Leda and the Swan – William Butler Yeats

Yeats’ Leda and the Swan is based on the Greek myth where the god Zeus came to Leda, the Queen of Sparta, in the form of a swan and raped her. Leda gave birth to eggs and hatched her children, Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. The first stanza of this sonnet starts out with Zeus’ aggressive force, “A sudden blow: the great wings beating still” and Leda’s helplessness, “By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.” (pg. 1125)

The second stanza in the octave goes into detail about the sexual encounter in this bizarre story. The first line in the sestet signifies the turning point, the climax, in the story. “A shudder in the loins engenders there.” But the story doesn't end there.

First, let me give a little background info regarding the Trojan War. (This is not part of the poem.) The story goes that Helen of Troy, Leda and Zeus’ daughter, was the most beautiful woman in the world. Helen was married to Menelaus, but was abducted by Paris and taken to Troy. This started the Trojan War. You probably know the story of the Trojan Horse, the giant wooden horse filled with Greek warriors. The Trojans thought the horse was a sign of surrender, so they brought it inside the city gates, and began celebrating their victory. Later that night, the Greek warriors emerged from the horse, opened the gates letting the rest of the Greek warriors in, and they proceeded to destroy the Trojan soldiers and burn the City of Troy.

Thus, line 10: “The broken wall, the burning roof and tower.”

Leda’s other daughter, Clytemnestra, was married to Agamemnon. Agamemnon was the leader of the Greek soldiers during the war. While he was away at war, Clytemnestra took another lover and together they plotted to kill Agamemnon when he returned from war.

Line 11: “And Agamemnon dead."

So, one could surmise that the Trojan War and Agamemnon's murder were an indirect result of Leda and Zeus' union.

The last three lines of the sonnet are unclear in their meaning. “Being so caught up, So mastered by the brute blood of the air,” This refers to Zeus' forceful molestation. “Did she put on his knowledge with his power Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?” Did Leda gain any of Zeus' power and knowledge from the affair? Zeus is portrayed as being indifferent when it was finished. But the events that followed were very powerful.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock – T. S. Eliot

The title of this poem is ironic, because it is not a love song at all. It is more of a self-loathing song. The speaker reveals his personal thoughts and internal conflicts. Prufrock is very pensive and overanalyzes everything. He is insecure, self-conscious, and indecisive. At the beginning of the poem he contemplates whether to go to tea to meet a lady. In line 55 Prufrock lets us know he has been over this scenario in his head before: "For I have known them all already, known them all." The women have seen him before too, and they evaluated him like he was pinned to the wall on display. Prufrock has a very negative self-image and believes that he will be rejected by the ladies. He tries to prepare himself psychologically by speculating on what would happen if he decides to go. “And time yet for a hundred indecisions, And for a hundred visions and revisions, Before the taking of a toast and tea” (lines 32-34). He imagines himself going into “the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo” (line 35) and questions “Do I dare? and, Do I dare?” (line 38). He is petrified by the mere suggestion of entering, so he imagines himself turning to leave. But now the women can see the bald spot on the back of his head. He imagines they will talk about his thinning hair and his thin arms and legs. He is afraid of what they will think about his clothes.

As he struggles with all the visions running through his head he reveals more about his personality. The poem alludes to different literary characters such as in line 82 where the speaker imagines his head being brought in on a platter. The text references Matthew 14 where John the Baptist was beheaded by Herod. In the next line the speaker clarifies “I am no prophet – and here’s no great matter.” In line 94 the speaker imagines himself saying “I am Lazarus, come from the dead, Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all.” This text references John 11 where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. But in line 104 Prufrock states “It is impossible to say just what I mean!” Is this because he feels so inadequate or inarticulate? In line 111 the speaker proclaims “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; Am an attendant lord, one that will do.” The speaker is not Lazarus or Prince Hamlet. He is a lowly attendant lord. “Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; At times, indeed, almost ridiculous – Almost, at times, the Fool” (lines 117-119). J. Alfred Prufrock sees himself as a shrunken old man with rolled up trousers.

Through the internal monologue, the speaker reveals his desires, fears, and his inferiority complex as he helplessly and hopelessly tortures himself. Would he tell the ladies he came through the grimy streets like a crab on the floor of the ocean? Would it be worth the torture he would have to endure to have tea and talk to a woman? Would it be worth it to put himself on display? Would they criticize him? His frustration, insecurities and cowardice cause him to retreat and remain trapped inside his own private world. He feels that his life has such insignificance that he has “measured out my life with coffee spoons” (line 51).

Virginia Woolf - Professions for Women (e-text)

Professions for Women spoke of Woolf's struggle with “the Angel in the House” who frequently intervened in an effort to keep her writing in line with society’s view of women. The Angel told Woolf that as a woman writer, she must always “be sympathetic; be tender; flatter; deceive; use all the arts and wiles of our sex. Never let anybody guess that you have a mind of your own. Above all, be pure.” The Angel kept getting in the way of Woolf’s writing, wasting her time, and provoking her until Woolf “caught her by the throat” and tried to kill her.

Woolf noted “Had I not killed her she would have killed me. She would have plucked the heart out of my writing.” The Angel was society’s expectation of what women should be - self-sacrificing, gentle, charming, flattering, and always willing to give of themselves for the benefit of others. Women were to rely on their pure, womanly virtues to take them through life and should never dare reveal their own minds.

