Society: High and Low, Reflections and Woe

From the very beginning of our class discussions up until the last week of real classes, I have noticed a common theme that has been tied to class in society.  The topic of social classes, and its’ problems, seem to be something each generation of literature is able to relate to in some way, shape, or form. I also found it personally interesting to see all the different interpretations of this topic that we read throughout the entirety of the semester. For example, “Why shouldna the poor folk mowe?”, “Songs of Innocence and Experience”, “The Importance of being Earnest”, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, and “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde” all reveal parts of how British society operated, along with the “rules and regulations” of the time period as far as class in society goes.

“Why shouldna the poor folk mowe?” is an obvious stab at the issue of social hierarchy. Like mentioned in class, Robert Burns intended this to be a “drinking song”. This simple “drinking song” sure made it out of the Pubs and into history. The poem was also often published under the more “polite” title “When Princes and Prelates” later on down the road. “Why shouldna the poor folk mowe?” strongly hints at the idea of reproduction being the lower-classes most powerful weapon.  Power, sexuality, and human reproduction are being symbolized by the success of the French Revolution. The European monarchy has often been criticized for their sexual and political indecency that seemed to follow them around, which seems to portray them as impotent. Through this tune, I felt like power comes as a result from common folks and their sexuality. I think Burns was trying to advocate the victory of sex over social class; the common man has been painted as content alongside his miserable monarchy companions, and their unsuccessful battles with the French republic.

William Blake, to me, was probably one of the more complex people we talked about. I honestly enjoyed the complexity of his poetry in “Songs of Innocence and Experience” though, and I felt like he really reflected the values and morals of his society in this collection of poems. Through “Songs of Innocence”, political and social corruption can be found surrounding a child who seems blissfully unaware of what is really going on.  I personally felt like both “The Lamb” and “The Chimney Sweeper” shows the political and social corruption of the Romantic era, and what morals were valued in society at the time. For example, the child in “The Lamb” is innocent, but is also being indirectly subjected to “experience” with incorrect ideas of the Christian religion (“For He calls Himself a lamb. He is meek, and He is mild, He became a little child. I a child, and you a lamb. We are called by His name”). In one of our class discussions, we talked about “The Lamb”. To me this shows that the idea of being in the Christian faith was very important to society; this little child was even trying to “teach” a lamb what he “learned” after all.“Songs of Experience” to me very clearly trace the ideas of where corrupt lies in society, and the surrounding text is not as vague, "flowery" or naive. “The Chimney Sweeper” I felt also captured the current trends and norms of the Romantic society at the time. In both versions of “The Chimney Sweeper” the reader is able to see the abusive and twisted side of child labor. Child labor was a growing concern at this time, but socially and politically acceptable.  Both versions show the corrupt ugly side to society, and both show children that are subjected to “experience” (or the withering of the human spirit) at a very young age.

“The Importance of being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde was probably one of my favorite things we touched on for this semester. All of the characters are so over the top too that it is hard to not see the satiric elements of Victorian society being mocked at. The three main female characters, Lady Bracknell, Gwendolyn, and Cecily, really stood out to me the most. As I mentioned in one of my earlier blog posts (The Importance of Being Earnest), earnestness in Victorian society dealt with the jumping between lower and upper classes, including the spread of religion; the title of the play itself is a pun. All of the characters seem to either attempt this or try to hinder it from happening. Lady Bracknell’s character is also representation in the extreme with the hypocrisy, traditions, structure, and standards held by the aristocratic society. She is very materialistic, stubborn, and unbelievable with her demands in regards to potential suitors for Gwendolyn. Gwendolyn Fairfax represents the exact opposite. She is the arbiter of high fashion and society; the “it” girl.  Sophistication and intelligence roll off her tongue, and Gwendolyn has a rebellious strike to her that clashes with Lady Bracknell’s “by-the-book” set of rules for her. Morals are also high on Gwendolyn’s character as well which can be seen through her obsession with the “virtuous-sounding” name of Earnest.  On the other extreme of Gwendolyn and Lady Bracknell, there is Cecily. Cecily is painted out to be this sweet “country- bumpkin” type of girl, more innocent then Gwendolyn. Much like Gwendolyn, however, Cecily also has a rebellious side to her; the idea of wickedness holds her fascination. The idea of “wickedness” and rebellion is that draws her to the name of Earnest; this can be seen in the medieval fantasies she images between her and “always in trouble” Earnest.

“We’re all a little mad”, is right on the dot! The mockery of class and society take a twisted ride with Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Wonderland, as I assume many of you lovely people are aware of, consists of mad people (not just the angry kind), and backward ideas. Like “The Importance of Being Earnest”, the characters are also over the top but in extremely different ways. I found both Alice’s character and the Cheshire Cat especially interesting with how the morals and values of Victorian society are mocked and represented in different ways. Alice is a good representation of the “small adult” motif Victorian children were identified as. She is very logical, curious, and tries her best to morph and inject her experiences

into a world that has been literally flipped upside down. She enters Wonderland with a strong sense of nobleness, and confidence in her education, social standing, and manners, which immediately shows the part of class and society Alice is from.  Over all, Alice tends to act in an almost superior like attitude where ever she goes, and looms her “superiority” over those she finds “less privileged” than her. She is the only character that appears “normal” in this strange world of Wonderland. The Cheshire Cat, however, is unlike any character found in Wonderland. He seems to be immune to the rules and madness of Wonderland; he kind of does what he wants when he wants. The Cheshire Cat very clearly appears to have insight to the inner workings of Wonderland too, and is the only character that I able to point out Alice’s own sense of madness in Wonderland. Since Wonderland is ruled by the insane, Alice’s behavior of “sophistication” and “superiority” becomes inconstant and mocked as a result. He turns her classic Victorian behavior into utter madness, morphing her into the newest addition of Wonderland.

Where best to begin with The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.. This is one of those stories, like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, that a child kind of seems to grow up knowing (at least I did). As a kid, all I knew of the original story was that Dr. Jekyl was the good guy, and when he drank a potion he somehow transformed into Mr. Hyde: the rude and ugly bad guy. I never really thought of how both Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde represented and reflected the morals and values of their society until this

semester though. One of our fellow classmates pointed out in their blog post (Cricket’s Hidden Hyde bog post), that Mr. Hyde was the result of one needing to escape the Victorian lifestyle of propriety and etiquette. I completely agree with this idea. Dr. Henry Jekyl is an outward representation on how a person of the Victorian society should be: neat, proper, well-mannered, and respectable. Mr. Edward Hyde, however, is the complete opposite. He is rude, cruel, violate, and language in general almost seems to disappear around him entirely; he is the death and corruption that hid inside poor Dr. Jekyl, and opposition of what was socially acceptable in society: high class versus low class. Both “people” also, in a way, become individually addicted to life in society, and fight to stay in it whether good or bad results.

                All of these works of literature show that no matter what era of time you are in, one can always find history within texts. Values and morals of society, along with class, can be found even through satires, and complex poems like that of William Blake if you look hard enough.

Works Cited

"Songs of Innocence and of Experience." (1789, 1794 1789 (objects 2-29, 34-37 as Arranged in This Copy), 1794 (objects 1, 30-33, 38-55 as Arranged in This Copy).): Electronic Edition. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2013.

Damrosch, David, Susan J. Wolfson, and Peter J. Manning. The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Boston: Longman, 2010. Print.

"Impossible, Perverse & Strange." Impossible, Perverse & Strange. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2013.

