Link: https://soundcloud.com/francescoclementi/milton-project/s-o3KmRdT6dSn
For the Multimodal Milton project, I’m planning to represent my chosen passage by creating an ambient/spoken word piece of music. I am using lines 49-81 as follows: “ Who durst defie th’ Omnipotent to Arms. Nine times the Space that measures Day and Night To mortal men, he with his horrid crew Lay vanquisht, rowling in the fiery Gulfe Confounded though immortal: But his doom Reserv’d him to more wrath; for now the thought Both of lost happiness and lasting pain Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes That witness’d huge affliction and dismay Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate: At once as far as Angels kenn he views The dismal Situation waste and wilde, A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round As one great Furnace flam’d, yet from those flames No light, but rather darkness visible Serv’d only to discover sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace And rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes to all; but torture without end Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed With ever-burning Sulphur unconsum’d: Such place Eternal Justice had prepar’d For those rebellious, here their Prison ordain’d In utter darkness, and their portion set As far remov’d from God and light of Heav’n As from the Center thrice to th’ utmost Pole. O how unlike the place from whence they fell! There the companions of his fall, o’rewhelm’d With Floods and Whirlwinds of tempestuous fire, He soon discerns, and weltring by his side One next himself in power, and next in crime, Long after known in PALESTINE, and nam’d BEELZEBUB.” I’ve chosen this piece of the text because I believe it is an incredibly personal and intimate look into Satan’s suffering. This passage is unique as it represents how tormented Satan is through a detailed description of physical aspects and emotions. This description serves well as an exemplar of how Paradise Lost is different from other texts as I believe it personifies Satan and provides him with very human qualities including remorse. The remorse Satan struggles with is palpable through this passage as phrases such as “lost happiness and lasting pain” highlight his struggle and longing. I believe this passage is important because it captures the unique characterization of Satan, and the way he is in Paradise Lost. This text also stands out to me because of its use of color and tone. Milton paints a dark, cold, and depressing scene through an onslaught of descriptive words and phrases. “Pain”, “affliction”, “dismay”, and “sorrow” are nouns that capture Satan’s suffering, and I believe they help bring this image to life. Lines 49-81 are gut-wrenching and dark, and we are able to experience some of Satan’s pain. For my artifact, I am creating a piece of music that will compliment my reading of these lines. I was captivated by the effect of Milton’s dark descriptive words which highlighted an event of suffering unlike no other, and I want to enhance this scene by composing music to fit with it. For me, music has also brought emotions and stories to life in a way unlike any film, novel, or piece of art has. After reading these lines of text, I feel like they are very theatrical, and they require something in the background to truly bring them to life. My inspiration for my musical composition comes from the soundtracks of Trent Reznor and his work with Nine Inch Nails. Recently, I’ve been listening to his newest releases: Ghosts V: Together and Ghosts VI: Locusts, and I’ve been very inspired by these records, specifically the latter one. Like I am aiming for my composition to be, “Locusts” is incredibly dark yet minimal, and Reznor is able to terrify and haunt his listeners simply through the use of a repetitive piano melody in a minor key, samples, and his effective use of ambient and atmospheric synthesizers. Aesthetically, I am pursuing a very similar sound to Trent Reznor. However, my form and story will be based on my spoken word passage of lines 49-81. I want to mold the composition in with the text by featuring sonic accents when the text changes. An example of this could be when Milton talks of a “fiery gulf” versus “regions of sorrow” because I believe these two phrases both carry very different tones, and I want the music to project that and enhance it.
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Both Better Living through Criticism and Renaissance Self-Fashioning describe how we are not as in control of our lives as we believe we are. Through a rhetorical onslaught of dialectical concepts, anticipating audience response, and constant refinement, authors, A.O. Scott and Stephen Greenblatt, reveal to the audience the importance of submitting to larger powers and the value in allowing oneself to be vulnerable. In each of these texts, a central discussion around changing one’s life is formed in an attempt to demonstrate how individuals can gain more control and agency over their life by realizing and recognizing they are being influenced by outside forces. The theme and concept of submission is integral to A.O Scott’s main argument in Better Living Through Criticism about how individuals can learn to appreciate their lives through criticism and reflection. Scott best implements this concept through the repetition of the phrase, “You must change your life”. Throughout the text, Scott explains how people are close minded in their thinking, specifically around art, and are unwilling to change due to pre-perceived notions and constructs. He describes how these “authorities” have a significant effect on our thinking and our life. Scott provides an example of these authoritative structures when depicting one’s trip to a museum, stating, “We might recognize-and resent- the element of coercion that pushes us through the teeming corridors”, and this provides an excellent segue into his discussion around the “state of being open to their expression.” Through this repetitive rhetorical strategy, Scott urges his audience to submit to authoritative structures as it will better their life making them more open and accepting of ideas and opinions that differ from theirs. Instead of focusing on art as a primary topic of discussion, Stephen Greenblatt looks at society as a whole to demonstrate the importance of vulnerability and submission in his text Renaissance Self-Fashioning. through