Robert Browning did not receive the sudden success that his wife Elizabeth had. Unlike most of the writers of that time, he did not want to relay his own personality through his poetry which made it more difficult for readers to feel the same sense of passion while reading his work. He found his personal talent after he starting writing poems where the star in the work had an aberrant personality that the reader could sympathize or identify with. Browning brought new complex levels to dramatic monologue.
Browning had the tendency to make his stars tell their own deep dark secrets, but in order to figure it out the reader needs to pay close attention to the words. One example of this is Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess”. The speaker in this poem is supposed to represent Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara. He is in negotiation with a father of a woman who he plans on marrying. They stop to look at a portrait of the old duchess, his last wife, who had recently died, where poison was suspected. By the end of this poem, I felt like he was the one responsible for this young lady’s death.
In the beginning, the father and the duke stop in front of the portrait to discuss the duchess. Even at this point, I knew that the duke did not feel anything for this woman because instead of reflecting on her and her personality, he chose to talk about the artist and when the painting was done. It was as if he was talking about this portrait as he would have talked about any other portrait in the palace.
Continuing in the poem, the duke’s true personality started to come out when he was talking about things that angered him about his duchess. “A heart- how shall I say? – too soon made glad,/ Too easily impressed; she liked whate’ver/ She looked on”. It seems like the duke thought she was a huge flirt and she liked to talk to any type of man. This seemed to make him very jealous and upset because I think he felt like he was being taken for granted. I think he believed that when she was smiling at him, she might have been cheating on him so he had to do something about that, “I gave commands;/ Then all smiles stopped together”.
After reading this, I could feel the duke’s bitterness and his desire to have this woman out of his life. I really believe that he had a hand in her death. This poem ends with the father and duke walking away from the portrait and going to look at another one, “Notice Neptune, though,/ Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,/ Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me”. He spoke about this second portrait in a similar way that he did the first one which shows me the indifference he had for his duchess. I would think that someone who lost their wife and was truly upset about it would have some sort of sad feeling when talking about a portrait of her.
I feel like Browning wrote this poem with an open ending so the reader can make their own interpretation of what happened. He did not talk about the death of the duchess or even how she died, so the reader must decide what the duke meant by what he was saying. My personal feeling was that he did not like this woman and the way she made him feel so he got rid of her. I felt like it was very ironic that he was telling this story to the father of the new woman that he wanted to marry. If my father heard this story, I do not think that he would allow me to marry him.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
I have enjoyed reading the poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning the most so far. I am a typical girl that loves watching chick flicks and reading corny books, so reading about her love for her husband was really exciting for me. She truly deserved to find someone like Robert after the life that she had lived: she was very sick, her mother died, she was forced to leave her home, and then she had to live in seclusion for many years. When she met Robert, her life completely changed and it also had a very big impact on her writing.
The poem that really struck my eye was the “Sonnets from the Portuguese”. I really felt her love for this man through these sonnets and I felt like she was a lucky woman. All women dream about the time that they are going to meet the man of their dreams and I feel like Elizabeth really did. There were three of these sonnets that I enjoyed the most and they were the first, twenty first, and the thirty eighth.
I think that the first sonnet was expressing how she felt before she had the opportunity to meet this man. She was a woman growing up that desired love; however, she lived a very depressing life even though she was famous. For so many years she lived in seclusion due to her sickness and she said these were the “melancholy years”. She always felt like she was close to death but after meeting Robert she says, “Guess who holds thee? – Death, Not Death, but Love”. At this point of time, her life started to change for the better.
In sonnet 21, she seems to be acting like a giddy little girl in love. I do not think that she had ever really felt that loved and she has certainly never heard it before. “Say thou dost love me, love me, love me – toll/ The silver iterance”. All she wants is for Robert not only to tell her that he loves her but to also feel it.
The last sonnet that really caught my attention was the thirty eighth one. She can remember the exact times that she received her first kisses from him. The first kiss that she received from him was only on her hand, but she felt like it was the best kiss ever and see seemed utterly happy. “A ring amethyst/ I could not wear here, plainer to my sight,/ Than that first kiss”. This kiss actually meant more to her than having a beautiful ring on her finger. Since the second kiss was on her forehead, close to her hair, she compared it to wearing a crown. The last kiss was on her lips and she says “My love, my own”. Even though she felt amazing after the first two kisses, once she received the kiss on the lips, she knew that he was the one. Most people can tell if they are meant for each other from their first kiss, and I think this is an example of this.
