Due: Wednesday, 26 April.

"And now for something completely different." Well, almost. During week nine we read, among other works, Thomas Carlyle's brilliant essay, "Signs of the Times" (text). Since it contains dozens of allusions to nineteenth-century and earlier people and events, modern readers find its satire and prophecy difficult. Therefore, each of you will choose two of the terms I've listed below (though if you find something I've missed that appeals to you, check it with me).

Each annotation, which will eventually appear online linked to the Carlyle text, has two parts: In the first, you identify some person, place, event, or movement, explaining its historical or other importance. In the second, you explain its function in "Signs of the Times." [See annotations of another work by Carlyle for examples; those for George the Fourth and Apollo Belvedere work well.]

Please let me know as soon as possible what two items you have chosen to annotate. I'll put your name next to them. The sooner you look at the list, the better chance you have to pick something of interest to you.

Why this assignment?

How does this relate to the question sets you have done in previous weeks? Remember, I devised the question-set assignment as a means of enabling you to develop skills involved in moving convincingly from a literary text (your data) to your argument (your thesis) and back again. Some of the questions concerned theme, some techniques, and some relations among the text in question and others we have read. Recently, I added questions on context — always particularly difficult to compose because they require very specific factual knowledge. This new assignment therefore emphasizes acquiring and presenting relevant facts and then relating them to an assigned text, here Carlyle's "Signs of the Times." In other words, you will move from the text to some broader context and then back again.

Where can I find the information I need?

You can use the Victorian Web, Wikipedia, and other web resources, but each annotation must cite at least one book or article from the Brown library system. In some cases you will find Victorian periodicals, including newspapers, handy; in others books on philosophy, religion, contemporary history, and so on will prove more useful.

Include all material you have read that proved relevant in a formal bibliography with the following house style:

Spurgeon, Charles. Sermons. London: Rivington, 1843. [single-volume book]

Ruskin, John. Works. 39 vols. Eds. E. T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn. London: Allen and Unwin, 1902-12.[book in multiple volumes]

Smith, James. "Tennyson's Heroines." Victoriana 3 (1996): 23-35. [Essay in periodical; once you have included author and essay title, essays in books follow bibliographical form for books.

Do not use footnotes. Instead use in-text citations keyed to a bibliography."

Words and Phrases requiring annotation in Carlyle "Signs of the Times"

[• = finished and online]
    1. Alba [Caroline Flanagan]
    2. Argus eyes [Anna Vresilovic]
    3. Anabaptists [Pearse Haley]
    4. Archimedes [Etienne Ma]
    5. Bacon [Pearse Haley]
    6. Bentham [Sarah Zweifach]
    7. bold scheme of the Nurembergers [Matthew Kimball]
    8. Birmingham Fire-king [Brenna Hogue]
    9. Carbonari rebellions [Abigail Chance]
    10. Castlereagh [Kasie Kelly]
    11. the Church is in danger [Allison Dungey]
    12. Constant [Christina Jimenez]
    13. Cortes [Amanda Cole]
    14. Crusades took their rise in Religion [Allison Dungey]
    15. dapperling Caroline Flanagan]
    16. Darwin [Rhianna Shaw]
    17. DeWitt [Rachel Klotz]
    18. Descartes [Henry Mattingly]
    19. The Dutch too have retained their old constitution [Armen Taylor]
    20. Enthusiasm [Emily Luffey]
    21. Epictetus [Kassie Kelly]
    22. Fenelon [Kathryn Rhoads]
    23. Even the horse is stripped of his harness, and finds a fleet fire-horse invoked in his stead [Katharine Khanna]
    24. Freemasons' Tavern [Kathryn Rhoads]
    25. King Frederick for his Voltaire [Jason Beckman]
    26. from the falling of an apple [Sarah Zweifach]
    27. Habeas-corpus act [Etienne Ma]
      Heraclides [Kate Monks]
    1. Hume's [opinion]
    2. Inquisition [Lauren Hall]
    3. Knox
    4. Lancashire [Lucy Montes]
    5. Las Casas [Emily Luffey]
    6. Malebranche [Lauren Hall]
    7. Mécanique Céleste [Katharine Khanna]
    8. Mendicant Friars of old times [Matthew Kimball]
    9. mill-ponds [Anna Vresilovic]
    10. monitors [Christina Jimenez]
    11. Moral Sciences [Manu Venkateswaran]
    12. An Order of Ignatius Loyola [Spencer Einbund]
    13. Pelasgi [Jason Beckman]
    14. Philip II [Kate Monks]
    15. Philosophy of Mind [Henry Mattingly]
    16. Pizarro [Spencer Einbund]
    17. Political Economists
    18. popularis aura [Manu Venkateswaran]
    19. Purgatory-Society [Brenna Hogue]
    20. The Reformation [Amanda Cole]
    21. Reid [Armen Taylor]
    22. Royal Academ[y] of Painting [Abigail Chance]
    23. Taylor
    24. Vauxhall [Rhianna Shaw]
    25. Vaucanson [Lucy Montes]
    26. Watt [Rachel Klotz]
    27. Wickliffe [Kenna Hawes]
    28. Ximenes [Kenna Hawes]

    Last modified 25 March 2010