As was stated in class the difficulty with deciphering Sterne's A Sentimental Journey is that he is often serious and ironic and more often than not both at the same time. The confusion that this suggests makes Sterne a genius for making a (somewhat) coherent novel while maintaining this juxtaposition of parody and chronicle.
A prime example of this is the funeral of the dead ass. The presentation of this funeral is quite serious. The man mourning his ass' passing tells about the times they had together. When they were separated in the Pyrenean mountains "the ass sought for him as much as he had sought the ass and that they had neither scarce eat or drank til they met." Obviously on the surface it is an archetypical mourning of the passing of a friend. The irony is that this friend is an ass. Another facet to the irony is that Yorick, our moron of a narrator, attempts to console the man by stating that he had been a "merciful master." But this only heightens the man's grief as he feels the burdens of his journey killed the ass.
Another good example is the Bird. The balance of irony and seriousness rests more acutely on Yorick's perspective this time. Before he sees the bird he muses that he wouldnt mind staying in the Bastile at the expense of the king. But this all turns when he hears the bird saying "I cant get out." Jarringly he is forcibly taken on a tour of the horror of captivity in his own mind. The irony is Yorick's foolishness at letting himself get into this situation while the sincerity rests in what is nearly a treatise on captivity versus liberty.

The inclusion of Fantomina in only the latest edition of the Norton Anthology can be attributed to a rising awareness of the impact of misogyny on our view of history. Whereas before Fantomina was perhaps thought of as inconsequential because it was written by a woman; a serious effort is now being made to examine how women of ages past thought and reflected their circumstances through writing. Eliza Haywood presents us a tale suggestive of several other works we've read by English authors. Her dealings with gender confusion and usage of deception make me wish we'd read this before writing our rough drafts. A direct correlation can be drawn between this story and Twelfth Night. While the gender confusion in Shakespeare's play is more literal Haywood's, can be seen in how Fantomina's actual pursuit and conquest of Beauplaisir reflects and overpowers Beauplaisir's belief that he is pursuing and taking these women. The ending is dissimilar to the happy one of Shakespeare's play. This ending and indeed many of Beauplaisir's actions can be placed within English literature as a commentary, by a woman, on men of the Restoration period. The ending is neither tragedy nor comedy but instead an abrupt halting of the intrigue, embodied by Fantomina, that fills the entire story. Does Beau offer to marry her? Does he kill himself for his ineptitude? Does he understand how ingenious her scheming was? No to all. He makes some halfhearted gestures and then gets on with his life. Boring. It is funny to see that Fantomina's actions drive the entire story while when Beau has the chance to drive it home he simply...doesn't. I think this is Haywood telling men of her time that they are not as noble nor nearly as daring as they think. And that women such as her protagonist (and herself) suffer from their lack of imagination and devotion. Another reason this was perhaps excluded was that not only does the protagonist act unladylike but her actions during the story are not derided by the author. Indeed the only chastisement comes from the character of the mother who is portrayed as a fairly dull and predicatble conservative lady. The dynamic nature of the protagonist casts this active, intelligent, and sexually aggressive woman in a positive light. Which, according to Nortons 1-7 , is just not the way to portray women. I think the addition is very valuable as it shows how an intelligent woman can poke a little fun at men especially when one considers that her contemporaries did their fair share of lambasting women in their satire.

Pope's The Rape of the Lock is described as a mock heroic epic. But why would Pope select this form to present this story in this way? It seems to me most epics are about important, world-spanning, cataclysmostrophic events. And while I realize what I said back there is not a word I feel that this makes clearer what Pope is trying to mock in his mock heroic epic.
This false sense of the epic is applied to an incident that, while not entirely mundane, is altogether unepic. In both of the cantos we read, Pope employs several epic conventions and certain other methods to create an overblown tale.
The first canto begins with the epic convention of proclaiming what the author is singing about.
"What dire offense from amorous causes springs, What mighty contests rise from trivial things, I sing- This verse to Caryll, Muse!" Already pope introduces the concept of the mighty rising from the trivial. Suggesting the subject of the mockery is directed at the ridiculous circumstances, including English society and the behavior of its inhabitants, that would cause mighty contests to rise from trivial things. The bulk of the canto consists of descriptions of Belinda's beauty and a catalogue of sorts of Sylphs, Nymphs, and Salamanders. The catalogue, an epic convention, is a lengthy aside from any action in the poem that establishes the place of the Sylphs in the story. This grandiose description all leads up to...a woman waking up and getting ready for her day. The insertion of the Sylphs further emphasizes the epic, implying(mockingly) that the supernatural must have intervened in order for these events to occur.
The third canto is where the actual rape of the lock occurs. The scene is a card game between Belinda, The Baron, and a third trivial player. The desciptions in this card game make it easy to forget that they are simply playing cards. Titanic struggles between royal forces are used to describe the flow of the game. After the lady wins the game the Baron decides to take a lock of her hair. The Baron is compared to Scylla who took a lock of her father's hair and was turned into a bird. This comparison to a Greek myth places, if possible, the story on a grander scale. As he is cutting the lock a Sylph attempts to intervene but Fate "cut the Sylph in twain" and the lock was cut.
The inclusion of the Sylphs, comparisons to Greek mythology, and conventions of the epic form all give this story an epic feel. But why? I don't feel like Pope was mocking the epic form itself but rather the epic self-importance with which English society men and women live their lives. The final 20-30 lines of the first canto are an excellent example of this. Wherein Belinda "begins the sacred rites of pride." She utilizes instruments and accessories from all over the world and the description is that of a harmonious work of beauty wrought by the diversity of the entire globe. But in truth her epic masterpiece that is her face is nothing more than an exercise in shameless human vanity.

