The Rise of England. Unit 1. Old Western Culture A Christian Approach to the Great Books Year 4: The Early Moderns. Workbook and Answer Key

Transcription

1 Old Western Culture A Christian Approach to the Great Books Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1 The Rise of England Workbook and Answer Key Version 1.1.0

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3 R O MAN M EDIA R O A D S Roman Roads Media is a publisher of classical Christian curriculum. Just as the first century roads of the Roman Empire were the physical means by which the early church spread the gospel far and wide, so Roman Roads Media uses today s technology in print and media to bring timeless truth, goodness, and beauty into your home. Roman Roads Media: classical education, in your home. Old Western Culture is a literature curriculum covering the Great Books of Western Civilization. It is a classical curriculum, based on the great books of western civilization. It is a Christian curriculum, which sees the history and literature of the West through the eyes of the Bible and historic Christianity. It is an integrated humanities curriculum, bringing together literature, history, philosophy, doctrine, geography, and art. And it is a homeschool oriented curriculum, made by homeschoolers with the needs of homeschooled in mind, including flexibility, affordability, and ease of use. Year 1: The Greeks Unit 1: The Epics The Poems of Homer Unit 2: Drama and Lyric The Tragedies, Comedies, and Minor Poems Unit 3: The Histories Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon Unit 4: The Philosophers Aristotle and Plato Year 3: Christendom Unit 1: Early Medievals The Growth of European Christianity Unit 2: The Defense of the Faith Scholastics of the High Middle Ages Unit 3: The Medieval Mind Dante and Aquinas Unit 4: The Reformation Post Tenebras Lux Year 2: The Romans Unit 1: The Aeneid Vergil and Other Roman Epics Unit 2: The Historians From Idea to Empire Unit 3: Early Christianity Clement, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, and Eusebius Unit 4: Nicene Christianity Athanasius, Augustine, and Boethius Year 4: Early Moderns Unit 1: Rise of England Metaphysical Poets, Milton, and Shakespeare. Unit 2: Politcs and Poetry Romantic and Victorian Poets in the Age of Revolution Unit 3: The Enlightenment Descartes, Galileo, Newton, Locke, Hume, and Kant Unit 4: The Novels Austen, Dickens, Dostoevsky, and Lewis. Published by Roman Roads Media in Moscow, Idaho Early Moderns: Rise of England (Old Western Culture), Copyright 2018 by Roman Roads Media, LLC Cover Design: Rachel Rosales and Daniel Foucachon. Copyediting and Interior Layout: Valerie Anne Bost Writers: Christiana Hale, based off the lectures of Wesley J. Callihan. General Editor: Daniel Foucachon. All rights reserved.

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5 Table of Contents Introduction and Overview Lesson 1: Introduction to the Early Moderns Lesson 2: Introduction to Shakespeare Lesson 3: Shakespeare s Sonnets Lesson 4: Shakespeare s King Lear Lesson 5: Shakespeare s Richard III Lesson 6: Shakespeare s Merchant of Venice Lesson 7: Metaphysical Poets: John Donne Lesson 8: Metaphysical Poets: Herbert and Marvell Lesson 9: Introduction to John Milton Lesson 10: Milton s Paradise Lost I Lesson 11: Milton s Paradise Lost II Lesson 12: Milton s Paradise Lost III Answer Key

