The Spectator is a British magazine. From what I can tell, it seems to lean a little more conservative- at least, an American’s idea of conservative- in its reports. It seems to be a trusted and respected magazine as well. Fraser Nelson is the editor of the Spectator. https://www.spectator.co.uk/

In British politics, there is a practice to form a secondary cabinet from the party with the second highest votes. It’s worth remembering that Britain is a multiparty system so it isn’t definite that the two roles will switch, even if that is the “normal” case, at least by the numbers. The Labour Party has been in charge of the Shadow Cabinet for about 10 years now. Useful site for more info on British Politics: https://www.parliament.uk/

It’s always worth remembering that there are other countries aware of other countries. What one country does politically can affect other countries directly, so it’s not that strange to see citizens of different countries care about a political figure. The United States is a major world power so it’s more expected of us to have an impact on the world than some other countries.

A concordance, according to Merriam-Webster, is “an alphabetical index of the principal words in a book or the works of an author with their immediate contexts” which would have been used as a tool for her to learn Welsh. She hides non-Welsh texts inside the concordance to show her hidden desires. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/concordance

Welsh is a dying language which means it is still natively spoken by certain portions of the native Welsh population, but the language is not being passed down through generations.

She uses ODing as a moment of crisis; for those with drug addiction, it is a moment which they may not come back from. I believe this moment of ODing could be a moment where her Welsh knowledge fails her, or she could have used non-Welsh language in her daily life.

By making other languages akin to drugs, she expresses both her desire to continue learning as well as the shame she feels for it. The combination of desire and shame is perfectly suited for a metaphor about drugs.

I’ve taken this story to be about aging political figures and ideas that are glorified by the younger generations, hated by those that lived through them, and are currently old and dying themselves. This idea that the new generation is misleading seems to me to be about how ignorant idealism can be. The new generation wants to change the world, but the old cannot keep up. The young don’t know the weight of their own aspirations.

This, along with the description of “stuffed men,” makes me think of effigies that would be burned during certain rituals. What I believe Elliot is doing is putting himself and those like him to the mercy of the collective people. He has resigned himself to be sacrificed for the masses; the ending of I actually sees Elliot taking some pride in his role.

I found this poem to be about the speaker’s regret about his past creations. From a poet’s perspective, this would be reflecting on past works and feeling unsatisfied with something you once were proud of or put “on show.” If taken about creative works, I think some of the regret expressed in this poem might come from forgetting what the works might have been about which is expressed by the “Lord knows what” line.

I agree with everything Diamond says as well, and I want to expand these thoughts. This poem focuses on Margaret’s sadness at the changing weather and scenery. This last line changes the meaning of her sadness. If “sorrow’s springs are always the same,” then what Margaret is really crying over, even as a child, is her own mortality which she inherently knows but does not fully understand and instead projects outward towards nature.

Without highlighting the entire thing, this single sentence runs for the next 7 lines. It describes the motion of the city with its individual components. This creates a relentless and almost panicking sense of chaos. This stands in contrast to the setting of her conversation with Hugh which is calm and vacant. This I believe explains her headspace when talking to Hugh; she is a little panicked and confused.

This ending to me shows the clearest signs of her father’s abuse to Evaline. I believe Evaline is disassociating on the pier due to the stress she feels about almost leaving her father. Her father has abused her for years, and she is now at a point where she no longer feels safe enough to leave.

This is the first noticeable movement in the story. Everything before now has been internal thoughts within her head. The first movement is sparked by the terror she feels about what her father might do to her which is significant. Her feelings of self preservation from her father is what moves the story forward.

Going off of what Johnny said, the story is about a girl who is stolen from her life as a noble as a child, grows up as a gypsy and falls in love with the gypsy leader, returns to her roots, and finally chooses to return to her life as a gypsy. The ending of “The Bohemian Girl” is much like the ending of “Evaline” except Evaline chooses not to change her life at the end. I felt the overall story held enough similarities that the key difference was worth noting.

This is a physical symptom that her father caused her to have. I would classify his actions as abuse,and I would say that she demonstrates several signs that she has been abused for many years. The ending especially seals that for me.

