1. Pastoral 1 (AO4) What do you understand by “pastoral”? What is “the pastoral”?

2. Why is Saunders's book called Pastoralia?

3. Some definitions: Terry Gifford (1999) offers several permutations of “the” pastoral tradition: The pastoral is any poem (particular the classical eclogue) that deals with shepherds and rural life; it tends to idealize both. Pastoral texts are those in which the countryside features in a significant way; often it is privileged over & opposed to the city and city life. An extension of more traditional pastoral texts might be “eco-texts” (such as those by Ursula Le Guin); often overlaps with some forms of fantasy and/or science fiction. “Pastoral” sometimes a pejorative adjective describing romanticized, naive, patronizing idealizations of the countryside and country life. “The pastoral” might also be thought of as “the literature of landscape” (Stephen Siddall [2009] calls his book on pastoral literature Literature and Landscape)

4. Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Burke’s distinction of the beautiful and the sublime (1757): “By beauty I mean that quality or those qualities in bodies, by which they cause love, or some passion similar to it.” “Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling.” The sublime and the beautiful “are indeed ideas of a very different nature, one [the sublime] being founded on pain, the other [the beautiful] on pleasure” Introduction to Aesthetics and Aesthetic Theory

5. Beautiful?Sublime? The sublime and the beautiful are both aspects of aesthetic experience – two faces of the same aesthetic coin.

6. Kant (1724-1804) Kant’s was arguably the first major contribution to aesthetic theory and philosophy. He was influenced in part by Burke’s distinction of the beautiful and the sublime. Beauty is a problem for Kant: it is an immediate experience “in” us, and yet we perceive beauty “in” things; therefore, we act as if “x is beautiful” is universally true. Beauty appears to be in other things, and yet it is justified by our own immediate experiences – so what guarantees that something really is beautiful? Pure aesthetic pleasure should be free from concepts; e.g., the experience of a “something” greater than oneself when looking out over, say, the Grand Canyon is not a representation of any thing or concept, whereas as photograph of me is. Introduction to Aesthetics and Aesthetic Theory

7. Kant (cont.) Pure aesthetic experience should allow the “free play” of the imagination – it should allow us to make links and leaps, without the need of concepts, and without being “for” anything else. Aesthetic contemplation should lead us to a point of disinterested reflection – not uninterested; “disinterested” means free from concerns to do with my, or anyone’s, advantage; disinterested here means contemplating the aesthetic object for its own sake. Pure aesthetic experience indicates a harmony between us (our rational faculties) and the world/aesthetic objects. Aesthetic experience should give us a sense of a “beyond” that we can neither know nor explain, but of which we have glimpses and are given clues. In this sense, aesthetic experience is moral, for it makes us realize we are part of a grander design than ourselves, one we can never truly understand. It is also linked to morality because in aesthetic experience, as in our dealings with others, we learn to view things as ends in themselves, not means to other ends. Introduction to Aesthetics and Aesthetic Theory

8. Not “the” pastoral at all... Might be better, with so many definitions on offer, to think not of “the pastoral,” but of “pastorals” or “pastoralism.”

9. Why study the pastoral? Two views: 1) We “map” our broader views and beliefs onto our surroundings: we might “see the world in a grain of sand | And heaven in a wild flower” (William Blake); we might see the oppression of the working classes “written” into the uniformity of industrial landscapes 2) Marx - “life is not determined by consciousness but consciousness by life.” Our aesthetics lives, at their most basic, have their foundations in the fact that we cannot help but respond to our environment.  Other philosophers, like George Santayana and John Dewey, were not Marxists, but held similar views about aesthetic life being rooted in experience. If “pastoral” is the literature of landscape, in the broadest sense of “landscape,” then it might also be the literature that attempts to chart our aesthetic lives.

10. Pastoral & the Romantic Imagination The beautiful and the sublime. The free play of the imagination. Imagination as the essence of “man,” in an increasingly secular world.

11. Songs of Innocence and of Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul What do the title and image suggest? How do you think this text will relate to the idea of a pastoral tradition?

14. The Shepherd How sweet is the Shepherds sweet lot From the morn to the evening he strays; He shall follow his sheep all the day And his tongue shall be filled with praise. For he hears the lambs innocent call, And he hears the ewes tender reply, He is watchful while they are in peace, For they know when their Shepherd is nigh.

15. The Ecchoing Green [from Innocence] The Sun does arise, And make happy the skies. The merry bells ring, To welcome the Spring, The sky-lark and thrush, The birds of the bush, Sing louder around, To the bells chearful sound, While our sports shall be seen On the Ecchoing Green. Old John with white hair Does laugh away care, Sitting under the oak, Among the old folk. They laugh at our play, And soon they all say, Such, such were the joys, When we all, girls & boys, In our youth time were seen, On the Ecchoing Green. Till the little ones weary No more can be merry The sun does descend, And our sports have an end: Round the laps of their mothers, Many sisters and brothers, Like birds in their nest, Are ready for rest: And sport no more seen, On the darkening Green.

16. The Sick Rose O Rose thou art sick. The invisible worm. That flies in the night In the howling storm: Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy: And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy.

