Ode on a Grecian URL

The average ID score was fairly low -- 4.3/6 or about a low C -- mainly because I was fairly stringent in my evaluation of what constituted a theme and in my expectation that after our near-weekly practice of writing IDs that it would be easy to craft strong answers.

I will use this entry to post some particularly successful answers to these prompts. This entry will be expanding as I get permission back from more students to share their work.

By the way, I apologize for any glaring misspellings you see below -- they're my fault, not the student writers'.

Passage 1 (13 answers; average grade: 4.0/6)

'I should like awfully to be so!' Isabel secretly exclaimed, more than once, as one after another of her friend's fine aspects caught the light, before long she knew that she had learned a lesson from a high authority. It took no great time indeed for her to feel herself, as the phrase is, under an influence. 'What's the harm,' she wondered, 'so long as it's a good one? The more one's under a good influence the better. The only thing is to see our steps as we take them -- to understand them as we go. That, no doubt, I shall always do. I needn't be afraid of becoming too pliable; isn't it my fault that I'm not pliable enough?'

To be honest, I had to look up from where in Portrait this passage came -- England or Italy? -- and because of this passage's (relative) obscurity I was a little kinder in grading what you wrote for its context.

Another quick note: James here uses the word "aspect" in about the only way you ever should; c'est à dire literally: "the positioning of a building or thing in a specified direction" (Oxford American Dictionary) -- in this case, the positioning of Madame Merle in a (figurative) direction that catches the light. Increasingly I see the word "aspect" turning up in essays in its more pedestrian sense, "a particular feature or part of something" (OAD): in other words, "a thing." Please don't use the word in this sense, as doing so renders your writing vague and unpleasant.

Kat (313) doesn't dwell on this particular word, but she gets at the themes and problems of this passage quite well:

1. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
2. This occurs just after Isabel has met and spent lots of time with Madame Merle at Gardencourt. Isabel feels, not negatively, that she is becoming very influenced by Madame Merle, and wishes to be like her.
3. This passage reflects the theme of pictorialism and portraiture. The narrator describes Merle's traits as 'catching the light' as you would speak of a work of art. We are also, in this passage, introduced to the confusion of choice and manipulation. Isabel is choosing to be under an influence, but one that will make her "pliable."

Passage 2 (29; 4.5/6)

At this time, no unpracticed eyes would have detected any change in him. But, as the minutes of the new morning wore away, the swifts/subtle progress of the influence began to show itself more plainly. The sublime intoxication of opium gleamed in his eyes; the dew of stealthy perspiration began to glisten on his face. In five minutes more, the talk which he still kept up with me, failed in coherence. He held steadly to the subject of the Diamond; but he ceased to complete his sentences.

Tim (312) offers this answer:

Moonstone, Wilkie Collins
This is Ezra Jenning describing Franklin Blake after opium was administered to him, ~3/4 through the book
Jennings' reference to "unpracticed eyes" alludes both to his status as a doctor with practiced eyes and foreshadows the role of observation and surveillance in the novel. Here Jennings's eyes observe Franklin under opium and can establish the necessary authority in the community to exonerate Blake whose character is under question since honorable Rachel saw him steal the diamond. This raises the question: is character enough to free one from blame?

Passage 3 (19; 4.3/6)

'And remember this,' he continued, 'that if you've been hated you've also been loved. Ah but, Isabel -- adored!' he just audibly and lingeringly breathed.
'Oh my brother!' she cried with a movement of still deeper prostration.

Jon-Erik (312) offers this strong answer:

1. The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James
2. The first speaker is a dying Ralph, and the second is Isabel's response. This is at the end of the novel when Isabel is [married] to Osmond and Ralph is dying
3. This passage is important because it shows Ralph's confession to Isabel. When he says "if you've been hated you've also been loved," he is referring to the wickedness of Osmond. Even though Osmond may see her as just another work of art in his gallery, Ralph loved her for her independence. The fact that Ralph is "lingeringly" holding on to life can be paralleled to Isabel's struggle to stay independent, instead of succumbing to social responsibility. When she cries "Oh my brother!" she may realize what she has done, but has already committed to Osmond and is already under the influence of societal assimilation.

Passage 4 (29; 4.4/6)

"Poor darlings -- to suppose myself the most miserable being on earth in the sight o' such misery as yours!" she exclaimed, her tears running down as she killed the birds tenderly. "And not a twinge of bodily pain about me! I be not mangled, and I be not bleeding, and I have two hands to feed and clothe me." She was ashamed of herself for her gloom of the night, based on nothing more tangible than a sense of condemnation under an arbitrary law of society which had no foundation in Nature.

Typing this passage out, I wonder whether there is a reason Tess speaks in the strange mix of dialects we see here. She talks about being "in the sight o' such misery" -- a sort of pseudo-cockneyism -- but then goes on to use a sophisticated subjunctive with "I be not mangled," etc. Hmm.