6 Introduction and Overview If you could take only ten books to a deserted island on which you were to be marooned for the rest of your life, what would they be? As Mortimer Adler says, this is no game we are all in precisely that position. We are simply unable to read all the books there are; therefore, we had better choose well. Some books exercise our minds by their rigor and move our spirits by their beauty with every reading. Some books help us communicate with our culture because they have been a common element in education for centuries. Some books aid our understanding of the physical world by a clear exposition of careful observations by powerful minds. But very few books do any of these things well. And as C. S. Lewis says, old books give us a radically different perspective on life and our assumptions, and no modern books can do this at all, no matter how good they are. As Christians, we understand that ours is an historical faith, one that originated, developed, and grew in certain times at certain places. To study and understand the long stream of history and thought and to comprehend our place in that stream is to increase our appreciation of our cultural inheritance, our ability to use wisely and build faithfully upon that inheritance, and our ability to understand and respond to God s work in history. The conclusion we may draw from all of this is that the old books are best, and the best of the old books are the best of all. That is why we read the great books. Join us in Old Western Culture as we explore the best of the old books from a Christian perspective! A Reading of Homer, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1885 about the instructors Wes Callihan Peter Leithart Wesley Callihan grew up on a farm in Idaho and earned a bachelor s in history from the University of Idaho in He has taught at Logos School, the University of Idaho, and New Saint Andrews College, all in Moscow, Idaho, as well as Veritas Academy in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Wes is a co-author of Classical Education and the Homeschool and the founder of Schola Classical Tutorials, through which he teaches online classes on the great books, astronomy, church history, Greek, and Latin. Wes and his wife, Dani, have six children and a growing brood of grandchildren.

7 Peter Leithart, PhD, is President of Theopolis Institute and an adjunct Senior Fellow of Theology at New St. Andrews College, Moscow, Idaho. He is the author of many books, including Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide to Six Shakespeare Plays. He received an A.B. in English and History from Hillsdale College in 1981, and a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in 1986 and In 1998 he received his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in England. He and his wife, Noel, have ten children and seven grandchildren. How to Use This Course Old Western Culture is a four-year curriculum covering the great books of Western Civilization. The four years are divided into The Greeks, The Romans, Christendom, and Early Moderns. For centuries, study of the great books lay at the heart of what it meant to be educated. It was the education of the Church Fathers, of the Medieval Church, of the Reformers, and of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Old Western Culture is a classical and Christian integrated high school (grades 9 12) humanities curriculum created with the purpose of preserving a knowledge of the books and ideas that shaped Western Civilization. Recommended Schedule Old Western Culture is designed to accommodate a traditional nine-week term (for a thirty-six week school year). A recommended schedule is provided below. We expect the average student to spend one to three hours per day on this course: first completing the assigned readings and answering the workbook questions under the Reading header, and then watching the lectures and answering the video questions under the Lecture header. Materials Video Lessons. The instructors deep knowledge of the classics and decades of teaching experience are a rich resource for homeschool families. Each unit is divided into twelve lectures. The Great Books. Old Western Culture immerses students in reading the classics themselves rather than just reading about them. Families have two options for acquiring the texts: 1. Use or purchase your own texts. Chances are, you already own at least some of these classics, so feel free to use your own copies. A list of recommended translations, including Amazon links, can be found at romanroadsmedia.com, but specific translations or editions are not required. 2. Use the Old Western Culture Readers. Many units of Old Western Culture now have readers that gather all the assigned reading into one volume. Purchase a paperback copy ($29 each), or order an Amazon Kindle edition. The Student Workbook. Purchase a hard copy, or visit romanroadsmedia.com/materials to download a free PDF. The workbook questions allow students to test their understanding of the reading assignments and the lectures. The Answer Key at the end of the workbook provides very 3

8 Old Western Culture Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1: The Rse of England concise answers to the essay questions. They are not intended to be comprehensive. In many cases entire papers could be written in response to an essay question from this workbook, and students are encouraged to pursue questions which spark their curiosity. Use the short answers as a baseline for further conversation and expanded answers. Exams. Two exams are available (Exam A and Exam B) for download from the Materials page on romanroadsmedia.com. Students may use one for practice, or for retake. The Teacher s Edition of the Exam (seperate PDF) includes answers as well as notes on grading. Additional Resources. Visit romanroadsmedia.com/materials for an up-to-date list of additional resources. Note: Throughout all materials, we have avoided referencing original works by edition-specific page numbers. We instead provide location identifiers such as book, chapter, section, and line numbers in order to maintain the flexibility to use multiple translation options. Additional Assignments In addition to the reading, lectures, and workbook questions, students will complete the following: Term Paper. Students may choose a paper topic from the discussion questions at the end of each lesson, expand on an essay question from any lesson, or choose a topic of their own based on the works or themes of this term. The term paper should be 750 1,200 words long and should persuasively articulate a thesis while drawing on examples from the original works. Final Exam. Visit to download the most recent final exams. Two options, Exam A and Exam B, are provided. The exams are similar in style and difficulty, but the content varies. Students who score lower than 90 percent on Exam A should take Exam B two days later to help reinforce subject mastery. Age Level In Old Western Culture students will encounter mature themes such as paganism, sexual immorality, detailed battle descriptions (mostly in actual reading), and nudity in classical painting and sculpture. We recommend the series for ages fourteen and above, but of course parents will want to consider the maturity levels of their own children and discuss these issues with them. 4