this writing, Greenblatt prescribes his audience to examine the authoritative structures in their life and understand how they are being influenced by them. Following this, he urges the audience to dissect the positive parts of their life both past and present and find meaning and see how these parts have influenced their life. Finally, he argues that by submitting and recognizing authorities individuals gain more agency and control. Greenblatt does this by defining 10 characteristics of 16th century writers, and he organizes the defining concepts on how they played into power/authoritative structures. In summarizing these conditions, Greenblatt states that, “any achieved identity always contains within itself the signs of its own subversion or loss,” and by doing this, he describes how submission can be the remedy to this loss of identity and can increase agency and control. Both these texts are built upon a general argument about how individuals can regain control of their lives. Though expressed in slightly different manners, Greenblatt and Scott believe that by recognizing and submitting to authorities, individuals can directly increase their agency. Furthermore, the authors call for a change in living as exemplified by the phrases, “you must change in your life” (Scott) and, “you must allow yourself to be powerfully struck” (Greenblatt). These expressions are repeated throughout both of these texts, and they underline the author's argument to urge the audience to be open and vulnerable. Better Living Through Criticism and Renaissance Self-Fashioning both highlight the importance and necessity of recognizing that we are not as in control of our lives as we believe to be. This was an extremely hard writing assignment, and I struggled with it. However, I am happy with my final product as I think it provides a very strong argument into the relationship between Greenblatt and Scott. One of the hardest parts about this assignment was how difficult it was for me to find textual evidence to support my claim and looking back on this assignment, I wished I could’ve wrote more quotes down in my commonplace throughout the semester. I got a lot of inspiration about my theme through looking back at my commonplace book, and I feel like it really helped me.
The reading that we had for over Thanksgiving break was incredibly challenging yet rewarding. I was able to get through it easier than I would have and understand more concepts because of our work together in class and because of our prior readings. However, the selections, especially Milton, were still difficult for me. I think there were concepts from class in almost each of these selections and one of the main concepts that stuck out to me was Authority v. Alien. I believe there were many new concepts, such as gender roles and light v. dark, that were critical components and themes of the readings. Throughout the selections, I found myself struck by the authors physical descriptions of the world being formed. Most of the writers portrayed the creation as being fully responsible by God, and it amazed me at how descriptive and detailed the authors were when illustrating the physical aspects of the creation of Earth.
I found the concept of authority v. alien to be packed throughout these selections. I think this relationship is presented through God and Satan, and it was amazing to see how this played out. God and all his angels, being the authority, constantly demeaned and demonized Satan as being both “Chaotic” and “false or negative”. Satan was portrayed as being a demonic parody to God, and additionally as a distorted image of God. In Paradise Lost, there is a war between God and Satan, and I believes this is an example of the third governing condition in Stephen Greenblatt, Renaissance Self-Fashioning. In this condition, the alien (Satan) is to be “attacked and destroyed”, and this demonstrates a significant connection and relation to the governing conditions and the authority v. alien model in Paradise Lost. Throughout the reading, I was surprised at the importance of gender roles in each of these selections, specifically in Genesis and Paradise Lost. I had no idea at how sexist Genesis is, and it is shocking to see the author describe Eve and how she came to be. I’m really interested in this, and I hope we can dissect this in class. I have many questions about this theme such as how did this reflect society's feelings towards women at the time? How did this influence gender roles for the future of literature? Finally, what do we make of this and what does christianity have to say about this today? Does the sexism Genesis, an integral part of the foundation of christianity, still have a role in the christianity of today? In addition to exploring this concept in class, I hope we can do a deep dive into the character of Satan in Paradise Lost. To me, Milton’s portrayal of Satan is one of the most genuine and layered versions of the character in literature. I believe that Satan has emotions in this story, and this was kind of confusing and different for me as a reader. I hope we can explore Milton’s version of the character, specifically with an eye towards looking at the paradigms and themes at play within Lucifer. After 3 months of class, I can confidently say AP lit is one of the hardest, most uncomfortable classes I’ve ever been apart of. It is nothing like I expected, and I think it’s redefined my expectations of what an english class can be about. The way we have been approaching the texts is drastically different than any other class I’ve had, and while this has been a really difficult adjustment, it’s been amazing because I’ve been able to grow and rewire my brain about how to dissect text and find out what’s going on. One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most about AP lit is how much class time was allotted to the summer reading and how we are actually using the work from over the summer. This has created an environment of intention and purpose that is palpable in our 4th period class, and it’s something that I appreciate. Additionally, I value the sense of community with our class. It is one unlike any other class I’ve ever had, and I appreciate the time that is given for “check ins” and for people to share how they are feeling. Because people are closer with one another, we are able to collaborate and work together with unbelievable chemistry and diligence.
