tell me how to grow--or is it unconveyed--like Melody--or Witchcraft

3016 You speak of Mr Whitman--I never read his Book--but was told that he was disgraceful

3017 felt a palsy, here--the Verses just relieve

3017 "to publish"--that being foreign to my thought, as Firmament to Fin

3019 the only Kangaroo among the Beauty

3019 When I state myself, as the Representative of the Verse--it does not mean me--but a supposed person

**************

2981 "I reason, Earth is short--"

paradox: Earth is short

rhyme scheme: a / a / a / b

ballad refrain "But, what of that?"

slant-rhymes: short, absolute, hurt
die / vitality / decay
Heaven / even / given

2981 "The Soul selects her own Society--"

concrete / abstract figure: "the Valves of her attention-- / Like Stone"

2982-3 "It sifts from Leaden Sieves--" [riddle poem]

Dickinson style sheet

paradoxical combinations: "Wrinkles of the Road"

personification of nature

2983-4 "There came a Day at Summer's full"

Confusion / blurring of spiritual / natural realms:
Resurrections . . . The Sun
As if no soul the solstice passed
2970 Dickinson refused to think badly of "the world"

surprising juxtaposition: "Calvaries of Love"

2984 "Some keep the Sabbath going to Church--"

bobolink = chorister, Orchard = Dome

2984-5 "A Bird came down the Walk--"

sudden shifts of identity or metaphor

2985 "I know that He exists."

rare life x gross eyes

2985 "After great pain, a formal feeling comes--"

half-rhymes: comes / Tombs; Lead / outlived

paradox or juxtaposition: A Quartz contentment, the Hour of Lead

firm opening, open-ended conclusion

quatrains, but variation in middle verse

link to poems in Daniel's presentation last week

Sign-up for students wishing to take the exam by email on Tuesday, 7 December

Final Exam--Date: 9 December, 1000-1250

Relative weight: 30% of final grade

Format: In-class or email (as with midterm).

Content: Student will answer two essay questions from a choice of 4 or 5.

Time: The exam should take at least two hours to complete, but you may use the entire class period (2 hours and 50 minutes), and most of the better students do use nearly the entire period. In-class students will be given the exam at 10am and must turn it in by 12:50pm. All students are emailed the exam at approximately 9:45am, at which time the exam will also be posted on the course webpage. Email students must mail in the exam by 2pm. The time is flexible to account for possible interruptions. However, email students should spend no more than 2 hours and 50 minutes in writing the exam, and they should keep a log indicating when they start and stop. (Pauses or interruptions are okay.) If email students run into difficulties or need another time arrangement, they should consult the instructor.

Length: Given different writing styles, length is variable. Better exams generally have more writing, while less impressive ones look scanty.

Final Grade Report

I will turn in final grades to the registrar during the week following exams according to the usual procedures. However, I will email each student a tally of their grades. Though this message should be accurate, it will be “unofficial” in that none of its information aside from the final grade will be recorded or supported by the university registrar. The message will appear thus:

LITR 4232: American Renaissance, fall 2004

STUDENT NAME & contact information

Absences:

Midterm grade:

Project Proposal:

Research project grade:

Presentation / participation grade:

Final exam grade:

Course grade:

Notes re final exam:

Don't hesitate to refer to "model assignments" & previous exams--as long as you document, I won't consider this plagiarism--in fact, I'll probably admire it as learning on your part

questions on Dickinson's life and poetry

What is the experience of reading a Dickinson poem? How does a Dickinson poem work?
(formalist interpretation of literature--literary texts as autonomous, timeless works of art, only marginally related to history or autobiography)

Can Dickinson be connected to the American Renaissance?
(Dickinson born 1830, Twain b. 1835, James 1843, Wharton 1862, Crane & Dreiser 1871)
(historicist interpretation of literature--literary texts as reflections of or contributors to literary and / or social movements, periods)

Can the poetry be read apart from the legend of Dickinson's life? (compare Poe, Sylvia Plath)
(autobiographical interpretation of literature--generally frowned on by scholars, but irresistible)

Why are people fascinated / troubled by Emily Dickinson's image, lifestyle, legend, etc.?
(fusion of literary history and autobiographical interpretation--human life as text)

One purpose of literary studies: to produce meaning

(Compare last week's discussion of symbols. Humanity lives by symbols, constantly argues their meaning, and creates new ones to be accepted or rejected.)