9 R e c o m m e n d e d Nine-Week Schedule Key: F Watch Lectures t Answer Workbook Questions l Read Texts y Complete Additional Assignments Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday 1 F Lecture 1 t Lecture Questions F Lecture 2 t Lecture Questions l Sonnets: 3, 73, 55, 60, 103, 106 t Reading Questions F Lecture 3 t Lecture Questions l King Lear, Acts l King Lear, Acts 3 4 l King Lear, Act 5 t Reading Questions F Lecture 4 t Lecture Questions l Richard III, Acts 1 2 l Richard III, Acts l Richard III, Act 5 t Reading Questions F Lecture 5 t Lecture Questions l Merchant of Venice, Acts 1 2 l Merchant of Venice, Acts 3 4 l Merchant of Venice, Act 5 t Reading Questions 4 F Lecture 6 t Lecture Questions l A Valediction Forbidding Mourning, Holy Sonnets X & XIV, Meditation XVII t Reading Questions F Lecture 7 t Lecture Questions l Redemption, The Collar, Love 3, To His Coy Mistress t Reading Questions F Lecture 8 t Lecture Questions 5 l On the Morning of Christ s Nativity, On His Blindness, On the Late Massacre in Piedmont t Reading Questions F Lecture 9 t Lecture Questions l Paradise Lost Book 1 2 l Paradise Lost Book 3 l Paradise Lost Book 4 t Reading Questions 6 F Lecture 10 t Lecture Questions l Paradise Lost Bks 5 6 l Paradise Lost Book 7 l Paradise Lost Book 8 t Reading Questions F Lecture 11 t Lecture Questions 7 l Paradise Lost Bks 9 10 l Paradise Lost Book 11 l Paradise Lost Book 12 t Reading Questions F Lecture 12 t Lecture Questions y Work on Paper 8 y Work on Paper y Work on Paper y Work on Paper y Work on Paper y Paper: Draft Due 9 y Exam A y Exam B (if Exam A score is below 90%) y Paper: Final Due 5

10 Old Western Culture Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1: The Rse of England Lesson 1 Introduction to the Early Moderns reading No reading for this lesson. lecture Watch Lecture 1, and then answer the following questions. 1. What are two main themes we will see in the works we are reading this year? 2. What is the name frequently given to the group of poets including men like John Donne and George Herbert? 3. What is the Enlightenment? 6

11 4. What is the Romantic movement? Discussion Question Why do you think it is important to read literature that is more than a century old? 7

12 Old Western Culture Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1: The Rse of England Lesson 2 Introduction to Shakespeare reading No reading for this lesson. lecture Watch Lecture 2, and then answer the following questions. 1. What two kinds of evidence do scholars use to establish authorship of the works of Shakespeare? 2. What, according to Aristotle, does hamartia mean? 3. What is the Christian vision of deep comedy that is reflected in Shakespeare s comedies? 8

13 4. Why were reading Roman plays and trying to learn the lessons of Roman history popular pastimes among Elizabethan thinkers and playwrights? Discussion Question What role does desire play in Shakespeare s comedies?character, in the midst of many fake characters? Additional Resources: Simply Shakespeare, Toby Widdicombe Brightest Heaven of Invention, Peter J. Leithart 9

