Rachel Baack

Summary: The speaker insists on his own unworthiness; God--referred to as Love in this poem--responds with an invitation to dine.

Summary: The speaker ponders the freeing, sanctifying nature of extreme unction, which is a Catholic sacrament in which someone who is sick to the point of being in danger of death is anointed by a priest, and he wonders what his experience of being on death’s door will be like.

Summary: The speaker of this poem, a poor clerk, philosophizes about his place in society and how his nature and will led him to that place. The poem raises questions of free will, social responsibility, and the quality of the inner life.

Summary: Ronald Reagan addresses the explosion of the Challenger, praising the bravery of its crew and offering comfort to their families and the nation.

Summary: After surviving a civil war in Sierra Leone in which he lost his family and was subsequently forced to fight as a child soldier, Ishmael Beah was adopted and moved to New York City at seventeen. In this short story, he recounts what it was like to adjust to his new life with peers whose childhoods were vastly different from his.

Summary: Dickie Jordan goes to take an intelligence test—one that all citizens must take upon turning twelve—and his parents worry about how he will fare.

Summary: This poem is told from the viewpoint of a prisoner. The man’s father was executed for his faith, and the man and his two living brothers were imprisoned for the same thing. The man recounts his many years spent in prison and the suffering he has endured.

Summary: The speaker, though he values the tam[ing of] our rebel will,” expresses his desire to have the strength of character and will to do things that require immense courage.

I have read the following poems by Robert Browning that can be found in this work (listed alphabetically with ratings):

• “Abt Vogler”: The speaker, a musician who has just been playing some music, praises the superiority of music and musicians like himself. Rating: 3/5
• “Andrea Del Satro”: A great painter speaks with his wife, explaining that he is a technically good painter with no soul and placing partial blame for this on her. Rating: 3.5/5
• “Bad Dreams III”: This poem is the third of four nightmare poems that center on the end of a marriage. In this poem, the speaker has a dream in which he sees a magnificent forest and a beautiful city, but these two entities start to devour each other. Rating: 3/5
• “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church”: A dying bishop gives instructions to his “nephews” (who are really his sons) on how to bury him so that his burial would be more magnificent and envy-invoking than his predecessor’s. Rating: 3.5/5
• “By the Fireside”: The speaker, now an older man, recounts a trip through the wilderness to an old chapel with his wife. Rating: 2.5/5
• “Caliban upon Setebos”: Caliban, an enslaved character from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, outlines his theology: He believes that a god-like creator figure, who was himself the creation of a higher figure, is “cold and ill at ease” and often does things to spite his creations. Rating: 4/5
• “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”: This poem is told from the point of view of a quester who knows he is walking into certain death. It raises questions about the meaningfulness of human action. Rating: 4.5/5
• “Cleon”: A poet writes to a king enumerating his thoughts on progress, joy, immortality, and their relationship to one another. Rating: 4/5
• “Fra Lippo Lippi”: An artistically talented monk is caught in the town at night engaging in some un-monk-like activity, and he tells the guards who found him about his life. He shares his view of art, which (in contrast to the view of many of the higher-up monks) is that it should be realistic in is depictions. Rating: 3/5
• “The Heretic’s Tragedy”: The speaker gives the gruesome account of the burning at the stake of John, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templars, who was falsely accused of a number of heresy. Rating: 4/5
• “How It Strikes a Contemporary”: The narrator of this poem describes “the poet” as one who is both a sort of transcendent, wise figure and a humble, every-day person. Rating: 4/5
• “Johannes Agricola in Meditation”: This work is an attack on the doctrine of predestination, told from the perspective of a man who believes in predestination. Rating: 4.5/5
• “Love among the Ruins”: The speaker describes the ruins of a once-great city where he is going to meet a young woman. Rating: 3/5
• “Master Hughes of Saxe-Gotha”: An organist criticizes the “cumbersome” work named Master Hughes and ponders truth and nature. Rating: 3/5
• “Memorabilia”: Browning recalls an encounter in which he overheard someone talking about Percy Shelley, his hero. Rating: 2/5
• “My Last Duchess”: A duke speaks with an envoy of a man whose daughter he intends to marry and reveals the problem—and dark solution—that he had with his last wife. Rating: 3.5/5
• “Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession": A young man praises a past love and wishes he could once again become the person he used to be. Rating: 1/5
• “Popularity”: The speaker uses the example of a beautiful dye that supplants all others and takes a long time to be made and discovered as a metaphor for the coming of a poet that will shed light on his generation like no one ever has. Rating: 4/5
• “Prologue” (from Asolando): The speaker praises the clarity with which older men can see the world. Rating: 4.5/5
• “Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister”: A hypocritical monk expresses his hatred for another monk. Rating: 4.5/5
• “Thamuris Marching” (excerpt from “Aristophanes Apology”): The poet describes the confident march of Thamuris, a poet who had boasted that he could beat the Greek Muses in a poetry contest, to that contest, before he lost and was punished severely by the Muses. Rating: 3/5
• “A Toccata of Galuppi’s”: The speaker imagines the effect of Galuppi’s (a pianist) playing on some attenders of a ball in Venice. The crowd is happy for the moment, but the music also hints at the soullessness of the city. Rating: 3/5
• “Two in the Campagna”: The speaker touches on an ecstatic feeling of wanting absolute oneness with his love, but expresses just how fleeting that height of emotion can be. Rating: 3/5

Summary: Elizabeth Browning’s poem tells the story of the creation of the flute by the god Pan, the music of which was life-giving.

