STUDY GUIDE
Sonnets

Romantic love is celebrated as a source of strength in a world with some underlying
sadness.

The sonnets affirm the integrity and spirituality of love.

The poems are intensely personal.

Sonnets from the Portuguese have been valued as significant in the development of the
sonnet in English studies. Browning’s manipulation of the sonnet form, based on the
Petrarchan model, is highly skilled and acclaimed. She uses a traditionally male form to
express a uniquely female voice. Her use of caesura in the form of unusual punctuation help
establish the personal and conversational tone to many of the sonnets.

The highly religious Victorian context and Barrett-Browning’s personal religiosity allows
her to believe in an eternal and metaphysical manifestation of love.
Gatsby

There is no place for transformative romantic love in a materialistic society.

Nick’s unreliable narration, which tends to be distant and clinical, forces the responder to
examine the issues at hand.

Fitzgerald’s Modernist context is a secular one where capitalism dominates the values of the
American public.

Materialism results in a lack of spiritual dimension and hence Gatsby's great love for Daisy
can only be expressed and conceived of in materialistic terms.

Love, in the secular and the cynically materialistic context of Jazz Age, is an impossible
dream because idealisation can only ever be based on physical and superficial elements.
Comparison

The contexts of Victorian England and post-World War I America can be contrasted with
ease. Essentially this can be broken down to spirituality vs materialism.

Idealised love, hope and mortality are concerns common to the paired texts.

The function of personal voice in the sonnets and first-person narration in The Great
Gatsby can be explored, evaluated and compared.
Sonnets From the Portuguese
Context

Victorian era is commonly associated with a society that was staid and conservative.

Victorian era was also one of great change and vitality

Underneath a frequently repressive social code was something far less austere and genteel.
This kind of contradiction was typical of the Victorian period: Victorian values were
proudly enshrines, but extraordinary social unrest was ignored; national success was boasted
about, not the colonial and working class exploration upon which it was based.

1830 – 48 saw significant social turmoil and the movement of people from rural to urban
areas

1848 – 70 was characterised by greater economical confidence, but religious uncertainty.

1870 – 1901 marked a decay of Victorian values and apprehension about what would come
next with the turn of the century.

The shift from rural to urban work accelerated with eh rise of mechanisation and factories.

Characterised by repression, abstinence, conservatism, gentility

Tightening of moral codes in a period of nationalism and legal freedom – celebrates moral
abandonment

Moral uprightness, particularly in attitudes towards female sexuality – indiscretions would
result in disgrace and personal ruin – pious ness was expected

Christian values: the belied in god, angels, heaven, hell

Personal context – scandalous epistolary romance; controversial elopement; paternal
disinheritance; move to Rome; ailments and improving health

In the context of the 19th century, the sonnets were at first highly regarded for their intensity
of expression and their representation of a woman’s perspective. After BB's death, the
sonnets were increasingly read for the light they shed on her own life. These tensions within
the 19th century context can enrich the study of the text and the context in this elective

BB was born in 1806. She was frail yet had no distinct problems until 1821. She was an
accomplished woman who thrived on knowledge, particularly literature. She had tragedy in
her life: mother died when she was 22, brother when 32. Her father was a dominant,
domineering, demanding man who insisted in complete obedience from his adult children.
Her father was a major barrier to her acceptance of Robert’s proposal of marriage. Her
father thought very badly of marriage and disowned any of his children that married. After
the marriage, her father disowned her and she never saw him again.
Form and Style

Italian sonnet

BB sonnet appropriates the male voice and changes it to a feminine voice

Italian sonnets was a form of expression romantic love of the male poet; it gave voice to
male’s concerns and feelings; by giving this voice to the female, Barret Browning makes it
feminine, helping express the liberating power of love

The sonnet form allows expression and reflections. The sequence communicates the love
story between Barret and Browning; sequences were meditative exercises and expressions of
feelings

Each succeeding poem introduces a new focus in the idea of love, therefore amplifies the
romantic sensibility of the poem

Poem blend the real and the ideal

Heightened form of poetry used for heightened emotions

Challenges repression

BB doesn’t manipulate the responder – we are not invited into the text to infer meaning =
we are told about her experiences with love

To offer some privacy to the intensely personal subject matter of the sonnets, she made their
title ambiguus, so trick people to thin that they originally came from Portugal.

Petrachan sonnet, originally Italian that dividends into 14 lines, two parts octave (8 lines)
sestet (6 lines).

The octet introduces a problem, express a desire, reflect on reality, or present a situation that
causes doubt or conflict within the poet.

The sestet introduces a pronounced change in tone in the sonnet, and its purpose is to
comment on the problem or to apply a solution to it.
BB has chosen this male verse form, reversing the conventional position of the woman as an object
of love who explores love from the position of one inside, looking out.
Purpose Values and Perspectives
Romantic love is celebrated as a source of strength in a world with some underlining sadness and
difficulties
The sonnets affirm the integrity and spirituality of love
The poems are intensely personal

Asserts that Romantic love sublimates in a state of bliss

Suggests that transcendence is propelled by the romantic experience

Shows that her poems are connected to her cultural context = BB takes faith in the
individual and transfers it to an understanding of love

Her perspective of love changes – she questions what love is and comes to understand it.
She moves from idealised love to real love. She defines love as consequence of her
experiences = she is seen to be extraordinary in her context

Love shown to be liberating
The secret epistolary romance between B and Browning followed their controversial elopement and
fairytale ending of a happy marriage complete with child has fascinated readers from her
contemporaries to the present.
Love story began in 1945 when Robert wrote ti Barrett in praise of her poetry. After 20 months of
correspondence and meetings they eloped and moved to Italy.
For the Victorian reader, the sonnets were the epitome of appropriate poetry for women to write
because they showed a woman in her best role – loving and expressing sentiments of love.
The poems were met with reticence, not praise, and the sonnet’s success would not come until later,
when her biographical connection to the poems was known – people were more interested in the
mystery and love story.
Her value was seen in her capacity as a woman to express love and devotion to her lovers and
husband.
The sonnets can be read critically as poems without taking into account the courtship context but
considering some of the tensions in the sequence in the light of actual circumstances can influence
our interpretation of them. We can better appreciate and accept the intensity of the poetic voice and
its rhetorical stance in examining love, death and intimacy when we consider what sorts of
experiences the sonnets reflect.
Barrett Browning was doing more than simply expressing a woman’s capacity for love. The voice
in the sonnets is an empowered one, asserting the right of a woman to be assertive, passionate,
playful and ironic. She is no longer unattainable, distant object of male desire but the centre of
conscious feeling and action.