Poetry as a Vehicle/Reflection

     From the eighteenth to the twenty first century, poetry and its many forms have provided insight into the cultural contexts of the generation in which it was written. Within the literary scope, poetry functions as a vehicle for the poet to provide commentary on revolution, social issues, economics, and art itself. What makes poetry the ideal mode for this sort of commentary is its ability to be subtle and brash, visual and verbal, literal and metaphorical. In its various structures and rhythms, poetry has become the optimum method for generating a pervading sense of artistic statement to both the common man and the wealthy. William Cowper, Robert Burns, William Blake and Thomas Hardy are all great examples of poets who have used poetry to reflect on events that socially impact the cultures in which they lived.

     An early poem studied in class is William Cowper’s “The Negro’s Complaint,” a work that functions as a great example of a poem with an obvious theme and a wide-stretching audience. Cowper’s poem takes on the persona of an African slave, having been shipped from Africa to another country in 1788. The poem speaks to the white man and asks him to “prove that you have human feelings, ere you proudly question ours!” (Cowper 1). The point of view of the African is an unusual technique utilized in a time when slavery was prominent and widely considered an acceptable practice. Cowper is one of the first poets to shift point of view to the African slave in an attempt to stop the atrocities of slavery and save his fellow man. The original purpose of this poem and something we discussed in class is that it was supposed to be sung. The reason for this being that many common folk in the late eighteenth century were illiterate and singing was a way to spread the message of anti-slavery across the social gaps that existed in the English culture. It is therefore evident that Cowper’s meter in the poem is borrowed from that of “Hosier’s Ghost,” as “The Negro’s Complaint” is sung to the same tune and meter. This poem could be an example of parody, were it not for the grave and resolute nature of the content. As MeghuD mentions in her post titled "Cowper's Identity Crisis," people of the time were much more apt to listen to a white man than slave, giving voice to a group of people that would otherwise have none and starting the turning of the abolitionist wheel.

     Another prominent eighteenth century writer that uses sung poetry to spread his message is the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Burns, being a commoner himself and farmer in his youth, wrote his poems and songs chiefly in the Scots dialect, appealing to “traditional Scottish culture, expressions of farm life and class and religious distinctions,” the commoner accent making his work influential and well known among the poor (Robert Burns 1). His poem/song “And Why Shouldna Poor Folk Mowe” tackled the touchy subject of sexuality among the poor and rich, contrasting the two opposite ends of the social spectrum. The poem itself did not garner a lot of attention in literary circles due to its somewhat graphic nature and its affront to the reputation of the nobles mentioned, but its subject matter does touch on the social inequality in Scotland at the time. Burns criticizes the nobles for their squalor but creates a bond between the two social classes by suggesting that everyone have crazy wild sex and just forget about their problems. On Catherine the Great of Russia, Burns says “may the deil in her arse ram a huge prick of brass!/and damn her in hell with a mowe!” suggesting that she get off her high horse and admit to her sexual affair with Stanislaw Poniatowski, last King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Burns Handout 1). The course language and Scots dialect leave little to the imagination and given the fact that this poem was probably sung as a drinking song, we can see how it would quickly become spread among the poor folk who had little to besides work, drink, and mowe.

     A very prominent wave of influence in poetry comes from its connection to other art forms. Many poets, especially the pre-Raphaelites such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti in his painting and poem of the same name “The Blessed Damozel,” (seen above) as well as Waterhouse in his paintings Meghud posted about in the post titled Art and Poetry, used the technique of ekphrasis to evoke a stronger response to poetry and literature by providing a visual counterpart. Though Rossetti’s poem and painting are both poetically and visually striking, it is William Blake whose ekphrastic work was used as commentary of the social practices in his illuminated works “Songs of Innocence and Experiene,” written in 1794. In his poem “The Chimney Sweeper” in the Songs of Experience section, the chimney sweeping boy is described as a young man having died from his job cleaning the soot from the chimneys, whose parents from the boy’s of view “clothed me in the clothes of death/And taught me to sing the notes of woe” (Blake 47). The poem in Songs of Experience is slightly different from that of the Songs of Innocence version, having a more matured tone and an overall less unsettling vibe as far as imagery is concerned, the children being “lock’d up in coffins of black” in the former (Blake 44). The poems both raise the question of how moral it really is to put children to work in such harsh conditions when it affects their health so negatively, often resulting in death. In order to literally imprint this image into the minds of the readers, Blake created a visual component to enhance his poetic intention.

The huddled figure to the left is clothed darkly and wandering in the pouring rain. The look on the boy’s face is one of melancholy or longing, as if he knows he will soon be dead from his long days scrubbing the depths of blackened chimneys. The boy walks alone in an empty street to an unknown destination, evoking his isolation and lonely death. This version of “The Chimney Sweeper” is from Songs of Experience. The poem itself rests above in the clouds, beyond the rain, as if they are the boy’s thoughts. The color not just in this image, but all other available prints seen here, are of dark tonality and earthy tones of brown and blue, effectively translating a visual sense of mood to whoever views the piece.

   Songs of Innocence provides a much different picture of the children and their plight. Here the image is mostly text with a small, but salient image of the “angel who had a bright key/and he open’d the coffins & set them all free,” referring to the children liberated from death’s grasp by an Angel of the Lord. The children are still somewhat black and soot covered, but the Angel is completely white and pure, lending a hand to a child just rising from his coffin. The children seem to be happy and cheering, with their hands in the air as they prance away from death in jubilation. In contrast to the image of “The Chimney Sweeper” from Songs of Experience, there is more than one child. This specific image speaks more broadly and for that reason, perhaps more effectively on the topic of dangerous work conditions for children, the Songs of Experience poem being much more personal and individually focused, almost as if the event were specific and therefore a one-time occurrence. Both of these poems, as well as the rest of Blake’s ekphrastic poetry give illiterate or semi-literate commoners, who are mostly the subjects of his poems, the chance to visually assess what they may not be able to perceive with words. By focusing his poems mostly on the poor and the common man, Blake, like Cowper, gives the common a voice by publishing his work and circulating it in a unique and very visual manner.

     Thomas Hardy’s ‘The Darkling Thrush” comments on the social and physical changes that occur with the dawn of the twentieth century. As JHam mentions in his post titled Revolution of an Industrial Kind, Hardy’s “lack of faith in humanity’s ability to sustain itself” is present at the beginning of the poem, as “every spirit upon earth/seemed fervorless” and void of human passion (Hardy 862). JHam also points out the imagery associated with death “represented by factories” as the narrator describes the gloomy scene that contrasts with the solitary, but hopeful voice of the thrush singing its song. As “the land’s sharp features seemed to be/The Century’s corpse outleant,” these features refer to the jagged and unnatural buildings of the industrial revolution and the dawning of a new century that has moved away from an old, natural form, whether the allegory be for literature or just culture and the appreciation for nature in general (Hardy 862). It could be said that the thrush “bears an unmistakable resemblance to the sixty-year-old Hardy himself,” being described as “an aged thrush, frail gaunt and small,” Hardy being the one singing the tune of jubilance with all the volume he can muster, just as he feels alone in his attempt to reactivate and revive what literary traditions have been lost (Bennett 1). Hardy’s social commentary stirs an emotional reaction within the reader and the language is not so high brow that the common working folk, the ones in the factories, wouldn’t be able to grasp the metaphor of the thrush as a faint hope in a time where there is none, or a desperate last voice calling out in vain on the deaf ears of people who have already embraced the new social trends.

     Poetry throughout history has been an essential source of social commentary, poets being quite aware of their audience and the content of their works, whether it be hidden or blatant. As an effective vehicle to spread an idea or notion of culture, poetry ends up becoming a historical record and a reflection of the world’s defining moments.

