Due Friday, November 2nd - "Persuasion" by Jane Austen - Chapters 1-7, Pages 1-45

Overview: You are officially Austen scholars, having studied her novel Pride and Prejudice, as well as researching her life and works. You also dabbled into some creative nonfiction with Becoming Jane, looking at the possible relationship between Jane Austen and Thomas LeFroy. At the end of the film, we find Austen sick with Addison’s disease, coming to end of her life, and desperately trying to finish her novel, Persuasion. The aforementioned novel you are about to read is composed by a different person, in a sense. Pride was written when Austen was young and her prospects open to the possibility of marriage, where the story of Anne Eliot is one of a “mature woman” assuming to remain single until the end of her days. However, with Persuasion, she writes herself a different ending, which leaves us wondering what Austen wished for herself.


Directions: Please read Persuasion by Jane Austen, Chapters 1-7 pages 1-45. Next, compose a blog response sharing your initial thoughts on the novel. Make connections to Pride and Prejudice. What differences do you notice? With what you know of her life, what autobiographical nuances do you find in the novel so far? How does it affect your reading of the text? Has the tone changed? Explore the possibilities. I look forward to your responses.  As always, use direct quotations from the text and return to read and respond to your fellow classmates.

Cast of Characters:

Sir Walter Elliot, Bt. – A vain, self-satisfied baronet, Sir Walter is a man whose extravagance since the death of his prudent wife 13 years before has put his family in financial straits. These are severe enough to force him to lease his estate, Kellynch Hall, to Admiral Croft and take a more economical residence in Bath. Despite being strongly impressed by wealth and status, he allows the insinuating Mrs Clay, who is beneath him in social standing, in his household as a companion to his eldest daughter.

Elizabeth Elliot – The eldest and most beautiful of Sir Walter's three daughters, encourages her father's imprudent spending and extravagance. She and her father regard Anne as inconsequential. Elizabeth wants to marry and has run the Elliot household since her mother died 13 years earlier.

Anne Elliot – The second daughter of Sir Walter is intelligent, accomplished and attractive, and she is unmarried at 27, having broken off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth, then a naval commander, over seven years earlier. She fell in love with him but was persuaded by her mentor, Lady Russell, to reject his proposal because of his poverty and uncertain future and her youth. Anne rejects Charles Musgrove's proposal a few years later, knowing she still loves Wentworth.

Mary Musgrove – The youngest daughter of Sir Walter, married to Charles Musgrove, is attention-seeking, always looking for ways she might have been slighted or not given her full due, and often claims illness when she is upset. She opposes sister-in-law Henrietta's interest in marrying Charles Hayter, who Mary feels is beneath the Musgrove family.

Charles Musgrove – Husband of Mary and heir to the Musgrove estate. He first proposed to Anne, who said no. He married Mary about five years before the story opens, and they have two sons. He is a cheerful man, who loves hunting, and easily endures his wife's faults.

Lady Russell – An old friend of the late Lady Elliot, and the godmother of Anne, of whom she is particularly fond. She is instrumental in Sir Walter's decision to leave Kellynch Hall and avoid financial crisis. Years earlier, she persuaded Anne to turn down Captain Wentworth's proposal of marriage. She was the intimate friend of the mother, and has watched over the three sisters since their mother died. She values social rank and finds in Anne the daughter most like her late friend.

Mrs Clay – A poor widow with children, daughter of Sir Walter's lawyer, and companion of Elizabeth Elliot. She aims to flatter Sir Walter into marriage, while her oblivious friend looks on.

Captain Frederick Wentworth – A naval officer who proposed to Anne some years ago. At the time, he had no fortune and uncertain prospects, but owing to his achievements in the Napoleonic Wars, he advanced in rank and in fortunes. He is one of two brothers of Sophia Croft. He gained his step to post Captain, and gained wealth amounting to about £25,000 from prize money awarded for capturing enemy vessels. He is an eminently eligible bachelor.

Admiral Croft – Good-natured, plainspoken tenant at Kellynch Hall and brother-in-law of Captain Wentworth. In his naval career, he was a captain when he married, present at the major battle of Trafalgar in 1805, then assigned in the east Indies, and holds the rank of rear admiral of the white.