Positive expression of love from a 19th century woman’s perspective

The power of live to transform and exploration of this experience

Victorian spiritual values, offers transcendence and makes love possible = SPIRITUALITY
allows love to be real

These sonnets reverse the Courtly Love sonnet convention of the male persona and its desire
for the unattainable.

The inevitable limitation of love is death, not love itself.

19th century values, strong belief in capacity, woman has to love
Analysis
Language

Distance and proximity between the lovers

Intimacy

The sense, especially the tactile

Possession and loss

The duality of body and soul

Limited time. Eternity

Silence/speech
Structure

Manipulation of the sonnet form

Patterns of imagery

Question/answer

Contrasts between heaven and either

Contrasts between time and eternity

The sonnet as a form can be ‘structure by an evolving Inner emotional dynamic, as the
fictive speaker is shown to ‘see more’”

The fictive speaker is the female voice of the poems

She is sown as seeing more as the sequence develops

She changes her mind in the sense that she reflects on her thoughts and feelings and
reshapes them

She also passes from description to analysis

Emotional shifts within and between poems

Patterns of words and images

Changes in ways of thinking about experience within and between poems
I “I thought once how Theocrates had sung…”
The opening reference to Theocractes, the 3rd century BC Greek pastoral poet that catches a sense
of nostalgia for the past, a kind of mediation, which is echoed in the lines: “of the sweet years, the
dear and wished for years”. This allusion also commences BB’s analysis of love, portraying that
Love will be the theme in the sonnets to follow.
The personal tone, particularly the use of first person in the first sentence, is indicative of intimate
experience, and the intimacy portrayed in the poems.
She has never experiences love, and has only read about it, hence the discussion of Theocrates and
the “antique tongue”, specifically love in its idealistic state.
Her inexperience is commented on in the resolution as she realizes she has misinterpreted death for
love. Her recognition of this event, and her reflection upon it alludes to her act of altering her
mindset for the future.
XIV “If thou must love me…”
This poem is an expression of unconditional love. It is a subversion of the typical sonnets as BB
tells the experiences from the female perspective. We see the other side of the classical male
Petrachan sonnet. The first lines mock the courtly kind of love, as do the unrealistic measures of
love that often occur in love sonnets.
The speaker demands that she be loved for love alone. She rejected being loved for any attributes
that are elements that could pass or fade in their appeal for him, and thereby, loving her for those
his love for her would similarly diminish. “I love her for her smile”
Adds force to this list by putting the words into the man’s mouth, as if these might be the sorts of
qualities he would list – a kind of courtly love often expressed in Petra Chan poems.
This technique gives immediacy to the idea and animates the speaker’s request that such attributes
not be admitted. So her instruction that she be loved is demanding, showing her growth from the
insecure woman unable to understand love, to a woman knowing exactly what she wants from her
love.
The last couplet: “But love me for love’s sake, that evermore/ Thou may’st love on through love’s
eternity –“ the repetition of love throughout the sonnet intensifies the sense of idealism.
The poem is an expression of the difficulty of finding and keeping true love that is not based on
some less than adequate attraction, bit also a celebration of love which, if rightly inspired but the
love of love itself, will last for “eternity.”
XXII “when our two souls stand up…”
Affirmation between the spiritual and material world. This love is mystical, yet grounded in reality,
morality as a factor.
BB juxtaposes the earthbound world and heaven or eternity. This tension reflects one of the most
pressing matters for intelligent Victorians: the matter of faith and doubt.
The speaker imagines their upright souls aspiring to heaven in powerful imagery as they transcend
the earth and any “bitter wrong” earthly life can do to them. His Imagery almost equates them to
angels. A sublime image and overwhelming sense of awe is the tone of the sonnet. The two lovers
in a sense of rapture. It seems a celebration of the desire to escape from the spatiotemporal domain
into eternity.
The rhetorical question, followed by the punctuation (important in BB poetry) gives the sense of
contemplation at the image that she has presented u with.
By ‘mounting higher’ angels “would press on us.” The image of oppression juxtaposes and confront
her readers whose image of angels are of beauty and kindness. BB recognizes the beauty associated
with angels, as she goes on to create a beautiful image “some golden orb of perfect song” speaking
positively of the experience, before contradiction with the impression that this will interrupt the
lover’s “deep dear silence.”
The decisive: “let us stay” is the start of the sestet, introducing the solution. It is a testament to the
power of their love that she should invest it with this confident strength to with stand whatever
assault “darkness and the death-hour” of human existence and mortality might bring.” She suggests
that time can destroy their love, but for it to be real love must be experienced in the present.
Juxtaposes the earthly world with heavenly world with an extended metaphor of she and her lover
being almost equated to angels as they transcend the earth. She adds another level of juxtaposition
by negatively presenting the angles “press[ing] on” the lovers with, “some golden orb of perfect
song” which will ruin their “deep, dear silence” and the perfection that they have on earth
Negative images, such as “unfit”, “contrarious” describe earth in comparison to the perfection of
heaven, but she is convinced that on earth, their love will have “a place to stand
XLIII “How do I love thee?”
This sonnet is a celebration of joyous love – love as a saviour. She speaker is confident and sees
love as a liberating source. Love becomes a saviour because of spiritually that characterizes her life.
Encompassing the worldly and spiritual elements. It is in the form of a catalogue of the ways in
which she loves her love. It is a celebration of joy and confidence of love, and delight in the
existence of the loved
To the second line, “depth, breadth , height” the poet adds and repeats “and: which augments the
sense f the wide-ranging an all-encompassing quality of her love.
The capitalization of “Being” and “Ideal” links the poem to god, speaking of the spirituality of her
love, although it still remains entrenched in reality.
Series of elements introduced by that simple phrase:” I love thee” where the repetition intensifies
the affirmation, she declares that her love is free and pure and possesses the passion, which she
brought.
Most
importantly
her
love
is
liberating
for
her
The Great Gatsby
Context
The America of the great Gatsby is not an egalitarian or homogeneous society. It is a world divided
on wealth-based class, on geographical bases, on moral values. The East is the setting for America’s
reinvention of itself following the horrors of WW1. The West, the traditional frontier, has been
abandoned to its small town mentality.
The selfish moralities of consumerism are the country’s new moral code and the pursuit of wealth
and pleasure its new religion.

