Allusions in Prufrock

For a good website on list and explanations of allusions in Prufrock click here.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

TONE: The author’s implicit attitude toward the reader or the people, places, and events in a work as revealed by the elements of the author’s style. Tone may be characterized as serious or ironic, sad or happy, private or public, angry or affectionate, bitter or nostalgic, or any other attitudes and feelings that human beings experience. See also style.

For your blog entry reread "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and reflect on how the imagery backs up your interpretation of the poem. Choose one or two specific images and explain how they back up your thesis. Other things you should look at and/or consider: Motifs and Allusions. How motifs and allusions back up the Eliot's attitude towards Prufrock or the other "people" or society in the work?

Eliot, in "Tradition and Individual Talent", argued that a poet must embody "the whole literature of Europe from Homer" to the present. His work fused past literary with his own.

The humorist Garrison Keillor once stated that Prufrock "killed off the pleasure of poetry for millions of people who got dragged through it in high school."

Here are some links for Prufrock:

http://www.usak.ca/english/prufrock/prustart.htm

This site has a hypertext for the allusions in the poem. You should review these allusions and see if understanding them increases your understanding of the poem. Eliot believed in referencing other writers - "The best poets steal".

http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/eliot/prufrock.htm

Some critical views of the poem. These are interesting for both what they say and how they say it.

NOT MY BEST SIDE

Not my Best Side
U. A. Fanthorpe

I

Not my best side, I'm afraid.
The artist didn't give me a chance to
Pose properly, and as you can see,
Poor chap, he had this obsession with
Triangles, so he left off two of my
Feet. I didn't comment at the time
(What, after all, are two feet
To a monster?) but afterwards
I was sorry for the bad publicity.
Why, I said to myself, should my conqueror
Be so ostentatiously beardless, and ride
A horse with a deformed neck and square hoofs?
Why should my victim be so
Unattractive as to be inedible,
And why should she have me literally
On a string? I don't mind dying
Ritually, since I always rise again,
But I should have liked a little more blood
To show they were taking me seriously.

II

It's hard for a girl to be sure if
She wants to be rescued. I mean, I quite
Took to the dragon. It's nice to be
Liked, if you know what I mean. He was
So nicely physical, with his claws
And lovely green skin, and that sexy tail,
And the way he looked at me,
He made me feel he was all ready to
Eat me. And any girl enjoys that.
So when this boy turned up, wearing machinery,
On a really dangerous horse, to be honest
I didn't much fancy him. I mean,
What was he like underneath the hardware?
He might have acne, blackheads or even
Bad breath for all I could tell, but the dragon--
Well, you could see all his equipment
At a glance. Still, what could I do?
The dragon got himself beaten by the boy,
And a girl's got to think of her future.

III

I have diplomas in Dragon
Management and Virgin Reclamation.
My horse is the latest model, with
Automatic transmission and built-in
Obsolescence. My spear is custom-built,
And my prototype armour
Still on the secret list. You can't
Do better than me at the moment.
I'm qualified and equipped to the
Eyebrow. So why be difficult?
Don't you want to be killed and/or rescued
In the most contemporary way? Don't
You want to carry out the roles
That sociology and myth have designed for you?
Don't you realize that, by being choosy,
You are endangering job prospects
In the spear- and horse-building industries?
What, in any case, does it matter what
You want? You're in my way.

Poetry

POETRY TEST: THINGS TO KNOW

Elements: Know both definitions and examples
Imagery, denotation, connotation, irony – verbal, situational, dramatic, sarcasm, metaphor, personification, metonymy, apostrophe, synecdoche, symbol, allegory, paradox, overstatement, understatement, allusion, tone, alliteration, assonance, consonance, internal rime, slant rime, end rime, approximate rime, refrain, meter, iamb, trochee, anapest, dactyl, spondee, monosyllabic foot, line, stanza, cacophony, caesura, enjambment, onomatopoeia

Literary Terms

For the next four weeks, you'll be posting two literary terms definition with examples on your blog. These are due by Monday. It would be best if everyone chooses different terms to define (that way you can all share notes):


Literary Devices
AP English

Every discipline employs a special vocabulary; literary criticism is no exception. Literary criticism is based in part on the assumption that writing is a purposeful activity and that excellent literature – work of literary merit -- is not merely a happy accident. During the year I will be encouraging you to familiarize yourself with some of the terminology that is used in literary criticism. To that end, you will be creating a glossary of literary devices that you encounter in your reading. Below I have included a list of a few of the many devices you will encounter while reading; you are in no way constrained to this list, it’s just there for your information – to give you a small sampling of the wonderful world of literary devices. There are hundreds of devices that writers employ; you will no doubt find a few that I have not heard of before.


allegory
alliteration
allusion
ambiguity
antagonist
analogy
apostrophe
archetype
aside
assonance
aubade
ballad
blank verse
cacophony
caesura
catharsis
character / flat, round
complication
conceit
connotation
colloquial diction
comedy
connotation
controlling metaphors
cosmic irony
denotation
dramatic irony
dramatic monologue
echo
elegy
epigram
existential character
extended metaphor
farce
flashback
formal diction
free verse
heroic couplet
hyperbole
imagery
informal diction
initiation story
metaphor
motif
myth
narrative structure
onomatopoeia
overstatement
oxymoron
parable
paradox
parody
pastoral
personification
point of view
protagonist
psychological realism
realism
rhythm
rite of passage
sarcasm
satire
simile
soliloquy
sonnet
style
symbol
syntax
theme
tone
tragedy
verbal irony
























Term: Definition of the literary device selected

Example: Quotation, followed by source, including title, page/line number

Function: Author’s purpose in employing this language resource at this point in the work. How does this particular device enhance what the writer is conveying? You may comment on theme, character, setting, or whatever else is important in explaining how this device functions in this particular instance.






