The New York School of Poets

Characteristics/Theme/Style

· The New York School was an informal group of American poets, painters, dancers and musicians active in the 1950s, 1960s in NYC. The poets, painters, composers, dancers, and musicians often drew inspiration from Surrealism and the contemporary avant-garde art movements.

· Concerning the New York School poets, critics argued that their work was a reaction to the Confessionalist movement in Contemporary Poetry. Their poetic subject matter was often light, violent, or observational, while their writing style was often described as cosmopolitan and world-traveled. The poets often wrote in an immediate and spontaneous manner reminiscent of stream of consciousness writing, often using vivid imagery.

Authors

· John Ashbery (wrote farm implements and rutabagas in a landscape)

· Frank O’Hara

· James Schuyler

· Kenneth Koch

· Barbara Guest

· Joe Brainard

· Ron Padgett

· Ted Berrigan

· Bill Berkson

Just Walking Around

John Ashbery

What name do I have for you?

Certainly there is not name for you

In the sense that the stars have names

That somehow fit them. Just walking around,

An object of curiosity to some,

But you are too preoccupied

By the secret smudge in the back of your soul


To say much and wander around, 


Smiling to yourself and others.


It gets to be kind of lonely


But at the same time off-putting.


Counterproductive, as you realize once again



That the longest way is the most efficient way, 


The one that looped among islands, and


You always seemed to be traveling in a circle.

And now that the end is near



The segments of the trip swing open like an orange.


There is light in there and mystery and food.


Come see it.


Come not for me but it.


But if I am still there, grant that we may see each other.

The Renaissance Movement

Characteristics

· To many writers it is used to designate merely the revival of classical art. The Renaissance was essentially an intellectual movement. It is this intellectual quality which gives it so large a place in universal history.

· Under the influence of the intellectual revival the men of Western Europe came to think and feel, to look upon life and the outer world, as the men of ancient Greece and Rome did; and this again is merely to say that they stopped thinking and feeling as mediaeval men and began to think and feel as modern men.

· The Italian Renaissance which occurred first, focused on the city-states of northern Italy and Rome. The Italian Renaissance tended to be more worldly with a great emphasis on secular pursuits, the humanities, and the arts wealth and power knowledge was the key.

· The Northern Renaissance occurred later and involved the regions of Northern Europe, England, Spain, France, Germanic regions (Holy Roman Empire), and the Netherlands.

Background of the Renaissance

· High and Late Middle Ages increased trade and commercial activity

· During the High Middle Ages there was urbanization-growth of cities, towns, commercial and business developments (banking).

· Middle class merchant elite developed.

· Decline in feudalism.

· There was a decline in the Church’s hold and control on society and government.

· Growth in vernacular literature/growing literacy. Rise of universities and the expansion of learning.

· The focus of the Renaissance in Northern Europe was more religious.

· Many sought religious reform and a return of the Church to its true mission and spirituality.

· Many were highly critical of the worldliness and corruption in the Church and papacy (Office or authority of the pope)

· Northern Renaissance figures believed that education and literacy were key to social and religious reform

· They supported incorporating the translation of the scriptures into the vernacular languages

Major Themes

· Humanism (both secular and religious)- The great intellectual movement of Renaissance Italy was humanism.

· Human potential, human progress

· Expansion of human knowledge

· Secularism -greater emphasis on non-religious values and concerns

· Individualism -focus on the unique qualities and abilities of the individual person

Authors

· Elizabeth I (1533-1603)

· Campion, Thomas (1567-1620)

· Donne, John (1572-1631)

· Jonson, Ben (1572-1637)

· Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

· Marlowe, Christopher (1564-1593)

· Milton, John (1608-1674)

· Spenser, Emund (1552-1299)

· Sir Philip Sydney (1554-1586)

· Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)

· Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder (1503-1542)

· Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618)

· Calvin, John (1509-1564)

· Wroth, Mary (ca. 1587- ca. 1651)

The Pheonix and The Turtle

William Shakespeare

LET the bird of loudest lay,

On the sole Arabian tree,

Herald sad and trumpet be,

To whose sound chaste wings obey.

But thou shrieking harbinger,

Foul precurrer of the fiend,

Augur of the fever's end,

To this troop come thou not near!