Characterized by riotous and reckless behaviors

Tensions between
o Cit and country; traditional and new trends; old manners and new morals’ old world
and rise o the new world

Benchmarked by WW1 and the depression

Velocity of change documented by Fitzgerald

An era of consumer power; the doctrine of consumption; the new woman

In 1919 the year of WW1 ended, Prohibition was introduced in America. Losing their
respect for the law and enriching gangsters.

An era of changing values – hedonism; riotous behaviors; extravagance immorality
shallowness
The American Dream
Fitzgerald explores the tensions that exists between tow variant definitions of the American Dream:
An ideal version, preserving the sense of wonder and limitless possibility at the heart of what
America means – the embodiment of human potential, free from any limits set by past experience.
The other, a materialistic version that the process of creating one’s self is equated with becoming
rich. It is the corrupt means by which Gatsby has achieved wealth and his vulgar exhibitions of
affluence that provoke Nick’s scorn.
Gatsby’s desire was to create an ideal self, held together by hope and wonder. But this ideal is
tainted by the criminal means he employs to attain his evident wealth
The tension here may be formulated in terms of success and failure. Fitzgerald presents a paradox
with success in material terms; inescapable means failure in the terms of ideal.
Background
The 1920’s were a period of expansion, driven by a social creed of upward mobility. The period is
usually identified with money and gaiety. Gatsby’s flashy cars, his lavish parties, the reckless
conduct of his guests and the carelessness of the Buchanan’s are all part of this atmosphere of
carelessness and reckless enjoyment.
Related to this atmosphere was the rise of organized rime, which led to widespread corruption. And
it is this background of crime and illegal dealing that prevails in The Great Gatsby.
Mid West
The Midwest is identified with the hopeful spirit which Gatsby represents, a certain old fashioned
stability which resist of the comfit of old, unchanging values and close relationships where some of
the old pioneer spirit of industry and purpose still lingers.
Te Buchanan’s have lost that “gift for hope” having surrendered totally to a careless, aimless way of
life, occupied only with material things:
East + Midwest between materialistic concerns and spiritual purpose that destroys Gatsby.
Form and Style

Urbanizes the novel = composes a modernist text characterized by its realism

Wrote in an age that questioned the value of literature

He offers elevated and romantic description of consumption, products, parties and food
rather than natural landscapes

modernist writer = he condenses his ideas into the essence, manipulated the novel form

Fitzgerald manipulated the responder as awe are presented with a version of love from a
flawed narrator – Fitzgerald invited us into the texts to question love

The narrative frame of the first person voice, retelling events and reflecting on them

The locations and values associated with the settings

Interaction of past and present

9 chapters, each one with more dramatic scene

The structure of novel includes the narrative frame of Nick who brings his own perspective
to the novel.

Narrative voice

This first person narrative structural device puts Nick firmly in control of the narrative

“He told me all this very much later, but I've put it down here with the idea of undoing those
first wild rumors about his antecedents which weren’t even remotely true.”

Retrospective

Narration of the love relationship of Gatsby and Daisy is interrupted by other events and
observations

Novel is a comparatively small structure build of nine chapters like bog blocks. The fifth
chapter, is the centre of the narrative, the sevenths is its climax.

This way of looking at the narrative structure emphasizes that the novel plot s a dramatic
rise and fall, which memories and reflections to explains and interpret the events.
Purpose Values and Perspective

Assert that it doesn’t matter what the dream is, it is unattainable because it is artificially
constructed = it is not realistic as it is a dream f the past; dream has been destroyed by a
world in which idealism has been corrupted.

Represented love as commodified = turn into an object rather than a spiritual experience or
emotion = love is secularized

Constructs a protagonist who fails to question what love is = Gatsby is shown to be ordinary
in his context

Spiritual; crisis is at the heart of the text. There is a sense that there is no guide and the
moral rules have changed – this is why love fails.

Love is tainted by materialism, secularized, negative perspective and experience of
disillusionment of love, love is dooms

Problematic love relationships represented in the novel

Reflect loss of spirituality if post WW1 society. Spiritual values sought but shown to be
fragile in the word of the novel – the godless world, shown through the eyes of T.J
Eckleburg

The ideal of courtly love fails in context because world is depicted with serious moral and
spiritual problems. Hope is eradicated

Time presents a limitation because it taints love

The context which changes gender relations and the conspicuous pursuit of pleasure and
consumerism makes idealistic love problematical. Daisy fails to give Gatsby the
commitment and devotion of the women in the sonnets.

