Archive for February, 2009»
Jonathan Swift – (1667-1745)
from Wikipedia:
Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish[1] satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for Whigs then for the Tories), poet and cleric who became Dean of St. Patrick’s, Dublin.
He is remembered for works such as Gulliver’s Travels, A Modest Proposal, A Journal to Stella, Drapier’s Letters, The Battle of the Books, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, and A Tale of a Tub. Swift is probably the foremost prose satirist in the English language, and is less well known for his poetry. Swift originally published all of his works under pseudonyms — such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M.B. Drapier — or anonymously. He is also known for being a master of two styles of satire: the Horatian and Juvenalian styles.”
That’s well worded enough – brief and to the point. Swift was an interesting character. You can read the rest of the wiki bio here.
If you haven’t already read “Gulliver’s Travels” and are trying to cram, listening to a few chapters and memorizing the characters should be all you need to get by on the GRE. If you are on a board of admissions, please phase out this test so I never have to write statements like that again.
“Absalom and Achitophel” is an allegorical poem that uses the biblical story of Absalom’s rebellion against King David as the thinly veiled allegorical reference to the Monmouth Rebellion (1685) in England. Here’s the wiki summary of that period:
The Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, was an attempt to overthrow James II, who had become King of England at the death of his elder brother Charles II on 6 February 1685. James II was unpopular because he was Roman Catholic and many people were opposed to a “papist” king. James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of Charles II, claimed to be rightful heir to the throne and attempted to displace James II.
The rebellion ended with the defeat of Monmouth’s forces at the Battle of Sedgemoor on 6 July 1685. Monmouth was executed for treason on 15 July, and many of his supporters were executed or transported in the “Bloody Assizes” of Judge Jeffreys.
The biblical King David represents King Charles II, who had many illegitimate children but no legitimate heir to the throne. Absalom represents the Duke of Monmouth – Charles’ (illegitimate) oldest son, and Achitophel is a stand in for the Earl of Shaftesbury- a leader of the Whig party who supported the Duke.
You won’t need to know all these detail for the GRE, just the basic allegorical intent of the poem.
Listen to lines lines 1-490 “Absalom and Achitophel.”
Read the text on google bookshere.
John Dryden – “Mac Flecknoe” audio book
Like Pope’s “Rape of the Lock,” Dryden’s “Mac Flecknoe” (1684) is a satirical mock epic written in heroic couplets. In this poem Dryden attacks his contemporary, Thomas Shadwell, who was both his literary and political rival (Shadwell was a Whig, while Dryden supported the Stuart monarchy).
Read the full text here.
Listen to the audio book here, courtesy of Eighteenth Century Audio. and
listen to the audio book of Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock” Canto 2. this audio recording is courtesy of Penn Sound, which also has my favorite collection of readings by contemporary poets and writers. check out the site at http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/ in
“The Rape of the Lock” is a classic example of the mock-epic form, in which trivial events are narrated in epic verse style with the effect of making them seem even more trivial. Here Pope exhibits his mastery of the heroic couplet, which consists of rhymed pairs of iambic pentameter lines (lines of ten syllables each, alternating stressed and unstressed syllables). Note that Pope’s couplets do not fall into strict iambs, however.
In this poem Pope underscores the absurdity of high society life in England, but takes particular pains to mock female vanity. The “rape” in question is the cutting of a lock of hair from a woman’s head, which sets off an Odyssey of drawing room commotion.
listen to Canto One Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock.” This audio book is courtesy of Eighteenth Century Audio, a wonderful site with lots of high quality recordings.
Alexander Pope
Okay GRE hopefuls. Here’s a trivia question for you. What 17th-century poem is the title of the film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” taken from?
Answer: “Eloisa to Abelard”, by Alexander Pope. The poem is based on the 12th century story of Eloisa’s (Heloise’s) illicit love for, and secret marriage to, her teacher Pierre Abélard. When her family finds out about the affair, they are so enraged that in revenge they castrate him, not realizing that the lovers had married.
Listen to the audio book of “Eloisa to Abelard”.
William Shakespeare
There are obviously a lot of works by Shakespeare that could potentially show up on the GRE. My advice would be to read a few of the most famous plays if you haven’t already (Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, The Tempest and Romeo and Juliette) and review characters and synopses on the Spark Notes website. You should also be familiar with the most famous sonnets, and be able to recognize the form of the Shakespearean sonnet.
Audio Books
Here are sonnets 51-60. You don’t have to know them by heart, but you should have a good sense of Shakespeare’s style.
Shakespeare’s Sonnets, 51-60
Shakespeare Links
For more Shakespeare sonnets and audio books, check out the following sites.
Speak The Speech – a great site offering free audio books of Shakespeare plays performed by actors.
wired for books – William Shakespeare this site contains free and pretty decent audio recordings of Shakespeare’s major plays.
ShakespeareCast.com A William Shakespeare podcast.