On Dancing: an ELAT practice

 On Dancing

By Margaret

After the absolute TRAUMA of the actual Oxford ELAT (English Literature Admissions Test), I thought I'd upload this practice I did a few days before. Whether it's any good or not, I don't know, but I really enjoyed writing it and it was a cute topic– Text a was a lovely extract from John Davies' poem 'Orchestra/ a poem of dancing' where Penelope's Suitor Antinous tries to convince her to dance, which I LOVED reading and writing about, and Text b was an extract from Frances Burney's 'Evelina' which I have not read, but I liked it and it was giving Jane Austen so that was fun. Obviously with the ELAT, there's no actual essay question, so I had a great time exploring a lot of ideas, especially as the topic was so girl-core. I hope you enjoy it<3

 

In Texts (a) and (b), Davies and Burney each present an impression of dancing, though they are very different, perhaps even opposites. While Davies’ poem glorifies dancing as a primordial element of the universe itself and a reflection of love and beauty, Burney’s character, Evelina, views dancing as a social chore, one which causes her immense anxiety, as she believes it puts her at risk of embarrassment. These two perspectives may at first seem to contradict one another, though it may be argued that, in fact, they fit together perfectly.

            In Text (a), Davies uses the voice of Antinous, who is trying to convince Penelope to dance, to describe the time when ‘Dancing… began to be’. Antinous contrasts the ‘disordered combating’ of the elements with the ‘well-ordered dance’ that they eventually come to form, presenting dancing as the antithesis of chaos within the universe. He goes on to speak of the creation of the heavens, which start out as a ‘shapeless and confused mass’, until they ‘dance unto the [music]’. Thus, the idea of dance as an improvement upon and a solution to chaos and disorder is continued. Davies presents dance as a part of the universe, an ‘exercise’ of the personified ‘Love’, who acts as a primordial deity in this poem. In contrast, the dancing in Burney’s extract is entirely human: made by humans, performed by humans and, seemingly, suffered by humans. Indeed, for the character of Evelina is ‘frightened at the thoughts of dancing’ and is ‘seized with such a panic’ at the prospect of having to dance with a stranger. Here dancing is seen on a social level, rather than on the universal level described by Antinous. Evelina struggles with the social consequences of dancing with a ‘gentleman’, as she perceives herself to be a ‘simple rustic’; she speaks of ‘words of course’, ‘propriety’ and ‘manners’, the ideas of which fuel her ‘terror’ and ‘alarm’ at her situation. Evelina feels out-of-place and awkward due to social expectations and practises, yet these are trivialities in Davies’ poem: what are ‘manners’ to the ‘vault of heaven’? What is ‘propriety’ to ‘the god’s eternal bower’? Indeed, it seems unlikely that Davies and Burney have the same idea of dancing at all.

            However, in the first stanza of Text (a), Antinous asks Penelope why she believes that ‘dancing is a frenzy and a rage,/First known and used in this new-fangled age’. The same question might be asked of Evelina. Burney’s first-person narration allows the reader an insight into Evelina’s mind, and thus Evelina’s fear and anxiety can be understood. She is ‘frightened at the thoughts of dancing before so many people’, she cannot change her mind once she has accepted the gentleman’s invite to dance for ‘the shame of so soon changing [her] mind’, and she has ‘never before [danced] but with a schoolgirl’. Yet Antinous’ question remains: ‘Whence cometh it…/That your imperious virtue is so loath/To grant your beauty her chief exercise?’ Could it be that, by avoiding a dance, Evelina is putting her own fear and anxiety before her chance to show her true ‘beauty’, her true self, even? Perhaps Evelina is one of the ‘sick brains’ that Antinous speaks of in the last stanza, who underestimates the ‘wondrous miracle’ of dance. Indeed, it is apparent to the reader of Text (b) that Evelina is denying herself a good opportunity by walking away from the gentleman: a ‘handsome’ man, with a ‘noble’ ‘air’, ‘infinitely engaging’ manners and an ‘elegant’ ‘person’. This gentleman seems to appreciate dancing rather more than Evelina; he asks her to dance and is ‘surprised at [her] terror’. The reader may infer a rather romantic element in this passage due to the gentleman’s interest in Evelina and Evelina’s ‘alarm’ upon finding he is a ‘nobleman’. For it is ‘Love’ Antinous speaks of, whose ‘proper exercise’ is ‘dancing’. Just as ‘Love’ and ‘dancing’ are inextricably connected in Davies’ poem, so the reader of Burney’s passage may sense a romantic undertone in Evelina’s situation. Thus, Evelina, though bound by the trivialities of social rules and expectations, is yet linked to the universal power of dance, though she does not realise it. Her partner, the gentleman, perhaps does realise it, and one may indeed say of Evelina and her own suitor, that ‘Love made them meet in a well-ordered dance’.

            In conclusion, Davies’ ‘starry wheels’ seem a far-off dream compared to the ‘minuets’ and ‘politeness’ of Evelina’s small society. But does the dance of the ‘vault of heaven’ not encompass that of a ‘simple rustic’ girl? Are Evelina and her ‘nobleman’ not included in the ‘goodly architecture’ of the universe? Antinous may well say to Evelina what he says here to Penelope: ‘By Love’s persuasion’ did the elements ‘leave their first disordered combating’, to ‘dance such measure…/ As all the world their motion should preserve’, and so should we. Davies presents dancing as as much a part of the universe as ‘fire, air, earth and water’, a ‘wondrous miracle’, the existence of which is not diminished by Evelina’s awkwardness and ‘panic’ at the prospect of participating in it. It is indeed Evelina, as well as Penelope, who must learn that ‘dancing is Love’s proper exercise’, whether among the stars, or with an unfamiliar gentleman.