The “Canon” In Context
Looking at Literature in its
Historical Context
Based on my experiences and those of my peers, it seems a typical
pedagogical practice to accompany the teaching of historical fiction with
some historical background.
For example: Looking at conditions of migrant workers in the Depression
when reading Of Mice and Men, or presenting a lesson or lecture on the
Civil Rights era while reading To Kill a Mockingbird (ok, these two examples
are quite specific to my student teaching in particular)
BUT…
There also appears to be an unfortunate tendency to do this less
with “canonical” Renaissance authors (Shakespeare, John Ford,
Marlowe); this is not to say this kind of historical background is
never spoken of in class, but has been done much less frequently in
secondary classes I’ve attended and observed.
By evading these teachable opportunities-not showing these works
in their historical context-such literature can easily seem
disconnected with students’ lives and concerns.
HMMMMMM……
According to the PA Department of Education Website, by
11th grade, students’ understanding of literary analysis must
encompass the following features:
Read and understand works of literature.
Analyze the relationships, uses and effectiveness of literary elements
used by one or more authors in similar genres including characterization,
setting, plot, theme, point of view, tone and style.
Analyze the effectiveness, in terms of literary quality, of the author’s use
of literary devices.
Sound techniques (e.g., rhyme, rhythm, meter, alliteration).
Figurative language (e.g., personification, simile, metaphor, hyperbole,
irony, satire).
Literary structures (e.g., foreshadowing, flashbacks, progressive and
digressive time).
Analyze and evaluate in poetry the appropriateness of diction and
figurative language (e.g., irony, understatement, overstatement,
paradox).
Analyze how a scriptwriter’s use of words creates tone and mood, and
how choice of words advances the theme or purpose of the work.
Read and respond to nonfiction and fiction including poetry and drama.
I repeat, HMMMM….
Note how discussion of understanding the
socio-historical context of literature is
absent from these standards, though it
clearly must be key in understanding texts
which students have no background in…
How Can socio-historical context increase
appreciation and insightful analysis of authors like
Shakespeare? (sorry for the long title)
Analysis of socio-historical contexts from which a text emerged gives way to
students understanding various perspectives for interpreting a work. This, in
turn, gives way to understanding critical theory on a particular piece of
literature (which Appleman (2000) speaks of as a positive exercise in
understanding others), while also giving students agency to use historical
proof to validate or invalidate critical claims.
Rygiel (1992) points out, perhaps on a simpler level, that “historical
information contributes to our understanding of Shakespeare and our
pleasure in him” (1, emphasis mine).
Let’s take a look at how historical
context can make “boring love
poetry” fun
….
Masters of Sonnets: Petrarch vs.
Shakespeare
Petrarch’s Sonnet XII
If from the cruel anguish my life tries
To
shield itself, and from the many cares,
That I may see at the end of the years,
Lady, the light extinguished of your eyes,
And the hair of fine gold to silver turn,
And garlands and green clothes all worn
and spent,
And the face pale that in my sad concern
Makes me timid and slow now to lament,
Yet Love will give me such aggressive powers
That I shall tell you of my martyrdom
The years, such as they were, the days, the
hours;
And when the time to kill desire is come,
At least my grief will know and recognize
The little comfort of late-coming sighs.
Shakespeare’s Sonnet III
Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest
Now is the time that face should form another;
Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some
mother.
For where is she so fair whose unear'd womb
Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?
Or who is he so fond will be the tomb
Of his self-love, to stop posterity?
Thou art thy mother's glass, and she in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime:
So thou through windows of thine age shall see
Despite of wrinkles this thy golden time.
But if thou live, remember'd not to be,
Die single, and thine image dies with thee.
HO HUM….
right?
WRONG!!!
So What’s Interesting About
Canonical Love Poetry?
If we look at these poems in the context of
the evolution of the sonnet form and where
these two sonneteers intersect and
diverge, some interesting things begin to
pop up…
A (Very) Brief History Lesson…
Petrarch:
Perhaps this isn’t being fair to good old Petrarch (since he does do some lovely things with words of
course), but his sonnets might be closer to what many contemporary high school readers might
think of as trite love poetry
BUT…there are some interesting things going on if we look at some basic historical background and
criticism…
Courtly Love
Poetic traditions surrounding “courtly love”
involve a poet speaker who has an
unrequited passion for an idealized
beloved figure. This form of adoration is
also prominently featured in many kinds of
ancient Japanese love poetry (which
introduces some fairly innovative
pedagogical opportunities!!)