Courtly love dealt with ironically is it destroyed and damaged

Daisy isn’t worthy of love
Analysis
Language
Distance between east and west egg
The security of homely values
The romantic view and its failures
The impossibility of recreating the past
The glamour of possessions
Harsh social realities
Purpose
-
Condemn the ethical shallowness and recklessness of his context
-
Question the fruits of society through Nicks character who is challenged by society’s failing
further and accuses society of carelessness
-
Asserts love isn’t liberating power in his context
-
Create a didactic text that illustrated social and personal failings
-
Examine a soulless, mechanized world where love without caring is delirious and
destructive
-
Suggest that one cannot escape on the wings of love as Barret did – individuals are trapped
by their changing values
-
Assert that in a faithless, loveless world everything is compromised
-
Suggest that the love of 1919 is temporary
Themes
-
The human need to love and be loves
-
The futility and emptiness of idealistic
love
-
The
power
of
dreams,
hope
aspirations
-
The power of illusion over reality
and
-
The failure of the American dream
-
Materialism and corruption
-
The destructive power of selfishness and
greed,
spiritual
vacuity
ad
moral
blindness.
-
The
importance
of
self-awareness
Motifs and Symbols

Geography
Place and settings epitomize the various aspects of the American society that Fitz depicts.
East Egg = old aristocracy; West Egg = newly rich; valley of ashes = moral and social decay
of America; New York City = uninhibited amoral quest for money and pleasure

Weather
The weather in the novel unfailingly matches the emotional and narrative tone of the story.
Gatsby’s climatic confrontation with Tome occurs on the hottest day of the summer, under
the scorching sun.

The Green Light
The green light represented Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future. The green light also
symbolizes that more generalized ideal

The Valley of Ashes
It represents the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit of wealth
and the rich indulge themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure.

The Eyes of Dr Echleburg
They may represent God staring down upon and judging American society as a moral
wasteland. Represents the moral blindness of all major characters
o Gatsby blind to Daisy’ emptiness
o Tom blind to his own hypocrisy
o Myrtle blind in mistaking Jordan for Daisy/ tom for her salvation
o Wilson is mistaking Eckleburg for god/ in killing the wrong man
The eyes also come to represent the essential meaninglessness of the world and the
arbitrariness of the mental process by which people invest objects with meaning.
Characters

Nick: the novel is told entirely through Nick’s eyes; his thought and perceptions shape
and color the story. He is complex: he claims to be honest but is dishonest in his
dealings with the girls he writes to in the west. He respected Gatsby; “who
represented everything for which I have unaffected scorn.” Nick represents the quiet,
reflective Midwesterner adrift in the lurid East. He evidences a strongly misused
reaction to life in the East, one that creates a powerful internal conflict that he does
not resolve until the end of the book. This inner conflict is symbolized throughout the
book by Nick’s romantic affair with Jordan Baker. After witnessing the unraveling of
Gatsby’s dream and presiding over the appalling spectacle of his funeral, Nick
realizes that the fast life of revelry in the East is a cover for the terrifying moral
emotiveness that the valley symbolizes. Having gained the maturity that this insight
demonstrates, he returns to Minnesota in search of a quieter life structured by stronger
and more traditional moral values. Nick finds himself “within and without” as he
says, “simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.”
Complex – full of contradictions; observer; passive; spectator; false belief in his detachment;
judgmental despite claiming the opposite; surprising respect for Gatsby; inability to commit
himself in love; ambivalent about love and idealism; romantic; cynical

Gatsby: Nick views Gatsby as a deeply flawed man, dishonest and vulgar, whose
extraordinary optimism and power to transform his dreams into reality make him
“great” nonetheless. Fitzgerald initially presents Gatsby as the aloof, enigmatic host
of the unbelievably opulent parties thrown every week at his mansion. Fizt propels the
novels forwards through the early chapters by shrouding Gatsby’s background and the
source of his wealth in mystery. The reader’s first distant impressions of Gatsby
therefore contrast the lovesick, naïve young man who emerges during the later part of
the novel. This technique of delayed character revelation to emphasize the theatrical
quality of Gatsby’s approach to life. Gatsby has literally created his own character,
even changing his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby to represent his reinvention of
himself. Gatsby invests Daisy with an idealistic perception that she cannot possibly
attain in reality, and pursues her with a passionate zeal that blinds him to her
limitations. Gatsby is contrasted most consistently with Nick. One the one hand, Nick
“disapproves of him from beginning to end” and yet he thinks of Gatsby “worth the
whole damn bunch put together.”
Central focus; mysterious – created through gossip; enigmatic; a victim/outsider; places
exorbitant value on wealth; impoverished background; idealistic; out of touch with reality;
had no personal growth; admirable – embodies the dreamer spirit

Daisy: to Gatsby, Daisy represents the paragon of perfection – she has the aura of
charm, wealth, sophistication, grace and aristocracy that he longed for as a child and
what first attracted him to her. In reality, Daisy falls short of this idealism. She is
fickle, shallow, bored and sardonic. Se is capable of affection, but not of sustained
loyalty or care. Se is indifferent even to her own infant daughter, never discussing her
and treating her as an afterthought.
Sensual; effusive; emotional; embodies the insubstantial nature of the American Dream – the
emptiness and corruption of wealth; materialistic irresponsible; weak; a corrupted maiden
repelled by the simplicity and vulgarity of Gatsby’s life; personifies spiritless traits of inertia
and languor; embodies the insubstantial natural of the American Dream

Tom: is a physically powerful man, used to getting his own way and more than a
match for an ‘upstart’ like Gatsby. Aggression is tom’s key characteristic. He is selfindulgent and disloyal in his marriage; he has no moral qualms about his own
extramarital affair, but is outraged by Daisy’s infidelity.
Represents wealth made brutal by selfishness and arrogance

Jordan: a competitive golfer, Jordan represents owned of the “new women” of the
1920’s boyish and self centered, she is beautiful but also dishonest, cheating in her
first golf tournament. Jordan can be ruthless in getting what she wants and in an
increasingly mechanized and soulless world her name
Represents cowardice and dishonesty – the betrayal of the standards of old wealth.
Patterning and Parallels

The Love Affair: Daisy/Gatsby related three different times, from different angles.
The first part of the novel inflates the myth of Gatsby to support the idea of “the
colossal vitality of his vision.” The second part deflates the myth and allows the truth
to emerge.

