For Julia

Good Afternoon everyone,

I heard that Julia was looking for some help regarding her essay and I wanted to throw some insight up here that will hopefully help you out with the final draft of your essay. To begin, I would open your essay with something other then stating that it is a sonnet. You want to lure your reader into exactly how your poem is universal and later with your thesis you will explain what literary techniques are being used to make the poem universal and how they are doing this. Your thesis is almost there, just add in how imagery is being used to create universality and it will be perfect. For paragraph one the topic sentence should introduce exactly what you are going to be talking about in the paragraph rather then saying how many lines are in the stanza. You could talk about how the father waking up early relates to the cold. also, it seems like you are talking about two topics in this paragraph (the cold and the fathers hard work), if you narrow down each subject you could split them off into their own paragraphs and be able to dive deeper into the meaning of the cold and the fathers hard work. For paragraph two i had a difficult time pinpointing exactly what this paragraph was about. Once you find out what your topic sentence will be everything after that will flow. The same thing goes for paragraph three. My final piece of advice for you is currently you have no quotes within your essay, but they really work wonders. Quotes will help to amplify your arguments and then it will make your interpretation more clear. I hope this helps you out a little! -Kayleigh

Essay on Time

Have you ever faced a moment in your life that matured you? Or made you cognizant of the harsh realities of life? Moments like these tend to result in the loss of innocence...and the undertaking of a burden called adulthood. These moments happen at different times and in different ways for different people. Therefore the reaction one person may have to such a loss may be markedly different from another's. In the poem "Time", the speaker is a man whose moment of innocence was the end of the world for him. Thus, his view of the effect of lost innocence for a hypothetical, abstract boy he portrays is negative. The fact that the abstract boy's loss of innocence is portrayed as being somber illustrates that the speaker feels on a whole that the loss of innocence is a terrible thing. Personification in "Time" is used to portray the innocence of both the abstract boy and the speaker as a boy; the diction used is meant to illustrate the fact that losing innocence is a universal occurrence; and lastly, the form and punctuation helps to highlight certain nuances of the loss of innocence.

The use of personification establishes the innocence of the boy in stanza one and the innocence of the speaker himself in the second stanza--an innocence which will be lost by both at the conclusion of each stanza. The "empty boxcars waiting" (1-2) is an early, subtle instance of personification which suggests the imaginative thoughts of the boy being told about. His innocence is more exposed however in the following line's use of personification, "the tall grass tickles their bellies" (3), which is dually effective. On one level, this is a powerful line because it shows the boy's childlike tendency to give life to objects. On the other, this line is powerful because it evokes in the reader a sense of childhood nostalgia--a time where belly tickling (presumably) occurred more often. In the second stanza, the speaker gives voice to his past self. As a boy, the "grass lived" (12-13) and the "trains whistled" (13) in his world of childlike wonderment. Moments later, the speaker as a boy, witnesses a river "choked" (14) with old vehicles. The personification of a "choked" river here, is perhaps the very last time the speaker had personified an object. This can't be known for sure, but the choking suggests a death, not just of the river, but of innocence. The punctuation in this line--which will be covered in more detail later--also suggests that fact. Thus, the personification in the first stanza-- abundant in the first half of stanza one and nonexistent in the second half--suggests the death of the future boy's childlike imagination (and consequently, his innocence); while the personified, figurative death of the river in stanza two illustrates the death of the speaker's innocence.

The diction in "Time" points to the universality of the loss of innocence and how every youth (no matter what generation) will experience this loss. The poem starts off with a glimpse into the future, "The years to come..." (1), where a boy will "clamber" (5) up on top of an empty boxcar and "gaze" (8) upon a river. The use of the word "will" twice in the first stanza--as in "will sometime stay" (4) and "will run" (6)--signifies that the events being described have yet to happen. It should be asked: How does the speaker know of events that have yet to happen? The answer is because he has already lived through similar events in his youth, and further, he has come to the understanding that at some point every youth will face what he himself went through. In the second stanza the speaker remarks about his past as a boy and how he "took that kind of walk" (11) out to where the trains were, a place where he discovered his very own river.  The implications of the river will be analyzed later, for now the focus will be on "that kind of walk" (11) he took. His walk in the past is a direct parallel to the "run[ning] along the top" (6-7) of the boxcars being done by the boy of the future. This is because the running being done by the boy of the future occurs right before the boy gazes into the river; likewise the walking done by the speaker in his past occurs right before he sees his own river. What the boy of the future sees in his river is not made explicit, while the speaker's river is "choked with old Chevies and Fords" (14). What's important, however, is the effect the river had on the speaker...the day he witnessed the "choked" river "was the day the world ended" (15) for him. There is a clear parallel being made between the end of the second stanza (the speaker's past)--where the words "ended" and "river" are found--and the end of the first stanza (the future of a boy) where "end" and "river" are found, as in "gaze down at the end into that river" (8). Effectively, through diction, the speaker was able to foreshadow the future (the boy's unique "end of the world" event) based on his own past experience with the "end of the world", which--in the bigger picture--illustrates the inevitability of the loss of innocence.