As Lovely As That Might Sound…
One main feature of Renaissance courtly
love poetry was to describe the “beloved,”
(always a woman) by enumerating her
various beloved parts in metaphor (her
ruby lips, sapphire eyes, silk bosom…you
get the picture). This tactic was called the
blazon (that’s “bleh-zoh”)…
Also, We Must Pay Mind…
to the fact that these poems (of which the
sonnet was a popular form) were written
exclusively by men to be read by men…
… … (work with me here)
Thus…
Making the exercise of writing a traditional sonnet
one of objectifying and devaluing a woman
through this objectification. It also makes the
exercise of reading these poems a fairly
pornographic endeavor.
Ok…this might have seemed obvious to some of
you, but remember you have at least 3 years of
Swarthmore under your proverbial belt.
Shakespeare, On the Other
Hand…
If we look at Shakespeare’s sonnet
sequence, we see a lot of similar image
threads and poetic tactics. BUT…a closer
inspection reveals that Shakespeare is
quite cleverly mocking courtly love, the
unabashed “master of sonnets” (Petrarch),
and gender politics in the Renaissance.
We Won’t Go Over This in too
Great Detail, But…
Here Are Just Some Places Where Shakespeare is transgressing social lines:
-In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is initially characterized by his friends as a figure of ridicule because of his silly lovesick
nature; he is even specifically referred to as being a stereotypical figure of Petrarchan love (Rackin, 2005, 98).
-Later in the same play, Romeo and Juliet’s meeting and split-second fall into love is written as a sonnet, also
commenting on the ridiculousness of “courtly love” (Rackin, 2005, 99).
-While the order of Shakespeare sonnet sequence is at the discretion of literary editors, there is large-scale agreement
that the first 130 sonnets or so are addressed to a young man. The poet speaker elaborates on the beauty of this
man, encourages him to breed, and appears to maintain a sexual attraction to him. This is a huge departure from
the traditional sonnet, in which the figure of adoration is always a woman! (Rackin, 2005, 100)
-The portion of Shakespeare’s sonnets that literary scholars claim is devoted to a “dark lady” figure is also antithetical to
Petrarch’s vision of his beloved “Laura.” She’s not the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, virtuous maiden. Rather, her
complexion is described as “dun,” as opposed to being an angel she “treads on the ground,” and her sexual
appetite appears alive and well. Nonetheless, Shakespeare’s poet speaker describes this more “down-to-earth”
woman as equally or more worthy of love as some over-blown heavenly woman. (Rackin, 2005 101).
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
“My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.”
Notice how this particular quote illustrates Shakespeare’s concrete use of the
blazon, but he turns the convention upside down by creating negative
metaphorical associations with all of these individual body parts….
“And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.”
Well, looking at Shakespeare’s harsh blazon, one might simply come to the
conclusion that he’s really rude. This couplet, however, illustrates that
Shakespeare deems this “dark lady” equally (perhaps even more) worthy of
love than these idealized, unrealistic figures of angelic beauty that Petrarch
and several other sonneteers, such as Edmund Spenser, wrote about.
So I hope we learned a lesson
here…
Now take a look at the two poems we saw
at the beginning again and ask yourself if
they mean anything different now…
Second Glance?
Petrarch’s Sonnet XII
If from the cruel anguish my life tries
To
shield itself, and from the many cares,
That I may see at the end of the years,
Lady, the light extinguished of your eyes,
And the hair of fine gold to silver turn,
And garlands and green clothes all worn
and spent,
And the face pale that in my sad concern
Makes me timid and slow now to lament,
Yet Love will give me such aggressive powers
That I shall tell you of my martyrdom
The years, such as they were, the days, the
hours;
And when the time to kill desire is come,
At least my grief will know and recognize
The little comfort of late-coming sighs.
Shakespeare’s Sonnet III
Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest
Now is the time that face should form another;
Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some
mother.
For where is she so fair whose unear'd womb
Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?
Or who is he so fond will be the tomb
Of his self-love, to stop posterity?
Thou art thy mother's glass, and she in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime:
So thou through windows of thine age shall see
Despite of wrinkles this thy golden time.
But if thou live, remember'd not to be,
Die single, and thine image dies with thee.
Maybe Not Entirely Yet…
But perhaps eventually
Questions to Keep in Mind With
Implementing Such a Lesson:
-Might it be hard to justify pairing Japanese courtly
love poetry with Renaissance sonnets in a public
school classroom?
-Would we be able to discuss how Shakespeare
uses gender roles in an English department that
might be particularly homophobic?
-Would it be enough to discuss the sonnet in
Romeo and Juliet, if there isn’t enough time to
go fully in depth with Shakespeare’s actual
sonnet sequence?
Works Cited and Used
Appleman, D. (2000): Critical Encounters in High School English.
Teacher’s College Press, New York, NY.
Rackin, P. (2005): Shakespeare and Women. Oxford University
Press, New York, NY.
Rygiel, M.A. (1992): Shakespeare Among Schoolchildren. NCTE Press,
Urbana, IL.
Personal Observations and Experience (Shipley and Westtown School
English Class observations, 2001-present); schooling in general