Variety of Defoe’s writings : 

His novel : 

1719 : Robinson Crusoe => at 60 years old. 

1722 : Moll Flanders 

1722 : The journal of the plague year. 

Born in London, studied either in Cambridge or Oxford. 
He was a soldier, a diplomat. Classical French and Italian sources have influenced his work.

He is remembered for bringing the iambic theme and the rhyming couplet. 

The Canterbury tales : medieval types // individual characters :  The ideal knight, the squire, prioress, hunting monk.. => they come from all corner of the 14^th century. Gives Chaucer the chance to speak in different voices. Some have a very high register and other very low.

The General Prologue of the Ca nterbury tales : 

H.L

And there’s the Shakespearien sonnet. (12+2). = rhyme scheme :
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
Sr Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard were the 1^st to write sonnets in English.
The Spenserian sonnet is a variant of the Shakespearian sonnet developed by Edmund Spenser= rhyme scheme : ABAB, BCBC, CDCD, EE

Emergence of the novel as a significant form of writing in the 18^th century. There a focus on the individual, which belong to the ordinary people.
Ian Watt : The Rise of The novel : "the genre as emblematic of the rising of ordinary individual, the nation was interested in the story of ordinary people". 

RC as an embodiment of economic individualism. Max Weber thesis : protestant values translated into western capitalism. + Subduing nature to material purpose.

- “15 th of July”, “sixteenth day” It is a dairy.
- “planted garden” :  reference to the garden of Eden :  genesis, religious background & “distress” which is when you have been abandoned by God.
- This is a very descriptive passage.
- “Pleasure” is associated to the private propriety :  “all my own”, “king and lord of all this
country” :  association to monarchy.

HL

Art in the renaissance is made to teach : didactic purpose, and to delight. 

What are the convention : 

In this text : Love is both : binding and liberty. => oxymoronic pattern. 
Legal words : Lease, possession. 
There’s a personnification of death. 
HL

He is interested in logic, alchemy and the new astronomy. Interest in the geographical advances and discoveries of the day. 

- Most influential metaphysical poet
- Most common lexical field: his relationship with spirituality, love, religion, psychological analysis and sexual realism
- He wrote Satires, Songs and Sonnets, facing the religious oppression at the time
- Divinity and morality are the main lexical field of his Sonnets
- "Sonnet X", "Sonnet XIV", "Sonnet XVII"

- Point of view : The avantage or stance, from which a story is told sometimes called perspective. 
- 1st person singular (internal localization) : the narrator stands inside the story and relates 1st hand experience. Can create a feeling of intimacy. If the narrator contradict him or herself or does not fully understand the implication of his her tale, the narrator is called an unreliable narrator. If only the unspoken thought of the narrator are presented, the result is an interior monologue. 

- 1st person plural (we): a collective of individual narrates as one (ex: Rose for Emily) 

- 3rd person (external focalisation): feature 3rd person pronouns (he, she, they) the narrator stands outside the story and comments. 

- Omniscient : 3rd person narrator, assumes a god like persona, moving about freely in time and spaces. 

- Limited : the narrator takes as his or her perspective only one character. He/she looks into the character’s mind and over the character’s shoulder, pulling back for his/her to offer a broader perspective.

- Tone : The Reflections the work of the author’s attitude. Toward his or her subject, characters and readers. Humorous, Apologetic, Tender, Ironic, Condescending, Nostalgic, Serious, Grim, Playful, Brusque. 

Irony : results for the reader’s sense of some discrepancy/ambivalence. 

Verbal Irony: a simple kind of irony, (saying one thing but meaning the opposite)

Dramatic irony: saying or doing something while being unaware of its. Ironic contrast with the whole truth. 

Situational Irony: Events turn to the opposite of what it’s expected. 

- Theme : Is the central idea of the work wether fiction, poetry or drama. For many readers there is an attractive element because it gives works meaning: it makes them relevant.

H.L

The text conveys a sharp criticism of…
This extract is taken from ___'s well-known novel which was published in ...
This passage belongs to…
This passage deals with..
According to the writer…
The narrator/author  depicts / evokes or conjures up / stresses or lays the stress on..
The description is detailed,  realistic, sketchy (sommaire)..
It hints at something : (faire allusion à)...
It follows from this that…

Examples : 
For example / for instance 
In particular
Particularly 
Specifically
To illustrate
To demonstrate

Plan :
- Strict time-sequence = in chronological order.
- A logical sequence of events.
- As a starting-point we shall examine… then…
- The text falls into three main parts
- On the one hand…. on the other hand….

