Lamia and La Belle Dame

Lamia

 Think about the start of the poem, and the ways in which Keats places it in the past through his mention of magic and fairies. He is employing a similar technique to that used by Chaucer in The Wife of Bath’s Tale. Again, there are echoes of Shakespeare, here with A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

 The meaning of the word ‘Lamia’ is a monster, often thought to suck blood, especially of children—in other words, Keats is romanticising a demon here. How does he create sympathy for Lamia at the start of the story, so that the reader becomes engaged by her? One of the main critical debates about the poem is whether the reader is supposed to sympathise with Lamia, and if so, to what extent.

 Look closely at the language used about Lamia by Lycius—he calls her ‘goddess’ and ‘naiad’ and ‘Pleiad’ (a star). What do all these terms imply about her? Why does she then ‘play’ a woman instead?

 The poem’s opening creates what is in effect a frame-narrative, as we find out Lamia’s origin, something unknown to Lycius. How does this gentle introduction contrast with the ending?

 What about the authorial intrusions into the narrative (most noticeable at the start of part 2). Why does Keats include these, and how do they affect the way the story is told?

 Keats uses heroic couplets (rhymed couplets of iambic pentameter) for this poem. What might this imply about the nature and authority of the story? How is it different from the ballad form of ‘La Belle Dame’ or the Spenserian stanzas of ‘The Eve of St Agnes’?

 What about the division of the story into two parts? How does this affect the narrative? Is there a lacuna between the parts—the equivalent of an authorly ellipsis that passes delicately over the lovemaking implied?

La Belle Dame Sans Merci

 Another framed narrative—though here it is a single-ended frame narrative, as although we hear the first speaker’s question answered (and repeated) by the knight at the end of the poem, we do not actually hear the voice of this first speaker again.

 It is striking how the poem creates a space for the voice of the knight, by leaving the three first stanzas unanswered. Sometimes readers do not notice the shift of speaker here—be sure that you do!

 The form of the poem is a ballad, and it has the typical features of this genre in terms of the four-line stanza, the ABCB rhyme, the archaic language, the simplicity of character and construction, the inverted syntax—what about it is not typical of a ballad?

 The structure of the poem is circular—the final stanza repeats (in part) the first. How does this repetition cause the reader to reflect upon the knight’s experience?

 The metre consists of three lines of iambic tetrameter, with a final line of varying syllabic length containing three strong stresses. How does this final line, and the strong stresses, affect the poem? How does it slow down the reader, and make us reflect on the words in that final line?

 Notice how the characters in the poem are in part stereotypical—the knight is never named, the lady’s name is a description rather than a personal name. How does this affect the message of the poem? Is Keats making more general statements about the relationships between men and women, and the ways that they view each other?

 Notice the semantic repetition as well as the lexical repetition—for instance ‘haggard’ echoes ‘starved’.

The Poetry of John Keats

Remember that all three Keats poems comprise one text—so you should be careful to mention all three, even if you concentrate more on one or two. Remember that you can do this through cross-reference and comparison, e.g. ‘The ballad form that Keats uses for “La Belle Dame” means that his narrative is far more pared down and bare in terms of imagery than in ‘Lamia” where his imagery is deliberately sensual’

The Eve of St Agnes

 Remember that again this is a narrative told in an archaic fashion—Keats uses (for instance) the 3rd-person singular archaic ‘-eth’ form, and this immediately places the narrative in a particular context—which for Keats meant everything that was romantic and interesting…

 Consider the ways in which Keats is creating a mood by the opening of the story—the frame (though it is not quite a frame in the same way as a proper frame narrative) of the old bedesman and Angela which acts as a contrast to the youth of the lovers. Remember that for Keats details like the rosary and praying to the virgin would have seemed exotic (they were specifically Catholic) and would have located the narrative in the distant past.

 Don’t forget the links to Romeo and Juliet and how this ties into the admiration Keats had for Shakespeare. Is he, in some ways, rewriting a tragedy as a comedy (i.e. a story which ends in marriage), and if so, why would he want to do this?

 How far do you think the narrative is structured like a play? Look at the way that the scene is set in Madeleine’s bedroom—almost like a stage set—by Porphyro.

 Consider also the changes of scene in the poem, and how these produce a structural pattern—from the chapel, to the hall, to the corridors, to the bedroom, back to the corridors, back to the hall, back to the chapel (with the mention of the bedesman) while the lovers escape just before the end.