Works Cited

Bennett, Bruce. "Thomas Hardy’s Artistry in "The Darkling Thrush"" – Contemporary Poetry Review. N.p., 15 Nov. 2012. Web. 07 May 2013.

Hardy, Thomas, and William Blake. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: Concise Edition. By Joseph Black. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview, 2009. N. pag. Print.

"Robert Burns." - Poets.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2013.

Roy, George R. "Merry Muses of Caledonia by Robert Burns." Robertburns.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2013.

"Songs of Innocence and of Experience." (1789, 1794 1789 (objects 2-29, 34-37 as Arranged in This Copy), 1794 (objects 1, 30-33, 38-55 as Arranged in This Copy).): Electronic Edition. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2013.

"William Blake." William Blake. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2013. 

Feminist Roles in British Literature

 As an English major, I have taken very many literature courses, and there is always one common interest that I carry throughout all of these courses. I am always interested in how the feminine roles of that society reflect in the literature; whether it is through female authors, or female characters. One of the class presentations from this semester that was most interesting to me was the one given by two of my classmates about the feminine role in Victorian society. It was fascinating to me how a woman’s job was to be at home playing the role of a domesticated wife and mother, yet that is hardly ever the way that they are perceived in the literature of that time, or even the time before and after that. As I went through all of our blog posts from this semester, I found that this study would take me on a timeline journey through several texts we’ve read. Starting from Romance of the Forest, going on to Cry of the Children, then The Forsaken Merman, and finally ending with The Bloody Chamber. The connections between these four pieces may not be noticeably apparent at first glance, but once you put take feminine perspective into consideration, they slowly start to rise to the surface.

  One of the very first novels we read in this class was Romance of the Forest by Radcliffe, where we were introduced to our first lead female character, Adeline. She seemed to be a rather controversial character within our class. Some people viewed her as being weak, feeble, and sensitive, while others saw her as an interesting, complex, and intelligent character. Although the true nature of her character is up for debate, it certainly can’t be denied that she is our heroine for a reason. I find it very difficult to believe that Radcliffe would write a weak lead character that doesn’t have more to her than the exterior. Adeline certainly fits the description of a typical woman in that time period. She was always falling victim to her own emotions and it seemed that she was too weak to face the real world on her own. However, all of these qualities that she possesses could also be seen as manipulation tools that she used to get what she wants. Adeline certainly knows how to use her beauty and innocence to charm those around her, and I would argue that she took advantage of that.

  I found this picture and thought that it was a beautiful illustration of the book. The artist clearly took into the consideration the imagery and romance of the book and incorporated it into this picture. Although the figure on top of the cliff is not clearly seen, we can tell that it is a woman’s body and that it is supposed to be Adeline. The way she is laying on the cliff seems to portray her as a damsel in distress, but I couldn’t help but look past that. Although she does seem like she’s in need of help, it still is a very captivating image. It seems as if she strategically placed herself in this beautiful scene and waited to be noticed. It’s as if she is doing it on purpose just to get our attention, and she does.

  Although The Cry of the Children is written in response to the child labor that was prevalent in the Victorian era, there are feminist prints all over it. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was clearly trying to reach women in this poem by appealing to their pathos and having them feel sorry for the children. If she can strike a chord with the women, then the men will eventually hop on board too. Although women didn’t have any influence in the government or politics, they certainly had influence over the men in their households. Browning was known for adding sentimental touches in her poetry. In The Sentimental Artistry Of Barrett Browning's "The Cry Of The Children.", Henry Peaches talks about Browning’s writing style by saying, “Her relationship with feeling, the main currency of sentimental literature, was complicated both by her position as a woman in Victorian society and her sense of herself as a poet. She wrote during a time when both women’s lives and art were limited by social conventions which marked them as emotional rather than reasoning, sensitive to individual grief but capable of understanding broad societal problems” (Peaches 538).

  The week that we were assigned to read The Forsaken Merman by Matthew Arnold, I remember we had a very interesting discussion in class about why we thought the merman’s wife was leaving him and their children to go to land. Many connections to made to the role of religion in the poem, however, the interpretation that most interested me was the one that suggested that the poem was actually a feminist one and could be read as such. The woman leaving her husband and kids to go to land was viewed as an act of liberation where the woman was able to escape her destined domesticated role as a wife and mother and chase her dreams (which in this case was going to land and experiencing a new way of life). Although this reading of the poem is not common, it certainly has every right to be interpreted in that way. In a time where it was considered outrageous for a woman to leave her family to be independent and do what she wants, this woman went against the tide (pun intended) and did it anyways. It was a bold opposition to the norm and I can see how this woman can be viewed as a liberated woman.

  In this illustration of The Forsake Merman we see the merman, his wife, and their children. It seems as if the woman is leaving her family, and they are still in the water while she is on land. She is the only one in the picture that has any legs. The husband and children all have fish tails that constrain them to the water, the wife, however, has legs and is free to leave the water and go onto the land. The fact that the woman in the image is dressed very nicely in a beautiful gown and is wearing jewelry also gives the impression that she truly is liberated and the life that she has made for herself on land is more lavish than the one that she had with her husband. It is a controversial claim to make, but that’s what makes Arnold’s poem so dynamic. It has the ability to transcend its religious constraints and move into a territory far ahead of its time, women’s emancipation from societal obligations.

  The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter was known to have been influenced by the feminist movement that was going on in that time. The young girl in the story seems to possess qualities that contribute to her being the heroine that she is in the end. In "Bluebeard" and "The Bloody Chamber": The Grotesque of Self-Parody and Self-Assertion", Kari Lokke talks about this young woman’s journey by writing, “The Bloody Chamber is a contemporary transformation of the quintessential grotesque motif, the dance of death and the maiden, a modern, feminist transformation in which for once the maiden is victorious over death itself’ (Lokke 9). This is not your typical fairy tale. It has very many unusual twists and turns that give it a more gothic feel. I loved the idea that this story was also written by a woman. Carter without a doubt thought that it was important that the women of the story came out on top in the end. Although the young girl was saved from her murderer husband by her mother, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that Carter wrote her as the heroine. It’s also interesting that it wasn’t a knight in shining armor or her other love interest that saved her in the end, but it was another woman. A man was not able to kill her, nor was a man able to save her; definitely not the classic fairy tale that we are used to. The story ends with the young girl having made a living for herself. She has used her dead husband’s fortune to convert the castle into a school for the blind. She did not squander away her wealth, but she invested it into something that would not only make her money, but also make a positive difference in her community. She transforms from a housewife to an independent woman with a career.

  Going back and making all of these feminist connections throughout all of these texts has proved to me once again that the traditional roles of women that were prevalent in that time did not limit the women in literature. It seems as if the literary world was the one place where women could be liberated beings. Whether they were lead characters in a poem or story, or authors, they certainly pushed the envelope and did not settle with the societal expectations placed on them in that historical moment.

Further Readings
• http://www.mckendree.edu/academics/scholars/issue18/appell.htm
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/victorian_britain/women_home/ideals_womanhood_01.shtml

Works Cited 
Henry, Peaches. "The Sentimental Artistry Of Barrett Browning's "The Cry Of The Children." Victorian Poetry 49.4 (2011): 535-556. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 May 2013.

Lokke, Kari. ""Bluebeard" and "The Bloody Chamber": The Grotesque of Self-Parody and Self-Assertion." : Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1 (1988), pp. 7-12. (2012): n. page.

