FACULTY OF LANGUAGE STUDIES TMA COVER FORM: A123 An Introduction to the Humanities: Part (I)

Part (I): STUDENT INFORMATION (to be completed by student) 1. Name: Ashraf Twait 2. Registration No:2060446 3. Section No: 4. Tel. :0785169345 5. E-mail:ashraftwait@yahoo.com I confirm that the work presented here is my own and is not copied from any source. Student's signature: Part (II): TUTOR'S REMARKS (to be completed by tutor) Tutor name: Signature: Date TMA received: Date returned: TUTOR'S REMARKS: Use the Times New Roman font. It goes without saying that the first paragraph is the introduction so there is no need to write a title. You didnt make a connection between the first and second paragraph. I am familiar with your language Ashraf and this is beyond your linguistic fluency and competence!!! Why arent there any quotations to support your argument? How, then, did you benefit from the sources cited at the end?! The example on Egypt was well written and discussed.

Mark Allocate d to TMA for content : a max

STUDENT MARK

marks deducted for lang. & communication

Earned Mark

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of 20 marks 10.75

errors: a maximum of 4 marks 1 9.75

A123 An Introduction to the Humanities: Part (I) TMA: Semester 1, 2011-2012 TMA : 20 points Cut-off date: end of 11th week
[Prepared by Course Chair: Dr. Tahrir Hamdi]

TMA Form and Reading

This assignment relates to Block 1 of the Course. Literature Read William Wordsworths sonnet London, 1802 found in Resource Book I, Extract A24. Question Write an essay of about 750 words in answer to all of the questions below. You can answer the questions in any order you see fit: 1.) What characteristics possessed by Milton does the speaker admire? Why? 2.) What is wrong with England? 3.) Is this poem nostalgic in any way? (You should know what the word nostalgia means). If yes, how is this nostalgia related to the theme of the poem? 4.) Can the situation described here be applied to countries nowadays? Explain. 5.) Describe a couple of figures of speech and explain why they are effective. London, 1802 Milton! Thou shouldst be living at this hour; England hath need of thee: she is a fen Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, Have forfeited their ancient English dower Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; Oh! Raise us up, return to us again; And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart; 2

Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, So didst thou travel on lifes common way, In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay. (Taken from Resource Book 1, Extract A24)

Introduction
The era of the end of the empire . this important event had a great effect on the quality of the literature works, these works came with a new flavor, the flavor of Nostalgia, which carried with it the old memories about the empire which were meant to remind the British people of the glory, the greatness and the history of the empire. Milton had a lot of characteristics that the writer admires such as his soul which he said it was like a star, his voice which was as the writer says it was like the sea and the sky as a part of natural freedom and his ability to embody the "cheerful godliness" even when doing the "lowliest duties". With all these characteristics the writer sees in Milton the only hope for England because with all these things he sees the leader of a coming back revolution, which will bring England back to the golden ages and save it from the dark ages, he sees in Milton the light which symbolizes the guide which will show them the way to retain their glory which they have lost, he sees in him the strong shock which will awake the British giant from his death. At that time England was living in the dark ages, the ages of the collapsing of the
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empire, this reality which the writer refuses to believe. So, he wanted the British youth to rise again and hold their responsibilities in rebuilding the great empire, the great empire which once was the greatest in the world. So he symbolizes Milton as the power of nature which will always stay great. This poem is full of nostalgia especially when the poet mentions the old time of glory and asks Milton to bring it back to them, and somehow tries to say that being away from the religion is an important reason of the destruction of the empire symbolized in the alter. In addition to being also away from the sword which is a symbol of strength, and the pen which is a symbol of science, in all these things he is more like a person who is drowning and trying to catch a straw to save himself. Milton! Thou shouldst be living at this hour; England hath need of thee: she is a fen Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, Have forfeited dower their ancient English

Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; Oh! Raise us up, return to us again;

The situation described here be applied in Egypt these days after the revolution, when some of the patriots tries to remind the Egyptian people of the glorious victories made by the Egyptian army in the last century in order to gather them around one leadership so that they stay a way from the collapsing moment expected after the revolution. They do all of this to make the youth their concentrate on one aim, which is Egypt and only Egypt, but in the Egyptian case it is too different because they haven't reached the level of falling a part like the British empire yet. And in the Egyptian case the symbol used as the savior is not a single man, but it was the soul of Egypt in every Egyptian citizen, which every leader tried to use it for his own good, each on of them tried to ride on the wave of the freedom revolution and on the packs of the youth whom they sacrificed with their souls for their freedom. The figures of speech the writer used in this poem and may have a great influence on the readers are :Idiom :- the writer used some words in this poem which hide in a great meanings such as " alter . sword . pen ". The alter hides in it a strong invitation from the writer to the British people to go back to the church, and somehow it can be understood as a way to Plame them for being far a way from the religion, and also its a way of saying that glory, virtue and the power can only be reached by coming back to the church.

The sword which means the power and war, and like saying to the British army " rise up again , dont forget your old glory", its more like an invitation to war, but in an indirect way. The pen, in this word the writer means the literature " The English literature" which all talked about the English glory and power, as a reminder for them. The alter, the sword and the pen may be simple words from the outside but inside them they hold the great spirit of the empire at least as the writer wanted them to do. Metaphor :- the writer used some metaphoric meanings such as " Thy soul was like a Star", he symbolized the soul of Milton as a star which will lead the British people to the shore, to the safety away from the storms of the sea, and he also symbolized the voice of Milton as the sound of the sea" Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea", which the sailors is the sea will never hear anything but it, by this he tried to say that Milton lives in the soul of every British person, and he is trying to awake this sleeping person inside them, as a sign that Milton is the spirit of the Empire. Finally we will find out that William Wordsworth embodies in his poem a great sense of Nostalgia to the past. So he made his own hero " Milton" and wanted to draw a bright image to him in the eyes of the people as a source of hope, the hope which they were really in need for it, and even if he had to show him as a messenger of GOD, and if he had to call for war

References: The Open university, Walton hall, Milton Keynes.(2004) Humanities: An Introduction Block 1 Form and reading, 2. http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/word sworth/section6.rhtml 3. http://www.englishtest.net/forum/ftopic1569.html
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