I had to read Virginia Woolf’s work The Lady in the Looking-Glass: A Reflection several times before most of it made any sense at all to me. Though I did find it a bit difficult, I really enjoyed reading the work because of the way that each line really builds upon the previous even though they sometimes appear to have nothing to do with one another. At first I did not quite understand the first line “People should not leave looking-glasses hanging in their rooms any more than they should leave open cheque books or letters confessing some hideous crime” because it the comparison seems almost irrelevant. However, after I read the line again and thought about it for a while I began to think of it as meaning that having to face yourself everyday, for some people can be as detrimental as leaving evidence of a murder for someone to stumble upon.
For some, the life that they live is not what they truly want and they know that, therefore it can be difficult for them to look at their own reflection and what they have become. Though I may be getting off topic from the reading, the first line sparked all kinds of thoughts in my head and I started to think about how hard it is to look at yourself in the mirror and be pleased with what you see when you know that you have done something wrong. Though the topics that one could find within Woolf’s poem are very interesting, I was really taken back by the way that one line of this work could make me feel and just how much that one line could make me rethink a simple mirror, or rather the reflection that is shown in that mirror.
Friday, June 29, 2007
T.S. Eliot
Though I read T.S. Eliot’s poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock I found that I did not enjoy the work as much as I have many others. I felt this way because I found the poem to be long and difficult to interpret. I did find a parts that I thought were worth a second read because they were something that I could grasp and imagine. For instance, the first few lines of the first stanza of the poem read:
“Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats…”
When I read these lines I thought of someone peacefully drifting off into death and going on to another “world” where things are much simpler and peaceful. Though I took interest in this particular part of the poem, I do not quite understand why there are two people that are experiencing this at the same time. I find this to be confusing, yet I still enjoy trying to interpret the meaning of each line of the poem in the way that Eliot intended, which is often quite difficult to do with poetry because of the abundance of imagery that is present in most poems. This poem has its fair share of imagery that is somewhat farfetched, but the parts that I was able to interpret were very enjoyable to ponder over.
“Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats…”
When I read these lines I thought of someone peacefully drifting off into death and going on to another “world” where things are much simpler and peaceful. Though I took interest in this particular part of the poem, I do not quite understand why there are two people that are experiencing this at the same time. I find this to be confusing, yet I still enjoy trying to interpret the meaning of each line of the poem in the way that Eliot intended, which is often quite difficult to do with poetry because of the abundance of imagery that is present in most poems. This poem has its fair share of imagery that is somewhat farfetched, but the parts that I was able to interpret were very enjoyable to ponder over.
Thomas Hardy
Overall I would say that I enjoyed reading the works of Thomas Hardy, but I really enjoyed reading and thinking about the poem Hap which is a poem about the “chance” that life is. I found some of the writing to be a bit confusing, but for the most part, I found it to be an easy read that was perfect for further examination. One thing that really stood out to me was the fact that Hardy uses the term god not as the singular God that I think of, but rather as a generic term for a higher power that he does not know. Later in the poem Hardy again refers to a higher power, but this time he uses the term “Powerfuller” and though it seems to me to be no more direct than when he used the term god, he feels the need to capitalize this word and make it stand out from the rest.
I also enjoyed this poem because it seems to be presenting an issue that a great deal of people wrestle with in their own lives and that issue is the “why me?” issue. I find that a lot of people ask the question “Why Me?” when tragedy befalls them, but there have been very few if any instances of someone asking “Why Me?” when something good and prosperous happens to them. When there is a death in a family the members of that family will sometimes wonder what they have done to deserve this loss, but when a family wins the lottery they tend not to ask any such questions. I find that this poem is not out-right asking the “Why Me?” question, but it does state that:
“If but some vengeful god would call to me
From up the sky, and laugh: “Thou suffering thing,
Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy,
That thy love’s loss is my hate’s profiting!”
When I read this stanza I felt like Hardy was asking for something greater than he to tell him why he is suffering. I do not agree with the “Why Me?” question because someone once said to me, “People ask ‘Why Me?’, but if you really think about it ‘Why Not Me?” is a better question”. Though it is easy for us, as humans, to think about why we have to suffer it is much more difficult for us to realize “Why Not Me?”.