The Settings: first three chapters three different settings: Buchanan’s; Myrtle
apartment; Gatsby mansion

Green Light: Gatsby’s gesture is parallel by Daisy after she left on her wedding trip

Kiss: the celebrities’ kiss parodies Gatsby’s first kiss with Daisy, developed further by
Nick and Jordan’s kiss later in the scene.
Paragraphs
Time
Time is represented as destructive of Gatsby’s love as in this new world where everything is
fast paced, everything is temporary which is emphasized through the motif of the clock
throughout the novel. Allusions to the past, during which Gatsby and Daisy’s love flourished,
“they were so engrossed in each other that they didn’t see me until I was 5 feet away.”
However 5 years on, Gatsby’s romanticised and idealised vision of love is not instilled in
reality. His disillusionment has consummated over time at which point, the anti-climax of
their meeting is almost devastating, “Daisy tumbled short of his dreams – not through her
own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion….He had thrown himself into it
with a creative passion, adding to it all the time.” Emotional climaxes within the story are
accompanied by weather patterns and changes, as upon their first meeting it is raining and
melancholic to reinforce the anti climax of their reunion. Daisy represents these sentiments
through her inability to understand the concept of eternity, “I love you now – isn’t that
enough?” Her temporary feelings which ultimately doom Gatsby is highlighted in the extent
of her changeability as she manages to disperse of her negative feelings towards her marriage
to Tom the next day, the letter, flaking into the bath is evocative of the temporary and
provisional nature of her feelings.
Sociology
The sociology of wealth is explored between the East and West Egg, as each represents a loss
of values between two different classes. The East is appalled by the vulgar and garish
lifestyle of those of the West Egg. Daisy represents this perspective, “appalled by its raw
vigour that chafed under the old euphemisms….and the too obtrusive fate that herded its
inhabitants along a short-cut from nothing to nothing.” The animal imagery suggests they are
primitive and simple beings, that travel from nothing to nothing, ironic as she too is travelling
from nothing to nothing, “She saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to
understand.’
American Dream
The characters believe the pursuit of the American dream is nothing else than material
success exemplified during Jay Gatsby’s youth as a glamorous yacht that “represented all the
beauty and glamour in the world” (Page 101). It is the narrator, Nick, who discovers that love
without caring is delirious and destructive. Individuality is disappearing as everything has
become inescapably enmeshed with a world driven by ruthless monied individuals for the
pursuit of wealth, who drive around in cars carelessly, aimlessly and fatally “towards death
through the cooling twilight.” (Page 137)
Daisy
During a more defined and morally harder world, Daisy understands that life has many things
more permanent than love. “’She’s got an indiscreet voice,’ I remarked. ‘It’s full of – ‘ I
hesitated. ‘Her voice is full of money,’ he said suddenly” (Page 115). Metaphorically, stating
Daisy’s voice is “full of money” it is evident even her subdued voice exudes her lust for
money and riches and because of this, at no point in the novel does Daisy ever appeal to the
transcending authority of love but Gatsby does not recognise this and his pursuit of failure is
destructive and fatal. Additionally, the destructive pursuit of idealised love is evident through
the common imagery of heat. Heat is used to amplify a single detail of inescapability into an
element of function that parallels the acceleration into conflict. Fitzgerald begins with minute
imagery of heat as illustrated with Jordan’s “golden shoulder” (Page 80) and intensifies as
“The relentless beating heat was beginning to confuse me” (Page 124). Heat and temperature
functions to strain the atmosphere and to wear away the veneer of the characters, they wear
so well, revealing them as they struggle under “hot whips of panic” (Page 125) exposing the
destruction of Gatsby and his love.
Word ‘erect’
Collective
Her relationship with him
is strong.
She alludes to john
domme’s poem (a
valediction forbidding
mourning….)
Her poem is different to
his as his poetry represents
idealistic love and she is
emphasizing realistic love.
( she wants her
relationship to be realistic
not idealistic)
CAN COPY
Poem XX11-dark yellow