Woolf went on to say the Angel “died hard” and the struggle continued as the “shadow of her wings fell on my page,” and she “heard the rustling of her skirts in the room,” in other words, the cultural limitations placed on women were always in the back of Woolf's mind. Woolf admitted that the Angel “was always creeping back when I thought I had dispatched her. Though I flatter myself that I killed her in the end, the struggle was severe…” “Killing the Angel in the House was part of the occupation of a woman writer.”

Woolf knew that in order to be a successful writer, she had to cast off society’s restrictions on what women should and should not write, and let her own thoughts and opinions come out. This was very hard for her as societal constraints were deeply ingrained in her. Woolf’s feminist outlook was a very unusual for her time. She challenged the norms and risked her female respectability by writing about topics never approached by women writers.

Tennyson - The Charge of the Light Brigade

After my last post on Wilfred Owen's anti-war position, and Rupert Brooke's pro-war position on World War I, I decided to go back and reread Tennyson's The Charge of the Light Brigade. Although Tennyson doesn't actually come out and say it, I think that he was in favor of the Crimean War effort and was cheering on the cause.

The Charge of the Light Brigade is the true story of a brigade of 600 British cavalry who were ordered to charge against Russian artillery forces into the “valley of Death” (pg. 615). Although the soldiers knew that “Some one had blunder’d” and that they would not be able take the enemy, they bravely complied with the order and did not question it. “Their’s not to make reply, Their’s not to reason why, Their’s but to do and die.”

The soldiers were besieged by cannon fire from all directions, but they courageously pushed forward “Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of Hell.” They charged through the smoke of the cannons, through the enemy line, drew their swords, and attacked the Cossack and Russian enemy gunners. Then they rode back, but there were no longer 600 of them as many had been killed in the assault. Cannon fire came from behind them and on both sides of them. Many more soldiers and horses fell during the second barrage of shots and shells. The selfless and heroic few that made it back alive had completed their mission.

Tennyson repeats words to produce the feeling of the unyielding assault. “Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them” and “Flash’d all their sabers bare, Flash’d as they turn’d in air.” Other words add to the dramatic effect such as “storm’d,” “plunged,” “reel’d,” “shatter’d,” such that you can feel the action as you read. In this way, it is similar to the first section of Owen’s Anthem for Doomed Youth.

The last stanza states that all the world marveled at their courage. Their valiant efforts should never be forgotten and they should always be honored. I believe Tennyson felt that the war was justified and, even under incompetent command, the brave men of the British cavalry deserve to be regarded with the utmost respect.

Comparison of Wilfred Owen's Anthem for Doomed Youth and Rupert's Brooke's The Soldier

Wilfred Owen served on the front lines during the World War I and expressed his disdain for the war through his poetry that he wrote in the hospital after being wounded. Rupert Brooke also served during the war, but never saw active combat. In contrast to Owen, Brooke’s poems are idealistic, patriotic, and exalt the war.

Owen’s Anthem for Doomed Youth begins with the jarring image of men dying in battle, “who die as cattle.” This analogy conveys Owen’s contempt for the indignity of war by insinuating that the men have no more significance than cattle being slaughtered. The sounds of the “monstrous anger of the guns” are the soldiers’ only “passing-bells” and “the stuttering rifles rapid rattle” are their only prayers. Their only choir is the “shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells.” By using words such as “monstrous,” “shrill,” and “demented,” Owen emphasizes the horrors of the war and he suggests that the weapons are presiding over the deaths. The last line of the octave switches from the battlefield to the home front with “bugles calling for them from sad shires.”

Away from the noisy chaos of the battlefield, the sestet summons a mood of sadness and the solitude of a funeral where, instead of alter boys’ candles, there will be glimmering tears of good-byes. The pale faces of girls will be the palls on the coffins. The loved ones who patiently awaited the soldiers’ return from battle will take the place of flowers during the “drawing-down of blinds” as night falls.

The sonnet begins with the violence of war which Owen describes using a repetition of sounds, like “rifles’ rapid rattle” and “stuttering”, “rattle”, and “patter” which almost sound like the ratta-tat-tat of machine guns. The poem ends quietly with images of grieving and mourning. “And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds,” the last line of the poem, represents the finality of death, and the recognition that this scene will be recreated over and over.

In Brooke’s sonnet, The Soldier, a gallant soldier expresses his unconditional love for his country. The poem begins with the soldier saying that the foreign soil on which he died will forever be a part of England. The 5th line shifts the focus from the foreign land back to England where the soldier was shaped and nurtured. He touts his homeland and personifies England speaking of “her flowers to love, her ways to roam / Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day.” He gives his life in gratitude to his country that has given so much to him, so that England may endure and her people may find peace and comfort. The tone is blissful throughout the poem.

Comparison of Gerard Hopkins & Thomas Hardy

In the first 6 lines of Pied Beauty, Hopkins offers glory to God for dappled things – the colors in the sky, the brindled cows, the spotted trout, chestnuts as bright as coals, the wings of finches, the patchwork of the landscape. Here Hopkins observes the visual characteristics of things found in nature. Then he includes all the trades of man along with all the gear and equipment. These things are man-made, but they are still part of God’s creation.

In the sestet, Hopkins incorporates more things - all things contrary, original, rare, and strange, whatever is fickle or freckled – all of these qualities describe something that is distinctive or peculiar. Hopkins elaborates further to include qualities that describe speed, taste, aesthetics – “swift, slow, sweet, sour, adazzle, dim” (pg. 776) - all are things that God has created. “Praise him.”

