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Optimism and the Belief in Progress

Part 1

921

Queen Victoria in Her Coronation Robes, 1887. Chromolithograph. From a book celebrating the queen’s Golden Jubilee.

“’Tis only noble to be good.Kind hearts are more than coronets,And simple faith than Norman blood.”

—Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Lady Clara Vere de Vere”

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National Portrait Gallery of London

922 UNIT 5 THE VICTORIAN AGE

Tennyson’s Poetry

BEFORE YOU READ

MEET ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

Not an average child, Alfred Tennyson pro-duced a six-thousand-line epic poem by the age of twelve. He also wrote poems in

the styles of Alexander Pope, Sir Walter Scott, and John Milton before his teen years. Throughout his life, Tennyson would turn to poetry whenever he felt troubled. As he said in one of his poems, “for the unquiet heart and brain / A use in mea-sured language lies.”

Tennyson had great need of such solace. His father, a clergyman, had a long history of mental instabil-ity. When Tennyson’s grandfather considered the clergyman unfit to take over the family dynasty—thereby virtually disinheriting him—Tennyson’s father turned to drugs and alcohol. He often took out his bitter disappointment on the family.

“I suffered what seemed to me to shatter all my life so that I desired to die rather than live.”

—Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Early Struggles At age eighteen, Tennyson joined his older brother at Cambridge University. Although he was painfully shy, his poetry brought him to the attention of an elite group of students known as “The Apostles.” Thriving on their affec-tion and support, Tennyson gained confidence in his abilities. His closest friend was Arthur Henry Hallam, a brilliant and popular student who later became engaged to Tennyson’s sister. While at Cambridge, Tennyson published Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, and he accompanied Hallam and other Apostles to Spain to support the unsuccessful revolt against Ferdinand VII.

In 1831 Tennyson left Cambridge to be with his father, whose health was failing. After his father’s

death, Tennyson decided to pursue a career in poetry rather than return to school. His early vol-umes of poetry drew mixed reviews, however, and Tennyson was hurt by some stinging criticism. Then, in 1833, he learned that Arthur Hallam had died suddenly of a stroke. Tennyson fell into a deep and long depression. Nearly a decade passed before he published any poetry. However, he wrote some of his most significant poems during this period, perfecting his craft during what he later called his “ten years’ silence.”

Literary Renown When he was thirty-two, Tennyson brought out a new book of poems. This time, almost all of the reviews were positive. Fame came in 1850 with the publication of In Memoriam A. H. H., a long cycle of poems about his grief over the loss of Hallam. That same year, Queen Victoria appointed Tennyson to succeed William Wordsworth as poet laureate. Finally confident about his future, Tennyson married Emily Sellwood, his fiancée of fourteen years.

For the rest of his life, Tennyson enjoyed remark-able prestige. His books could be found in the home of nearly every English reader. To his con-temporaries, Tennyson was the great consoling voice of their age.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson was born in 1809 and died in 1892.

Author Search For more about Alfred, Lord Tennyson, go to www.glencoe.com.

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Connecting to the PoemsModern readers turn to Tennyson’s poetry for its heart-breaking beauty and haunting sense of the transitory nature of life. Like all great artists, Tennyson pondered the meaning of life and death. As you read, think about how one copes with the tragic loss of a relative or friend.

Building BackgroundIn Memoriam A. H. H. Within a few days of Arthur Hallam’s death in 1833, Tennyson wrote an elegy, or poem of lament, about this loss. He continued writing elegies over the next seventeen years, eventually col-lecting them under the title In Memoriam A. H. H.

“Crossing the Bar” At eighty-one Tennyson wrote this poem, and just a few days before his death he asked that it be placed at the end of every edition of his work.

“Tears, Idle Tears” This lyric is from Tennyson’s first long narrative poem, The Princess, which explores the role of women in society. Tennyson wrote “Tears, Idle Tears” at Tintern Abbey, the setting of Wordsworth’s famous poem.

Setting Purposes for Reading Big Idea Optimism and the Belief

in ProgressAs you read, consider to what extent these poems reflect the belief in optimism that characterized the Victorian age.

Literary Element RhythmRhythm refers to the pattern of beats created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in lines of verse. For example, in the following line from In Memoriam A. H. H., the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth syllables are stressed:

A ha’nd that ca’n be cla’sped no mo’re—

As you read these poems, notice the rhythm and con-sider its effect.

• See Literary Terms Handbook, p. R15.

Reading Strategy Analyzing MoodTo analyze mood, identify the elements that work together to create the emotional quality of a literary work. These elements include diction, imagery, and fig-urative language as well as rhythm, rhyme, repetition, and other sound devices.

Reading Tip: Analyzing Mood As you read, use a diagram like the one below to help you identify the elements that create mood.

Vocabulary

license (l�� səns) n. freedom used irresponsibly; p. 925 Jen often took license with her sister’s belongings, “borrowing” them without asking.

sloth (sl�oth) n. inactivity; laziness; p. 925 Active and energetic, she resented her husband’s idleness and sloth.

diffusive (di fu� siv) adj. spread out or widely scattered; p. 927 A diffusive energy surged through the stadium as the players ran onto the field.

feigned (fand) adj. pretended; imagined; p. 929 Is your interest in this offer genuine or feigned?

Vocabulary Tip: Analogies Analogies are compari-sons based on relationships between words and ideas.

LITERATURE PREVIEW READING PREVIEW

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON 923

Interactive Literary Elements Handbook To review or learn more about the literary elements, go to www.glencoe.com.

Imagery

Sound devices

Diction

MoodFigurative Language: “like a guilty

thing I creep”

In studying these selections, you will focus on the following:

• analyzing literary periods• understanding rhythm

• analyzing mood

OBJECTIVES



2 long unlovely street: Wimpole Street in London, where Arthur Henry Hallam lived after he left Cambridge

7 Dark house, by which once more I stand Here in the long unlovely street,° Doors, where my heart was used to beat So quickly, waiting for a hand,

5 A hand that can be clasped no more— Behold me, for I cannot sleep, And like a guilty thing I creep At earliest morning to the door.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

London Twilight from the Adelphi. Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (1889–1946). Oil on canvas, 44.5 x 59 cm.

Christie’s Images

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He is not here; but far away10 The noise of life begins again, And ghastly through the drizzling rain On the bald street breaks the blank day.

27 I envy not in any moods The captive void of noble rage, The linnet° born within the cage, That never knew the summer woods;

5 I envy not the beast that takes His license in the field of time, Unfettered by the sense of crime, To whom a conscience never wakes;

Nor, what may count itself as blest, 10 The heart that never plighted troth° But stagnates in the weeds of sloth; Nor any want-begotten rest.°

I hold it true, whate’er befall; I feel it, when I sorrow most; 15 ‘Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all.

54 O, yet we trust that somehow good Will be the final goal of ill, To pangs of nature, sins of will, Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;°

5 That nothing walks with aimless feet; That not one life shall be destroyed, Or cast as rubbish to the void, When God hath made the pile complete;

3 linnet: a small bird

10 plighted troth: “pledged loyalty” or “became engaged to marry”

12 want-begotten rest: leisure that comes from a lack of commitment (as opposed to a rest that is earned through struggle)

3– 4 These two lines specify four types of ills: pangs of nature (physical pain), sins of will (moral transgressions), defects of doubt (spiritual shortcomings), and taints of blood (inherited flaws).

license (l �� səns) n. freedom used irresponsiblysloth (sl�oth) n. inactivity; laziness

Vocabulary

Optimism and the Belief in Progress What Victorian belief do these lines reflect?

Big Idea

Analyzing Mood Why does the poet include this image?Reading Strategy

Analyzing Mood What feelings does the setting evoke in the speaker?

Reading Strategy



That not a worm is cloven° in vain; 10 That not a moth with vain desire Is shriveled in a fruitless fire, Or but subserves° another’s gain.

Behold, we know not anything; I can but trust that good shall fall 15 At last—far off—at last, to all, And every winter change to spring.

So runs my dream; but what am I? An infant crying in the night; An infant crying for the light, 20 And with no language but a cry.

106 Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

5 Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind, 10 For those that here we see no more; Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife;° 15 Ring in the nobler modes of life, With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin, The faithless coldness of the times; Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes, 20 But ring the fuller minstrel in.

9 cloven: split

12 subserves: “promotes” or “assists”

14 party strife: antagonism or a dispute between sides or factions

Rhythm What effect does the rhythm of this passage create?Literary Element

Analyzing Mood How does the mood of this section change in the final stanza?

Reading Strategy



Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite; Ring in the love of truth and right, Ring in the common love of good.

25 Ring out old shapes of foul disease; Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free, 30 The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land, Ring in the Christ that is to be.

130 Thy voice is on the rolling air I hear thee where the waters run; Thou standest in the rising sun, And in the setting thou art fair.

5 What art thou then? I cannot guess; But though I seem in star and flower To feel thee some diffusive power, I do not therefore love thee less.

My love involves the love before; 10 My love is vaster passion now; Tho’ mix’d with God and Nature thou, I seem to love thee more and more.

Far off thou art, but ever nigh;° I have thee still, and I rejoice; 15 I prosper, circled with thy voice; I shall not lose thee tho’ I die.

�

13 nigh: near

diffusive (di fu� siv) adj. spread out or widely scattered

Vocabulary

Analyzing Mood What feelings does the speaker convey in these lines?

Reading Strategy

Optimism and the Belief in Progress What positive changes does the speaker hope for in the new year?

Big Idea




Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me! And may there be no moaning of the bar,1

When I put out to sea,

5 But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam, When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell, 10 And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark;

For though from out our bourne2 of Time and Place The flood3 may bear me far, 15 I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.