The form and punctuation employed in the poem subtely pinpoints the different phases in which the process of becoming an adult (or losing innocence) occurs. The last phase--which will be called the rumination phase--is chronologically first in the poem. The speaker ruminates that the "years to come" (1) will "[in] sometime stay, rusted still" (4). Before the presence of the semi-colon ending line 4 is explained, it must be remarked that the first half of stanza one is filled with words that connote oldness/physical maturation/immobility, such as: "empty" (1), "waiting" (2), "forgets" (2), "stay" (4), "rusted" (4), and "still" (4). The presence of the semi-colon--a punctuation mark that most often links two independent clauses closely related in thought, but that are often opposites in nature--is appropriate after this first half characterized by oldness, because the second half that follows is full of words that connote youth/mobility, such as: "little" (5), "boy" (5), "clambers" (5), "run" (6), "along" (7), "jump" (7). In short, the poet's semi-colon marks a direct shift in pace, time, (im)maturity that allows the reader to more clearly separate the rumination phase from the pre-maturation phase.

Secondarily--concerning form and punctuation--the poet plays with enjambment, indentation, and end-stopped lines to highlight various nuances of the loss of innocence.The enjambment of line 8--"and gaze down...that rive" (8)--into line 9, "near every town" (9), places dramatic emphasis on line 9. This calculated emphasis is crucial to the poem because this line singularily illustrates the speaker's argument: that the loss of innocence is universal. The meaning of the river--as noted previously--is directly connected to a young person's loss of innocence. Following this understanding, if a river--metaphorically-- is in every town, every young person will encounter it and thus lose their innocence--clearly depicting the universality of innocence lost. The indentation of line 10, "Once when I was a boy" (10)--aside from marking the narrative of a new boy (the speaker himself)--suggests a vast distance between the speaker as a boy and the speaker as he is now, an old man with a vastly different worldview. This distance, thus, is indicative of the disconnect between himself and the days of his youth. The last major effect--end-stopped lines--dovetails well with the effect of the punctuation, thus both devices will be addressed together. The most important instance of end-stopping occurs in the last two lines of the poem, "The river was choked with old Chevies and Fords./And that was the day the world ended" (14-15). Very obviously the use of endstopping emboldens the word "ended" (15). However, the more powerful end-stop--ending with a period--occurs in line 14, where the line--which could have flowed into the dependent clause--is cut short. A cutting short that may give one the feeling of something (a life, for example) being cut prematurely, or to be more graphic, a river choking to death. The river's death implies the death of the speaker's inner boy--a way of life taken way too soon that will never be renewed. This explanation is exactly why line 15 "And that was the day the world ended" (15) is the perfect way to end this poem.

Indeed, the end of the world at the end of "Time" is the perfect thought for this poem to end with being as though, textually, the loss of innocence is the death of something happy and blissfully ignorant. The jaded tone of the speaker suggests the heavy toll the burden of knowledge and adulthood takes on him. For the speaker to ruminate on the future of a boy who has yet to exist illustrates somewhat of an obsession with his own past as a boy, which he felt was ruined by the realization/witnessing of something that remains ambiguous. Through personification, diction, form and punctuation, the poet is able to establish a speaker whose view of innocence lost as a totally negative thing.

Rough Draft

“Those Winter Sundays” is a contemporary 14 line sonnet written by Robert Hayden. Although it does qualify as a sonnet, it’s lack of a rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter make it seem quite experimental. The poem is a reflection of an adult on his childhood, and the theme is the lack of appreciation children often have for their parents. Through the use of words and imagery, Hayden creates a  portrait of a hardworking father whose efforts go unnoticed. 

The first stanza is comprised of 5 lines that set up a chilly atmosphere which will remain for the rest of the poem. Phrases like “blueback cold” and “cracked hands that ache” add to this atmosphere of painful cold, while  “fires blaze” provides a direct contrast. The fact that the father made banked fires (fires that are burning low) blaze shows that he had the ability to make something out of nothing. The speaker is setting his father up as a protagonist by associating him with warmth in a stanza otherwise concerned with cold. The father wakes up early, even on Sunday, to provide warmth for his family. We know that the father works during the week because we are told of his “labor in the weekday weather”. This is important because we can infer that Sunday is his only day to relax.   At the end of the stanza, the speaker simply says “No one every thanked him”. There are no excuses or justifications in this like, just acknowledgement. By saying “no one” instead of “I”, we know that there were other people who should have been thanking the father. 

The second stanza has 4 lines, and provides us with insight about the speaker’s home life. Upon waking, he hears “cold splintering, breaking”. These noises have double meanings, one being the sound of the father preparing the fire and the other being the splintering and breaking of a family. Perhaps this can be seen as a metaphor for a child waking up to the sound of his parents fighting. Line 9 makes this seem even more likely when we learn that the speaker feared “the chronic angers of that house”. This implies that there was always tension in the home. A wife or mother is never mentioned, so we don’t know if she was a bad mother or was even present at all. The conflict that the father is trying to protect himself from is unclear, and this leads one to assume that it is still an uncomfortable subject for the speaker as this poem is being written. The speaker’s father calls for him to come down “when the rooms were warm”. Again, this could simply mean warm temperature-wise, but it could also mean warm emotionally.  We could infer that the speaker’s father used to try to keep the image of a happy family in tact for his son. However, we could also infer that the father tried to provide physical warmth as a substitution for the emotional warmth that he knew wasn’t possible, and that the son only realized what his father was trying to do as an adult. 