14 Old Western Culture Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1: The Rse of England Lesson 3 Shakespeare s Sonnets reading Read Shakespeare s Sonnets 3, 73, 55, 60, 103, and What are two themes that Shakespeare writes about in his sonnets that seek to present a challenge to mutability and death? (Sonnets 3 and 55) 2. What does his cruel hand in line 14 of Sonnet 60 refer to? What is the author s consolation at the end of the sonnet? 3. Line 12 of Sonnet 73 reads, Consum d with that which it was nourish d by. What is the that referring to? lecture Watch Lecture 3, and then answer the following questions. 4. What is poetry? 10

15 5. How does poetry in particular express God s image? 6. What are three main themes that these Sonnets cycle through? Discussion Questions Describe the relationship between love and the mutability that characterizes our existence as human beings as presented in the Sonnets. Discuss poetry as an excess of language. What does that mean? What is the relationship between the practical nature of language (basic communication) and poetry (excessive communication or language)? Do we need poetry? 11

16 Old Western Culture Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1: The Rse of England Lesson 4 Shakespeare s King Lear reading Read Shakespeare s King Lear, entire work. 1. What does Cordelia mean when she says, my love s more ponderous than my tongue (Act 1, Scene 1, lines 79 80)? 2. Lear calls himself a man more sinned against than sinning (Act 3, Scene 2, lines ). Is this entirely true? Why or why not? 3. After King Lear s death at the end of the play, who takes up the rule of the kingdom? 12

17 Lecture Watch Lecture 4, and then answer the following questions. 4. Why do many critics think that King Lear displays an absurdist/nihilistic, meaningless, and despairing worldview? (multiple possible answers) 5. How is Cordelia a Christ figure? 6. What, according to Dr. Leithart, is the basic theme of King Lear? Discussion Question Does King Lear present a Christian worldview? Why or why not? 13

18 Old Western Culture Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1: The Rse of England Lesson 5 Shakespeare s Richard III reading Read Shakespeare s Richard III, entire work. 1. What does Richard s opening speech tell us about his character and his plans? (Act 1, Scene 1) 2. What is the significance of Henry s wounds reopening and bleeding afresh while his corpse is carried towards burial? (Act 1, Scene 2) 3. On the eve of battle, ghosts appear to both Richard and Richmond. What are their reactions to these visitations? (Act 5, Scene 3) lecture Watch Lecture 5, and then answer the following questions. 4. What is the overall thrust of this series of plays (the two tetralogies)? 14

19 5. In what way has Richard III adopted the philosophy of Machiavelli? 6. How is Richard III a tragedy not just about the king, but about the nation of England? Discussion Question How do the kings of the tetralogies (Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, and Richard III) show us the progression of the philosophy and view of kingship in England? 15

20 Old Western Culture Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1: The Rse of England Lesson 6 Shakespeare s Merchant of Venice reading Read Shakespeare s Merchant of Venice, entire work. 1. Why does Bassanio wish to marry Portia, and what prevents him from courting her? (Act 1, Scene 1) 2. How is Shylock s loan to Antonio different from Antonio s loan to Bassanio? (Act 1, Scene 3) 3. What is Portia s reaction to the news that Bassanio is virtually penniless and that Antonio is in trouble for his sake? (Act 3, Scene 2) lecture Watch Lecture 6, and then answer the following questions. 4. What are the three separate locations that the play takes place in? What is the character of each place, and what do these place picture together? 16

21 5. How does the rescued become the rescuer in this play? 6. How does Portia trap Shylock? Discussion Question How is The Merchant of Venice a very Protestant, Pauline play? How does the final courtroom scene express a deep understanding of gospel grace? How many triads (or sets of three) can you find in The Merchant of Venice? 17

