Monday, November 24, 2014

Linguistics & 'Terence, This is Stupid Stuff'

Test Prompt: How does Housman use literary devices to adapt the story of Mithridates to concerns of a Victorian audience? Essay Written: (Scored a 4) The late Victorian period saw the rise of a reactionary literary movement which questioned the principles of the earlier Victorian period. A.E. Houseman's poem, "Terrence, This is Stupid Stuff", exemplifies this reactionary movement derived from the previous principles of Victorianism through the use of alliteration, allusions to King Mithridates VI, and the symbolism of alcohol as a way to understand the world. Alliteration plays a very prominent role in Houseman's poem. The very title begins with the repetition of the consonant "s" sound, drawing the reader into the poem. In addition it is later revealed that the word "this" is representative of Terrence's poetry. By proclaiming Terrence's poetry to be "stupid stuff," Houseman exemplifies the late Victorian ideal of criticizing that which came before his own writing in the Victorian period. Houseman also makes use of the repeated "s" sound when he states "when your soul is in my soul's stead (ll.56). This repeated "s" sound soothes the reader and creates the idea that seeing the world as Houseman does is superior to seeing the world as Terrence does. This once again exemplifies the late Victorian ideal of questioning that which came earlier in the Victorian period. Houseman's allusions to Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, create the idea that Terrence is full of literary poison and thus that his poetry is venomous. Mithridates could eat all manner of poisonous victuals without ever suffering, to the dismay of his opponents. It is noted by Houseman that "Mithridates, he died old" (ll. 76). This implies that Mithridates immunity to poison derived from some other aspect of himself that was toxic. This exemplifies Houseman' views of Terrence's poetry. House states that Terrence's poetry "gives a chap the belly-ache" (ll. 6). This further creates the idea that Terrence's poetry is nothing but poison, once again exemplifying late Victorian ideal of criticizing earlier Victorian works. The state in line 74, "Them it was their poison hurt" also exemplifies this. Since literature is essentially an extension of the context in which it was written, Houseman implies that by creating a "poisonous" environment for Terrence to write in, the people of the earlier Victorian period caused Terrence's poetry to be so awful. Alcohol has traditionally been used as a way to escape the world by giving the user a false sense of hope. Repeated symbolism of alcohol as Terrence's writing creates the idea that Terrence's writing of the earlier Victorian period is garbage. "Look into the pewter pot / to see the world as the world's not" (ll. 25, 26). Here, Houseman states that Terrence's poetry allows the reader to see an alterred, idealistic view of the world, rather than reality. This fundamental question of Terrence's writing once again exemplifies the late Victorian period. Houseman also calls Terrence's writing frivolous, stating that it is "mischief is that 'twill not last" (ll. 28). Much as one gets drunk to escape the world, Terrence's poetry does the same. In conclusion, Houseman's use of alliteration, allusion to King Mithridates VI, and symbolism of alcohol as Terrence's poetry, Houseman exemplifies the late Victorian ideal of questioning that which came earlier in the Victorian period. What is structuralism? Structuralism is a way to break down language into its most key components. This begins on the phonetic level, looking at the way sounds create meaning. From there, structuralism evolves to talking about the smallest parts of words, such as phonemes and morphemes. These are the first units of language that really create meaning. As the phonemic level, the use of specific sounds can evoke certain tones in the piece, for example, the repetition of hard consonant sounds can create the idea that the speaker is forcefully spitting out his or her rhetoric. At the morphemic level, roots, prefixes, and suffixes can drastically alter the meaning of words. For example, the addition of the suffix -less can change regard, meaning to consider, to regardless, meaning to not consider. From there, syntax can then be analyzed, allowing the meaning of the structure of a sentence to be determined. For example, placing the object first emphasizes the object of the sentence, unlike the standard emphasis on the subject. After that, semantics and pragmatics can be analyzed, so that both the literal and figurative meanings of sentences can be analyzed. Each of these levels can have certain signs evoked, meaning that each level can convey a certain meaning. The things at each level that create meaning are known as signifiers, and the actual concept evoked is known as what is signified. Binary Opposites Reality vs. Perception of Reality Health vs. Sickness Happiness vs. Sadness Thinking vs. Drinking Truth vs. Lies Good vs. Bad Wisdom vs. Innocence Food vs. Poison Thesis for Binary Opposites Through the use of binary opposites that contrast the real world with the false perception of the world created by alcohol in "Terence, This is Stupid Stuff", A. E. Houseman creates the idea that poetry created to reflect the tragedies of the world is more suitable than poetry created to reflect happiness because it demonstrates true understanding of the world. Sound Devices Cacophony: repeated use of jarring consonants, such as b, p, t, d, s, z, and k, found in the