I did enjoy the poems but I identify more with romanticism. I think it is because Romanticism is still present in today’s society. Sensibility is such a hard concept. I did read the readings this week but find it hard to identify the poems with sensibility.

Link: ann-yearsley

Also, I will post a link later today to my powerpoint presentation that I did last week on Ann Yearsley.

The most interesting of all the readings was Swift’s The Lady’s Dressing Room and Lady Montagu’s response to Swift’s poem. The Lady’s Dressing Room was a no-holds barred, descriptive poem of the female’s dressing room and the disgusting nature of it. The poem was very sing-songy and featured lines like:”But oh! it turned poor Strephon’s bowels,/When he beheld and smelt the towels,/Begummed,bemattered, and beslimed/With Dirt, and Sweat, and Ear-Wax grimed” (Swift 503). It is a very descriptive, disgusting poem and its up there with the sexual descriptiveness of “Signor Dildo”.

It is also interesting to look at Lady Montagu’s response. You can tell she is upset at Swift and attacks him viciously in her poem. To finish off the poem, Montagu writes: “[...]I’m glad you’ll write,/You’ll furnish paper when I shite’” (Montagu 703). Montagu’s poem is also very sing-songy, probably to match the style of Swift’s poem. She uses this poem to make the point that men are no different that women and to tell Swift how dare he write about a women that way.

Defoe’s work was also interesting in that he actually got arrested for writing it. Defoe was angry at the monarchy and this piece of short prose was a scathing criticism of the monarchy and the Church. The irony in all this is that Defoe’s work was not understood when it was first released. This makes for a powerful work. All in all, this week’s readings were very interesting and truly captured the spirit of the time along with some very serious issues.

Thanks and enjoy!!!!

It was an interesting read not only because of the surreal aspect of the reading but also because of Equiano’s main arguement. “But by changing your conduct, and treating your slaves as men, every cause of fear would be banished. They would be faithful, honest, intelligent and vigorous; and peace, prosperity, and happiness, would attend you” (Equiano 1014). This is the constant theme running through Equiano’s story. He feels that the way he has been treated has been great compared to most slaves and that he does not see why it cannot be universal.

I also enjoyed the article about the controversy of this text. I somehow think that this text is not a work of fiction. But, the text does seem surreal to me. It just seems that this treatment of slaves would not work. You could possibly have them run away as was the fear of one of Equiano’s masters in the text. But, I think that this system could work because these slaves might, such as Equiano, be afraid to lose their lack of abuse.

Beauplasir is so gullible. He has no idea that this is the same woman that has managed to seduce him not once, not twice, but three times as three different people!! It makes me wonder how gulliable males, including myself, are in terms of women. All in all, i really enjoyed this text.

I also liked the text written by Manley. It was astonishing to see the lust and desire that two individuals like the Duke and Charlot had for each other. I also found it neat that Manley writes such gossipy fiction during this period. Not only is it for entertainment, but it proves a point. Manley seems to, in the first few pages, describe the atributes of men and women and their functions in society. This text seems to present the male as the typical fighter and knight and the female as the desperate, love-obsessed maiden.

I really enjoyed the readings this week and they were very interesting because they, to me, are so unusual of the stereotypical writing of the time.

The first writing was from John Bunyan. It was interesting in the fact that he could connect the events that were happening to him to passages in the Bible. I don’t know of many people who can connect all of their experiences to Biblical scriptures. It was also probably the most “christian” of the readings. The second reading was by Pepys. It was like the title said a diary. I did not see anything interesting in this but the first two readings are very emblematic of the “Diary” tradition.

The Next reading by Montagu reminded me of a novel. It was just as descriptive as a novel especially the first two letters. Most life writing that I have read does not compare itself to this. This is also unlike much of the life writing that exists today. The next two readings were about Samuel Johnson. I found the first reading Life of Johnson to be less about his life and more about the conversations that Boswell had with him.

All in all, these readings are very historical because they show how biographical writing evolved. To me that is what makes these writings essential to the development of the modern biography and autobiography.

Phillips seems to be more virtuous and discrete in her actions such as in “The Virgin” where the poem acts as a kind of list of virtuous things. You have to remember that this is during the Puritan period where strict Christian morals were the way. it was a conservative period. This poem also reminded me of that part in the Bible that describes love: “Love is patient, love is kind, love is not boastful,etc”. This poem almost serves the same function except that it describes the way in which a Virgin female should act.  The list seems to be almost contradicting itself: “A face that’s modest, yet serene/ A sober, and yet lively Mein”. It can be traced to that Bible passage because it in effect doing the same thing in describing love. Love is one thing but it can’t be too much like it or it will become another is something that this same poem argues.

Wilmot on the other hand is just plain vulgar. I could not help but laugh at “Signor Dildo”. At the same time, the poem is very sexualized and sad. It is a liberalized version of the truth. The poem is like a long rant a guy is having to his drinking buddies in a bar. The main character never seems to stay put and just keeps going and going and getting turned on by the fact that he can get anything he wants. I agree with the comment made in class today about this poem degrading women and making the seem like whores and it does. But, to some extent, it is not surprising that this is coming from the mind of a man who saw his fair share of excitement over the years. It is difficult for me to say, but if a women wrote this during this time, there might have been a lot more outrage than if a man wrote this.