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"My Cat Jeoffry" - April 25, 2019

“My Cat Jeoffry” was a poem written by Christopher Smart that illustrated the religious zeal that Smart possessed that ultimately showed how excessive he was with his religious beliefs. Because of how absorbed Smart was with his religion, he would pray anywhere and everywhere which became a public nuisance and caused him to be sent to various madhouses. This poem is one that Smart wrote while in confinement and it does much more than just tell a story of what Smart believed to be the actions of a very religious cat he owned. Instead, this poem uses the cat as a tool to simplify religion and show that it is not so difficult to be a Christian. To begin with, Smart opens the poem with saying how the cat appreciates God’s creation every day by looking at the sun in the mornings, “For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.” (1404). Here, Smart is referencing the sunrise and how his cat, Jeoffry, is always near a window or maybe even a door to appreciate...
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Mary Wortley Montagu - April 23, 2019

Mary Wortley Montagu was a woman who went against gender standards in her time in the eighteenth century. Montagu was one who was passionate about education, medicine, and representing women in a non-stereotypical manner. In addition, she was a woman who travelled all over the world and learned about different countries and their cultures compared to that of England. In one such excerpts from letters she had written about the Turkish Embassy, Montagu illustrates the social differences between women in two vastly opposing cultures. One particular place that Montagu visited while in Turkey was a beautiful town called Sophia. She speaks of the many hot springs and baths that she visits in this town and how remarkable they are, but what was most remarkable was how these native women treated Montagu when she came to enjoy the springs one day. She talked about how they welcomed her without hesitation, “Yet there was not one of them that showed the least surprise or impertinent curiosity, bu...
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Oroonoko Analysis - April 11, 2019

The story of Oroonoko by Aphra Behn is in itself a type of ironic, but overall, tragic story by the usage of the oxymoron “royal slave” in the title of this work. At the beginning of the story, it is made quite clear that Oroonoko is of royal standing in his country in that he is a Prince because his father and uncles all perished over the years and his grandfather is the King, “In his younger years he had had many gallant men to his sons, thirteen of which died in battle, conquering when they fell; and he had only left him for his successor one grandchild…” (1013). However, his status does come with some restraints that are difficult for him to maneuver which begins to imply this whole idea of a “royal slave”. Oroonoko falls deeply in love with one of the many mistresses of the King, Imoinda, which is something that is seen as a crime to the royal hierarchy they have in their culture. This entire issue begins to illustrate the type of constraints that Oroonoko has that seems to para...
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Oroonoko by Aphra Behn - April 9, 2019

The story of Oroonoko by Aphra Behn appears to be about an African Prince and his love to a beautiful woman but this slowly transitions to a tale of despair and struggle of these two due to the cruel reality of the slave trade during this time. The story begins with the Prince, Oroonoko, who falls for one of the King’s mistresses, Imoinda, but their love is stopped by the King because it is a great crime to be with a mistress of the king. Through the help of other workers of the King, Oroonoko sneaks in to see Imoinda in which he tells someone at the door that this is their time together, “Therefore stand back, and know, this place is sacred to love and me this night; tomorrow tis’ the King’s” (1023). The two end up being caught by one of the King’s loyal followers due Oroonoko’s statement. Because of this incident, Oroonoko tells Imoinda to inform the King she was assaulted by Oroonoko so that she would not be as harshly punished for their actions. The King ultimately decides to sen...
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Margaret-Cavendish-April-4-2019

A World of Four Atoms by Margaret Cavendish expresses the importance of understanding atoms because of the many great things that come from the tiny building blocks of life. She speaks of how four major components of nature and science help to combine and make the world around us in a way that many people do not often sit and think about, “Atomes Fire subtle, quicke, and dry, The Long, like Shafts still into Aire fly. The Round to Water moist, (a hollow Forme,) The Figure square to heavy dull Earth turne.”. From this passage, Cavendish speaks of four main elements that atoms contribute to making. She puts emphasis more so on nature than actual chemically made items from atoms which is an interesting scientific perspective that looks at beauty in nature in a new way. Then, Cavendish speaks of the various shapes that atoms can help create for the various structures in nature, “Thus the Fancy of my Atomes is, that the foure Principall Figures, as Sharpe, Long, Round, Square, make the fou...
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The Canonization by Donne - Feb 28

The Canonization by John Donne involves someone who is talking about their love and that it should not be ridiculed because it is a special type of love which is later explained to be a sexual love. He begins the poem by trying to make everyone like him by talking about his wealth and social status, “Observe His Honor or His Grace, Or the king’s real, or his stamped face Contemplate; what you will, approve, So you will let me love.” (673). Donne is talking about how he has some wealth by referencing the type of currency used in his time which had the current King’s face on it. Then, he moves on to make fun of love and how it is too over the top in the ways lovers mourn or grieve when they are apart, “What merchant’s ships have my sighs drowned? Who says my tears have overflowed his ground?” (674). The lovers relationship is explained in that it is very powerful and they are drawn to each other in many ways which can even be sexual, “Call her one, me another fly, We’re tapers too, and ...
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Katherine Philips-A Married State-03/28

The poem, A Married State, by Katherine Phillips exemplifies the struggles that women face with getting married and encountering the difficulties of life as a married woman. She speaks of how women are miserable with married life and that they must listen to their husbands in submissive entirety, “A married state affords but little ease The best of husbands are so hard to please.” (746). Women will be subject to constant attempts at pleasing their husbands to little success. Virginity is mentioned in this work as a woman’s saving grace from marriage because the pains of childbirth are avoided and women are free from any responsibilities, “A virgin state is crowned with much content; It’s always happy as it’s innocent. No blustering husbands to create your fears; No pangs of childbirth to extort your tears…” (746). During Philips’ time, in the 1600s, most of women’s poetry celebrated a single life for a woman which is why this is the central theme of the poem to illustrate that women s...
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