1. A bar, or sandbar, is a ridge of sand formed by the action of tides or currents.

2. Bourne means “boundary.”

3. Flood means “rising tide.”

Rhythm How does the rhythm reinforce the meaning of these lines?

Literary Element

Hove Beach with Fishing Boats, c.1824. John Constable. Oil on paper laid on canvas. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Victoria & Albert Museum, London/Art Resource, NY




Tears, idle1 tears, I know not what they mean, Tears from the depth of some divine despair Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, In looking on the happy autumn fields, 5 And thinking of the days that are no more.

Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail, That brings our friends up from the underworld, Sad as the last which reddens over one That sinks with all we love below the verge;2

10 So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.

Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns The earliest pipe of half-awakened birds To dying ears, when unto dying eyes The casement3 slowly grows a glimmering square; 15 So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.

Dear as remembered kisses after death, And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned On lips that are for others; deep as love, Deep as first love, and wild with all regret; 20 O Death in Life, the days that are no more.

feigned (fand) adj. pretended; imagined

Vocabulary

Analyzing Mood What feelings does Tennyson convey by describing the past as “Death in Life”?

Reading Strategy

Analyzing Mood How does the phrase “autumn fields” con-vey a feeling of loss?

Reading Strategy

1. Here, idle means “having no basis or reason.”

2. Verge refers to the horizon.

3. A casement is a window that opens outward.

Recalling the Past, 1888. Carlton Alfred Smith. Watercolor on paper. The Stapleton Collection.

The Stapleton Collection/Bridgeman Art Library


AFTER YOU READ

Literary Element RhythmMeter is a type of rhythm in which the alteration between stressed and unstressed syllables is predict-able and regular.

1. What is the metrical pattern of In Memoriam?

2. What is the effect of using regular rhythms in poems that concern grief and loss?

Writing About LiteratureEvaluate Author’s Craft In poetry, author’s craft refers to how a poet uses elements such as word choice, imagery, rhythm, and rhyme to create certain effects. In a short essay, identify examples of repetition in In Memoriam and “Tears, Idle Tears.” Which ideas does the poet emphasize through repetition?

Reading Strategy Analyzing MoodRefer to the diagram you created on page 923, and then answer the following questions.

1. How would you describe the mood of “Crossing the Bar”?

2. What details in the speaker’s surroundings help create the mood?

Vocabulary PracticePractice with Analogies Choose the word that best completes each analogy.

1. generous : miserly :: feigned : a. charitable b. real2. irritation : annoyance :: sloth : a. laziness b. frenzy3. fear : fright :: license : a. liberty b. faith4. wild : tame :: diffusive : a. scattered b. contained

Respond1. Which lines from these poems did you find the

most memorable? Why?

Recall and Interpret2. (a)In section 27 of In Memoriam, to what does the

speaker compare those people who have never loved anyone? (b)What do these metaphors lead the speaker to conclude about lost love?

3. (a)In “Crossing the Bar,” what is compared to a sea voyage? (b)What phrases and images suggest this comparison?

4. (a)In lines 16–19 of “Tears, Idle Tears,” to what does the speaker compare “the days that are no more”? (b)How do these similes illustrate line 20?

Analyze and Evaluate5. How would you describe the tone of “Crossing the

Bar”? What words and phrases create this tone?

6. Sum up the speaker’s attitude toward the past in “Tears, Idle Tears.” Compare that attitude to the one expressed by the speaker of In Memoriam.

7. How does the title of “Tears, Idle Tears” relate to its theme, or main idea?

Connect8. Big Idea Optimism and the Belief in Progress

Tennyson’s contemporaries found In Memoriam very inspirational. Explain how the speaker of this poem evolves through stages of grief, progressing to more positive emotions. Cite specifi c lines from the poem to support your response.

RESPONDING AND THINKING CRITICALLY

LITERARY ANALYSIS READING AND VOCABULARY

Web Activities For eFlashcards, Selection Quick Checks, and other Web activities, go to www.glencoe.com.




Connecting to the PoemWhich of your achievements do you love to relive in memory? In Tennyson’s poem, the speaker remem-bers his glorious adventures and longs to resume his voyages. As you read, think about whether it is impor-tant to experience as much of life as possible.

Building BackgroundLike In Memoriam, “Ulysses” was inspired by Arthur Hallam’s death. Tennyson said that the poem expresses “the feeling about the need of going forward and braving the struggle of life.” Ulysses is the Roman name for the Greek hero Odysseus, whose exploits are portrayed in Homer’s epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, spent ten years fighting in the Trojan War. After the fall of Troy, Odysseus wandered for ten more years throughout the Mediterranean world, encountering mythical creatures and facing great perils. At last, he returned to Ithaca to reestablish himself as king and was reunited with his faithful wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus (tə le� mə kəs). In “Ulysses,” Tennyson carries the story of Odysseus further, presenting the thoughts of the old king who longs for one last adventure.


in ProgressAs you read, consider the Victorian values that Ulysses and his son might reflect.

Literary Element Assonance and Consonance

Assonance is the repetition of similar vowel sounds within non-rhyming words, as in this line from In Memoriam: “His license in the field of time.” Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds within or at the ends of non-rhyming words, as in this line from “Crossing the Bar”: “The flood may bear me far.” As you read, notice other examples of these sound devices.

• See Literary Terms Handbook, pp. R2 and R4.

BEFORE YOU READ UlyssesLITERATURE PREVIEW READING PREVIEW

Reading Strategy Analyzing ToneWhen you analyze tone, you think critically about how the writer’s attitude toward a subject is conveyed through such elements as diction, sentence structure, imagery, and figures of speech. As you read, pause from time to time to consider the poet’s attitude toward Ulysses.

Reading Tip: Determining Tone Use a web like the one below to help you identify the elements that con-vey tone.

Vocabulary

prudence (prood� əns) n. sound judgment; care-ful management; p. 933 Please use prudence in deciding how to invest the money.

abide (ə bd�) v. remain; p. 934 Though his power and wealth were lost, his family and friends abided.

Vocabulary Tip: Context Clues To figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word, look for clues in the surrounding words or sentences.

Sentence Structure

Diction“always roaming

with a hungry heart”

Figures of SpeechImagery

Tone


In studying this selection, you will focus on the following:

• analyzing literary periods• identifying assonance, consonance, and alliteration

• analyzing tone

OBJECTIVES

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It little profits that an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags,° Matched with an agèd wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws° unto a savage race, 5 That hoard and sleep and feed, and know not me.

I cannot rest from travel; I will drink Life to the lees.° All times I have enjoyed Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when10 Through scudding° drifts the rainy Hyades° Vexed the dim sea. I am become a name; For always roaming with a hungry heart Much have I seen and known—cities of men And manners, climates, councils, governments,15 Myself not least, but honored of them all—

2 barren crags: here, the rugged landscape of Ithaca, the Greek island where Ulysses lives 4 Unequal laws: rewards and punishments

7 lees: sediment found at the bottom of wine and other liquids. To “drink to the lees” is to drink to the last drop.

10 scudding: wind-driven. Hyades (h ��ə dez ): a cluster of stars. When they rose, it was believed that rain would soon follow.

Assonance and Consonance Which words contain the short i sound? Which words contain the g sound?

Literary Element


Ulysses and the Sirens. Roman mosaic, 3rd century A.D. Musee National du Bardo, Tunis, Tunisia.

Musee National du Bardo, Tunis, Tunisia/Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY


And drunk delight of battle with my peers, Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.° I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough20 Gleams that untraveled world, whose margin fades Forever and forever when I move. How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnished, not to shine in use! As though to breathe were life! Life piled on life25 Were all too little, and of one to me Little remains; but every hour is saved From that eternal silence, something more, A bringer of new things; and vile it were For some three suns to store and hoard myself,30 And this gray spirit yearning in desire To follow knowledge like a sinking star, Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. This is my son, mine own Telemachus, To whom I leave the scepter and the isle—35 Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill This labor, by slow prudence to make mild A rugged people, and through soft degrees Subdue them to the useful and the good. Most blameless is he, centered in the sphere40 Of common duties, decent not to fail In offices of tenderness, and pay Meet° adoration to my household gods, When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail;45 There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners, Souls that have toiled and wrought and thought with me— That ever with a frolic welcome took The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old;50 Old age hath yet his honor and his toil; Death closes all; but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods. The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;55 The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep

prudence (prood� əns) n. sound judgment; careful management

Vocabulary

16 –17 battle . . . Troy: the Trojan War, which the Greeks won after a ten-year siege

42 Meet: fitting; proper


Assonance and Consonance Which vowel sounds recur in this line?

Literary Element

Print of the ship of Ulysses.

Underwood & Underwood/CORBIS



Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, ’Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows;° for my purpose holds60 To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars,° until I die. It may be that the gulfs will wash us down; It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,° And see the great Achilles,° whom we knew.65 Though much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are— One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will70 To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

�

Analyzing Tone Which words and phrases in these lines convey a tone of admiration?

Reading Strategy

Optimism and the Belief in Progress What values does this line affirm?

Big Idea

abide (ə bd�) v. remain

Vocabulary

59 sounding furrows: crashing waves.

60–61 baths . . . stars: reference to the ancient belief that the stars descended into a sea or river that encircled Earth.63 Happy Isles: in Greek mythology, the place where mortals favored by the gods are sent to dwell after they die.64 Achilles (ə ki� lez): the greatest warrior in the Greek assault on Troy.

Ulysses and his son Telemachus, 1st century a.d. Mosaic, width: 31.5 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY


British Museum, London, Great Britain/Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY


AFTER YOU READ

Respond1. What questions would you ask Ulysses if he were

alive today?

Recall and Interpret2. (a)How does Ulysses spend his time at home?