22 Old Western Culture Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1: The Rse of England Lesson 7 Metaphysical Poets: John Donne reading Read Donne s A Valediction Forbidding Mourning, Holy Sonnets 10, and 14, Meditation What is the significance of Donne s use of sleep as a metaphor for death? (Holy Sonnet 10) 2. What does Donne mean when he calls Reason God s viceroy in me? (Holy Sonnet 14)? 3. In Meditation 17, Donne compares mankind to chapters of a book and to parts of a continent. What implications does this have for the tolling of the bell? lecture Watch Lecture 7, and then answer the following questions. 4. Where does the term metaphysical poets come from? 18

23 5. What are the three kinds of sonnets that are very common in English literature? 6. Describe the rhetorical device apostrophe. How does Donne uses it in Sonnet 10? Discussion Question Discuss the theme of death and suffering in Donne s Meditation 17. Is his message encouraging or depressing? Why or why not? 19

24 Old Western Culture Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1: The Rse of England Lesson 8 Metaphysical Poets: Herbert and Marvell reading Read Herbert s Redemption, The Collar, and Love III and Marvell s To His Coy Mistress. 1. What is pictured by the old lease that the tenant wishes to cancel in the first stanza of Herbert s Redemption? 2. What is the poet s soul guilty of in Love III, line 2? 3. What type of poem is Marvell trying to imitate in his To His Coy Mistress? lecture Watch Lecture 8, and then answer the following questions. 4. What was the Interregnum ( )? 20

25 5. What are the three significant events that take place during the seventeenth century concerning the English government? 6. What did Andrew Marvell have to do with the writing of Paradise Lost? Discussion Question 7. Discuss George Herbert s use of the volta or turn of thought and imagery that often occurs in the last couple of lines of his poems. What is the effect that this device has? Do you think he uses it well? 21

26 Old Western Culture Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1: The Rse of England Lesson 9 The Reformation in England reading Read Milton s On the Morning of Christ s Nativity, On His Blindness, and On the Late Massacre in Piedmont. 1. What is Milton imitating when he invokes the Heavenly Muse in stanza three of On the Morning of Christ s Nativity? 2. And that one Talent which is death to hide / Lodged with me useless What is the Talent that Milton is referring to in On His Blindness? 3. What does Milton ask God to do with the martyred blood and ashes (lines 10-11)? 22

27 Lecture Watch Lecture 9, and then answer the following questions. 4. What is one of the reasons that Milton wrote his Areopagitica (a defense of free speech and free press)? That is, what was he responding to? 5. What does Milton seem to have believed about creatio ex nihilo? 6. What was the old meaning of the word fond? (See Sonnet 16/19 On His Blindness ) 7. What was the name of the group of Protestants who were slaughtered in Italy, thus leading to Milton s writing Sonnet 15/18 On the Late Massacre in Piedmont? Discussion Questions Explore Milton s use of Psalm-like imagery and language in his sonnets. What effect does this have on the reader? Is it forceful? Why or why not? In Milton s sonnet On the Late Massacre in Piedmont, what does The triple tyrant refer to? Why does Milton refer to the Waldensians as a people who kept thy truth so pure of old? 23

28 Old Western Culture Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1: The Rse of England Lesson 10 Milton s Paradise Lost I reading Read Milton s Paradise Lost, Books Who is the one greater Man referred to in Book I, line 4? 2. In Book 2, what is the plan that Satan and his followers finally decide to act upon? 3. What event in Milton s personal life is he talking about in Book 3, lines 45 55? 4. What is Satan s primary motivation in plotting the downfall of mankind? (Book 4, lines ) lecture Watch Lecture 10, and then answer the following questions. 5. What meter does Milton use in Paradise Lost? 6. What does Milton assert is his main purpose in writing Paradise Lost? 24

29 7. What did the word world mean in Milton s time? Discussion Question Describe Satan s personality as depicted in Paradise Lost. Do you find him charismatic and convincing? Why or why not? Why do you think many readers and critics find Satan more interesting than Adam in his unfallen state? 25