Athanasia

     “In sorrow we must go, but not in despair. Behold! we are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory.” This was a description of J.R.R. Tolkien’s view of the afterlife, is a 

J.R.R. Tolkien

huge theme throughout much of the literature we have read. By “the circles of the world” Tolkien was talking about time, in the end we all fear that one thing, running out of time. We strive to stay alive, to fight to live, however we all know it to be an inevitable fact, we die. How do we, as humans, cope with this realization? We have faith and or believe in an afterlife, or some form of an eternal time. We do this through the church with religious afterlives, but we also do this by trying to create timeless legacies to keep our name and essentially ourselves alive.

     Athanasia as defined by dictionary.com means “deathlessness; immortality.” This adequately sums up humanity’s quest for a timeless life, or immortality. Throughout all of the literature we have read this semester, one constant theme that crops up is the idea of the supernatural and afterlife. We associate these two together because the idea of an afterlife, or immortality, is so foreign we associate it with the supernatural.

         Lenora and William riding on horseback. In this 
         painting we see death through the colors and
         the style. (Notice the horses nostrils and 
         William's hand.)
         

     The first time the class encountered this theme was with Burger’s “Lenora.” This piece showed up to us kicking and screaming with the idea of the afterlife, providing for us a stepping stone into this idea of athanasia. The idea of Lenora being carried away by her lover after a war by itself is a mundane story idea. However, this changes when her dead husband comes knocking on her door to take her to their marriage bed. Even though he was been missing for a while we see his ghost come back to retrieve her and then proceed to take her to his grave. William, the lover, is later revealed as death. Throughout the poem the idea of religion is embodied by Lenora’s mother, however, the idea of Lenora being able to remain with William outweighs her religious upbringing. The idea of the afterlife comes in with the idea of William as a ghost and “the dead travel fast”, this implies, without a doubt, the idea of an afterlife. One can also rip apart that small line “the dead travel fast,” fast being an idea associated with time, then one must beg the question, why are the dead traveling fast? It is because the dead must feel a sense of urgency; it must have not only lonely for Lenora without William, but for William also without Lenora. Tiffanee had a great post entitled Psychological Obsession in which she explored the idea of madness and most importantly the idea of religion within this ballad. It is within this poem we see a change in the style of literature compared to the Enlightenment. Rather than use reason Tiffanee states “her daughter is relying on her sensory ability to see, and feel something else around her,” this is what the Gothic and supernatural were all about, you cannot view the concept of athanasia with any other type of reason other than feeling.

     The idea of ghosts and specters was bound to continue after “Castle of Otranto” and “Lenora.” This concept of supernatural entities persisted in our class reading of Wordsworth’s “The Thorn.” This poem is about the death of an infant and the mother’s lamentation over this death. The narrator looks on to the scene unfolding from afar and pieces a story together from local town myths. There were many great posts about this particular topic, in this case I have chosen to reference Cassiopeia’s fantastic post entitled There Are


William Wordsworth

Superstitions... In her post she wrote “[d]espite continually saying, "I cannot tell how this may be," the speaker tells the haunted tale as he believes it to be true.” This sparked a conversation within the comments on her post describing how this changes the poem. Rose in particular stated “[b]y capitalizing the plant, Wordsworth brings life to it. In Biblical scripture, there are many references to "thorns" as problems or ailments.” Before this Jamasaurus had stated “It could be that her child (the thorn) was a "thorn in her side" so to speak.” If this is the case then the woman must have some concept of afterlife to sit by the grave and mourn every day waiting, perhaps, to again one day see her child. In a post by Toff mandrake entitled Oh Misery! he states “The entire poem reads like a ghost story that the narrator is reluctant to tell.” This ballad does indeed create this vibe, and what is a ghost if not eternal.

We are Seven! Immortalized!
In this image we see the grave from We are Seven,
immortalized in a church yard along with a plaque.

     In Wordsworth other poem “We Are Seven” we see the concept of afterlife through the eyes of children. Children, as a general rule of thumb, see the world defiantly than adults. Until they are thought to think differently, children have a completely different rationalization. When a girl tells a man she has seven siblings and yet two are in the ground, he tries to protest by saying there are only five. However, the young lady remains persistent and says “We are seven.” In a post by Porphyria entitled Natural Communion she states “The graves in this poem are not described as frightening or ominous. Instead, they are “green” and close to the home, as if the departed children never truly left. The little girl spends time with her siblings, communing with the graves as she sits in the grass and sings to them.” This is a great statement and one that express a happier view on the afterlife through the eyes of a child. The adult only views death as death, but the little girl sees her sibling as almost alive. We can see this through the green grass and bright nature surrounding the girl and the graves. One thing that Coyle Permetter points out in his post titled Perspective as it relates to Romanticism (We Are Seven) is that “The very first line "a simple child" gives the reader a sense of curiosity, life, fertility, and pacifism.  This is sharply contradicted by the third line "what should it know of death?"” Indeed what should a child know of death, children are simple right? Wrong. This child sees the afterlife as something to look forward to, a place where she can be with all her siblings.



Minnie Dibdin Spooner

Lucy Gray by William Wordsworth

The Golden Staircase ~ 1906

            The footsteps in the snow provide a chilling supernatural and otherworldly element to the poem “Lucy Gray” also by Wordsworth. After Lucy was lost in the snow on her way home she perished, never to be seen again. Her parents searched in vain however, all that remained was her footprints. To this day her footprints are still left in the snow eluding to her ghost, and in turn the notion of the spirit world. This poem has a strong tie with nature and as Cassiopeia put it in her post entitled One with nature, “the poem links Lucy's presumed death with the idea that she lives on through nature.” This was great insight and we see this through the use of Wordsworth’s imagery in lines such as; “I chanced to see at break of day; The storm came on before its time; And thence they saw the bridge of wood; That whistles in the wind.” I wanted to link this idea with an idea from another post, by keeping her ghost tied in with nature she remains to have a sense of “aliveness.” In Cricket’s post entitled Where is Lucy? He makes a point that within the poem itself they state "Yet some maintain that to this day She is a living Child." He goes on to say “her being apart of nature now and being preserved as an innocent child.” Here we can bring new light on the situation and see nature as a “preservative” for both the dead, and for literature itself.

I found this eerie video rendition of Lucy Gray.

 "John Keats is perhaps the brightest star, "the crown of his countries desire" as Robert Bridges puts it." (Smith) One poem the class read that failed to be adequately talked about in the blog was Keats’s “This Living Hand.” Because of the poem’s short nature it is included here:

This Living Hand

This living hand, now warm and capable  

Of earnest grasping, would, if it were cold

And in the icy silence of the tomb,

So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights

That thou wouldst wish thine own heart dry of blood

So in my veins red life might stream again,

And thou be conscience-calmed—see here it is—

I hold it towards you.

                                                  John Keats

Here we see Keats speaking about his out of body experience where he is conversing with his dead/alive self, in the hopes that his “veins red life might stream again.” This is another example of athanasia and the idea of deathless or immortality. By experiencing death in the plane of worlds, living and dead, Keats paints a vivid imagine in just a few short lines.

