Oh George!

The following poem is by the sixteenth-century English poet George Gascoigne. Read the poem carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the complex attitude of the speaker is developed through such devices as form, diction, and imagery.

       For That He Looked Not upon Her
You must not wonder, though you think it strange,
To see me hold my louring1 head so low;
 And that mine eyes take no delight to range
About the gleams which on your face do grow.
The mouse which once hath broken out of trap
 Line Is seldom ’ticèd2 with the trustless bait,
But lies aloof for fear of more mishap,
And feedeth still in doubt of deep deceit.
The scorchèd fly which once hath ’scaped the flame
Will hardly come to play again with fire,
Whereby I learn that grievous is the game
Which follows fancy dazzled by desire:
     So that I wink or else hold down my head,
     Because your blazing eyes my bale3 have bred.


(1573)
1 gloomy 2 enticed 3 misery

"Martyrdom covers a multitude of sins" -Mark Twain

The following words are all synonyms for MARTYRDOM.  The discussion on martyrdom came up appropriately and  beautifully in our seminar on Tale of Two Cities.  Choose a martyr from the bible and tell his or her story.  Then, compare your martyr to a character from a classic piece of literature.

• persecutionstar
• afflictionstar
• agonystar
• anguishstar

• crucifixionstar
• devotionstar
• distressstar
• mortificationstar

• ordealstar
• painstar
• sacrificestar
• self-sacrificestar

• tormentstar
• torturestar
• unselfishnessstar
• agonizingstar

Literary Devices Anyone

The following poem, written by Edward Field, makes use of the Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus.* Read the poem carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how Field employs literary devices in adapting the Icarus myth to a contemporary setting.

Icarus

Only the feathers floating around the hat

Showed that anything more spectacular had occurred

Than the usual drowning. The police preferred to ignore

The confusing aspects of the case,

5 And the witnesses ran off to a gang war.

So the report filed and forgotten in the archives read simply

“Drowned,” but it was wrong: Icarus

Had swum away, coming at last to the city

Where he rented a house and tended the garden.

10 “That nice Mr. Hicks” the neighbors called him,

Never dreaming that the gray, respectable suit

Concealed arms that had controlled huge wings

Nor that those sad, defeated eyes had once

Compelled the sun. And had he told them

15 They would have answered with a shocked, uncomprehending stare.

No, he could not disturb their neat front yards;

Yet all his books insisted that this was a horrible mistake:

What was he doing aging in a suburb?

Can the genius of the hero fall

20 To the middling stature of the merely talented?

And nightly Icarus probes his wound

And daily in his workshop, curtains carefully drawn,

Constructs small wings and tries to fly

To the lighting fixture on the ceiling:

25 Fails every time and hates himself for trying.

He had thought himself a hero, had acted heroically,

And dreamt of his fall, the tragic fall of the hero;

But now rides commuter trains,

Serves on various committees,

30 And wishes he had drowned.

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