30 Old Western Culture Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1: The Rse of England Lesson 11 Milton s Paradise Lost II reading Read Milton s Paradise Lost, Books What does Eve dream about under the influence of Satan? (Book 5, lines 28ff). 2. What happens on the third day of the battle in Heaven against Satan? (Book 6) 3. Why does Raphael twice call mankind thrice happy men? That is, what are the three blessings that make men thrice happy? (Book 7, lines ) 4. After Raphael briefly answers Adam s question concerning the celestial motions, what does Raphael tell Adam he should concern himself with? (Book 8, lines ) 26

31 Lecture Watch Lecture 10, and then answer the following questions. 5. Why does Raphael say that he has been sent down to Adam? 6. What did Augustine say about the first sin (and all sins, fundamentally)? 7. What does Raphael tell Adam about curiosity and desire for knowledge? Discussion Question How might Raphael s repeated warnings to Adam (about the coming temptation, against being tempted to submit to Eve s beauty, etc.) play a part in Milton s project to justify the ways of God to men? 27

32 Old Western Culture Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1: The Rse of England Lesson 12 Milton s Paradise Lost III reading Read Milton s Paradise Lost, Books What three works of poetry is Milton referring to in his mentions of 1) the wrath / of stern Achilles, 2) the rage of Turnus for Lavinia, and 3) Neptune s ire, or Juno s, that so long / Perplexed the Greek and Cytherea s son? (Book 9, lines Who descends from heaven to give sentence to Adam and Eve? What does he do next? (Book 10, lines ) 3. What is the unexpected stroke, worse than of death! that Eve laments in Book 11, line 268? 4. Who is the second stock that the angel Michael is referring to in Book 12, line 7? lecture Watch Lecture 12, and then answer the following questions. 5. What is theologically problematic with Eve s request to work separately from Adam and Adam s subsequent agreement? 28

33 6. Satan is not concerned about being logical in his arguments to Eve. What is he concerned about? 7. Some of the Romantic poets (such as Byron and Shelley) read Paradise Lost and found Satan as the great hero. What happens to Satan and his devils in the end of the poem that argues against this interpretation? 8. Despite the title, how does Paradise Lost end on a high and encouraging note? Discussion Question What is your opinion of Milton s characterization of Adam and Eve and their relationship to one another? Do you think it is a biblically accurate representation? Why or why not? How would our broader culture view this relationship? 29

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36 Old Western Culture Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1: The Rse of England Lesson 1 Introduction to the Early Moderns 1. First, the growth of great scientific and technological ideas and man s basic dominion over the world by a systematic, logical application of observation, the principles of science, and so on. Second, the breakdown and the degeneration of the old Christendom that made Europe what it was in the medieval period. We ll see the growth of skepticism, the growth of rationalism, and the denial of the power of revelation. 2. The metaphysical poets 3. A philosophical movement that began to put excessive trust in human reason in logic and rationality as the source of meaning and truth and significance instead of revelation 4. A philosophical movement that rejected the trust in reason and instead moved to a reliance on emotion, intuition, imagination, and feeling as the source of truth, meaning, and significance. Lesson 2 Introduction to Shakespeare 1. 1) Attributed authorship on published copies of the plays. 2) Evidence from contemporaries (e.g., are there writers and playwrights who are contemporaries of Shakespeare who acknowledge Shakespeare as a poet/playwright). 2. Hamartia is a missing of the mark, sometimes called a tragic flaw or moral flaw on the part of the main character. It can also look like a tragic/moral blunder, that is, a mistake made unknowingly (e.g., in the story of Oedipus). 3. The biblical idea that Dr. Leithart calls deep comedy is the idea that the end of human history is going to be better than the beginning. It is the movement from a garden to a garden city ( Eden glorified ). 4. Elizabethans considered Rome, far more than Greece, to be the source of their civilization and thus more important to learn from than the period of Greek power and the supremacy of Athens. Lesson 3 Shakespeare s Sonnets 1. Reproduction and writing. You can live on in your offspring and in words written about you, particularly in poetry. The passing of time. 2. His cruel hand refers to the passing of time. The author finds consolation that his verse shall stand after time sweeps him away, that is, people when remember his written works. 3. As flame nourishes a fire, and consumes the wood, so also the author s youth nourished him, but also consumed him over time. The author s youth is now a glowing ember soon to be extinshguised. In short, time or maturity has consumed him. 4. Poetry is a concentrated excess of language; a use of language or speech that is both concentrated and excessive. 5. God is a speaker and a maker. We are made in the image of a God who creates and creates things that are completely unnecessary. God needs nothing outside of Himself, and yet He created the world and all that is in it. Poetry, like other arts, is an unnecessary use of language; it both says things that need to be said at all as well as saying them using an excess of language. 6. Change/mutability, love, and writing. Lesson 4 Shakespeare s King Lear 1. Her love for her father is greater and truer than she can express with words. She cannot flatter her father as her sisters do, because she 32