Sophia Croft – Sister of Captain Wentworth and wife of Admiral Croft for the last 15 years. She is 38 years old. She offers Anne an example of a strong-minded woman who has married for love instead of money and who has a good life married to a Navy man.

Louisa Musgrove – Second sister of Charles Musgrove, Louisa, aged about 19, is a high-spirited young lady who has returned with her sister from school.

Henrietta Musgrove – Eldest sister of Charles Musgrove. Henrietta, aged about 20, is informally engaged to her cousin, Charles Hayter,

Captain Harville – A friend of Captain Wentworth. Wounded two years previously, he is slightly lame.

Captain James Benwick – A friend of Captains Harville and Wentworth. Benwick had been engaged to marry Captain Harville's sister Fanny, but she died while Benwick was at sea.

Due Friday, October 26th - Background on Jane Austen

Directions:  Please read the information on Jane Austen below and peruse the Jane Austen Society website:  http://jasna.org/  Compose a comprehensive blog response using 2-3 direct examples from the text and/or website on Jane Austen that you found interesting.  Also, end your post with a question about Austen, her work, and/or her life that you would like to go over in class.

Jane Austen's Life

While the literary art of Jane Austen is remarkable, the facts of her biography, at first glance, are not. The contrast has long intrigued Austen readers and scholars, and interest in her life is today almost as keen as interest in her works. Dating back to her own time, when Austen's first four novels were published anonymously, sources of information about her life still exist — some of her letters (those her sister Cassandra did not destroy after her death), and A Memoir of Jane Austen, written by her nephew J.E. Austen-Leigh in 1869. These sources reveal that Austen did lead the quiet life of an unmarried clergyman's daughter. She found early encouragement for her art within her family circle, and a starting point for her novels in her personal and family history.

Born in 1775 to George and Cassandra Austen in the English village of Steventon, Jane Austen grew up in a highly literate family. Austen's father was an Oxford-educated clergyman and her mother was a humorous, aristocratic woman. Educated only briefly outside of her home, Austen read freely in her father's library of 500 books, which left her better educated than most young girls of the time. While her family never anticipated she would be a published writer (not considered an appropriate profession for a young lady of her background), within the walls of their household she was encouraged to write. In this lively intellectual household, the 15-year-old Austen began writing her own novels; and by age 23 she had completed the original versions of Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice. Her own delight in reading and her ironic mocking of its impact on young girls comes alive in Northanger Abbey.

After Austen's father died in 1805, Jane, her mother, and sister Cassandra lived in a small house provided by her then-wealthy brother Edward in the village of Chawton. When Jane received a proposal from the wealthy brother of a close friend, for whom she felt no affection, she initially accepted him, only to turn him down the next day. This was a painful decision for her, as she understood deeply that marriage was the sole option women had for social mobility. She further understood the vulnerability of single women without family estates who depend on wealthy relatives for a home. This subject is at the heart of Sense and Sensibility.

Austen keenly observed the shifting of social class during her day. Two of her brothers were in the Royal British Navy, and she saw first-hand the rise of naval officers in class-conscious British society. Those who returned from the Napoleonic wars with both wealth and notoriety were able to break through class barriers that were previously impenetrable. She wrote elegantly about this sea change in her last novel, Persuasion.

Jane Austen died on July 18, 1817, at age 41. She never wrote a memoir, sat for an interview, or recorded whether she had herself felt the joys and disappointments of love. The biographical facts may never adequately explain the quick wit, the sharp insight, and the deep emotional intelligence she brought to her novels. Perhaps that is impossible; it is likely that the novels will continue to transcend our understanding of where they came from.

Jane Austen's Family Tree

Regency Era

The Regency era spans the reign of the Prince of Wales from 1811 to 1820. It occurred at the latter end of the Georgian period when King George III was declared unfit to rule for reasons of insanity and his son, George IV was appointed as Regent to govern the country. The Prince Regent was notable for his lack of restraint in most areas of life. He was a womanizer who over-ate, over-drank and over-spent. As such he lost the respect of many of his subjects, including Jane Austen herself. In fact, she mocks over-indulgence and vanity of all kinds, while restraint is depicted as a mark of character strength. Nevertheless, his extravagance characterized the period and his patronage of the arts resulted in marked expansion in the areas of:

1)  Architecture (typified by the elegant designs of architect John Nash)

2)  Literature (typified by work of Romantic writers Austen, Byron, Shelley and Keats)

3)  Music (typified by the works of Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt).