From this session interdict

Every fowl of tyrant wing,

Save the eagle, feather'd king:

Keep the obsequy so strict.

Let the priest in surplice white,

That defunctive music can,

Be the death-divining swan,

Lest the requiem lack his right.

And thou treble-dated crow,

That thy sable gender makest

With the breath thou givest and takest,

'Mongst our mourners shalt thou go.

Here the anthem doth commence:

Love and constancy is dead;

Phoenix and the turtle fled

In a mutual flame from hence.

So they loved, as love in twain

Had the essence but in one;

Two distincts, division none:

Number there in love was slain.

Hearts remote, yet not asunder;

Distance, and no space was seen

'Twixt the turtle and his queen:

But in them it were a wonder.

So between them love did shine,

That the turtle saw his right

Flaming in the phoenix' sight;

Either was the other's mine.

Property was thus appalled,

That the self was not the same;

Single nature's double name

Neither two nor one was called.

Reason, in itself confounded,

Saw division grow together,

To themselves yet either neither,

Simple were so well compounded,

That it cried, How true a twain

Seemeth this concordant one!

Love hath reason, reason none,

If what parts can so remain.

Whereupon it made this threne

To the phoenix and the dove,

Co-supremes and stars of love,

As chorus to their tragic scene.

Threnos.

Beauty, truth, and rarity,

Grace in all simplicity,

Here enclosed in cinders lie.

Death is now the phoenix' nest

And the turtle's loyal breast

To eternity doth rest,

Leaving no posterity:

'Twas not their infirmity,

It was married chastity.

Truth may seem, but cannot be:

Beauty brag, but 'tis not she;

Truth and beauty buried be.

To this urn let those repair

That are either true or fair

For these dead birds sigh a prayer.

Transcendentalist Movement

Transcendentalist

Transcendentalism was a philosophical movement that took off in America in the early to mid-nineteenth century. It evolved into a dominant literary expression. The followers of Transcendentalism believed that knowledge could be gained not just through the senses, but through intuition and contemplation of the internal spirit.

Definition

· The belief that truths about life and death can be reached by going outside the world of the sense

Major Beliefs

· Relationship between man and nature. Heightened awareness of this relationship would cause a “reformation” of society away from materialism and corruption.

· Feelings were a priority over reason

What promoted the movement?

· Rise of cities

· Class Systems

· War

· Freedom from the past

· Freedom from organized religion

· Greed/Manifest Destiny

Transcendental Characteristics

Nature

· Nature was divine

· Nature held the truths of life

· To communicate and be one with nature was true goodness

· Nature was innocence and an escape from the evils of society

Individualism

· Rejection of standard societal beliefs

· Inner truth is the only thing that matters

· The soul is something equally available to all people

· Fulfillment comes from knowing one’s self, not wealth, gender or education

Moral Enthusiasm

· Anti- Artistocracy

· Anti-Slavery

· Pro-Women’s Rights

· Quest for Utopia ( Brook Farm)

Literary Focus

· Because of the stress of “feelings” and “self” during this time period, literature was a very large medium that artists used to express themselves.

Authors

· Emily Dickinson

· Ralph Waldo Emerson

· Henry David Thoreau

· Edgar Allen Poe

Example of poetry

‘Tis Opposites—entice—

Deformed Men—ponder Grace—

Bright fires—the Blanketless—

The Lost—Day’s face—

The Blind—esteem it be

Enough Estate—to see—

The Captive—stranglers new—

For deeming—Beggars—play—

To lack—enamor Thee—

Tho’ the Divinity—

Be only

Me—

Their Eyes Were Watching God Review

Summary

The major conflict is during her quest for spiritual fulfillment, Janie clashes with the values that others impose upon her. Janie’s gets rid of the materialistic desires of Nanny, Logan, and Jody in her attempt to balance her love for Tea Cake; the hurricane. This progression pushes her toward the eventual conflict between her environment (including the people around her) and her need to understand herself. The confrontation between Janie and the insane Tea Cake in Chapter 19 marks the moment at which Janie finds herself in the face of the most difficult obstacle she has had to face. Janie’s decision to shoot Tea Cake demonstrates that she has the strength to save herself even though it means killing the man she loves; the white women’s support of Janie shows the importance of individuality in the sense of not living up to stereotypes.

