Linguistics & Terence, This is Stupid Stuff

2009B Poem: “Terence, This is Stupid Stuff”
Prompt: The following poem makes use of the story of Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, who developed an immunity to poison. Read the poem carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how Housman employs literary devices in adapting the story to address concerns of the late Victorian period.

Score: 5 

"Terence, This is Stupid Stuff" by A.E. Houseman employs the historical allusion to Mithridates VI in order to address issues within the Victorian period such as the issue of the Victorian period's age of disillusionment in regards to both religion and government and the reactionary nature of people's alcoholic hedonism.

The speaker of the poem opens with a phrasing that is meant to satirically disregard the poetry of Terence -- poetry that is implied to be both sad and inwardly reasoning, a "moping melancholy mad" (13). This line is then followed by a plea from the speaker to "pipe a tune to dance to, lad." (14), meaning that the speaker would rather hear something that isn't as woebegone as Terence's poem. This is a reference to much of Victorian period literature, which focuses on bitter endings, and fractious or melancholic characters, thus adding a layer of disdainful sarcasm to these pieces, even if "Terence, This is Stupid Stuff" proceeds to take on a darker subject matter by introducing the section of the Victorian time period that took on hedonism as a proper method of rebellion against the norm of the time.

By implying that alcohol allows one to forget how bad the world may be, A.E. Houseman makes usage of a particular irony. The speaker implies that the works of Milton don't allow people to understand the world around them half as much as liquor can, as shown by the line "And malt does more thank Milton can," (21.) but goes on to state that a person should "look into the pewter pot, to see the world as the world's not." (25-26). This is a contradiction, a paradox, as he says that one should look to alcohol for answers but should also look to it in order to muddle your mind with a blissful ignorance.

However, the purpose of this alcohol discussion is related to the allusion of Mithridates VI -- and comes around back to the discussion and satire of Victorian period poetry. By placing the story of Mithridates VI last, we are meant to take in the true purpose of the poem, besides all its lauding of alcohol and how it allows people to see the truth.

By adding the line, "Them it was their poison hurt," (74.), an assertion is made about the "stupid stuff" [ the depressing nature of Terence's prose ]; that what is poisoning the Victorian period is not the overindulgence of those responding to miserable times, but rather the way that people try to wallow in it -- in despair, by the discussing and writing of it. The speaker would rather see people strive for happiness, and accepts fully that the world "has still, much good, but much less good than ill." (43-44), but believes that making oneself happy with alcohol is better than trying to remain in a state of constant, raked-up misery.

The people who are poisoning themselves, he believes, are those who would try to poison others -- whether literally, as in the case of Mithridates VI, or metaphorically, as in the case of the Victorian era of literature.

Hedonism, and decadence, then, is the proper way to react to hardships and realities of the world, as put forth by the speaker in "Terence, This is Stupid Stuff". Although disillusioning and ignorant, A.E. Houseman uses a myriad of devices such as satire, allusion, paradoxes and irony in order to tie in the collective thoughts and worries of the Victorian period with the historical tale of Mithridates VI.

Presentations Masterpost

Psychoanalytical: Link.

Anglo-Saxon: Link.

Bible Allusions [ Herod ]: Link.

Myths [ Icarus ]: Link.

Fairy Tales [ Red Riding Hood ]: Link.

Mise En Scene.

open question prompt #1.

Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle examines in great detail how the places that people are in can shape their later mindset. By placing each of the characters in areas where they must face extreme peril, he bookends the changes from the beginning of his novel to the end, leaving behind small details about the characters' overall mentality to be pieced together by the reader. All in all, it gives the entire work an air of extreme complexity, as true to his own, personal writing style, which was in itself heavily influenced by his own placement in post-WWII Japan, which put an emphasis on honor and tradition, something that he had always abhorred.

Because The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a book so heavily steeped in its psychological examinations, it is a work of literature that is as hotly debated as any of Haruki Murakami's other works, because of the inherent dream-like bizarreness that he incorporates into his writing. Mr. Okada is a character shaped by the circumstances of the house he bought with his wife, Kumiko; a house that sets into motion a series of bizarre and somewhat unfortunate events, all of which lead to a serendipitous and unresolved conclusion, as par to most of Murakami's work ---- which is a reflection of real life, and the loose ends that often come with living it.

Although many of the events in the book are set off by Kumiko's bizarre behavior, the truth is that all the events within the house start because of the house. Malta Kano states in the beginning that the house itself has a strange air, that there is something deeply wrong with the water in the house ---- which is a foreshadowing of Mr. Okada's later struggles inside the bottom of the well near the home of his neighbor, May Kasahara, which stands on the property of the haunted 'Hanging House' that he eventually becomes obsessed with. However, all of these events ---- and the novel itself ---- have a starting point. ( which, eventually, becomes an ending point as it is the even that is the singular most important one in the novel ). But it all begins with the strange, oddly harassing phone calls that Mr. Okada begins to receive on the home phone ---- phone calls from a mysterious, loquacious and lascivious woman who is later to be revealed to be the 'true' Kumiko.

