Yeats again, this sad romantic, writes about something other than Maude. This happens to be Fergus, an Irish King who gave up his throne to "fight, feast and hunt." While reading this poem I do not think Fergus has given up his throne to do these things, instead he has traded positions and done so out of the love of his new position. "Who will go drive with Fergus now, And pierce the deep wood's woven shade." Fergus is, in this quote, seemingly asking or having someone ask to go with him on this joyous and adventorous hunt. He does not want his kingdom any longer, he wants to "lift up your resset bow" and come with him to basically party and go on adventures.
"For Fergus rules the brass cars, and rules the shadows of the wood." Here Fergus is where he belongs, in the wild, ruling the "woods", "sea" and "stars", That seems to be a bigger kingdom than tiny little Ireland. But yet he was probably seen as a fool, although no one would tell him that.
The grass is greener on the other side. Fergus lived the royal life and did not like his position. So he did as alot of us should, We don't like something.. Give it up and go find what you like to do. He had what I can relate to as a desk job, it is cushy, easy, good money and boring as heck. But I want to travel, be in advertising, especially in this bad economy, advertising is not the safest and sometimes volatile field. You can be good at it and make money or bad at it and end up at a radio station selling ads. I do not really care for desk jobs and will take my chances with the advertising route and at least love what I am doing, like Fergus.
Monday, June 28, 2010
William Butler Yeats - No second Troy
This poem will need some background story, Yeats was in love with a revolutionary Irish woman named Maude. He loved her and asked her to marry him 4 times, she denied all of them. They had a friendship but later turned to lovers. She denied him again by not accepting his love any longer. This is where this poem has come from, his hurt and loss of love from Maude. "Why should I blame her that she filled my days with misery, or tha she would of late have taught ingornat men most violent ways." Maude was a revolutionary and seemed to be more interested in her poltical life than her personal life. She must have loved him but caused him so much misery, but was it her fault she caused him misery, or was it his own personal problem to be dealt with and none of her concern.
"With beauty like a tightened bow" she is, to him, of amazing beauty, but is hard to crack, like a tight bow, and seemingly holding up something that would fall if undone. She is fragile, in his eyes, but tight and rigid enough to sustain itself, everyone has their weakness.
"Why, what could she have done, being what she is? Was there another Troy for her to burn?" He seems a little pathetic in this poem, writing about a friend and ex-lover of his that will not accept his love anymore and he compares her to Helen of Troy, the woman that caused millions to die for the love of her husband, the Kind and another man. It seems a little conceded for him to compare the two women, she is just denying him, not destroying lives.
I can compare to this poem because I have been "played" as we modernly use the term to mean what this poet has experienced. She was obviously interested in him and desired his friendship, but nothing more was to come of it, she made sure of that, although she did concede once, it was not her will to keep it up, and he could not accept that. I have never been that desperate, I would usually move on and not speak of the specific girl until it didn't hurt when her name was mentioned. I think Yeats is a hopeless romantic, too bad his one true love was not mutual.
"With beauty like a tightened bow" she is, to him, of amazing beauty, but is hard to crack, like a tight bow, and seemingly holding up something that would fall if undone. She is fragile, in his eyes, but tight and rigid enough to sustain itself, everyone has their weakness.
"Why, what could she have done, being what she is? Was there another Troy for her to burn?" He seems a little pathetic in this poem, writing about a friend and ex-lover of his that will not accept his love anymore and he compares her to Helen of Troy, the woman that caused millions to die for the love of her husband, the Kind and another man. It seems a little conceded for him to compare the two women, she is just denying him, not destroying lives.
I can compare to this poem because I have been "played" as we modernly use the term to mean what this poet has experienced. She was obviously interested in him and desired his friendship, but nothing more was to come of it, she made sure of that, although she did concede once, it was not her will to keep it up, and he could not accept that. I have never been that desperate, I would usually move on and not speak of the specific girl until it didn't hurt when her name was mentioned. I think Yeats is a hopeless romantic, too bad his one true love was not mutual.
Thomas Hardy - Hap
Hap means chance or luck in Old English, and in this poem Hardy seems to mock god (he does not capitalize this word in his poem). He has his god say, "Thou suffering thing, know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy, that thy love's loss is my hate's profiting!" He is exagerating what God is to him, this higher being that takes joy in your suffering and profits from your "love's loss." He is eased by the thought that a "Powerfuller than I had willed and meted me the tears I shed." So someone more Powerful than him (powerful is capitalized, unlike god, meaning he believes in a more powerful being but not the vengeful god that Christians have given light to) has given him tears, and he is eased, but not satisfied by that.
But in the third stanza he says, "But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain. And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?... Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain." Where I think he would accept a higher more powerful being is guiding his life, but really he believes he is in control of his own destiny and decisions are his free will. And if this causes him sorrow, he will have "Blisses" in his own "pain," because he knew that he had the decision to do so.
I can feel for this poet and poem because I have questioned the wrath of God while reading the bible or going to church and hearing the sermons about fire and brimstone. But I always take the easy road and say whatever brings people their faith is what should be good enough for them, don't knock someone when they are not knocking you. I do not judge people based on their faith, because I do not want faith to be my basis for existence.