Themes

Language as a mechanism of control

Power and conquest as a means to fulfillment

Love and relationships versus independence

Spiritual fulfillment

Materialism

Major Literary Devices

Motifs: Community, race and racism, the folklore quality of religion

Symbols: Janie’s hair, the pear tree/trees in general (My theory behind the symbolism of the tree is this. The trunk is life its self. The people are the branches and the roots are peoples purposes in life, or the reason they are there), the horizon, the hurricane.

Foreshadowing: In Chapter 1, we learn that Janie has been away from her town for a long time and that she ran off with a younger man named Tea Cake; Janie then tells Pheoby that Tea Cake is “gone.” The entire beginning, then, foreshadows the culmination of Janie’s journey.

Structure

A novel written in 1937 by Zora Neale Hurston. Though the novel is narrated in the third person, by a narrator who reveals the characters’ thoughts and motives, most of the story is framed as Janie telling a story to Pheoby. The result is a narrator who is not exactly Janie but who is abstracted from her. Janie’s character resonates in the folksy language and metaphors that the narrator sometimes uses. Also, much of the text relishes in the immediacy of dialogue. The narrator’s attitude toward Janie, which Hurston appears to share, is entirely sympathetic and affirming (Tone).

What types of question would this be good to use to answer

This would be good for any questions about self-empowerment, anything about like obeying family, because Janie gets married to Logan because Nanny tells her to because he will be good for her and that she will love him after they are married for a while, (which Janie never does and eventually leaves him for Jody, and they then go on and build up a town run by blacks). The symbol about trees is something that can be written a lot about because it deals with growth and people and you can talk about why they choose a pear tree.

Hamlet Review

Hamlet

Summary:

Hamlet is the prince of Denmark. His father’s ghost informs him that he was just murdered by his Uncle Claudius who has just married his former wife, hamlets mother, and that Hamlet must get revenge. Meanwhile, Hamlet is in a complicated relationship with a girl named Ophelia. They can never get married because she is not of royal blood. One night, Hamlet is talking with his mother when he realizes someone is spying on them and stabs the person through a hanging tapestry. He is not overly upset when he finds it to be Ophelia's father, who worked for the king and who Hamlet wasn’t fond of. Ophelia then goes mad when she finds that her true love killed her father and she now has no one controlling her life since her fathers death and she drowns in the river. Hamlet, meanwhile plots revenge against Claudius. He passes up his perfect opportunity to kill him because he believes that he is praying and doesn’t want him to go to heaven. He never gets the opportunity again. One day, he engages in a dual with Ophelia's brother Laertes. However, before he agrees his didn’t know that Laertes and the king had secretly plotted revenge against Hamlet for killing Polonius. The king poisoned a glass of wine and Laertes poisoned his sword, one of which would surely kill the Prince. Hamlet does admit that he expects that he is going to die but he goes into the dual anyway. However, things go off track when the Queen knowingly drinks the poisoned wine and dies. Laertes slices Hamlet's arm with his poisoned sword. Luckily this gives him enough time to get revenge on Claudius and after learning that the sword was poisoned he slays Laertes as well. They all end up dying in the end, except Horatio.

Themes:

Madness

Revenge

Mortality

Religion

Art and Culture

Lies and Deceit

Sex

Gender

Family

Structure:

A Shakespearean play and there are five acts in the play.

List of important characters:

Hamlet: Prince of Denmark. Spoken to by his father’s ghost and he “pretends to go mad” but then he really does go mad. Seeks revenge on Claudius for killing his father. Ends up dying in a dual by a poisoned sword.

The Ghost: the “ghost” is either in fact old king Hamlet’s ghost or it is an evil spirit trying to manipulate Hamlet.

Claudius: Hamlet’s uncle/ step father. Killed his brother with poison. Ends up being slayed by Hamlet at the end.

Gertrude: Hamlet’s Mother. She knowingly drinks poisoned wine and dies at the end of the play. She and Hamlet had a strange relationship. Hamlet thought she remarried to quickly and didn’t really care about his father.

Polonius: Ophilia and Laertes Father. He hated Hamlet and did everything in his power to keep him and Ophelia apart.

Ophelia: in a relationship with Hamlet. She has been controlled by her father and her Brother her whole life. When they are both gone she doesn’t know what to do and she ends up drowning in a river.