I also enjoyed this poem because it seems to be presenting an issue that a great deal of people wrestle with in their own lives and that issue is the “why me?” issue. I find that a lot of people ask the question “Why Me?” when tragedy befalls them, but there have been very few if any instances of someone asking “Why Me?” when something good and prosperous happens to them. When there is a death in a family the members of that family will sometimes wonder what they have done to deserve this loss, but when a family wins the lottery they tend not to ask any such questions. I find that this poem is not out-right asking the “Why Me?” question, but it does state that:
“If but some vengeful god would call to me
From up the sky, and laugh: “Thou suffering thing,
Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy,
That thy love’s loss is my hate’s profiting!”
When I read this stanza I felt like Hardy was asking for something greater than he to tell him why he is suffering. I do not agree with the “Why Me?” question because someone once said to me, “People ask ‘Why Me?’, but if you really think about it ‘Why Not Me?” is a better question”. Though it is easy for us, as humans, to think about why we have to suffer it is much more difficult for us to realize “Why Not Me?”.
Gerard Manley Hopkins
After reading the works of Gerard Manley Hopkins, I found myself being drawn back to the poem I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark, Not Day because of the imagery that Hopkins uses in describing the life that he is living. When I read the line “I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day” the image of someone going to sleep at night, dying in their sleep, and not returning to the world immediately came to mind. I interpreted this line to be the way that one would feel if he or she had simply gone to sleep one night and never seen the sun again because he or she had left this world. I also took interest in the lines that read
“With witness I speak this. But where I say
Hours I mean years, mean life.”
because I feel that every hour of our lives is somehow important if for no other reason than all of the hours combined make up the years that in turn, make up our lives. I do find this poem to be a bit strange because of the language that is used, which I find difficult to grasp and also because of some of the punctuation that Hopkins uses such as an exclamation point that I found somewhat out of place. As I read the end of the poem I thought of someone who was disappointed with the way that his or her life had turned out and they were comparing their situation to someone in Hell. I found the end to be difficult to picture in my mind, but overall I really did enjoy reading the poem because it is a beautifully written piece of literature.
“With witness I speak this. But where I say
Hours I mean years, mean life.”
because I feel that every hour of our lives is somehow important if for no other reason than all of the hours combined make up the years that in turn, make up our lives. I do find this poem to be a bit strange because of the language that is used, which I find difficult to grasp and also because of some of the punctuation that Hopkins uses such as an exclamation point that I found somewhat out of place. As I read the end of the poem I thought of someone who was disappointed with the way that his or her life had turned out and they were comparing their situation to someone in Hell. I found the end to be difficult to picture in my mind, but overall I really did enjoy reading the poem because it is a beautifully written piece of literature.
Victorian Ladies and Gentlemen
I actually enjoyed reading the Perspectives section Victorian Ladies and Gentlemen because it describes a world that is vastly different than the world that we, as Americans, live in today. In most households both the mother and father have jobs and are considered to be providers for the family, but in this section the world described is far different. I really took interest in the way that the section talks about the terms “lady” and “gentleman” and how important they were to most people of the Victorian era. I found the part that says:
“The terms “lady” and “gentleman” had enormous significance, particularly for those aspiring to these ranks, or for those in danger of slipping out of them.”
I found this interesting because I have never thought of the terms “lady” and “gentleman” as a rank at all, but rather a term of respect held between people. I found it a bit odd that one could lose the rank of “lady” or “gentleman” because the text states that
“Some social distinctions were obvious: regardless of conduct, people born into the aristocracy and landed gentry were indisputably ladies and gentlemen; people who worked with their hands in home, field, or factory were not.”
The text clearly states that regardless of their conduct, the wealthy were given the titles of ladies and gentlemen so I found myself being very curious of how one would lose his or her rank. Though I still do not understand this peculiar part of the text, I do find it very interesting and I hope to eventually figure it out.
“The terms “lady” and “gentleman” had enormous significance, particularly for those aspiring to these ranks, or for those in danger of slipping out of them.”