Hopkins deviates from the traditional sonnet form of 14 lines to only 11 lines and uses a repetition of sounds – dappled, stipple, tackle, fickle, freckled; swift, slow, sweet, sour, adazzle, dim; couple-colour; fresh-firecoal; and fathers-forth. The poem begins and ends with praise to God. The message is that all of the diversity in nature and man is part of God’s design.

In contrast, Hardy’s Hap follows the traditional sonnet form of 14 lines. Hardy’s message is the opposite of Hopkin’s message. In the first 8 lines Hardy wishes that “some vengeful god would call to me /From up the sky, and laugh” (pg. 1073). He wants to know there is a god in heaven who enjoys seeing him suffer. He wants god to be accountable for his sorrow, which is god’s ecstasy, and for his love’s loss, which is god’s “hate’s profiting.” If he could blame god, he would clench himself and die strengthened by his anger, and his suffering would be eased by the knowledge that one more powerful than himself was responsible for his pain.

In the 9th line, the tone changes. “But not so.” There is no “vengeful god” to blame for his joy that “lies slain” and his hope that “unblooms.” “Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain” – Chance is responsible for his suffering and lost hope. Luck and time have caused his pain, and could just as easily have caused him happiness. There is no god controlling the universe, it all comes down to a roll of the dice.

Aestheticism

In the Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde provides an overview of his aesthetic philosophy. He disputes the idea that art should be meant to edify and enlighten, and contends that art has no purpose other than being beautiful. He says “Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming” (pg. 846). Wilde was rejecting the Victorian view that art should serve some moral or social purpose.

Wilde felt that art’s inherent value is its beauty, and its beauty alone. “Beautiful things mean only beauty.” Wilde states that “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.” Art is solely for pleasure, and not for any practical or moral purpose.

Artists are not out to prove anything in their art. Wilde cautions against going beneath the surface of art and trying to read more into it. “All art is at once surface and symbol” (pg. 847).

Wilde says that useful things should not be admired, and to that end, “All art is quite useless.”

Oscar Wilde - The Importance of Being Earnest

I thought Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest was hilarious. It’s amazing that this brilliant piece, written in the late 1800s, is still so funny today. The play is literally filled with great one-liners, puns, reversed meanings, and absurdities that are the opposite of reality. Wilde flippantly portrays members of late Victorian society as one-dimensional and superficial, while blatantly mocking Victorian values and moral standards. On the surface the play is simple, but underneath lies deception, delusion, self-righteous moralism, and hypocrisy. The ostentatious characters believe that appearance and elegance, rather than accuracy or truth, should dictate human behavior. These self-absorbed characters do and say the opposite of what would be considered acceptable or normal. Wilde goes out of his way to contradict conventional thinking. This portrayal of popular culture demonstrates the anti-Victorian movement of aestheticism and the belief that art need not provide direction or usefulness, rather it need only be beautiful. Wilde said that “Life imitates art far more than Art imitates life” (pg. 839).

Wilde relentlessly turns reality upside down, such as when Gwendolyn remarks that “the old fashioned respect for the young is fast dying out.” Jack proclaims “I am sick to death of cleverness. Everybody is clever nowadays. You can’t go anywhere without meeting clever people. The thing has become an absolute public nuisance. I wish to goodness we had a few fools left.” Algernon goes off about how “perfectly scandalous” it is when women flirt with their own husbands. “That is not very pleasant. Indeed, it is not even decent... and that sort of thing is enormously on the increase.” “It is simply washing one’s clean linen in public.” In describing her friend whose husband had died, Lady Bracknell said “She looks quite twenty years younger” and seems “to be living entirely for pleasure now.”

The play takes aim at marriage, morality, aristocracy, hypocrisy, and death. The debate over whether marriage is pleasant or unpleasant recurs throughout the play. In the opening act, Algernon and Lane, his butler, briefly discuss marriage. Lane remarks that he thinks marriage is a pleasant state, but doesn’t know a lot about it because he was only married for a short time as a result “of a misunderstanding between myself and a young person.” Algernon finds it annoying that Lane has no sense of moral responsibility, and wonders what good servants are if they don’t set a moral standard for the upper class.

The connection to Wilde’s actual life is seen in the secrets and double-identities of Algernon and Jack. At one point Cecily says to Algernon: “I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.” On another occasions Jack warns Algernon: “If you don’t take care, your friend Bunbury will get you into a serious scrape some day.”

Algernon and Jack (Ernest) are constantly going at it with clever banter and bickering. Ernest is pleased to announce that he is going to propose to Algernon’s cousin, Gwendolyn. Ernest and Algernon disagree on whether a proposal should be considered business or pleasure. Algernon says it’s not pleasure, because once Gwendolyn accepts, the thrill will be gone, and argues that the uncertainty of romance is what makes it appealing. He adds that he will try to forget that if he ever marries. Ernest quips that divorce courts are made for people like that. Algernon remarks that “divorces are made in Heaven.” (An inversion of the saying “marriage made in Heaven.”)

Ernest is aggravated when he learns that Algernon has the cigarette case that he has been looking for and says that he was just about to offer a reward for it. Algernon says he wishes Ernest would, because he could use the reward. Of course there is no use in issuing a reward now that the thing is found. The repartee between Algernon and Ernest is hilarious. Ernest declares that Algernon talks like a dentist and says it's vulgar since Algernon isn’t a dentist – “it produces a false impression.” Algernon retorts “well, that is exactly what dentists always do.” This stuff kills me! In addition to the obvious dentist joke, it is ironic because both Algernon and Ernest are giving false impressions of themselves.