It can be said that Kumiko's behavior ---- as it begins to take a downward spiral ---- all truly began to start once she and Mr. Okada moved into the home together, as husband and wife. It was a change from the apartment, and signaled the fact that they were truly going to be together, although it is the nature of the house itself that inevitably separates them. Through the events started in the house, Mr. Okada begins to realize intrisic details about his own psyche ---- which is exacerbated through the later employment of Nutmeg, who is a psychic healer herself and sees it within Mr. Okada.

Once he becomes in tune with the psychic part of himself, he changes. His sights set on the cause of this change ---- the well near his own property, and the private, haunted property that it lays on. Because of his growing obsession over this area, he begins to abandon the house where he was getting his important phone calls from the 'real Kumiko', and as such even begins to abandon Kumiko, though she has disappeared at the this point in the novel, masquerading the reason for her disappearance as her pursuing adulterous relations with another man.

Mr. Okada begins to become obsessed with the house and with keeping it. 'Prostituting' his psychic abilities in order to get the money to pay for it. He begins to separate himself from his physical body and his psychic mind; becoming two entities, something which inevitably leads him to Kumiko. Something that eventually causes him to find the 'real' Kumiko, though he then has the foresight to abandon her in the end to herself and her fractious mind, which was her desire in the first place.

It is the places in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle that cause psychological changes. It even happens to be an overarching theme in the novel. Mr. Okada changes in the well, as does Yamamoto during his stint in Nomonhan after witnessing his superior being flayed alive by Mongolians. Malta Kano changes psychologically after she ingests the sacred water of Malta for seven years. Creta Kano changes in the hotel room when she is assaulted by Noboru Wataya. May Kasahara changes her death-centered lifestyle when she moves to a factory town to put individual hairs into wigs. The unnamed boy who watched as two men buried a beating heart into the ground changed in his room, having watched himself separate in an out-of-body experience.

The people are secondary to the places, and it is the places which provide the experiences to cause changes in the people. If they hadn't found themselves in those places, then it is not likely that any of them would have been the same as they were ---- or that any of them would have even been able to be properly connected. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle chronicles this excellently, and with an amount of complexity that can leave most people properly puzzled.

--

I am very proud of this essay, and I believe that it would have earned me a high score ---- I have read Wind-Up Bird Chronicle twice, which probably shows in my analysis of the novel as a whole. I'm also very passionate about Haruki Murakami as a writer, so my passion undoubtedly shows in my writing. Because I know the novel so well, I can write about it efficiently and eloquently, and can remember the innate details of the book with gusto.

thou blind man's mark.

 Thou Blind Man's Mark is a poem that examines the complex feeling of desire; Sir Philip Sidney takes a dark undertone with his dissection of a feeling that is universal to the world by putting it through the lens of someone who believes themselves to be trapped by it, a detail he exacerbates through alliteration, metaphors and emotional details that all give character to the speaker, and to his particular mindset in regards to his feelings on the matter of feeling.

Desire, a hot topic for numerous poets within the boundaries of history, is addressed in such a way that it portrays the speaker as having become frustrated with his own passions; his desire for the unnamed person. He looks within himself to kill that feeling of desire, having found it especially frustrating and maddening, to such a degree that it even interferes with his sleep. "Too long, too long, asleep thou hast me brought."; for even in sleep, he is plagued by his desires and his needs. Needs that he believes he wants in vain, though the futility of his passion kindles his fire, regardless.

In some ways, it can be said that his belief that his desires are for vain are what cause him true madness, instead of the feeling itself. The idea that he believes the object of his desire causes this within him ---- "But yet in vain thou hast my ruin sought;..." ---- and that he 'desires' not but to 'kill desire' leaves the poem with a dark intonation. After all, if he believes the object of his desire is causing this madness intentionally, then he may believe that the only way he can stem the tide of his desire is to kill that which is causing it. The object of the desire itself ---- the person upon whom he lays his intentions.

The poem itself uses alliteration in order to expand upon the 'villain' of desire ---- "cradle of causeless care", "thou web of will", "mangled mind", "thy worthless ware" ---- he describes the sensation as not being beautiful, but as being truly insidious. To him, this feeling is a "snare", and a "band of all evils". It isn't beautiful, he isn't fond of it. Instead, it is a cruelty forced upon him. By making these metaphors again and again, he is solidifying the personification of desire as a villain, as his villain.

