Be Reading Tess

Two links, one purely optional because someone asked--the other REQUIRED.

First, some amazing non-professional pictures of  "Fire and Ice":
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yahooeditorspicks/galleries/72157623855495574

There are others, of course--just Google.  And clearly various scientists are starting to weigh in on the long-term effects.  Obviously this one is purely optional . . . to those not in class today, it was an off-shoot of why I happened to be thinking of Robert Frost'st "Fire and Ice" this morning (check that out, too:  http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/fire-and-ice/  ).  Of course Frost was not talking volcanoes--he was utilizing familiar "natural" imagery (fire/desire; ice/hatred) to evaluate destructive aspects of human nature.  But I wanted you to consider the opposite type of imagery--the original/creative connections, especially applied in an unusual context--that we examined in Donne's Holy Sonnet XIV.

Second, the article I passed around in 1st/2nd. and basically just showed to 3rd:
http://www.utoronto.ca/tsq/DS/03/171.shtml

EVERYONE needs to read the first paragraph, peruse the chart on p. 16, and read the concluding paragraphs of the article (p. 17).  A mere handful of you might be game for reading the whole thing. 

Tess of the D'Urbervilles "heads-up":  for the many folks who were absent today.  We connected the application of coincidence as fate (thus directing and reinforcing the "will"--normally assumed to be voluntary (deliberate) in Crime and Punishment to what we will see in Tess.  Specifically, consider the first few pages, in which Parson Tringham shares an bit of genealogical knowledge with a local fellow named John Derbyfield.  Although the clergyman certain has had other opportunities during which he might have spoken about this, the opportunity and the whim come together on this occasion.  Clearly, though, he is ambivalent; he doesn't even speak up until "after a moment's hesitation" (18), and as he rides away after their talk, he harbors "doubts as to his discretion in retailing this curious bit of lore" (20).  The strongest thematic implication occurs during the conversation itself, when the Parson Tringham explains that although he originally did not plan to mention such useless information to Derbyfield, "our impulses are too strong for our judgment sometimes" and, besides, he thought that Derbyfield might already know about it anyway. 

But the fact is he did not--and the entire action of the novel rests on this opening conversation, prompted both by an accidental encounter and the parson's impulsive disclosure.

FOR MONDAY
You should be actively reading Tess--something that is fair enough if you completed the work that was due today.  There is indeed MUCH to be done if you are already behind.  Better internalize the dates for Tess, given in Wednesday's blog and on the hand-out that day, but repeated here:
Parts 1-2 by Tuesday, April 20
Parts 3-5 by Monday, April 26
Parts 6-7 by Thursday, April 30