Jack notes that high moral views are not conducive to health and happiness as he pretends to be his unfortunate brother, Ernest – and states that “is the whole truth pure and simple” (even though he is living a lie). Algernon responds that “the truth is rarely pure and simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!” Jack’s comeback is “that wouldn’t at all be a bad thing.” Algernon tells him to leave literary criticism to people who haven’t been at a University.

Throughout the play, we see the double-meaning of the word “earnest” as Algernon and Jack struggle to be "Ernest" by lying. Wilde irreverently makes his point about earnestness being a highly desirable character trait in Victorian culture. Gwendolyn tells Jack “my ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence.” It seems that all you need is the name “Ernest” in order to be “earnest.”

When Lady Bracknell learns of Gwendolyn’s engagement, she states “An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. It is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself…” As Lady Bracknell interrogates Jack, she states “a man who desires to get married should know either everything or nothing. Which do you know?” When Jack replies that he knows nothing, Lady Bracknell responds “I am pleased to hear that. I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance.” When Lady Bracknell learns that Jack does not know who his parents are, she advises him to “try and acquire some relations as soon as possible, and to make a definite effort to produce at any rate one parent, of either sex, before the season is quite over.” Appearance is everything to these people. In talking to Jack, Gwendolyn says “What wonderfully blue eyes you have, Ernest! They are quite, quite, blue. I hope you will always look at me just like that, especially when there are other people present.”

Jack tells Algernon that “the truth isn’t quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice sweet refined girl. What extraordinary ideas you have about the way to behave to a woman!” At the end of the play, Jack apologizes to Gwendolyn saying “it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking the truth. Can you forgive me?” Gwendolyn reassures him with her cynical view of men and marriage: “I can. For I feel that you are sure to change.”

I love this play! Wilde’s epigrams are nothing short of genius and the wonderful dialog full of deception, manipulation, illusion, and artifice provides non-stop amusement with the play on words, double-meanings, and unending barrage of puns.

John Stuart Mill – On Liberty

In Chapter 3, Of Individuality, as One of the Elements of Well-Being, John Stuart Mill argues that individual liberty must be expressed in order to achieve social progress. He points out that every individual, rich or poor, has talent and potential that when utilized will benefit not only the individual, but society as a whole. Mill compares those who conform and do not utilize their own faculties to apes. Mill believes that thinking for one’s self develops character and the power of individuality produces energy.

Over time, individuality has been suppressed by obedience to the laws and disciplines of society. People have fallen into society’s mold, and no longer make an effort to mold themselves. People have become complacent and suffer from a “deficiency of personal impulses and preferences” (pg. 518). Out of fear of censorship, they no longer make decisions based on what they want or what is best for them, but instead they follow along with whatever is normally done. This is not because they are giving in to what is customary at the expense of their own desires, but is because they no longer have inclinations or desires. Mills states that “peculiarity of taste, eccentricity of conduct, are shunned equally with crimes” and by not following their own nature, people no longer have a nature.

When people apply their own judgments, opinions, and feelings to their circumstances, they are empowered to become the best that they can be. Identifying areas in need of change and devising new ideas and methods paves the way for human enlightenment. If people are too timid to voice their opinions and ideas, how can society benefit from them? People should not settle for mediocrity by letting others do their thinking for them. While they may assert that they are being guided by the wise, the wise are merely individuals themselves, and the beauty is that everyone is capable of “wise and noble things” (pg. 520).

Change should not be for the sake of change, as for example with fashion, but for human progressiveness and betterment. Mill cautions that if Europe continues to govern “their thoughts and conduct by the same maxims and rules” they will become another China where the wisdom of a few is impressed “upon every mind in the community” (page 521). Coercing others into a way of thinking robs people of their own freedom and development. The benefit of individualized thinking is the freedom of pointing one’s own way.

Robert Browning - Porphyria's Lover

This dramatic monologue is told from the perspective of Porphyria’s lover. The setting is the lover’s cottage by a lake where he reveals his morbid secret and the emotional circumstances that surround it. Browning once offered a disclaimer to his writings saying they were “utterances of so many imaginary persons, not mine” (page 660).

Porphyria came to her lover’s cottage this fateful night during a bad storm. Upon entering the cottage, she started a fire to get warm and took off her wet clothes revealing her damp, yellow hair. She sat down beside her lover and called to him, but he did not reply. She bared her shoulder, leaned over, and told him she loved him. She was compromising her morality and giving herself to him, which at the time, was highly improper and provocative behavior. Realizing that Porphyria worshipped him, the lover looked at her contentedly.

"Be sure I looked up at her eyes
Happy and proud; at last I knew
Porphyria worshipped me; surprise
Made my heart swell, and still it grew
While I debated what to do." (pg. 663)

Wanting to hold on to the moment, the lover took a strand of Porphyria’s hair, wrapped it around her throat three times, and strangled her, assuring the reader that she felt no pain. Porphyria’s scandalous behavior at the beginning of the poem now pales in comparison to her lover's actions. He opened Porphyria’s eyes and she "blushed bright beneath my burning kiss." Seemingly unaffected by what he has done, the lover propped Porphyria's body up beside him with her head on his shoulder...

"Her head, which droops upon it still:
The smiling rosy little head,
So glad it has its utmost will,
That all it scorned at once is fled,
And I, its love, am gained instead!

Porphyria had gotten her wish for his love. The lover sat there with her all night, and God did not say a word.