The poem that really struck my eye was the “Sonnets from the Portuguese”. I really felt her love for this man through these sonnets and I felt like she was a lucky woman. All women dream about the time that they are going to meet the man of their dreams and I feel like Elizabeth really did. There were three of these sonnets that I enjoyed the most and they were the first, twenty first, and the thirty eighth.
I think that the first sonnet was expressing how she felt before she had the opportunity to meet this man. She was a woman growing up that desired love; however, she lived a very depressing life even though she was famous. For so many years she lived in seclusion due to her sickness and she said these were the “melancholy years”. She always felt like she was close to death but after meeting Robert she says, “Guess who holds thee? – Death, Not Death, but Love”. At this point of time, her life started to change for the better.
In sonnet 21, she seems to be acting like a giddy little girl in love. I do not think that she had ever really felt that loved and she has certainly never heard it before. “Say thou dost love me, love me, love me – toll/ The silver iterance”. All she wants is for Robert not only to tell her that he loves her but to also feel it.
The last sonnet that really caught my attention was the thirty eighth one. She can remember the exact times that she received her first kisses from him. The first kiss that she received from him was only on her hand, but she felt like it was the best kiss ever and see seemed utterly happy. “A ring amethyst/ I could not wear here, plainer to my sight,/ Than that first kiss”. This kiss actually meant more to her than having a beautiful ring on her finger. Since the second kiss was on her forehead, close to her hair, she compared it to wearing a crown. The last kiss was on her lips and she says “My love, my own”. Even though she felt amazing after the first two kisses, once she received the kiss on the lips, she knew that he was the one. Most people can tell if they are meant for each other from their first kiss, and I think this is an example of this.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Tennyson had to overcome a lot of downfalls in her life. His father was disowned by his father and could not inherit the title that he was supposed to. His family was also cursed with problems with addiction. One of his brothers was an alcoholic, one addicted to opium, and he had a serious problem with depression. Then more problems came when his friend and mentor, Arthur Henry Hallam, died. Since he was a very quite man, his emotion had to come out through his poetry.
The poem that intrigued me the most by Tennyson was “The Lady of Shalott.” I could feel the emotion of Tennyson coming through while I was reading this poem. I really felt for the lady when she was pining over Sir Lancelot.
The first part introduces the lady and her circumstances. She watches people walking to Camelot from her tower where she is a weaver. No one really even knows that she is in this tower and I could feel a sense of longing for the outside world through the writing even though the lady did not long to leave yet. It seems like the outside area is being put up on a pedestal like through the lines “Willows whiten, aspens quiver,/ Little breezes dusk and shiver/ Thro’ the wave that runs for ever/ By the island in the river.”
The second part starts with her weaving and hearing “A curse is on her if she stay”. At this point she is unaware of what is about to happen to her because she does not know any better. Since she has never had to feel the emotions of the outside world she does not know what this means. She always sees different types of people, but the first time she is affected is when she sees two lovers that have just been married. This is the first time that she speaks in the poem, “I am half sick of the shadows”. I think this is the first time that she begins to realize that she does not have a good life and wants to be free of this tower.
She sees Sir Lancelot for the first time in the third part. This is when she finally realizes that she really is cursed and she knows exactly what this curse is. This is the first time she experiences some kind of lust. I think she believes that she is in love with him which I do not believe. I think that she has never felt sexually attracted to anyone before and the feeling of lust was overwhelming for her.
The final part of the poem shows the lady’s demise. After seeing Sir Lancelot, she could no longer work and she had to lie down. While she was lying there, I felt like she was dreaming of the way she wanted her life to be and at that moment all she wanted to do was be one of those people who walked to Camelot. This was the only thing she knew because the only thing she would see was people walking there from her tower. The poem ends by Lancelot saying “She has a lovely face;/ God in his mercy lend her grace,/ The Lady of Shalott”. This is very ironic because he is the one trying to save her for eternity but he was also the reason for her death. This poem shows that no one can be saved from love and pain. It is natural for all people to feel lust for others and want to be loved.
The poem that intrigued me the most by Tennyson was “The Lady of Shalott.” I could feel the emotion of Tennyson coming through while I was reading this poem. I really felt for the lady when she was pining over Sir Lancelot.
