September 30 2010

1)      Let’s begin with a journal assignment: (Suggested: 10 Minutes)

1. Last time, we talked about creativity – and when and why you were creative. Today, I want to ask another, related question: What is, or is there, a difference between “art” and “entertainment.” If so, what is it and why?

2)      Group Discussion:  (Suggested: 5-10 Minutes)

1. Share ideas and come up with a list of “art works” and “entertainments”

3)      Class Discussion: (5-10 Minutes)

Mini-Lecture:

Eight Points to Remember:

1)      You may have noticed that, unlike Wordsworth – who writes about people and nature – Keats is writing about artworks: The works of Homer, Shakespeare, and a rather mysterious “Grecian Urn.”

2)      This is quite a change for the Romantic project – one assumes, for example, that Lucy and the Leech Gatherer would not have had access to Homer, Shakespeare, or fancy Urns.

3)      So we might ask ourselves if the poetic experience we derive from these works is the same, or similar to, or even compatible with the poetic experience we have when we read Wordsworth. I would argue that it is not.

Even though there are similarities.

4)      The crucial question, it seems to me, is if Keats can be enjoyed by readers who are not familiar with the subjects he is writing about.

What is the experience of the Homer poems or the Lear poem if you do not know these texts?

(watch The BBC version of King Lear. It is fantastic!)

5)      It is tempting, I think, for readers unfamiliar with these subjects to dismiss Keats. But it seems to me that you can look at a poem like “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” which does not require any specific “extra” reading to be enjoyed, you can get a sense of what is so powerful in this work. Here is a Grecian Urn:

(I’m a little reluctant to show this, as it ruins one of the key Romantic features of the poem, which is that YOU produce the Urn in your own head (it’s the “Tyger” trick all over again)

6)   For example, Keat’s Poem essentially analyzes an artistic work, evaluates its  contents, and comes to a stunning conclusion about it.

The artwork poses a question, or a statement, which is that “Beauty is truth, truth beauty” This can be taken literally, or ironically. “Artwork is, in and of itself, as meaningful as any other subject — including you.” (Wow)

7)      Keats helps us read by opening the artistic subject to inquiry, just like Wordsworth helps us by opening our memories to inquiry – just as we see that there is more to our memories than we might assume, Keats helps us consider the significance of the artwork in and of itself.

There is no commentary on the supernatural here, and that’s important too.

8)      “Beauty is truth, truth beauty” – that is all/ Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”

Is it?

Welcome to “The Victorian Age”

Things are about to get weird…very weird…

Your homework for Tuesday is t0 read “The Victorian Age” 979-999