Not to get carried away with love

Keep love realistic

Not ideal
‘Face to face, silent,
drawing nigh and nighters’
Listing
Heightens erotic desire
Repetition
Physical intimacy
‘Break into fire’
passion
‘Wings break’
Classical illusion to icarusstory of the boy who’s
wings broke for not
listening to his fatheremphasizes her past
experiences
‘Angels press down on us:
The angels want them to
bring them down to earth’
be realistic- bring them
down to earth- againdifferent to other poets
who talk about idealistic
glorious love
‘Drop some golden orb of
perfect song into our deep,
dear silence’
Symbolism- gold
Silver motif:
She doesn’t need gold
love- she is happy with
silver
Religious metaphorcomparing heaven- she
wants a realistic love
Into our deep dear silence
Inductive pronoun
Motif of silent
Subverts traditional
ideologies of woman
however still adheres to it.
CAN COPY
How are Victorian context and values made evident in Ebb’s poetry?
Elizabeth Barret Browning’s sonnets from the Portuguese (1846) I, allows the responder to
obtain a deeper knowledge regarding Browning’s ultimate desire to love and be loved,
highlighting her insecurities regarding the gender roles in the Victorian context and the
patriarchal values of the time. This is immediately established through the Petrachan sonnet
structure. In the octave, Browning adheres to the traditional (abba) structure, when reflecting
upon her past, however changes to cdcd, in the sestet emphasizing her challenge of
patriarchal control. This change in poetical structure manifests the transformation of gender
roles and hence challenges the strict convention of women; an atypical scenario for our
Victorian context. The distortion of iambic pentameter reflects the distorted and inharmonic
patterns of Browning’s life, which has affected this unexpected love. Via the use of past
tense, Browning alludes to the Ancient Greek poet “Theocritus”. This historical referencing
allows Browning to draw a comparison with Theocritus’ wise words to adjectives such as
‘sweet’ and ‘dear’. Such a comparison is further emphasized through the assonance and
elongated sentences of sweet years, the dear and wished for years. These devices manifest
Browning’s desire to experience such feelings, however was unable to, due to past
experiences. The brevity of ‘once’ suggests that love for her is a myth, further showing how
her past has affected her present and is now wary and uncertain about the prospects of love
with Robert. Browning’s insecurities reflect the values of the Victorian era, where difficulties
had escalated for woman because of the common strive to be the ‘ideal woman’ during the
reign of the British monarch Queen Victoria. Love is evident through the mythological
allusion to Homars Illiad, where Athena pulls Achilles by the hair, highlighting her desire for
love. This is evident, through ‘drew me backward by the hair’, further suggesting the divine
intervention of the gods. The allusion suggests that there is something heroic and brave about
her relationship with browning however does highlight his control. Furthermore, it removes
Browning psychologically and physically from her father's domination, and to her husbands.
The uncertainty of this new found love is emphasized through the ‘silver answer rang’. Silver
is a prime symbol for awareness and strength, and is an attribute of feminine energy where
Rosicrucian alchemists attributed silver to the Greek goddesses Artemis. This is symbolic as
it highlights Browning’s and Robert’s strong connection, however also her uncertainty, being
only silver and not yet gold, as gold is a symbol of immutability and perfection.
‘Texts in time’ involves portrayals, in varying contexts, of the experience of idealised
love, hope and mortality.
Analyse TWO differences between Browning’s and Fitzgerald’s portrayals, making two
detailed reference to your prescribed texts.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and the selected love sonnets; I, XIII, XIV, XXI,
XXII, XXVIII, XXXII, XLIII by Elizabeth Barrett Browning explore texts in time which
involve portrayals in varying contexts through the experience of idealised love, hope and
mortality. The portrayals of Barrett Browning and Fitzgerald explore the differences of
idealised love and time throughout both texts with the use of symbolism, imagery, irony and
characterisation to emphasise these differences. The Great Gatsby set during the Jazz age is
an exemplification of the failure and tragedy of the American Dream as well as the
fragmented world where love struggles to survive. This contrasted to Elizabeth Barrett
Browning’s love sonnets set in the wake of the Romantics, making the sonnets in many ways
typically Victorian with their tone of gloom and sorrow as well as their feeling of the force
and intensity of their passion as the love grows and develops.
Time within The Great Gatsby exposes how Gatsby is trying to re-incarnate the past by
showing to Daisy that he has created an affluent life for himself, thus hoping she will be with
him in the future. This illusion creates a sense of irony in the story because Gatsby who has
the money to possess and attract anything or anyone, cannot have or buy the thing he most
wants and desires; his past love for Daisy. Gatsby’s nostalgia for his old self and the love that
is symbolised is like Fitzgerald’s portrait of America’s nostalgia for its lost values. Like
Gatsby, America seems to have everything in the midst of the blooming 20’s, but has lost
something along the process. Even in the midst of Gatsby’s corrupt world there lies a hope in
his love for Daisy. This hope is symbolised by the green light situated at the end of the wharf
in front of Daisy’s house at East Egg. This light reminds Gatsby that he is close to having his
dream come true, the dream he so desperately longs for “...he stretched out his arms toward
the dark water in a curious way...I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I
glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far
away”, even though he doesn’t have Daisy yet, this green light provides reassurance and
hope that he is close to having her in the future. This continuous hope of the past being reincarnated for Gatsby started to seem like it was finally underway with the melancholic tone
that the novel resurfaces during Gatsby and Daisy’s reunion at Nick’s house. We are shown
through Gatsby’s melancholic longing his expression painted on his face “as pale as death”
which symbolises not only the sense of nervousness but also the relief of finally reaching the
longed for moment of being with Daisy.
The tragedy of Gatsby is that he is being illusional because Daisy who was “the first nice girl
he had ever met” changed into a “materialistic, vacuous individual who cannot see past
herself”. This change in characterisation triggers the reality that Gatsby’s dream will never
come true no matter how much he hopes it will. It is shown through the novel the birth of
Gatsby’s dream which is never fulfilled and instead he dies for it with the instant bullet which
ends it all.
Whilst a bullet ends a dream in The Great Gatsby, in the sonnet sequence Elizabeth focuses
on the internal, everlasting love between herself and her lover which goes beyond the
temporal and beyond death.
The dynamic nature of her context through her allusions tells us about her world. The nature
and power of her love allows her to transcend her society; she can leave the patriarchal
oppression of her past behind as well as escape the curtailment of her world because the love
is complete.
Elizabeth has had a depressing past life and her lover is seen as her rescuer. When they fell in
love a sense of restoration is felt by the love they share which brings forth religious beliefs
and acts. Elizabeth wants to eliminate the why and the how and leave the love they share as
something that simply is. “But love me for love’s sake, that evermore Thou may’st love on,
through love’s eternity”, symbolises in sonnet XIV, the hope that the love they have is going
to be everlasting “through love’s eternity” – going beyond mortality juxtaposed to The Great
Gatsby where the dream of being loved again ends all to suddenly with a bullet. We can see
from this sonnet Elizabeth already knows that the love they share is so strong that it will beat
all odds and last forever.
