Aphra Behn SQ

1. How can the idea of ill-timed desire be used to talk about the relationships between the husbands and wives of The Country Wife?

2. In the "Song from Abdelazar," who or what is Abdelazar?

3. In "On Her Loving Two Equally," what effect does the narrator's identification of her lovers as "Damon" and "Alexis" have on the poem's treatment of love? Does it reinforce or subvert the pastoral tradition?

4. How does the poetic construction of "On Desire" play a role in Behn's ability to extract love from its conventional framework of mutuality and warmth into one "hard" and political in nature?

5. Does the fact that Aphra Behn earned her living as a writer change the quality of her poetry? Is there anything noticeable when comparing her poetry to that of Katherine Philips in terms of overall compositional elements or style? Does Behn consciously address a larger audience?

6. . How does the function of contrasting rhymes work to illuminate the themes in Aphra Behn's work?

7. What function does the use of political or combattive language have for Behn?

8. How is love portrayed be Behn and how might this idea relate to another author we've read?

9. What similarities and/or dislikes can you see between Katherine Philips and Aphra Behn? Do you think they would have been friends? On what grounds do their similarities promote or enhance the idea of women as poets?

10. In what ways can we compare K. Philips' poem about her dead child and Aphra Behn's poem about her child? How are they alike and in what ways do they differ?

11. In what ways do Aphra Behn and Katherine Phillips compare when writing about the loss of a child?

12. In what ways are Aphra Behn's works similar to libertines, such as, for example John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester? What sorts of ideas and philosophies comprise any similarities?

13. compare the Phillip's platonic love with Behn's passionate love.

14. How does Rochester's "Woman's Honor" seem similar to or different from either "Love Armed" or "On Desire"? What are some similarities and differences between Rochester's and Behn's poetry?

15. Compare Behn's "On Her Loving Two Equally" with Wycherley's The Country Wife. It appears that they have little in common, but to what extent can a comparison be drawn between the speaker's caprice in Behn's poem and the singular pursuit of Horner by several women in Wycherley's play?

16. Compare Behn and Bunyan's use of God in their respective works. How are they similar? How do they differ?

17. In 'Epitaph on the Tombstone,' is the author referring to a specific child from a specific family? If so, who? Are there any implications in the fact that the author describes how the child 'toiled' on Earth, despite the young age?

18. How does the deification of Love in "Love Armed" affect the situation of the poem? How does this deification compare to that in Rochester's "Woman's Honor?"

19. In "On Desire," when the poet does not find love "In courts... Interest did all the loving business do, / Invites the youths and wins the virgins too." Who or what is interest? Would you say youths and virgins are a political currency?

20. In what ways do both Aphra Behn's writings and Katherine Phillips writings support the restoration of Charles II and the divinity of the British monarchy?