Conclusion :
- To conclude
- All things considered we can only come to the conclusion that…
- The passage/extract aims at convincing us of…
- Overall
- To sum up, to summarize,  in summary
- Consequently, as a consequence of, as a result of,  therefore
- to put it in a nutshell/ in a nutshell
- In light of the above, ...

Other : 
characterization : the art of character-drawing; psychological interest. 
A twist in the plot : une péripétie
Emotions : striking, convincing, captivating,  engrossing, fascinating, exciting, moving, stirring. 

H.L

The text starts with a trochee: “Now” =>  stressed syllable.
The first lines are a quartet.
The wars are over => the new period => spring.
At the begging of the play richard is the duc of Glaster.
There’s an anaphora at the beginning : Our (l.6/7/8). It shows an evolution between the war and the time of merriment.
There a military register :
- "bruised arms"
- “bruised alarmus” = trumpets that signified the end of the war.
- “dreadful marches”.
The register of love :
- lady's chambers
- a lute : a musical instrument related to love.
- Lascivious : perverted deals with physical love.
- “Sportive tricks” : refers to love making.
Self-portrait :
- “But I” :  a spondee (2 stressed syllables).
- Compares himself to Leonardo Da Vinci (Vitruvian man) / antique perfect body  => "the fair proportion"
- “Deform’d, unfinish’d, sent before my time” => He sets himself against this perfect body.
- “dogs bark at me” :  Richard is an outsider even for the animals.

A demonstration : 
he tries to link his body and want he wants. 
Argumentation : But I , and therefore. 
- “And therefore” :  spondee.
- “I am determined” :  2 ways to interpret it: passive (he is determine by the nature) or active
(he is willing to be a villain).

I - Cynical portrait of king Edward.
- Contextualizing in the 1^st part = war of the roses.
- description of the changing context
II- A focus on his specific deformity, on body
-The rhetoric of disability.
-focus on the word deformity, body.
III- An anatomy of machiavelli
 -desillusionment 
 -creation of a vilain purpose : a destiny not chosen but impose to him by the rejection of all

Coyness : coyauté / Vaster = Faster / Winged : ailé / Yonder : là-bas / Slow-chapt = au ralenti / Hue = couleur teinte / Strife = conflit. / Humber : an estuary.

This poem was written in 1650.

This is a carpe diem motive (seize the day) with vanitas,
brevity of life, transience (something which does not last). The fact that life is short, the
mistress should not be coy (shy). We can illustrate this poem with The Knight’s Dream (1650-
1670), which is a painting of Antonio de Pereda. The skull on the book represent death.
This motive is from shakespeare poems and it was revisited in the 17^th century poems. 

The Humber River is not far from Hale, east-coast of London.
“had” :  it can be replaced by if.
This is a love poem.
“Indian Ganges” : exotic association.(+ reference of the great explorations)
 
A real argumentation : But, But, Thus etc.. 

HL

Crying "'weep! 'weep!" in notes of woe!

"Where are thy father and mother? Say!"--

"They are both gone up to the church to pray.

"Because I was happy upon the heath,

And smiled among the winter's snow,

They clothed me in the clothes of death,

And taught me to sing the notes of woe.

"And because I am happy and dance and sing,

They think they have done me no injury,

And are gone to praise God and his priest and king,

Who make up a heaven of our misery."

Poet, painter, engraver, and visionary he worked to bring about a change both in the social order and in the minds of men. Though in his lifetime his work was largely neglected or dismissed, he is now considered one of the leading lights of English poetry, and his work has only grown in popularity. In his Life of William Blake (1863) Alexander Gilchrist warned his readers that Blake “neither wrote nor drew for the many, hardly for work’y-day men at all, rather for children and angels; himself  ‘a divine child,’ whose playthings were sun, moon, and stars, the heavens and the earth.” Yet Blake himself believed that his writings were of national importance and that they could be understood by a majority of his peers. Far from being an isolated mystic, he lived and worked in the teeming metropolis of London at a time of great social and political change that profoundly influenced his writing. In addition to being considered one of the most visionary of English poets and one of the great progenitors of English Romanticism, his visual artwork is highly regarded around the world. Blake's well-known poems : The Lamb and The Tyger both part of the composition "Songs of Innocence and of Experience : Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul" (1794). 

