American Literature 201August 18

Michael SimpsonSection 051

“Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment.There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands.By necessity, by proclivity and by delight, we all quote.It is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson *

* Sante, Luc. “The Fiction of Memory” The New York Times. March 14, 2010.

Class Summary

Next Week’s Assignments

Course Logistics Schedule – 1st Half of SemesterGraded AssignmentsBlogging Assignments

Levels of Reading

“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” (1 – 5)

Next Week’s Assignments

August 23Set up personal blog and email me to confirmDeadline for 1st blogRead “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” (6 – 9)

August 25Read William Bradford (IV – XXXVI)Deadline for 2nd blog

Course Logistics

Schedule – 1st Half of Semester

Graded Assignments

Blogging Assignments10 blogs / 5 of which are gradedGrade not final until changes madePoints off

Not 10 blogs (- 1 for each missing)Missing blog deadline (- 1 for each missed deadline)

Levels of Reading

Elementary

InspectionalSystematic SkimmingSuperficial Reading

AnalyticalWhat is the work about as wholeWhat is being said in detailHow is it being said in detail

Syntopical (Comparative)

1940 - 1967

1972 - Present

Lectio DivinaFrom the very earliest accounts of monastic practice – dating back to the fourth century – . . . a form of reading called lectio divina (“divine” or “spiritual reading”) was essential to any deliberate spiritual life.

This kind of reading is quite different from that of scanning a text . . . , or advancing along an exciting plotline to a climax in the action. It is, rather, a meditative approach, by which the reader seeks to savor and taste the beauty and truth of every phrase and passage. . . .

There are four steps in lectio divina: first, to read, next to mediate, then to rest in the sense of God’s nearness, and, ultimately, to resolve to govern one’s actions in the light of new understanding.

This kind of reading is itself an act of prayer. [xii]

Thornton, John F., and Susan B. Varenne. “About the Vintage Spiritual Classics” The Confessions. By Saint Augustine. Trans. Maria Boulding. Vintage Books: New York. 1998. xi-xii.

Lectio DivinaFrom the very earliest accounts of monastic practice – dating back to the fourth century – . . . a form of reading called lectio divina (“divine” or “spiritual reading”) was essential to any deliberate spiritual life.

This kind of reading is quite different from that of scanning a text . . . , or advancing along an exciting plotline to a climax in the action. It is, rather, a meditative approach, by which the reader seeks to savor and taste the beauty and truth of every phrase and passage. . . .

There are four steps in lectio divina: first, to read, next to mediate, then to rest in the sense of God’s nearness, and, ultimately, to resolve to govern one’s actions in the light of new understanding.

This kind of reading is itself an act of prayer. [xii]

Thornton, John F., and Susan B. Varenne. “About the Vintage Spiritual Classics” The Confessions. By Saint Augustine. Trans. Maria Boulding. Vintage Books: New York. 1998. xi-xii.

“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” (1 – 5)

Key passages

Key words

Images vs. ideas

It avails not, time nor place --- distance avails not,I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many generations hence,Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt,

[2183-2184]

“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”(1 – 5)Saw the reflection of the summer sky in the water,Had my eyes dazzled by the shimmering track of beams,Look’d at the fine centrifugal spokes of light round the shape of my head in the sunlit water, [2184]

“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”(1 – 5)

What is it then between us?What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?

Whatever it is, it avails not --- distance avails not, and place avails notI too lived, . . .

I too felt the curious abrupt questionings stir within me,

I too had been struck from the float forever held in solution,I too had receiv’d identity by my body,That I was I knew was of my body, and what I should be I knew I should be of my body.

[2185]

Last Questions

It is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson *

* Sante, Luc. “The Fiction of Memory” The New York Times. March 14, 2010.