Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy had an interesting view on things. Many people today believe that if something happens, it happens for a reason. With Hardy’s expression through his poem “Hap” he would NOT be satisfied with just anything taking place in his life. If something took place, it had to take place specifically for him because that’s what made him unique and what made it special. He voices in the first stanza that a ‘god’ could cause vengeance that was specifically for him and it’d be a profit…
If but some vengeful god would call to me
From up the sky, and laugh: “Thou suffering thing,
Know that thy sorrow is thy ecstasy,
That thy love’s loss is my hate’s profiting!”
To gladly accept the intentional suffering of a ‘god’ for personal betterment seems to be a bit of a stretch. For one reason, any type of suffering should not be amusing to God, but then again I am speaking from the beliefs of a Christian. On another note, Hardy seems to have some humor in this piece with emphatic use of enduring pain. For God to powerful, and humans to be weak, it’d be a little ironic for Him to take pleasure by us suffering and make Him weak. And for a human to be “all-powerful and mighty” because he accepts specified suffering seems to be a clever literary spoof on an opposition of roles. Mr. Hardy chose his words carefully and cleverly and I applaud him for this piece. Maybe I’m looking at it wrong, but I feel he did a very good job at being sarcastic on a controversial issue.
Friday, June 29, 2007
R. Browning
Robert Browning
Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” scared me a little at first. I had to go back and look at the foot notes to make sure I was understanding it correctly. My first impression of the poem was, “Wow, this guy has serious control issues!!” It seemed like Browning was using the other characters in the piece to voice how he felt about his lover. Browning was ‘sheltered’ and ‘spoiled’ growing up, so this didn’t seem too far-fetched.
The poem is, in fact, about the Duke looking at a painting of his last duchess for he is now widowed. The Duke reminisces on the painting sessions of the portrait and also on the past memories he has of her. He was a jealous man, in my eyes and held himself above others simply because he was royalty. He voices his dissatisfaction of his wife, who was very humble and modest, would give strangers the same smile she would give to him for thanks.
She thanked men,--good! But thanked
Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody’s gift
Although the Duke did have his royal name to be proud of, I feel that he thought a little too much of himself for something he didn’t really earn. Browning did a good job with this piece. It wasn’t difficult to understand or follow and was very well written
Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” scared me a little at first. I had to go back and look at the foot notes to make sure I was understanding it correctly. My first impression of the poem was, “Wow, this guy has serious control issues!!” It seemed like Browning was using the other characters in the piece to voice how he felt about his lover. Browning was ‘sheltered’ and ‘spoiled’ growing up, so this didn’t seem too far-fetched.
The poem is, in fact, about the Duke looking at a painting of his last duchess for he is now widowed. The Duke reminisces on the painting sessions of the portrait and also on the past memories he has of her. He was a jealous man, in my eyes and held himself above others simply because he was royalty. He voices his dissatisfaction of his wife, who was very humble and modest, would give strangers the same smile she would give to him for thanks.
