English 320: Mid-Term

Emily Dickenson: Poems 67; 258; 341; 435; 465; 712; 1732; 1760

be prepared to discuss controlling metaphors and the meaning of important concepts, images, and phrases in these poems

Mark Twain: "The Notorious Jumping Frog"

as commentary on the moral evolution of America 
as commentary on the capitalistic ideal of wealth and individual opportunity
on the contrast between urban and rural versions of America
character analyses

Kate Chopin: "Neg Creole"

as commentary on the aftereffects of reconstruction and the collapse of the old Southern order
as exploration of class relations

Edith Wharton: "The Other Two"

as portrait of turn-of-the century, "Gilded Age" America
as commentary on the role of women in a highly structured, male-dominated society
as commentary on the moral evolution of  America
characters and motivations

Henry Adams: "The Virgin and the Dynamo"

as commentary on the distinction between the old world and the new
the significance of the dynamo-virgin metaphor
the idea of the object as a symbol of a moral "force"

Stephen Crane: "The Open Boat"

as metaphor for the movement into the modern age
the idea of the family as a bulwark against chaos and lossas a work of Naturalism, the relationship between man and nature according to this school of thought
the symbolism of the sea: shark; waves; color imagery; the lighthouse; etc.
the idea of crisis as an aid in defining "character"
weapons against adversity: brotherhood; creativity; rituals of hope
the illusory distinction between the men on shore and the men at sea
the sympathetic revelation: the soldier in Algiers
the relationship between danger and appreciation of the humble pleasures of life

Henry James: "The Real Thing"

Major Monarch and his wife as anachronistic figures from a bygone era
as study of the contrast between the old world and the new
the distinction between a 'fixed' reality and a flexible ideal the symbolic significance of Oronte and Miss Churm
the significance of Major and Mrs. Monarch's final efforts to make themselves useful

Eugene O'Neill: "Long Day's Journey"

refer to your HANDOUT to review important symbols, themes, structural principles and ideas (like the author's use of Senecan and Aristotelean tragic conventions

Robert Frost: Poems

"After Apple-Picking"

as statement of world-weariness and resignation to deaththe symbolism of exhaustion, old age
important images and symbols: tree; ladder; ice; the two kinds of apples (perfect but unattainable, defective but useful)
the narrator's conception of heaven, the afterlife

"Birches"

poet's conception of the ideal versus the real relationship of man to nature
the symbolism of the bending tree
hints about the age of the poet and the kind of life he has led
the poet's attitude to life, the afterlife, and the prospect of death

"Stopping By Woods"

conception of God's relationship to man
imagery of foreboding/death/evil
notion of "duty" as protection against dangerous thoughts

Wallace Stevens: Poems

"Sunday Morning"

the "Persona" of the narrator
the poem's plot, setting, etc.
the narrator's struggle to repress her spiritual longings
the poems argument on behalf of paganism
the narrator's explanation for the enduring appeal of Christ; the disappearance of mythical god's like Jove
the relationship between death and beauty
important symbols and images: birds testing the ground as metaphor for faith; heaven as an idealized version of earth

"The Idea of order in Key West"

the two songs: the song of the sea and the woman s song about the sea
the distinction between nature and an artistic rendering of nature
the role of fiction as a medium for reconciling man and nature, an exercise that makes nature accessible to man by making it his own
art as a substitute for vanished religion
notion of art as source of the "order" the mind craves

Ernest Hemingway: A Farewell to Arms

Be prepared to discuss everything that appears on your handout. I will expect you to be able to make specific textual references (to characters, concepts, structural principles, etc.) in order to establish your claims

T. S. Eliot: "The Wasteland"

KNOW THE PLOT, or dramatic structure of the poem (refer to your handout).
be prepared to discriminate between what is actually happening to the poet and what is happening to him only in his imagination.
the quest motif: the search for the Holy Grail.
Madame Sostrosis as an example of the quack-spiritualist.
the religious imagery: chapels; garden of Gethsemane; Christ-figures
the preoccupation with loveless passion and sexual perversion (Mr. Eugenides).
the imagery of water and drought and its connection with the poet's search for spiritual rejuvenation.
the relationship between "the ideal" as it appears in art (especially the art of the past) and "the real" as it appears to the eye of the critical observer
the significance of the message of the thunder in Book V