Laertes: he is easily persuaded by Claudius to kill Hamlet in an attempt to get revenge for his father. He ends up getting slayed himself and dies in the final dual.

Horatio: Hamlets best friend. He is the only one who survives. He is very loyal to Hamlet and he has very good common sense, which is probably the reason he lived in the end.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern: Hamlet’s childhood friends. They are interchangeable servants for the royal family. They betrayed Hamlet so Hamlet did the same and had them killed by the King of England’s people.

Fortinbras: He spends the whole time throughout the play building an army to avenge his father and take back some land so that he can have something to his name.

List of major literary devices:

Allusion

Alliteration

Irony

Soliloquy: Hamlet has his first soliloquy was in Act 1 scene 2. Gertrude and Claudius are trying to convince him not to go back to Wittenburg and continue his studies. He also talks about suicide and how pleasant it would be. In Act 3 scene 1 Hamlet gives probably the most famous speech in English literature, To Be or Not To Be. It is his most logical and powerful examination of the theme of the moral effects suicide in an unbearably painful world, and it touches on several of the other important themes of the play.

What type of questions would this be good to answer

Hamlet Works for All AP test questions. Yay!!!

Act 5 Study Questions

What do you feel is the point of the gravedigger’s riddles and song? How does it fit into the play?

· He lightens the mood and he is trying to prove that he knows who Hamlet is and he is playing with him. His song is about love and aging and dying. This is a very depressing song yet he puts a happier tune to it. It’s a foreshadow that death is coming for Hamlet.

In what ways do Hamlet’s reactions to the skulls in the graveyard seem to suggest a change in his outlook? Compare Hamlet’s attitude towards Yoric to Hamlet’s attitude to Ophelia or even his father? How is it different? How is it similar?

· He knew the person whose skull it was (Yoric) and it brings back memories from a time when there was happiness in his life. However when he sees Ophelia and his father more angry emotions rush over him. He also realizes that everyone is equal in death and he knows that he is going to die.

How old is Hamlet? How do you know this?

· He is thirty. The gravedigger says he has been working their since Hamlet was born thirty years ago.

What does the violent argument between Hamlet and Laertes add to the play?

· Hamlet comes out and says that he is the dane and Laertes jumps in Ophelia’s grave and then they start wrestling in it. They are both fighting to see who loved Ophelia more. They both have obvious degrees of madness within them.

What developments in Hamlet’s character are presented through the story of what happened on the boat? (V.ii 1-62). How has Hamlet changed?

· He is willing to kill off his childhood friends and not allow them to have anytime to ask for forgiveness from god, meaning they will most likely go to hell. He takes betrayal the most seriously and doesn’t really like to tolerate it. He has become an avenger of some type, whether he is his fathers avenger or Gods.

How do Hamlet’s motives in killing Claudius seem to have shifted according to his speech beginning “Does it not, think thee…” (V.ii.63)

· Hamlet is saying that Claudius has taken his spot as King so he must take it back so he can rightfully claim his spot on the throne and that he wants to be the King now. This is kind of the first time we are seeing this side of Hamlet because throughout the rest of the play he really had no interesting in being King.

What concerns of the play are reinforced in the Osric episode? (V.ii.80-170)

· He tells Hamlet that the King desires to not have a fight with Laertes. He goes about it by talking in large words that are really unnecessary. He is trying to impress Hamlet because he is in the position of power. This backs up the idea of prostitution.

Why does Hamlet ‘defy augury’? (V.ii.192)

· This is going to happen one way or another and that he is supposed to go there. So technically he really isn’t defying augury but if he were to pretend he was ill like Horatio wanted him to, then he would be defying augury.

What does Laertes say is his motive in still resenting Hamlet? How has already lost this? How does this contribute to the presentation of revenge in the play? (V.ii216-223)

· Hamlet says that he is sorry to Laertes and Laertes forgives him and accepts his apology. He wants to protect his honor while at the same time he is already planning on killing Hamlet so his honor is already stained. There is much revenge from many people however I feel like their motives become blurred throughout the play and they loose the sense of why they are getting revenge and they venture off of their original plan of action.

How might the dying lines of Gertrude, Claudius and Laertes be viewed as typical of the way their characters have been presented throughout the play?