The third stanza returns to having 5 lines and has a stronger tone of guilt than the rest of the poem. The speaker recalls how he spoke “indifferently” to the father “who had driven out the cold and polished my good shoes as well”.  The cold he mentions here could be cold weather, but could also mean coldness within the family. The word “driven” implies that keeping the house warm was not an easy task. The speaker recognizes that his father took care of him inside the home and out. By mentioning the polished shoes, the speaker shows that his father cared about how his son presented himself to the world. He wanted him to be happy at home, but well prepared for when he had to leave. Since polishing shoes could be seen as a woman’s job, there is an indication that the father was playing two roles at once. The speaker never realized this until the present, where he laments “what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices?”. The contrast between “love” and words like “austere” , “lonely”, and “offices” brings light to the fact that love is sometimes a thankless job. We think of love as a beautiful emotion, not as a job to be done, but the reality is that love requires work and is not always repayed. “Office” might also be interpreted as “position”, and in this poem, the position is that of the father. Just as the President is an important office for the nation, the father is an important office in the family. We know that the father did manual labor during the week, so perhaps he regarded his parental role as his “real job” that brought him satisfaction. The father in the poem worked tirelessly for his family, but as we saw in the first stanza, no one ever thanked him. As an adult, who has likely begun to experience love’s lonely offices, the speaker understands the magnitude of what his father did for him. 

One thing that was difficult during this analysis was avoiding context. For example, I wanted to point out how getting up on Sunday has religious meaning if one is Christian or Jewish. But, I decided not to bring it up because the idea didn’t come from the text itself. I also wanted to know more about the author but refrained from googling him so that I would not be tempted to include autobiographical information.  I also struggled with whether or not I should talk about reader response when discussing the cold imagery. That seems as though it would be more formalist as every reader is different, however, it is unlikely that there will be much variation in responses to imaged of bitter cold. 

Rough Draft of These Winter Sundays

“Those Winter Sundays” is a sonnet written by Robert Hayden. It contains 14 lines (which is typical of a sonnet) and it has three stanzas that do not follow a rhyming scheme. The poem seems to be about a man reflecting on his childhood and what his father did every Sunday and how he feels bad that he did not appreciate his father for everything he did because he did not understand a parent’s love.

The first stanza has five lines and the stanza describes what this child’s father does every morning including this current Sunday, “Sundays too my father got up early” (line 1). The stanza also talks about how hard the father works during the week and how little appreciation he got, “…with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him” (3-5). The first stanza explains that every morning the father gets up in the cold to make a fire to keep his family and himself warm and that his family probably does not have a lot a lot of money because in the poem it states that the father is a laborer who works during the weekdays and has cracked hands that also ache. Generally if someone is well off with money than they would not be a laborer who is working to the point that their hands both are cracked and ache. Another part of this poem that could also validate the theory that this family is rather poor is where the house does not have heat. This is evident in the poem because his father gets up early in the morning to create a fire to warm the house which strongly suggests that his family did not heat within their house and have to manually warm their house.

In the second stanza has four lines and the son explains how he’d wake up and hear the cold but the house would be warm (presumably because of his father who in the first stanza made a fire). “I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking. When the rooms were warm, he’d call,” (6-7). The next half of the stanza the son says that his father would call him after the house was warm to get up and start his day. This is evident in lines 7 through 9, “…he’d call, and slowly I would rise and dress,” This shows that the son would hear his father and he knew that he would had to get up but the poem suggests maybe he didn’t nessercially want to get out of his bed because the poem says that he would slowly rise from his bed. “fearing the chronic angers of that house,” (9). Suggesting that the son did not want to face the consequences of not getting up out of his bed and getting ready for the day out of fear. “Chronic angers of that house” could either mean that his father (or another unmentioned member of the house and family) has reoccurring anger issues that the walls of the house has symbolically seen acts of anger. The other way the last line of the second stanza could be interrupted is that the house itself is “angry” meaning that when the son moves around in his house that the house makes sounds like creaks that frighten him. Both interruptions are plausible, but the one most probable in this particular poem is the latter meaning of the house itself being “angry” because there is no evidence that the father or another member of the house is violent or deals with issues from anger. The latter theory also makes more sense if we consider the theory of the first stanza where the family does not have a lot of money because of the father’s occupation and the state of his health (the laborer with the cracked and hands that ache) which suggests that it is plausible that their house would be kind of old and maybe in shambles. This would make sense if the house were to creak or make sounds when someone is moving around because generally old houses tend to create sounds and to some people these sounds could be quite scary including the child in this poem.

The third and final stanza consists of five lines like the first stanza. In the first line which reads “Speaking indifferently to him,” (10), which means that the child did not speak any different to his father which also includes that he did not thank his father for the things his father did for him and the rest of the family. This is supported by the last line in the first stanza “No one ever thanked him.” (5). The second and third line of the last stanza say what his father did for him every Sunday, “who had driven out the cold and polished my good shoes as well.” (11-12). The 11^th line in this poem means that creating a fire to warm the house therefore the father had “driven out the cold.” (11). The next line says “and polished my good shoes as well.” (12). This line can be interrupted as the son and his father are about to go to church. Tradiontally Sunday is the Day of the Sabbath in Christianity and generally families would not precipitate in work and they would go to church. Typically people who went to church would wear their best clothing which was appropriately referred to as their “Sunday’s best”.  The last two lines are where the mood seems to change where the child in the poem seems to have grown up and is questioning why he never thanked his father where he says “What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices?” (13-14). Where he is basically saying he did not know what love was and how it could be shown but now he does and he feels bad for not thanking his father.

This is a really, really, rough draft. Please be nice.

A New Critical Reading of Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays”

“Those Winter Sundays”, written by Robert Hayden, is classified as a contemporary sonnet.  This means that it is made up of the traditional fourteen lines, and is about love.  However, it has no rhyme scheme, and the verse has no meter.  The lesson that the reader learns from this poem, its universal truth, is that a parent’s love for their child must always be practical as well as emotional.

The first stanza, composed of five lines, begins by describing what seems to be a typical morning for this home.  The father rises early to stoke the fires in the home before he wakes anyone else.  More than that, the speaker gives the reader an idea of the circumstances surrounding both the home and the father.  In the first line, “Sundays too my father got up early,” the word ‘too’ suggests that he gets up early every morning to warm the house before waking anyone (line 1).  The mention of the word ‘Sunday’, bring about religious connotations.  Sunday is traditionally the day of rest in Christian-based religions, and it is also the day on which people go to church.  In the third stanza, the speaker again brings religious imagery by speaking about his “good shoes” being “polished”, on that Sunday (12).  The reader can infer that by polishing and wearing his good shoes on Sunday that he is getting ready to go to church.  The father wakes and dresses in the “blueback” cold (2).  This term somehow makes the morning colder, and in turn makes the importance of warming the house more important.  The father is described as having “cracked hands that ached,” from “labor in the weekday weather” (3-4). The father works with his hands outside, probably meaning that he is from a lower socio-economic class.  The father makes “banked fires blaze”, which pits the cold imagery against the warm (5).  The final sentence of the stanza is, “No one ever thanked him” (5).  This sentence has substantial meaning to the poem in its entirety.  First, it suggests that the speaker is looking back on past events, looking back from adulthood to childhood.  Second, it suggests that there are more people in the family than just the father and the speaker; there are more people who are not thanking him for warming the house.  Third, the structure of this sentence is different from all of the other sentences.  It is only five words long, as opposed to the length of the other sentences.  This difference seems to signify the importance of this singular sentence.

The second stanza, comprised of only four lines, is the shortest of the three stanzas.  In the first line, the speaker would “wake and hear” the sound of the house heating up, describing it as “cold splintering, breaking” (6).  This line also gives quite a bit of information.  First, it tells us that these sounds were woke the speaker up in the morning.  Secondly, it helps the reader to understand just how early the father gets up, as the sounds being described are those of a house warming up, which it would take some to do.  Interestingly, the speaker does not get out of bed upon being awoken, but rather waits until “the rooms were warm” (7).  The final line of the stanza, “fearing the chronic angers of that house”, could have two different interpretations (9).  One interpretation is that it is the house itself that is angry, creaking and groaning with the constant temperature change.  Another reading is that the members of the house, or one member in particular, are angry often.  It could be that the speaker is simply waiting to rise until the house is warm, but more likely it is due to trying to avoid the tension within the family.  The only evidence given that could cause anger within this poem would be the constant need for hard work on the part of the father. 

In the third stanza, the speaker illustrates the relationship dynamic with the father by “speaking indifferently to him” (10).  This ‘indifference’ or coldness, lends a credibility to the idea that the “chronic anger” comes from the father.  However, in the very next line, the tone changes.  The father is not just an angry man, but one “who had driven out the cold” (11).  The word ‘driven’ lends itself to the idea of fighting or battling.  The reader can see an image doing battle with the cold, pushing it backward and out of the house, protecting all those inside.  This father, the one waging war on the weather every morning, does not seem cold or angry at all.  This father seems determined and strong.  Moving to the third line, the tone shifts again, and the ‘warrior father’ becomes the father who “polished my good shoes as well” (12).  There is more to this father than anger and strength.  This imagery is full of tenderness and of love.  It also suggests pride, making sure that the speaker’s shoes are shined and ready for church.  The final two lines of the poem transport the reader back to present day: “What did I know, what did I know / of love’s austere and lonely offices?” (13-14). The repetition at the beginning of line thirteen implies the regret that the speaker feels with regard to their childhood treatment of their father.  The final line suggests that to love someone is a harsh and serious job; one that can in fact be lonely.  As an adult, the speaker recognizes that the father showed love to his family by ensuring that they were warm and comfortable.  The father’s role was that of provider and protector, a traditional definition of the word.  The use of the word ‘did’ implies that the speaker now understands the role his father played, and feels guilty for not understanding and appreciating it sooner.

While writing this analysis, I had to keep in mind the rules for New Criticism.  I had to ignore the fact that this was published in 1962 by an African American man who grew up in Detroit during some of the most difficult times, both racially and economically, that Detroit has seen.  I was able to use the father’s physical condition to infer that he worked a job that paid a low wage, but I was not able to use the fact that the auto industry was hit hard by the Great Depression, and that work was scarce.  I had to ignore

Because I had to ignore the difficulty that the father would have had finding work based on his race and the scarcity of jobs during this time, I could not definitely say that he was the source of “chronic anger” in the home, although anger would be completely justified.

Good Afternoon everyone,

I decided to volunteer as tribute to be the last person to have their piece looked at for tomorrow. Ill post on here what I have come up with so far. Enjoy the rest of your weekends! -Kayleigh

Title- Poem- The Lull

                        Fourteen stanzas is enough to express the Universalism, and the connection of all living things when it comes to death within the poem “The Lull” written by Molly Peacock. The poem, on the surface, is simply about the tragic death of a possum, but once the first layer of the poem is peeled away you can find that there is much more to such a common occurrence that is a dead animal on the side of the road. The poem explains “what we are” through the endless us of paradox, tension, imagery, metaphor, line breaks, end-stops and the motifs of life and death.

                        The poem begins with the image of a possum being found dead on train tracks. The first line is end stopped which leads to the metaphorical interpretation of the death of the possum. The line ends very much like the life of the possum. The narrator admits to stopping to look at the gruesome scene, but it can be very well construed as curiosity rather than a morbid hobby. The possum’s body is described as “big and white with flies on its head” (3). The flies are symbolic towards the death of the possum and suggest that the body has been there for a while. Flies usually tend to gather around a body that has been decomposing for quite some time.  

                        The fourth line of thee poem is a paradox between a dead possum to its “thick healthy hairless tail” (4). Even in death the possum still has “strong, hooked nails” (4-5). This is interesting compared through simile to a raccoon foot. Although the poem is about the possum the mention of another rodent is compelling. Raccoons are other rodents that are usually found dead on the side of the road, therefore, although they are not the same animal they share morbid similarities.

                        At the end of the fifth line there is a line break to keep up with the rhyme scheme. This is a traditional fourteen line sonnet with a rhyming at the end of each line. The rhyme scheme is as follows: ABABCDCDEFEFGG. This is a typical rhyme scheme for a traditional sonnet. This goes back to the rhyme scheme that even Shakespeare himself used. Although this is not a traditional sonnet, it still very much is.

                        The possum was at the height of his life because it was “sturdy and adult” (6). This could prelude to the possum being killed at the prime of his health, life, and being. The central cause of death to the possum was a smashing of its head. This is a truly violent death which could be metaphorical to the possum occasionally being a violent creature. In the common moment that the viewer took to look at the dead body one would normally insult the condition that the corpse was left in. The viewer of the incident is quick to take in the condition of the corpse. It head was “its head was smashed” (7) also to be aware of the flies is a determination that the body has been lying on the tracks for quite some time now. The viewer could also view the world as a morbid place where even the most violent of deaths can come to the smallest of creatures.

                        The paradox between the bloody body of the corpse to the dress shoes being worn by the viewer are an example of how life and death can so easily coexist with one another. It can also be paradoxical to choosing to live in the wilderness and the dangers of being in the wild and possible death to that of choosing a life of a warm home and clothes to protect you. This is also a general paradox between the wilderness and a civil society.

                        A short dialogue “That’s disgusting” (11) which the narrator suggests would be the response of the reader. This is seen by directly saying to the reader “you said that” (11). This paradoxes the narrator from the reader by giving them different points of view. The curiosity of the narrator versus the judgment of the reader.

                        We are made up of dreams which can be construed as what we desire to have, brains which is what we already possess and having the power to turn our dreams into reality, fur which is the protective layer around ourselves to keep up safe from outside forces even the possum’s fur was intact when it was killed. The fur survives, but not the brains or the dreams. The guts represent what lies deep within us. The judgments and curiosities can usually be brought out through dreams. Dreams, brains, fur, and guts are an unavoidable cyclical cycle. Guts could also signify death and put an end to the cycle, but in turn this is what we are all made up of.

                        “That’s my bargain the Pax Peacock” (12-13) this is the author offering up what the human race is worth universally, however, they are doing so through the narrator. This is narrator’s point of view of the death of the possum and its repercussions. “Life’s soft” (13) at any moment life can end abruptly and by looking around at what surrounds you can change you from being judgmental to curious. The hidden and inaccessible point of life is flesh. Everyone and most animals of made of flesh which makes all creatures similar and made up of the same thing materialistically. 

Oxford English Dictionary Entry for "canon"

from http://www.oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=canon&_searchBtn=Search

 

See especially the very, very end, where the dictionary lists two new "draft additions" to the definition, proposed in 2002, including one pertaining to literary criticism.

 

Pronunciation:  /ˈkænən/

Forms:  ME canoun, (ME canown), 15–17 cannon, OE, ME– canon.

Etymology:  Found in Old English as canon , < Latin canon rule, < Greek κανών rule. Early Middle English had ˈcanon , probably < Old English, and caˈnun , caˈnoun , < Old French canun , canon , the French descendant of the Latin. Senses 12 – 14 are of obscure origin; some or all may belong to cannon n.¹ in French spelt canon.

 

1.

a. A rule, law, or decree of the Church; esp. a rule laid down by an ecclesiastical Council. the canon (collectively) = canon law n. at sense 1b. The Canons, in the Church of England = ‘The Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical’ agreed upon by Convocation, and ratified by King James I under the Great Seal in 1603.

c890   tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. iv. xxiv. (Bosw.)   Canones boc.

a900   Laws of Ælfred xxi, in Thorpe II. 376 (Bosw.)   Ða canonas openlice beodaþ.

a1300   Cursor Mundi 26290   Als þe hali canon [v.r. -oun] vs sais þat scrift on sere-kin sines lais.

1451   Treaty w. Scotl. in T. Rymer Fœdera (1710) XI. 288   Maister Robert Dobbes, Doctor of Canon.

1489   Caxton tr. C. de Pisan Bk. Fayttes of Armes iv. ix. 254   The canon deffendeth expresly al manere of bataille and violent hurt.

1597   R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. lxi. 137   A sacred Canon of the sixt reuerend Synod.

a1616   Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) i. i. 144   Selfe-loue, which is the most inhibited sinne in the Cannon.

1658   J. Bramhall Consecr. Bps. viii. 171   The Papall Canons were never admitted for binding Lawes in England.

1827   H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. I. vi. 326   A code of new canons had recently been established in convocation with the king's assent.

1859   J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany viii. 131   A priest is expressly forbidden by the canons..to enter a public inn.

 

 b.   canon law n. (formerly law canon: cf. French droit canon): ecclesiastical law, as laid down in decrees of the pope and statutes of councils. (See Gratian, Dist. iii. §2.)

c1340   Cursor M. (Fairf.) 26290   Squa sais lagh Canoun þat is wise, þat shrift on mani synnis lise.

1387   J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (1865) II. 117   By dome of lawe canoun.

c1475  (▸?c1400)    Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 73   Law canoun is callid law ordeynid of prelats of the kirk.

1511   in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxf. (1880) 7   John Prynne, bachiller of Canon.

a1513   R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) II. f. cxlv^v,   They sent y^e estudyauntys of y^e lawe Canon, & Cyuyle.

1552   Abp. J. Hamilton (title-page),   Doctours of Theologie and Canon law.

a1586   Answ. Cartwright 3   The common Lawes are against the cannon Lawes in many hundreth poyntes.

1765   W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. i. Introd. 82   The canon law is a body of Roman ecclesiastical law, relative to such matters as that church either has, or pretends to have, the proper jurisdiction over. This is compiled from the opinions of the antient Latin fathers, the decrees of general councils, the decretal epistles and bulles of the holy see.

1850   A. Jameson Legends Monastic Orders 346   Where he made himself master of civil and canon law.

 

 2. gen.

   a. A law, rule, edict (other than ecclesiastical).

 

 b. A general rule, fundamental principle, aphorism, or axiom governing the systematic or scientific treatment of a subject; e.g. canons of descent or inheritance; a logical, grammatical, or metrical canon; canons of criticism, taste, art, etc.

1588   A. Fraunce Lawiers Logike i. ii. f. 7^v,   Such rules, maximaes, canons, axioms..or howsoever you tearme them.

1604   Shakespeare Hamlet i. ii. 132   Or that the euerlasting had not fixt His cannon gainst seale slaughter.

a1616   Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) i. xi. 26   Against the hospitable Canon.

1673   Milton At Vacation Exercise in Poems (new ed.) 66   Substance with his Canons, which Ens..explains.

1788   T. Reid Aristotle's Logic v. ii. 113   They have reduced the doctrine of the topics to certaine axioms or canons.

1806   Med. & Physical Jrnl. 15 134   The canons of pathology.

1869   J. E. T. Rogers in A. Smith Inq. Wealth Nations (new ed.) I. Pref. 17   The indirect taxation of France violated every canon of financial prudence and equity.

1874   A. H. Sayce Princ. Compar. Philol. i. 58   The canons of taste and polite literature.

1879   F. W. Farrar Life & Work St. Paul I. viii. xxx. 613   We may assume it as a canon of ordinary criticism that a writer intends to be understood.

 

 c. A standard of judgement or authority; a test, criterion, means of discrimination.

1601   P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 497   Moreouer, he made that which workmen call Canon, that is to say, one absolute piece of worke, from whence artificers do fetch their draughts, simetries, and proportions.

1651   T. Hobbes Philos. Rudim. xvii. §16. 313   The sacred Scripture is..the Canon and Rule of all Evangelicall Doctrine.

1869   E. M. Goulburn Pursuit Holiness vii. 65   This Lord's Prayer, what a canon does it supply for testing and correcting our spiritual state.

1874   W. Wallace Logic of Hegel §52. 93   [Reason] is a canon, not an organon of truth, and can furnish only a criticism of knowledge.

 

†3. Math. A general rule, formula, table; esp. a table of sines, tangents, etc. Obs.

c1400  (▸1391)    Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) ii. §32. 42   Lok how many howres thilke coniunccion is fro the Midday of the day precedent, as shewith by the canoun of thi kalender.

1594   T. Blundeville Exercises (ed. 7) ii. f. 130,   If you shall not finde in the Canon, the Sine which by your calculation is found.

1656   tr. T. Hobbes Elements Philos. iii. xx. 217   The straight line BV..if computed by the Canon of Sines.

1706   Phillips's New World of Words (ed. 6) (at cited word),   In Mathematicks, Cannon is an infallible Rule to resolve all things of the same Nature with the present Inquiry.

1728   E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word),   Natural Canon of Triangles, is the Canon of Sines, Tangents, and Secants taken together... Artificial Canon, is the Canon..of Cosines, Cotangents, &c.

1798   C. Hutton Course Math. II. 3   A Trigonometrical Canon, is a table exhibiting the length of the sine, tangent, and secant, to every degree and minute of the quadrant.

 

 4. The collection or list of books of the Bible accepted by the Christian Church as genuine and inspired. Also transf., any set of sacred books; also, those writings of a secular author accepted as authentic.

1382   Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) Apoc. Prol.,   In the bigynnyng of canon, that is, of the bok of Genesis.

1561   T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. i. vii. f.13^v,   What reuerence is due to the Scripture, and what bokes ar to be reckened in the canon therof.

1641   J. Jackson True Evangelical Temper ii. 116   S. Andrew the Apostle..added nothing to the Canon of Scripture.

1870   F. Max Müller Sci. Relig. (1873) 29   The process by which a canon of sacred books is called into existence.

1882   F. W. Farrar Early Days Christianity I. 98   The Epistle to the Hebrews is not a work of St. Paul, but it is pre-eminently worthy of its honoured place in the Canon.

1885   Encycl. Brit. XIX. 211/1   The dialogues forming part of the ‘Platonic canon’.

1953   C. J. Sisson Shakespeare: Compl. Works p. xviii (heading)    The canon and the text.

 

†5. A canonical epistle. See canonical adj. 3.

1483   Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende 25/3   Saynt John that saith in his canone, We have, etc.

1502   tr. Ordynarye of Crysten Men (de Worde) ii. i. sig. h.vi^v,   Wherfore sayth well saynt Iames in his canon.

 

 6. The portion of the Mass included between the Preface and the Pater, and containing the words of consecration.

1395   J. Purvey Remonstr. (1851) 42   After the sacringe, in the canoun of the masse.

a1400  (▸a1325)    Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 21190, l. 21192   Þe first mess þat sent petre sang, Was þar þan na canon lang Bot pater-noster in þaa dais, Na langer canon was, it sais.

a1450   Knt. de la Tour (1868) 40.  

1532   T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 490/2   Luter himself casting away the holy canon of y^e masse.

a1656   J. Hales Several Tracts (1677) 43   It was the farther solemnizing, and beautifying that holy action which brought the Canon in.

1781   Gibbon Decline & Fall II. xlv. 695   He officiated in the canon of the mass.

1868   W. F. Hook Lives Archbps. II. ii. iii. 284 (note) ,   The canon or rule was the part of the service containing the actual consecration.

 

 7. Music.

 

 a. A species of musical composition in which the different parts take up the same subject one after another, either at the same or at a different pitch, in strict imitation.A passage in Burney's Hist. Music (1781) 480 suggests as an earlier meaning: ‘The rule by which a composition (in canon-form), which is only partially indicted in the score, can be read out by the performers in full.’ Cf. quot. 1609.

1597   T. Morley Plaine & Easie Introd. Musicke 104   Of how manie parts the Canon is, so manie Cliefes do they set at the beginning of the verse.

1609   J. Dowland tr. A. Ornithoparchus Micrologus 48   A Canon..is an imaginarie rule, drawing that part of the Song which is not set downe out of that part which is set downe. Or it is a Rule, which doth wittily discouer the secret of a Song.

1795   W. Mason Ess. Eng. Church Music i. 54   Such Organists as were Masters of Canon, Fugue, and Counterpoint.

1869   F. A. G. Ouseley Counterpoint xxiii. §13   The closest stretto should be reserved for the end..especially if it be introduced in canon.

 

 b. A long hymn, used in the Orthodox Churches, consisting of eight odes, each of many stanzas.

1862   Q. Rev. Apr. 338   If we might venture..to name the characteristics of these canons, we should say richness and repose, and a continuous thread of Holy Scripture..woven into them.

 

 8.

 a. ‘In old Records, a Prestation, Pension, or Customary payment upon some religious Account’ (Phillips 1706). From Roman Law.

1683   W. Cave Ecclesiastici Introd. p. li,   He restor'd the Corn-Canon, (as they call'd it) the yearly Allowance of Corn, which Constantine the Great had settled upon the Church.

1726   J. Ayliffe Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani 139   Which Allowance was, by the ancient Lawyers, called a Canon, and not a Prebend, as now it is.

1847–79   J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words   Canon, a portion of a deceased man's goods exacted by the priest.

 

 b. A quit-rent.  [compare Littré, Canon 10.]

1643   W. Prynne Soveraigne Power Parl. App. 164   Therefore to sustaine the burthens of Peace, the demesne was instituted, (which among the Lawyers is called Canon).

1774   S. Hallifax Anal. Rom. Law (1795) 69   On condition that the Tenant shall improve the Lands, and pay a yearly Canon or Quit-Rent to the Proprietor.

 

 9.

   a. A chief epoch or era, serving to date from (Greek κανὼν χρονικός); a basis for chronology. Cf. canon monument n. at Compounds 1.

1833   C. F. Cruse tr. Eusebius Eccl. Hist. vi. xxii. 242   A certain canon comprising a period of sixteen years.

1876   S. Birch Rede Lect. Egypt 14   The Turin papyrus, the canon of history, a list of all the kings.

 

 b. paschal canon: the rule for finding Easter, to which was often appended a table of the dates of Easter and the feasts varying with it for a series of years.

1728   E. Chambers Cycl. at Canon,   Paschal Canon, a Table of the Moveable Feasts, shewing the Day of Easter, and the other Feasts depending on it, for a Cycle of 19 Years.

 

 10.

   a. (See quot. 1728.)

1728   E. Chambers Cycl.   Canon, is also us'd in some Orders of Religious, for the Book that contains their Rules, Constitutions, &c.

 

 b. ‘The list of saints acknowledged and canonized by the Church’ (Chambers Cycl. 1727–51).

 

 11. Printing. A size of type-body equal to 4-line Pica; the largest size of type-body that has a specific name.So called perhaps as being that used for printing the canon of the Mass; but Tory is said by Reed ( op. cit. 36) to have used the term Canon for letter cut according to rule—lettres de forme—as distinguished from lettres bastardes.

1683   J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II.    French Canon 17½[types] to a foot.

1688   R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. iii. 119/2   Canon, the great Canon is the name of the largest Letter for Printing that is used in England.

1721   in N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict.   Canon, (with Printers) a large sort of Printing Letter.

1887   T. B. Reed Hist. Old Eng. Letter Foundries 36   The Canon of the Mass was..printed in a large letter, and it is generally supposed that this size of letter being ordinarily employed in the large Missals, the type-body took its name accordingly; a supposition which is strengthened by its German name of Missal.

 

 

 12. (See quot.)Not in New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon.

1696   E. Phillips New World of Words (ed. 5)    Canon..a Surgeon's Instrument, made use of for the sewing up of Wounds.

1721   in N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict.  

1755   Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang.   Canon,..(among chirurgeons.) an instrument used in sewing up wounds. [Also in mod. Dicts.]

 

 13. (See quot. 1847-78)

1847–78   J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words   Canons, the first feathers of a hawk after she has mewed. [Perh. the same as cannon: cf. Sp. cañon a quill.]

 

 14. A metal loop or ‘ear’ at the top of a bell, by which it is hung. Also written cannon n.¹ 5.

1688   R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 461/2   This is called a St. Bell, because it hath not Canons on the head to fasten it to the stock.

