"Lowering in honour, estimation, social position, etc.; the state or condition of being so lowered" (OED).

"To set to the credit of; to ascribe or reckon to" (OED).

"Purposes in respect of a proposal of marriage" (OED).

"To qualify or diminish (a pleasure, feeling, etc.) by the admixture of something unpleasant; to contaminate or adulterate" (OED).

"Lacking the qualities, attributes, or accomplishments required to be or do something; not having the necessary qualifications" (OED).

"To drive, force, or constrain (a person) to some action, or to do something, by acting upon his mind or feelings; to urge on, incite" (OED).

"The action of deriding or laughing to scorn; ridicule, mockery" (OED).

"A sudden change or turn of the mind without apparent or adequate motive; a desire or opinion arbitrarily or fantastically formed; a freak, whim, mere fancy" (OED).

"An adverse judgement, unfavourable opinion, hostile criticism; blaming, finding fault with, or condemning as wrong; expression of disapproval or condemnation" (OED).

Connexions - "Relationship by family ties, as marriage or distant consanguinity. Often with a and plural" (OED).

Technically, Mr. Darcy and the Bennet family are from the same class, the gentry, but he has better connections. Mr. Darcy is related to Lady Catherine De Bourgh who holds the highest title a woman can have within the Gentry class. Comparatively, the Bennet's are related to the Gardiners, who are in a class below the gentry, the professional class.

"An object of disgust; a loathed or detested thing. Also: that which causes hatred or repugnance" (OED).

"Disapproval; the action of feeling or expressing censure; (in later use) esp. strong moral disapproval. Also: an instance of this" (OED).

"Disapproval; the action of feeling or expressing censure; (in later use) esp. strong moral disapproval. Also: an instance of this" (OED).

"An account or detailed description of a fact, incident, etc." (OED).

"To gain (goodwill, esteem, etc.) by acts which soothe, pacify, or induce friendly feeling" (OED).

" A disbelieving frame of mind; unreadiness or unwillingness to believe (statements, etc.); disbelief" (OED).

"An act of avowing; acknowledgement, declaration; unconstrained admission or confession" (OED).

"An order or request for someone to be present; a summons, an invitation" (OED).

"A period of fourteen nights; two weeks" (OED).

Similar to what is mentioned in the "glanced" "looked" "stared" annotation, the pattern of animals that are being turned to stone by Medusa also convey her growing power and reflect her relationship with the unnamed man in the poem. The first stanza includes a bee and bird, displaying Medusa's beginning strength and confidence in that she only attempts to turn very small animals into stone. The mention of "birds and bees" by Duffy is also a reference to young and innocent love, the beginning of the relationship between Medusa and the unnamed man. In the second stanza Medusa's strength and confidence has increased in that she now turns a cat and a pig into stone. The images of the cat and pig follow the relationship of Medusa in that the innocent love is gone and the "cat" is most likely a reference to the term "pussy" which a euphemism for vagina, while pig is a reference to the term "cheating pig," showing that not only has the relationship become sexual but that the unnamed man has cheated on Medusa, which can be deduced from previous lines in the poem. The final stanza breaks the pattern slightly in that Medusa now looks at a mirror, causing the reader to take pause and see the significance in this pattern break; Medusa knows her strength has increased but in this instance she is using it to try to turn herself to stone, i.e. a suicide attempt, showing that the relationship with the man has left her in despair. The final instance of the pattern returns to the animal imagery with a dragon; Duffy's use of a dragon not only demonstrates Medusa's immense power to turn animals into stone, but it also displays her confidence in herself. By using another mythical creature for the last instance of the pattern, Duffy also shows Medusa's acceptance of her state as a "gorgon" and the mythical role she herself fills both in its danger and in its power.

Continuing from the previous stanza, Duffy creates different images to display the transformation of Medusa from a human to a gorgon. She has created the image of snakes on Medusa's head and the alliteration allowed the reader to hear them. In the following stanza, the phrase "bride's breath soured" appeals to the readers sense of taste as they can imagine the sour breath of Medusa's mouth. The following line states that the breath "stank/ in the grey bags of my lungs," now providing stimulation to the readers sense of smell. The combination of these images thus appeals to the readers sense of sight, as they can see the snakes emerging, the sense of hearing in that they can hear the snakes hissing, they can taste the sour breath of Medusa, and they can smell the stank of her breath. Duffy creates a nearly full picture of Medusa for the reader that appeals to almost all the senses and only leaves out the sense of touch to intensify the idea that Medusa is untouchable and dangerous and those who try to touch usually turn to stone. Making her both a fearsome and dangerous figure but also perhaps a sympathetic one in that one is literally unable to get closer to her, leaving her left alone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru8GDxZqkXs&t=195s

As mentioned in the first annotation, in Duffy's collection of poetry, she changes the perspective of many famous stories in order to allow the female counterpart a voice. In this way she is disregarding the "male gaze," a term and theory made famous by Laura Mulvey in her essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" and instead is emphasizing the female gaze and perspective.

Perhaps one of the most infamous "gazes" is that of Medusa, and in this poem, Duffy gives her full power and control to narrate her story. The only male character in the poem is unnamed and is described antagonistically. The images and telling of the story are in Medusa's control at all times, making the gaze solely her own.