4)  The character of Sir Walter in Persuasion could be interpreted as a parody of the Prince Regent.

A widening gap between rich and poor

While the upper classes in the Regency era were enjoying an opulent lifestyle, the lower classes experienced a grinding poverty. The Prince Regent made little effort to relieve the situation and his lavish lifestyle caused a growing resentment. The gap between rich and poor was exacerbated by:

1)  A sudden increase in the population and increasing overcrowding in the cities, which led to squalid housing conditions. This gave rise to city slums (colloquially known as rookeries). They were associated with prostitution, drunkenness and crime in general

2)  Inflated food prices, due to Napoleon's blockade of exports to Britain, as well as high wheat prices resulting from the Corn Law of 1815

3)  Technological advances in the textile industry which eventually wiped out spinning as a cottage industry - hence the Luddite Riots (1811-1816) in which English craftsmen protested about the negative impact of technological advances on employment in the weaving industry.

Major Works

Lady Susan

Lady Susan was possibly written in 1794 but not published until 1871.  Beautiful, flirtatious, and recently widowed, Lady Susan Vernon seeks an advantageous second marriage for herself, while attempting to push her daughter into a dismal match. A magnificently crafted novel of Regency manners and mores that will delight Austen enthusiasts with its wit and elegant expression. The entire novel is composed of letters, offering different viewpoints, with an epilogue tying the events together.  The film adaptation is titled Love and Friendship (2016), not to be confused with her juvenilia novella of the same name.

Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen's first major novel was written in 1798-99, when she was in her early twenties. It is a comic love story set in Bath about a young reader who must learn how to separate fantasy from reality. Miss Austen sold the novel (then entitled Susan) to a publisher in 1803, and the work was advertised but never published. She bought it back many years later, and her brother Henry Austen published the novel as Northanger Abbey after her death in 1817.

Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility was the first of Jane Austen's novels to be published. She began to write it sometime around 1797, and she worked on it for many years before its publication in 1811. The title page said that it was written "By a Lady", and only her immediate family knew that Jane Austen was the author. Impetuous Marianne Dashwood tumbles into a fairytale romance that goes sour, and her practical older sister Elinor copes with the family's financial problems while hiding her own frustrated romantic hopes. The book was a success, and it even earned a profit!

Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice was first written in the late 1700's, then rewritten in 1811-1812 and finally published in early 1813. It is probably the most-read of all of Jane Austen's novels and is a popular favorite among many. Originally entitled First Impressions, the novel deals with the misjudgments that often occur at the beginning of an acquaintance and how those misjudgments can change as individuals learn more about each other.

Mansfield Park

Mansfield Park was written between February, 1811 and the summer of 1813. It was the third novel Jane Austen had published and it first appeared on May 4, 1814. During her lifetime, it was attributed only to "The author of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice", and the author's identity was unknown beyond her family and friends. It is Jane Austen's most complex novel and deals with many different themes, from the education of children, to the differences between appearances and reality.

Emma

Emma was written in 1814-1815, and while Jane Austen was writing it, it was suggested to her by a member of the Prince Regents' household that she dedicate it to His Royal Highness. Austen took the suggestion as it was intended--as a command--and Emma was thus dedicated, but the dedication itself is rather slyly worded. Emma deals with a young woman's maturation into adulthood and the trouble she gets herself into along the way.

Persuasion

Persuasion was written in 1815-1816, while Jane Austen was suffering from her fatal illness. She was still working on some revisions at the time of her death in 1817. The novel was published posthumously by her brother, Henry Austen. Persuasion is a novel of second chances, expectations of society, and the constancy of love. You can also read the preface which Henry wrote telling the world of his sister's authorship, life, and untimely death: A Biographical Notice of the Author.

Juvenilia & Letters

Jane Austen's works from her childhood are full of enthusiasm, humor, and very creative spelling. We also have some letters and correspondence, though Jane’s sister destroyed any that could have given us insight into her psyche and love life.