She thanked men,--good! But thanked
Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody’s gift
Although the Duke did have his royal name to be proud of, I feel that he thought a little too much of himself for something he didn’t really earn. Browning did a good job with this piece. It wasn’t difficult to understand or follow and was very well written
E. Browning
Elizabeth Browning
“The most celebrated woman poet of the Victorian era”
Elizabeth Browning was the eldest of eleven children and had a passion for Greek poetry. She grew up in the country and later moved to London where she had a hard time adjusting to her surroundings. Her poetry, at one point, was the only thing to keep her hopes up. Her sonnets were a particular favorite of mine. Here are my take on sonnets 21 and 22
21 “Say over again, and yet once over again,/That thou dost love me.” (lines 1-2)
The theme of this sonnet is doubt and reassurance of love. Throughout this sonnet Browning acknowledges repetition might be viewed as unnecessary as some might see the cuckoo’s song as unnecessary, but reassurance of love is an important to a relationships health as the cuckoo’s song is to announcing the coming of Spring. Despite the love she feels Browning is mired in doubt as well:
“ Beloved I, amid the darkness greeted/ By a doubtful spirit-voice, in that doubts pain,/Cry, ‘Speak once more--though lovest!’” ( line 7-9)
Despite what seems to be a focus on the spoken word, Browning ends her plea with her deepest desire, for her love to love her but “only minding, Dear,/To love me also in silence with thy soul.” (lines 13-14)
22 Browning begins this sonnet with the image of the souls of her and her love’s souls rising higher and higher into heaven after death, but despite the image the poem does not convey a desire to love him until the end of time while in heaven. Her wish is to remain on earth..she asks
“---what bitter wrong/Can the earth do to us, that we should not long/Be here contented? Think! In mounting higher,/The angels would press on us and spire/ To drop some golden orb of perfect song/Into our deep, dear silence.” (lines 4-9)
She finds beauty in the living in an unfit, contrary world that essentially leaves their “pure spirits” alone. Essentially, she finds their love beautiful by comparison. A love compared to the outside world is easier to cherish and feels more special and beautiful A love compared to the beauty of heaven and angels would be almost inadequate or impossible to compare.
“The most celebrated woman poet of the Victorian era”
Elizabeth Browning was the eldest of eleven children and had a passion for Greek poetry. She grew up in the country and later moved to London where she had a hard time adjusting to her surroundings. Her poetry, at one point, was the only thing to keep her hopes up. Her sonnets were a particular favorite of mine. Here are my take on sonnets 21 and 22
21 “Say over again, and yet once over again,/That thou dost love me.” (lines 1-2)
The theme of this sonnet is doubt and reassurance of love. Throughout this sonnet Browning acknowledges repetition might be viewed as unnecessary as some might see the cuckoo’s song as unnecessary, but reassurance of love is an important to a relationships health as the cuckoo’s song is to announcing the coming of Spring. Despite the love she feels Browning is mired in doubt as well:
“ Beloved I, amid the darkness greeted/ By a doubtful spirit-voice, in that doubts pain,/Cry, ‘Speak once more--though lovest!’” ( line 7-9)
Despite what seems to be a focus on the spoken word, Browning ends her plea with her deepest desire, for her love to love her but “only minding, Dear,/To love me also in silence with thy soul.” (lines 13-14)
22 Browning begins this sonnet with the image of the souls of her and her love’s souls rising higher and higher into heaven after death, but despite the image the poem does not convey a desire to love him until the end of time while in heaven. Her wish is to remain on earth..she asks
“---what bitter wrong/Can the earth do to us, that we should not long/Be here contented? Think! In mounting higher,/The angels would press on us and spire/ To drop some golden orb of perfect song/Into our deep, dear silence.” (lines 4-9)
She finds beauty in the living in an unfit, contrary world that essentially leaves their “pure spirits” alone. Essentially, she finds their love beautiful by comparison. A love compared to the outside world is easier to cherish and feels more special and beautiful A love compared to the beauty of heaven and angels would be almost inadequate or impossible to compare.
Woolf
Virginia Woolf (e-text)
Even the beginning of this excerpt is a tribute to the power of women. Woolf claims that it was easy for her to become a journalist: “She had only to move the pen from left to right--from ten o’clock to one. Then it occurred to her to do what was simple and cheap enough after all--to slip a few of those pages into an envelope, fix a penny stamp in the corner, and drop the envelope into the red box at the corner.” Her easy transition into writer essentially refutes the common prejudices against women in professional or “men’s” occupations. Her only remorse was that, at first, she did not know the struggles of professional women, and with her first wages bought a cat instead of paying bills.