In addition to the way the class is taught, I’ve loved all the pieces we’ve read and worked with so far. Though I was confused beyond belief at the start of the year on the texts we were reading, I think I finally am able to understand what they are saying and what their purpose is. These readings were incredibly difficult for me, and I struggled with them. However, after each class and discussion, little by little, I was starting to understand what was going on. After struggling more, it became easier, and it was such a feeling of relief and success when our class would make breakthroughs on the meanings and purposes behind the readings. I enjoyed Scott slightly more than Greenblatt, but I thought both authors presented really interesting and persuasive ideas and topics. Both of them focused on persuading people to do something. For Scott, he urged his readers to try and embrace discussion and argument around art, and for Greenblatt, he encouraged his audience to gain agency by finding the things that influence us and shape our identity. One thing I would love to focus more on is if these two pieces are connected and if so, how they are connected. I’m really grateful for the amount of class time dedicated to discussion and working their ideas and purposes out out loud. For the rest of the year, I hope our classroom culture will continue to grow, and I hope Dr. Holt will teach us in a very similar way as we were taught for the summer work. In terms of the content wise, I cannot wait for Frankenstein, and I am so excited to see what we will do with our class. I know that Frankenstein is chock full of themes, and I can’t wait to discover them as a class. This was probably the most difficult and confusing section for me. The text seemed older, and I had trouble making out exactly what the author was trying to say. I thought the main argument the author was trying to make was that all the great writers of the sixteenth century were all reflections of their own particular culture, and their writings represented the middle class. I believe the author also argued that one cannot separate art from the artist which really intrigued me. This topic is perhaps even more relevant today as many artists are being exposed for their abusive history and consumers and fans need to decide if they will still appreciate their art. Is consuming the artists art directly supporting the artists and their questionable history?
One of my favorite quotes from this chapter is, “There is no such thing as a human nature independent of culture”. This made a lot of sense to be because I understand how much power a culture holds and how it can be central to one’s identity. Specifically, I often wonder what I would be like if I went to a different school besides Galloway my whole life. After being apart of such a strong community and culture for almost my whole life, I’ve really grown to appreciate the way my culture has impacted me. I truly believe I represent the culture that I have been surrounded by my whole life. I also really connected with the point the author made about how our culture governs our individual behavior and tells us what is right from wrong. I think this point is talking about cultural norms and traditions, and I’m super interested in this, and I hope it is something we can discuss throughout this year. Recently, I saw the movie Midsommar, and like this section of the reading, it really got me thinking about why certain things are appropriate in some cultures and inappropriate in others. Specifically, the way our american culture views death is really interesting to me. Death is usually looked upon as a negative, bad experience while in other cultures (like the culture in Midsommar), death is a celebration of life, and it is viewed in a positive manner. Throughout this year, I hope we can discuss how literature and art reflect particular cultures. One last thing that stood out to me was how the author classified literature. In their analysis, the author states that it is, “a manifestation of the concrete behavior of its particular author”, and I interpreted this to mean how the author’s personality plays a role in the writing. The author also states that literature is “the expression of the codes by which behavior is shaped”, and I think this means that the author’s culture will seep into their writing and stories. I have a big question with the two of these points. For the first one, if culture “governs our behavior”, then is literature simply a “manifestation of the author’s culture? Or does the authors individuality actually play a role into their story telling? I just finished A more beautiful Question, and I liked it, but I preferred Better Living Through Criticism more. I connected with the artistic philosophy discussed in the first selection more than I did with the concepts about education in this section. While I had a lot of problems with this section, I still really enjoyed with the author’s points, and I agreed with their stance on education. The educational system based on questioning reminds me a lot of my experience at Galloway. Over the years, I’ve really noticed how different of a place Galloway is, and I am extremely grateful to have been at a school that let me explore myself and learn independently. When discussing Deborah Meier’s approach to education, the author mentioned how Meier discovered and emphasized the fact that “When you give kids more freedom to pursue what they’re interested in, they become easier to control”, and I connected with this. I’ve noticed that when I have the freedom to learn about what I am interested in, I learn so much more and become more interested in it. Specifically, this is very true for me with music. I started to really get into music in middle school, and this is in large part because I had the freedom to explore it on my own. Even today, my music teachers give me the freedom to discover things and push myself without being over controlling or demanding. I believe this concept of allowing students to explore and learn about things on their own is crucial towards an education, and I wholeheartedly agree with the author on this topic.
While this form of education is incredibly valuable and impactful, I am struggling to see how it could be implemented into the public education system, especially with our current Secretary of Education. My train of thought comes from the chapter Who is Entitled to Ask Questions, and I was basically wondering this exact question. Is question-based education exclusive to private schools and privileged families? Or does it include people of lower socio-economic status? I was also wondering which type of teachers will be able to implement this teaching style. If there is a teacher who has 25 students in her class and they’ve been told countless times to just teach from the textbook, how will they be able to make the teaching style change to question based learning? I have a hard time understanding how this method of learning is practical for students of all incomes. I have a similar problem with the next chapter Why, What if, How. I believe that the method of taking a step back and asking oneself what the bigger picture is can be a useful and eye-opening practice. However, I was disgruntled that the author only explained this by focusing on the tactics and practices of CEOs in Silicon Valley. I understand that the author was trying to demonstrate how the most successful people take a step back, but I couldn’t help but wonder how some people simply do not have time to ask themselves if they are happy. For example, a single mother working three jobs can not afford to ask themselves if they are truly happy. Like the previous chapter, the author seems to only be focusing on privileged individuals. While I agree with the author on all of these problems, I believe it lacked a call to action and a way to implement these topics discussed. |
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December 2019
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