Modern Image of When I have Fears that may Cease to Be
From This Blog Click Here

     In Keats’s poem “When I have Fears that may Cease to Be” we see a connection once again between literature and nature and an aspiration to become Timeless. We see this in lines like: “When I have fears that I may cease to be; Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain; And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!” Here we see through the use of Keats’s wording the connection between time and nature. In Not_Eitak’s post entitled Death = Comfort Food? they state “Keats does share that he is afraid of death more or less because he does not want to die unsuccessful or unloved.” This comment reverses back to the idea of time and how we as humans fear the idea of time running out. This causes us to strive to immortalize ourselves through literature, and nature.        Perhaps the most in your face poem about death would be Rossetti’s “After Death” which is a blatantly obvious commentary about the afterlife, as suggested both in the poem and within the title. Here we see the narrator…DEAD…and offering commentary to another person, at first assumed to be a lover, but thoughts about this are crushed when she says “He did not love me living; but once dead He pitied me; and very

Christina Rossetti

sweet it is To know he still is warm though I am cold.” Here we see a view of death were death creates new emotions in the people still living, although he did not love her before, he loves her know and it is too late. We see this same idea in Daydreamer’s post After Death when he says “It ends the poem with a sense of hope that the woman’s death was not in vain. Her death may be the coming alive of this unknown man.”

     After the Great War, otherwise known as World War 1, we see a change in the town of literature regarding death, this is because World War 1 was the first war to encompass new technologies and tactics such as trenches, photography and weapons. This caused mass destruction on a scale otherwise unheard of before the time. In Kipling’s “Epitaphs of War” we see many examples of these written in short poetic lines in the form of an Epitaph. MeguhD made a great point in her post titled Kipling in regards to Kipling being English; she said “these Epitaphs could mean more considering England was in the war from the beginning. Unlike America who joined in just the last year.” This was a very good point because not only was he English but overall England was closer to the war making it a lot more real. These Epitaphs provided insight into the ideas of death after the war, when people from all religions, races, and places, came together to pick up the pieces.

     In the end the ideas of death and timelessness was an important part of the class. The idea of athanasia was an important and throughout the text we see it tied with the ideas of nature, time, and immortality. The writers present in this class all used their ability to achieve these states of timelessness. It truly provided a gateway through the Impossible, Perverse, and Strange. "Death is a bad thing by virtue of its ability to frustrate the subjectively valuable projects that shape our identities and render our lives meaningful." (Preston)

Works Cited
Smith "John Keats: Poet, Patient, Physician." Reviews of Infectious Diseases 6.3 (1984): 360-404.Jstor. Web.

Ted M. Preston and Scott Dixon International Journal for Philosophy of Religion , Vol. 61, No. 2 (Apr., 2007), pp. 99-117 Who Wants to Live Forever? Immortality, Authenticity, and Living Forever in the Present

SUBLIME!

Hey everyone, here is the power point on Sublime Patricia and I completed. I hope this helps everyone with their blog. Also later today I may have something new up on the Aesthetic Movement so stay tuned!
CLICK HERE FOR SOMETHING SUBLIME!

Burden of Blood

During class today, the story of Bluebeard was recited to us, which was the basis for Carter's "The Bloody Chamber."  Though each piece shared the almost exact plot of the other save for the ending, I found that the stories differed greatly in the morals presented.

In the fairy tale, I got the sense that the woman would have been find if she had obeyed Bluebeard.  Perhaps she would even have gone on to find happiness with him.  When she opens the room and discovers the fate of her predecessors, though, we understand that she has fallen into the same trap as they had in her inability to follow the set guidelines of her captor, the authority figure.  The reason Bluebeard makes such a big deal of leaving the key in plain sight to tempt her in order to set up the moral of the story.  I feel that this fairy tale is trying to teach children to respect authority, but also teach little girls to obey their husbands to avoid trouble.

"The Bloody Chamber" flips this around and presents the story in a more feminist light.  The author goes to great lengths to paint an otherworldly setting and give the reader the sense that something is off, both in the setting and with the husband.  The woman is described as corruptible, but as a converse, we are also told that she is not corrupted by that point.  There's nothing wrong with the woman, and her innocence is assured.  Whereas the fairy tale points out the faults in its female character, in this story, she is portrayed as more human.  With that humanity comes a natural curiosity.  Even though she disobeys her husband and opens the room, the woman remains innocent in that curiosity is a natural human trait.  The woman remains blameless, and thus no moral of obedience can be determined.  This only serves to further exemplify the faults of the husband and how he is the one corrupt instead of the woman.

As a feminist statement, this fairy tale needed to be rewritten as women are not and should not be beholden to the commands of their husbands as described in Bluebeard.  The husband in "The Bloody Chamber" serves to prevent his wives from becoming actual people rather than possessions.  This is why he is the villain and why the story goes to such lengths to portray him as such rather than focus on the disobedience of the wife. 

The Ringmaster's Lament

In The Circus Animal's Desertion by Yeats, he starts it off with a deep look into his past works. He almost seems disgusted at how showy they were and he admits that they were actually very terrible as far as works of art.

This is also a good example of demonstrating what happens with age. In his youth he was able to create these extravagant and beautiful works whereas now he is unable to come up with anything. He is extremely apathetic and it's like he has given up hope on having any kind of influence in the world at all anymore.

I find this sad as most of the country is like this as well. They are very apathetic towards there work and anything they have accomplished in the past that they were so excited about back then, they find really had no significant value or impact what so ever. This is a prime example of dying at 40 and buried at 70.

50 Shades of Bloody Chamber

Angela Carter's "The Bloody Carter" is a very dark story based off the tale of Bluebeard, in which Bluebeard stores the bodies of his previous wives in a chamber. Carter's story also makes a lot of references to tales and legends such as King Mark, Dracula, Tristan and Isolde, and Red Riding Hood ("All the better to see you.") These references as well as the many others gives the reader an idea of the atmosphere the main character is in. It's dark and sinister and deals with a passionate 'love' which is really just an obsession. It also gives the reader an idea about how young and naive the new bride is.

The choker made of rubies is a fascinating symbol of the story because it represents wealth, extravagance, ownership, humiliation, and even survival. It represents survival because the girl tells the story of how people who escaped execution during the Reign of Terror would tie red ribbons around their necks. This is very appropriate for the girl considering she herself is almost beheaded. She overcame her sadistic Big Bad Wolf much in the way her own mother conquered her would-be victimizers. (the mother even shoots him much like in certain versions of Little Red Riding Hood.)

The Bloody Chamber

I think it's interesting that this story is told from the female's perspective. This sets up the story to be a feminist piece from the beginning. Because it was published in 1979, it is very likely that Angela Carter was influenced by the second wave of feminism throughout the late 1900s. Angela Carter herself was known for her feminist literature, and I believe that this fact is important when reading "The Bloody Chamber." Though the overarching theme within the story is feminist, and the heroine eventually "wins," there are also small hints of feminism throughout the piece.

At first, the short story appears to be focused on the narrator's journey into wifedom. On page 1484, she states, "And, in the midst of my bridal triumph, I felt a pang of loss as if, when he put the gold band on my finger, I had, in some way, ceased to be her child in becoming his wife." This one line in particular stood out to me as feminist. She feels as though she has lost part of herself in becoming a wife. Her identity shifts into some realm of which she is uncertain. By gaining her husband, she loses her mother. One identity cannot coexist with the other. She is either a wife or a daughter, but never both.

"The Bloody Chamber"

Upon reading Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber," I was pleasantly suprised to see it was actually a feminist piece. Despite the horror of a man killing all his previous wives that would normally indicate the patriarchal power balance, Carter threads details into the story that make it ultimately feminist. At first, the young girl's innocence and desire to marry a man thrice wed would make her appear naive and impressionable. However very quickly, with small line such as "I'm sure I want to marry him" it is more obvious that she is capable of manipulation more than she lets on. Even as a young girl, she needs no comfort from her father, and instead is entranced and empowered by the final scene of Isolde.This is no ordinary, meek young girl, she is capable of corruption and even acknowledges it herself, "I sensed in myself a capability of corruption that took my breath away."