Woolf’s battle with a certain phantom she calls The Angel in the House is truly the main theme of this excerpt. This allusion to a poem of the same name by Coventry Patmore gives her phantom the character of the “perfect Victorian woman” who is meek, domestic, subservient, and judged by surface material. This angel “excelled in the arts of family life. She sacrificed herself daily. If there was chicken, she took the leg. If there was a draught, she sat in it--in short she was so constituted that she never had a mind or wish of her own, but preferred to sympathize always with the minds and wishes of others.“ Woolf’s Angel is the descendent of these beliefs. Her fight is with modern societal prejudices against the ability and roles of women. This angel is a personification of the social identity that was ingrained into Woolf ,and many other women of her time, since birth. But in oder to succeed in her journalist career, Woolf had to thoroughly shed these hindering beliefs. Or as she puts it, she had to kill the angel.
The killing of these beliefs was an act of self defense to Woolf: “Had I not killed her she would have killed me. She would have plucked the heart right out of my writing.” Identifying as one with her writing, Woolf realizes that internalizing the beliefs of her phantom would have been the death of her writing and of herself. Internalizing unjust beliefs is demoralizing and perpetuates a cycle of sex based inequality., which is exactly what Woolf and her contemporaries fought against. This struggle to her was in a sense a waste of time. She had to spend precious moments fighting for an equality that should have been a natural right instead of learning a new language or seeking adventures but in her words “Killing the Angel in the House was part of the occupation of a woman writer.”
Even the beginning of this excerpt is a tribute to the power of women. Woolf claims that it was easy for her to become a journalist: “She had only to move the pen from left to right--from ten o’clock to one. Then it occurred to her to do what was simple and cheap enough after all--to slip a few of those pages into an envelope, fix a penny stamp in the corner, and drop the envelope into the red box at the corner.” Her easy transition into writer essentially refutes the common prejudices against women in professional or “men’s” occupations. Her only remorse was that, at first, she did not know the struggles of professional women, and with her first wages bought a cat instead of paying bills.
Woolf’s battle with a certain phantom she calls The Angel in the House is truly the main theme of this excerpt. This allusion to a poem of the same name by Coventry Patmore gives her phantom the character of the “perfect Victorian woman” who is meek, domestic, subservient, and judged by surface material. This angel “excelled in the arts of family life. She sacrificed herself daily. If there was chicken, she took the leg. If there was a draught, she sat in it--in short she was so constituted that she never had a mind or wish of her own, but preferred to sympathize always with the minds and wishes of others.“ Woolf’s Angel is the descendent of these beliefs. Her fight is with modern societal prejudices against the ability and roles of women. This angel is a personification of the social identity that was ingrained into Woolf ,and many other women of her time, since birth. But in oder to succeed in her journalist career, Woolf had to thoroughly shed these hindering beliefs. Or as she puts it, she had to kill the angel.
The killing of these beliefs was an act of self defense to Woolf: “Had I not killed her she would have killed me. She would have plucked the heart right out of my writing.” Identifying as one with her writing, Woolf realizes that internalizing the beliefs of her phantom would have been the death of her writing and of herself. Internalizing unjust beliefs is demoralizing and perpetuates a cycle of sex based inequality., which is exactly what Woolf and her contemporaries fought against. This struggle to her was in a sense a waste of time. She had to spend precious moments fighting for an equality that should have been a natural right instead of learning a new language or seeking adventures but in her words “Killing the Angel in the House was part of the occupation of a woman writer.”
W. Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a poet of the Romantic period who wrote both in rhyme and in free verse. Wordsworth was also known for the imagery he used in his pieces. He liked to provoke his audience’s feelings and did so in such a way that we would get lost in his words. Even if the poem was about death, which he spoke of with several voices, the language in which Wordsworth used left with a feeling of comfort.