poem to emphasize the blatant argumentative stance of Terence's friends Euphony: Harmony created through softer sounds such as long vowels, found in the poem to emphasize Terence's eloquence and therefore his education Thesis for Sound Devices In "Terence, This is Stupid Stuff", A. E. Houseman uses contrasts between the continuous cacophony of Terence's friends with the use of both cacophony and euphony in Terence's speech to elevate Terence's argument for sad poetry above theirs by making Terence seem more eloquent in his speech and therefore making him seem more educated about the true ways of the world. Lines Chosen: "I'd face it as a wise man would, / and train for ill and not for good" (ll. 47-48). I chose these lines because they were reflective of Terence's overall argument, acting almost as his thesis statement as to why tragic poetry is superior to happy poetry. He believes tragic poetry is better because it conditions the reader for the inevitable pitfalls of life, whereas happy poetry makes those pitfalls seem more powerful. Word Chosen: Good Definition: "correct or proper" (Merriam Webster) Root: -ghedh meaning "to unite, be associated, suitable" (Online Etymology Dictionary) The meaning of good therefore slightly changed from correct or proper to suitable. This changes the line to mean that Terence wants to train for what is bad and not what is suitable because what is suitable may not always happen. Therefore, he writes poetry because it is more suitable for tragedy. Rhyme Scheme: Rhyming Couplets Rhythm: Iambic Tetrameter Thesis on Rhyme and Rhythm: The rhyming couplets and iambic tetrameter of A. E. Houseman's poem, "Terence, This is Stupid Stuff", emphasize the ideal that poetry more accurately describes real life than the false understanding of life through alcohol by showing that poetry can be applied to just about any subject, including the typically dull area of argumentation. Literary Devices Relating to Syntax Parallelism- Definition: “When the writer establishes similar patterns of grammatical structure and length” (Carson-Newman University) Effect: Unify multiple parts of the sentence together Location: “Oh I have been to Ludlow fair / and left my necktie God knows where, / and carried halfway home, or near, / pints and quarts of Ludlow beer” (ll. 29-32) Effect: Unifies Terence’s anecdote as one point in his argument, making it more forceful than if it were two independent points. This causes the point to show Terence’s credibility, since he too has been under the influence of alcohol. Epanalepsis Definition: “Repeating a word from the beginning of a clause at the end of the same clause” (Carson-Newman University) Effect: Emphasize the importance of the repeated word Location: “I was I, my things were wet” (ll. 40) Effect: Emphasizes the fact that when Terence awoke from his drunken stupor, he was still the same person living in the same world. Therefore, Terence shows that alcohol does nothing but to take the reader away from reality for a little while, and when the reader comes back to reality, it will be as it always was. Antithesis Definition: “Contrary ideas expressed in a balance sentence” (Carson-Newman University) Effect: Contrasts the two ideas, making their differences more apparent Location: “Look into the pewter pot / to see the world as the world’s not” (ll. 25-26) Effect: Emphasizes the contrast between the reality of the world and the false reality alcohol provides. This enables Terence to refute the claim that poetry should be happier, since Terence believes poetry should accurately reflect the world, which is rather gloomy in his mind. Anastrophe Definition: “Inverted word order from what one expects” (Carson-Newman University) Effect: Shifts the emphasis of a sentence from the subject to another part of the sentence Location: “Them it was their poison hurt” (ll. 74) Effect: Emphasizes who was hurt by the poison. Since Terence compares the general public to those who fed Mithridates poison, he emphasizes that those who tell him to write happy poetry are only hurting themselves. Polysyndeton Definition: “Using many conjunctions to achieve an overwhelming effect” (Carson-Newman University) Effect: Overwhelms the reader with information, forcing any ideas they may have to take a backseat to what the speaker is saying Location: “Then the world seemed none so bad, / And I myself a sterling lad; / And down in lovely muck I’ve lain” (ll. 33-35) Effect: Terence overwhelms any opposition to his argument by lengthening this anecdote with multiple conjunctions. This lends power to his argument while also adding to his credibility, since it shows the extent to which he has felt the power of alcohol. Thesis Statement on Syntactical Devices Through the use of various syntactical devices such as parallelism and antithesis in his poem, "Terence, This is Stupid Stuff", A. E. Houseman is able to show the power of Terence's argument for poetry by emphasizing Terence's argument through the devices while simultaneously showing the wonders of language to the doubting friends. Ambiguous Line "And down in lovely muck I've lain" (l. 35) Semantic meaning: Terence has lain down in filth Pragmatic meaning: Terence has felt the powers of alcohol to distort reality as well, therefore he is qualified to criticize the effects of alcohol Terence's friends structure their argument inductively and use mainly pathos and poor logos. Terence structures his argument deductively, and uses logos and ethos, with some appeals to pathos appearing throughout.

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