D List Flashcards
Writers I felt I have unheard of and writers I felt only "heard" of
Maya Angelou(1928-): Intro
Autobiographer born in St. Louis, Missouri.
[I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings(1970)]: Harrowing childhood in Arkansas
Maya Angelou(1928-) “I know why the caged bird sings”: Quotes
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.
Maya Angelou(1928-) “The Black Family Pledge”: Quotes
BECAUSE we have forgotten our ancestors,
our children no longer give us honor.
Maya Angelou(1928-) “In All Ways A Woman”: Quotes
“The woman who survives intact and happy must be at once tender and tough.”
John Berryman(1914-1972): Intro
Born John Smith in Oklahoma but took stepfather’s name after father’s suicide.
Anguished and confessional, personal guilts and religious doubts. Witty, organized if idiosyncratic.
John Berryman(1914-1972): Works
[77 Dream Songs (1964)] has imaginary protean protagonist Henry, completed by [His Toy, His Dream, His Rest (1968)]
John Berryman(1914-1972) “Dream Song 76 (Henry’s Confession)”: Quotes
“A bullet on a concrete stoop
close by a smothering southern sea
spreadeagled on an island, by my knee.”
John Berryman(1914-1972) “Sonnet 13”: Quotes
“We shared today not even filthy weather,
Beasts in the hills their tigerish love are snarling”
John Berryman(1914-1972) “Henry’s pelt was put on…”: Quotes
“To Henry in his sparest times sometimes
the little people spread, & did friendly things;
then he was glad.”
Jorge Luis Borges(1899-1986): Style
Argentinian writer and poet.
Cyclical nature of time.
Forms themselves are labyrinthine, metaphysical speculations, dreamlike in endlessly reflected facets of reality^arcane knowledge.
Jorge Luis Borges(1899-1986): Dreamlike?
Stories of real and fictional criminals, some ascribed to fictional authors. Truth, fiction, identity, violence… puzzles of detective fiction.
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672): Intro
Born in England then immigrated to U.S. with father and husband. Received attention both as a woman writer and the first poet of the U.S. Her later shorter poems are now more highly regarded than longer historical^philosophical discourses.
John Berryman made a tribute ([Homage to Mistress Bradstreet(1956)]
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) “The Prologue(1643?)” : Quotes
“A Bartas can do what a Bartas will; / But simple I according to my skill.”
“If what I do prove well, it won’t advance; They’ll say it’s stol’n, or else it was by chance.”
“Let Greeks be Greeks, and women what they are; / Men have precedency and still excel.”
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) “In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet, Who Deceased August 1665 Being a Year and a Half Old(1665)” : Quotes
“Farewell dear babe, my heart’s too much content”
“By nature trees do rot when they are grown. / And plums and apples thoroughly ripe do fall”
“But plants new set to be eradicate, / And buds new blown, to have so short a date, / Is by His hand alone that guides nature and fate.”
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) “Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666(1666)” : Quotes
“Here stood that trunk, and there that chest; / There lay that store I counted best”
“Didst fix thy hope on mould’ring dust? / The arm of flesh didst make thy trust?”
“Thou hast an house on high erect, / Fram’d by that mighty Architect”
Anne Brontë (1820-1849): Works (Novels)
Over-indulged young children and wordly older children from houses where Brontë served as governess depicted in [Agnes Gray(1847)].
[The Tenant of Wildfell Hall(1848)] depicts Arthur Huntington, infantile and violent yet sexually attractive drunkard. Possibly indictment against sexual double standards.
Anne Brontë (1820-1849): Works (Poems)
[Agnes Gray(1847)], her poems, along with some of her sisters, published in 1846 under pseudonym Acton Bell.
Anne Brontë (1820-1849) “Song: we know where deepest lies the snow” : Info
Gondal lyric. Gondal is an imaginary land Anne developed with Emily Brontë.
Anne Brontë (1820-1849) “Song: we know where the deepest lies the snow” : Quotes
“But where we late were hunted, there / Our foes are hunted now.”
“But I would rather be the hare, / That crouching in its sheltered lair … Or in the tangled corpse to hide, / Than be the hunters hound.”