 Remember that you should discuss the use of the Spenserian stanza form. What would this mean to Keats in terms of his admiration of Spenser? What does this stanza form, with its long final line, allow the poet to do that a ballad does not?

 Notice how Keats uses chiasmus (antimetabole) between the title and the first line: ‘The Eve of St Agnes/St Agnes’ Eve’ the reversal highlighting the shift from the formal title into the colloquial voice of the narrator. The colloquialism is emphasised by non-fluency features such as ‘Ah!’ which suggest the power of memory and set the poem in the past.

 Notice also the frequent shifts from past to present tense in the poem (Porphyro is often associated with the more active present tense) and the shift of tense at the end that brings the poem back to the ‘present day’ of the narrator.


Tomorrow I'll post on Lamia

Last tips for 'Aspects of Narrative'

Whatever question you are asked in the ‘Aspects of Narrative’ paper, you should always be aware of certain things about the ways in which each author tells the story. Remember that the narrative strategies of each author are really important, and that even if the question does not explicitly ask you about narrative strategy, it does expect you to discuss it as part of your response to the ‘how’ element of the questions.

Remember the Assessment Objectives

For all questions, you should be aware of the importance of expressing yourself fluently and clearly, using appropriate critical language in order to help you to analyse and support your readings of the text (AO1). Although AO1 is not formally assessed in question Aa, it is still vitally important in helping you to put your ideas across clearly to the examiner.

In those questions which ask you to focus on AO2 (Part Aa and B—NOT Ab) you should be conscious of the most important aspects of structure, form and language in your chosen texts.

For those questions which ask you to focus on AO3 (Part Ab and B—NOT Aa), you should be aware of aspects of the text that can allow you to readily engage in critical debate.

Only part Ab will demand AO4, and that context will be supplied by the question itself. In other words, answering the question properly will allow you to fulfil the assessment objectives. However, do be aware that a knowledge of context can sometimes be a very effective way into the AO3 debate

Over the next few days, I shall post a guide about some of the things that it is likely you can use in almost any answer about your set texts. You should be aware of the opportunity to use these ideas. However, BEWARE of bolt-on strategies—there is no one-size-fits-all in this paper.

The Great Gatsby and decadence

When we consider questions about 'decadence' or 'corruption' and so on, it's very easy to focus on the drug-dealing or associations with gangsters, not to mention the adultery in the book. However, I've been thinking about the relationship between
Gatsby and Daisy--the initial relationship that he explains retrospectively to Nick--and its implications for the rest of the novel (what a lot of retrospective narrative there is in the text, to be sure!) It's worth considering its impact on a contemporary audience.


It's probably hard for you to feel the force of the confession that he makes, but try to imagine that you are back in the aftermath of the First World War, at a time when young girls were very much protected, and there was a huge premium placed on chastity before marriage. There's Daisy, daghter of a rich family, queen of the neighbourhood, and there's Jay Gatz, with his foreign name and his lack of cash, his only attractions his good looks and his anonymising uniform that gives him a spurious respectability...

Consider the kind of threat that marriage or relationships 'outside' the clan mean for the respectable girls and their families. In one sense, isn't Gatz a kind of predator, sniffing around the whole world that Daisy represents, and not just the girl herself? How far can his attraction to her be separated from his attraction to the American Dream?

Think about that and then look at these quotations again:

• It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy—it increased her value in his eyes.

• He took what he could get, ravenously and unscrupulously— eventually he took Daisy one still October night, took her because he had no real right to touch her hand.

• He had intended, probably, to take what he could and go—but now he found that he had committed himself to the following of a grail.

• He felt married to her, that was all.

I find more and more that the idea of 'corruption' here is profoundly political and class-based. What do you think?

Making it clear--and thinking about time

One thing that you really need to think about with this paper is the title--all those elements of narrative structure make up the 'how' of how the story is told (as opposed to the 'why' or the 'what'. In section A you know that you have to discuss that, but in section B the questions can often lure you away, so that you're talking about the nature of time, or beginnings or endings or whatever, and not about how time is presented, or how endings are presented. It's almost as though you should add that bit to every question that you answer..

For a trial questions, try answering 'How is time presented in three of the texts that you have studied' and e-mail it to me for marking.

I think if you're considering time in the texts, you have to think about the different ways in which it is used to structure the narrative. If you consider the most common way to indicate time in writing--the use of different tenses--this can sharpen your account. So, for instance, look at the tense-shift at the end of 'The Eve of St Agnes', or during 'La Belle Dame'.