(b)How does he feel about his life at home? Use evidence from the poem to support your answer.

3. (a)What does Ulysses miss from his past? (b)Sum up Ulysses’ thoughts and feelings about aging. Support your answer with evidence from the poem.

4. (a)What does Ulysses want his band of followers to do with him? (b)Why might Tennyson have chosen to wait until late in the poem before revealing whom Ulysses is addressing in his monologue?

Analyze and Evaluate5. How do you interpret lines 18–21 of the poem?

6. (a)How does Ulysses regard his son’s approach to life? (b)Which character would you rather have as a ruler—Ulysses or Telemachus? Why?

7. (a)What arguments does Ulysses present to per-suade his listeners to join him? (b)Do you find his arguments persuasive? Explain why or why not.

Connect8. Big Idea Optimism and the Belief in

Progress Which Victorian values does Ulysses embody? Which values does his son refl ect?


VISUAL LITERACY: Fine Art

Tennyson was not the first artist to be fascinated by Odysseus—nor would he be the last. This fearless, wily hero has inspired countless works of art throughout the ages, ranging from the ancient Greek red-figure vase shown at the right (ca. 500 B.C.) to James Joyce’s modern novel Ulysses (1922) and Romare Bearden’s contemporary collage The Return of Odysseus (1977).

The vase depicts a scene from Homer’s Odyssey. The sirens were enchantresses who lived on an island. They lured passing sailors to destruction with irresist-ibly beautiful songs. To resist this fate, Odysseus had his crew plug their ears with wax and tie him to the mast. He listened in anguish as his boat passed the sirens’ island.

Group Activity Discuss the following questions with your classmates.

1. What do the artist’s Odysseus and Tennyson’s Ulysses have in common?

2. Why do you think Odysseus has inspired count-less artists over time?

Odysseus in Art and Literature

Attic red-figured stamnos of Siren, 5th century B.C. British Museum, London.


Musee National du Bardo, Tunis, Tunisia/Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY



Literary Element Assonance and Consonance

Tennyson is often praised for the musical patterns of his poetry. To help create these patterns, he some-times uses assonance and consonance. For example, in line 5 of “Ulysses,” he uses assonance, repeating long e sounds: “That hoard and sleep and feed, and know not me”; in line 17, he uses consonance, repeat-ing the n and r sounds: “Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.”

1. Find other examples of assonance and consonance in “Ulysses.”

2. How does Tennyson’s use of assonance and con-sonance contribute to the overall effect of the poem?

Review: AlliterationAs you learned on page 800, alliteration is the repeti-tion of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words, as in the line “On the bald street breaks the blank day.” Like assonance and consonance, alliteration is used to create rhythmic or musical effects.

Partner Activity Meet with a classmate to identify examples of alliteration in “Ulysses.” Use a two-column chart like the one below to record your examples and describe their effects.

Reading Strategy Analyzing ToneA writer’s tone may convey a variety of attitudes such as sympathy, irony, admiration, sadness, or bitterness. To analyze the tone of “Ulysses,” focus on elements such as diction, imagery, and figurative language. In the following lines, for example, the image of fading light gives the speaker’s words a sad, urgent tone:

The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks; The long day wanes;

Review the web you completed on page 931, and then answer the following questions.

1. How would you describe the overall tone of this poem?

2. What details in the poem contribute to this tone?

Vocabulary PracticePractice with Context Clues For each sentence below, identify the context clue that most suggests the meaning of the underlined vocabulary word.

1. The true hero acts not with rashness, but with prudence.

a. true b. hero c. rashness

2. Even though heroes die, their messages abide, never fading away.

a. die b. never fading c. away

Academic Vocabulary

Here are two words from the vocabulary list on page R82.

incline (in kl �n��) v. have a particular tendency or bent of mind

conceive (kən sev��) v. to hold as one’s opinion

Practice and Apply1. In your opinion, does Tennyson incline toward

joyful or sorrowful subjects? Explain.2. How does Tennyson’s Ulysses conceive of old

age?

Effect

Creates rhythm; emphasizes the idea that Ulysses enjoys life to the fullest.

Example

lines 6-7 “I will drink / Life to the lees.”



WRITING AND EXTENDING GRAMMAR AND STYLE

Writing About LiteratureRespond to Theme In his poems, Tennyson often expresses ideas about life in thematic statements, such as “‘Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all” and “I will drink / Life to the lees.” Find another such statement in one of the Tennyson poems you have read and write a journal entry explaining whether you agree with it. Discuss how the idea relates to your own experience or that of someone you know. Before you begin writing, orga-nize your thoughts in a graphic organizer like the one below.

ExperiencesExperiences

ThematicStatement

ExperiencesExperiences

Literature Groups“Ulysses” takes the form of a dramatic monologue—a dramatic poem in which the speaker describes a crucial moment in his or her life to a silent listener. In the process, the speaker reveals much about his or her own character. With a small group, discuss the character of Ulysses as Tennyson portrays him. Consider his attitude toward his family and the people of Ithaca, the value he places on his past experiences, his dreams for the future, his description of Telemachus, and his efforts to inspire his crew. Focus on the following questions, using evidence from the poem to support your interpretations:

• Is Ulysses irresponsible for wanting to leave his wife, son, and homeland to go on one last voyage, or is he just being true to his nature as a hero?

• Is his plan in the best interest of his people?

• How do you think his family will react?

Create a group statement of opinion and explain your ideas to the rest of your class.

Tennyson’s Language and StyleUsing Capitalization in Poetry You probably have mastered many of the rules of capitalization for formal writing. For example, you know that you capitalize the first word of a sentence, the pronoun I, and proper nouns and adjectives. These rules of capitalization also apply to poetry. In addition, in traditional poems, the first word of each line is capitalized.

To some degree, capitalization reflects the conven-tions of the time. During the Victorian age, poets and prose writers sometimes capitalized common nouns for emphasis or to indicate personification. For exam-ple, in the following passages from “Locksley Hall,” Tennyson capitalizes the common nouns time, life, nature, honor, and vision:

“Love took up the glass of Time,”“Love took up the harp of Life,”“Nay, but Nature brings thee solace;”“the hurt that Honor feels,”“Saw the Vision of the world,”

Activity Create a chart listing examples of capitalized words in the poems by Tennyson you have just read. Consider the following categories:

• Proper nouns

• The first word of a line

• Personified or emphasized nouns

Revising CheckCapitalization Proper capitalization is important to consider when revising your own writing. With a part-ner, go through the journal entry you wrote about a thematic statement in Tennyson’s poems. Look for words that should be capitalized and revise your entry to correct these errors. Then, imagine that you were writing during the Victorian age. Circle nouns that you might have capitalized for emphasis.



(t) Fine Art Photographic Library, London/Art Resource, NY (tc) Ricco/Maresca Gallery/Art Resource, NY ((bc) Tate Gallery, London/Art Resource, NY (b) Bettmann/CORBIS


Comparing Literature Across Time and Place

Connecting to the Reading SelectionsThe line between love and heartache is thin, delicate, and often defies logic. The following poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Edna St. Vincent Millay, letter by Simone de Beauvoir, and song by John Lennon and Paul McCartney investigate the necessity of love and its power to change lives.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sonnet 43 .............................................................................. sonnet .................. 939A love for all time

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Love Is Not All: It Is Not Meat nor Drink .... poem .................. 943Love—a necessity or an indulgence?

Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir to Nelson Algren .................letter .................. 944The frenetic fervor of a new relationship

John Lennon and Paul McCartney

In My Life ................................................................................ song .................. 946Love in the past and in the present

England, 1850

United States, 1931

France, 1947

COMPARING THE Big Idea Optimism and the Belief in ProgressBarrett Browning’s poem describes an idealized love and reflects an optimism unburdened by certain realities of her life and times. The four selections here express idealistic views of the adventure and power of romance, while also presenting realistic hurdles between lovers.

COMPARING Theme of Passionate LoveThe themes of love and desire have produced some of history’s most memorable literature. The selections you are about to read explore the presence and absence of love in one’s life.

COMPARING Historical ContextsThe manner in which love is expressed in a poem, a song, or a letter can depend upon histori-cal context. For example, at one point it was fashionable to write religious love poems. This is not the case today.

England, 1965


John Brett/Private Collection/Bridgeman Art Library

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING 939

BEFORE YOU READ

Sonnet 43

The eldest child of a wealthy country squire, Elizabeth Barrett Browning spent her child-hood playing in the countryside and read-

ing. In fact, by the age of ten, Elizabeth Barrett Browning had read a stunning array of literature, from the histories of classical Greece and Rome to Shakespeare’s plays. Reflecting on her youth, Browning said, “Books and dreams were what I lived in and domestic life only seemed to buzz gently around, like bees about the grass.”

Hope End Barrett grew up on a lush, opulent country estate called “Hope End.” Her father derived his wealth from sugar plantations in Jamaica. The business turned sour, however, while Barrett was still a youth and the family adopted a more modest lifestyle. When she was fifteen, Barrett suffered a spinal injury, which, along with a chronic problem with her lungs, left her bedridden for much of her life. Despite her poor health, Barrett became one of the most successful and versatile poets in Victorian England. Her work was characterized by enthusiasm, directness, and a warmly felt sense of social responsibility. Still, Barrett’s family life was difficult, and she struggled to cope with the tragic drowning in 1840 of her favorite brother, Edward. Additionally, her contact with the outside world was restricted by her over-protective father, who forbade any of his eleven children to marry. By the age of thirty-five, Barrett was confined to her bed-room in the family’s London home because of both her health and her father’s wishes.

“I tell you hopeless grief is passionless.”