The language of the poem is informal with a rhyme scheme of ABABB, but the message is bold and disturbing. The subject of sexuality was undoubtedly shocking at the time. Then, adding insult to injury (pardon the pun), the reader is taken aback by the nonchalant violence in the poem. The lover does not seem to see anything wrong with what he has done. The reader is left with a startling image. There seems to be no distinction between reason and insanity, but perhaps that is Browning’s point.

Alfred Lord Tennyson – The Lady of Shalott

I noticed many differences between the 1833 version (e-text) and the 1842 version (book) of The Lady of Shalott, although the e-text version is only excerpts, not the entire poem. Both versions begin with a description of a river flanked by fields of grain and the road leading to Camelot, and both describe how the outside world sees the island of Shalott.

In the 1833 version, the water lilies and daffodils around the island “tremble in the water chilly” and the island is surrounded by a fence of overhanging roses which gives the feeling of an unwelcoming coldness. The 1842 version speaks of people traveling along the road, looking at the flowers and trees on the island which stands alone in the river. The Lady of Shalott lives in a gray tower that looks down on the river as the boats sail to Camelot. This version gives the impression that the island is more alive and less harsh.

Both versions speak of the Lady of Shalott’s singing that can be heard by the men harvesting barley, but in the 1833 version, I got the sense that the men could clearly hear the singing all the time (“late and early, hears her ever chanting cheerly”), whereas the 1842 version seemed more vague about her song that echoed from the river. The 1833 version describes the Lady of Shalott as having pearl garland in her hair, clothing of royalty, and a velvet bed. The 1843 version is more obscure and never describes the Lady of Shalott or her surroundings, leaving it to the reader to form a picture.

The middle section of the 1833 version is not included in the e-text, but the 1842 version is from the viewpoint of the Lady of Shalott who is concerned only with her weaving. She knows she cannot look down to Camelot or she will be cursed. She uses a mirror as she weaves to see the other side of her work, and in the mirror she can see shadows from the road, the river, and the people. She sometimes sees knights riding two by two, and although she has no knight to love, she is content being alone and weaving. The knights riding two by two could symbolize the companionship that she is missing. She sees funerals in the mirror and one night, she sees a newlywed couple and says “I am half sick of shadows” (pg. 590). This is the first indication that the Lady of Shalott might be dissatisfied with her solitary life.

Then the gallant Lancelot comes along with bells ringing from his horse’s bridle glittering like the stars, the sun reflecting off his armor that rings as he rides, his helmet bright and shining, his long black curls falling from under the helmet, and singing Tirra Lira as he flashes into the Lady’s mirror. Tennyson uses colors to invoke vivid images of “the blue unclouded weather,” Lancelot’s silver bugle, his helmet and feather like a “burning flame,” and his image like a meteor in the purple night. Lancelot is described in great detail, both his appearance and the sounds he makes.

As the Lady saw Lancelot in the mirror, she got up from the loom, walked across the room and looked out at a blooming water-lily and Lancelot’s helmet and plume. The blooming flower could represent the outside life that she is isolated from, or perhaps it symbolizes the Lady herself coming to life when she sees Lancelot. At this point, the mirror cracked in half and the Lady cried “the curse is come upon me” (pg. 591).

When she came down from the tower, the weather was stormy, and the “pale-yellow woods were waning, the broad stream in his banks complaining.” This is in conflict with the weather that was sunny, blue, and unclouded when she saw Lancelot. She finds a boat and writes her name across the bow. In the 1833 version, she is adorned with a crown of pearls, her snowy white dress with a diamond clasp blows in the wind as she stands by the water with folded arms. Here again, the earlier version provides a more detailed description of the Lady. Her white gown represents her purity and love. She gets into the boat and heads down the river in a melancholy daze, fully aware of her fate.

In the 1833 version, the description of the boat ride evokes action and sound describing the boat as “rising and dropping with the foam, from dying swans wild warblings come.” The 1842 version suggests a calmer, more tranquil trip with the boat floating “thro’ the noises of the night.” In both versions, the Lady of Shalott mournfully sings her last song as she travels down the river dying. As she sings in the later version, the leaves fall on her symbolizing her death. Her eyes darken, her blood freezes, and her pale, dead body floats into Camelot. Did she die a peaceful, happy death now that she had found love? Or did she die sadly, knowing Lancelot would never be aware of her love?

As she comes into Camelot, the people come out on the wharf, read her name on the boat, and cross themselves. In the original ending, the Lady of Shalott has the last word from a note on her chest – “Draw near and fear not – this is I, the Lady of Shalott.” In the 1842 version, Lancelot has the last word as he comments that she is lovely and prays for God to give her grace.

In the end, the Lady of Shalott was able to join her love, Lancelot, in the outside world, but now separated by death, she is still alone. The funeral and the wedding the Lady saw in her mirror contrast death and love, and by falling in love with Lancelot, she brought about her own death. Other contrasting images in the poem include the shining, bright colors that turn to pale, and the sunny sky that turns to rain. In the tower, the Lady of Shalott was an artist isolated from the outside world, much like Tennyson who was an artist and was introverted and withdrawn. Perhaps Tennyson was also afraid of leaving the comfort of his inner solitude to join the outside world.

In analyzing the poem, I noticed that it jumped around from present tense to past tense. I found the 1842 version to be much more mysterious and it left more to the reader to interpret and visualize.