Due Thursday, October 25th - Wait a minute, Mr. Postman!

1)  Please finish reading the novel by Wednesday, October 17th.
2)  Please re-read the letters from Jane Austen's novel.
3)  Choose a character from Pride & Prejudice and take on that persona. Think about a character you want to write to as you... 
4)  ...compose a letter explaining your experience reading this novel (Use the rubric below)
5)  Post the letter to Turnitin.com  Our class is Survey of British Literature.  
     Class ID is: 19413849                       Enrollment key is: janeausten 
6)  Post your letter in this blog space to share with your classmates.
7)  The letter is due Thursday, October 25th.  
8)  THIS IS WORTH A MAJOR GRADE, SO TAKE IT SERIOUSLY.

Example of Greatness from Last Year's Class:

Dear Lady Catherine de Bourgh,

It is of greatest honor that I write to such a prestigious and honorable character like yourself, and I write with hopes of neither displeasing nor angering your ladyship. As a clergyman upon your grounds, I have dedicated my life to the propriety and wellbeing of those who pass through the fields of Rosings Park, and with such responsibility, I bring your attention upon a novel I have discovered in the library of my lovely Charlotte. Though “My dear Charlotte and I have but one mind and one way of thinking”(181), being in possession of this book does not conclude that I agree with its contents. Your ladyship is most kind and polite, so I entreat your ladyship to not think that in revealing the contents of Pride and Prejudice I mean to harm.

When reading a book, I am always looking for the accuracy and enjoyment I may pull from within its pages. When time allowed it, for I am a very determined and diligent man of my trade, I looked for such themes. When describing the homes and style of living, I dare say that it was rather agreeable. When recounting events or things of the past, I have found it most effective and poetic when comparing what I mean to explain to something found in pleasant society. In establishing a connection with whom I speak with, it may also be pleasing to the ears. So, while reading this novel, I found that the environment for the story was very well done, and in doing so was rather like the scenery in a painting in which it provides a backdrop to the plot. Though, I must add, when the plot reached your abode, Lady Catherine, it could not encapsulate the grandeur and magnificence of where within you reside. However, was it ever deemed possible to fit the beauty of Rosings Park into words? Neither a painting nor a book could ever give the halls of your manor justice.

Now, Lady Catherine, I must provide the misfortune of the plot to your ladyship. Though to some it may be tolerable, and dare I say enjoyable, its vulgarity and ill judgement of my patroness could never tempt me. I am a man of integrity, and such insults thrust upon myself and my ladyship are unforgivable. It begins in the home of the Bennet family, and unfairly follows the story of Elizabeth Bennet, whom though I may have affection for, since she is my cousin, I believe her tales are far less entertaining than yours. Her wit and intelligence catches the attention of your nephew, Mr. Darcy. Though maybe in another setting their match would have been agreeable, Mr. Darcy should have been alongside your wonderful daughter. It was enjoyable to observe her change in perception of your nephew over the course of the book, since I already knew that any relative of Lady Catherine de Bourgh must be well natured. It was particularly interesting when after reading the contents of Mr. Darcy’s letter how quickly her opinion changes. As she understands her mistakes, “She grew absolutely ashamed of herself. - Of neither Darcy nor Wickham could she think, without feeling that she had blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd”(174) and quickly sees the amiability of the young Mr. Darcy. Now, like the pulling of a bandage from a festering wound, I must endeavor to describe what this book thinks of your ladyship and myself as quickly as possible. First, upon my arrival at Longbourn, I intended to present myself with the utmost formality. However, when reading this book, I discovered that I was not thought as highly. After praising your gardens, “Mr Bennet’s expectations were fully answered. His cousin was as absurd as he had hoped…”(57). Never, in the course of my life, has such been said about me. It is difficult to brush aside such a comment, but then again, I must remind myself that Mr Bennet, though pleasant, may not be as level headed as I am. However, when I showed this to Charlotte, she was not as displeased as I had hoped, and perhaps a chuckle was emitted, but I dare to wish it was a sob. Then, when Elizabeth visited Rosings, “There was little to be done but to hear Lady Catherine talk, which she did....delivering her opinion on every subject...as proved that she was not used to have her judgement controverted”(137). How dare this Jane Austen question the authority of the Lady Catherine de Bourgh? A woman of such great intellect like yourself should never be judged. Then, when you tried to persuade Elizabeth to avoid a marriage, as it would be harmful to the pride and wellbeing of your family, the author had the nerve to side with Elizabeth. Please Lady Catherine, do not let these foul words wound you. Enjoy your evening, and I hope this letter may keep Pride and Prejudice away from you, because though it may be a good read for a simpleton, such words are beneath you.