The first part introduces the lady and her circumstances. She watches people walking to Camelot from her tower where she is a weaver. No one really even knows that she is in this tower and I could feel a sense of longing for the outside world through the writing even though the lady did not long to leave yet. It seems like the outside area is being put up on a pedestal like through the lines “Willows whiten, aspens quiver,/ Little breezes dusk and shiver/ Thro’ the wave that runs for ever/ By the island in the river.”
The second part starts with her weaving and hearing “A curse is on her if she stay”. At this point she is unaware of what is about to happen to her because she does not know any better. Since she has never had to feel the emotions of the outside world she does not know what this means. She always sees different types of people, but the first time she is affected is when she sees two lovers that have just been married. This is the first time that she speaks in the poem, “I am half sick of the shadows”. I think this is the first time that she begins to realize that she does not have a good life and wants to be free of this tower.
She sees Sir Lancelot for the first time in the third part. This is when she finally realizes that she really is cursed and she knows exactly what this curse is. This is the first time she experiences some kind of lust. I think she believes that she is in love with him which I do not believe. I think that she has never felt sexually attracted to anyone before and the feeling of lust was overwhelming for her.
The final part of the poem shows the lady’s demise. After seeing Sir Lancelot, she could no longer work and she had to lie down. While she was lying there, I felt like she was dreaming of the way she wanted her life to be and at that moment all she wanted to do was be one of those people who walked to Camelot. This was the only thing she knew because the only thing she would see was people walking there from her tower. The poem ends by Lancelot saying “She has a lovely face;/ God in his mercy lend her grace,/ The Lady of Shalott”. This is very ironic because he is the one trying to save her for eternity but he was also the reason for her death. This poem shows that no one can be saved from love and pain. It is natural for all people to feel lust for others and want to be loved.
Charles Dickens
I felt like this was a very different story than I have ever read. I was not sure if this was just a story or is Charles Dickens really did go to this prison and write about what he saw. It is possible that he could have looked up all of this information but from the way that it was presented, I feel like he had to have gone to this place because I really felt like I was in the prison looking at these poor people.
The main goal of this story is to make all the people on the outside aware of the conditions of this people in this prison. However, Dickens did not want to show people this with statistical information but he wanted the people to feel the way that he did when he walked through.
The first prisoners that he encounters are the women prisoners. I did not know if I felt bad for these women are not because it is their own fault for being there. When he looked at one woman, he described her as being “yellow, haggard, decrepit old woman, in a tattered gown that had once been black” but he also described another young woman as being unmoved and unaffected by the prison. I personally feel like the reason for this is because the old woman may have been there for a lot longer than the old lady and with time a person’s sanity may be lost and they will age much faster. He feels like the young woman had very neglectful parents who did not love them, but I have to assume that most of the people that are found in prison probably came from these kinds of parents. Parents are the people that mold their children in what they are to become, and those parents who did not nurture these children helped them to grow up on the wrong path.
The part that really hit me the most and made me the saddest was when he was walking through the school section. The prisoners were all boys under the age of fourteen and they had been imprisoned for pocket picking. He recalls that these boys all looked dishonest and they seemed pleased to be in there. This made me upset because in essence it is not these boys fault for the way they are. Like I said before, they must have had a very bad life growing up in a family that was very poor and just did not care about them. These young boys are truly hopeless and will probably never change because it seems like they have been sort of brainwashed for their whole lives.
When he walked to the condemned ward, I felt like most of these men were very hypocritical. The ones waiting for their judgment did not seem to be anxious or have any mental suffering because they felt like they still had hope. The only reason I feel like they were hypocritical was because none of these men even opened the Testament that was left for them. If they really wanted to have a sense of hope they needed to turn to another power.
This chapter ended with the reaction of a man that awaited death the following day. It is at this point, the man seemed extremely desperate. He is freaking out with every chime of the clock and he is trying to be forgiven by reading the bible. I feel like this may have been too late to start reading the bible and those men may have had a better fate than this man if they had opened that Testament. When he falls asleep, I feel like he is trying to ease his mind because he tries to apologize to his wife for what has happened. I could not imagine being able to count down the hours till my death and I really do not know how I would react.