Esther (313) offers this strong response:

This takes place in Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. Tess encounters several pheasants that have been hunted down after she escapes to the forest from a man who had recognized her associations with Alec.

The significance of this passage lies in Tess's realization that her sense of misery has no basis in Nature and is merely the result of an "arbitrary law of society" while the pheasants suffered physically as a result of the cruelness of man, and were nearing their deaths, Tess comes to realize that her sufferings were temporary and that she was capable of recovery unlike the birds in front of her. This is when she comes into realization that though renewal and purification may not be found in society, Nature offers her an opportunity.

Passage 5 (12; 4.2/6)

'I made a private inquiry last week, Mr Superintendent,' he said. 'At one end of the inquiry there was a murder, and at the other end there was a spot of ink on the tablecloth that nobody could account for. In all my experience along the dirtiest ways of this dirty little world, I have never met with such a thing as a trifle yet.'

It's interesting to me that this is the passage that attracted the least attention. Was it too obscure? Was its connection to the thematic ideas of The Moonstone a little too difficult to articulate? While there were several sturdy answers to this passage, there were no especially strong ones. I will attempt to sketch one out now.

1. The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins
2. Sgt. Cuff's response to Superintendent Seagrave upon the latter's remark that the smudge on the frame of Rachel's door was a "trifle," recorded in Gabriel Betteredge's first narrative.
3. The reading practice of deduction, of which Cuff is here the exemplar, forces the suspenseful overreading of textual details. This textual practice is encoded in the formalization of suspense: to wit, Betteredge begins paying an excess of attention to trifling details and thereby fails to pay attention to the sorts of analytical or evaluative reading practices that might allow readers to dismiss or ignore the trifles to which Cuff cleaves. We see, then, a thematic problem underscored by Cuff's interest in deduction: attention to trifles (facts / acts) comes at the expense of attention to character; it is only through attention to character -- Rachel's, Franklin's, Gregory's -- that the mystery is ultimately understood.

Passage 6 (13; 4.8/6)

Mrs. Osmond, at present, might well have gratified such tastes. The years had touched her only to enrich her; the flower of her youth had not faded, it only hung more quietly on its stem. She had lost something of that quick eagerness to which her husband had privately taken exception -- she had more the air of being able to wait. now, at all events, framed in the gilded doorway, she struck our young man as the picture of a gracious lady. 'You see I'm very regular,' he said. 'But who should be if I'm not?'
'Yes, I've known you longer than any one here. But we mustn't indulge in tender reminiscences. I want to introduce you to a young lady.'

Helen (312) offers this answer:

The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James
Isabel and [Ned Rosier] converse at one of the Osmonds' Thursday night parties after Isabel and Gilbert have been married many years. The phrase "framed in the gilded doorway" poses an ironic statement to use to describe Isabel. Earlier in the novel, Isabel rejected Lord Warburton's proposal in fear of being trapped in a "gilded cage" and losing her independence. The reuse of the word "gilded" reveals that despite her efforts, Isabel lost her independence to conventional society. Through the irony of the repetition of "gilded," James suggests that conventional society can overpower one's individual identity despite one's conscious attempts to retain independence.

Passage 7 (20; 4.4/6)

A little way forward she turned her head. The old grey wall began to advertise a similar fiery lettering to the first, with a strange and unwonted mien, as if distressed at duties it had never before been called upon to perform. It was with a sudden flush that she read and realized what was to be the inscription he was now half-way through--

THOU, SHALT, NOT, COMMIT --

Ellen (313) offers this strong answer:

1. Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
2. Tess was just raped by Alec, and she sees this painter putting these words across the countryside
3. This passage reveals the relationship between religion and nature. The "fiery letters" create an image of hell, and these painter's words strike fear into the heart of Tess. These words seem to destroy the beautiful landscape, revealing how Hardy feels religion tries to overpower nature.

Passage 8 (20; 4.0/6)

If there is such a thing known at the doctor's shop as a detective-fever, that disease had by now got fast hold of your humble servant. Seargeant Cuff went on between the hillocks of sand, down to the beach. I followed him (with my heart in my mouth); and waited at a little distance for what was to happen next.

While this passage (and, to a lesser extent, passage 5) inspired several comments about suspense, it was generally left unclear how suspense functioned thematically -- its emotional effect on the reader is somewhat less interesting than its connection to the thematic problems of the text. Kelsey B. (313) connects the appearance of suspense to the thematic questions of resolution in this strong answer:

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.
This is after the disappearance of the Diamond when Sergeant Cuff and Betteredge go to the schore area to look for evidence about Rosanna Spearman.
The passage clearly illustrates the intense effect of suspense portrayed throughout the novel. This suspense, in being described as a "disease," represents the underlying theme of anticipation of death. When the suspense is over and the Diamond is found the book ends. Similarly, in life the anticipation of death is only fulfilled in the finality of death.

Labels: exam, examples, grading, IDs