Weekly Response 9/10

1a) “To degrade is to bury, to sow, and to kill simultaneously, in order to bring forth something more and better” (Bakhtin 688).

1b) “The Nymph, tho’ in this mangled Phlight, Must ev’ry Morn her Limbs unite.  But how shall I describe her arts To recollect the scatter’d Parts? Or shew the Angush, Toil and Pain, Of gath’ring up herself again?” (Swift, A Young Nymph Goes to Bed 65-70).

2) Does Swift bring on the “degradation” of the female character in the poem or is he trying to “bring forth” an accurate account of her profession?

3)         Mikhail Bakhtin describes “degradation” in Medieval times as not only being a “negative aspect” but also a “regenerating” one, comparing to the reproductive powers of the lower stratum of the body (which strikes me as odd).    He goes on to criticize modern text because it “has a solely negative character and is deprived of regenerating ambivalence.”  The poem “A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed” can be seen in a very degrading light.  The first time I read it, I found it to be somewhat disturbing, especially because Swift goes into such great detail about what the main female character does for her profession.  Swift’s use of word choices and the structure of his repetitious descriptions of the prostitute lifestyle give the poem a negative tone.

 After reading Swift’s analysis on “degradation”, I tried to find a moment of “regeneration” in the poem.  It proved to be quite difficult.  I just assumed that this poem was one of the “negative” modern texts that Bakhtin was talking about.    I then realized the “regeneration” doesn’t have revelatory or “life-changing”.  The “regeneration” of the main character was waking up and “gath’ring up herself again”.  The items she uses to look “proper” (not sure if that’s the best word), allows herself to start new again.  This “regeneration” isn’t a positive one, but it shows how she “kills” herself every night, only to “renew” herself the next morning.