ENGL 200 D: Reading Literature: Literature in the Marketplace

1. One of the major reasons that both Duck and Collier’s poetry became popular was that it described, in detail, an experience that many of their readers found exotic and unfamiliar: that of working long hours in the field. So: what are some of the details that you see Duck and Collier emphasizing as part of the labour experience?

2. As a follow-up to the first question, are there any details that you see Duck (and to a lesser degree, Collier) glamorizing in any way? Duck is much more likely to invoke aspects of classical mythology or personifications of nature (Winter, the Sun, etc.) in his poem: pick one set of lines where you see hm doing this, and interpret them.

3. In line 125, Duck mentions “sportive Labour” — what IS sportive labour? And what other types of labour show up in the poem?

4. What aspects of labor does Duck like most? What aspects of it does he like least?

5. What do you think that Duck wants his readers to take away from the poem as a message?

6. How does Collier respond to Duck? What specific rebuttals does she make to his points?

7. In “The Grumbling Hive,” Mandeville suggested that some types of value were important to the community at the end of the poem, and others weren’t.  Collier, as a woman, is also dealing with assumptions that some types of value aren’t important. What types of value are those? And how does she argue for them?

8. Would you use the same justifications and arguments that Collier uses to justify your own labour? What others might you use?