The last line is significant in context of this in that it is a call to action from Medusa both to the unnamed man and the reader. She is allowing a different gaze to emerge and look at her, but in doing so, one would be turned to stone. By concluding the sentence in this way, breaking the 4th wall a bit, Duffy is empowering the female gaze of Medusa and punishing the male gaze and perspective that is so prominent in other media.

"Medusa" is a poem in Carol Ann Duffy's collection, The World's Wife. The collection is described as follows: "Behind every famous man is a great woman - and from the quick-tongued Mrs Darwin to the lascivious Frau Freud, from the adoring Queen Kong to the long-suffering wife of the Devil himself, each one steps from her counterpart's shadow to tell her side of the story in this irresistible collection."

In the case of Medusa, she does not have a male counterpart, she is already the focus of her story, but is often told from an outsider, male, perspective and frames her as a villain or dangerous. Duffy's inclusion of Medusa's story thus standouts from the others in her collection in that it is not a "Mrs. ___" as many of the other poems are, but rather it changes the perspective of the same story by giving the control to Medusa herself and making her the narrator.

As mentioned in a previous annotation, Duffy is most likely recreating the story of Medusa from the Ovid version in Metamorphoses. If one reads that version, they know that the "Greek God" is Poseidon and that he rapes Medusa. In Duffy's version, not only is Poseidon not named but he does not rape Medusa either, rather he is in a relationship with her and eventually cheats on her. By not naming him, Duffy gives power and control to Medusa and keeps the focus and importance on her. By also changing the situation of their relationship and how she got the snakes, Duffy again empowers Medusa in that she is not a victim of rape and having her sexuality is defined by others, but rather she is a consensual partner in a relationship and it is through her own emotions, as seen in stanza one, that cause the snakes to appear. Again, by leaving Poseidon unnamed, it reasserts the point of view of the Medusa story to one of her own and leaves the male characters to be in the background, similar to how female characters are usually treated.

One of the most common sources for the story of Medusa is from Ovid's Metamorphoses, (Perseus tells the story of Medusa), in which her story is told by others and follows that " she was once most beautiful, and the jealous aspiration of many suitors. Of all her beauties none was more admired than her hair" and that one day the Roman god Neptune, (Poseidon in Greek), raped her "in the temple of Minerva" the Roman Goddess, (Athena in Greek) who then punishes Medusa by turning her hair into snakes.

In Duffy's version of the story, she changes the point of view to that of first person narration, which can be seen in the use of the word "my" and later "I", by Medusa herself; Medusa is given her own voice and is allowed to tell her own story. Duffy changes other details as well such as the rape by "Neptune" and the punishment from "Minerva," and instead gives Medusa different reasons and motivations which she explains on her own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3X4s4HJn3k

In line three, Medusa, the speaker of the poem, states that her hair has turned into snakes, Duffy, thr writer, then uses a pattern of alliteration in the following two lines with the alveolar fricative [s] sound in the words "as" "thoughts" "hissed" "spat" and "scalp," in order to create the hissing sound of snake through the voice of the person reading the poem. By doing this, Duffy gives the reader a more intense image of Medusa as they can hear her hair/snakes hissing out as it transforms.

At the beginning of this stanza and the two following, Duffy uses parallel structure with the phrases "I glanced," "I looked," and "I stared." The use of these phrases and the specific diction choice of "glanced," "looked," "stared," shows to the reader the growing strength of "Medusa" not only in her power and what she is capable of, i.e. turning things to stone, but also her confidence in that power. In the first instance Duffy uses the word "glanced" which is quick and temporary, if not even shy, the second instance of "looked" is more confident, and lasting, while the final iteration of the phrase with "stared" conveys a more aggressive action and a more self-assured power. Not only does the action of the look become more aggressive and confident, but in each it instance it is the narrator herself, Medusa, describing it; the lines are told from a first person point of view, the "I" at the beginning of each line conveys that Medusa is aware of her power growing and is in control of this growing confidence in it, rather than someone else describing it from an outside perspective.

"Carmel Point" by Robinson Jeffers

A similar, and perhaps more approachable, poem that also deals with the theme of nature and human influence on the earth from an earlier era of the environmental movement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkXFb1sMa38

While Levine's poem was written in 1972, the 70's were heavily influenced by the social movements of the 60's; considering Levine's poem was written in the very early 70's, one can easily assume that his work was influenced by some of the issues from the 60's mentioned in the video.

similar to the "oak turned wall" line, I think Levine is again commenting on the human influence on earth and nature and that humans have left a "stain" on it, in this case, in the form of oil spills

I think Levine in is commenting on both the industrialization of natural landscapes in which fields, forests, etc. are turned into buildings and factories, but also the division and controlling of nature by humans in that parts of land are split and claimed as one's own and what was once an open field is now separated by human enforced walls and borders

this can also be considered an informational annotation in that "Cenotes" are " A natural underground reservoir of water, such as occurs in the limestone of Yucatan" (Oxford English Dictionary), which is information the reader most likely didn't have beforehand and allows better understanding of the imagery Diaz is trying to convey.

the use of different language causes the reader, if they don't know Spanish, to have to look up the meaning and see if it refers to anything specific, which is suggested due to the capitalization; this can be recognized as a type of informational annotation because it refers to a specific place in Mexico. One should also note that when "avenue of the dead" is googled, it has different results than "la avenida de los muertos," suggesting that even within the informational, "factual," context of annotation, language barriers can cause different information to be given.