The main goal of this story is to make all the people on the outside aware of the conditions of this people in this prison. However, Dickens did not want to show people this with statistical information but he wanted the people to feel the way that he did when he walked through.
The first prisoners that he encounters are the women prisoners. I did not know if I felt bad for these women are not because it is their own fault for being there. When he looked at one woman, he described her as being “yellow, haggard, decrepit old woman, in a tattered gown that had once been black” but he also described another young woman as being unmoved and unaffected by the prison. I personally feel like the reason for this is because the old woman may have been there for a lot longer than the old lady and with time a person’s sanity may be lost and they will age much faster. He feels like the young woman had very neglectful parents who did not love them, but I have to assume that most of the people that are found in prison probably came from these kinds of parents. Parents are the people that mold their children in what they are to become, and those parents who did not nurture these children helped them to grow up on the wrong path.
The part that really hit me the most and made me the saddest was when he was walking through the school section. The prisoners were all boys under the age of fourteen and they had been imprisoned for pocket picking. He recalls that these boys all looked dishonest and they seemed pleased to be in there. This made me upset because in essence it is not these boys fault for the way they are. Like I said before, they must have had a very bad life growing up in a family that was very poor and just did not care about them. These young boys are truly hopeless and will probably never change because it seems like they have been sort of brainwashed for their whole lives.
When he walked to the condemned ward, I felt like most of these men were very hypocritical. The ones waiting for their judgment did not seem to be anxious or have any mental suffering because they felt like they still had hope. The only reason I feel like they were hypocritical was because none of these men even opened the Testament that was left for them. If they really wanted to have a sense of hope they needed to turn to another power.
This chapter ended with the reaction of a man that awaited death the following day. It is at this point, the man seemed extremely desperate. He is freaking out with every chime of the clock and he is trying to be forgiven by reading the bible. I feel like this may have been too late to start reading the bible and those men may have had a better fate than this man if they had opened that Testament. When he falls asleep, I feel like he is trying to ease his mind because he tries to apologize to his wife for what has happened. I could not imagine being able to count down the hours till my death and I really do not know how I would react.
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle was a strong advocate of social reform. Since he had struggled with poverty, poor health, and insomnia for most of his life, I feel like his opinion truly matters. I think anyone who has lived on the oppressed side has a right to stand up for what he or she believes in. It is very obvious to me that Carlyle is very passionate while writing and it comes through in his stories. This made reading them a lot more interesting and I truly started to feel badly for the poor of that time period.
When he wrote “Midas”, he seemed to be fighting for the poor and describing the harsh conditions that some of the people had to live in. They were not receiving any help from any of the higher class people or the government. It was not until I read “The Irish Widow” that I truly felt for the people of this time. This poor widow went to charitable establishment after charitable establishment with her three children looking for help but none was given to her. In the end she came down with typhus fever and infected seventeen others who all died. I think Carlyle was trying to prove that all humans are linked in some kind of brotherhood or sisterhood no matter their social class in life. I think he was saying his true feelings through the voice of the physician, “Would it not have been economy to help this poor widow?” He was trying to show the people that something like karma will always come back to them when they leave people of their own country to die. Since they all refused to help her, she proved her sisterhood with them and they went down with her. Carlyle says that the problem with the government is that the government for the poor is run by the rich people, and they believe that it is “impossible” to relate to the poor. It is proven that everyone is related, and because of their selfishness, they are dead.
The other excerpt that really stuck out to me was “Know Thy Work”. I think that this came from Carlyle’s personal feelings because he, too, had a journey to discover the kind of work that he wanted to do. He believes that work is a very noble thing and the working man is filled with hope. If someone is not working in a job that they are passionate about or enjoy doing, then they will be “tormented”. When I read the line “the whole soul of a man is composed into a kind of real harmony, the instant he sets himself to work” I felt like this is a true statement that many people today can relate to. Most people that are unemployed today lose their feeling of self worth because it is natural for every person to want to feel some sense of accomplishment. Carlyle also believes that each person is destined to do a certain type of job, and when they do not fulfill this destiny they will not have any sort of accomplishment in life. I liked his example of this using the potter and the wheel. If this potter did not have this wheel, he would be forced to do something else like become a baker but he will never be good at it. This excerpt ends with a very powerful line that Carlyle and everyone else can relate to, “Doubt, of whatever kind, can be ended by Action alone.” The only way to get out of a job that person does not love is by actually getting up and leaving. I think Carlyle felt this way because he had originally gone to the ministry to become a minister; however, he started to feel doubt about religion and he just quite. He then tried to be a school teacher, but he did not love this so he also quite that. If Carlyle did not feel like it was important to follow your destiny and to keep trying until you are on the right path, then he would not have ever become a writer and this would have been a loss to the world. Carlyle became a role model for all of the Victorian writers and he is still a role model today.