 

Context : 

It's winter, and it's late 18^th England. Being a chimney sweeper is just about as bad a life as a kid could choose. And, if you're Blake, the plight of the chimney sweeper is a grave injustice. These kids have no say in their lives. According to Blake, they've been abandoned by their parents, by the Church, by the government, and even by God.

Traduction : 

There is a small black shape in the snow that seems to be crying out in sadness and pain. It is a small child, and when asked where his parents, the child replies that they have gone to pray in church.

The child continues: "Just because I used to play happily in green fields, or frolic in the snow, they punished me and took away my happiness. They made sing this song of sadness.

"Because of my joyful dancing and singing, they think they've done nothing wrong. They're too busy at the Church, praising God, the priest, and the king—the authorities that build their fake heaven out of the pain and suffering of boys like me."

Theres are 2 speakers : 

Rythm : 

The importance of black & white : 

The importance of music : 

The church : Negative. 

Ideas : 

Studies of quotes : 

"A little black thing among the snow, 

Crying "'weep! 'weep!" in notes of woe! (1-2)"

The child seems already dead; he's not a child but a "black thing," almost like a corpse that has rotted. The child is black partly as a result of the soot from his job, which is a handy way the poem connects chimney-sweeping and its most dire result—death. 

"They clothed me in the clothes of death, 

And taught me to sing the notes of woe (7-8)"

The suggestion at the beginning of the poem is made clear here; the child is basically dead, garbed in a funeral shroud. He wears the "clothes of death" that his parents gave him. In that sense, they've as good as killed him.

"They are both gone up to the church to pray" (3-4)

Even though the chimney sweeper's parents seem to be innocently attending church, this really looks like abandonment to the modern eye. The child is out in the cold, alone, and apparently crying, all because the parents think church is more important. But did they come to that conclusion themselves, or is society giving them those priorities?

The sweeper reminds us again where his parents are, and this time suggests that the church and state have also abandoned the children for whom they're responsible. They're so concerned with their own heaven they've forgotten their children.


 The poem is linked to another poem (actually the 1st part of the poem) that was published earlier : 1789 in the songs of innocence. The 2 parts of the poem are setting up 2 steps in human life. 

Both poems are romantic : they critic the condition of the poor (the chimney) 

The Experience is the central state of consciousness of this poem. The child became aware of his life's shortcomings and realized his woe. Thus this poem reflects the corruption of children's innocence.

In this age of industrialisation and the corruption caused by it, the state of innocence had been perverted. The religion and the social disorder of this time impacted population and especially children. This context is responsible for this lack of innocence. 

(K.C)

The changing point of view of the sailors concerning the death of the Albatross. 

The sailors against the murder of the bird:

-           The bird used to occupy the men “But no sweet bird did follow nor any day for food or play” (l.7) (rhyme day/ play)

-          They accuse the mariner => killing the bird = sign of bad luck: assonance “wretch” “said” “they” “slay” (l.13) 

-          The guilt of the mariner: lexical field of the religion => he committed a sin => “hellish thing” (l.9) => the crew will be punished “it would work ’em woe” (l.11) alliteration [w]  

The sailors change their mind because of the weather changing conditions: 

-          Personification of the sun compared to God: Simile “Nor dim nor red, like God’s own head” + “glorious Sun” (l.15, 16) => red refers to the temperature so the Sun isn’t too hot => they are travelling in good condition

-          Killing the bird was the good thing to do according to the sailors => immaturity of their mind => the same line is repeated but means something else “Twas right, said they, such birds to slay” (l.19)

-          It brought them breeze: “alliteration [f] and [b]:” fair” “foam” flew” “furrow followed free” (l.21 and 22) “breeze blew” => indicates the movement of the boat 

-          Chiasmus showing the bad turn the situation is taking “down dropt” “dropt down” (l.25) => no more wind to push the boat 

-          Changing of atmosphere: Metaphor => “hot and copper sky” + opposition between the “glorious Sun” which turned into a “bloody Sun” (l.30) => feeling to be in hell already because it’s still early “at noon” 

-          Vanity: “day after day, day after day” (l.33) repetition which puts the reader in the difficult time the sailors are facing due to the slowness of the passing time. + Frozen landscape “As idle as a painted ship”” upon a painted ocean” (l.35) => simile used 

-          Irony used on line 39 “Water, water every where, Nor any drop to drink” => they are surrounded by water thought they can’t drink it. => dehydration starts the conditions are getting really complicated. + metaphor “was withered at the root” (l.53) => they are as dry as a plant which hasn’t been watered. + run-on-line and simile “We could not speak, no more than if we had choked with soot” => awful conditions

-          “O Christ” (l.45) lyrical O => invocation of God => their fate depends of God now => they are slowly dying of thirst.  