Throughout all of Elizabeth’s sonnets we come to realisation that the love she is experiencing
has the power of an earthbound love which is everlasting, this is specifically shown in sonnet
XXII “face to face, silent drawing nigh and nigher, until the lengthening wings break into
fire, At either curved point...what bitter wrong, can the earth do to us, that we should not be
there contented”, which symbolises that their love is so strong that even after death they will
meet again in heaven. This shows that through time their love will only grow and develop
and she is hoping that even after death there love will become stronger than ever. Within this
sonnet she also uses imagery when imagining their relationship after morality because she
feels that it will continue. Elizabeth’s final sonnet, XLII, expresses her final declaration of the
everlasting, unconditional love she is experiencing “...I shall but love thee better after my
death”. Even after death she is going to love her lover more profoundly, consequently from
this it is shown that through time the love her and her lover share will go beyond the temporal
and against all odds.
In contrast with The Great Gatsby where Gatsby’s dream to re-incarnate the past so that he
can be with the one he loves is essentially just an illusion which ends with a bullet, the
sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning articulates the unconditional transcendent nature of
love which is everlasting and goes beyond mortality; where the love between Elizabeth and
her lover will continue to grow.
Idealised love in The Great Gatsby is oppressive and destructive. Through the narration of
Nick Carraway we are exposed to a post WWI new world which is faithless, loveless and
careless, thus making idealised love difficult to survive. Gatsby’s infatuation of Daisy as the
ultimate commodity is seen as his goal from which he tries to draw closer to. The type of love
that is shown from Gatsby towards Daisy is the obsessive but pure love which becomes
something too special to survive in a world that lacks moral purpose. Gatsby bases his love
on the relationship he had with Daisy years before. It was Gatsby who was “breathless” and
saw her gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor”. This
imagery that Gatsby uses to describe Daisy shows how deeply in love he was with her even
though he knew that he wasn’t rich and that it was obvious that she came from an affluent
background.
In order to be closer to Daisy, Gatsby buys a mansion across Daisy symbolising the need for
him to be close to her as well as the parties he arranges at his house which are illuminated
with lights. These lights attract the “moths” who are Gatsby’s party guests but are created
initially to attract Daisy to his house, thus hopefully immerging her closer to him so that their
love can grow and Gatsby’s dream become fulfilled. However the barriers separating them
from being together can also be symbolised by the love and the classification of the two
villages.
While Daisy lives in the East which was associated with the extravagance living which
offered opportunities, Gatsby lived in the West which stood for traditional values such as
solidity. These barriers added to the factors of why Gatsby could only “dream” of having
Daisy because life interfered with their love.
This pure love that once blossomed can’t be recaptured again in the present and though
Gatsby pursues his grail the moment is gone. Gatsby’s hope of being with Daisy the one who
he truly loves and infatuates over dies with him.
In The Great Gatsby , idealised love becomes an essence of destruction and delusion, this is
partly due to it attempting to survive in the fragmented post war America juxtaposed with the
sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning where idealised love flourishes through its power to
be transcendent and restorative.
Idealised love is represented in a deep meaningful way in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s
sonnets.
Through the persona of Elizabeth it is shown how love is powerful, it transformed her life,
giving her new hope. The “silver ring” symbolises that things are getting better; this is
shown by the sense of restoration that their love has brought to her life.
The love shown between Elizabeth and her lover is not materialistic; it is idealistic love.
Elizabeth states in sonnet XIV that she wants her lover to love her for the sake of love,” If
thou must love me, let it be for nought Except for love’s sake only”. Juxtaposition to The
Great Gatsby where Gatsby had to modify his life in order to try and get Daisy to love him
again, Elizabeth spiritually believes their love is pure and of transcendence; she doesn’t want
anything other than their pure love.
Through this we see that the characteristics of the Victorian era in terms of qualities is
something Elizabeth disregards. She believes that idealised love should be on the basis of
feelings instead of traits as they can change.
The last sonnet shows that their love must be enjoyed within all the dimensions of physical
passion and the strength of that physical passion adds a spiritual dimension. Earthly love is
aligned with spiritual fulfilment “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...” explores all
the dimensions of their love due to it being measured by the breadth, width and depth – they
must be vast.
If love is sublime in the sonnet sequence, we can conclude that it is tawdry in The Great
Gatsby.
In conclusion time and idealised love is shown to be analysed differently between
Browning’s and Fitzgerald’s portrayals. Time shows how Gatsby tries to re-incarnate the past
by showing to Daisy that he has changed himself so that hopefully their “love” can blossom
once again but this illusion ends when Gatsby dies while in the sonnets the love that is shared
between Elizabeth and her lover is restorative and transcendent and goes beyond death where
it will continue to grow.
Love is shown by both texts to be powerful and necessary for fulfilment. Elizabeth Barrett
Browning suggests that love is not only possible but necessary whereas Fitzgerald sees that
love may be necessary but is not possible.
Poem XX11
Elizabeth Barret Browning’s sonnets from the Portuguese XXII, explores Browning’s
satisfaction with her realistic relationship with partner Robert Browning and challenges the
idealism of relationships in the Victorian era. This is first evident through the word ‘erect’,
alluding to john Donne’s poem ‘valediction forbidding mourning’. Donne compares the love
he shares with his wife to a compass, representing himself as the lead, highlighting the
authority of males. Browning challenges this ideology through the use of collectives,
emphasizing the equality in Robert’s and her relationship. Furthermore, Donne expresses his
poetry through a transcendent and heavily love, through the notion of nature, where nature is
a provocation to a state of imagination. This however differs to Browning’s sonnet through
her religious metaphor, ‘angels would press on us’, emphasizes their realistic, pragmatic love.
The illusion VS reality idea is further expressed through the motif of silver. Browning uses
the symbol of the golden orb, which highlights power and perfection through the rich colour
imagery and ongoing circle. Browning however highlights that she is content with a ‘silver’
relationship, where silver is a symbol for strength and reality, symbolic of her realistic love
with Robert Browning. Browning emphasizes her new found strength through the classical
allusion to Icarus. This story emphasizes failed ambition, shown through ‘wings break[ing]’,
symbolic of the harsh life she has experienced with her brothers death and her patriarchal
father’s oppression, however highlights the strength that her past experiences and relationship
has given her through the rhetorical question what bitter wrong could the world do to us, that
we should not long be here contented?. Through the listening and repetition of ‘Face to face,
silent, drawing nigh and nighters’, browning heightens the erotic desire and physical
intimacy that exists within their relationship. This contrasts with her first poem, which
explored her hesitancy and disbelief that love may have found her.
Set text: THE GREAT GATSBY: F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
Conventions of 20th century literature

