Reflection 6

The poem “To My Book” from Epigrams by Ben Jonson struck me as intriguing as it is rare to find the hopes of the author for the book in its first paragraph. The first two lines is the speaker (or in this case, the author himself) telling the book what its readers will be looking for. In some books you may find the author’s wish that you enjoy it, but very rarely do you ever hear an author admit that their book “…should’st be bold, licentious, full of gall, / Wormwood and sulpher, sharp and toothed withal” (3-4) let alone “become a petulant thing, hurl ink and wit / As madmen stones, not caring whom they hit.” (5-6) The book becomes a living thing in your mind, something that has a choice between being what it’s creator wants it to be and something else.

What really struck me though was line ten: “Made from the hazard of another’s shame—“ as it conveyed the author’s embarrassment in making his thoughts known to others. To my knowledge, many authors struggle with this concept as their work is a part of themselves. Sometimes it is a very private part hidden in metaphor and false images. Some fiction writers may strive to write their life story through more fanciful words in order to soften the blow of how common or repetitive it is. Finally, he ends with “He that departs with his own honesty / For vulgar praise, doth it too dearly buy.” (13-14) This is a bit confusing to me, but I assume that it means that many will finish reading his book will probably comment on the audacity of the author.

In this week’s set of readings, I found Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” the most interesting. When I first read the title, I thought it would be something like that of the Passionate Shepherd. A proposal to a lady in which he humbly admits that he has not much to offer or something of the sort. Therefore, it took me by surprise that it was instead a proposed solution to a common problem in impoverished Ireland. I couldn’t help but laugh by the time I got to the end of the fourth paragraph. The very idea of eating babies came as a surprise as I was expecting a more political answer to the poverty problem. The intriguing thought pulled me in and grabbed my attention for the rest of the “proposal”. I began to wonder what the world would be like if this had been put into action around the world. What if there was a world in which it was acceptable to eat burdensome infants? If modern-day humans came to this world, I am sure we would try to rectify it. It would not matter that doing so may just bring misery to the inhabitants as it is a horrifying concept to us.