Anthony Inzinna
English 225
Dr. Raber
April 15, 2014
To Penshurst: Equality Among Classes
Ben Jonson’s poem, “To Penshurst”, reflects a genre of poetry known as country house poetry. This poetry was written primarily in order to please the owner of the country house. Jonson’s poem was written specifically to praise the Kent estate of Sir Robert Sidney. What makes Jonson’s country house poem different from the other poems of this time period is the content that Jonson wrote about. Johson’s “To Penshurst” appeals to all classes of people whether it be a peasant or a king due to its sheer acceptance and simplicity in nature. This poem could almost be considered a literal gift to Penshurst, much like it is a gift to all social classes. In this poem, Jonson writes in the hopes of praising the Sidney’s estate, Penshurst. The estate resides in the town of Kent, and the scenery is described as being humble much like the manor. What makes this poem intriguing is how it deviates from the country house poetry of the time. During this time in history, the likelihood of peasants intimately interacting with royalty was very unlikely. What Penshurst offers through this work is lower and middle class equality among all classes. Outside of Penshurst, though, the same concept does not apply. This is because Penshurst, in a sense, could be considered a type of utopia. This is primarily because of the welcoming interaction between peasant and royal life. As mentioned earlier, all classes are not equal outside Penshurst. Penshurst is almost like a paradise for those looking for an escape from the harsh social standards of the society of the time. Though, unlike Thomas More’s “Utopia”, there are no negative connotations that the reader can decip...
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...The Sidney estate is remarkable in its humbling and simplistic nature. The social classes all live harmoniously because of respect and understanding of what each class brings. The peasants, servants, Jonson himself, Sidney’s, and the King all have differing social statuses. It is the ability to not look down upon one another that makes the social order so remarkable. In a sense it is a paradigm of a typical English society, and conversely a watered down utopia for all who knows Penshurst to be a part of. Jonson’s “To Penshurst” is a staple of country house poetry and reflects the magnificence of the natural beauty of the estate. Furthermore, Penshurst incorporated a heartwarming community that managed to capture Johnson’s attention by providing a humbling and inviting experience to all of those who inhabit the beautiful Sidney estate known as Penshurst.
The novel’s use of contrast between East Egg, West Egg, and the Valley of Ashes begins to explore the differences between social classes. East Egg houses the most wealthy and aristocratic members of the nearby area. It contains many “white palaces” (Fitzgerald 10) that are quite “fashionable” (Fitzgerald 10). This description paints an image of purity and untouched standards of wealth that are translated into the book’s time period. Due to the pristineness of the village, the homes “[glitter] along the water,” (10) further supporting the idyllic qualities East Egg appears to have. West Egg, on the contrary, is home to people of near equal affluence, but of less social establishment. It is described by the narrator as “less fashionable,” (Fitzgerald
For it is a commonplace of our understanding of the period that the Victorian writer wanted above all to “stay in touch.” Comparing his situation with that of his immediate predecessors, he recognized that indulgence in a self-centered idealism was no longer viable in a society which ever more insistently urged total involvement in its occupations. The world was waiting to be improved upon, and solved, and everyone, poets, included had to busy themsel...
Everett, Nicholas From The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century Poetry in English. Ed. Ian Hamiltong. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. Copyright 1994 by Oxford University Press.
Negative experiences of belonging within the individual’s place of residence results in low self-esteem and develops the desire to escape and seek belonging elsewhere. We witness this in Herrick’s The Simple Gift in Longlands Road, when Billy says, ‘this place has never looked so rundown and beat’, which conveys his lack of connection to the place through pejorative colloquial personification of place. The “rundown and beat” nature of “place” parallels Billy’s perception of both himself and his home by using the pathetic fallacy of rain. Moreover, his hatred towards “Nowhereville” is expressed using coarse language and the symbolic action of vandalising the houses of his neighbours with pejorative colloquialism in ‘I throw one rock on the road of each deadbeat no hoper shithole lonely downtrodden house.’ This shows the place of residence is an important influence on creating a sens...
Living conditions in the Arthurian Legend are presented in distinctly different manners between A Connecticut Yankee and Le Morte D’Arthur. While the quality of life for the poor is consistently harsh for both novels, some differences do exist. The poor in A Connecticut Yankee are portrayed as a battered and oppressed race, while the poor of Le Morte D’Arthur are shown as existing more happily in the idyllic Camelot. Next, the upper class lifestyle is unanimously show...