His piece “We are Seven”, for example, is written in the voice of a small girl. In this poem he begins speaking (I’m assuming it’s him) and finishes the poem in the voice of a little girl. Her words are delicate and death does not seem to bother her. She speaks of the family members that have died in her family and where their bodies lie. Even though we usually don’t associate children speaking of death, the girl in this piece had a very strong voice and didn’t seem to be speaking outside of her age frame. She was articulate, calm, and confident with her words and Wordsworth did a very good job making their conversation believable. I took a persona poetry course so I know how challenging that can be.
Death is also in Wordsworth’s piece “Strange fits of passion have I known.” In this poem he speaks of his trip going o see a woman named Lucy. He never reveals who exactly Lucy is, but he describes the scenery and the night on his way to go see her. The moon is his guiding light…
I to her cottage bent my way
Beneath the evening moon
And gives a sense of comfort along his route. The night seems cool and while reading, I felt as if I were on horseback on my way too!! All along his journey his thought of her kept him happy and then he mentions how the thought of her death would bring him pain. The mysteriousness of Wordsworth was also, I feel, a strong point of his writing.
William Wordsworth was a poet of the Romantic period who wrote both in rhyme and in free verse. Wordsworth was also known for the imagery he used in his pieces. He liked to provoke his audience’s feelings and did so in such a way that we would get lost in his words. Even if the poem was about death, which he spoke of with several voices, the language in which Wordsworth used left with a feeling of comfort.
His piece “We are Seven”, for example, is written in the voice of a small girl. In this poem he begins speaking (I’m assuming it’s him) and finishes the poem in the voice of a little girl. Her words are delicate and death does not seem to bother her. She speaks of the family members that have died in her family and where their bodies lie. Even though we usually don’t associate children speaking of death, the girl in this piece had a very strong voice and didn’t seem to be speaking outside of her age frame. She was articulate, calm, and confident with her words and Wordsworth did a very good job making their conversation believable. I took a persona poetry course so I know how challenging that can be.
Death is also in Wordsworth’s piece “Strange fits of passion have I known.” In this poem he speaks of his trip going o see a woman named Lucy. He never reveals who exactly Lucy is, but he describes the scenery and the night on his way to go see her. The moon is his guiding light…
I to her cottage bent my way
Beneath the evening moon
And gives a sense of comfort along his route. The night seems cool and while reading, I felt as if I were on horseback on my way too!! All along his journey his thought of her kept him happy and then he mentions how the thought of her death would bring him pain. The mysteriousness of Wordsworth was also, I feel, a strong point of his writing.
Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
After reading the bio information on Shelley I thought I was going to be in for a real treat. In our text book his called “one of the most radically visionary of the Romantics” and he seemed to be quite the risk taker. He was expelled from Oxford for a pamphlet he assisted in writing with a friend on atheism. Later in his life, which was riddled with scandal and misfortune, he was even denied custody of his children because of a piece he wrote, Prometheus Unbound. Shelley lived a short life, but it was filled with more than enough activity for during the years he was alive.
Looking at Shelley’s “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” I ended up with some mixed emotions. At first I felt like he was trying to propose rhetorical questions about the “Spirit of Beauty” and why mankind focused so much on “love and hate, despondency and hope” because there was more to life, but I didn’t that way towards the end of it. Typically, I expect most writings to push toward getting closer to God unless the author was known for having religious beliefs where God wasn’t the Alpha and Omega of life. Then I remembered Shelley’s being expelled for the pamphlet. In the third stanza he writes…
…Frail spells—whose uttered charm might not avail to sever/
From all we hear and all we see,
Doubt, chance, and mutability
Which I interpreted as him speaking on prayer. It seems that Shelley is saying the “frail spells” (prayer) might not be worth anything in long run and it seems like he is trying the power/might of God. I may just be reacting to the piece to personally, but I didn’t find his work all that great. Besides the content being disturbing, I didn’t feel it was written well either.