Rather than the helpless fairytale maiden, the girl has a natural potential for the same type of destruction a man has. While her husband says he saw a face with a "promise of debauchery," what he fails to realize is the nature of it. He thrives on the thought of being the one to turn her perverse, but does not realize that she already has budding perverseness within her. Overall, Carter writes a short story that tells more about the capability of women to be just as naturally carnal or dangerous as men. Even the end has the mother coming to rescue her daughter, leaving no room for weak damsels, but rather a story that defies the meek archetype of women and introduces the concept of natural corruption within women equal to that of men.

A New Start

I cant help but draw parallels between The Darling Thrush and The Circus Animal’s Desertion. Both poems are looking back at the past with mixed emotions. The Darling Thrush glances at the entire state of literature at the cusp of a new era, and Yeats does the same thing only on a more personal level. The drive to produce something new and exciting seem to be a difficult task and they imply that past work was just good enough but needs a push in a new direction. Hardy is a little more optimistic as he stands at the coppice gate and sees the wilderness that can be cultivated into entirely new forms of literature. Yeats reflects on a past career and turns his back to the sharp horizon that he helped build. It is a much easier feat to comment on the literature in its entirety, but something completely different when putting yourself in that mix. Both men see different values of the past and both accept the challenge of starting fresh; putting pen to paper and cultivate the untouched land that stands before them.    

Crazy Jane..

Since we were discussing Yeats last week, I wanted to talk about Crazy Jane Talks to the Bishop. I am not gonna lie, the title is what caught my attention and my reasoning for writing about it. The poem is the interaction between a character Yeats based off of a woman he admired for her speech and lust for life. He ended up writing seven poems about the old woman, this being the sixth. The Bishop in the poem looks down at the woman and speaks negatively of her unkept appearance and unchaste life. In response the woman defends herself by teaching the Bishop of life and to welcome it while you can. I believe her response response to be given. Live while you can and enjoy what you have. Many people forget that lesson, or ignore it because of their status. While researching the poem, it suggests that the Bishop may have admired the woman at one point in time, and she rejected his advances. which is why he tried to hurt her verbally with the lines, "Those breasts are flat and fallen now, Those veins must soon be dry;". The woman's response is somewhat of a reflection on Yeats real life. He wrote this when he was almost 70, during a time when he reignited his own look at life and love. I liked that the rhythm drew me in with its sing song beat. It felt like a nursery rhyme almost, with each line rhyming with the next. Overall, I enjoyed the poem and liked that it was short. Even though it felt like there was little to read, there is a lot to interpret.

Yeats' Lapis Lazuli

I had to do a little research with this poem to figure out exactly what a Lapis Lazuli was and why Yeats would use it to title his poem. Once I learnt about the blue stone I could somewhat connect it's meaning to the poem. Like the the dark blue stone, there's a sense of cold and dreariness in this poem. Yeats opens it by talking about the women who say they are sick of poets who are always happy when it's such a dark period of time. I really liked Yeats answer for these women in saying that life is like a play and we're all performing our parts. It's almost like when you're a child and your parents tell you that life isn't fair, and it reaches to a relatable aspect of human nature. It's hard to maintain a positive outlook when there's so much negative around and Yeats wants the reader to see that art is a means of achieving positivity.

A Time of Lost Hope

I found it interesting how the presentations from our classmates on Monday were so related to the ideas presented in Yeats’ The Circus Animals’ Desertion. I remember the groups talking about how this time in literature was a very dark and pessimist time. It wasn’t dark in the sense that it was gothic and gloomy, but in the sense that all hope and light seemed to have been abandoned. It seemed as if many authors had lost their trust in the beauty of nature and humanity, and that directly affect their writing styles. This is clearly seen in Yeats’ poem. He writes about how he has completely lost poetic themes that once seemed to come so easily to him. Majority of the poem is spent with him reminiscing about his past poetic themes that were so purely complete. However, he quickly snaps out about the daydream of the past and comes to terms with the unfortunate present; he “must lie down where all the ladders start,/In the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart”.  

A Bride Named Death

Of Rudyard Kipling's "Epitaphs of War",  The Bridegroom is one poem in particular which strikes my fancy.   Kipling effectively compares the narrator's "beloved" to the concept of death, employing personification to describe death, too, as a close lover.  The eerie terror of the notion put momentarily aside, I find this comparison quite poignant and precise.
"...this more ancient bride
Whom coldly I embrace
Was constant at my side
Before I saw thy face"

Were death a human being, would she not be a fellow's closest friend; closer, even, than a man's wife, lurking always over his shoulders?  And to marry death is to be removed from life:

"Our marriage, often set -
By miracle delayed"

"By miracle", the narrator throughout his life escaped his inevitable marriage to death, but as a result of participating in the war, was killed before he was able to wed his corporeal "beloved" ("From thy scarce-known breast / So little time removed, / In other arms I rest); sooner than he hoped.

However, the third stanza suggests that the death of the soldier results in a satisfactory form of marriage to his human bride, as he will, for the entire "Almost, of Memory", remain engaged to the woman, rendering their promise as "consummate", one that "cannot be unmade".

A Revolution of The Industrial Kind

In the first part of "The Darkling Thrush" by Thomas Hardy, it appears as though he has a lack of faith in humanity's ability to sustain itself with the introduction of the Industrial Revolution.

The land's sharp features seemed to be
      The Century's corpse outleant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy,
      The wind his death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
      Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
      Seemed fervourless as I.

The land's sharp features could be represented by factories since they would cast a sharp look to the skyline of a city and it is the remains of the previous century which is why he says "The Century's corpse outleant," Overall, he has a very pessimistic view of where society is headed because he feels as though the earth has been scoured of all it's beauty while he is only looking at a small part of it. Once the thrush enters and begins to sing it shocks him out of his dark desolate despair and reminds him that it really isn't that bad. There has to be something good still left. It almost seems like the best is yet to come.

Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew

      And I was unaware.

Writers Block....

Writer’s block… That uncomfortable feeling where all of your ideas and thoughts seem absent once you try to write. I know for a fact I’m feeling that right now. It seems like even the noteworthy history making people experience writer’s block too. “The Circus Animal’s Desertion” is about some of the frustrations Yeats experienced because of his. The “circus animals” from the title and the rest of the poem refer to his previous poetry and works; the “desertion” part refers to the feeling of his creativity missing and his current lack of inspiration. That is partly why I like this poem though: it’s relatable.  Anyone that writes (whether it is for a living, school, or fun) can relate to how it feels to have a writer’s block. It is extremely frustrating and time consuming, and I cannot think of anyone that likes it. Throughout the length of “The Circus Animal’s Desertion” I felt like Yeats was trying to find inspiration for something new, and running short each time.  My favorite part of this poem, however, is how Yeats was able to turn his writers block into something. To me this shows that even nothingness can turn into a theme in itself.

