sample works cited page handout, final paper rubric, and journal #10 (5/17)

Hello all. Find immediately below a link to the sample Works Cited page that I distributed in class on April 28th.

Works Cited Handout

This Final Paper Rubric will be distributed in class tomorrow; but I have placed it here for convenience.


For journal #10, which is due on Monday 5/17 (our final meeting before the final paper/social meeting on the 26th), I would like you to write three things.

1.) One thing about Vathek that you find to be significant. Consider comparing or contrasting this to the other texts we have read in the class thus far.
2.) Name your least favorite text or class aspect from this semester and explain in a few sentences why this is so.
3.) Name your most favorite text or class aspect from this semester and explain in a few sentences why this is so.

Today's class...

Everyone, I would like to apologize for the last-minute notice regarding my inability to hold class today. I informed the Department; however, they may not have gotten to the classroom in time therefore those who arrived most likely had to wait.

I suppose this is a good moment to instill the "15/20 minute rule." If I am not present after the aforementioned time and it has expired, then you are by all means free
to leave.

The Annotated Bibliography is to be turned in Wed.

You are responsible for the first two readings in Vathek, meaning the first eighty pages for Wed.

The last, and tenth, journal will be pushed
back until this upcoming Monday. I will update the schedule accordingly in due time.

I will be in 3308B tomorrow for office hours (9-6) should you like to receive your Prospectus early and discuss finals.

final reading assignments and VIP due dates

Just to remind...

These are the final reading assignments and the final, and indeed vital, due dates.

William Beckford
M 5/10: annotated bibliography due;Vathek, Intro (sections I and II), p.1-40
W 5/12: journal #10; Vathek, p.41-80
M 5/17: revision of short paper #3 due; Vathek, 81-120

Final Exam Week
W 5/26: final paper due (meet in our regular room at our normal meeting time)

VIP updates

Just as a reminder:

The Annotated Bibliography is due on Monday, 5/10.

Revision #3 is due 5/17, but I will accept these anytime before. 

The Final Paper is due on Wednesday, 5/26, at the latest. As with the RV#3, I will accept Final Papers before their terminal due date.

On the 26th of this month, please meet in our regular room at the regular time. We will be having a social of sorts, so feel free to bring food and drink as we say goodbye to this semester and the class!

Another great moment in the text

I know we were talking about our favorite moments in PL today, and definitely one of my favorites is on pg 163 when Raphael says to Adam "Because we freely love, as in our will To love or not; in this we stand or fall" (V.539-540). This quote struck me because of how true it is and because it says a lot about the relationship that God has with man and visa versa.
Moreover, this quote can be applied to life and human relationships. For example, are do we pick and choose who we love, or is love an innate emotion that we as humans cannot control? If the latter is true, then this quote reminds me of the "free love" concept of the 60s because humans have the ability to act upon their instinct and be with the ones they love. If the previous is true, then this leads me to believe that we choose the ones we love.
Its an awesome quote regardless and can be looked into in many ways. I think that its so true that we have a will to love or not to love, which ties into many other human emotions, which leads to either our rise or fall.

a vote!

I propose a vote concerning the Prospectus and Annotated Bibliography.

Let's keep the due date for the Prospectus set for 5/5; however, I say we can push the Annotated Bibliography back until Monday 5/10. How does that sound?

Comment below and give a "yea" if you are in favor and a "nay" if not.

journal #9 (5/3) and the final readings in Paradise Lost

Over this upcoming weekend we will be finishing Paradise Lost at Book IX. Given the amount of time left in the semester I do not think that we should try and cram in the final three books. Still, if you are planning on using this text in your final paper, come see me for passage suggestions from Books X through XII.

Please read the following segments of the ninth book, as it is vital to the poem and to our discussion of exile in literary character. Once you've finished reading, then complete the journal entry.

