Giambattista Vico

The link here provides a picture of Giambattista Vico. I could not figure out how to upload the picture onto my blog...not too computer savvy!

http://www.ildiogene.it/EncyPages/Immagini/Vico.jpg

M.H. Abram's 4 elements applied to "The Idea of Order at Key West"

To what extent does this poem involve M.H. Abram's four elements?

• Universe: The world- the sea is the element of the world that Steven's is focusing on; we slowly get pulled away from the sea as the poem goes on, as she continues to sing her song.
• Audience: The audience is the reader, so...us! There is a line in Stevens' poem which states "...of ourselves and of our origins...", and there is a mention of "we" in the poem as well
• Work (text): The song that the woman is singing in the poem and the poem itself is the work, "word by word...". The text also consists of the sounds of elements such as the earth, sea and sky (to name a few).
• Artist (creator): the singer herself; emotional almost (I find this poem to be similar to romatics in the sense that it really absorbs emotions and creates an almost internal meaning in a way). Her song is very expressive of elements and spirit. She creates her own world through her singing/ song.

English 300- notable notes

These are some of the notes I find most interesting from class...just something I wanted to post:

• Critics are parasites- parasites end up killing the host
• The whole of Northrop Frye: "All literature is displaced myth"
• Pseudo Criticism: subjective, descriptive, emotional, objective
• Sun rise/ sun set: rhetorical; we use them, even though they're not right
• Myth: a collection of stories that help people to live their lives
• Pharmakos: scapegoat
• Mimic- to copy- to imitate

The History of Literary Criticism in two minutes:

• Ancient- world- Mimetic
• Neo classical- audience- pragmatic
• romantics- artist(s)-expression
• modern-work- objective

(M.H. Abrams)

Chart

Romance- Tragic



Sometimes consisting of a lyrical poem of mourning. According to Frye, the hero of a romance tragedy is sometimes spent with animals and the romance setting is typically a forest. Romantics communicate most often internally and easily absorb emotions. Frye also points out that "characteristics peculiar to form are less obvious" (Frye 37). Romeo and Juliet are a fine example when discussing inevitable death as a theme, "it works against the marvelous and often forces it into the background" (Frye 37).



Other Romance-tragic authors/ works of literature...

I was wondering if perhaps, Aphra Behn's Oroonoko, would fit into this category.

*Still working on adding the chart...

Marxist Criticism

What is Marxist Criticism?

Marxist criticism, named after Karl Marx, focuses upon literary criticism as a refelction on a piece of literary work itself, while challenging social order. Marxist criticism also focuses upon economy, politics and art, linking all three of them together. In marxist criticism, Economics is the base of society.
It is a reflection of social institution(s) and is based off the background and ideology pertaining to the author. Class struggle is also outlined a great deal in marxist criticism and arises through economical/ ideological circumstances, while trying to get at what the text is "hiding". It argues that in literature the author's class is visible and the work of literature itself is a social institution.

Terms commonly found in Marxist Criticism:

• Base Vs. Superstructure- base signifies the economic base, where as superstructure grows from the bas and consists of cultural sciences.
• Ideology- very powerful, ideology is shared beliefs or values in a culture determined largely by economics
• Hegemony- widespread grouping of meanings (of texts), values (as culture) and assumptions
• Reification- way in which people are influenced into being "articles" which would be most useful for market exchange

First Impressions of Don Quixote

I am shocked to see myself sometimes absorbed in Don Quixote. Yes, I am an english literature major, but Don Quixote was intimidating, or perhaps the length was intimidating. I don't quite know what it was anymore. I had no idea what Don Quixote was about when I first looked at it and was not that eager to find out.

Well, I am now on page 65 and quite honestly would rather be reading it than completing this blog. I am amazed at the many novels, poems, works of literature in general this man has. I almost feel as if I can understand why he went "crazy". I love the outrageous and certainly unrealistic ideas of Quixote at times. He is going through his life, not living his own adventures, but those of characters in literary texts he has read. It is not even as if Quixote relates to all these characters naturally. In a most unnatural way he forces himself or rather perhaps something inside him to act as these people he does not know or relate to or for that matter people who don't even exist except for in literary texts. I find it almost amusing at times because it is so crazy and unbelievable that this man has lost his sanity to literature.

Thoughts on "Archetypes of Literature"

Two main points that I was left thinking about after reading archetypes of literature dealt with his approach and four causes. His approach is centripetal (in), rather than centrifugal (out). His causes are very much like a series of questions we would get asked in elementary school regarding the plot or characters, except regarding literary criticism.

How does Frye want us to read literature?

Frye discusses "archetypal symbols" as well and I found this to be very interesting. I found some interest in it because I understood what he was getting at, it was familiar. I was very easily to think of many poems in which archetypal symbols were used such as the sun, moon, and natural elements. Frye uses the sea as his example. Archetypal symbols are used in many poems and come to have many different meanings, meanings that the readers, critics and creator give them.

Dante

I finally got around to reading "Epistle to Con Grande," which Doug had attached as a link to his blog. I took interest in this reading, especially point five in which truth and dependence are discussed. The statements became somewhat confusing, but simply states that there are such things that depend on something else. the differences and similarities between comedy and tragedy clearly outlined. I liked in which he throughly described each one.

*Some vocab from the reading:
Exordium: opening section
Proemium: preface
Compendiously: full; concise
Circumlocution: using more words than needed to describe something
*(With thanks to Encarta Dictionary)

Engl. 300- first blog

So...I have never made a blog before and am at a loss for words at the moment. The first day of class was very informative and it has been quite awhile since I have thought about the rhetoric or structure of words.

When I think of rhetoric, I think of words that really speak to you , and leave you pondering. Words that persuade you to take some sort of action or leave you with some sort of strong impression.

Although I have this idea of rhetoric, I sometimes feel as if I do not know how to give it an exact meaning. Frye's passage stating that "...all structures in words are partly rhetorical, and hence literary, and that the notion of a scientific or philisophical verbal structure free of rhetorical elements is an illusion" (350), kept me thinking for quite awhile. All I could do was read it over and over.

I am going to end on that note in hopes that tomorrow's class will present some more thorough ideas on what rhetoric is and what Frye's passage is telling us.