Edmund Burke’s writings in Reflections on the Revolution in France seem to indicate that he is not wholly supportive of the French Revolution. While Burke seems to be a proponent of citizens of a nation having rights and liberties, he cautions against unchecked liberty.

Burke references the Glorious revolution to illustrate his point. This event landed England with a new leader who was not within the direct line of succession and also led to the creation of the English bill of rights. Burke suggests that the course of action which Parliament took in selecting a leader for England was superior to an election because,  “an election would be utterly destructive of the unity,peace, and tranquillity of this nation.’” This idea is in opposition to the popular concept that a leader chosen by the people has the greatest right to rule.

Burke’s philosophy regarding politics seems to be one of moderation and practicality. Though he does not seem to fully oppose every idea on which the revolution is based, he also does not support the manner through which those involved are seeking to forward their ideas. Rather, his preference seems to be for a path that keeps the rights and liberty of the people in mind while still preserving things like the aforementioned unity, peace, and tranquility.

“’How are you feeling today?’ I am waiting for the moment someone asks me that and I am dead. I’m a little sorry I’ll miss that.”

This line set the tone for the entire play. Vivian is sharp, witty, and strong even to the point of being abrasive in the face of a disease that she knows will more than likely end her life.  I absolutely flew through the first portion of this play and found it surprisingly lighthearted for a play written about someone dying of cancer.

“Brevity is the soul of wit.”

                This line marks a turning point within the play in two regards. First, shortly after coming across this line the pace of the play began to slow down. Previously the dialogue had been mostly comprised of witty banter between Vivian and those attending her. After this point however, the dialogue begins to slow and there are even a few nostalgic monologues. At the same time Vivian begins to get sicker and her demeanor begins to change.

“Hides behind wit?”

                Vivian prods one of her students to explore one of their ideas regarding John Donne in a flashback. Ironically it is soon to be made clear that this is exactly what Vivian is doing, hiding behind her wit. As mentioned previously, Vivian’s declining condition coincides with a softening of her demeanor. This can be seen in her desire to see Jason show some willingness to connect with her. Ultimately Vivian is reduced to an incredibly vulnerable and childlike state.

The thing that stood out to me the most in these sections was Henry’s comparison of Prince Harry and Hotspur. In Act 3 scene 2 the king mentions that he finds that Hotspur “hath more worthy interest in the state than [Harry], the shadow of succession.”  By this he means that he believes that Hotspur is more deserving of the throne than Harry, despite Hotspur’s betrayal. The Kings reasoning for this belief is Harry’s association with individuals the King believes to be bad company.

The scene seems to be central to Acts 3 and 4. The surrounding scenes focus on either Harry or Hotspur in turn and appear to set them in opposition to each other. Not only do are the two characters contrasted through these scenes, but they also seem to be moving toward an actual physical confrontation.

Harry’s response to his father’s chastise is repentance and what seems to be the beginning of reform.  He promises his father that he will start to conduct himself in a manner becoming his position and begins to take actions that reflect his intentions to do so. Harry raises soldiers to help to augment his father’s army and takes a position of leadership within that army. The impression that Harry gives off in this position is apparently impressive. At least that seems to be the impression that the rebels who see him receive.

In contrast, Hotspur, when chastised by his brother-in-law for the petulant way in which he addresses Glyndwr is not repentant at all. Instead he just gives reasons for his inappropriate behavior. This shows him to be relatively static in comparison to the dynamic quality that Harry has been shown to possess. While both characters began as relatively unrefined, Harry seems to be making a turn towards being a mature and effective leader, while Hotspur is rather set in his ways.

The imagery in John Donne’s “The Good Morrow” was very interesting to me. In particular the last stanza caught my attention, in which the speaker compares the eye of his lover and his own eye to the hemispheres in which the sun rises and sets:  “My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears. . . Where can we find two better hemispheres.” Sometimes I find that love poetry seems, to me, a bit trite and I easily read the emotion as almost a bit superficial. However, this image gave a sense of both the passage of time, and possibly a great deal of time. This idea of time passing is also supported by previous portion of the poem in which the speaker references the childhood he and the subject shared. The idea of the eyes as hemispheres also makes the scale of the stage on which this scene is set seem very large and helps to break any sense of pettiness that might have otherwise been attributed.

                The organization of George Herbert’s first two poems also caught my eye. While the other poems in today’s selection appeared fairly dense and block-like on the page, these two were tapered in the center of their stanzas giving them an odd hour-glass like appearance. Upon closer inspection of these poems it appeared that the way in which they were structured reflected a transition within the poem. Both poems were religious in subject matter. The long lines previous to the taper seemed to be written from a position of repentance, the lines after the taper seemed to reflect some sort of redemption, and the lines that tapered acted as a transition between the two. The shortening of the lines in the middle of “The Altar” along with the couplet rhymes within this poem made the poem seem sing-song or nursery rhyme like. However, this effect was not mirrored in “Easter Wings.”