Comparison of A Field of Daffodils with I wandered lonely as a cloud

A Field of Daffodils (pg. 296) is an entry from The Grasmere Journal of Dorothy Wordsworth (sister of William Wordsworth) and may have been the inspiration for William’s poem I wandered lonely as a cloud. Both pieces are written about the same experience. Dorothy wrote that while walking in the woods, they came upon a few daffodils close to the waterside, and as they went farther, there were more and more daffodils growing in “a long belt” along the lake. She described how beautiful they were, and how some of the weary daffodils rested their heads on stones, while the others “reeled & danced” laughing with the wind blowing off the lake. She gave the daffodils human characteristics, some were tired, and others were dancing and laughing.

In William’s poem I wandered lonely as a cloud, (pg. 282) he also described the daffodils as beautiful and dancing, and “continuous as the stars,” but I didn’t get the same feeling of joie de vivre as with Dorothy's description. William focused more on how the daffodils affected him personally, the feelings that the daffodils invoked in him. Dorothy assigned feelings to the daffodils and said they “looked so gay,” while William described himself as feeling gay while looking at them.

Dorothy spoke of the stormy bays and the waves in the water that sounded like the sea. This suggests that the water was choppy and the weather may have been gloomy or bad. William’s poem suggested peacefulness, tranquility, and I pictured a sunny day while reading it. William referred to the waves as dancing and sparkling, but the beauty of the daffodils outdid the waves, in other words, the waves were secondary to the daffodils.

Dorothy used the term “we” as she described the day, while William used “I” giving the impression he was by himself. The title I wandered lonely as a cloud implies he was alone, and lonely. Both writers found joy in the daffodils, but I got a different feeling from each of the pieces. Dorothy’s had more energy and life, while William's was more calming.

Charles Dickens - Hard Times

As I read the excerpt from Hard Times describing smoky, sooty, smelly Coketown, I felt the heavy heart of the miserable laborers walking the streets like robots with blackened, monotone faces, past brick buildings, smokestacks, and loud machinery. I saw the workers as meaningless cogs in the wheel of Coketown, disconnected from humanity, and painfully aware of their bleak futures.

In contrast was the pompous attitude of the gentlemen in power who were filled with their own self-interests as they scorned the dregs of society, seemingly immune to their suffering. I liked the sarcastic, mocking tone with which Dickens described them.

Although this short piece was more a description of the town than the people, I formed moral judgments about the characters. I got a sense of the social issues and inequality in Cokestown. I felt compassion for the workers. The depressing darkness used to describe the town, carried over into my feeling for the people.

I think that Dickens was pointing out what was wrong in Coketown and he was rooting for the underdog. This is similar to the liberal sentiments of Wollstonecraft and Paine when they wrote about the French Revolution. Dickens was disturbed by the imbalance in society between the leaders and the workers. I had to remind myself to not be so influenced by Dickens point of view as to diminish the importance of this time of industrialization in history. Overall, I came away with a feeling of gloom and unhappiness. This piece was aptly named.

John Keats - Ode to a Nightingale

In the first stanza of Ode to a Nightingale Keats is feeling pain, but as he listens to the nightingale singing in the tree, he goes into a dream-like state where the nightingale’s song turns his pain into pleasure. He refers to all the senses as he imagines drinking wine, smelling flowers, seeing the greenness of the country, feeling the warmth of the sun, and becoming one with the nightingale. At the end of the second stanza, he imagines happily fading away with the bird. At the beginning of the third stanza, he again uses the word fade (pg. 438).

“Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
What thou among the leaves hast never known”

He comes back to reality and is saddened by thoughts of his immortality. He realizes the bird’s world is different than his. The bird will never know the pain and suffering of life, of growing old, and facing death. In the fourth stanza, he again thinks of flying away with the nightingale, but this time not through drinking wine, but through imagination. Even though his thinking is confused and slowed, he becomes lost in the poetry of the nightingale’s song.

“Away! Away! For I will fly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:”

He is with the bird into the night with the moon and stars (happiness, life), but there is no light (death). In the fifth stanza he again refers to the senses. Although he cannot see or feel the flowers in the darkness, he knows they are sweet. He describes the serenity of the grass, the wild fruit trees, the hawthorn, the coming musk-rose, and the murmur of the summer flies (life). But he also speaks of the “Fast fading violets cover’d up in leaves” (death).

As he listens in the darkness, he dreams of a joyful death with no pain accompanied by the song of the nightingale. Then he realizes that after he dies, the bird will continue to sing. The joy and beauty of the bird’s song (nature) will endure, but he will not. The song has been heard throughout time by those who were sad and forlorn.

The last stanza begins by repeating the word forlorn which brings him back to reality. The bird flies away and its song is sad as it begins to fade, over the stream, up the hill, and into the next valley. He is referring not only to the bird, but to himself as well. The last two lines of the poem question whether he was dreaming, or whether he had seen a vision. Was the bird actually there, or in his imagination? Is there a hidden meaning? Throughout the poem, Keats jumps between life and death, happiness and sadness, dreams and reality (similar to the way Blake uses opposites). He finds peace in the beauty of life, but he also knows life’s pain and wants to escape from it. He recognizes that he is separate from nature and that the world will survive after he is gone.

Lord Byron

So, we’ll go no more a-roving

I chose this poem because I was intrigued by its mischievousness and also because it was very straightforward. Byron wrote So, we’ll go no more a-roving after attending the Carnival in Venice. Similar to Mardi Gras, Carnival was, and still is, a social gathering filled with celebration, excess, and conspicuous consumption. Masks were worn to conceal identities and also served to eliminate social divisions. Byron had earned a reputation for his promiscuous behavior. It was assumed that his writings were about his own life and adventures, and to that end, I interpreted this poem to be about his “roving” (philandering) at Carnival.