I probably should have mentioned "Gunga Din" during the awkward silence

When going through the epitaphs I was a little surprised that no one brought up the similarities between "A Servant", "Native Water-Carrier" and "Gunga Din"; though I'm more to blame for that than anyone else as the one who saw it and said nothing. There is some separation of years between the two, but coming from the same man it's hard not to see the evolution of his thoughts.
    For those not familiar with "Gunga Din", it's about a water carrier who is not treated well by the British soldiers. The speaker of the poem is shot, and Gunga Din comes to stop the bleeding and bring the man water, only to be shot dead. The famous closing lines of the poem are where I drew my connection to "The Years Between".
   Though I've belted you and flayed you,
   By the livin' Gawd that made you,
   You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!
   Since "The Years Between" are in fact epitaphs I almost see the "A Servant" and "Native Water Carrier"  as about "Gunga Din". I don't mean to draw some detailed lineage between the poems and claim Kipling was specifically trying to write out a character, but the connection is to strong to be ignored. At the very least it shows just how strong Kipling felt about the use of native peoples and their treatment, as well as class divisions. In both "A Servant" and "Gunga Dun" Kipling claims that in death the servant and Din are the better men based on their actions and despite the obvious class separation.
   "Native Water Carrier" ends with the lines, "The Gods are jealous-now, as then, They gave no quarter" implying that the Gods showed no discretion when it came to the death of the water carrier, which argue for the equality of death. When taken into consideration with "Gunga Din" and "A Servant" Kipling's overall argument becomes more complex than this, his view of death is defined as the great equalizer that cares not for race, class, or quality of person. I don't mean to be overstretching any of this, but Kipling is not a poet of coincidence, and so I felt this was not to be ignored.

Kipling

One of my favorite things we read for Monday was Kipling's Epitaphs. I didn't really have one epitaph in particular that I liked better than the rest but there is a few I prefer more than the others. As a whole I found the Epitaphs to be very moving, especially since they were written just a few short years after world war one. Kipling was an English man so I believe that these Epitaphs could mean more considering England was in the war from the beginning. Unlike America who joined in just the last year. I also think they mean so much more considering this was the first world war. All the death and destruction had world wide implications and relationships with countries were ruined forever. During world war one there would be pages in the newspaper filled with the names of those who died. It was one of those things that hadn't been seen before in England, at least not by the people of that generation. The news coverage on the war was probably just as shocking to the people living in World War I as the television coverage was to those living through Vietnam in America. There was probably a lot of epitaphs written that year, but Kipling's were't published until two years after the war was over. Even though they were published later I believe they probably still held a deep emotional significance to those who lost family and friends in the war. For some it was probably therapeutic to read it, and for others it was probably just an unwanted reminder. Either way, Kipling used this great historical event (which would have been a contemporary event for him) to immortalize those who died during world war one. I see this book of multiple epitaphs to be like one giant epitaph and whoever reads it can identify the one they lost with a particular epitaph. Kipling is reaching the general audience and a particular audience all at once. That's what I like so much about this work, he is reaching out to people and feeling what they feel. No one is alone.

You Poor, Poor Man

In Yeats' "The Circus Animal's Desertion," we find the speaker looking back over his poetic career, when his motivations for writing were more clear.  He is searching in "vain" for a poetic theme. He tried to find one for "six weeks or so," but was not lucky.

He believes that now that he is "a broken man," he will have to settle for writing about his heart, which disappoints him because he used to be able to write elaborate poems with fun themes, like "circus animals" - former poetic creations of his which have now "deserted" him. The speaker thinks back on three specific works that were full of images that were "masterful" and questions their honesty. He saw them as complete.

All the great images that he had in his life have been stripped away from by the decay of age.

Kipling, The Coward

This epitaph struck me in a most unusual way, and I believe that is due to a number of things. It's concise, only two lines and one sentence. It feels like an instant, or just a moment in time when it is read. The punctuation at the end symbolizing a single gun shot. These two lines fill me with a dread that shakes my bones. For as much as I love history, there is no beauty in it for want of war. The Great War lasted four years (1914 to 1918) and the citizens of the British Empire thought that their boys would be home by Christmastime. This war was a struggle for primacy between England and Germany, and it cost them both at least nine million lives. Their methods were archaic by today's standards: mustard gas, rifles, pistols, barbed wire, early explosive tactics, and horses. These men were ill equipped for such a war between nations and they were terrified  If they thought of death, which they often did, they prayed that a bullet would kill them cleanly because the alternative was indescribable, unbearable pain and likely death in the hospital.

But if you were a coward? You could pretend to light a cigarette and hold your lighter above the trench, hoping that a German saw the flame and would shoot you through the hand. You would be taken to the hospital to recover and not called back for action. That is, if you weren't caught. The alternative was being shot for cowardice, and letting your family grapple with Her Majesty's military for information. They want to believe that you died valiantly and unafraid, but the truth is you didn't. You couldn't face death willingly so your Captain and Lieutenant took you out of the trenches, blindfolded you, and forced death upon you. After all, God's Chosen Daughter (England) has no use for cowards like you.

Note: I have more feelings than I would like about the Great War. I blame history and Downton Abbey.

"For the sick!"

Kayerts and Carlier are perfect examples of the power socialization has over humans. Everything that makes up their personality, morals, attitudes and tastes are directed by British society. When separated and isolated from everything they are, they lose their humanity. They have seeming little control over the camp that they oversee, this task being the last remnant of the civilization that they so desperately need. When they lose their men and the power they think they have over Makola their slow descent into madness makes them shells of people. Their horribly uncultured diet of sugarless coffee and saltless rice are a physical marker of their fall and their discussions of fictitious heroes are a mental one. The last hope of progress and civilization and the virtue that comes with the steamer seems to fade as they spend more time in the foreign land where their culture is not valued. It was not madness that killed these men but the diminishing sense of personhood that is only fed with the uncaring hand of socialization.

Conrad's "An Outpost of Progress" has Kayerts and Carlier coming from an English society that repressed any freedoms they might have. Coming from a society that banned "all independent though, all initiative, all depature from routine," the two men suddenly found themselves in the Congo jungle where no such rules or limits existed. The madness that takes over the two men only reflects the society they are meant to represent, and show how such oppressive societal structures are harmful. Neither have expansive imaginations or sense of individualism, a result from the narrow structure of society that only allowed them to be courageous within a crowd. Void of any values individually, the two men slowly start to deteriorate without the rigidity of society to prop them up.

This is a statement attesting to how dangerous such societies can be. An indidivual may be obliviously content in the structured world, but once thrown into the wild, the consequences of previously living in a narrow society become evident, such as with Kayerts and Carlier. Their failures are a reflection of the "progressive" society they are meant to represent, presenting a true face of consequences that resulted once the veil of society had been undone. Kayerts realizes this at the end, refusing to return and crucifying himself in defiance.

Case in Point.

On Monday, we discussed the structure of the short novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. My group specifically discussed the choice to name the novel "The Strange CASE" in the context of a British mystery novel. The idea that it is set up as a case-study invites readers into a suspension of reality. It makes the novel seem more realistic within a time period where industrialism and reality were so pervasive in society. During the Victorian era it seems as though there were two types of novels- ones based in reality and ones based in a fairy world (i.e. Importance of Being Ernest vs. Alice in Wonderland). Within The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson brings these two worlds together. By having an outside narrator, readers view the novel through a lens of unknowing. There is "evidence" such as letters throughout the book, but readers are kept in the dark for the most part throughout the novel.

I feel as though the novel also comments on the Victorian era itself. Dr. Jekyll is absorbed in separating these two halves of himself.  He is so concerned with becoming a perfect version of himself that he creates Mr. Hyde as a cover for his own imperfections. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are separate individuals, despite being literally the same person. Within the Victorian era, Industrialization was prominent. The idea that there were new, bigger, better ways of doing things was prominent. However, ideals and values can become disturbed by this quest for power. In the same way, Dr. Jekyll's ultimate demise was trying to create a "better" version of himself by fully separating himself from Mr. Hyde.

