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In Memory of W.B. Yeats
- Author: Auden
- Type: Elegy/Dirge/Poem
- Themes:
- - praise for Yeats' skill as a poet
- - poetry/art outlives the author
- - elements of the inevitabilty/normality of death
- - poetry exists independently of the poet and intention; takes on a life of its own
- - poetry's effect is not mappable; it doesn't necessarily do anything
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September 1, 1939
- Author: Auden
- Type: Poem
- Themes:
- - about the outbreak of World War II
- - something is coming that is frightful; it is described in an abstract way
- - sense of uncertainty/lack of clarity
- - need eliminates social independence; we are dependent on one another whether we know it or not
- - we cannot continue to isolate ourselves
- - poetry works as a source of light and hope
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Endgame
- Author: Samuel Beckett
- Type: Short story
- Themes:
- - absurdist themes say that attempts to find meaning in the universe are doomed to fail
- - impossibility of self-determination
- - obsession with order and lack of control over order; precision
- - sense of entropy: end is at the beginning, but you "go on"
- - moral indefiniteness
- - "white" is in reference to chess pieces that do not have control over their fates; you know how endgame is going to end, but you must keep playing
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Gunga Din
- Author: Rudyard Kipling
- Type: literary ballad/poem
- Themes:
- - appreciating the work of those deemed inferior
- - response to a change in control of in India; Britain gains direct control
- - expectations of India are not what they seem
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The White Man's Burden
- Author: Rudyard Kipling
- Type: poem
- Themes:
- - colonialism is unpleasant but morally correct
- - people of colonies are less than human; echoes Tierra del Fuego
- - natives are ignorant with less self-awareness; innocence in a negative and naive way
- - colonization is a difficult task
- - colonization as a masculine, developmental responsibility
- - colonization makes nations stronger/more developed
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Heart of Darkness
- Author: Joseph Conrad
- Type: novella
- Themes:
- - represents public realization of brutality in the Congo
- - focus on perception/detail and chaos
- - The world is progressing in a chaotic and unclear fashion
- - reality is a lived experience
- - Like Frankenstein, it is a narrative within a narrative biased by perspective
- - power of spoken language; Kurtz controls everything through his voice = symbol of power and control
- - control is attained through language and control, not necessarily violence
- - language obscures Kurtz' selfish and corrupt nature
- - emphasis on the obscurity of language
- - "The Horror! The Horror!": horrors of colonialism; recognizes his own role in oppression; accepting/rejecting the horror
- - advocates separate spheres for men and women as evidenced by lack of developed female characters
- - tension about the role of white women in colonies
- - women's sexuality is dark and mysterious; has a corrupt feeling to it; feminine experience seems to transcend racial boundaries; women share a relation to darkness
- - natives are looked upon as less than human; a mimicry of white men
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