* Journal: discuss the metaphor of 'Eldorado' in the poem.
* Compare the theme with that of my own work:
Polaris
A boy climbs the wall to reach a star.
Should a man turn his gaze to the ground?
I will look up, my arm outstretched
Though age brings agony; the days
Of the world take me to my knees.
Though failing, laid weak upon the ground,
Still will I reach, gnarled hand, hopeless.
For when, at last, I fly this dusty shell
That outstretched arm will guide me true; home
* Contrast the theme and the tone of the two.
* Discuss the meaning of 'shadow' which is repeated in each of the stanzas in 'Eldorado.'
HW: page 616 #5
11R
* Check reading logs
* Reading logs should be done around every 20 pages. There is leeway either way.
* Discuss the connection between the flashbacks and the main story line. Example: the first flashback is connected to the main story line by the word 'jury'. How is the context connected?
* Hw read through page 88. Should be at least two logs.
English Lit
* Read and respond to Shakespeare Sonnets 29, 130
XXIX
When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
CXXX
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,
As any she belied with false compare.
* Note the irony in 130, which is almost a parody of the exalted language of the lyric poetry of the time.
* HW: I'm giving more time to study the Shakespeare handout in order to choose the sonnet to be analyzed and presented. Next Tuesday is the deadline.