Theatre is a different beast when compared to “literature” as normally thought of. This particular scene description provides an insight to the Algernon. He is all about appearances and is quite rich. We know this because we see this. What he is into and the particular things he spends his money on are up to each production team.

In my experience, stage directions that directly state how an actor should act are all thrown out in favor of what the direct wants. Wilde had a clear vision of what he wanted this play to be. Play writing is combining the role of an author and a director in one.

This is an interesting moment. This line is the set up to a joke that can only be completed by a physical action. Because of this line's true purpose as a set up, Wilde’s stage directions became as important and unchangeable as the dialogue itself. I doubt there has ever been a production of this play without the actors following this direction. Someone has to eat the sandwich.

This is excellent thematic foreshadowing. This show is about acting as someone and something you are not. False impressions are important as well because of the impression the name Earnest gives to Gwendolen.

This is an elaboration to Algernon’s earlier thoughts about the loss of excitement in marriage. It is also a dual contradiction of that thought and his other earlier statement about how women don’t marry the men they flirt with. This line shows that Algernon is not self aware and is selfish about his wants, but does so in a way that some might miss.

This moment about the sandwiches serves a humorous moment for the audience because we know Algernon is responsible for the debacle yet he goes along with her shock. This also works as character development for Algernon and Lady Bracknell. Lady B. cares quite a lot about the little formalities, and Algernon clearly understands these formalities and uses them for his own amusement. This adds a further element of comedy to the scene for the audience because we can appreciate a clever character poking fun at someone who is privileged worrying about something the average person would find silly.

This line is great commentary on several things. It shows how detached the rich are from the lives of the poor who are struggling to survive. It also comments on Gwendolen’s own life as she is not allowed to marry the man she is in love with. She can’t pursue her own ideals. Finally, the ideals she is referencing are absurd which comments on what passed as love for the rich.

This section reminds me of a job interview or a form for renting an apartment. Clearly, Lady B. does not care about the importance of love. This interview also commodifies Gwendolen into something to be qualified or earned rather than a person that can choose who they want in their lives. It is commentary on the state of marriages for the rich during this time. It all sounds like business.

To upbraid is to “criticize severely : find fault with” or to “reproach severely : scold vehemently” and when used here, it makes Lizzie not only a wiser sister but a wiser teacher as well. Definition from Dictionary.com: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/upbraid

The description of the men as well as their occupation as peddlers makes me think the “goblin men” are meant to be gypsies. For certain, they are a minority of men that do not adhere to the values that the sisters are meant to uphold.

By giving the goblin men animalistic qualities, the alluded group of men, possibly gypsies, become less than human. They are more animal than a “normal” man and therefore more dangerous.

This is a very clear cut example of the standards that the women in this poem should be following. In this passage, they are safe and Lizzie is happy. The trouble comes from Laura who defied these standards and is no longer content with the normalized standards.

Carson makes several arguments like this throughout the trial. His purpose is to assert the claim that art reflects the artist. If he can do this, then all he must do is assert that Wilde’s writings are immoral and therefore Wilde is immoral.

It seems odd that a core piece of evidence against Wilde is a piece of fiction, but if Carson can assert his argument that art reflects the author, this is all he needs.

The use of “natural” here is a powerful rhetorical argument. It reflects the core religious values that are the basis for why Wilde’s feelings were dangerous enough to have him arrested. Natural implies some sort of unnatural; natural is based upon good and divine values found in the religious teachings of the time. Carson is suggesting that this passage is unnatural which means it is opposition to divine values. It is almost demonic.

These lines give the subject of the poem and painting strong powers over herself. She is resisting the swan and meeting their efforts with kindness. Leda does not struggle to resist the swan either. Her efforts happen naturally with the flow of the poem.

This question fails to address that if women were made students of the university, they would become members for whom they are responsible for. There is not a situation in which this question can be asked unless the decision has already been made to allow them as members of their institute.

This poem has a history of debate surrounding its core message. The poem may seem simply racist upon first reading, but lines such as these create the foundation for the poem being antiracist. These lines lament the loss of family members sent away, and they identify the slaves as slaves creating humanity for those that normally would go unnamed or dehumanized.