—Elizabeth Barrett Browning

A Great Love Story Despite her confinement, Barrett became well known for her published verses. When her poems came to the attention of

the fledgling poet Robert Browning, he immedi-ately wrote her a telegram declaring, “I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett. I do, as I say, love these books with all my heart—and I love you too.” In contrast to Barrett’s bedridden existence, Browning led an active social life. Six years her junior, Browning was determined and brash. He boldly began to visit Barrett despite her father’s disapproval. The two eloped in 1846, moved quickly to Italy, and settled at Casa Guidi, an old stone house in Florence. In Italy, the couple had a child they nicknamed “Pen,” and Barrett Browning became an avid player in politics, supporting the risorgimento movement that sought to unify the country. In 1850 Barrett Browning published Sonnets from the Portuguese, perhaps her most famous collection.

While her love poems still thrill readers, Browning, like other Victorian writers, also wrote literature intended to spark social reform. Her 1857 book-length poem Aurora Leigh was ground-breaking. The work critiques the treatment of women in Victorian society by telling the story of an independent, artistic heroine. Of the poem, Virginia Woolf wrote, “Aurora Leigh, with her pas-sionate interest in social questions, her conflict as artist and woman, her longing for knowledge and freedom, is the true daughter of her age.”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born in 1806 and died in 1861.

Author Search For more about Elizabeth Barrett Browning, go to www.glencoe.com.

MEET ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING



READING PREVIEWLITERATURE PREVIEW

Connecting to the SonnetIn the following sonnet, Barrett Browning explores the way she experiences love. As you read the poem, think about the following questions:

• How would you define love? Is love the same as romance?

• Is love a luxury, or a basic human need, like air and water?

Building BackgroundElizabeth Barrett Browning wrote forty-four sonnets describing the fear, excitement, and hope she felt when, after years of ill health that left her bedridden, she fell in love. Barrett Browning waited until three years after her marriage to slip the sonnets into her husband’s coat pocket. Robert Browning, her husband, was so impressed with the sonnets that he insisted she publish them. Not wanting to share her private feelings with the public, she published the cycle of sonnets under the misleading title Sonnets from the Portuguese, hoping people would think the poems were translations rather than expressions of her own emotions.


in ProgressAs you read, notice how Barrett Browning’s poem reflects the optimism and belief in progress of her day. Also, consider how the sonnet relates to the themes addressed by other Victorian writers, including marriage.

Literary Element RepetitionRepetition is the recurrence of sounds, words, phrases, lines, or stanzas in a poem. This literary device builds a sense of unity in a work and calls attention to particular ideas.


Reading Strategy Analyzing StyleTo analyze style means to break down the expressive qualities of a work in order to help reveal the author’s attitude and purpose in writing. Word choice, figurative language, and imagery are key elements that help cre-ate style. In addition, identifying genre, poetic form, and subject matter can help you to understand certain stylistic choices. For instance, you may expect some-thing different from a sonnet than from a haiku. Also, context matters—you might interpret a religious meta-phor in a love poem differently from the same meta-phor in a poem about war.

Reading Tip: Connecting Style and Theme As you read, identify the stylistic elements the poet employs. Ask yourself how these elements reflect the poem’s theme. Keep track of these elements in a graphic orga-nizer like the one below.


imagery

Overall Effect

figurative language

line and stanza pattern

rhythm


• analyzing literary genres• analyzing repetition

• analyzing style

OBJECTIVES


How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. 5 I love thee to the level of every day’s Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee with the passion put to use 10 In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints—I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Analyzing Style What do these images of the sun and candlelight suggest about the speaker’s feelings?

Reading Strategy

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING 941

The Painter’s Honeymoon, c.1863–4. Lord Frederic Leighton. Oil on canvas, 83.8 x 77.5 cm. Museum of Fine Art, Boston.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Charles H. Bayley Picture and Painting Fund

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AFTER YOU READ

Respond1. The speaker of “Sonnet 43” expresses her love in a

variety of “ways.” Which of these “ways” do you find most compelling? Explain.

Recall and Interpret2. (a)Paraphrase how the speaker describes her love

in lines 1–8. (b)What do these lines reveal about the nature of the speaker’s love?

3. (a)How does the speaker describe her love in lines 9–12? (b)What can you infer about the speaker’s past from these lines?

4. (a)How long does the speaker expect her love to last? (b)What line or lines in the poem support your interpretation?

Analyze and Evaluate5. (a)How would you describe the speaker’s tone, or

attitude toward the subject? (b)What does the speaker’s tone seem to suggest about her character and personality?

6. Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of a love as strong as the speaker’s in the poem.

Connect7. Do you think this poem is too personal or that the

language and imagery is too outdated to be of interest to modern-day readers? Explain.

8. Big Idea Optimism and the Belief in Progress How does this poem refl ect an optimis-tic outlook and a belief in progress? Explain.


Literary Element RepetitionRepetition in a literary work often helps to highlight important concepts.

1. (a)Identify repeated words and phrases as well as syntactical repetition in Barrett Browning’s poem. (b)What is the effect of this repetition?

2. How does this repetition relate to the professed purpose of the poem?

Writing About LiteratureApply Form Try your hand at writing your own love sonnet. Begin with Barrett Browning’s first line, and then write thirteen lines describing something that you love. The poem you create can be serious or humor-ous. Use figurative language and end the sonnet with a conclusion. To review the sonnet form, see pages 252–253.

Reading Strategy Analyzing StyleThe style of a work can be a window into the writer’s purpose. Review the web you created to analyze the stylistic features of the sonnet.

1. What distinguishes the style of this sonnet? Cite examples from the text.

2. How does the use of concrete imagery and abstract concepts contribute to the poem’s message?

Academic Vocabulary

Here are two words from the vocabulary list on page R82.

straightforward (strat fo�r� wərd) adj. a clear, honest report; basic

compile (kəm p�l��) v. to pull together com-ments from a variety of sources

Practice and Apply1. Are the emotions in this poem presented in a

straightforward manner? Explain.2. How does the poem compile Barrett Browning’s

feelings for Robert Browning? Web Activities For eFlashcards, Selection Quick Checks, and other Web activities, go to www.glencoe.com.



Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain; Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink And rise and sink and rise and sink again; 5 Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath, Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone; Yet many a man is making friends with death Even as I speak, for lack of love alone. It well may be that in a difficult hour, 10 Pinned down by pain and moaning for release, Or nagged by want past resolution’s power, I might be driven to sell your love for peace, Or trade the memory of this night for food. It well may be. I do not think I would.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

To a generation of Americans who came of age during the Roaring Twenties, the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was a symbol of the modern woman: young, independent, free-spirited, energetic, and beautiful. In fact, the line “My candle burns at both ends” from one of Millay’s poems became a motto for the age.

After graduating from college, she moved to Greenwich Village, a section of New York City renowned for its artists, intellectuals, and eccentric atmosphere. There she worked as an actress, fell in

and out of love, and wrote. In 1921 she traveled to Europe and spent two years as a correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine. Upon returning to New York, she met and fell in love with Eugen Boissevain, a businessman whom she married several months later. In 1923, when she was thirty-one, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

BEFORE YOU READ

Building Background

Author Search For more about Edna St. Vincent Millay, go to www.glencoe.com.

Millay’s poem explores both the power and the inability of love to sustain an individual. The speaker in the poem expresses both emotional and rational responses to love. Which type of response to love does the speaker most value? Discuss this question with a group of classmates and cite examples from the poem to support your views.

Discussion Starter

EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY 943



French existentialist Simone de Beauvoir is best known for her 1949 feminist classic The Second Sex and her lifelong friendship with philosopher and Nobel Prize–winning author Jean-Paul Sartre. Beauvoir also wrote many successful works of fiction, which explored existentialist themes of alienation and the individual’s relationship with the world. In 1947 Beauvoir began an unlikely and passionate relationship with Nelson Algren, the gritty Chicago writer. Their seventeen-year romance is well-documented by the letters they sent to each other across the Atlantic Ocean.

As World War II drew to a close, Beauvoir traveled to the United States to lecture at college campuses. On

this trip, she met Algren who introduced Beauvoir to the pervasive poverty, the distressed working class, and the bohemian Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago. The day Beauvoir returned to Paris after her trip, she wrote the following letter. The two later traveled and lived together. In the end, they went their separate ways. Of her relationship with Algren, Beauvoir wrote, “To explore an unfamiliar country is work, but to possess it through the love of an appealing foreigner is a miracle.”

BEFORE YOU READ

Building Background

Author Search For more about Simone de Beauvoir, go to www.glencoe.com.

Simone de Beauvoir to Nelson Algren

Sunday, 18 Mai 1947My Precious beloved Chicago man,1

I think of you in Paris, in Paris I miss you. The whole journey was marvelous. We had nearly no night since we went to the East. At Newfoundland the sun began to set, but five hours later it was rising in Shannon, above a sweet green Irish landscape. Everything was so beauti-ful and I had so much to think that I hardly slept. This morning at 10 (it was 6 by your time), I was in the heart of Paris. I hoped the beauty of Paris would help me to get over my sadness; but it did not. First, Paris is not beautiful today. It is gray and cloudy; it is Sunday, the streets are empty, and everything seems dull, dark, and dead. Maybe it is my heart which is dead to Paris. My heart is yet in New York, at the corner of Broadway where we said goodbye; it is in my Chicago home, in my own warm place against your loving heart. I suppose in two or three days it will be a bit different. I must be concerned again by all the French intellectual and politic life, by my work and my friends. But today I don’t even wish to get interested in all these things; I feel lazy and tired, and I can enjoy only memories. My beloved one, I don’t know why I waited so long before

1. “My Precious beloved Chicago man” refers to Nelson Algren.


SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR 945

saying I loved you. I just wanted to be sure and not to say easy, empty words. But it seems to me now love was there since the beginning. Anyway, now it is here, it is love and my heart aches. I am happy to be so bitterly unhappy because I know you are unhappy, too, and it is sweet to have a part of the same sadness. With you pleasure was love, and now pain is love too. We must know every kind of love. We’ll know the joy of meeting again. I want it, I need it, and I’ll get it. Wait for me. I wait for you. I love you more even than I said, more maybe than you know. I’ll write very often. Write to me very often too. I am your wife forever.

Your SimoneI read the whole book2 and I like it very much. I’ll have it translated,

sure. Kisses and kisses and kisses. It was so sweet when you kissed me. I love you.

2. The book Beauvoir refers to is Algren’s novel The Man with the Golden Arm, which won the first National Book Award for fiction.

Alone. Emilio Longoni. Casa di Livorno, Milan, Italy.

A common adage is “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” How do you think Beauvoir would react to this adage? Do you think this saying is true? Write a paragraph exploring these questions. Cite evidence from the letter and the Building Background feature in your answer.

Quickwrite

Alinari/Art Resource



The Beatles emerged from the English city of Liverpool to take the world by storm. The Fab Four’s lineup included John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Influenced by American rock n’ roll, the Beatles perfected the art of the pop song. As they grew as musicians, their songs became more complex and emotionally revealing. One of the first songs to demonstrate such growth was “In My Life,” a song written by guitarist and singer John Lennon for the 1965 album Rubber Soul. Lennon remarked, “‘In My Life’ was, I think, my first real, major piece of work. Up until then it had all been glib and throwaway.”

The song originally contained a catalog of specific memories from Lennon’s youth, but Lennon edited

the song to speak more generally about the experience of love, memory, and life.

Though Lennon wrote “In My Life,” both he and McCartney collaborated on most of the songs they wrote. Sometimes this collaboration consisted of one slightly revising the other’s songs, and at other times one would complete the other’s song fragments. Due to an agreement made during the early years of the band, Lennon and McCartney are credited for all songs that one or both of them wrote and royalties were split equally.

BEFORE YOU READ

Building Background

Author Search For more about the Beatles, go to www.glencoe.com.

There are places I remember all my life, Though some have changed, Some forever, not for better, Some have gone and some remain.

5 All these places had their moments With lovers and friends I still can recall. Some are dead and some are living. In my life I’ve loved them all.

But of all these friends and lovers, 10 There is no one compares with you, And these mem’ries lost their meaning When I think of love as something new.

Though I know I’ll never lose affection For people and things that went before, 15 I know I’ll often stop and think about them, In my life I’ll love you more.

Though I know I’ll never lose affection For people and things that went before, I know I’ll often stop and think about them, 20 In my life I’ll love you more. In my life I’ll love you more.

How is this song structured? How are songs similar to poems? What qualities associated with poetry are at work in this song? Discuss these questions in a group. If a recording of the song is available, listen to it to enrich your understanding of the lyrics.

Discussion StarterJohn Lennon andPaul McCartney


Wrap-Up: Comparing Literature Across Time and Place

Images.com/CORBIS

COMPARING LITERATURE 947

• Love Is Not All: It Is Not Meat nor Drinkby Edna St. Vincent Millay

• Sonnet 43by Elizabeth BarrettBrowning

• Simone de Beauvoir to Nelson Algrenby Simone de Beauvoir

• In My Lifeby John Lennon and Paul McCartney

COMPARING THE Big Idea Optimism and the Belief in ProgressWriting What purpose does love serve in society? Does love inspire innovation and bring about a better quality of life? Does a belief in love go hand in hand with a belief in progress? Write a brief essay comparing the arguments made by these four writers.

COMPARING Theme of Passionate LoveGroup Activity With a group of classmates, read and discuss the following quotations. Ask yourselves, how does each quotation characterize love? How does love affect each speaker? Is love eternal or can love change over time? Is love a necessity or an indulgence?

“I love thee with a love I seemed to lose / With my lost saints”

—Barrett Browning, Sonnet 43

“Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;”

—Millay, “Love Is Not All: It Is Not Meat nor Drink”

“With you pleasure was love, and now pain is love too.”

—Beauvoir, “Simone de Beauvoir to Nelson Algren”

“And these mem’ries lost their meaningWhen I think of love as something new.”

—Lennon and McCartney, “In My Life”

COMPARING Historical ContextsSpeaking and Listening Writers are influenced by their surroundings. Barrett Browning’s poem is a product of her upbringing in Victorian England. Millay’s poem mirrors her frenetic life-style during the Roaring Twenties. Beauvoir’s letter reflects the bohemian values of her day. Lennon and McCartney’s song is influenced by sudden stardom. Research the historical backdrop of one of the selections and give a short oral report to your class about how the context helps you better understand the writer’s portrayal of love and passion.

Online Romance. Illustration. Farida Zaman.

• Compare poems, a letter, and a song about love from different cultures and eras.

• Analyze the theme of passionate love in literature.

• Evaluate how historical context influences your understanding of literature and music.

OBJECTIVES


In format ional Text

Preview the Article“What Is Love?” examines whether love is culturally acquired or genetically programmed.

1. How does love influence traditions and institutions in our culture?

2. Based on the photographs on pages 949 and 950, what point do you think the writer is going to make about love?

Set a Purpose for ReadingRead to learn about scientific studies on the origin of love.

Reading StrategyExamining Connotation and Denotation A word’s denotation is its literal meaning, or its dictionary definition. Connotation refers to the suggested or implied meanings associated with a word beyond its literal meaning. As you read, examine how the writer uses connotation and denotation.

948 UNIT 5

By By PAUL GRAY

After centuries of ignoring the subject as too vague and mushy, scientists have undergone a change of heart about the tender passion.

Media L ink to Sonnet 43

Informat ional Text

LOVE?What

Is

Example Sentence

Connotation or DenotationOverall Effect

“Love is mushy;science is hard.”

Connotations: mushy; hard

The author implies that science comes from reason and love comes from emotion.

HWhat is this thing called love? What? Is this thing

called love? What is this thing called? Love.

OWEVER PUNCTUATED, Cole Porter’s simple question begs an an-swer. Love’s symptoms are familiar enough: a

drifting mooniness in thought and behavior, the mad conceit that the entire universe has rolled itself up into the person of the beloved, a conviction that no one on earth has ever felt so torrentially about a fel-low creature before. Love is ecstasy and torment, freedom and slavery. Poets and songwriters would be in a fine mess without it. Plus, it makes the world go round.

Until recently, scientists wanted no part of it. The reason for this avoidance, this reluctance to study what is probably life’s most intense emotion, is not difficult to track down. Love is mushy; science is hard. Anger and fear, feelings that have been considerably researched in the field and the lab, can be quantified through measurements: pulse and breathing rates, muscle contractions, a whole spider web of involuntary responses. Love does

not register as definitively on the instruments; it leaves a blurred fin-gerprint that could be mistaken for anything from indigestion to a manic attack. Anger and fear have direct roles—fighting or running—in the survival of the species. But romantic love, and all the attendant sighing and swooning and sonnet writing, has struck many pragmatic investigators as beside the point.

So biologists and anthropologists assumed that it would be fruitless, even frivolous, to study love’s origins, the way it was encoded in our genes or imprinted in our brains. Serious scientists simply assumed that roman-tic love was really all in the head, put there five or six centuries ago when civilized societies first found enough spare time to indulge in flowery prose. The task of writing the book of love was ceded to playwrights, poets, and pulp novelists.

But in recent years, scientists across a broad range of disciplines have had a change of heart about love. The amount of research expended on the tender passion has

OBJECTIVES• Read to examine how a writer uses

denotation and connotation.• Analyze informational text using appro-

priate comprehension strategies.

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Informational Text

never been more intense. To explain this rise in interest, some point to the growing number of women sci-entists and suggest that they may be more willing than their male col-leagues to take love seriously. Says researcher Elaine Hatfield: “When I was back at Stanford in the 1960s, they said studying love and human relationships was a quick way to ruin my career. Why not go where the real work was being done: on how fast rats could run?” Whatever the reasons, science seems to have come around to a view that nearly every-one else has always taken for granted: Romance is real. It is not merely a conceit; it is bred into our biology.

Getting to this point logically is harder than it sounds. The love-as-cultural-delusion argument has long seemed unassailable. What actually accounts for the emotion, according to this scenario, is that people long ago made the mistake of taking fan-ciful literary notions seriously. Among the prime suspects are the 12th-century French troubadours who more or less invented the Art of Courtly Love, an elaborate and artificial ritual for idle aristocrats.

Ever since then, the injunction to love and to be loved has hummed nonstop through popular culture; it is a dominant theme in music, films,

novels, magazines, and nearly every-thing shown on TV. Love is a formi-dable and thoroughly proved commercial engine; people will buy and do almost anything that prom-ises them a chance at the bliss of romance.

But does all this mean that love is merely a phony emotion that we picked up because our culture cele-brates it? Psychologist Lawrence Casler, author of Is Marriage Necessary?, forcefully thinks so, at least at first: “I don’t believe love is part of human nature, not for a min-ute. There are social pressures at work.” Then a shadow falls over his

certainty. “Even if it is a part of human nature, like crime or vio-lence, it’s not necessarily desirable.”

Well, love either is or is not intrin-sic to our species; having it both ways leads nowhere. And the contention that romance is an entirely acquired trait—the revenge of overly imagina-tive love poets on those who would take them literally—has always rested on some flimsy premises.

