English paper #2

[Spicy McHaggis 0]

Same deal as last time. I have to pick out passages and interpret the language/meaning. I'm doing it on Tennyson's "In Memoriam", Stanzas 54-56.

 

Here's a link: http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display...124.html#poem54

 

So far, I like:

 

#1

Oh, yet we trust that somehow good

Will be the final goal of ill,

To pangs of nature, sins of will,

Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;

 

That nothing walks with aimless feet;

That not one life shall be destroy'd,

Or cast as rubbish to the void,

When God hath made the pile complete;

 

That not a worm is cloven in vain;

 

 

#2

I falter where I firmly trod,

And falling with my weight of cares

Upon the great world's altar-stairs

That slope thro' darkness up to God,

 

I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope,

And gather dust and chaff, and call

To what I feel is Lord of all,

And faintly trust the larger hope.

 

 

#3

Man, her last work, who seem'd so fair,

Such splendid purpose in his eyes,

Who roll'd the psalm to wintry skies,

Who built him fanes of fruitless prayer,

 

Who trusted God was love indeed

And love Creation's final law --

Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw

With ravine, shriek'd against his creed --

 

 

#1, questioning the notion that everything happens for a reason. #2, spiritual//religious doubt; and #3, conflict b/t God and nature; are separate. Any insights from parts or all of these passages, or the link, would be much appreciated. It's due Thursday.

 

Thanks.

Edited November 7, 2003 by Spicy McHaggis

[Sandman9000 0]

Nothing on sparknotes.com?

[Spicy McHaggis 0]

shit...they do poems? I totally forgot.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

U of T? I actually might go there next year, but I'm worried about it because apparently their undergrad science is ridiculous, as in fucking RIDICULOUS.

 

What's your program?

[Spicy McHaggis 0]

I don't go there, just using the link.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Ahh, I figured as much, just thought you used the link because it showed a specific assignment or something. My bad.

[Papacita 0]

Alright...this isn't as deep a reading as I gave you last time, but I hope this helps out some.

 

Here's my take on the stuff that you quoted:

 

1 and 2: Pretty much what you said. He's questioning how everything in life happens for a reason.

 

3: He's basically expressing how hard it is to stay on the path to heaven, or to believe in religious doctrine. He says "I falter where I firmly trod"...a definition for tread (present tense of trod) is to subdue or repress by trampling, and this can be interpreted as his struggle to keep his faith in God, because the urge to stop believing is always there. He also presents the stairway to heaven as a slope, which suggests an uphill battle or struggle. The second stanza here really drives the idea of struggle home...he "gropes" and reaches for salvation, but gets no concrete proof of God's/heaven's existence. He says it requires a lot of trust on man's part...and in other places in the work, he presents nature as being indifferent to man, and he seems to have the same or similar feelings about God.

 

4: I see the struggle between God and nature in other places (first few stanzas in section 55), but not so much here. The main message I'm getting here is the futility in putting blind faith in God (rolling psalms to wintry skies...suggests bleakness...little room for hope. Also, building fanes (temples) in fruitless prayer).

 

Other stuff:

 

As I said, if you're looking to comment on the struggle between God and nature, there's a lot of that in 55, where he basically says that nature facilitates a lack of faith in religious doctrine. The first stanza in 55 also makes me think that Tennyson believes that nature is the cause of religion...like, people undergo so much struggle on here on earth, that they create this notion of an afterlife in order to have something to look forward to, or to give their lives some sort of worth.

 

Also, he uses a few words that suggest separation, or splitting into two divergent paths...for instance, in the first stanza of 54, he describes his doubting of religion as a "Defect of doubt", which just suggests that he's breaking away from the typical path (religion) towards a path of atheism or agnosticism...nothing groundbreaking here, though. The splitting theme also comes up in line 9 where he says "That not a worm is cloven in vain"...cloven being a past participle of cleave, and that's defined in the dictionary as "to cut or divide into distinct groups having divergent views. And also, chaff is defined as seed coverings and debris separated from the seed in threshing grain. I dunno whether or not all of this is of any use to you though.

 

Again, hope that helps out some.

[Spicy McHaggis 0]

Thanks a ton, man. Btw, I got an A- on #1.

[Ravenbomb 0]

what GPA would someone have to have to have a chance of going to U of T?

[Papacita 0]

Thanks a ton, man. Btw, I got an A- on #1.

That's cool. Glad I could help you out.