The gypsies mentioned in this are only a red herring meant to throw the audience off. This plays directly upon the bigotry felt toward gypsies during this time which Sherlock admits to have as well since he was lead astray. The cultural “other” of gypsies was so prevalent that the mention of their existence within the story made them a likely suspect.

Aspects of Indian culture serve as a fascinating and exotic attention grabs for the audience. Doyle uses India’s unknown culture to create more mystery for the story at the expense of using stereotypes and harmful misinformation as demonstrated by the fictitious snake.

This is not a real snake found anywhere in the world. Most likely, this snake was based on a type of viper or cobra found across India that are poisonous. There is not, however, any snake in the world that can kill in ten seconds or close to that. Even someone allergic to a poisonous snake would die in a few minutes rather than seconds.

Snakes as a reptile cannot drink milk. They never produce milk during their lifetime and as such do not have the natural capacity to drink milk. When this book was written, less was known about snake diets and feeding them milk was part of certain superstitions.

Given that Sherlock is a character known for his wit, I find the inclusion of this demonstration of this strength to be strange. It does not come into play within the story, and he solves the case with his wit as would be expected. I believe this passage serves only to deflate the tension between Sherlock and the Doctor.

Darwin's major contribution to the theory of evolution is defining and explaining the mechanic through which evolution takes place. This is Natural Selection.

The distance between the West Indies and England is 4,185 miles. Prince was taken across the Atlantic; a journey that would have taken up to a month to complete.

Here, for a third time, religion is used in the slavery argument. It is different from Wollstonecraft's use because it comes from a place with no power. In both Nicholl's and Wollstonecraft's writing, they are speaking from the point of view of someone that is recognized as worthy of God's mercy. Prince writes from the same perspective personally while not socially. The position gives her statement immediate power that Wollstonecraft does not have. Prince does not have to shape an argument; her positioning herself already within God's mercy is the argument. Wollstonecraft has to convince where Prince only has to state.

I find it interesting that they chose to hide these names in particular when, even in context, the actions of everyone in Mary Prince's story seem horrible. Even in such extreme circumstances, people still find some things to be worse than others. But even then, the amount of kindness that is given by hiding the names should not be overlooked. This single act of kindness is far more than anything Prince receives in her entire story,

Here, religion is used to argue the exact opposite as it was in Nicholl's piece. Here the argument is the same, that God grants rights and humans should live with those rights in mind. The main difference is that Wollstonecraft considers the people being enslaved as people.

The attempt to use religion to justify slavery only functions if the slaves are not considered human even before they are captured and forced into slavery. One of the Bible's most famous stories is that of Moses' struggle and success to free the slaves out of Egypt. This contradiction can only be ignored if the slaves are not human and therefore not worthy of God's mercy.

From June 6 to June 27, there were 4 attempts of the slaves to free themselves. These people knew what was happening to them and tried to stop it. These actions alone- even beyond our now common sense- proves intelligence and unwillingness which contradicts the arguments in favor of slavery.

As discussed in class, this was a term for rape. It is important to note that raping a slave received punishment. The punishment here was much akin to punishing someone for damaging a cow; it had little to do with morality and more to do with damaging a possible good to be sold.

It is important to note that none of the slaves were named. They received numbers like cattle. This was to dehumanize and to strip as much power away from these people as possible. They were not treated as humans during this time; like cattle, they were a product.

This is later referenced during the dream that the knight recalls at the end of the poem. The implication that this knight is in the same “pale” state as the kings princes in his dream is that the woman he is waiting for is the cause of his suffering as was theirs. It can be read that the author is making a statement about the role of women at this time and their relationship to men. The woman in this poem does not meet the standards of the time, and she may be the source of the knights' suffering. Whether or not the woman’s deviation from the social standards is in fact the reasoning for the knights suffering or if it is something else- perhaps related to her nature as a possible creature of the fae; therefore steering the lesson to one of caution against straying from religion- it is worthy of speculation and not to be missed.