Book IX

• 1-13 (Milton announces a change in his theme)
• 13-47 (Milton states his epic is more important in subject than the traditional warfare which was the subject of those epics before; cf. line 42 especially)
• 53-57 *(Satan returns to Eden, improved in fraud and malice)
• 82-97 (Satan roams, looking for the "fittest imp of fraud;" deems the snake the "subtlest beast of all the field")
• 180-191 (Satan finds his target and possesses the serpent by entering the mouth!)
• 212-219 (Eve proposes that they divide their labors; cf. note)
• 232-234 (Adam's call for domesticity; cf. line 318)
• 265-269 (Adam's worry about parting)
• 322-341 *(Eve's argument)
• 370-375 (Adam's final words of strength)
• 385-386 *(their hands withdraw from one another [VIP])
• 463-493 (Satan's thoughts upon first witnessing Eve, and his monologue of rebuke)
• 531f (Satan begins his temptation)
• 546-561 ("a goddess;" Eve's response to the snake's language)
• 579-612 (hunger and thirst drive Satan to eat; he claims upon eating that he gained reason and speech; cf. note on "apple")
• 679-701 *(his guileful argument against death by the fruit)
• 708-715 *("ye shall be as gods")
• 732 ("freely taste")
• 745-833 *(Eve's rational after the serpent's speech; her transgression; the earth "felt the wound;" her "heightened" thoughts thereafter)
• 856-916 *(Eve greets Adam, persuades him; lamenting her loss he nevertheless resolves he cannot without her live)
• 955-959 (unity of man and woman)
• 960-989 (Eve's final plea to Adam [compare to the language of Satan!])
• 997-1039 *(Adam's transgression; his "enflamed" thoughts thereafter)
• 1034-1045 *(they consummate their sin with sexual intercourse, they fall asleep)
• 1053-1059 (our parents awaken with minds darkened by "guilty shame")
• 1066-1690 (Adam laments that the are not only externally naked; he is concerned only with himself in this passage; his wish to hide)
• 1119-1167 *(the internal torment of our fallen parents; they fight verbally, blaming one another; cf. line 1164 especially)
• 1179-1189 (Adam speaks cruelly of women; "neither self-condemning" they continue to argue)

Journal #9 will be due on Monday 5/3. As with previous journals, I would like you to simply react to this last segment of reading; that is, Book IX. Think of all the themes that we have been investigating thus far in the class with regards to Milton's text. How do we see those themes playing out or completing themselves by the close of the ninth book? Is there a resolution? Are you frustrated at the outcome of things, with Satan, with Fate? Are you disappointed with mankind, or do you embrace the condition that has befallen us? This reaction needs to include at least one citation in order to receive full credit.

passages for books VII and VIII

Book VII

• 1-39 (Milton invokes the muse, yet a far different one since those called upon before)
• 59-108 (Adam requests the tale of creation to be told)
• 192-209 (Christ and the angels are the architects of "worlds")
• 243-607 *(the seven days of creation)

Book VIII

• 148-168 (obedience and the sexes)
• 249-333 (Adam relates his "awakening")
• 389-392 (a commentary on fellowship)
• 439-499 (fellowship; creation of woman)
• 604-606 (union, in mind and in soul)
• 640-643 (Raphael gives his final warning or obedience to Adam and Eve)

passages for books V and VI

Sorry everyone for the delay in this posting. My internet at my home has been extremely slow/inaccessible for some reason the past two days. I've only been able to communicate to those who have emailed me via my phone, for every time I've tried to post this my internet has crashed; thus it has been a trying and irksome few days. Nevertheless, I have finally gotten through the pinhole (it seems) to offer up these helpful moments within the text.

Book V

• 17-25 (Adam's morning song)
• 28-93 (Eve relates her dream)
• 99-121 (Adam's statements on reason, fancy, the five senses and "mimic fancy")
• 145-149 ("unmediated" prayer in the prelapsarian world)
• 156-159 *(God is in all things...)
• 171-208 *(the whole universe and earth offer Him praise)
• 235-245 *(God reiterates man's free will to choose and, importantly, He releases His culpability)
• 262 (Galileo is named! see note!)
• 265-285 (Raphael flies to earth; the phoenix)
• 332-349 (Eve gathers for the feast)
• 359-360 (Adam is servile)
• 404-443 (Raphael on the necessity of nourishment for all creation)
• 452-456 *(the 2nd request for knowledge!)
• 469-479 *(on creation: its origin and end in God; the spheres of "refinement")
• 486-490 (more on creation)
• 496-503 *(man will ascend, if only obedient by choice and if in a state of grace/love)
• 507-512 *(the golden chain of existence; free will)
• 524-534 (indeed man is perfect, yet not immutable)
• 574-576 *(earth as a shadow of Heaven)
• 580-582 (see note, Milton debates time!)
• 603-608 (Christ is anointed)
• 657-693 *(Satan's envy and resolve to revolt)
• 710 (he took with him the third part of Heaven's "stock," see note)
• 760-802 *(Satan's mount and his speech to his army arguing against God's rule)
• 812-822 *(Abdiel refuses Satan's argument)
• 853-863 *(Satan's rebuttal, "self-begot")
• 886-888 *(the golden scepter to an iron rod)