37 loves rightly, with appropriate affection befitting a loving daughter. 2. No. Lear, while certainly misused by his treacherous daughters and their husbands, bore some responsibility because he had relinquished his power by giving his kingdom over to his daughters. He also banished his only obedient and loving daughter out of anger that she could not flatter him as her sisters did. He showed himself blind to the love of Cordelia, susceptible to the flattery of Goneril and Regan, and foolish in managing his kingdom. 3. Edgar. 4. 1) The play ends where it began. 2) The play raises hopes only to dash them. 3) The play employs comic effects within the tragedy, which hints at a possible comic resolution. 5. She is even more beloved because she s been forsaken by her father (king of France uses language from Isaiah). She plays a redemptive role throughout the play. When her father asks if she is his daughter Cordelia, she responds with I am. 6. If you demolish the hierarchy of society, then everything is at war with everything else. Nobody knows his place, and everyone is at war with each other. Everything descends into appetite, and everything eventually becomes cannibalistic and eats up itself. Lesson 5 Shakespeare s Richard III 1. Richard confesses that he is not suited to this time of peace and, because of his deformity, is not fit to play a courtier. He therefore purposes to become a villain. 2. They reopen at the presence of his murderer, Richard. 3. Richard is fearful and suspicious, desiring to test the loyalty of his soldiers by spying on them. Richmond, on the other hand, is encouraged and confident that the next day s fighting will bring victory. 4. The development of a certain kind of politics that is distinctly different from the medieval outlook that is represented by Richard II. 5. His kingship depends on his ability to manipulate and control the people around him. He is the consummate actor in every scenario, willing to do anything and embracing brutality and violence while smiling and putting on a show of piety. 6. The villainous king (Richard III) begins to infect the entire kingdom. Everyone around him begins to become murderous, to dissemble and lie and hide their real intentions. The whole kingdom collapses when the king is immoral and murderous. Lesson 6 Shakespeare s Merchant of Venice 1. She is fair and virtuous (and rich). But he is not rich enough to compare with her other suitors. 2. Shylock s loan is rooted in contempt and a desire for gain and thus has conditions upon it. He places a harsh interest on the loan his pound of flesh from Antonio. Antonio makes his loan to Bassanio out of love and affection and a desire to help Bassanio in his efforts to woo Portia. There are no harsh conditions placed on its repayment. 3. She thinks nothing of the debt owed, offering to pay it twenty times over. She loves Bassanio and wishes him to know no disquiet, and because Antonio loves Bassanio as well, she therefore loves Antonio. 4. 1) Venice great commercial city, place of law and business, ruled by ) money and the desire 33