After reading the bio information on Shelley I thought I was going to be in for a real treat. In our text book his called “one of the most radically visionary of the Romantics” and he seemed to be quite the risk taker. He was expelled from Oxford for a pamphlet he assisted in writing with a friend on atheism. Later in his life, which was riddled with scandal and misfortune, he was even denied custody of his children because of a piece he wrote, Prometheus Unbound. Shelley lived a short life, but it was filled with more than enough activity for during the years he was alive.
Looking at Shelley’s “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” I ended up with some mixed emotions. At first I felt like he was trying to propose rhetorical questions about the “Spirit of Beauty” and why mankind focused so much on “love and hate, despondency and hope” because there was more to life, but I didn’t that way towards the end of it. Typically, I expect most writings to push toward getting closer to God unless the author was known for having religious beliefs where God wasn’t the Alpha and Omega of life. Then I remembered Shelley’s being expelled for the pamphlet. In the third stanza he writes…
…Frail spells—whose uttered charm might not avail to sever/
From all we hear and all we see,
Doubt, chance, and mutability
Which I interpreted as him speaking on prayer. It seems that Shelley is saying the “frail spells” (prayer) might not be worth anything in long run and it seems like he is trying the power/might of God. I may just be reacting to the piece to personally, but I didn’t find his work all that great. Besides the content being disturbing, I didn’t feel it was written well either.
D. Wordsworth
Dorothy Wordsworth
“I should detest the idea of setting myself as an Author,” were the words of Dorothy Wordsworth. Dorothy Wordsworth was indeed a great writer like her brother William, but never desired for her works to be published. Dorothy was more of a private writer who encompassed the skill and craft of a poet. She was closest to her brother William (there were other siblings) and the two of them inspired each other’s works. Many of their pieces actually were responses and almost conversational to the other’s work. Before her death, William published a few of her works in him volumes and merely specified them as being written “By my sister” and not signing her name to them. The two lived together, even after William was married, and couldn’t have been any closer.
Some of the things I really liked about Dorothy’s writing were her simplicity and thoroughness. Her journal entries and poem “Thoughts on My Sick-bed” were a few of the pieces I really enjoyed. Her entry “A Vision of the Moon” captured my attention. I absolutely love being outdoors and the stars and moon have a special place with me. Her description of the night was captivating and reminded me of some of the nights I spent looking up at the stars. Her poem made me a little sad, but I felt that it was written well. She didn’t go into depth about her misery or pain and mainly spoke of her friends coming to see her and voiced…
When loving Friends an offering brought,
The first flowers of the year,
Culled from the precincts of our home,
From nooks to Memory dear….
--I thought of Nature’s loveliest scenes;
And with Memory I was there.
She never seemed to let anything bring her down and I found that personally inspiring.
“I should detest the idea of setting myself as an Author,” were the words of Dorothy Wordsworth. Dorothy Wordsworth was indeed a great writer like her brother William, but never desired for her works to be published. Dorothy was more of a private writer who encompassed the skill and craft of a poet. She was closest to her brother William (there were other siblings) and the two of them inspired each other’s works. Many of their pieces actually were responses and almost conversational to the other’s work. Before her death, William published a few of her works in him volumes and merely specified them as being written “By my sister” and not signing her name to them. The two lived together, even after William was married, and couldn’t have been any closer.
Some of the things I really liked about Dorothy’s writing were her simplicity and thoroughness. Her journal entries and poem “Thoughts on My Sick-bed” were a few of the pieces I really enjoyed. Her entry “A Vision of the Moon” captured my attention. I absolutely love being outdoors and the stars and moon have a special place with me. Her description of the night was captivating and reminded me of some of the nights I spent looking up at the stars. Her poem made me a little sad, but I felt that it was written well. She didn’t go into depth about her misery or pain and mainly spoke of her friends coming to see her and voiced…
When loving Friends an offering brought,
The first flowers of the year,
Culled from the precincts of our home,
From nooks to Memory dear….
--I thought of Nature’s loveliest scenes;
And with Memory I was there.
She never seemed to let anything bring her down and I found that personally inspiring.
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