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fandomhigh2009-03-26 03:17 pm
clevermsbennet.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2009-03-26 03:17 pm
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Literature, Class 11: Period 3, Thursday, March 26
Miss Bennet was in a particularly bright mood as she sorted papers into three piles on her desk.
"Today," she said, "I am a particularly cruel Literature teacher; I am going to make you read. Fear not, there is a purpose to it, although as your literature teacher, I am honor-bound to inform you that there is always a purpose to reading. Entertainment, education, whiling away a few hours: all these reasons are quite important. I digress. I assure you, the reading today is light, and it is my hope that you will find it to be worthwhile."
"We've touched briefly on the concept of influence, within a work; that is what I wish to discuss, today. No work exists in a vacuum. We have, in the past, talked of how a work cannot easily be separated from its particular place within society, that it retains those characteristics and assumptions; I would argue that the same applies to a work and its place within the living process of literature. Every writer is influenced by what he has read. What comes before does not dictate what will come after, but we would be remiss to say it does not shape it, in many ways."
She picked up the first stack and began passing the pages out. "This," she stated, "is Canto Twenty-Seven of Dante Alighieri's Inferno. The Inferno is part one of a trilogy known as the Divine Comedy, and I should stress that that is not the modern use of the term 'comedy,' which indicates humour. Dante's Divine Comedy was a journey through Hell, then Purgatory, then Heaven itself. Strikingly, it is Hell that receives the most attention, from critics and readers." There was a bemused smile to go with this.
"Dante is taken through each circle in Hell to meet the sinners who reside there, and learn of their crimes. Each ring holds those guilty of specific sins, with similar transgressions clustered together in nearby circles. Canto Twenty-Seven is the story of Guido da Montefeltro, an advisor to Pope Boniface VIII. Boniface asked da Montefeltro for his insight on how best to conquer a particular land, and assured his advisor that, should the advice prove unfortunate, His Holiness had already granted preemptive absolution. Da Montefeltro's counsel was disastrous, and the losses were great. Upon his death, he reminded the eternal powers that he had been forgiven before he had even transgressed. A devil laughed and informed him that forgiveness must be sought with atonement. One cannot atone before one sins; therefore, one cannot be absolved in advance."
She reached for the next stack as she continued speaking. "What I would like to call your attention to -- aside from the usual: the tone, the structure, the meaning of the piece -- would be da Montefeltro's opening lines to Dante. He presumes Dante is another of the damned, and will never leave Hell, which means it is safe to give his name and tell his story. These lines are quoted, in their original Italian, as the introduction to this next work."
"T.S. Eliot wrote 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' nearly one hundred years ago, which places it six hundred years after Dante's work. It is not a story of a voyage through hell; it is a lyrical poem which depicts a man looking back upon his life, and realizing that he has been more observer than actor for a majority of it. He feels much of it has been repetitive and lifeless, hauntingly so. He longs for the ability to change the world around him; he wishes to reach that which is just out of his grasp. He notes, sadly, that even if he opened his arms to that which he desires, it would refuse him. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me."
"Our last work today," she said, taking the third and final sheaf of papers, "is very different from the previous two, and yet perhaps not so very. This is Octavio Paz's 'Blue Bouquet.' Octavio Paz came later than either Eliot or Dante, though only a few decades from the former, whom he has stated to be a major influence. The story is prose, but briefer still than either of the two poems. The unnamed narrator wakes in a vivid, sensory-filled small room in the middle of the night. He finds it far too hot to sleep, and chooses instead to walk in the night air. He has a brief, surreal and violent encounter with a stranger, and flees town the next day. To say more would ruin the tale, I fear."
"Three works. Dante influenced Eliot, who influenced Paz. Can you find a common thread between the first two, or the last two, or possibly all three?"
"Today," she said, "I am a particularly cruel Literature teacher; I am going to make you read. Fear not, there is a purpose to it, although as your literature teacher, I am honor-bound to inform you that there is always a purpose to reading. Entertainment, education, whiling away a few hours: all these reasons are quite important. I digress. I assure you, the reading today is light, and it is my hope that you will find it to be worthwhile."
"We've touched briefly on the concept of influence, within a work; that is what I wish to discuss, today. No work exists in a vacuum. We have, in the past, talked of how a work cannot easily be separated from its particular place within society, that it retains those characteristics and assumptions; I would argue that the same applies to a work and its place within the living process of literature. Every writer is influenced by what he has read. What comes before does not dictate what will come after, but we would be remiss to say it does not shape it, in many ways."
She picked up the first stack and began passing the pages out. "This," she stated, "is Canto Twenty-Seven of Dante Alighieri's Inferno. The Inferno is part one of a trilogy known as the Divine Comedy, and I should stress that that is not the modern use of the term 'comedy,' which indicates humour. Dante's Divine Comedy was a journey through Hell, then Purgatory, then Heaven itself. Strikingly, it is Hell that receives the most attention, from critics and readers." There was a bemused smile to go with this.
"Dante is taken through each circle in Hell to meet the sinners who reside there, and learn of their crimes. Each ring holds those guilty of specific sins, with similar transgressions clustered together in nearby circles. Canto Twenty-Seven is the story of Guido da Montefeltro, an advisor to Pope Boniface VIII. Boniface asked da Montefeltro for his insight on how best to conquer a particular land, and assured his advisor that, should the advice prove unfortunate, His Holiness had already granted preemptive absolution. Da Montefeltro's counsel was disastrous, and the losses were great. Upon his death, he reminded the eternal powers that he had been forgiven before he had even transgressed. A devil laughed and informed him that forgiveness must be sought with atonement. One cannot atone before one sins; therefore, one cannot be absolved in advance."
She reached for the next stack as she continued speaking. "What I would like to call your attention to -- aside from the usual: the tone, the structure, the meaning of the piece -- would be da Montefeltro's opening lines to Dante. He presumes Dante is another of the damned, and will never leave Hell, which means it is safe to give his name and tell his story. These lines are quoted, in their original Italian, as the introduction to this next work."
"T.S. Eliot wrote 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' nearly one hundred years ago, which places it six hundred years after Dante's work. It is not a story of a voyage through hell; it is a lyrical poem which depicts a man looking back upon his life, and realizing that he has been more observer than actor for a majority of it. He feels much of it has been repetitive and lifeless, hauntingly so. He longs for the ability to change the world around him; he wishes to reach that which is just out of his grasp. He notes, sadly, that even if he opened his arms to that which he desires, it would refuse him. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me."
"Our last work today," she said, taking the third and final sheaf of papers, "is very different from the previous two, and yet perhaps not so very. This is Octavio Paz's 'Blue Bouquet.' Octavio Paz came later than either Eliot or Dante, though only a few decades from the former, whom he has stated to be a major influence. The story is prose, but briefer still than either of the two poems. The unnamed narrator wakes in a vivid, sensory-filled small room in the middle of the night. He finds it far too hot to sleep, and chooses instead to walk in the night air. He has a brief, surreal and violent encounter with a stranger, and flees town the next day. To say more would ruin the tale, I fear."
"Three works. Dante influenced Eliot, who influenced Paz. Can you find a common thread between the first two, or the last two, or possibly all three?"
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