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“On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth”

1.  On 569-72, with what attitude does De Quincey approach his object of study, the Shakespeare play Macbeth?  How does he explain the dramatic purpose of the drunken porter’s knocking at the castle gates just after Macbeth has done his dreadful deed? 

“The Literature of Knowledge and the Literature of Power” from Alexander Pope

2.  On 572-76, what is the literature of knowledge, and what is the literature of power?  How are they opposed?

3.  On 572-76, to what degree is De Quincey offering a romantic “defense of poetry” or art more generally?  Explain.

Edition: Abrams, M. H. et al, eds.  The Norton Anthology of English Literature.  8th ed.  Vol. D.  New York: Norton, 2006.  ISBN Package 2 (Vols. DEF) 0-393-92834-9.