When he wrote “Midas”, he seemed to be fighting for the poor and describing the harsh conditions that some of the people had to live in. They were not receiving any help from any of the higher class people or the government. It was not until I read “The Irish Widow” that I truly felt for the people of this time. This poor widow went to charitable establishment after charitable establishment with her three children looking for help but none was given to her. In the end she came down with typhus fever and infected seventeen others who all died. I think Carlyle was trying to prove that all humans are linked in some kind of brotherhood or sisterhood no matter their social class in life. I think he was saying his true feelings through the voice of the physician, “Would it not have been economy to help this poor widow?” He was trying to show the people that something like karma will always come back to them when they leave people of their own country to die. Since they all refused to help her, she proved her sisterhood with them and they went down with her. Carlyle says that the problem with the government is that the government for the poor is run by the rich people, and they believe that it is “impossible” to relate to the poor. It is proven that everyone is related, and because of their selfishness, they are dead.
The other excerpt that really stuck out to me was “Know Thy Work”. I think that this came from Carlyle’s personal feelings because he, too, had a journey to discover the kind of work that he wanted to do. He believes that work is a very noble thing and the working man is filled with hope. If someone is not working in a job that they are passionate about or enjoy doing, then they will be “tormented”. When I read the line “the whole soul of a man is composed into a kind of real harmony, the instant he sets himself to work” I felt like this is a true statement that many people today can relate to. Most people that are unemployed today lose their feeling of self worth because it is natural for every person to want to feel some sense of accomplishment. Carlyle also believes that each person is destined to do a certain type of job, and when they do not fulfill this destiny they will not have any sort of accomplishment in life. I liked his example of this using the potter and the wheel. If this potter did not have this wheel, he would be forced to do something else like become a baker but he will never be good at it. This excerpt ends with a very powerful line that Carlyle and everyone else can relate to, “Doubt, of whatever kind, can be ended by Action alone.” The only way to get out of a job that person does not love is by actually getting up and leaving. I think Carlyle felt this way because he had originally gone to the ministry to become a minister; however, he started to feel doubt about religion and he just quite. He then tried to be a school teacher, but he did not love this so he also quite that. If Carlyle did not feel like it was important to follow your destiny and to keep trying until you are on the right path, then he would not have ever become a writer and this would have been a loss to the world. Carlyle became a role model for all of the Victorian writers and he is still a role model today.
Friday, June 15, 2007
John Keats
The career of John Keats was a lot shorter than those of the poets that we have already covered. He wrote and published poems from 1814-1820. It seems apparent through a lot of his sonnets and odes that he greatly feared aging and dieing. I think this had a lot to do with the fact the he had tuberculosis and was continuously sick. He knew that he would not be around for as long as most other poets and he wanted to be able to leave his mark. These fears are obviously shown in his sonnet “When I have fears” but when reading his work I enjoyed reading about this same idea in his odes, his most popular writings.
In the “Ode to a Nightingale” he shows his audience his fear of death. The first moment that I realized that this was going to be a dark poem is when I read the title. The nightingale is a bird that only sings in the night which is a symbol of darkness. This ode starts out by talking about the grief that the reader was going through and he felt like he had just taken some type of drug. This may have been an actual feeling of Keats because drugs were a common medicine for people suffering from sickness back in the 1800s. The speaker hears this nightingale and seems to have a sort of out of body experience. It was in the third stanza that I really felt like I could see Keats thoughts on death. “Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget/ What thou among the leaves hast never known,/ The weariness, the fever, and the fret.” It is hear that the speaker wants to just leave this mortal world because of all the hardships. He continues by sating that it would be best to die listening to this song and it would also be pain free. I think that Keats was afraid of living in a world where he was sick and he had a lot of troubles. Maybe he was afraid that at the actual time of his death, he would also be in a lot of pain. If he was with this nightingale, he figured he could always listen to this beautiful song and forget about the hard ache that the nightingale knows nothing about. He then says “I have been half in love with easeful death.” I think that this line is a true reflection of how Keats was actually feeling. It is a matter of him coming to grips with the reality that he is going to die and maybe that in a way eases the pain of death. After the speaker talks about wanting to die here, he realizes that even in death he would not be treated fairly because his mortal ears would no longer be able to hear the song; therefore, it seems like it would not be worth it. The speaker thinks to himself that this bird is immortal and just goes around singing this song to the “forlorn” world. It is at this point that the speaker seems to remember that he is from the mortal world and comes back to his body where he does not know if what has happened was a vision or a dream. This is a very powerful poem, filled with emotion that I think directly relates to Keats’s life.