Danger of taking any single approach to the exclusion of others: reduce meaning

(This danger is why "literary people" so often speak with qualification: "That may be, could be . . . . I can see . . . . Isn't is also possible . . . ?)

paradox for Literature students & teachers:

*we have to learn or teach something definite, but not so definite or exclusive that it's reductive of meaning;

*we should encourage the creation of meaning, but can't talk about any old thing--we have to be developing meaning not just for ourselves but for others; we have to create meaning within a context where the meaning can be shared and developed

Study of Dickinson highlights these issues. Students / teachers will make comments at either end of the paradox:

"Anything anybody thinks about poetry is just as good as anything that anyone else thinks." (problem: absolute inclusiveness. "Everything is everything." The poetry is potentially so eccentric and individualistic that no shared meaning can be created. Criticism: nice, but lacks rigor.)

"Dickinson was weird." "I wish she'd just gotten married or gotten a job; then we wouldn't have to read her poems." (problem: absolute reduction or exclusion of the meaningfulness of her life and poetry. Any problematic issues are rejected as depressing, disturbing, un-American. Criticism: life that doesn't confront problems rapidly becomes escapist, meaningless, trivial, "all sunshine.")

Resolutions?

Ask questions rather than provide answers. (> Sara's questions)

Keep both the text and the life in sight. If the life is more interesting, try "life as text" approach and reconnect to poetry.

Images of Dickinson + brief readings on two questions

1958 I know that is poetry

3019 When I state myself, as the Representative of the Verse--it does not mean me--but a supposed person

3016 You speak of Mr Whitman--I never read his Book--but was told that he was disgraceful

Can the poetry be read apart from the legend of Dickinson's life? (compare Poe, Sylvia Plath)
(autobiographical interpretation of literature--generally frowned on by scholars, but irresistible)

Why are people fascinated / troubled by Emily Dickinson's image, lifestyle, legend, etc.?
(fusion of literary history and autobiographical interpretation--human life as text)

1958 asked if she never felt want of employment, never going off any place & never seeing any visitor "I never thought of conceiving that . . . ."

Tuesday, 30 November: Dickinson (and Whitman)

Web-highlighter: Linsey Allnatt

Web Highlight: Walt Whitman & Emily Dickinson

This is a question from last semester’s Final Exam regarding Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson and a sample response:

Essay question 3. Here are two poems, one by Whitman and another by Dickinson. Read the poems and identify which author probably wrote which poem and how you can tell. Referring to these poems (and briefly to others if you like), describe, compare, and contrast Whitman's and Dickinson's unique styles and subjects. (Objective 1, “close reading”)

· Comment on what aspects of the poem are characteristic of Whitman and Dickinson, and also comment in what ways these poems may not be characteristic—that is, in what ways may they surprise your expectations about Whitman and Dickinson?

· Identify characteristic (or non-characteristic) subject matter and stylistic devices on the parts of the two poets. Details and definitions are welcome, plus locate examples in the poem.

· Perhaps as your conclusion, compare Dickinson and Whitman in relation to each other--What do you gain, learn, or experience from one that you don't from the other, or vice versa?

…..

From spring 2003, DG’s answer to this question:

Whitman’s “I Sit and Look Out” is a classic demonstration of Whitman’s free verse. Each line is a separate image with a rhyme scheme. But Whitman binds these elements together with the use of parallelism. The parallel structure, common in Whitman’s verse, repeats the same word or set of words throughout the poem. […] The speaker of the poem is an observer of a series of difficult situations. Whitman catalogues this series of miseries in explicit detail. The catalogue is another common Whitman device in which he spells out a series of poetic observations in succession.

In Dickinson’s “These are the days when birds come back”, the poem has many bearings of its author’s noted style. […] The imperfect or “opportunistic” rhyme scheme marks the poem as Dickinson’s. […] There is but one dash in this piece, which is atypical of Dickinson’s style. Normally dashes abound in her work. Also, the stanzas are triplets instead or quatrains. This too is atypical of Dickinson’s work.

This student went on to explain how the backgrounds of the writers affected the poems, as well as how the poems authors speak to the reader.

I thought this was a particularly good response because each aspect of the question is addressed and explained at length. His answer was also well organized, fully developed, and intelligently worded.