Anne Brontë (1820-1849) [Agnes Gray(1847)] : Synopsis
Agnes goes to work at the Wellwood house for the Bloomsfield family, who spoil their children (Tom Bloomsfield tortures small animals). Agnes then goes to the Murrays, Matilda is a tomboy and Rosalie a flirt. She befriends old woman Nancy Brown and acquaints Mr. Edward Weston.
Rosalie marries Sir Thomas Ashby, resulting in unhappy marriage. She begs Agnes to visit. Agnes does, then marries Edward Weston.
Robert Burns(1759-1796) : Intro
Wrote in both Scottish and English. Songs, verse letters, satires, animal poems and ‘Tam o’Shanter’.
“heaven-taught ploughsman”.
Contribution to [The Scots Musical Museum]. Scottish poems indebted to early Scottish poets (Ramsay) and 18th cen. Scottish poets (Fergusson).
Emily Brontë (1820-1849) [The Tenant of Wildfell Hall(1848)]: Synopsis (Part 2)
Helen is wife of Arthur Huntington, who uses his flirtation with Annabella to pressure Helen into marrying him. He is jealous of his own son who is also Arthur (and whom he persuades into drinking and swearing.)
Arthur Huntington courts Annabella who is now Lady Lowborough, Walter Hargrave (brother of Helen’s friend Millicent Hargrave) gives Helen unwanted affection.
Arthur’s treatment of Arthur jr. convinces Helen to take her son and flee.
Emily Brontë (1820-1849) [The Tenant of Wildfell Hall(1848)]: Synopsis (Part 3)
Helen returns to Grassdale where her husband is because he is gravely ill. Her husband is terrified of prospect of hell even to his death.
Helen then lives in her estate in Staningley. Mr. Lawrence marries Helen’s friend Esther Hargrave. Helen and Gilbert marry.
Robert Burns(1759-1796) “To a Mouse(1785)” : Quotes
“Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie, / O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!”
“Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin! / It’s silly wa’s the win’s are strewin!”
“But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane, / In proving foresight may be vain”
Robert Burns(1759-1796) “Auld Lang Syne(1788)”: Quotes
“We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet / For auld lang syne.”
“And surely ye’ll be your pint stowp! / And surely I’ll be mine!”
“And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!”
Albert Camus(1913-1960): Intro
French novelist, dramatist, essayist, journalist. Implications of the ‘absurd’ nature of human condition.
[L’ étranger(1942)], [La Peste(1947)] are novels.
Wrote stage adaptation for Faulkner’s [Requiem for a Nun(1951)] in 1956.
Albert Camus(1913-1960) [La Peste(1947)]: Synopsis
Dr. Rieux is one of the first people to notice the plague, whose wife dies in a mental institution. He survives to the end saving people.
Raymond wants to escape to see his wife, and survives to the end to see her.
Tarrou treats patients, accompanies Raymond to an opera, dies after plague dies out.
Father Paneloux uses suffering of people to further attendance in church then dies himself.
Cottard is a smuggler who suffers from guilt but also flourishes mentally and financially from the plague.
Thomas Carew (1594-1640): Intro
Wrote the elegy for John Donne.
Cavalier poet - graceful and witty… cynical.
“A Rapture” is an erotic and “To Saxham” is a country-house poem.
Thomas Carew(1594-1640) “A Rapture” : Quotes
“I will enjoy thee now, my Celia, come / And fly with me to love’s Elysium.”
“My rudder with thy bold hand like a tried / And skillful pilot thou shalt steer”
“The Roman Lucrece there reads the divine / Lectures of love’s great master, Aretine”
William Cowper(1731-1800): Intro
Suffered from depression and attempted suicide multiple times, started writing satire at recommendation.
Playful, delicate wit. Tranquility. Sympathy for nature.
William Cowper(1731-1800) [The Task Book I (1785)]: Quotes
“overthwart the stream / That, as with molten glass, inlays the vale”
“Sounds inharmonious in themselves and harsh, / Yet heard in scenes where peace forever reigns”
“but needful food, / Though pressed with hunger oft … asks never.–Kate is crazed!”
Hart Crane(1899-1932): Intro
American poet born in Ohio. [White Buildings(1926), [The Bridge(1930)].
[The Bridge(1930)] explores the “Myth of America”, with symbols such as Brookyn Bridge and Colombus, Pocahontas, Rip Van Winkle. Echoes of Whitman.
