Reading Notes W6: Barbauld & Bello, Part B

Barbauld

1) To a Little Invisible Being

Barbauld is excited about babies being born into the world. The world is so much larger than they are and there is no way they can anticipate how grand it is. The mothers are excited for the day they can be with their newborns. The newborn is a part of their self that they've "fed with their life" (327). Barbauld believes that a baby can't fathom how much their mother loves them.

2) Eighteen Hundred and Eleven

Britain had been at war with France for almost 18 years. People are on edge because they're scared of the war. Weapons and violence accomplish things in this time, not hard work. People are having to deal with the heartbreak of finding out a loved one was killed. Beauty is being ruined despite all the nice things that used to be there because of war.

Bello

Ode to Tropical Agriculture

• "You weave the summer's wreath of golden grain." I liked the assonance present with the words "weave" and "wreath" (Bello 389). "Golden grain" was a nice, tiny dose of alliteration (389).
• "Where sick ambition fans the flames / of civil strife, or indolence exhausts / the love of country" (390). There seems to be mention of war, violence, and political conflict, similar to "Eighteen Hundred and Eleven" by Barbauld.
• "Is beauty less attractive / without false ornament and lying paint" (391). Bello seems to be wondering if people can still be beautiful without makeup and other things to help them look more attractive. How much have standards of beauty changed?
• People are destroying nature. "let the axe break the matted trees," "the wild beast flees," "What do I see? a tall and crackling flame / spills over the dry ruins of the conquered forest"
• "We have atoned enough for the savage conquest / of our unhappy fathers" (393). The state of one's country shouldn't remain at the hands of the predecessors who ruled it.
• "No matter where we look, do we not see / a stubbled wilderness where once were fields, / and cities too?" (393). Once again, nature is being destroyed. Humans have inhabited too much of the world and have deprived animals of their homes.
• Peace has long been desired by the people. Once peace is restored, everyone will hurry on back to doing what they were doing before times of war and violence.

Barbauld, Anna Laetitia. The Norton Anthology World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, Third Edition, vol. E, W. W. Norton 2012, pp. 326-330

Bello, Andrès. "Faust." The Norton Anthology World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, Third Edition, vol. E, W. W. Norton 2012, pp. 388-394