Why, for example, has roman tic love—that odd collection of tics and impulses—lasted over the cen-turies? Most mass hallucina tions, such as the 17th-century tulip mania in Holland (when the popularity of tulips pushed the price of a single bulb sky high), flame out fairly rap-idly when people realize the absur-dity of what they have been doing and come to their senses. When people in love come to their senses, they tend to orbit with added energy around each other and look more helplessly loopy and self-besotted. If romance were purely a figment, unsupported by any rational or sen-sible evidence, then surely most folks would be immune to it by now. Look around. It hasn’t happened. Love is still in the air.

And it may be far more wide-spread than even romantics imag-ined. Those who argue that love is a cultural fantasy have tended to do

WHAT IS LOVE? 949

San

di F

ellm

an

UNITED STATES Valentine’s DayRomantic rituals in the West have evolved into the bestowal of flowers, candy, and other sweet nothings. But the absence of such gift giving in poorer cultures does not, anthropologists are learning, mean the absence of romance.

CHINACourtship on Horseback

On the plains of Xinjiang, mounted Kazakh suitors play Catch the

Maiden. He chases her in pursuit of a kiss. If he succeeds, she goes

after him with a riding crop.

Jay

Dic

kman


Informational Text

Respond 1. How did the article influence your preconceptions

about the origin of love?

Recall and Interpret 2. (a)Why have scientists traditionally been reluctant

to study the concept of love? (b)Who took on the “task of writing the book of love”?

3. (a)Paraphrase the “love-as-cultural-delusion” argument. (b)What facts tend to refute this argument?

4. (a)According to some modern anthropologists, why are courtship and marriage rituals the wrong places to look for the origins of love? (b)Where do modern scientists look for the origin of love?

Analyze and Evaluate 5. (a)Why do you think the writer chose to use the

introductory quote by Cole Porter? (b)What is the significance of the quote?

6. (a)Why do some theorists think love is a fantasy of the West? (b)How does the study by Jankowiak and Fischer prove this theory wrong?

7. If romantic love is genetically programmed, what selective advantage does it afford the human species?

Connect 8. How do you think Victorian writers would have

responded to the modern scientific view that love is biologically determined?


so from a Eurocentric and class-driven point of view. Romance, they say, arose thanks to circumstances peculiar to the West: leisure time, a decent amount of creature comforts, a certain level of refinement in the arts and letters. Romantic love was for aristocrats, not for peasants.

But a study conducted by anthro-pologists William Jankowiak of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and Edward Fischer of Tulane University found evidence of romantic love in at least 147 of the 166 cultures they studied. This discovery, if borne out, should pretty well wipe out the idea that love is an invention of the Western mind rather than a biologi-cal fact. Says Jankowiak: “It is, instead,

a univer sal phenomenon, a panhuman characteristic that stretches across cultures. Societies like ours have the resources to show love through candy and flowers, but that does not mean that the lack of resources in other cultures indicates the absence of love.”

Some scientists are not startled by this contention. One of them is anthropolo-gist Helen Fisher, a research

associate at the American Museum of Natural History. Says Fisher: “I’ve never not thought that love was a very primitive, basic human emo-tion, as basic as fear, anger, or joy. It is so evident. I guess anthropologists have just been busy doing other things.”

Among the things anthro-pologists—often knobby-kneed gents in safari shorts—tended to do in the past was ask questions about courtship and marriage rituals. This now seems a classic example, as the old song has it, of looking for love in all the wrong places. In many cultures, love and marriage do not go together. Weddings can have all the romance of corporate mergers,

signed and sealed for family or territorial interests. This does not mean, Jankowiak insists, that love does not exist in such cultures; it erupts in clandestine forms, “a phenomenon to be dealt with.”

But if science is going to probe and prod and then announce that we are all scientifically fated to love—and to love preprogrammed types—by our genes and chemicals, then a lot of people would just as soon not know. If there truly is a biological predisposition to love, as more and more scientists are coming to believe, then it follows that there is also an amazing diversity in the ways humans have chosen to express the feeling. The cartoon images of cavemen bopping cavewomen over the head and dragging them home by their hair? Love. Helen of Troy, subjecting her adopted city to 10 years of ruinous siege? Love. Romeo and Juliet? Ditto. Joe in Accounting making a fool of himself around the water cooler over Susan in Sales? Love. Like the universe, the more we learn about love, the more preposterous and mysterious it is likely to appear.

Updated 2005, from TIME, February 15, 1993

AFRICADressed Up for Display

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BEFORE YOU READ

MEET GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

Like many artists and writers, Gerard Manley Hopkins did not know fame during his life-time. In fact, his poetry was not published

until 1918, nearly thirty years after his death. For this reason, Hopkins was long viewed as a twenti-eth-century poet, although in recent decades schol-ars and publishers have considered his poems in their original Victorian context—all the better to understand and appreciate the extent of Hopkins’s innovation and accomplishment as a poet.

From Highgate to High Church The first of nine children, Hopkins was born into a middle-class Anglican family who shared a love of litera-ture, art, and music. He began writing as a child and won a poetry prize when he was fifteen. After a brilliant career at the Highgate School in London, Hopkins entered Oxford University in 1863. There he studied Latin and Greek and was also exposed to the newest ideas in poetry and the-ology. These pursuits fostered in Hopkins a dual interest in rich, imagistic verse and in rich, imagis-tic religion—the latter of which led him first to High Church Anglicanism and then to Roman Catholicism and the Jesuit priesthood. As a result of his conversion, Hopkins suffered a painful and enduring estrangement from his Protestant family.

“The world is charged with the grandeur of God.It will flame out, like shining from shook foil.”

—Gerard Manley Hopkins

The Poet Priest Soon after his conversion, Hopkins burned most of his poems in a display of religious devotion. For seven years he wrote no

new poetry. Then, in 1875, one of his superiors suggested that he write a poem about five nuns exiled for their faith who had drowned in the shipwreck of the Deutschland. “The Wreck of the Deutsch land” was rejected for publi cation due to its unconventional style but sparked in Hopkins a renewed interest in writing poetry—which he would continue to do for the remaining fourteen years of his life.

In much of Hopkins’s early poetry, the meeting of the mind and nature leads directly to a transcen-dent awareness of God in all things—an awareness expressed fervently and poignantly in his 1877 poem “God’s Grandeur.”

Late in life, however, Hopkins produced a series of “terrible sonnets” which express despair at the poet’s inability to fully escape the prison of the self. This despair created for Hopkins a frustrating dilemma: isolation from the very God who made each human unique—and, therefore, isolated from one another.

Hopkins’s priestly life was varied and full. His duties took him, among other places, to the slums of industrial England, where he witnessed the misery of the poor and the devastation of the natural environment. His last five years were spent teaching Greek and Latin at the Catholic University in Dublin and writing some of his most striking poetry.

Gerard Manley Hopkins was born in 1844 and died in 1889.

Author Search For more about Gerard Manley Hopkins, go to www.glencoe.com.

Hopkins’s Poetry

GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS 951


Reading Strategy Monitoring Comprehension

To monitor comprehension, note whether you fully grasp the author’s meaning as you read. If not, you can use strategies to help you understand the text. These strategies include reading more slowly, reread-ing difficult passages, and using a graphic organizer.

Reading Tip: Charting Meaning As you read, use a two-column chart to clarify the meaning of difficult phrases. Use footnotes, a dictionary, or your own prior knowledge to help you.

Vocabulary

dappled (dap� əld) adj. marked with spots; p. 953 A ray of sun warmed the fawn’s dappled coat.

fallow (fal� o) n. land plowed but left unseeded; p. 953 The fallow field lay brown and empty, waiting for next year’s seeds.

blight (bl�t) n. a disease caused by parasites that makes plants and trees wither and die; p. 954 A blight in the region killed thousands of saplings.

Vocabulary Tip: Word Origins Many words in English come from words in other languages. Understanding word origins can help you figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words.

Simplified Meaning

“blotched or spotted things”

Difficult Phrase

“dappled things”


Connecting to the PoemsAre human beings a part of nature or apart from it? In these poems, Hopkins suggests that both may be true. As you read, think about these questions:

• What actions do you take that affect the natural environment?

• When in your life have you felt most a part of the natural world?

Building BackgroundGerard Manley Hopkins believed that each human being was characterized by an intricate and utterly unique design—a kind of spiritual fingerprint that he called “inscape.” This notion also extended to his poetry. He once said that “design, pattern, or what I am in the habit of calling ‘inscape’ is what I above all aim at in poetry.”

To create such an effect, Hopkins developed a style of poetry based on irregular rhythms, incomplete syntax, and echoing devices such as repetition and alliteration. The resulting roughness, he believed, captured not only the complex design of the human mind but also its jolt-ing movements as it perceives and reflects on an object in nature.


in ProgressAnother word for progress—a central Victorian ideal—is change. As you read these poems, consider how change can be both beautiful and sad.

Literary Element Sprung RhythmHopkins’s central poetic innovation was a technique he called sprung rhythm. Sprung rhythm is a kind of meter in which each foot contains one stressed sylla-ble (the first) and any number of unstressed syllables. This meter has four kinds of feet: the stressed mono-syllable ( ´ ), the trochee ( ´ ˘ ), the dactyl ( ´ ˘ ˘), and the first paeon ( ´ ˘ ˘ ˘). Additional unstressed sylla-bles are also permitted.




In studying these selections, you will focus on the following:

• analyzing literary time periods• analyzing sprung rhythm

• monitoring comprehension

OBJECTIVES


Glory be to God for dappled things— For skies of couple-color as a brinded° cow; For rose-moles° all in stipple° upon trout that swim; Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls;° finches’ wings; 5 Landscape plotted and pieced°—fold,° fallow, and plow; And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.°

All things counter,° original, spare, strange; Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?) With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim; 10 He fathers-forth° whose beauty is past change: Praise him.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

2 brinded: streaked or spotted.3 rose-moles: marks of a reddish color. stipple: a method of painting that uses small dots of color to produce gradations of tone4 fresh-firecoal: fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls describes the glowing color of chestnuts newly stripped of their husks.5 Landscape plotted and pieced: the patchwork pattern created by dividing land into fields. fold: an enclosed area for sheep6 trim: equipment or clothing.7 counter: contrary or opposite10 fathers-forth: creates


dappled (dap� əld) adj. marked with spotsfallow (fal� o) n. land plowed but left unseeded

Vocabulary

Monitoring Comprehension How does your prior knowl-edge of the word couple help you understand the meaning of this unusual phrase?