Symbol: In the simplest sense, a symbol is anything that stands for or represents something else beyond it—often an idea conventionally associated with it. The term symbolism refers to the use of symbols, or to a set of related symbols.

Example: “Like him she was lefthanded or she played chess with her left hand . . . He leaned forward and moved his bishop and mated her in four moves” (All the Pretty Horses 133).

Function: This chess game between John Grady and Alejandra’s godmother symbolizes the competition that they are in for Alejandra herself. This game of chess, which takes place between these two characters as John is trying to ascertain what his chances are of his relationship with Alejandra receiving approval from the family, represents the greater chess game between these two competing characters. Although John Grady wins the first couple of games and seems to be well on his way to achieving his goal, in the end it is the godmother who triumphs. This directly mirrors John Grady’s and the godmother’s lives: although John Grady wins Alejandra’s affections initially, in the end he loses her. When he takes “her queen” he is literally winning the chess match by taking the queen, but he is also on a symbolic level attempting to take the godmother’s true “queen,” Alejandra, who the godmother is determined to keep from suffering the same misfortunes she endured. The lack of dialogue between the characters during the match further reinforces the quiet competition they are engaging in; one that is not violent but is indeed fierce. The intellectual nature of he chess match also enhances the choice that Alejandra ultimately makes near the end of the novel: leaving John and opting instead for the security (and wealth) of her family. This choice reflects the cool and calculating logic of a chess match rather than the passion of the heart.

Hrolf Kraki

Hrolf Kraki


Saga translates to "what is said". It is the recording of an oral story in prose. The saga usually starts with the ancestral background of the main character, usually starting with a grandfather or great-grandfather and briefly telling the relatives story and bringing the narrative quickly forward. For background info on Hrolf Kraki go here

1. Characters

Halfdane
Frodi
Helgi
Hroar
Signy
Regin
Vifil
Heid
Olaf
Yrsa
Hrok
Adils
Skuld
Berserkers
Svipdag
Svip (his advice to his son)
Bjalki
Bera:
Bjorn:
Bodvar Bjarki:
Drifa:
Elk-Frodi:
Haki:
Hakland:
Hardrefil:
Hjalti:
Hott:
Hjorvard:
Hring:
Hromund:
Hvit:
Skuld:
Storolf:
Vogg:
Vott:
Yrsa:

2. Explain how the following themes work and what characters can looked at as symbols of the theme:

Role of Kings:
Role of the warrior:
Role of women:
Concept of Magic:
Revenge:
Hospitality:
Loyalty:
Pride:
Man alone in a hostile world:

3. Discuss one event in the story that seems to represent what you believe the book to be about.
4. How do Hrolf and his Champions compare with King Arthur and the round table?
5. Make a list of at least ten moments of magic in the book.
6. Who is your favorite character and why?
7. How is the Cult of Odin important to this book?
8. Compare Hrolf Kraki to Beowulf.

The Narrative Pulse of Beowulf

So, I read The Narrative Pulse of Beowulf by John M. Hill on the ferry this weekend. Hill puts forth a few interesting ideas: A) That Hrothgar tries to adopt Beowulf as a son so that Beowulf can take over as king, and he fails in this mission (and thus implies that the Danes are doomed). B) Wiglaf, who is not Geatish, may not have stuck around after Beowulf's death. Of course Beowulf has no successor. Hill also suggests that poem compressed 11 stories from Beowulf's live, a cycle of stories, each originally longer and more elaborate, and chooses only to focuses and expand two. Here are the eleven:

1) A 7-year old Beowulf fostered by Hrethel (maternal grandfather) who witnesses the sad aftermath of Haethcyn accidental killing of Herebeard.
2) As a youth Beowulf goes along with Hygelac on his rescue mission to Ravenswood (to save his brother's band of troops).
3) The swimming match with Brecca
4) Beowulf avenges destruction to the Geats by killing five sea monsters (different from the above segment)
5) A young, but somewhat distinguished Beowulf, goes to Denmark to free Heorot of Grendel
6) As a noted warrior, Beowulf serves as the point man for Hygelac's raids: most of these are against the Frisians and Franks.
7) During Hygelac's ill-fated raid into Frisian territory, Hygelac trapped and killed behind Beowulf's lead point, Beowulf kills the Frankish-Hugo champion with his bare hands and then wipes out the rest of the Frisian troops before returning home with Hygelac.
8) Beowulf supports Hygelac's son as king.
9) Heardred, the Geatish King, is entangled in the Swedish family revolt and killed by Onela. Beowulf is somewhere else, perhaps securing Waemundings inheritance against Swedish appropriation. Remember that Wiglaf's father fights for Onela against Onela's nephews. Also remember that Beowulf is the Danish savior and that the Swedes and the Danes are related by married. Onela is married to Hrothgar's sister.
10) Beowulf avenges Heardred's death and kills the Swedish king.
11) Beowulf faces the dragon.

Keep all these in mind when thinking about full Beowulf story and when considering Hrolf Kraki.