Charlotte Smith’s “On Being Cautioned Against Walking on a Headland Overlooking the Sea, Because It Was Frequented by a Lunatic”
“I see him more with envy than with fear;”
I chose this line because at first, I was confused about what the author meant when she said that she envies this person. After a close reading I could understand the ambiguity that this line had. According to Lois Tyson a text has ambiguity “whenever a word, image… have two or more different meanings” (42). It is clear to assume that she envies this person because of two reasons. First is that she wants the freedom that he enjoyed and second because he was a man and he was allowed to do whatever he wanted just because he was a man and not a woman.
Charlotte Smith’s “The Sea View”
“The upland shepherd, as reclined he lies / On the soft turf that clothes the mountain brow, / Marks the bright sea-line mingling with the skies… /Ah! thus man spoils glorious works with blood!”
I chose these lines because the author uses such comparisons to represent her frustration with society at that time. To symbolize her feelings, the author begins the poem using imagery to describe nature, which then develops into negative and angry imagery as she reflects into the poem. According to Tyson an image is a mental picture you create using words to describe the appearance of a place or person (42). In the beginning, Smith describes nature as an exquisite and brilliant creation by God, and with the last line she uses the image to represent the damage that humans had done not only nature’s beauty, but of society as well.
William Wordworth’s “The World is Too Much With Us”
“Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; / Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.”
I chose this line because I was intrigued by what Wordsworth meant or what he wanted to communicate throughout them. Then I realized that he was doing mention of an allusion. The Oxford English Dictionary defines allusion as “An implied, indirect, or passing reference to a person or thing.” This poem contains allusions to Greek mythology Proteus that is according to Oxford English Dictionary a sea god and Triton that is described as the son of Poseidon.
Olaudah Equiano The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings
“Many times I have seen these unfortunate wretches beaten for asking for their pay; and often severely flogged by their owners if they did not bring them their daily or weekly money exactly to the time…” (101).
I chose this quote because although the context is understandable to many readers, in order to understand what exactly he is talking about, readers must do a little bit of research. For instance, Equiano is talking about the bad treatment that he experienced when he was captured and sold as enslave. He noticed how badly they were treated and miserable was their lives. Such a situation made Equiano got insane because of the abuse that he witnessed. In the database Slavery & Anti-slavery, there are multiples images that represent the suffering of those enslaved in those times.
Phyllis Wheatley’s “On Being Brought from Africa to America”
“Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,”
Phillis Wheatley has used a few literary devices in this poem to express her ideas. I chose this special line because it caught my attention to the connection that the author made with Cain. It can be considered as an allusion because allusion is an indirect or passing reference to a person and the author provides a biblical reference here. According to the Oxford References and Oxford English Dictionary, Cain is Adam’s and Eve’s first son and “first fratricide and murderer.” This quote intrigued me because I wonder if the author by the use of this allusion is trying to compare these people with Cain. Or is Wheatley saying that they are bad as Cain was?
Secondary Sources- Works cited
Tyson, Lois. Using Critical Theory: How to Read and Write about Literature. Routledge, 2011.
“Triton, n.1.” OED Online, Oxford University Press, March 2020, www.oed.com/view/Entry/206467. Accessed 10 April 2020
“Whipping post and pillory, Delaware” Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive. 1865 http://find.gale.com.lehman.ezproxy.cuny.edu/sas/imageGallery.do?page=ImageGallery& recordID=sas_00059&inPS=true&prodId=SASAS&userGroupName=lehman_main&pageN
umber=1&method=doImageDisplay&contentSet=SASM