I found this interesting because I have never thought of the terms “lady” and “gentleman” as a rank at all, but rather a term of respect held between people. I found it a bit odd that one could lose the rank of “lady” or “gentleman” because the text states that
“Some social distinctions were obvious: regardless of conduct, people born into the aristocracy and landed gentry were indisputably ladies and gentlemen; people who worked with their hands in home, field, or factory were not.”
The text clearly states that regardless of their conduct, the wealthy were given the titles of ladies and gentlemen so I found myself being very curious of how one would lose his or her rank. Though I still do not understand this peculiar part of the text, I do find it very interesting and I hope to eventually figure it out.
Charles Dickens
As has probably been made evident by my other blog postings, I really like to find a couple of lines of each work that I read to analyze in greater detail. I find that by choosing a couple of lines to write about I do not have to completely understand the entire work, which I often do not anyway. After reading the e-text of Charles Dickens A Visit to Newgate I found that the first couple of lines were really interesting to me and they actually made me want to read further into the work which is what the beginning of a work should do. I enjoyed the work overall, but I did find some of it difficult to understand because of the way that it is written. It is something that I found insight in and that is always something that I enjoy. The first sentence of the work is a bit long, but I was really drawn to it even after reading the entire work.
“‘The force of habit’ is a trite phrase in everybody’s mouth; and it is not a little remarkable that those who use it most as applied to others, unconsciously afford in their own persons singular examples of the power which habit and custom exercise over the minds of men, and of the little reflection they are apt to bestow on subjects with which every day’s experience has rendered them familiar.”
To me, this one line contains a great deal of insight into the way that people often view the world that they see every day. Once you have become familiar with something in your life you will probably give little consideration to how important it is unless it is no longer there one day. Each day those of us with the ability to walk probably do so and may or may not think about just how lucky we are to be able to do so without realizing how lucky we are to be able to do so. We often become oblivious to how wonderful some things that we do everyday actually are and I felt that this one sentence from Charles Dickens’ work was somewhat of a wakeup call to me to think about how fortunate I actually am.
“‘The force of habit’ is a trite phrase in everybody’s mouth; and it is not a little remarkable that those who use it most as applied to others, unconsciously afford in their own persons singular examples of the power which habit and custom exercise over the minds of men, and of the little reflection they are apt to bestow on subjects with which every day’s experience has rendered them familiar.”
To me, this one line contains a great deal of insight into the way that people often view the world that they see every day. Once you have become familiar with something in your life you will probably give little consideration to how important it is unless it is no longer there one day. Each day those of us with the ability to walk probably do so and may or may not think about just how lucky we are to be able to do so without realizing how lucky we are to be able to do so. We often become oblivious to how wonderful some things that we do everyday actually are and I felt that this one sentence from Charles Dickens’ work was somewhat of a wakeup call to me to think about how fortunate I actually am.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Oscar Wilde...Revisited
While reading the works of Oscar Wilde I was immediately drawn to Impression du Matin, but did not really think much about the short poem Symphony in Yellow after I read it once. I decided to read over the poem again and immediately realized that it speaks of topics that are also contained in the longer Impression du Matin such as the Thames, hay, and the color yellow. I guess that because the poem is so short I had not given it as much thought and consideration as I had Wilde’s other works. After reading this poem I felt that there must have been some connection between the two works that runs deeper than the obvious shared topics, but I am not sure what that connection might be.
I noticed that both poems that I read by Oscar Wilde contained the color yellow, but in Impression du Matin yellow is used to describe a creeping fog, which sounds somewhat eerie. While in Symphony in Yellow the color yellow is used to describe several things in a beautiful and glorious manner, as though the color was somehow very special to the world and to Oscar Wilde in particular. I do not really understand the connections that are seen within the two poems, but I do hope to eventually be able to understand them and why they are there.
I noticed that both poems that I read by Oscar Wilde contained the color yellow, but in Impression du Matin yellow is used to describe a creeping fog, which sounds somewhat eerie. While in Symphony in Yellow the color yellow is used to describe several things in a beautiful and glorious manner, as though the color was somehow very special to the world and to Oscar Wilde in particular. I do not really understand the connections that are seen within the two poems, but I do hope to eventually be able to understand them and why they are there.
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