Stresses essential loneliness of the individual

Main theme:
- human relationships
- search for communication
- escape from isolation
however human relationships are difficult to form and easily distorted by the
mechanical conventions of society, notions of respectability and shams and fraud.

The Great Gatsby demands of power, money and success

disillusioned youth of the World War I era
Characteristics of Modernism – thematic characteristics

Breakdown of social norms and cultural sureties

Disillusionment

Rejection of history and substitution of mythical past.

Metropolis, city, urbanscapes

Stream of consciousness
How The Great Gatsby explores the idea of living in the 20th century

Modernist text

Explores concerns of post WW1

Shows the failure of the American Dream

Explores some issues of pre WW1 (rise of fascism- tom is a believer in these
theories)

Explores the poverty of body and soul

Explores superficiality of American society- lack of morality

Explores ways in which materialism has usurped traditional values and
religious values.

Deals with problems of capitalism and inequalities it engenders.

Presents a severe criticism of American upper class values represented by the
character conflicts of Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatz. Where Tom is the
incarnation of the upper class, Gatsby the new rich and not acceptable in
Tom’s crowd.
The Setting of the Great Gatsby- Twenties

Followed WW1
Backlash against conservative morality

New class of wealthy- Nouveau Riche (new rich)

Prohibition of alcohol

Caught between two wars, a world of jazz and growing fascism.
The dual hero
It is through Nick that one can visualize and understand Gatsby’s idealism, his devotion to
Daisy. In many ways Nick and Gatsby represent what the other is not- Gatsby-money,
idealism of dream: Nick-realism, a conscience.
The American dream
The American dream is a central idea that is explored and criticized by Fitzgerald. It is the
belief that through hard work, courage and determination of an individual could achieve
prosperity in terms of material wealth. (with the good morals and principles)
Human waste
The society is based on the acquisition of the material, in an attempt to gain some higher
spirituality-generates waste; the cost of setting up Gatsby’s mansion and his parties represent
massive waste. Gatsby doe not care what waste there is, as long as he achieves his goal. The
tragedy is that the goal is never reached, waste of his devotion, waste of human life- Myrtle,
George and Gatsby.
Lack of relationships
All relationships in this novel are flawed and are based on dishonesty. People like Tom and
Daisy seeks satisfaction outside marriage and seems to have no qualms about betraying their
partner. Tom openly flaunts his affair with Myrtle and yet becomes enraged when he realizes
that Daisy is having an affair with Gatsby. This highlights the possessive nature of many of
these relationships.
Relationships are often unequal; Daisy sells herself to Tom losing her self respect. She is
possession and Tom treats her accordingly. Myrtle also becomes to share the same position
that Daisy does. She has lost her self-respect allowing Tom to break her nose and treat her
like an object.
The women

All materialistic

Worship power that money brings

Compromised their integrity

Dishonestly in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply. – Nick
Nick declares the women cannot be expected to possess the moral strength of
men.
Fitzgerald’s composition
Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its
overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure.
Fitzgerald positions the characters of The Great Gatsby as emblems of these social trends.
Nick and Gatsby, both of whom fought in World War I, exhibit the newfound
cosmopolitanism and cynicism that resulted from the war. The various social climbers and
ambitious speculators who attend Gatsby’s parties evidence the greedy scramble for wealth.
The clash between “old money” and “new money” manifests itself in the novel’s symbolic
geography: East Egg represents the established aristocracy, West Egg the self-made rich.
Meyer Wolfshiem and Gatsby’s fortune symbolize the rise of organized crime and
bootlegging.
Symbols
The Green Light
Situated at the end of Daisy’s East Egg dock and barely visible from Gatsby’s West Egg
lawn, the green light represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future, a future with
Daisy.
‘It eluded us then, but that’s no matter- tomorrow we will run faster, stretch our arms out
farther...’ The green light becomes applicable to everyone that has something that they long
and search for that is out of reach.
The eyes of T.J. Eckleburg
Careless is often used by Fitzgerald to describe people’s personality (e.g. Jordan’s driving)
and it suggests that there is little fear of consequence or judgement. T.J. Eckleburg’s eyes
offer a kind of judgement, reminding characters of their lack of guilt for what they have done.
This billboard poses as the eyes of a blank and empty god who cannot answer those who look
to him.
East Egg West Egg
This is the physical divide of the old rich and the new rich. The water also creates a symbolic
barrier that keeps people apart from one another and from what they want to obtain. For
Gatsby it is Daisy.
Houses became symbol of status and reflected the individual character
Gatsby’s house is described as an imitation of European ‘hotel de ville’. Daisy’s house
becomes an extension of her, romantic, pure and exotic.
Cars- an important role in the novel
Gatsby’s car is described as a shining and magical thing, almost phallic.
’Its rich cream colour, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length…’
the car becomes a representation of Gatsby himself- new money displayed in a most opulent
manner’
The cars also bring the downfall of several innocent characters.

Pg. 89
Daisy cries into Gatsby’s ‘coloured disarray’ of shirts shows the emptiness of a
dream built on style and possession and also extends to the way in which
materialism has usurped the traditional values of morality.
they’re such beautiful shirts, she sobbed…it makes me sad because I’ve never seen
such-such beautiful shirts before’

Nick remarks on Benny McClenahan coming with four women, each that bared a
similar appearance. This makes a comment on the idea of beauty as a product and
a cosmetic reconstruction of women into a product

Time is the enemy of Gatsby; he wants everything to be the way it is. He only
changes in so far as he can get Daisy and then go back to what they had before.
Once Daisy was free, they were to go back to Louisville and be married from her
house- just as if it were 5 years ago.

The literal and figurative death of Jay Gatsby.
the true tragedy, the destruction of an ultimate American Idealist. Gatsby a firm
believer of the American Dream of self-made success and achieving success both
financially and societally.

Existentialism – The Gaze
Gatsby describes Daisy’s house almost like an erotic pull- and the fact that many
men had already loved Daisy increased her value in Gatsby’s eyes. Gatsby and
Tom treat Daisy as a possession.
gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor was for
Gatsby Daisy, the prestigious prize at the completion of his ‘grail’
“This destroys an object's subjectivity. The thing becomes an "in itself" or an object. People
place meaning onto what other people think of them rather than what they think of
themselves”