Part 1: Students will perform the following assignment(appx. 250-300 words):
There is something of a “dream sequence” in Stanza II of Eliot’s poem beginning with the line “In the uncertain hour before the morning” and ending with the line “And [he] faded on the blowing of the horn.”For this discussion assignment focus ONLY on this particular section (II) of the stanza.Out of the many councils -- i.e., out of the many pieces of advice -- that the “dead master” from eternity reveals to the poet, pick two councils, then cite in your thread the two councils that you pick, and explain to me and the class what you PERSONALLY believe them to mean. (Please, never mind what Eliot meant them to mean, or what some reader or scholar or critic online meant them to mean. I want you to tell me what you PERSONALLY believe are the meanings of the two councils of the "dead master" that you pick.) (appx. 250 words)
Part 2:Students will perform the following assignment(appx. 250-300 words):
Jonson's poem "To the Memory of My Beloved the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare" is what literary scholars call both a "panegyric" (a public speech in praise of someone) and an "elegy' (a lament for the dead).
But in fact the fundamental action which Jonson performs with his composite form -- his panegyric-elegy -- may be likened to the action performed by Jesus when -- in the depiction of John's Gospel (11:1–44) -- he brings Lazarus of Bethany back to life four days after his burial.
Jonson's poem, in other words, effectively gives expression to Jonson's refusal to let both Shakespeare and his literary creations die: Jonson desires to make real -- desires to real-ize, actualize, materialize -- Shakespeare's immortality, Shakespeare's "imperisbability," in Greek, hiskléos áphthiton,his
"imperishable fame."
Now tell me:
what words or lines or phrases in the poem give expression to Jonson's desire, i.e., the desire as I have characterized it above?