Sex
"'Parker had never before felt the least motion of wonder in himself'" (658).
Flannery O'Connor's "Parker's Back" (1965)
Points
of Reflection
EBB: "The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point" (1846; 1848, 1850) PDF
- what central tension does E.B.B. establish in stanza one?
who constitutes the auditor for this poem, in its opening? At what point does the intended auditor change?
- is E.B.B. concerned more with creating a sense of high fidelity (realism) in this poem, or with shaping an emotionally and aesthetically effective polemic?
- how does the narrator's devotion to God change in response to the abuse she received at the hands of her owners?
- do lines 138-40 constitute an indictment of miscegeny?
- what happens to the narrator's child, and why?
- unpack the paradox of lines 146-47.
- consider the central metaphor of stanza twenty-three: if "fruit" is the vehicle (ground), what is the tenor (figure)?
- what is the dominant tone of stanza twenty three? Celebratory? Bitter? Something else?
- how do the angels respond (at least, in the imagination of the narrator) to the narrator's surprising actions?
- is the reader encouraged to either pity or scorn the narrator?
- what are the five men who find the narrator preparing to do (l.211)?
- should the reader agree with the narrator that she is "not mad" (l.218), but perfectly sane?
- what does the narrator mean by the statement, "Our wounds are different" (l.239)?
- does the narrator curse her captors in the poem's close?
RB: "Mesmerism" (1855), 169-73
- the narrator, overjoyed by his newfound power, claims a kind of omnipotence for himself (ll. 1-4). What, exactly, does the narrator appear to want?
- consider the irony of line five.
- the narrator imagines someone approaching him via "the garret-stairs" (l.14). If he lives in a garret, what does this suggest about his socioeconomic status, and likely occupation?
- does the narrator's application of mesmerism appear to require close proximity, or does it seem capable of traversing a great distance between himself and the woman he wishes over whom he wishes to exert mind control (ll.21-25)?
- does the narrator appear preoccupied with the desired woman's personality or person (i.e. body)?
- in what state does the narrator imagine "having" this woman? What do the words "Breathing and mute, / Passive and yet aware" (ll.33-34) suggest?
- does it matter that "to have and to hold" (l.31), a part of many wedding vows, is reversed in the subsequent stanza (l.36)?
- what verbs does the narrator use to describe possession of this desired woman (ll.35, 40)?
- what does the narrator suggest about the nature of his affection when he compares his mesmerizing power over the woman to the imprint made by the sun on paper coated with silver iodide (ll.41-45)?
- does the narrator consider the "veils" around the desired woman's soul as a series of doorways waiting/wanting to be opened, or as a kind of armor that needs to be penetrated (ll.46-50)?
- whose shape is being referenced in ll.52-55?
- consider closely the narrator's choice of language (verbage, similes, metaphors) used to describe the power dynamic between himself and the woman he desires (stanzas XI-XVI). Is this language romantic?
- why does the narrator describe the woman in question as "blind with sight" as she moves through the night to find him (l.85)?
- why does the narrator characterize this woman's mind as "still, composed, strong" (l.89)?
- recall question #11 (above). Whose shape is now being referenced in l.96? What of l.122?
- how would you answer the narrator's question of whether he has given life to this woman (ll.101-105)?
- who apparently utters the words, "Take me, for I am thine!" (l.115)?
- does the woman speak when she enter's the man's space (l.120)?
- why might Browning allow the narrator to describe his dream as a "shadow" (ll.124-25)?
- to what end does the narrator pray in the closing stanzas (ll.126-35)?
The Metamorphosis of Narcissus (1937)
oil on canvas
Salvador Dalí
Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu
