Texts And Criticism

 

2. What does Brooks mean by “resistance to generalization” in poetry? Why does he think that such resistance is a sign of good poetry?

3. What does Brooks mean when he says that irony is “the acknowledgment of the pressures of context”(805)? Why does he think that such a notion of irony might resist what he calls “a public corrupted by Hollywood”(805)?

Reuben A. Brower, “The Mirror of Analogy: The Tempest”

1. Early in his essay, Brower says that there are “recurrent analogies (or continuities)”(225) in The Tempest that are central to the overall design of the play. Use one or more of Brower’s list of what he calls “the six main continuities in the play”(226) to try to explain what he means when he suggests that an “analogy” is a “continuity” (he uses the terms interchangeably).

2. What does Brower think is the “key metaphor” of the play? What, specifically, does he think is significant about this “key metaphor”?

3. What similarities are there in how Cleanth Brooks and Brower conceive of literature?

George Will, “Literary Politics” and Stephen  Greenblatt, “The Best Way to Kill Our Literary Inheritance Is to Turn It into a Decorous  Celebration of the New World Order”

1. Does Will’s attack on the goals of contemporary literary critics seem justified? If so, why? If not, why not?

2. How do Will and Greenblatt differ in their understanding of what the worth of literature might be?

3. Why does Will assume that it’s ridiculous to think that The Tempest should be understood in terms of colonialism? Are you persuaded by Greenblatt’s response to what Will says about The Tempest? Why or why not?