A few lines in the poem provide repetition to better make the point. "Desire, desire" and "Too long, too long". The repetition in this poem is used to give off the tone of exasperation. He is tired and weary ( and wary ) of his feelings. They're interfering with his sleep, his virtue, and his mind; reiterated through the poem by repetition, so that the reader can feel as he feels. Can experience the same feeling of exasperation that the speaker has.

Notably, there is a rhyming scheme within Thou Blind Man's Mark. -are's and -ought's and -ire's, which tie the poem together in such a way that it flows as a person reads along. As true with most pieces of this period, commas at the end are replaced with the outdated semi-colon, which are abandoned only at key occasions in which the speaker is finishing a point or moving through a list. Lists are used often throughout the poem, the speaker rattling off all the things that he considers akin to desire. Things that people are 'caught' in ---- snares and scum and scattered thoughts. This gives off the impression that he believes himself to be trapped by desire, trapped by who he has desire for... a trap that he believes he can extricate himself from only if he puts an end to it himself.

As shown, Sir Philip Sidney has expertly vivisected the emotion and sensation of desire through Thou Blind Man's Mark, having looked into the complexities of human desire through the lens of this particular speaker, who feels trapped by desire, feels he must kill desire, and who abhors his own desire. The poem, though short, provides particular insight into the human experience of passion... and the darker undertones within it.

--

My feelings on this particular essay are iffy. I don't think I did a very good job getting to the heart of the poem's meaning, which would definitely detract from my overall score. Although I think I did discuss my point coherently and eloquently, the fact that I missed the point of the poem entirely would cause me a serious deduction in terms of points. I am proud of my writing here, however, and I stand confidently behind my interpretation, but I think that poems and analyzing them is my weak point, so I should definitely work on better understanding the poems.

reflection on prose essay.

I believe that I would have received a solid eight on my essay, if this were a real AP test. I did manage to properly get the analysis right, and I focused in on the specifics of Moses' relationship with nature. How he views it as a freeing experience, and how the rain and the dew symbolizes his rebirth into the world as a 'free' man, despite his status as a slave. In particular, I mention that the passage almost comes across as a man who is trying to reclaim ownership of himself, and his 'possessions' ---- which, as of now, belonged to him, and not his master. Because the rain rebirths him ---- baptizes him ---- he awakens, covered in dew, as a man who is no longer strung to his master in the same way the harness is strung to his mule.

I also employ a complex analysis ---- I examine Moses' relationship with bondage and freedom, the tone prevalent in the piece as a reflection of Moses's character. I look past the face-value of his connection to nature, and examine the intricacies in the symbolism of nature itself. I also cite the passage in order to better support my argument, to look into the piece as a whole. I didn't really have any concerns about the maturity of my writing, but I do have to take into account that I had the luxury of a word processor in lieu of a pen and pencil, which meant that it was easier for me to jog my memory and use a larger vocab, because of my awful tendency to recycle words and repeat them in handwritten work.

Working on that should better my writing as a whole, as it will allow for me to better employ a more mature repertoire of words, and will lead to better results in terms of my score.

the flowers.

In "The Flowers", Alice Walker examines a particular contrast that parallels one of the world's most lonesome of traditions: the switch one must go through when they slip between the sunny, bright world of childhood into the more cruelly realistic world of adulthood. This theme is presented through Walker's use of summer and the final line of, "And summer was over." as a metaphor for the loss of Myop's innocence and childhood; in literature, the season of winter is sometimes represented as an old man, and summer as a young one, which lends credence to the theme present here.

Walker presents Myop's character as a naive young girl by using particular lines to lend to her characterization as a whole. When the text states that she often struck out at random chickens, it is a show of her immaturity. By abusing those poor birds with a stick, it reveals her nature as a young girl who hasn't yet grown out of childish cruelties.

She also skips, as young girls are wont to do, which is something that loses its charm once a person matures. Both of these are exacting choices in characterization that show Myop's youth.

Walker makes a distinct shift in style once Myop gets her foot caught in the skull ---- where there were once lighter descriptions ---- "strange blue flowers" and "velvety ridges" ---- there are instead heavier, more impactful diction choices: "naked grin" and "rotted remains". This is where the story shifts to its actual theme, and Walker reflects it.

The shift in diction can also be highly representative of the reality in growing up: things may seem at first very beautiful, but are in fact indicative of things which may be far more insidious. Even on glorious days, there can yet be corpses decomposing in the forest. And even though the world may be perfect in the eyes of a child, the predicaments of adults are still there, even if youth and naivete blind them.

Even Myop puts down both her flowers ---- and her innocence, her sweet summer ---- when faced with the adult reality of death. As do all people, at some point in their lives.

Walker examines the dilemma between youth and age ---- summer and winter ---- through the meticulous construction of her short story, "The Flowers", by touching on particular imagery related to those topics and the characterization of Myop.