Otherwise, consider how Haddon uses time differently--subjective time 'it seemed ages' and objective time 'seven minutes after midnight' and how those two interact to suggest things about character and perspective.

What about how the wedding-guest's anxiety about time (what is happening with the wedding) interacts with the Mariner's tale? There are lots of little signals that time is passing, with references to the bride's actions for instance, or the singing of the wedding. How does this enhance the sense that the mariner is in some ways stopping time or outside time in his narrative?

By the way, all of you, accuracy in writing is the thing that impresses the examiners most--so whatever long words you want to use, make sure that you are secure in their use (a good way is to see how they are used by other writers--which is why reading good critical prose is one of the best ways to enhance your vocabulary).

A realy good source for some key literary terms is the University of Cambridge English faculty website. This link takes you straight to their page on literary terms, and is a good place to start developing your own sense for what's useful.

Thursday's lesson

... will not now take place, as I have been invited back for another day of interviews. Many apologies, as obviously, I would far rather be teaching you. There are two things that I suggest you do with your time today:

1) Those of you who were not in Tuesday's lesson, please collect your essays from the purple folder on my desk, read through them carefully, and look at the sheets of exam advice. Use these to try and improve your essays, and then e-mail me the improved version.

2) All of you need to work harder on your knowledge ofb the texts, and on responding to the key ideas in each. LOok at the sample questions, and write notes for each text on how the author creates character, uses the speaking voice, opens and ends the poems, and presents key events.

you could, of course, do a timed essay from the selection of questions that I have already posted, and e-mail it to me.

Many thanks, and apologies again,
MMc

Narrative structures and how they change things

An interesting exercise to foreground your understanding of narrative is to think about how narratives would be different if they had some aspect of the narrative style changed. For instance, imagine The Great Gatsby told through an objective, omniscient third-person narrator. How different would this be from Nick's story? Would Nick, and what he does, feature very much at all?

In the same way, try and do this with Keats. If we heard the story of Lamia or La Belle Dame from the women concerned, how might the telling of the story change? What about Lamia from the point of view of Apollonius? This sort of exercise can be useful in helping you to think about narrative perspectives. In Lamia, there are moments where the perspective seems to change, so that we sympathise with one character more than with another. Can you identify them, and pick out some of the details that create this impression?

Writing Section B responses

For section B, you have to remember to make connections NOT comparisons. You do not have to struggle to find out ways in which your texts relate to each other.

Remember, you can write three separate sections here and still be relevant--in fact, writing a (timed) section at a time is a good way to practise for this paper. It is also good to know just what you can write, in terms of length, at full tilt in 20 mins--don't plan for more than that in the exam, or you will write half a geat essay.

You do not have to treat all sections exactly equally--BUT do not expect to get good marks if you write a page on two texts and one paragraph on the third.

Things that are bad to do include:

putting in irrelevant information just because you know it
Shoe-horning in context ditto
quoting critics unless they are spot-on relevant
retelling the story (the examiner KNOWS it!)
Feature spotting (more on this later)
Not mentioning the question or addressing it
constantly repeating the question because you can't think of anything to say
Not referring to your texts.
Things that are good to do include:

precise reference to the terms of the question, drawing them out to create a genuinely interesting discussion.
using your knowledge of narrative techniques properly--relating them to features of the story and the meaning created.
Giving examples with quotation and detailed analysis
Thinking all the time 'HOW?' that is--not 'what' is the story being told, but 'how' is it told?
Don't forget your section A skills! Consider the use of Narrative voice and ‘voices’ more generally, Point of view, Key structural points: beginnings, climaxes, endings, Structural patterning, echoing, foreshadowing, repetition, Key significances, such as places, aspects of time and chronology.
Don't write about character--but about characterisation
Remember that the story does not come out of nowhere—you need to discuss the choices that the author has made when deciding how to tell this particular story
When you are planning, mahe the question the heart of your plan. You can even use a grid plan, as at GCSE, to make it clearer how to structure your answer. It might seem schematic, but it is better to have an answer tht ticks the boxes of the assessment criteria than one which wanders off the point.

Remember the AOs 1, 2 and 3. USE correct terminology--which should force you to analyse form and structure. Consider different ways of reading the text; how could it be read differently, and how does this add to its subtlety?