In the “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, I did not feel like he was talking about his fear to death as much as his longing for youth. I think Keats was trying to relay the message that he wanted to go back in time to a place where he was not sick and life was just simple and beautiful. In this ode, the speaker is looking at an urn the whole time and examining all the pictures on it. I really enjoyed reading about the speaker’s reaction when looking at the picture of the piper and his lover. He describes the beauty of the piper’s song even though it is unheard and the beauty of the lover which will last forever in this picture as if it is frozen in time. It seems like Keats is making the speaker jealous of the fake world because he compares the forever lasting love of this boy and girl to mortal love which passes. This poem ends with two very strong line, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is all/ Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” I think this is supposed to reflect the fact that the urn only knows about this beauty and does not have a grip on reality. I feel like Keats is jealous of this urn because I think that he wants the ability to be able to look on the world as a beautiful place and not what it actually is, a place of pain and death.
In the “Ode to a Nightingale” he shows his audience his fear of death. The first moment that I realized that this was going to be a dark poem is when I read the title. The nightingale is a bird that only sings in the night which is a symbol of darkness. This ode starts out by talking about the grief that the reader was going through and he felt like he had just taken some type of drug. This may have been an actual feeling of Keats because drugs were a common medicine for people suffering from sickness back in the 1800s. The speaker hears this nightingale and seems to have a sort of out of body experience. It was in the third stanza that I really felt like I could see Keats thoughts on death. “Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget/ What thou among the leaves hast never known,/ The weariness, the fever, and the fret.” It is hear that the speaker wants to just leave this mortal world because of all the hardships. He continues by sating that it would be best to die listening to this song and it would also be pain free. I think that Keats was afraid of living in a world where he was sick and he had a lot of troubles. Maybe he was afraid that at the actual time of his death, he would also be in a lot of pain. If he was with this nightingale, he figured he could always listen to this beautiful song and forget about the hard ache that the nightingale knows nothing about. He then says “I have been half in love with easeful death.” I think that this line is a true reflection of how Keats was actually feeling. It is a matter of him coming to grips with the reality that he is going to die and maybe that in a way eases the pain of death. After the speaker talks about wanting to die here, he realizes that even in death he would not be treated fairly because his mortal ears would no longer be able to hear the song; therefore, it seems like it would not be worth it. The speaker thinks to himself that this bird is immortal and just goes around singing this song to the “forlorn” world. It is at this point that the speaker seems to remember that he is from the mortal world and comes back to his body where he does not know if what has happened was a vision or a dream. This is a very powerful poem, filled with emotion that I think directly relates to Keats’s life.
In the “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, I did not feel like he was talking about his fear to death as much as his longing for youth. I think Keats was trying to relay the message that he wanted to go back in time to a place where he was not sick and life was just simple and beautiful. In this ode, the speaker is looking at an urn the whole time and examining all the pictures on it. I really enjoyed reading about the speaker’s reaction when looking at the picture of the piper and his lover. He describes the beauty of the piper’s song even though it is unheard and the beauty of the lover which will last forever in this picture as if it is frozen in time. It seems like Keats is making the speaker jealous of the fake world because he compares the forever lasting love of this boy and girl to mortal love which passes. This poem ends with two very strong line, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is all/ Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” I think this is supposed to reflect the fact that the urn only knows about this beauty and does not have a grip on reality. I feel like Keats is jealous of this urn because I think that he wants the ability to be able to look on the world as a beautiful place and not what it actually is, a place of pain and death.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Felicia Hermans
Felicia Hemans is very different from Dorothy Wordsworth, the other female author that we have read. As opposed to Dorothy, she wanted to gain fame and recognition from her poems. She learned to be an independent woman throughout her life due to her father and her husband leaving her. I think that all of these periods in her life made her bitter against the male gender and inspired her to write about the greatness of a woman and what she does for the country. She took the traditional gender roles and how women were seen and turned them into very recognizable and great traits.