I stumbled across The Lady's Dressing Room in our Norton Anthology in a separate section from the other Swift pieces. Apparently those tricky bastards at Norton want English instructors to have to find it elswhere and then have some snotty brat like me point it out in class. I can't wait. I found The Lady's Dressing Room pertinent on a social and personal level. The problem of the treatment of women as divinely beautiful and inhuman beings pervades in both society and my relationship with my girlfriend. No, I have not discovered disgusting odors produced by her body. But I have encountered issues similar to what Swift is dealing with in this piece.
The problem with defining all women as a heavenly Celia is that they are human beings. As Swift so elegantly points out they sweat, have ear wax, and defecate. He is openly mocking the sentiment behind the...pedestal. As stated in the headnote about Swift he had several love interests and therefore did not dislike women. His vehemence is not directed at women in general, but rather anyone who buys into the women are perfectly divine doctrine, be it man or woman. It is my belief, and I feel Swift was suggesting this, that it is a dishonor and slight to the woman you are overpraising. They are not delicate, heavenly Celias; they are breathing, sweatting, shitting human beings. And the only way to respect them is as such.

For my discussion of a poets' usage of heroic couplets I have selected the penis poem. Rochesters' The Imperfect Enjoyment's utilization of these heroic couplets is as artful as its brutalization of an uncompromising body part is tactless. (You see what I did there?)
There is an obvious shift in tone beginning with line 25 "But I, most forlorn, lost man alive..." This shift comes after 24 lines of a beautifully described scene of passion. The heroic couplet verse form is employed two different ways both before and after this shift. The first 8 lines have a halting feeling with a pause in the center of each line to truly emphasize each iamb. Line 6 is a good example of this "She clips me to her breast, and sucks me to her face." Passion is evident in the line but there is no urgency yet. But the enjambement between lines 8-9 steps up the urgency of the passion and begins to build to the sudden change in tone. "Swift orders that I should prepare to throw/The all dissolving thunderbolt below." Excitement comes from both the words and the shift in how they are read. From halting to sudden and almost impatient. The urgency builds until line 24 where Rochester is asked "must we not pay a debt to pleasure too?" Lines 25-45 quickly and summarily describe his predicament and the irony at his little buddy's past willingness that is nowhere to be found now. We are given 2 sets of "triplets" which emphasize even further the desperation of his introspection. Line 46 begins the shift from desperation to anger in which he lambastes his penis frantically and furiously. Gone are the desperation of triplets and the halting iambic buildup. What we have here in these final lines are twin daggers of pure penis putdown gold. The heroic couplets are less heroic and much more demonically vile. My favorites? "What oyster-cinder-beggar-whore didst thou e'er fail in thy life before?" and an image of a hog that doesnt bear repeating. The poem ends with an indention and a brilliant summary of Rochester's point.
So why the heroic couplet rather than anything else? It seems to be far more adaptable to Rochester's purposes and accomplishes a buildup effect. The passionate foreplay scene's halting beginning and sudden shift is accomplished with rhymed lines in iambic pentameter with a slightly increasing rhythm. The second portion of the poem exudes a desperation due to the inclusion of triplets and the quickly read and executed rhymes. The final glorious crescendo that are the final 30ish lines of this poem have a different sort of scheme concerning the couplet. They're practially a series of "two liners" in which the first line of a rhyme is more or less a setup and the second one a punchline. Rochester utilizes heroic couplets to give vivid life to a humorous situation and make it far more funny.

Dryden's Annus Mirabilis celebrates an English naval victory and suggests the great fire in London only augmented the city's greatness and the solidarity of the king and his people. Dryden shoves us along his verse with rhyming abab quatrains. After reading Mac Flecknoe and considering this week's blog prompt I decided to wait until Friday to address the herioc couplet directly.
I found it interesting to think about how the rhyme schemes in the two poems shaped how I read them and then comparing them. Annus Mirabilis feels halting due to the quatrain setup and the rhyme scheme. The quatrains feel as if they need to finish their rhyme in order to finish their thoughts. Lines 1 and 2 introduce an idea or feeling while 3 and 4 sum them up or tie the first two lines together. This rising to a conclusion fits perfectly with Annus Mirabilis's victorious, celebratory tone.
I wont delve too deeply into Mac Flecknoe since this is NOT me addressing the prompt but I want to briefly discuss the contrast. The heroic couplets feels like dagger thrusts for his satire as opposed to the halting alternate rhyme of Annus Mirabilis. The overall effect of this rhyme scheme is to make one feel as if Dryden is delivering blows to the opponent he is lambasting.