· Gertrude drank the wine knowing it was poisoned and she decided to take action anyway. Claudius is reaching out to his people and his kingdom but none of them really care about him. Its not until Laertes is dying that he realizes that what he has done is wrong and that the King is to blame for all of this and that him and Hamlet were trying to accomplish the same things.

Who “wins” in Hamlet? How and why do you think this?

· Fortinbras, because he is the only one who succeeded in avenging his father and lived afterwards. He pretty much got what he wanted.

Act 4 Study Questions

Act IV, Scene 1

What is Claudius' main fear in the immediate aftermath of Polonius' death?

· That he will be blamed for Claudius’ death, not directly but because Hamlet is his responsibility he is going to get blamed for not being able to control him.

Act IV, Scene 2

What does Hamlet refuse to tell Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?

· Where Polonius’ dead body is.

Act IV, Scene 3

What image does Hamlet use (ll. 19-29) to warn Claudius he's only king temporarily?

· He says that killing a skinny beggar and a fat king are just two dishes for one meal, which is basically saying two birds with one stone. And that killing Polonius was just a plus before he kills Claudius.

Claudius ends the scene by writing a letter: to whom, and what order does it contain?

· It is a letter to the King of England asking him to kill Hamlet immediately after he arrives.

Act IV, Scene 4

What's the value of the land Fortinbras' army is marching to capture in Poland (l. 20)? What will the invasion itself cost (l. 25)?

· The land they are planning to take over has absolutely no value, but it is just something to put his name to. The captain says that he wouldn’t pay 5 ducats for the land but it is costing Fortinbras 20,000 ducats.

Hamlet's soliloquy (ll. 32-66) is self-critical; summarize his main fault.

· He is ultimately saying that his he needs to stop being a coward and go ahead and kill the king already. He has all the tools and ability to do it but he keeps putting it off.

Act IV, Scene 5

Ophelia's songs during her first appearance in this scene deal with love, death and sex. Why? What do they tell us about her at the moment? What might they reveal about Her, Hamlet and Polonius?

· The last few songs talked about how hamlet took her virginity but refused to marry her because she was un pure because they slept together.

Why is Laertes a danger to Claudius' throne (ll. 98-103)? (Actually two or three related reasons.)

· Because he has an armed army

· Because he has the people’s support and they want him to be king.

What does Claudius offer as assurance that he had no part in Polonius' death (ll. 190-9)?

· He tells him to go choose his wisest friends and have them listen to both sides of the story and if they find him guilty he will give up his kingdom, crown, and life.

Act IV, Scene 6

Horatio receives a letter from Hamlet explaining how he escaped from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. How did he?

· They were sailing to England and pirates attacked their ship. And before much could happen Hamlet hopped over to the other boat and since the pirates had him they kept him captive and left Rosencrantz and Guildenstern on the ship alone.

Act IV, Scene 7

What reason does Claudius give Laertes for Hamlet's killing of Polonius (ll. 1-4)?

· He says that Hamlet was trying to kill Claudius and accidentally killed Polonius, assuming it was Claudius. Even though we know this to be untrue because Hamlet did indeed know it was Polonius spying on him and his mother.

What are his two reasons for not charging Hamlet with murder (ll. 9-24)?

· Because Gertrude loves Hamlet and Claudius loves Gertrude and he cant put her through that pain and sadness.

· And the public loves Hamlet and to convict him of murder would upset the people, which isn’t something the king wants to do.

3. Claudius reveals that Laertes is famous for his skill with the rapier (a fencing weapon) and that Hamlet is envious of this fame. How does Claudius plan to exploit this envy to give Laertes a chance for (publicly) guiltless revenge (ll. 126-38)?

· He tells Laertes that he is the best fencer around basically and Hamlet has challenged him and that he should put hamlet in his place. The king does this so he will be motivated and willing to fence with Hamlet. However the king says that instead of having a normal fencing sword, he is actually going to have a sword with a sharp end so that he can kill Hamlet.

5. How does Laertes refine the plan (ll. 138-147)?

· He says that he will coat the sword with poison just to make sure that when he stabs him he dies, incase the sharp sword isn’t enough.

6. What announcement does Gertrude make to end Act IV?

· She tells Laertes and the king that Ophelia has drown.