Lesson Plans

Assignment to have been completed: Students should have read Chapter Eight, “Allusion,” pp. 772-776 in Perrine’s Literature. They should also have read “Miniver Cheevy,” pp. 778-779 and written out answers to questions 2, 3, and 5 that follow the poem.

Objectives:

1. To define allusion
2. To explain the function of allusions in poetry

Activities:

• A. Review the concept of allusion.

  • 1. An allusion is a reference to something in history or previous literature.
  • 2. An allusion is a means of suggesting more than it says. [In this manner it is akin to connotation.]
  • 3. An allusion provides a means of great economy of words.
  • 4. An allusion is a means of reinforcing the emotion or the ideas of one’s own work with the emotion or ideas of another work or occasion.
  • 5. Allusions vary widely in the burden put on them by the poet to convey meaning.
  • 6. Allusions also vary widely in the number of readers to whom they will be familiar.
    • a. Poets must assume a certain fund of common experience in readers.
    • b. Most frequently that fund of experience depends most heavily on a knowledge of classical mythology, Shakespeare, and the Bible - particularly the King James Version.

• B. Have a volunteer read “Miniver Cheevy,” pp. 785-786. Ask them the following questions, using my own notes in bold italic type to evaluate their responses.

  • 1. Vocabulary

    • khaki (22):
    • The phrase “on the town” (15) means “on charity” or “down and out.”

  • 2. Identify Thebes, Camelot (11), Priam (12), and the Medici (17). What names and what sort of life does each call up? What does Miniver’s love of these names tell about him?

    Thebes is a major city-state in Greek mythology. It is the site of the stories of Cadmus and the dragon’s teeth, Oedipus, Antigone, the birth of Dionysus, the birthplace of Heracles, and The Seven Against Thebes among others.

    Priam is the king of Troy before and during the Trojan War, the father of Paris, Hector, and Cassandra.

    The Medici are the principal bankers of the Renaissance in Florence and beyond. There most famous members include Lorenzo and Cosimo. They were great patrons of the arts and, in general, power brokers in Florence and Rome.

  • 3. Discuss the phrase “child of scorn” (1). What does it mean? In how many ways is it applicable to Miniver?

    Robinson uses the phrase “child of scorn” suggests a life of rejection and isolation for Miniver Cheevy, and that he may have been regarded with contempt for being a man who wastes his time dreaming of impossible things. It also connects to the idea that he holds the modern world in contempt, preferring mythical and legendary worlds.

  • 4. What is Miniver’s attitude toward material wealth?

    His he holds two contradictory attitudes. First, he disdained the material world as represented by contemporary clothing, pursuits, and so on. However, though he scorns wealth, he longs to possess it.

  • 5. The phrase “rested from his labors” (10) alludes to the Bible and to Greek mythology. Explore the ironic effect of comparing Miniver to the Creator (Genesis 2: 2) and to Hercules. Point out other examples of irony in the poem and discuss their importance.

    The comparison of Miniver to the Creator is risible. He apparently creates nothing, but drinks his life away. The same applies to comparing him to Hercules, whose labors involved achieving great feats but also enduring humiliation. Humiliation is something Miniver cannot endure.

    Though he imagines himself “born too late,” his problems appear to be of his own making.

    He takes a romantic view of poverty and medieval hardship but sulks about his own rather than doing something about it.

  • 6. Can we call this a poem about a man whose “fate” was to be “born too late”? Explain your answer.

    No, he was not born too late. In any time, Miniver would have failed to flourish. He has no drive.

• C. Examine the impact of allusion by answering the question that follows “in Just-” on p. 644: Why is the balloonman called “goat-footed”? How does the identification made by this mythological allusion enrich the meaning of the poem?

  The description of the “little/lame balloonman” as “goat-footed” links him (or identifies him) with Pan, half-man, half-goat, the Greek god of nature and legendary inventor of the panpipes. When Pan blew on his pipes in the spring, all the little creatures of the field and wood came running.

  Thus, cummings’s city scene reenacts ancient ritual, and “the queer/old balloonman” ushers in the season begins life anew as he has done each spring since the beginning.

Assignment for next class meeting: Read “Chapter Eleven – Musical Devices,” pp. 818-826. Read, as well, “We Real Cool,” p. 827, by Gwendolyn Brooks in Perrine’s Literature, answering Question 1 following it and “God’s Grandeur,” p. 824, answering the four questions following it.