1878   G. Grove Dict. Music I. 219   [Bells] are first carefully secured by iron bolts and braces through the ears or ‘canons’ to the stock.

1882   School Guardian No. 315. 12   The height of the bell from the lip to the top of the canons is 8 ft.

 

Compounds

 C1. General attrib.

  canon law n. (See 1b.)

  canon-lawyer n.

  canon-making   n.

1659   R. Baxter Key for Catholicks i. xxv. 147   This is a cheaper way of Canon-making in a corner.

  canon monument   n. (Cf. 9.)

1631   R. Byfield Doctr. Sabbath Vindicated 149   You finde nothing..in any..cannon monument, and register of Antiquitie.

  canon rule   n.

1603   P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 33   The very Canon rule, and paterne of all vertu

 

  canon type n.

 

 C2. (Cf 11:)

  canon-like adj.

1601   Bp. W. Barlow Def. Protestants Relig. 99   We acknowledge it Canon-like, but not Canonicall.

 

  canon-wise adj.

1641   Milton Of Reformation 21   An insulting, and only-Canon-wise Prelate.

 

Draft additions July 2002

 

a. Literary Criticism. A body of literary works traditionally regarded as the most important, significant, and worthy of study; those works of esp. Western literature considered to be established as being of the highest quality and most enduring value; the classics (now freq. in the canon). Also (usu. with qualifying word): such a body of literature in a particular language, or from a particular culture, period, genre, etc.

1929   Amer. Lit. 1 95   Those who read bits of Mather with pleasure will continue to feel that those bits cannot be excluded from the canon of literature until much excellent English ‘utilitarian’ prose is similarly excluded.

1953   W. R. Trask tr. E. R. Curtius European Lit. & Lat. Middle Ages xiv. 264   Of the modern literatures, the Italian was the first to develop a canon.

1989   Times Lit. Suppl. 7 July 739   My Secret History..alludes to half the modernist canon, from Eliot to Hemingway to Henry Miller.

1999   N.Y. Rev. Bks. 4 Nov. 29/2   The canon was under attack from feminists and social historians who saw it as the preserve of male and bourgeois dominance.

 

 

 b. In extended use (esp. with reference to art or music): a body of works, etc., considered to be established as the most important or significant in a particular field. Freq. with qualifying word.

1977   R. Macksey in Compar. Lit. 92 1188   The author concentrates on six major works in the operatic canon, masterpieces by two towering figures in the history of Western music.

1985   Washington Post 5 July x12/1   What looks like spaghetti Bolognese and keeps fresh on the shelf for 50 years? Japanese plastic food, the real-as-life models that restaurants in Japan use for the prosaic business of window display, and that visitors have gleefully added to the canon of pop art.

1995   Independent (Nexis) 10 Dec. 2   Mick taught himself to play the guitar and spent ‘a great deal of time’ studying songwriting; not just the soul and R'n'B legends..but the whole rock canon—the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin and the Velvet Underground, but especially The Beatles.

1998   Herald (Glasgow) 3 Sept. 22   The concept has settled comfortably into the canon of accepted biological theory.

Barbara Herrnstein Smith is Braxton Craven Professor of Comparative Literature and English and director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Science and Cultural Theory at Duke University. She also holds the position of Distinguished Professor of English at Brown University. After initially training in biology, experimental psychology, and philosophy at City College in New York, Smith attended Brandeis University, where she received her doctorate in English and American Literature. Before joining the faculty at Duke in 1987, she taught at Bennington College and at the University of Pennsylvania, where she held the position of University Professor. Her current teaching and research focus on twentieth century reconceptions of knowledge and science, contemporary accounts of language and cognition, the relations between the sciences and the humanities, and the naturalistic tradition in the study of religion.

Professor Smith has authored and edited a number of books and articles on language, literature, and critical theory, including Poetic Closure: A Study of How Poems End (1968), On the Margins of Discourse: The Relation of  Literature to Language (1978), and Contingencies of Value: Alternative Perspectives for Critical Theory (1988). Her most recent books are Belief and Resistance: Dynamics of Contemporary Intellectual Controversy (1997) and Scandalous Knowledge: Science, Truth and the Human (2006).

Im going to try to tackle The Great Gatsby--or rather, one aspect of it--using the psychological approach. Upon my first reading of the novel, I constantly asked myself whether Nick and Jay were the same person or not. They never seemed to physically touch, or be seen out in public at the same time with each other. Also, the scene in which Jay is coming over to Nick's house for the first time to see Daisy, he was hidden in a closet or something, while Nick was occupying Daisy..then Nick disappears when Jay finally comes out to speak to Daisy. This is one of many times, mind you that this happens. Even in the movie--which to be honest I only remember pieces of--has times where only one of them is being addressed or noticed when they are "together". This leads me to believe that one of the characters is nonexistent. I vote Jay. His background and status are highly questionable and farcical, at least in my opinion. He seems almost to be an imaginary figure--a confident (for the most part), mysterious fellow who possesses Nick's dream qualities. I think the movie hits on something very interesting portraying Fitzgerald himself as a man who pours quite a bit of himself into the character, Nick. I say this because after doing a little reading, I found that Fitzgerald's first love, Zelda--who he fell head over heels for--initially broke off their engagement as he was financially unstable and couldn't support her. That said, I think he bleeds into Nick's subconscious desire to be well-off--as "Jay" is. As I said prior though, it has been a while since I"ve read the novel and I only remember fragments of the movie, so I may be way off the mark--so please feel free to point any holes in my argument and let me know if you also assumed Nick and Jay were the same person. Thanks.