38 Old Western Culture Year 4: The Early Moderns Unit 1: The Rse of England for profit, the city of man, 2) Belmont beautiful mountain, everything that Venice is not, place of music and art, place of nighttime, a lunar location, grace and beauty, a touch of heaven on earth, city of God, and 3) the home of Shylock hell on earth. Together these places form a kind of cosmos heaven and earth and the abyss under the earth. 5. Portia, rescued from her casket and the law of her father by Bassanio, immediately turns around and becomes the rescuer of Bassanio s friend, Antonio. 6. She traps Shylock by insisting on the letter of the law even more strictly than Shylock the Jew. She brings mercy by insisting on the very letter of the law. Lesson 7 Metaphysical Poets: John Donne 1. As after sleep there is waking, so after death comes resurrection. 2. He means that Reason is a ruler in his own soul, subordinate to God Himself. However, in this instance, Reason fails him and proves weak or untrue. 3. The tolling of the bell is for you and for me. Mankind is linked by a divinely instituted bond, and so when one man is buried, that action concerns us. 4. Dryden, in the late 1600s, used the term as a pejorative, saying that these poets appealed to metaphysics instead of sticking with the senses. Samuel Johnson, famous literary critic in the 1700s, popularized the term. 5. English (Shakespearean) sonnet, Spenserian sonnet, and the Italian sonnet. 6. Apostrophe is a type of personification in which the speaker addresses something e.g., an object, a place, an abstract idea, or a person that isn t there as if it were there and could hear him. In Sonnet 10, the speaker uses an apostrophe to address Death. Lesson 8 Metaphysical Poets: Herbert and Marvell 1. The old lease could be referring either to the tenant s sin/guilt or to the old covenant with its attendant sacrifices. Likely, it is referring to both. 2. Dust and sin. 3. He is attempting to write what is called a carpe diem poem, imitating the Roman poets like Ovid. 4. This is the period between kingdoms when England was a Republic with a Lord Protector (Oliver Cromwell) rather than a monarchy with a king. 5. The English Civil War (at the end of which the king is beheaded), the Interregnum, and the Restoration (of the monarchy). 6. Andrew Marvell was a friend of John Milton and was instrumental in getting Milton out of prison, after which time Milton wrote his great epic. Milton had been thrown in prison for his actions and ideals during the Interregnum and the beheading of the previous king. Lesson 9 Introduction to John Milton 1. He is imitating classic works of poetry, such as Homer and Vergil, in which the muses of Greek and Roman mythology are called upon to assist the poet in his work. 2. His writing. (It is also a reference to the talents in the Parable of the Talents in Matthew He asks that God sow them over all of the Italian fields. This echoes Tertullian s statement 34

39 that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. 4. Milton had written a pamphlet arguing that divorce ought to be made easier than it was at the time. This received a lot of push-back and made many people unhappy. The Areopagitica was written in response to that push-back. 5. It seems that Milton believed that God created the world out of some sort of pre-existent matter, much like a potter makes vessels out of clay. 6. Foolish. 7. The Waldensians. Lesson 10 Milton s Paradise Lost I 1. Jesus. 2. They decide to investigate the rumor or prophesy that had circulated in Heaven regarding the creation of a new world so that they might see if some sort of mischief may be enacted there. 3. His blindness. 4. Revenge. 5. Iambic pentameter. 6. To justify the ways of God to men. 7. All that exists; all of creation. The same as what the ancient Greeks meant by cosmos and the Romans meant by mundus. Lesson 11 Milton s Paradise Lost II 1. She dreams of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and a bright angel that encourages her to take and eat of it. 2. God sends His Son, the Messiah, to rout Satan and his followers. 3. They were 1) created in God s image, 2) placed in the garden to dwell and worship God, and 3) given rule and dominion over creation. 4. With the things God has given him Paradise and his Eve. 5. To warn Adam of the coming temptation. 6. Sin is at root refusing to adhere to God. All sins are a falling away from clinging to God. 7. He cautions him about being too desirous of knowledge for its own sake. He says it s a kind of greed or gluttony, and that gathering knowledge needs to be tempered. Lesson 12 Milton s Paradise Lost III 1. The Iliad, the Aeneid, and the Odyssey. 2. The Son. He clothes them out of pity. 3. Being banished from Paradise. 4. Noah. 5. It sounds like there is a little bit of doubt entering in before the Fall. The other issue is that Gabriel has already warned Adam of the dangers of idolizing his wife and giving in to her against his better judgment. 6. He is concerned about rhetoric and about being persuasive. 7. Satan and his followers are turned into serpents. 8. In the vision that is given to Adam, we see that God will do something in the world that no one could have anticipated and even the angels could only guess at. 35

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