The poem (pg. 358) first appeared in a letter Byron wrote from Venice at age 29. In the first stanza, he says that there will be no more roving late into the night, even though the heart still loves and the moon is still bright. In the last stanza, he reaffirms the first stanza by saying that the night was made for loving, and the day comes too soon, but even so, there will be no more roving at night.

Why does he say this? Perhaps he is growing tired of his exploits, or perhaps he has simply overindulged. The second stanza provides more information. The first line reads “For the sword outwears its sheath” (draw your own conclusion here). The second line, “and the soul wears out the breast,” parallels the first line. “And the heart must pause to breathe, And love itself have rest” (he needs a breather or hiatus).

Byron uses symbolic language to covey his message and the reader is drawn in by the allure of his secrets. It is not clear whether he intends this to be a temporary respite or whether he will be giving up his lascivious lifestyle altogether. Likely, his intent in sharing this information was merely to boast because he was proud of his self-inflicted malaise.

Like the 1st generation Romantics, Byron embraced new ways of expressing his thoughts and feelings, however the topics he approached would have been too risqué for the 1st generation. Byron’s writings were amorous, enticing, and irreverent and that is what sets him apart from the 1st generation Romantics.

William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud - While wandering along, the narrator came upon a field of daffodils dancing in the breeze beside a lake. The flowers stretched as far as the eye could see along the lake. The water in the lake was sparkling, but the beauty of the flowers overshadowed the water. The narrator could be nothing but happy in the midst of the cheerful flowers, and as he stared at them, he could not imagine the future rewards that the image would bring to him. Now when he is alone, in a bad mood or feeling empty, he remembers the flowers and again feels the same pleasure he felt that day and his heart “dances with the daffodils” (pg. 283).

I wandered lonely as a cloud reminds me of Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey in which the narrator revisited a scene along a river, this time with his sister, and described how his memories of this place had comforted him and influenced him to be a better person. He felt joy when he realized that he would be brought more fond memories in the future, and memories would also provide comfort to his sister who was seeing the scene for the first time. The theme in both poems focuses on the power that exists in nature.

In The world is too much with us, the focus is again on the power of nature, but this time the narrator is annoyed at the way the world has grown out of touch with nature and has become too interested in material things. The narrator criticizes the world for taking the sea, the moon, and the winds for granted and being too focused on “getting and spending” (pg. 234).

In our first chat session, Dr. Glance mentioned that the sentiment felt during this period was comparable to the viewpoint and attitudes of the 1960s that centered on peace, love, and communing with nature. Wordsworth’s poems are reminiscent of the mindset of the hippies in the 1960s who found happiness by giving up the ways of the world and living together in the peace and comfort they drew from nature.

William Blake

William Blake was an artist and an apprentice to an engraver in his early years. Blake used his training as an engraver to illustrate his works. At first glance, William Blake’s writings appear simple, but it takes some effort to decipher the true meaning of his visionary perspective.

In All Religions Are One, Blake refers to man’s Poetic Genius, or the imagination, as the source of knowledge and truth. This Poetic Genius exists in the inner spirit of all of us and we can draw from it to look beyond consciousness (the senses) and open our mind to true understanding and wisdom.

In Songs of Innocence and or Experience, The Lamb symbolizes a pastoral world of peace, goodness, and innocence. In contrast, The Tyger represents the evil, darkness, and violence that is realized as innocence is lost. If both the lamb and the tiger are made by God, how can we explain the contradictions between the two? The complexity of creation leaves many unanswered questions.

The Little Black Boy tells us that even though our skin may be different, our souls are the same. The color of skin is apparent in the physical world, but is irrelevant to God and racial differences are transcended in heaven. Again, Blake’s message is that we must look beyond the senses to understand the truth.

In The Divine Image, the virtues of mercy, pity, peace, and love symbolize God. When Blake points out that mercy, pity, peace, and love are also human qualities, the distinction between God and man is blurred. Blake is saying that we must look beyond religion, because regardless of religion, all men pray in distress and send their thankfulness to the “human form divine.” Perhaps Blake is saying that God is inside all men, and by looking beyond our consciousness, to our Poetic Genius, we will find him.

The virtues of mercy, pity, peace, and love are seen again in The Human Abstract. Blake tells us that if poverty did not exist, we would not need pity. If we were all happy, we would not need mercy. Blake describes a tree that is rooted in humility, but grows with fear and bears fruit of deceit. At the end of the poem we find that this tree does not grow in nature, but in the human brain. In other words, we start out with peace and innocence, but through our experiences and growth, we find fear and evil.

Blake emphasizes two opposite worlds, good and evil, heaven and hell, black and white, and the complexity with which they come together in our lives. The recurring theme in Blake’s work is that only by looking deep into our inner beings, to our Poetic Genius, will we be able to find truth, wisdom, and understanding.

Mary Wollstonecraft - the French Revolution

In response to Edmund Burke’s conservative viewpoint, Mary Wollstonecraft defended the French Revolution. She thought those who yielded to the old traditions were just fooling themselves and being slaves to old habits. By not considering other alternatives, the privileged were denying themselves enlightenment, and by being interested only in themselves, they were blinded to the plight of the less fortunate. Wollstonecraft states that “the man has been changed into an artificial monster by the station in which he was born, and the consequent homage that benumbed his faculties like the torpedo’s touch – or a being, with a capacity of reasoning, would not have failed to discover, as his faculties unfolded, that true happiness arose from the friendship and intimacy which can only be enjoyed by equals; and that charity is not a condescending distribution of alms, but an intercourse of good offices and mutual benefits, founded on respect for justice and humanity” (pg. 58).