The lily is a symbol of death. This of course indicates some notion of his fate being at least negative if not outright death. The flower, as a whole, is a feminine symbol. The attachment to the knight and the knights general passivity and emotional state creates tensions within the given gender roles at the time. This tension seems to place the knight on the more feminine role in the poem while the woman is placed in the assertive male role. At the very least, the poem is certainly not upholding the gender roles of the time without question.

These two lines seem to me to be in conflict. The second line seems to be a reference to the legal status of a married woman during this time period which would render her a shadow of her husband which did not exist without him. The first line references Nature and states that Nature is the reason women lose their “rights.” If the last line of the poem is in fact a reference to the legal status of women, then the poem seems to state that this is the natural order of things. The statement is in direct conflict with the rest of the poem.

Biscay & Cintra (now known as Sintra) are areas on the West coast of Spain which is the destination of The Childe Harold. The Tagus is a river in this area as well. The author describes these regions as beautiful from a distance; this is because The Childe Harold has been at sea for so long and to set up a contrast to these same regions as described up close later in the poem.

This is someone who removes themselves from society for religious purposes. The author uses it here to highlight the struggle the hero feels when contemplating his forlorn love. He is himself drawn to seclusion of all other women than the one he cannot have in much the same strength and purpose as someone who is religious might feel; though he himself is greater than the anchorite for he leaves the temptation behind.

This is another, older name for Great Britain. The name was more commonly used when this poem was written, especially compared to now, but the use of it here is another attempt to further the feeling of grandiose within the poem.

This is a reference to the Greek goddesses of the “arts” of Greek society. The Muses were called upon in Greek stories to ensure the stories being told were in some way divinely inspired as was the belief that all the best stories were inspired by the Muses. The use of the reference to the Muses in this work is to evoke a feeling of age and grandiose to the story being told.

This is referring to “King” George III who went mad at the end of his reign and “Prince” George IV. The direct reference makes the poem directly political to Britain at the time. All critiques of rulers in the poem can be applied to ruling classes at large, but first are applied to those of the time.

It is worth noting that Burke lived during the time of Europe’s rush to colonize “the newly discovered world.” To most Europeans living then, the Native Americans were thought to be “savage” humans; literally a more animalistic human, similar to the “civilized” Europeans in only form. According to Burke, certain religious practices used the “Obscure” to enhance and reinforce their beliefs. This creates an implicit contrast to the beliefs of the Church of England at the time which had large chapels full of stained glass windows and no apparent “obscurity.”

In his book “The Twelve Caesars” ancient roman author and historian Suetonius wrote a collection of biographies of the first 12 roman emperors. Domitian was the 7th emperor taking the throne after his brother Titus passed away. Within Suetonius’s biography of Domitian, an example of Domitian’s preference for solitude and supposed cruelty during his early years is shown in his habit of capturing flies, pinning them down with sharpened pens, and removing their wings. Kant uses this reference to show that pleasure is deeply personal.

Burke’s assertion here is that certain cultures and people- namely races of people- are more naturally inclined to either appreciation or to critical analysis. He states that the French are better critical thinkers about the natural world because the French language is a “polished” language. He then asserts that people in “the Orient” (namely China) are better at observing and appreciating the natural world because their language- and therefore culture- are more “unpolished.” Burke explains the idea of “polished and unpolished” languages as the language’s natural inclination to have either “clearness and perspicuity” for polishness or “great force and energy of expression” for unpolisheness. Both these ideas are incredibly relative and rely largely upon the individual speaker more than the language itself. Burke’s assertion that certain people are better at critical or natural appreciation for the world falls apart as his entire proof is a holdover of racist beliefs that assumed people from Europe were more “civilized” (a concept that directly relates to and shares extreme parallels with the concept of polishnes) than the rest of the world.

Coleridge is referencing Shangdu here as Xanadu. Shangdu is a real place in Mongolia near the area of Duolun. Shnagdu was the area where the real Kubla Khan moved the capital of Mongolia in the 1200s. Kubla Khan was the successor to Genghis Khan who completed the conquering of China which Genghis Khan started in 1211. Coleridge uses Kubla Khan’s name and an altered version of Shangdu in his work because before entering into the opium fueled dream on which the poem was based, Coleridge reportedly had finished reading a history of Kubla Khan.