17. 16/12/12 London I wander thro' each charter'd street, Near where the charter'd Thames does flow. And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every Man, In every Infants cry of fear, In every voice: in every ban, The mind-forg'd manacles I hear How the Chimney-sweepers cry Every blackning Church appalls, And the hapless Soldiers sigh Runs in blood down Palace walls But most thro' midnight streets I hear How the youthful Harlots curse Blasts the new-born Infants tear And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

18. Pastoral: Blake – “The Ecchoing Green,” “The Sick Rose,” “London” Consider the titles only. “Ecchoing Green” is from Songs of Innocence, “The Sick Rose” and “London” are from Songs of Experience.

19. What do these images have in common?

20. What might we say about the poems: In relation to the notions of innocence/experience? In relation to common conceptions of the pastoral? In relation to Blake’s artistic and philosophical worldviews?

21. Now look at the images for each of the poems. Can you make any links between them and the “messages” of the poems; or them and Blake’s philosophical/artistic views; or them and the pastoral?

23. Detailed analysis of language (and structure/form)

25. Introduction (Experience) & Earth’s Answer

26. The Ecchoing Green [from Innocence] The Sun does arise, And make happy the skies. The merry bells ring, To welcome the Spring, The sky-lark and thrush, The birds of the bush, Sing louder around, To the bells chearful sound, While our sports shall be seen On the Ecchoing Green. Old John with white hair Does laugh away care, Sitting under the oak, Among the old folk. They laugh at our play, And soon they all say, Such, such were the joys, When we all, girls & boys, In our youth time were seen, On the Ecchoing Green. Till the little ones weary No more can be merry The sun does descend, And our sports have an end: Round the laps of their mothers, Many sisters and brothers, Like birds in their nest, Are ready for rest: And sport no more seen, On the darkening Green.

27. January Mock

28. Consider the view that, in Songs of Innocence and Experience, Blake presents nature as a child’s best teacher and moral guide. (40 marks) All AOs assessed. A more fully formed essay expected in this exam (whereas AS was very much about responding to exam questions). Notice that context should be incorporated into arguments/analyses - What counts as context?

29. Engage with the question – take a position/pick a fight with the terms of the question; mention typical conventions of the pastoral here, if possible Try to develop a line of argument over the course of the essay (as in coursework: “build a case”)

30. Songs of Experience: “Introduction” & “Earth’s Answer”

31. Introduction Hear the voice of the Bard! Who Present, Past, & Future sees Whose ears have heard, The Holy Word, That walk'd among the ancient trees. Calling the lapsed Soul And weeping in the evening dew: That might controll, The starry pole; And fallen fallen light renew! O Earth O Earth return! Arise from out the dewy grass; Night is worn, And the morn Rises from the slumberous mass. Turn away no more: Why wilt thou turn away The starry floor The watry shore Is giv'n thee till the break of day.

32. Earth’s Answer Earth rais'd up her head, From the darkness dread & drear. Her light fled: Stony dread! And her locks cover'd with grey despair. Prison'd on watry shore Starry Jealousy does keep my den Cold and hoar Weeping o'er I hear the Father of the ancient men Selfish father of men Cruel, jealous, selfish fear Can delight Chain'd in night The virgins of youth and morning bear.

33. Mock feedback and Exam technique Knowledge of Blake generally good Knowledge of the poems generally good More reference to the terms of the question across essay More detailed/critical introductions More developed references to the idea of the pastoral (especially in intros) More AO2 Sometime images analyzed at the expense of language

34. Consider the view that in Blake nature is presented as a child’s best teacher and moral guide. Which poems would you use if you were to do the question again? Why?

35. Nature in relation the pastoral often associated with… How many different versions of nature in Blake? Which poems complicate the statement? Consider the view that in Blake nature is presented as a child’s best teacher and moral guide.

36. As with the coursework, in this exam you want to try to develop a thesis (clear line of argument). Engage with the terms of the question; some detail will be needed here. You can gain marks for AOs 3 and 4 especially.

37. Consider the view that in Blake nature is presented as a child’s best teacher and moral guide. Blake is interested in poetic genius, which he thinks is mankind’s true nature. Therefore, I only agree with this statement to some extent.

38. As literary critics from William Empson, to Leo Marx, and, more recently, Terry Gifford, have pointed out, there are many different versions of the pastoral. However, a common conception of the pastoral casts Nature as the space of primitive morality and spiritual purity; this, in binary opposition to city, or urban, spaces, which are typically presented as spaces of humankind’s technological modernity and moral corruption. Interestingly, this typical pastoral picture is more complicated in Blake, as he opposes the natural and spiritual worlds. The natural world, for Blake, is the material world, which he envisions humankind transcending so that it can return to the world of Spirit. Another conception of nature in Blake is human nature, which he calls “Poetic Genius.” Crucially, this creative capacity is universal to humankind. Children in Blake’s poetry often symbolize innocence, but also humanity itself. As we will see, when “nature” is understood as poetic genius, it is presented as a child’s best teacher and moral guide; however, when interpreted as the world of nature, or typical pastoral settings, it isn’t.

39. To what extent do you agree with the view that, in Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Blake warns of the dangers of repressing natural instincts? (40 marks)

40. Plan an intro., including a thesis. What points will you make? What issues should your first paragraph touch on?

41. How significant do you think the idea of natural freedom is to Songs of Innocence and Experience? For intro? Which poems and why? Which aspects of the poems? Intro. and one paragraph of language-centred analysis

42. How significant are the ideas of loss and return to Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience? Intros: - Consider loss and return in relation to the pastoral in general - Consider loss and return in relation to Blake (loss of what? return to/of what?)