Hi folks,
We're up to the climax (!) of The Eve of St Agnes now, so I think the
best thing to do is concentrate on reading/annotating and push through to the
end.
Here’s
today’s work (to be completed by Thursday 11th June):
1) Do this quick recap quiz on lines 251-306 of The Eve of St
Agnes.
2) Read and annotate lines 307 to
the end of The Eve of St Agnes. You can find my annotations here, or use this
or this or this study guide.
Optional extras:
- Fill in the rest of The Eve of St Agnes on a page
- Compose a single Spenserian stanza to describe the view out of your window. Go on!
That’s all for now. I’ll be sending feedback on
your paragraphs in the next day or two.
Next time, we’ll consider some interpretations of
the poem and we’ll read an important and enlightening piece of criticism (if I
can find a pdf version of it!)
Enjoy!
Mr M
P.S. Can language get any more lyrical and sensuous than this?
Try reading it out loud:
And still she slept an azure-lidded
sleep,
In blanched linen, smooth, and lavender'd,
While he forth from the closet brought a heap
Of candied apple, quince, and plum, and gourd;
With jellies soother than the creamy curd,
And lucent syrops, tinct with cinnamon;
Manna and dates, in argosy transferr'd
From Fez; and spiced dainties, every one,
From silken
Samarcand to cedar'd Lebanon.
These delicates he heap'd with glowing hand
On golden dishes and in baskets bright
Of wreathed silver: sumptuous they stand
In the retired quiet of the night,
Filling the chilly room with perfume light.—
"And now, my love, my seraph fair, awake!
Thou art my heaven, and I thine eremite:
Open thine eyes, for meek St. Agnes' sake,
Or I shall
drowse beside thee, so my soul doth ache."
Think about the
kinds of sounds he uses in this passage. Listen to the vowel sounds (esp.
assonance) and consider the types of consonants he uses from the list below. What
effect do you think he is trying to create?
fricative: th, f
sibilant: s, sh, ch, x
plosive: p, t, k, d, b, g
affricate: ch, j
liquid: l, r
nasal: m, n
semivowels or glides: w, y
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