Book VI

• 1-25 *(Abdiel returns to God, witnesses His army and is met by cheers)
• 41-43 (reason and merit, see notes)
• 78-187 *(Satan's army; first day's battle beings; Abdiel and Satan exchange heated words on the battlefield; Abdiel proves a defense of servitude)
• 262-280 *(Michael calls to Satan, exposing his evil and falsehood)
• 291 (Satan thinks he can "turn Heaven into hell"!)
• 320-353 *(Satan is wounded by Michael, yet he is hurt in way beyond corporal pains; a commentary on the angels' ethereal substance of which they are 'made')
• 378-380 (the erasure of the rebellious from the books of Heaven (cf. 1.361-62))
• 406-408 (night falls; first day's battle ends)
• 428-532 *("fallible," an exemplar of Satan's falsehood; pain, though not mortal in threat; "weapons more violent;" mine the "ethereous mold" for the means to make gunpowder ("blackest grain"); the second day's battle begins)
• 558-595 *(Satan unveils his cannons and fires!)
• 635-670 *(Heaven's army rallies, they drop their weapons and throw mountains, thus all Heaven goes to "wrack"!)
• 699-718 *(on the third day's battle Christ will end the war, God professes)
• 748-770 (sunrise on the third day; Heaven's army reassembles)
• 781-784 (Christ restores Heaven to its original)
• 832-834 (all Heaven shakes, except the throne of God)
• 838-879 *(the rebels drop their weapons; (take special note of 864); they throw themselves out of Heaven
• 900-911 *(one last warning to our first parents via Raphael)

journal #8 (4/21) and SP#3 notes

For this journal entry (#8) I would like you to propose a possible topic and/or thesis statement that you plan on using for Short Paper #3, which is due Monday 4/26.

If you have already used Shakespeare's The Tempest for Short Paper #2, then you must write Short Paper #3 on John Milton's Paradise Lost.


Below are some example ideas, topics, and theses to get your minds' gears turning!

-- Your paper could be an examination and interpretation (i.e., a close reading and an analysis) of a particular passage or series of related passages of importance. So, for instance, you could take a closer look at Prospero's final words in The Tempest and discuss how this speech highlights some of the major themes and issues presented by the play. Or, you could examine the moment when Satan meets Sin and Death in Book II of the epic Paradise Lost. You should essentially deconstruct the lengthy passage of choice a few lines at a time, rather than attempting to discuss the entire thing at once.

-- A few noteworthy topics in Milton's text are the following:

• Exile as a function or result or one's own free will and choice. Think about this one for a moment... I'd argue that each of the texts we have read this semester have offered at least one character who has been exiled. The interesting thing about these individuals is that when taking a closer look, it appears true that each character who is exiled has reached that state because of their own choice(s). The alchemists--the Canon and the Yeoman--desire to ever-practice their art, even if the cost is to live broke, on the fringes of towns and villages. Dante the Poet was amidst much political turmoil, and because of his desire for power and recognition he was forced into exile when the Blacks overtook the Whites. Sure, Prospero was also forcibly removed from Milan and driven to the deserted isle where the play takes place; however, could not it also be said that his love for his studies led to his neglect of "worldly ends" and thus caused his own exile from society? Satan similarily chooses his own path... obviously, we all know his rebellion is thwarted and he is cast with his crew from Heaven into a permanent state of exile; yet, the deeper and more intriguing exile Satan experiences is the internal conflict resulting from his attempted war against God. What emotions does he feel and what thoughts does he think as he gazes towards Heaven, knowing full-well that he will never again be granted access to those gates of gold?

• The commentary in Paradise Lost on the monarchy, sovereignty, tyranny, empire, and regicide! How is God's rule described? How is Satan termed in this leadership of the demonic hoard? 

• The parody and perversion of God's creations. Pandaemonium is a prime example. Consider also the falsehood of Satan; his actions, yes, but especially his words!

• Free will and the profound power of one's choice and one's mind/spirit. 

Hope these help! Remember that you can always draw from your classmates' thoughts and ideas, improving them or commenting on them accordingly to offer your own interpretation and reading.