Later in the poem, the same wealthy women from the Ladies’ Betterment Society decide they want to donate some of their immense wealth to charity, specifically to a local poor house. When the women visit the poor house to see where their donated money would go, they are unable to stop comparing the poor house conditions with those of their mansions. The women lament how "Nothing is sturdy, nothing is majestic," (42) in the poor house when compared to their expensive homes. In the eyes of the wealthy women, the poor house is the complete opposite of their expensive homes in every way from the poor house’s lack of cleanliness to its feeble structure. In fact, the use of descriptive adjectives such as “majestic” further emphasizes characteristics the poor house lacks. The image of wealth and power that the use of “majestic” evokes shatters as the negative word, “nothing,” removes any perception of grandness. This contradiction of the image of wealth demonstrates the large differences between the women and the impoverished. The rich women cannot help but be completely overwhelmed by the harsh reality of the daily living conditions of the poor when compared to their relatively
Jane Austen's novels at first glance tell a story of romance set primarily within the landowning society amidst country estates, and their cultivation of tea parties, social outings, and extravagant balls; ladies sashaying in flowing gowns through precisely decorated rooms, and men deliberating over their game of whist. The storybook romance usually unfolds in these familiar settings, and inevitably involves the conflict of two lovers separated by differences in social class, and the resulting influence of the diverse societies they revolve in. Although these superficial aspects of Austen's stories are protruding at the seams, underneath the skin of these well-clothed dramas lie serious moral issues afflicting the culture of England during Austen's life.
Just as everything in my life seemed to be straightening itself out, everything began to fall apart again. Sir William died suddenly in 1669, leaving me once again almost without a family. Jonathon was all I had left in the world. During this time, the two of us grew very close. He called me Stella, oh how I loved that name. We shared everything with one another. We had a lot in common, for Jonathon was also raised without a father. His died two months before he was born. He talked of his early childhood in Dublin, Ireland, and then of how he moved to London, England. Jonathon used to write me the most beautiful letters; I still have them all. He used to write about his job as Chief Journalist and Principal Pamphleteer for Robert Harley, the Earl of Oxford. He would tell me how even though he enjoyed his job, what he really desired was more political power. I told him that his day would come. I knew he would soon get the power and fame that he deserved.
Drabble, Margaret. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Revised 5th Edition. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1985, re. 1995. 57-59. Print.
Rebecca Wordsworth was, as many writers have pointed out, distressed at Wordsworth’s refusal to hold a full-time job—like many a youth after him, Wordsworth was living the carefree life of the artist. Rebecca wanted him put to rights. He should become an adult now. “Tintern Abbey” is Wordsworth’s attempt to explain himself to Rebecca, but also, in crucial ways, to himself.
“Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher” is what William Wordsworth has preached to us. We all have places that we can feel at home with. For some, it is a trip to the east coast or the Spice Islands. A place where we can be ourselves and not have to worry about anything else that is going on in our lives. My special place is in the Big Horn Mountains where tons of different species of animals roam the cliffs, plains, and forests that are scattered for miles across. In “Tintern Abbey,” William Wordsworth has returned there after five long years away. He brings his younger sister whom he wants to appreciate the beauty just as he does. Wordsworth notices how certain things have changed, but it is still the same place that he came to love. Wordsworth is a Romantic poet. He helped start the Romantic Movement around the end of the eighteenth century. In William Wordsworth poem, “Tintern Abbey,” there are three noticeable romantic elements which are, simplicity of language, expression of intensified feelings, and responses to nature that lead to awareness of self.
Furthermore, Tony Harrison’s V explores the relationship between centres and margins through language. Harrison uses language in order to not only give voice to the working class, but also to challenge dominant ideologies and dominant voices which are bound up with the use of Standard English. Previously discussed in reference to The Lonely Londoners, Standard English is associated with power and elitism and thus ‘places as subordinate all the utterances that are literally or figuratively between inverted commas’ (). This is challenged in V. in which the privileged voice of the eloquent bourgeois poet () and the working class ‘skinhead’ argue. Harrison was concerned with issues of articulation and voice, this is clear throughout his poetry and he discusses this in an interview: ‘And that the idea of articulation, expression, became for me absolutely vital
In the early to mid nineteenth century, two great poets exemplified the American Romanticism period Emily Dickenson and Walt Whitman; Furthermore, their poetry was so unique that it emphasized freedom of individual experiences and found the beauty in life and death in their writings. Throughout this essay, we will cover the similarities and the differences of what early Americans considered to be the “saints” of American Romantic poets because each poet uses a specific style and form, literary voice, and personal experiences within the pieces expressing to readers images of what American was like at the time. It is hard to put these two poets into any one particular category or define one particular style because both Emily Dickenson and Walt Whitman did not follow the norms of writing or style. Whereas, Emily was a recluse where as she kept much of her work private and family published the majority of her work posthumously but Walt was very outspoken about his writings and as an American.
Keneally explores the ideology of social class being dependant on your gender, race and religion through the experiences of Jimmie Blacksmith and his interaction with different genders, races and religions. This particular ideology holds the value that the more you possess, the higher status you have within society. We can see this value operating in the text when Jimmie says “when he became a recognisable man, an owner of things.” The use of optimistic tone and juxtaposition between ‘recognisable’ and ‘owner’ conveys his attitude towards possessions and how they determine his current and future social standing. As a reader, we’re able to see the popular beliefs circulating in colonial Australia and how this positions the audience to either feel sympathetic for Jimmie’s circumstances or denounce his actions as materialistic.
The rural elite of Austen’s novels are members of the upper middle-class. They are not the aristocracy (although Mr Darcy belongs to the aristocracy), but their connections and education give them the right to mix with high society, as well as to marry with people of h...