I think that her poem, "The Wife of Asdrubal" reflects her theory that women have the opportunity to be powerful and heroic. Asdrubal surrendered his city to the Romans in order to save his own life and his wife was very ashamed of his actions. His wife shows her loyalty towards her city and refuses to go under any other rule. She decides to stay back in the burning city, kill her children, and then kill herself. This ending is open to interpretation; however, I believe that she was taking the heroic route as opposed to the barbaric route. When it says "the arms that cannot save/ Have been their cradle, and shall be the grave" I think she is trying to show the cowardly nature of the man and that consequences of the cowardly actions. It was Asdrubal's fault that the city in flames, and I think that his wife did not want to take the risk of her and her children to live a horrible life under the rule of a foreign country. This poem shows Hemans dislike for men and their actions. Asdrubal gave up his city, Hemans husband gave up her.
In Hemans poem, "The Homes of England", she greatly shows her attitude that women should be put up on a pedestal. This poem discusses the different classes of people that live throughout England including aristocrats, middle class, lower class, and then the poor. In all of these homes, the roles of the women tend to remain the same. They have a very domestic role, and are responsible for the tasks in the home and the raising of the children. Most people may believe that women are the inferior gender because of these roles; however, Hemans believes that these women should be applauded and awarded for the jobs that they do on a daily basis. It is the mother's duty to show the children love and how to love and without these qualities, these children will not be able to love their country or their God. She clearly states this in the last two lines of this poem by stating, "Where first the child's glad spirit loves/ Its country and its God!" These are two very powerful and very true lines. If these children do not come from a good family or one that teaches these values they do not grow up to be strong and there will be no great rulers.
I like the way the Hemans wants to reward women for the everyday duties that they perform. A lot of these actions are taken for granted but they are very important. Hemans needed to become a strong and independent woman because she was responsible for raising her own family. I admire that she wrote about her feelings and ideas and she was able to support her family with these ideas. "Her work is a reflection of many of the key social, psychological, and emotional concerns for women in her day."
I think that her poem, "The Wife of Asdrubal" reflects her theory that women have the opportunity to be powerful and heroic. Asdrubal surrendered his city to the Romans in order to save his own life and his wife was very ashamed of his actions. His wife shows her loyalty towards her city and refuses to go under any other rule. She decides to stay back in the burning city, kill her children, and then kill herself. This ending is open to interpretation; however, I believe that she was taking the heroic route as opposed to the barbaric route. When it says "the arms that cannot save/ Have been their cradle, and shall be the grave" I think she is trying to show the cowardly nature of the man and that consequences of the cowardly actions. It was Asdrubal's fault that the city in flames, and I think that his wife did not want to take the risk of her and her children to live a horrible life under the rule of a foreign country. This poem shows Hemans dislike for men and their actions. Asdrubal gave up his city, Hemans husband gave up her.
In Hemans poem, "The Homes of England", she greatly shows her attitude that women should be put up on a pedestal. This poem discusses the different classes of people that live throughout England including aristocrats, middle class, lower class, and then the poor. In all of these homes, the roles of the women tend to remain the same. They have a very domestic role, and are responsible for the tasks in the home and the raising of the children. Most people may believe that women are the inferior gender because of these roles; however, Hemans believes that these women should be applauded and awarded for the jobs that they do on a daily basis. It is the mother's duty to show the children love and how to love and without these qualities, these children will not be able to love their country or their God. She clearly states this in the last two lines of this poem by stating, "Where first the child's glad spirit loves/ Its country and its God!" These are two very powerful and very true lines. If these children do not come from a good family or one that teaches these values they do not grow up to be strong and there will be no great rulers.
I like the way the Hemans wants to reward women for the everyday duties that they perform. A lot of these actions are taken for granted but they are very important. Hemans needed to become a strong and independent woman because she was responsible for raising her own family. I admire that she wrote about her feelings and ideas and she was able to support her family with these ideas. "Her work is a reflection of many of the key social, psychological, and emotional concerns for women in her day."
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