An Outpost Lacking in Morality

I feel as if An Outpost of Progress represents the mentality most people in Britain who were agents of Imperialism have about British Imperialism in Africa as well as Slavery in general.  After having their workers sold into slavery, the remaining three at the outpost sat that "slavery is a horrible thing."  They take a hollow moral stance against it, even though it was one of them who sold their workers in the first place.  It is as if as long as it is not happening by their hand, it can just be overlooked.  It does not matter that they have trampled on the lives of their fellow man.  What matters in the end is that the company has prospered.  In the story, the company gains the quality ivory in exchange for their workers.  Although the three who remain claim that slavery is wrong, they do nothing about it aside from sit around and be angry about it.  Their inaction does not make them any less guilty, even if action would be futile.

I think this sort of "say one thing and do another" attitude represents British Imperialism fairly well.  They are supposedly spreading civilization as well as claiming new territory for the empire.  However, they consistently neglect to care about the peoples they trample over and established civilizations they have to crush to achieve this goal.  They may take a false high ground and speak out against slavery and other atrocities, but at the same time, what they're doing isn't really better. 

Joseph Conrad and Imperialism

For this post I wanted to go into detail on how I feel that Joseph Conrad wrote “An Outpost of Progress” as a way to call out the British government on what he saw as the mishandling of their colonies. I think that the two white characters represent the British agents and how more often than not they were clueless about running and managing far flung colonies. Conrad in his younger years was a sailor for both the French and British Merchant navies and in both instances traveled to the far east and when he was in the British Merchant Navy he spent some time working on a river boat in Africa.

                I think that Conrad also used Kayerts and Carlier to show how tenuous the connection between ruler and the ruled really were. The white men wielded all of the “power” for two reasons, the first being the supplies coming from other parts of the empire and the second was the fact that the natives believed them to be powerful. I think that Conrad made this connection thin to display how on the outside things may seem to be in order but when the rulers are far from home and have a support system nearly wholly dependent on the ruled it would not take very much to completely upend everything and have the whole endeavor end in disaster.

Your other side comes out when there is no control.

The theory has been presented of Hyde being the person that Dr. Jeckyll wants to be, and while analyizing the story the idea becomes relatable. Dr. Jeckyll has no control over his actions once he loses control and Mr. Hyde takes over. A situation many can relate to would be the nights we attend "epic parties" and have a little to much to drink. Usually the result is committing actions we would not normally do, causing a sense of embarrassment.  Although they are at times embarrassing to us, but individuals may not see them as embarrassing because they are normal actions they do. We only see them embarrassing because we do not normally act in that manner, another side of us-- typically a side we want to be more like-- comes out when we have no control. Some times the side is a negative side and this usually happens with pint up anger, which may have been the case for Mr. Hyde, yes we know he was not drunk but this could be seen as the same type of side affect. Maybe Mr. Hyde was too nice causing frustration that had negative actions when control was lost.

Hidden Hyde

I must admit that when I first read "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," I interpreted the text in the most obvious ways I could. I just thought that the personalities were simply representing mental illness such as bipolarism or disassociate identity disorder, creating the archetype that would go on to inspire several famous characters such as the Hulk, Harvey Two-Face, and the alleged case of Sybil. While this is the true case about the archetype, our class discussion on Monday made me look a little deeper into the themes. Jekyll is clearly repressed and needs to escape from his repressed Victorian lifestyle of propriety and etiquette. He turns to a potion that makes him feel younger, energetic, and yet cruel and without remorse or thought of consequence. To me, this seemed like a metaphor for alcoholism. An addiction that someone disappears into to lower inhibitions and forget about their life and eventually they become consumed by the power of it and suffer horrible withdrawal without it. I never would have ever looked at this text and assumed it was about sexual politics, but now I guess I can point out the constant struggle between the id (Hyde) and Jekyll (the ego) as they battle with their desires and need to be apart of society.

The Laws of the Sea

Joseph Conrad is a fascinating writer because he personally spent a decade of his life at sea. He worked a variety of positions on board ships for both the French and the British merchant navy, eventually being promoted to captain late in his career. All of his novels and short stories deal with the sea in one way or another with Conrad writing from experience and elaborating on situations and individuals he met during his time aboard ships. Typically in Conrad novels, the narrator is a cabin-boy or a sailor who holds a minimal position aboard the ship. What is interesting about The Secret Sharer is that it is narrated by a captain. However, this captain has not yet earned the respect of his crew, which means that he is unsure of their moral standings and must be careful of his decisions so that he earns their trust and, most importantly, respect.
When Leggatt comes aboard and the captain stows him away in his own cabin, the narrator is taking a tremendous risk. From what Leggatt tells him, the stowaway is a murderer and a criminal. I find it interesting that the captain sympathizes with Leggatt and aids in his escape. The narrator is just as much a stranger as Leggatt and that is why he feels it is his duty to protect him and see that he makes it to land alive. Maritime laws and customs differ between each ship and crew and the captain chooses to blindly trust this stranger because he himself desires the blind trust of his crew.

Fee Fi Fo Jekyll and Hyde.

In reading Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, there is quite obviously a resounding question: what lies in the core of man, good or evil? The novella's prominent theme of dichotomy seems to answer this question in more ways than one and said answer is a long winded and deeply penetrating one: both. Since Hyde's animalistic nature comes from the very core of Jekyll himself, it could be said that one cannot survive without the other. Hyde would render himself vulnerable by not allowing Jekyll to cover his tracks, while Jekyll is seemingly trapped in his addiction to the potion and Hyde's unhinged and carnal tendencies. What popped out to me that we didn't really point out in the class is the designation of the character's names. Stevenson evokes the connection between Jekyll and Hyde by naming them each for what they don't stand for and yet what resides in the center of them both. Jekyll, alarmingly close to the word jackal is a glimpse into the animalistic core of the doctor, the one that he cannot escape and yet everything that he tries not to be when he is in control of himself. Hyde on the other hand is phonetically the same as the word hide, which is something that Hyde's character can never do, as well as what Jekyll tries to do with him. These names seem to be no accident and serve to strengthen the ties between the two parts of the same man, rendering them as a physical manifestation of the Yin Yang concept. Jekyll's character has always had that little piece of Hyde in the depths of his persona, while Hyde cannot survive without Jekyll's careful maneuvering in regards to economics and law.

Strange Case of Kayerts and Carlier

Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Conrad’s An Outpost of Progress both seem to have themes of personal deterioration. Not only does health and morality deteriorate in these stories, but as good things fail and shrink, evil and disease grow in response. Dr. Jekyll’s health fails as Mr. Hyde’s wickedness begins to take over his body. This slow descent into death is spurred on by Hyde’s complete lack of morality and adherence to carnal desires regardless of consequences. In a similar way, Kayerts and Carlier become plagued by diseases as their trades in Africa become greedier and more corrupt. Their cooperation in the slave trade draws them down into their eventual madness and doom at their own hands. Before Kayerts kills Carlier, both men become as violent and wild as Hyde is described. I found it interesting that both Stevenson and Conrad link moral degradation with mental and physical degeneration in surprisingly similar ways.

Conrad, Progress, and Irony

"An Outpost of Progress" by Joseph Conrad is by far the most ironic story of the semester. The main characters Kayerts and Carlier are sent to Africa from a "civilized" society in order to bring progress to the countries trading business. And yet as the story goes on, they become less and less civilized in the face of fear. As they eventually end up having to ration their food, it seems like all of the mental structures that made them civilized slowly disappear into a more primitive state of mind. The irony lies in the fact that these two men were suppose to be progressing, but instead they succumb to the savagery that they looked down upon the entire story. This undoubtedly has connections to the British Imperialism of the Victorian age, but more importantly I think Conrad in suggesting that no matter how civilized we become, we are all essentially primitive and no better than anyone else.