Reading Strategy

The Sower, 1888. Vincent van Gogh. Oil on canvas, 64 x 80.5 cm. Rijksmuseum, Netherlands.

Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY

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Márgarét, are you gríeving Over Goldengrove unleaving?° Leáves líke the things of man, you With your fresh thoughts care for, can you? 5 Áh! ás the heart grows older It will come to such sights colder By and by, nor spare a sigh Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal° lie; And yet you wíll weep and know why. 10 Now no matter, child, the name: Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same. Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed What heart heard of, ghost° guessed: It ís the blight man was born for, 15 It is Margaret you mourn for.

Sprung Rhythm Which three syllables are stressed in this line? What type of foot does each stressed syllable begin?

Literary Element

Optimism and the Belief in Progress How do these lines express the flip side of Victorian optimism?

Big Idea

2 Goldengrove unleaving: a grove of trees losing its leaves in autumn

8 wanwood leafmeal: a ground covering of crushed, decomposing, pale-colored autumn leaves

13 ghost: the spirit or soul

blight (bl�t) n. a disease caused by parasites that makes plants and trees wither and die

Vocabulary

Gerard Manley Hopkins

The Wild Wood, Autumn. Alfred Oliver (d 1943). Private collection.

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AFTER YOU READ

Respond1. Do you think the same person could be the

speaker of both poems, or is it likely that the speakers are two different people? Give reasons for your answer.

Recall and Interpret2. (a)In the first stanza of “Pied Beauty,” for what spe-

cific things does the speaker glorify God? (b)What do the speaker’s choices suggest about his concept of beauty?

3. (a)In the second stanza of “Pied Beauty,” for what does the speaker praise God? (b)Explain the com-parison the speaker makes between God’s beauty and the beauty of the world.

4. (a)In “Spring and Fall,” how does the speaker first explain Margaret’s grief? How does he later explain it? (b)What can you infer about the speaker’s

philosophy of life, death, and the aging process? Use details from the poem to support your answer.

Analyze and Evaluate5. In your opinion, why does Hopkins include exam-

ples from trade (gear, tackle, and trim) in his praise of pied beauty?

6. In “Pied Beauty,” how does Hopkins’s use of imagery, or word pictures, help to convey the poem’s theme, or main idea?

7. Do you agree with the point of view expressed in lines 5–9 of “Spring and Fall”? Why or why not?

Connect8. Big Idea Optimism and the Belief in

Progress The Victorians felt that it was their pre-rogative to bend nature to their own purposes. How does “Pied Beauty” counter this idea?



Literary Element Sprung RhythmHopkins chose to use sprung rhythm because “it is nearest to the rhythm of prose, that is, the native and natural rhythm of speech.”

1. In your opinion, does sprung rhythm resemble nat-ural, everyday speech? Support your answer, using specific examples from the poems.

2. Do you think sprung rhythm captures the move-ment of the mind as it sees and registers what it perceives? Explain.

Listening and SpeakingWith a partner, take turns reading the two poems aloud. Before you begin, reread the definition of sprung rhythm in the Literary Element feature on page 952. Also pay attention to the way each poem sounds—specifically, the use of end rhyme and allitera-tion in each poem.

Reading Strategy Monitoring Comprehension

Remember that when you monitor comprehension, you pay special attention to parts of the text you don’t understand.

Reread “Spring and Fall.” What line or phrase seemed difficult the first time you read it but is much clearer now? Explain.

Vocabulary PracticePractice with Word Origins Use a dictionary with etymologies to help you match each vocabu-lary word to the description of its origin.

a. blight b. dappled c. fallow

1. Old English word for a skin condition

2. Old English word meaning “a piece of plowed land”

3. Middle English word that describes a color Web Activities For eFlashcards,

Selection Quick Checks, and other Web activities, go to www.glencoe.com.



Christ Church College, Oxford by N. Herkomer/E.T. Archive

BEFORE YOU READ

MEET LEWIS CARROLL

Considered a dull lecturer by many of his students and a marginally important math-ematician by his colleagues at Oxford

University, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson might, on the surface, seem an uninteresting fellow. Yet this quiet, painfully shy man published some of the wittiest children’s fiction ever written. Under the pen name Lewis Carroll, Dodgson became world famous, particularly for two books that for genera-tions have captivated children and adults alike: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There.

An Inventive Youth The son of a church rector, Dodgson was the third child and oldest son in a fam-ily of eleven children. The Dodgson children lived in an isolated country village and had few friends out-side the family, but they found many ways to amuse themselves. From an early age, Dodgson entertained his younger siblings by performing magic tricks and marionette shows and by writing poetry and word games for the family’s homemade magazines.

As a teenager, Dodgson spent four years at the Rugby School. These were unhappy years, as Dodgson’s shyness and frequent ill health made him a target for bullying. The young scholar found more success at Oxford University, where he excelled in mathematics and classical studies. Graduating first

in his class in mathe-matics, Dodgson was granted a scholarship and assumed a post as a lecturer in mathema-tics. As a condition of this scholarship, Dodgson was also ordained a deacon, but a severe stammer kept him from seek-ing a career in preaching.

Play Makes Perfect Even though Dodgson spent twenty-six years teaching math at Oxford, he was bored by the work. In the company of chil-dren, however, Dodgson was neither bored nor shy. He was able to speak to children without stammer-ing, and he loved to entertain young visitors—often the children of fellow faculty members—by inventing games, performing magic tricks, giving puppet shows, and telling stories. Much to Dodgson’s own surprise, one of these stories even-tually became Alice in Wonderland.

“In a desperate attempt to strike out some new line of fairy-lore, I had sent my heroine straight down a rabbit-hole, to begin with, without the least idea what was to happen afterwards.”

—Lewis Carroll

Alice was not Dodgson’s first publication, however. Between 1854 and 1856, several of Dodgson’s com-ical and satirical works appeared in national publi-cations. Then, in 1856, a poem called “Solitude” was printed under the pseudonym “Lewis Carroll.” In typical word-play fashion, Dodgson had created this name by translating his given name into Latin—Carolus Ludovicus—then reversing the names and translating them back into English. He used the pseudonym on all of his non-academic works, although Dodgson also published a good number of scholarly works under his given name.

Lewis Carroll was born in 1832 and died in 1898.

Jabberwocky

Author Search For more about Lewis Carroll, go to www.glencoe.com.



Mary Evans Picture LIbrary/The Image Works



Connecting to the PoemLewis Carroll’s flights of fancy resulted in some very compelling inventions. As you read, think about why the notion of inventing new things is so compelling to human beings.

Building BackgroundDodgson often entertained the young daughters of Henry George Liddell, the dean of his college. On a summer day in 1862, Dodgson and a friend took the girls on a boat trip up the river Thames. Dodgson told an especially amusing tale that afternoon, and young Alice Liddell begged him to write it down for her. Eventually some writers who read the manuscript per-suaded Dodgson to revise and expand his story for publication. In 1865 he published the story as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Six years later he pub-lished a sequel, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, which includes the poem “Jabberwocky.”


in ProgressAmong other things, the Victorians invented the train, the toilet, the vacuum cleaner, the stamp, and cola. As you read, notice how Victorian inventiveness extended itself to the world of verse as well.

Literary Element Nonsense VerseNonsense verse is humorous poetry that defies logic—or, at first glance, appears to. Nonsense verse usually has a strong rhythm and contains made-up words. These words—like galumphing in “Jabberwocky”—often use onomatopoeia, or a tech-nique of using words whose sounds suggest their meanings.


Reading Strategy Clarifying MeaningTo clarify the meaning of a nonsense word (also called nonce words), you can use both context and syntax. For example, if a character is “galumphing into the forest,” both the -ing form of the nonsense word and the clue “into the forest” would tell you that galumphing is a way of walking or running.

Reading Tip: Analyzing Syntax When you come across a confusing phrase or sentence, clarify the syn-tax by labeling the nonsense words’ parts of speech.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe. . . .

LEWIS CARROLL 957

ADJ. N.ADJ.

VV N

Alice and the Cards. First published in 1865.


• analyzing literary genres• identifying characteristics of nonsense verse

• clarifying meaning by analyzing syntax

OBJECTIVES

0956-0959 U5P1APP-845482.indd 9570956-0959 U5P1APP-845482.indd 957 1/15/07 11:57:17 AM1/15/07 11:57:17 AM

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

5 “Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand: 10 Long time the manxome foe he sought— So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, 15 Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head 20 He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” He chortled in his joy.

25 ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

Clarifying Meaning What can you tell about the Jabberwock, the Jubjub bird, and the Bandersnatch? What clues help you?

Reading Strategy

Nonsense Verse Which of these words are onomatopoetic? What meaning does the sound of each word suggest?

Literary Element


Lewis Carroll

The Jabberwock, 19th century. John Tenniel. Illustration.

Mary Evans Picture Library


AFTER YOU READ

Respond1. Which lines in the poem struck you as particularly

amusing? Why?

Recall and Interpret2. (a)What warnings does the father give his son?

(b)What do these warnings suggest about the setting of the poem?

3. (a)Summarize what happens in stanzas 3–5. (b)What do these events reveal about the boy’s character?