Hart Crane(1899-1932) [The Bridge(1930)] - “Van Winkle”: Quotes
“And Cortes rode up, reining tautly in– / Firmly as coffee grips the taste,–and away!”
“[And Rip forgot the office hours, / and he forgot the pay; / Van Winkle sweeps a tenement / down town on Avenue A,–]”
“It flickered through the snow screen, blindly / It forsook her at the doorway;”
R. H. Dana, Jr. (1815-1882): Intro
Richard Henry Dana Jr, son of poet and journalist Richard Henry Dana(1787-1879). Broke off Harvard education to become a sailor.
R. H. Dana, Jr. (1815-1882) [Two Years before the Mast(1840)]: Synopsis
In Alta California involved in hide trade. Learned Mexican and befriended Kanaka. Was against their abuse from the captain.
Witnesses icebergs, another flogging from the captain of the steward. Dana Jr. thinks of the need of religiosity among seamen.
A note “Twenty-Four Years After(1869)” recounting the aftermath of some people and the ship [Alert] (destroyed in Civil War 1862).
John Dos Passos (1896-1970): Intro
Was a soldier and wrote about war. Novel [Three Soldiers (1921)], poetry, essays, memoirs, travel writings, plays.
[U.S.A. (1938)] Trilogy: [The 42nd Parallel(1930)], [1919(1932)], [The Big Money(1936)]
John Dos Passos(1896-1970) [U.S.A. (1938)] Trilogy: Content
Interlocking and parallel narratives against a panoramic collage (news reel, songs, advertisements) of real-life events. Commentary of the author as “The Camera Eye”.
John Dos Passos(1896-1970) [U.S.A. (1938)] [The 42nd Parallel(1930)]: Quotes
"We work to eat to get the strength to work to eat to get the strength to work." "Young men go west; / Luther Burbank went to Santa Rosa / full of his dream of green grass in winter ever-" "While there is a lower class I am of it, while there is a criminal class I am of it, while there is a soul in prison I am not free."
George Gascoigne(1534-1577): Intro
Soldier and Poet. Many of his works published in [The Posies of George Gascoigne] (first published without his knowledge in 1573).
[The Adventures of Master F.J.] a strange Chaucerian novella of sexual intrigue whose supposed Italian source is not found.
[Certayne Notes of Instruction Concerning the Making of Verse or Ryme in English]: pioneering account on English versification.
George Gascoigne(1534-1577) [Certayne Notes of Instruction Concerning the Making of Verse or Ryme in English]: Quotes
“If I should vndertake to wryte in prayse of a gentlewoman, I would neither praise hir christal eye, nor hir cherrie lippe, etc.”
“I will next aduise you that you hold the iust measure wherewith you begin your verse.”
“I would exhorte you also to beware of rime without reason”
Elizabeth Gaskell(1810-1865): Intro
Active humanitarian and called for better understanding between workers and employers. Keen observer of human behavior and researcher of background of her novels. Relationships with Charlotte Brontë and John Ruskin. Professional acquaintance with Charles Dickens.
Elizabeth Gaskell(1810-1865): Works
[Cranford(1853)], [Wives and Daughters(1866)] were novels. [Cousin Phillis(1864)] was one of the warm-hearted novellas.
Elizabeth Gaskell(1810-1865) [Cousin Phillis(1864)]: Characters
Narrator and Phillis’ cousin Paul Manning, his father Mr. Manning, and his business partner Mr. Ellison.
Mr Edward Holdsworth and later his wife, Miss Lucille Ventadur.
Independent church minister Mr. Holman, Mrs. Holman, Phillis Holman, their servant Betty.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman(1860-1935): Intro
American feminist journalist. “The Yellow Wallpaper(1892)” was published in [New England Magazine].
[Women and Economics(1898)], [The Home: Its Work and Influence(1903)].
William Dean Howells(1837-1920): Intro
U. S. novelist, once U. S. consul at Venice.
Editor for Atlantic Monthly and Harper’s Magazine.
Romances: [The Rise of Silas Lapham(1885)] and [Indian Summer(1886)]
Interest in socialism^social realism [A Hazard of New Fortunes(1890)]
