Who Wrote That Thing 1
For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.
For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.
Christopher Smart, For My Cat Joeffry
remember the anaphora that characterizes this poem - any time you see lines that start with "For" it's Christopher Smart!
We shall all have to be judged according to our works, whether they be towards man or towards beast.
Anna Sewell, Black Beauty
The hapless nymph with wonder saw;
A whisker first and then a claw,
With many an ardent wish,
She stretched in vain to reach the prize.
What female heart can gold despise?
What cat’s averse to fish?
Gray, Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat
18th Century, critique of materialism amidst the increase of consumer goods the the upper and middle classes
You must not say that; but though I am an old horse and have seen a great deal, I never yet could make out why men are so fond of this sport; they often hurt themselves, often spoil good horses, and tear up the fields, and all for a hare or a fox or a stag that they could get more easily some other way; but we are only horses, and don’t know
19th Century, critique of hunting, innate knowledge of animals
He was sounding the deeps of his nature, and of the parts of his nature that were deeper than he, going back into the womb of Time
20th Century, return to primitivism, discipline not as taming but releasing the inner primitive, literary naturalism
you should make an argument here about Darwin and London's ideas of improvement
Still had she gazed; but ’midst the tide
Two angel forms were seen to glide,
The genii of the stream;
Their scaly armour’s Tyrian hue
Through richest purple to the view
Betrayed a golden gleam.
Thomas Gray, "Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat"
But especially he loved to run in the dim twilight of the summer midnights, listening to the subdued and sleepy murmurs of the forest, reading signs and sounds as a man may read a book.
Jack London, The Call of the Wild
From hence, ye beauties, undeceived,
Know, one false step is ne’er retrieved,
And be with caution bold.
Not all that tempts your wandering eyes
And heedless hearts, is lawful prize;
Nor all that glisters, gold.
Gray, Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat
18th Century, age of reason, increased access to consumer goods, concerns about materialism as a corrupting influence
makes the (misogynistic) argument that women should be careful of being tempted by material things because it is a dangerous impulse which can lead to a moral fall
this poem uses bathos - if you can tell me that on the exam that would be great
God had given men reason by which they could find things for themselves, but He had given animals knowledge which did not depend on reason, and which was more prompt and more perfect in its way, and by which they had often saved the lives of men.
19th Century, innate wisdom of animals, animals have something given by God that men don't have
"That club was a revelation. It was his introduction to the reign of primitive law,"
primitivism, the return to nature and instinct, Darwinism and the survival of the fittest
makes the argument that discipline is a technology which teaches animals and people the way of the world
For having consider'd God and himself he will consider his neighbour.
For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness.
For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance.
For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying.
Christopher Smart, For My Cat Joeffry
remember the anaphora that characterizes this poem - any time you see lines that start with "For" it's Christopher Smart!
At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead,
In a full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited.
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt and small,
With blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.
Thomas Hardy, "The Darkling Thrush"
‘Ne’er shall thy now expiring puss forget
To thy kind care her long-enduring debt,
Nor shall the joys that painless realms decree
Efface the comforts once bestowed by thee;
Seward, An Old Cat's Dying Soliloquy
18th Century, age of reason, animal machines, increased popularity of companion animals
argues for an ethics of compassion
There was no gentleness in him as there was in his father, but only hardness, a hard voice, a hard eye, a hard hand, and I felt from the first that what he wanted was to wear all the spirit out of me, and just make me into a quiet, humble, obedient piece of horse-flesh, “Horse-flesh!” Yes, that is all he thought about.
19th Century, how animals have spirit, relevant in Industrial London with work horses as backbone of society
For the pride of trace and trail was his, and sick unto death, he could not bear that another dog should do his work.
this is making an argument about how people should be approaching their work
The land's sharp features seemed to me
The Century's corpse outleant,
Its crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind its death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervourless as I.
Thomas Hardy, "The Darkling Thrush"
Only ignorance! only ignorance! how can you talk about only ignorance? Don't you know that it is the worst thing in the world, next to wickedness? -- and which does the most mischief heaven only knows. If people can say, 'Oh! I did not know, I did not mean any harm,' they think it is all right.
Anna Sewell, Black Beauty
So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew,
And I was unaware.
Thomas Hardy, "The Darkling Thrush"
20th Century (barely), impact of modernity
argues that there's no hope and all is futile even birdsong :D
Only ignorance! only ignorance! how can you talk about only ignorance? Don't you know that it is the worst thing in the world, next to wickedness? -- and which does the most mischief heaven only knows. If people can say, 'Oh! I did not know, I did not mean any harm,' they think it is all right.
19th Century, our responsibilities to animals includes educating ourselves, this is Sewell's main moralist argument in the novel
A man with a club [bat] is a law-maker, a man to be obeyed, but not necessarily conciliated.
discipline as technology, the laws of survival vs. the rules of polite society
Much sure of good the future has in store,
When on my master’s hearth I bask no more,
In those blest climes, where fishes oft forsake
The winding river and the glassy lake;
Anna Seward, "An Old Cat's Dying Soliloquy"
They quickened the old life within him, the old tricks which they had stamped into the heredity of the breed were his tricks... And when, on the still cold nights, he pointed his nose at a star and howled long and wolflike, it was his ancestors, dead and dust, pointing nose at star and howling down through the centuries and through him.
Jack London, The Call of the Wild
For he keeps the Lord's watch in the night against the adversary.
For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.
For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.
Smart, "For My Cat Joeffry"
18th Century, age of reason, increasing popularity of companion animals, animal machines
pushes back against the idea that animals do not have souls and instead emphasizes that they are blessed by God - a deeply devotional poem
BE CAREFUL! This is not Pangur Ban - cats are not widely considered to be demonic during the enlightenment - that is a medieval idea
The first place that I can well remember, was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it. Some shady trees leaned over it, and rushes and water-lilies grew at the deep end.
19th Century, Black Beauty's pastoral beginnings, this is a critique of modernity
There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.
20th Century, return to primitivism, discipline not as taming but releasing the inner primitive, literary naturalism