-          The Romantic view suggests that the “slimy thing” are beautiful but because of the dreadful conditions the sailors are in they can’t appreciate the beauty of these things. 

-          They are convinced that it’ the Spirit work 

-          Even though they can’t speak, the sailors’ eyes talk for them “evil looks”

At the time, it was common for the Christian to wear a cross as a protection against evil forces. The sinful soul of the ancient Mariner needed a cross to save itself. The sailors instead hung the dead Albatross round his neck as a mark of his sin and guilt. (last line of the poem) 

Dull would he be of soul who could pass by

A sight so touching in its majesty:

This City now doth, like a garment, wear

The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,

Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie

Open unto the fields, and to the sky;

All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Never did sun more beautifully steep

In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;

Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!

The river glideth at his own sweet will:

Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;

And all that mighty heart is lying still!

Dull would he be of soul who could pass by

A sight so touching in its majesty:

This City now doth, like a garment, wear

The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,

Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie

Open unto the fields, and to the sky;

All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Never did sun more beautifully steep

In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;

Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!

The river glideth at his own sweet will:

Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;

And all that mighty heart is lying still!

— Dorothy Wordsworth, The Grasmere Journal, 31 July 1802

The form : a Petrarchan sonnet,  It is made up of 14 lines: an octave, followed by a sestet.

The punctuation : At regular intervals, the poet intersperses commas, semi-colons, and exclamation points seemingly at random, thus giving the poem a forced method of reading.???

Personification of the city => it seems alive  WHY ????
+ the use of the word majesty.
So What ??

The imagery : quiet/peaceful/slumber/few bright flashes of color => not the truth of the city at the time it was smoggy, not bright etc..MISINTERPRETATION

   Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, 

Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, 

   Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; 

When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, 

   Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, 

And think that I may never live to trace 

   Their shadows with the magic hand of chance; 

And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, 

   That I shall never look upon thee more, 

Never have relish in the faery power 

   Of unreflecting love—then on the shore 

Of the wide world I stand alone, and think 

Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

He had a peculiar relationship with death and the time because his mother and younger brother already died from tuberculosis when he was young.
His thesis about : negative capability => the capacity of the greatest writers (particularly Shakespeare) to pursue a vision of artistic beauty even when it leads them into intellectual confusion ??? and uncertainty, as opposed to a preference for philosophical certainty over artistic beauty. 

Teeming brain : un cerveau foisonnant 

Garner : recueillir 

Relish : savourer 

A shakespirian sonnet : 3 quatrains and an end couplet making a total of 14 lines. + very close over whole structure (sonnet patterns)

The rhyme scheme is as follows : abab cdcd efef gg

Meter : some classic iambic pentameter (1,2, 7, 8, 10) but some variations : L.3 (2^nd foot : spondee), L.11 (1^st foot : trochee). 

1^st quatrain :

1^st line : When I have fears that I may cease to be => Iambic pentameter, + context of the mental & emotional state of the poet. 

2^nd line : Assonnance + harvest metaphor (to glean is to gather up the leftovers of grain following the harvest)

3^rd/4^th : Still the harvest metaphor => garners, a storehouse or granary, used for storing the harvested grain. 

The 1^st quatrain sets the scene metaphorically. The season is autumn, the harvest will be plentiful, if only there is time enough to gather it in.

2^nd quatrain : 

Facing a night sky, => the poet relates to the spirit inherent within nature and the cosmos. 

+ references to the end of life : I may never live to trace. 

= the 1^st 8 lines, 2 quatrains, are dedicated to poetic accomplishment. The speaker fears that he may not harvest all the verse that is inside him in time.

3^rd quatrain : 

Focus on love. 

9^th line : begins with a trochee. 

Literary devices : 

What is it about : 

Fear of death, relationship with death, (like most of his poems)