Rachel Baack
I have only read the title chapter in this book.
Chapter Summary: Francisco Jiménez tells of the challenges that he and his family faced as they moved from place to place seeking farm work.
Summary: Author Abby Burnett presents a very thoroughly researched picture of norms and customs surrounding death and burial in the Arkansas Ozarks in a 100-year period that spanned the Civil and both World Wars. These years began with the families and friends of the deceased taking care of the work that preceded and followed a death primarily in the home, and they ended with that work being typically completed by professionals in the funeral business.
The author did an excellent job of organizing and presenting the information in a logical, interesting way, including statistics and data, news reporting from the time period in question, and first-hand accounts from those who witnessed and participated in death and burial customs in the Ozarks.
Summary: A young woman named Viola suffers a shipwreck that results in her losing her brother, Sebastian. She then disguises herself as a man and enters the service of a duke named Orsino, who has been trying to court Olivia. Things get complicated characters’ feelings toward one another change and develop.
Summary: Titus Andronicus returns from battle with Tamora, the Queen of the Goths, as his captive. Despite Tamora’s pleading, Titus sacrifices one of her sons to the gods. The remainder of the gory play recounts the vengeance-filled struggle between Tamora and her sons and lover on one side and Titus and his family and friends on the other.
Summary: In this romance, a group of men including the king of Naples and the Duke of Milan ends up shipwrecked on an island where the duke’s brother, who he had deposed with the help of the king of Naples and several others, lives. The men do not know that the former duke, Prospero, lives there or that he, using his magical powers, caused the shipwreck. The play depicts the interactions of Prospero and the other men as well as those of Prospero’s daughter and the Neapolitan king’s son, Ferdinand.
The play explores issues of forced servitude and forgiveness.
Summary: In this classic tragedy, two teenagers fall in love but face the obstacle of coming from two different families who absolutely hate each other.
Summary: Othello has just married Desdemona, and Iago, who hates Othello and knows that Desdemona’s father will not be happy about his daughter’s marriage to a Black man, decides to tell Desdemona’s father what has happened. Soon after he does, however, Othello, a skilled soldier, is called upon to protect Venice. Iago follows Othello and continues to antagonize him, but to do so in such a way that Othello does not realize that it is Iago who is the cause of all the trouble that he is experiencing.
This tragedy is both frustrating and heartbreaking, and it features one of Shakespeare’s most dislikeable villains.
Summary: This play centers on the complicated romantic relationships between four young people named Hermia, Demetrius, Lysander, and Helena. Demetrius is a suitor to Hermia and Hermia’s father’s choice for his daughter. Hermia, however, wants to marry Lysander, who reciprocates her feelings. Hermia’s friend, Helena, is in love with Demetrius and wants to win him over. These relationships become even more complicated when a few fairies use their magical powers to influence the four youngsters’ emotions.
Summary: This play centers on the conflict between the Christian merchant Antonio and the Jewish money lender Shylock. When Antonio has trouble paying back a loan that he took from Shylock in order to help his friend woo a woman, Shylock takes drastic action to settle the debt. The play, however, leaves the audience questioning who the real “bad guy” in this situation is.
This play deals with relevant issues such as racial and religious discrimination and the destructive nature of hatred.
Summary: A cunning duke pretends to leave town and leaves the highly moralistic Angelo in charge. The duke then spies on the town’s goings-on disguised as a friar and discovers some shocking abuses of power by Angelo.
The play offers insight into the age-old question of what the proper balance between justice and mercy is.
Summary: This tragedy tells the story of a man who uses violent means to overtake the throne of the kingdom of Scotland, but who learns that no one can escape fate.
This play includes themes of the dangers of confidence in one’s security and the inescapability of guilt and fate.
Summary: This history play gives a fictionalized account of the conspiracy to kill Julius Caesar and the aftermath of the event.
It features some of literature’s best examples of effective uses of rhetoric.
Summary: This is a continuation of the story that began in Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2. This play picks up after Henry V (a.k.a. “Harry”) has become king. He has made a claim to the rule of France and, as a result started a war with the country.
The play raises questions about the proper placement of blame/responsibility.
Summary: In this play, King Henry is caught up in a conflict with several rebel groups who have formed an alliance against him. Meanwhile, his son, who is nicknamed Harry, is busy spending time with men of poor reputation. The play focuses on the son’s interactions with these “lowlifes” and criminals as well as with his father.
Summary: This play tells the story of four romances that are blossoming amidst a time of political turmoil. The story features the usurping of a duke by younger brother, a wrestling match with a surprising, a couple of cases of concealed identities, and, as is common in Shakespearean comedies, a fool who offers some irreverent comic relief.
Summary: In this seventeenth-century play, Alceste gets into trouble when he refuses to engage in dishonest flattery and instead insists upon brutal honesty. Despite this rejection of the flattery that is part of his society’s norms, he harbors romantic feelings for the frivolous Célimène. This play chronicles the comedic interactions between Alceste and the other characters and raises questions about the value and place of societal norms and of honesty.
Summary: In this play by Oscar Wilde, Jack is living two lives: he is known by his real name, Jack, to his friends in his more permanent country home, but his friends (and his love interest) in London know him as Earnest. Jack’s double-identity create some ridiculous and hilarious situations in this comedy of manners.
Summary: This work is a play written in 441 BC by Sophocles, a great playwright of his time. The work has been translated into English, but it is not nearly as hard to understand as one might think. Although it is an old work, it deals with some very relevant themes and raises philosophical questions that people have been asking for ages about the proper use of power, compromise, gender roles, and more. The play is the third work in a trilogy, and it follows the story of a young woman who defies the king (her uncle) to do what she believes is right and honor her deceased brother.
Summary: Wordsworth recounts several episodes from his life and intersperses them with his thoughts about life and nature.
Summary: Rich with imagery, this long poem describes several vignettes and also explores the idea of the self as supreme.
Summary: This poem is told through the eyes of a war veteran. He tells of his experiences caring for the wounded.
Summary: This poem imagines a world post-humanity and claims that the rest of nature would not be bothered by humankind’s disappearance from the face of the Earth.
I have not read this entire collection, but the works I have read are listed and rated below:
- “Ave Atque Vale”: The speaker mourns the death of the poet Charles Baudelaire. This poem provides a more hopeless view of death than many other poems do. Rating: 3.5/5
- “A Forsaken Garden”: The speaker conveys the hopelessness presented by the ultimate death of all things through his description of a desolate oceanside. Rating: 3/5
- “Hertha”: A goddess, who describes herself to be the one true source of all things, preaches to humanity a kind of humanistic religion which is to bring the death of all other religions. Rating: 4.5/5
- “Hymn to Porserpine”: After the issuance of the edict of Millan, the speaker contemplates the replacement of the pagan religion with Christianity and the change that time brings. He does not submit to Christianity’s rule, but instead submits to the goddess of death. Rating: 2.5/5
- “The Lake of Gaube”: The speaker demonstrates the need for fear for the health of the soul and life using the image of a diver diving deep into a lake and feeling the possibility of death all around him. Rating: 3.5/5
- “Poeta Loquitur”: Swinburne presents a parody of his own writing, saying that his poetry is no good and is nothing but wind. Rating: 2/5
- “Sonnet for a Picture”: The speaker parody’s the human view of passion and romance as the ultimate end/good. Rating: 2/5
This collection of poetry explores the wonder of existence in every form from the intangible, to the cosmic, to the infinitesimal.
Summary: The narrator of this poem, Cap, tells the tale of his journey seeking gold in the frigid Yukon. Sam McGee, before seemingly freezing to death, asks Cap to cremate his body. Cap complies, to surprising results.