Burke supported the American Revolution, but criticized those who supported the French Revolution saying that people had no right to overthrow the government or challenge tradition. Wollstonecraft points out his inconsistencies noting that slavery was tradition that “sanctioned a traffic that outrages every suggestion of reason” (pg. 59). Wollstonecraft defends the poor women who Burke referred to as “the vilest of women” (pg. 61) and points out that these women were far more disadvantaged than the queen who Burke felt such compassion for. She found it ironic that Burke was so moved by the queen’s suffering but felt nothing for the predicament of the poor women. Wollstonecraft ridiculed Burke’s flowery prose and states she is “led very often to doubt your sincerity and to suppose that you have said many things merely for the sake of saying them well” (pg.61). Wollstonecraft reveals her sarcastic side as well when she refers to Burke’s “plausible arguments and witty illustrations” (pg. 62).

Wollstonecraft outlined what she saw was wrong with traditional forms of government and questioned why the rich had exclusive rights to pleasure and comfort. She argued that rights of all people should be based on justice and she condemned the rich for turning a blind eye to the oppressed. I am more sympathetic to Wollstonecraft’s side of the argument and agree with her that human rights should not be based on the ways of the past, but should be based on what is morally right and just.

Edmund Burke - the French Revolution

Edmund Burke was an advocate of reason, order, and peace. Although Burke supported the American Revolution, he was against the revolution in France. He felt that traditional ways of doing things should be preserved and anything to the contrary was going against nature. Just as families pass down their possessions to their children, the crown and its privileges should also be passed down.

Those fighting for freedom were creating chaos where order once stood. He emphasized that the long-established methods were natural and best when he said “we procure reverence to our civil institutions on the principle upon which nature teaches us to revere individual men; on account of their age, and on account of those from whom they are descended. All your sophisters cannot produce anything better adapted to preserve a rational and manly freedom than the course that we have pursued….” (pg. 50).

Burke stated that men have a right to the possessions of their parents and to benefit from what has been passed down to them. He did not believe in equal distribution of wealth, power, and authority because those things belonged solely to the men who had inherited them. Burke saw the arrest of the king and queen as shocking and disgraceful. He was appalled by what was happening calling it ridiculous and absurd, and sarcastically referred to “this new conquering empire of light and reason” (pg. 53).

Burke likened the revolution to a Machiavellian policy and contrasted it to ancient Rome by saying “no theatric audience in Athens would bear what has been borne” (pg 55). He felt the revolution was destroying society and stated that laws were made by those who were infinitely superior. The people had an obligation to abide by the laws, not to dissolve them through “unsocial, uncivil, unconnected chaos” (pg 56). The laws were not open to discussion, and by voicing discord, the people were disobeying nature.

I think we would all agree that Burke’s desire for order and peace is preferable to living in chaos and confusion. However, when order and peace come at the cost of liberty and equality, it is only “natural” that the oppressed people would revolt against it.

Helen Maria Williams

I’ve heard the term Romanticism, but was never sure of its meaning. The Podcast provided good background and understanding of what was transpiring during this period when it was out with the old norms of aristocratic social domination and in with a new awakening of individualized thought, freedom, and power.

In reading Helen Maria Williams’ letters, I was first surprised by the fact that she was living in France by herself during a time when it was not customary for women to be self-reliant. Williams’ enthusiastic depiction of the Festival of the Federation points out that the significance of the event was not due as much to the event itself, but to the effect it had on the people. She is so overwhelmed by “the most sublime spectacle which, perhaps, was ever represented on the theatre of this earth” that she portrays it as “not to be described!” Nonetheless, she describes it quite eloquently and with intense passion.

Williams’ stirring narrative of her visit to the Bastille described the unlit dungeons “too low to admit of our standing upright” and she chronicled the cells so vividly that I could almost smell what she was describing. Her disdain for the tyrannical government responsible for these shocking conditions is unequivocal when she writes “If the splendour of a despotic throne can only shine like the radiance of lightning, while all around is involved in gloom and horror, in the name of heaven let its baleful luster be extinguished for ever”.

Williams offered praise to French women who had given up their jewels and titles in the name patriotism and compared them to the women of ancient Rome. She applauded their contribution to the Revolution, and I particularly liked her analogy that women are “those secret springs in mechanism, by which, though invisible, great movements are regulated.”

In her letter about the execution of Lewis XVI, Williams goes into graphic detail and provides insight into the mind of the king in the moments before he was beheaded. I was not familiar with Helen Maria Williams before I read her letters, but I was very inspired by her masterful command of language and prose.

Introduction

Hi everyone. My name is Brenda Hawthorne. I have been attending Mercer's Atlanta Campus in the BBA program since 2005. I am working to complete my degree that I started many, many, many years ago. I originally attended Middle Tennessee State University, and later attended Nashville State Technical Institute. This time, I'm going to finish!!

I'm taking this course because it is a General Education requirement. I'm hoping to gain a better appreciation of literature, and I hope to find that my analytical skills of literature are better than I anticipate they are going to be. We'll see.

This is the first online class that I have taken, and my first blog, so I'm excited to see how this all works.

Cheers!