Summary: The speaker explains that, although writing what she wants to write may not make her popular or rich, she will continue to do it.

Note: There are 2 poems by Emily Brontë titled "Stanzas." The one I am summarizing is the one that begins "Often rebuked...."

Summary: The speaker expresses her fearlessness in light of her faith in God

Summary: John Stuart Mill explores what it is that distinguishes poetry from other types or expression, even claiming that poetry is not limited to the written word.

I have not read this entire work, but I have read "Secular Knowledge is Not a Principle of Action." What follows is my review of that piece: John Henry Cardinal Newman argues against those who would claim that knowledge and reason are a strong basis for religious faith.

In this lecture, T. H. Huxley explains and defends the notion of a single unifying physical entity that is the basis of all life.

I have not read this whole volume, but I have read "Of the Real Nature of Greatness and Style." What follows is my summary of that chapter: John Ruskin lays out the criteria for judging a great painting.

I have not read this whole collection, but I had read "Faith and Private Judgement." What follows is a summary of that particular piece: John Henry Cardinal Newman asserts his claim that those who are not Catholics are not so because they do not have the virtue of faith that makes the practice of faith possible. He claims that early faith required that people believe the words of the Apostles without exercising personal judgment and that faith has not changed since that time. Rating: 3/5

(Note: this rating is not an evaluation of the truth of the claims presented in the work; it merely reflects my own enjoyment/appreciation of it.)

For the purposes of this review, I am treating this book entry as the entire multivolume set of The Collected Works of William Morris. I did not read this whole collection; what follows are instead the reviews for the works I have read from the collection:

• "The Beauty of Life": In this lecture, William Morris argues that his society no longer produces and cares about beautiful art, and he urges the creation of “art made by the people and for the people, a joy to the maker and the user.”
• “A Garden by the Sea”: The speaker of this poem longs to walk in a garden by the sea with a love that he has lost. Rating: 2/5
• “The Haystack in the Floods”: This poem chronicles an encounter between the English commander Sir Robert, his French mistress Jehane, and his small band of soldiers on one side and Godmar and a group of Frenchmen on the other side. It takes place during the Hundred Years’ War. Godmar’s men surround Sir Robert’s men as they try to escape, and he forces Jehane to make a seemingly impossible decision. Rating: 4.5/5
• “Near Avalon”: This poem describes two ships, one carrying six maidens and one carrying six knights, who carry locks of their ladies’ hair. Rating: 2.5/5
• “Riding Together”: A Crusader (the speaker of the poem) tells of his journey with his fellow Crusader and close friend to a battle that ended tragically for him. Rating: 3/5
• “Summer Dawn”: The speaker of the poem asks the listener to pray a prayer for him as the morning comes. Rating: 2.5/5

I have read the text of Sojourner Truth's famous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech.

Summary of speech: Sojourner Truth speaks at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention, using Biblical examples and the very arguments made by men who oppose women’s rights to demonstrate why women should be given rights.

Summary: For years, Rose Gold’s mother, Patty, convinced her whole community—Rose Gold included—that her daughter had a chronic illness that required extensive caregiving and financial support. The reality, however, was that Patty was poisoning her own child, and she was imprisoned for five years after she was caught and convicted. Now, upon Patty’s release, Rose Gold has decided to allow her mother to come live with her and her new baby for reasons unknown to anyone but Rose Gold herself. Based on the true story of Gypsy Rose, this book gives readers a look into the minds of mother and daughter, exploring their motivations and perceptions of themselves and each other.

Summary: Rich Villodas explains the causes of the loss of goodness, beauty, and kindness in the world, and he provides readers with some Christian practices (both individual and social in nature) to connect with the beauty, goodness, and kindness of God so that they can then share those holy attributes with the world.

Summary: Jennie Allen argues for the absolute necessity of community to human flourishing and the Christian spiritual walk, and she offers guidance on how to build community in a meaningful way.

I have only read the title chapter in this book.

Chapter Summary: Francisco Jiménez tells of the challenges that he and his family faced as they moved from place to place seeking farm work.

Summary: Author Abby Burnett presents a very thoroughly researched picture of norms and customs surrounding death and burial in the Arkansas Ozarks in a 100-year period that spanned the Civil and both World Wars. These years began with the families and friends of the deceased taking care of the work that preceded and followed a death primarily in the home, and they ended with that work being typically completed by professionals in the funeral business.

The author did an excellent job of organizing and presenting the information in a logical, interesting way, including statistics and data, news reporting from the time period in question, and first-hand accounts from those who witnessed and participated in death and burial customs in the Ozarks.

Summary: A young woman named Viola suffers a shipwreck that results in her losing her brother, Sebastian. She then disguises herself as a man and enters the service of a duke named Orsino, who has been trying to court Olivia. Things get complicated characters’ feelings toward one another change and develop.