ENG308Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Tragic Hero, Apotheosis, Gibbeting
ENG308 October 17 2017
Michael Continued
-celebration of immobility
-very traditional
-Michael is trying to make some sort of compromise that will allow Luke to leave the
land then come back
-the only communication is the covenant made over the big rock
-this promise is unable to be moved beyond the land
-wordsworth believes in the importance of this way of life in creating the landscape
around him
-wordsworth wants to be a second son to Michael, one who uses narratives and
poetry to find some kind of compromised position
-Michael is a tragic hero
-michael can’t figure out a way to keep both the land and his son
-the lamp is a surviving comrade
-a world in which nothing changes
-this model of comradeship is grounded in longevity and labour
-apotheosis: making a thing divine, building up value so that ultimately things
become more human as they work longer for us, such as the lamp becoming the
evening star
-all the objects play a role in the society
-the problematic other world of the kinsman who cannot pay his loan is replacing
Michael’s world as the farm is threatened
-at Isabel’s death, the estate was sold
-the word estate is not the language Michael would use
-ploughshare they’ve put grain on the land
-the landscape is changed
-nothing exists there anymore
-environmental degradation that has taken place with the destruction of Michael’s
way of life
Two Part Prelude
-part of a larger autobiography
-it was not published in his life
-this is a very modern kind of poem as he is trying to make an autobiography about
himself writing poems
-including the autobiography as one of the achievements that makes him worthy of
having an autobiography
-but the purpose is not just to tell his story, it is to make an argument about what
kind of education people should have
-less an autobiography than it is a philosophical poem
-particular but general account of the history of the mind
-thinking it would be useful to talk about how our minds are built up
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Document Summary
Michael is trying to make some sort of compromise that will allow luke to leave the land then come back. The only communication is the covenant made over the big rock. This promise is unable to be moved beyond the land. Wordsworth believes in the importance of this way of life in creating the landscape around him. Wordsworth wants to be a second son to michael, one who uses narratives and poetry to find some kind of compromised position. Michael can"t figure out a way to keep both the land and his son. This model of comradeship is grounded in longevity and labour. Apotheosis: making a thing divine, building up value so that ultimately things become more human as they work longer for us, such as the lamp becoming the evening star. All the objects play a role in the society. The problematic other world of the kinsman who cannot pay his loan is replacing.
