1. Information
a. iambic pentameter
iamb: an unstressed or unaccented syllable followed by a stressed or accented one. This meter is called iambic (p.832)
Iambic pentameter is a commonly used type of metrical line in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm that the words establish in that line, which is measured in small groups of syllables called "feet". The word "iambic" refers to the type of foot that is used, known as the iamb, which in English is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The word "pentameter" indicates that a line has five of these "feet".
Iambic rhythms come relatively naturally in English. Iambic pentameter is the most common meter in English poetry; it is used in many of the major English poetic forms, including blank verse, the heroic couplet, and some of the traditional rhymed stanza forms. William Shakespeare used iambic pentameter in his plays and sonnets.
b. personification
Personification is a figure of speech that involves treating something nonhuman, such as an abstraction, as if it were a person by endowing it with humanlike qualities, as in "Death entered the room." (GLOSSARY A9)
c. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
(glee and joy)
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
(extremely happy)
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
d. Bartleby, the Scrivener
Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street is a short story by the American writer Herman Melville, first serialized anonymously in two parts in the November and December 1853 issues of Putnam' s Magazine, and reprinted with minor textual alterations in his The Piazza Tales in 1856. A Wall Street lawyer hires a new clerk who—after an initial bout of hard work—refuses to make copy and any other task required of him, with the words "I would prefer not to". The lawyer cannot bring himself to remove Bartleby from his premises, and decides instead to move his office, but the new proprietor removes Bartleby to prison, where he perishes.
→ Open Ending
W.H. Auden," Stop all the clocks, cut
off the telephone"
→ 沒有所有的字都大寫，天都要塌了還要注意什麼呢？
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy
bone
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
( 沉悶的心跳 )
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners
come.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is
Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the
public doves,
→ sarcasm
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton
gloves.
He was my North, my South, my East and
West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I
was wrong.
→ verbal irony
The stars are not wanted now: put out every
one;
→ hyperbole
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
f. Funeral Blues - Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British romantic comedy film directed by Mike Newell.The film follows the adventures of a group of friends through the eyes of Charles, a good-natured but socially awkward Englishman living in London, who becomes smitten with Carrie, an American whom Charles meets at four weddings and a funeral.
2. extra information
a. It's a summer in Washington. Don't put you best flip-flop forward.
In July 2005, some members of the Northwestern University’s women’ s lacrosse team wore flip-flops to meet President George W. Bush. The choice of footwear raised a stir in Washington and beyond. (David Bohrer/Associated Press) (攪拌)
b. I would prefer not to.
Bartleby the Scrivener explores the theme of isolation in American life and the workplace through actual physical loneliness and mental loneliness. Although all of the characters at the office are related by being co-workers, Bartleby is the only one whose name is known to us and seems serious, as the rest of characters have odd nicknames, such as "Nippers" or "Turkey", this excludes him from being normal in the workplace. Bartleby' s former job was at the "Dead Letter Office" that received mail with nowhere to go, representing the isolation of communication that Bartleby had at both places of work, being that he was given a separate work area for himself at the lawyer's office. Bartleby never leaves the office, but repeats what he does all day long, copying, staring, and repeating his famous words of "I would prefer not to", leading readers to have another image of the repetition that leads to isolation on Wall Street and the American workplace.
c. allegory
As a literary device, an allegory in its most general sense is an extended metaphor. Allegory has been used widely throughout history in all forms of art, largely because it can readily illustrate complex ideas and concepts in ways that are comprehensible or striking to its viewers, readers, or listeners.
Writers or speakers typically use allegories as literary devices or as rhetorical devices that convey hidden meanings through symbolic figures, actions, imagery, and/or events, which together create the moral, spiritual, or political meaning the author wishes to convey.
One of the best-known examples of allegory, Plato's Allegory of the Cave, forms a part of his larger work The Republic. In this allegory, Plato describes a group of people who have lived chained in a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall.
(The details of fable versus parable are in week 2)
d. sarcasm
Sarcasm is the use of irony to mock or convey contempt. "The distinctive quality of sarcasm is present in the spoken word and manifested chiefly by vocal inflections". The sarcastic content of a statement will be dependent upon the context in which it appears.
e. dove carry olive branch
Doves, usually white in color, are used in a variety of settings as symbols of love, peace or as messengers. Doves appear in the symbolism of Judaism, Christianity and Paganism, and of both military and pacifist groups.
3. prefix, root and suffix
frailty (n.) the condition of having a weak character or weak moral standards
scri : write eg. description, prescription, postscript
postscript (n.) a message that you write at the end of a letter or email, usually below the place where you sign your name
sol : alone eg. solitude, solo, solar system
solitude (n.) the state of being completely alone, especially when this is pleasant or relaxing
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