St. John’s Summer Academy (Annapolis): Sight and Insight

Early in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Elinor says of Edward, “At first sight…his person can hardly be called handsome, till the expression of his eyes, which are uncommonly good…is perceived.” Why didn’t Elinor find Edward handsome before noticing his eyes? What influences what we see—and what we don’t? How can we make our sight more insightful? We will explore such questions with the guidance of Austen’s literary interrogation of romance; Euclid’s mathematical examination of optics; and several American poets’ exploration of perception, including Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Bishop, and Robert Frost.