Sincerely,

Mr. Collins

Jane Austen Letter Criteria & Rubric

A range has the following qualities:

• Well-written 1-2 page letter
• Genuine review of the novel using apt and specific details from the novel
• Voice is clear, as is the person to whom it is written 
• Apt and specific references to the characters are employed in the letter
• Apt and specific references to plot points are employed in the letter
• Passion and a satirical flare of Austen are present
• Jane Austen would be proud!

      

B range has the following qualities:

• Adequately written one page letter
• General review of the novel using some examples from the novel
• Voice is not quite as clear as the A, as is the person to whom it is written 
• Some references to the characters are employed in the letter
• Some references to plot points are employed in the letter
• Bingley says, "Excellent!"

C range has the following qualities:

• Adequately written letter
• General review of the novel, with few examples from the text
• Voice is not clear, as is the person to whom it is written 
• Few references to the characters are employed in the letter
• Few references to plot points are employed in the letter
• Sir. Lucas says, "Capital! Capital!"

D and F range has the following qualities:

• Letter is written
• General review of the novel with no examples from the text
• Voice is not clear, as is the person to whom it is written 
• No references to the characters are employed in the letter
• No references to plot points are employed in the letter
• Lady Catherine DeBourg says, "I am quite put out!"

Please read this letter from the University of Pemberley 

I was deferred!

What?  Collins Community College, too?  That was my safety!

Spoiler Alert!  The Stunning Conclusion to Cozy Classics

How awesome is this cover for Jane Austen's Emma?!

Due Friday, October 12th - "Pride & Prejudice" by Jane Austen - Pages 182-210 (Chapters XLVI - L)

1)  Read Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen (pages 182-210, chapters XLVI - L).
2)  Compose a blog response using 2-3 direct quotations from the text.  Remember to respond to each other.  I look forward to your responses.

Below is the Cozy Classics version of the novel...

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

Due Thursday, October 4th - The English Sonnet & Shakespearean Sonnets

Overview:  The Shakespearean sonnet consists of three quatrains (four-line stanzas), rhyming abab cdcd efef, and a couplet (a two-line stanza), rhyming gg. Because each new stanza introduces a new set of rhyming sounds, the Shakespearean sonnet is well-suited to English, which is less richly endowed than Italian with rhyming words.

As with the structure of the Petrarchan sonnet, that of the Shakespearean sonnet influences the kinds of ideas that will be developed in it. For example, the three quatrains may be used to present three parallel images, with the couplet used to tie them together or to interpret their significance. Or the quatrains can offer three points in an argument, with the couplet serving to drive home the conclusion


Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.



Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.


Sonnet 147

My love is as a fever, longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
Th' uncertain sickly appetite to please.
My reason, the physician to my love,
Angry that his prescriptions are not kept,
Hath left me, and I desperate now approve
Desire is death, which physic did except.
Past cure I am, now reason is past care,
And frantic-mad with evermore unrest;
My thoughts and my discourse as mad men's are,
At random from the truth vainly expressed.
For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.



Directions: Please choose a sonnet by Shakespeare (see link below). Cut and paste it into your post, and analyze it using the terminology we learned in class (see "The Poetry Cheat Sheet"). Most importantly, include a detailed personal analysis of the poem in your post.

http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/

Due Wednesday, October 10th - Read "Pride & Prejudice" by Jane Austen - Chapters XXXV-XLV (Pages 132-182)

1)  Read Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen - Chapters XXXV-XLV (Pages 132-182).
2)  Compose a response using 2-3 direct quotations from the text.

NOTE:  You will have class time to complete your reading.  Spread it out.

BBC America Presents:  Where are they now?

Elizabeth Bennet




Mr. Darcy




Mr. Collins




Lydia Bennet




Mr. Bingley




Mrs. Bennet