4. (a)How does the father respond to his son’s actions? (b)Why do you think he responds in this manner?

Analyze and Evaluate5. (a)Describe the poem’s meter (or rhythm) and

rhyme scheme. (b)What effects are created by these devices?

6. (a)How would you describe the poem’s atmosphere? (b)Does the atmosphere change? Explain your answer citing specific evidence from the poem.

7. (a)Why do you think Carroll repeats the first stanza at the end of the poem? (b)What is the effect of this repetition?

Connect8. Big Idea Optimism and the Belief in Progress

What Victorian attitudes might Carroll be mocking, or satirizing, in this poem?



Literary Element Nonsense VerseCarroll provided “definitions” for many of the nonce words in “Jabberwocky.” For example, he defined a “tove” as a type of badger that had short horns and “lived chiefly on cheese” and “slithy” as a combination of “slimy” and “lithe” that means “smooth and active.” For each nonce word below, write one or two real words that are suggested by its sound.

1. brillig 2. mimsy 3. raths

4. frumious 5. uffish 6. frabjous

PerformingIn a small group, use a combination of mime, dance, music, or visual arts to create a multimedia perfor-mance of “Jabberwocky.” As part of your planning, go over the poem together and recall possible meanings for the nonce words. Use this discussion to help you decide what each creature and setting should look and sound like.

Reading Strategy Clarifying MeaningRemember that you can use context and syntactical clues to clarify possible meanings of nonce words in the poem.

Partner Activity Copy the first stanza of the poem. Label each nonce word with a part of speech (N, V, ADJ, or ADV). Now rewrite the stanza, substituting a real word of the same part of speech for each nonce word. Read your new stanza aloud to a partner. Discuss similarities and differences in your interpretations.

Academic Vocabulary

Here is a word from the vocabulary list on page R82.

coherent (ko her� ənt) adj. logically consistent

Practice and Apply Even though “Jabberwocky” is a nonsense poem, do you find it coherent? Why?


LEWIS CARROLL 959


LITERARY PERSPECTIVE on “Jabberwocky”Informational Text

Building BackgroundWanda Coleman, a prize-winning African American poet and novelist, had a transformative experience when she read Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. In par-ticular, Carroll’s poem “Jabberwocky” helped her make sense of the realities of racial discrimination. In her world, as in Alice’s, nothing was ever as it seemed.

Set a Purpose for ReadingRead to discover how reading a literary classic influ-enced a future writer.

Reading Strategy

Analyzing Literary InfluencesAnalyzing literary influences involves examining the ways that literary works affect writers. As you read, take notes about the influence of Lewis Carroll’s poem on Coleman. Use a cause-and-effect diagram like the one below to help you.

The stultifying1 intellectual loneliness of my Watts upbringing was dictated by my looks—dark skin and unconkable kinky

hair. Being glowered at was a constant state of being. The eyes of adults and children alike immediately informed me that some unpleasant ugliness had entered their sphere and spoiled their pleasure because of its close and onerous2 proximity. I recall one such moment very strongly: a white man was standing in front of me at such an angle that I was momentarily uncertain what he was frowning at. I turned to look behind me and saw nothing.

I have come to mark such moments—as they have recurred throughout my life—as indicative of the significance of physical likeness, beyond the issue of physical beauty: of the importance of “mirror image” (a phrase that recurs in one form or another in my poetry); in the ongoing dialogue of race, as I’ve struggled to grasp and respond to what others assume when their eyes are directed at or on me. I find the shifts in visual context as infuriating now as they were in childhood. The act of wading through stereotypes, in order to

1. Stultifying means “negating” or “dulling.”2. Onerous means “troublesome.”

Wanda Coleman


Budding Scholar, Henry Herman Roseland (1866–1950). Private collection.

➧Coleman feels like an outsider.

She turns to reading.

Cause Effect

Private Collection, Christie’s Images/Bridgeman Art Library


Informational Text

become clearly visible in the larger society, corre-sponds exactly to that moment when Lewis Carroll’s Alice steps through that looking glass.

Incapable of imagining my world, removed from it by gender and race as well as by time and place, Lewis Carroll had nevertheless provided me with a means (and an attitude) with which to assess, evaluate, and interpret my own journey through this bizarre actuality of late-twentieth-century America, where nothing is ever as it seems. I was a Negro child—yet this book, and its poem “Jabberwocky,” served singularly to buoy my self-esteem, constantly under assault by my Black peers, family members, and the world outside.

I found the rejection unbearable and—encouraged by my parents to read—sought an escape in books, which were usually hard to come by. In the South Central Los Angeles of the 1950s and 1960s, there were only three Black-owned bookstores, and I would not dis-cover them until early adulthood. In my child-hood there was no Harlem Renaissance, no Black arts movement; I did not encounter the poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar and James Weldon Johnson3 except at church socials and in the early 1960s, during Negro History “week” celebrations. There were no images of Black children of any age in the American literature I encountered. The sole exception was “Little Black Sambo,” whom I immediately rejected upon finding the book on my desk in the first grade—along with equally boring books featur-ing Dick, Jane, and Spot. There was no way in which I could “identify” with these strange images of children. I was born and raised in the white world of Southern California; it gave birth to me, but excluded me. Even the postwar Watts of the poet Arna Bontemps,4 and the South Central Los Angeles that would riot in 1965, were predominantly working-class white neighborhoods with small Black enclaves.

Whenever my father visited public libraries, he allowed me to roam the stacks. This was my Wonderland. I was immediately enthralled with

the forbidden world of adult literature, hidden away in leather-bound tomes I was neither able to reach nor allowed to touch. I hungered to enter, and my appetite had no limits. I plowed through Papa’s dull issues of National Geographic and Mama’s tepid copies of Reader’s Digest and Family Circle in desperation, starved. At age ten I consumed the household copy of the complete works of Shakespeare. Although the violence was striking, and Hamlet engrossing (particularly Ophelia), I was too immature to appreciate the Bard until frequent rereadings in my mid-teens.

On Christmas, thereabouts, I received Johanna Spyri’s5 Heidi as a well-intended gift. I had exhausted our teensy library, and my father’s collections of Knight and Esquire. . . . Between my raids on the adults-only stuff, there was noth-ing but Heidi, reread in desperation until I could quote chunks of the text, mentally squeezing it for what I imagined to be hidden underneath. One early spring day, my adult cousin Rubyline came by the house with a nourishing belated Christmas gift: an illustrated collection of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. (She also gave me my first Roget’s—which I still use—on my twelfth birth-day in 1958.) In love with poetry since kinder-garten, my “uffish” vows were startlingly renewed.

3. Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906) was an African American poet and novelist. James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) was an African American poet and leading member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

4. Arna Bontemps (1902–1973) was an African American novelist, historian, and poet.

WANDA COLEMAN 961

The Children’s Encyclopedia, James McDonald (b.1956). Oil on canvas. Private collection. Bourne Gallery, Reigate, Surrey, UK.

5. Johanna Spyri (1829–1901) was a Swiss writer.

Private Collection, Bourne Gallery, Reigate, Surrey/Bridgeman Art Library



I promptly retired Heidi and steeped myself in Alice to an iambic spazz.

In the real world I was an outsider, but in the stories and poems of Carroll I belonged. Why? Perhaps because when he freed Alice in the mirror, he also freed my imagination and permitted me to imagine myself living in an adventure, sans6 the constraints of a rac-ist society. If a drink or a slice of cake could transform her, alter her shape and size, the next leap for me was the most illogically logical of all: Why not a transformation of her skin color? In my fre-quent rereadings of Alice, I rewrote her as me.

“Jabberwocky” was and remains one of only a dozen poems I’ve ever loved enough to memo-rize. It heads the very long list of my favorite

childhood poems, along with Poe’s “Raven,” Service’s “Cremation of Sam McGee,” Byron’s “Prisoner of Chillon,” Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” Henley’s “Invictus,” and

E. A. Robinson’s “Richard Cory.”7 To the astute reader, Carroll’s lasting influence on my poetry is easily dis-cerned. Many have referred to “Jabberwocky” as non-sense, but in my Los Angeles childhood, it made absolutely one hundred per-cent perfect sense. And within the context of Los

Angeles today, that “nonsense” is dangerously and exhilaratingly profound.


Respond1. Which details in this essay did you find most

interesting? Why?

Recall and Interpret2. (a)How did Coleman’s peers, family members, and

strangers treat her as a child? (b)How did reading the poem “Jabberwocky” help buoy her self-esteem?

3. (a)Why did Coleman feel at home in Carroll’s sto-ries and poems? (b)What does the question, “Why not a transformation of her skin color?” reveal about Coleman’s response to Alice?

Analyze and Evaluate4. What does Coleman’s exploration of magazines,

the “forbidden world of adult literature,” and her rereading of Heidi suggest about her personality and environment?

5. (a)Which words in this essay establish a comparison between reading and eating? (b)What does this com-parison suggest about Coleman’s regard for reading?

6. Why does Coleman maintain that “Jabberwocky” is meaningful rather than nonsensical?

Connect7. What is the best book you have ever read? How

can reading be a transformative experience?

6. Sans is a French word that means “without.”

7. Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) was an American poet and fiction writer; Robert Service (1874–1958) was a Canadian poet; Lord Byron (1788–1824) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) were British Romantic poets; William Ernest Henley (1849–1903) was a British critic and poet; and Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935) was an American poet.

“If a drink

or a slice of cake

could transform her . . .

Why not a transformation

of her skin color?”

Informational Text

OBJECTIVES

• Analyze literary influences.

• Construct graphic organizers.


Documents

Optimism and the Belief in Progress - Home - Breathitt ... 5 Part 1.pdf · and other sound devices. ... Optimism and the Belief in Progress What Victorian belief do these ... Reading