But in the third stanza he says, "But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain. And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?... Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain." Where I think he would accept a higher more powerful being is guiding his life, but really he believes he is in control of his own destiny and decisions are his free will. And if this causes him sorrow, he will have "Blisses" in his own "pain," because he knew that he had the decision to do so.
I can feel for this poet and poem because I have questioned the wrath of God while reading the bible or going to church and hearing the sermons about fire and brimstone. But I always take the easy road and say whatever brings people their faith is what should be good enough for them, don't knock someone when they are not knocking you. I do not judge people based on their faith, because I do not want faith to be my basis for existence.
Virginia Woolf - The Lady in the Looking-Glass
This writing deals with Woolf's personal vision of oneself and then the outside appearance that one gives off. Looking into a mirror for the first time, a baby will see itself and create a self-image.
"reflected the hall table, the sunflowers, the garden path so accurately and fixedly they seemed held there in their reality inescapably" This quote in the Looking Glass describes the looking glass to the reader, making the looking glass seem like a reality, that someone could get lost into, and it seems the reader is lost in the looking glass.
The old woman that the narrator is following while gardening is as described:‘The sun would beat down on her face, into her eyes; but no, at the critical moment a veil of cloud covered the sun, making the expression of her eyes doubtful" The narrator is judging the woman by the reflection in the glass, the reality of the situation is that the glass could not capture the true image, because of the complexity of glass, the cloud could have messed with the reflection, but someone who is looking only into the glass would not see any difference.
I see this narration as a little stalker-esk. The narrator is watching the woman as she lives her life, being satirical and judging the woman for what she sees through the glass.
The end conclusion of the writing says, "Here was the woman herself. She stood naked in that pitiless light. And there was nothing. Isabella was perfectly empty. She had no thoughts. She had no friends. She cared for nobody." Isabella, the woman, is not what the narrator has described her as all through the reading, really the glass gave tricks of light and shadows to describe the woman falsely.
In my own life How have I seen someone for what they truly were, was the first impression always accurate? I have looked at people through a figurative looking glass, giving them qualities they did not deserve or ask for. But that is a mis-judgment on my part, not theirs.
"reflected the hall table, the sunflowers, the garden path so accurately and fixedly they seemed held there in their reality inescapably" This quote in the Looking Glass describes the looking glass to the reader, making the looking glass seem like a reality, that someone could get lost into, and it seems the reader is lost in the looking glass.
The old woman that the narrator is following while gardening is as described:‘The sun would beat down on her face, into her eyes; but no, at the critical moment a veil of cloud covered the sun, making the expression of her eyes doubtful" The narrator is judging the woman by the reflection in the glass, the reality of the situation is that the glass could not capture the true image, because of the complexity of glass, the cloud could have messed with the reflection, but someone who is looking only into the glass would not see any difference.
I see this narration as a little stalker-esk. The narrator is watching the woman as she lives her life, being satirical and judging the woman for what she sees through the glass.
The end conclusion of the writing says, "Here was the woman herself. She stood naked in that pitiless light. And there was nothing. Isabella was perfectly empty. She had no thoughts. She had no friends. She cared for nobody." Isabella, the woman, is not what the narrator has described her as all through the reading, really the glass gave tricks of light and shadows to describe the woman falsely.
In my own life How have I seen someone for what they truly were, was the first impression always accurate? I have looked at people through a figurative looking glass, giving them qualities they did not deserve or ask for. But that is a mis-judgment on my part, not theirs.
Gerald Manley Hopkins - God's Grandeur
Hopkins, an ordained Jesuit priest writes of God's grandeur, or grand plan and mystery.
It describes man, "Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; and all is seared with trade; bleated smeared with toil;" He is describing man's desecration of the Earth that God has given us, as a gift. But yet, "and for all this, nature is never spent." Through all the industrialism of the West and going Eastward, humans have not tapped the resource that the earth has to offer. This is, "Because of the Holy Ghost over bent world broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings." He is saying the Holy Ghost is watching over the Earth while we are destroying her, not because we know better or because we have insight like God does, but because the Earth is special and we need to learn to take better care of it, change the paradigm of the industrial age and give back to the Earth, as we have taken so much.
I see a lot of modern Victorian ideals in this poem, religious faith, and the vow to find "God's work in nature" make him a late romantic. He lives during a time like ours, where the world is seeing the repercussions of industrial nations. An Inconvenient Truth is a movie that hits home to a lot of people about Global Warming, and though I feel it is more of a gimmick for Al Gore, it has a good message that people need to see and act upon.
It describes man, "Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; and all is seared with trade; bleated smeared with toil;" He is describing man's desecration of the Earth that God has given us, as a gift. But yet, "and for all this, nature is never spent." Through all the industrialism of the West and going Eastward, humans have not tapped the resource that the earth has to offer. This is, "Because of the Holy Ghost over bent world broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings." He is saying the Holy Ghost is watching over the Earth while we are destroying her, not because we know better or because we have insight like God does, but because the Earth is special and we need to learn to take better care of it, change the paradigm of the industrial age and give back to the Earth, as we have taken so much.
I see a lot of modern Victorian ideals in this poem, religious faith, and the vow to find "God's work in nature" make him a late romantic. He lives during a time like ours, where the world is seeing the repercussions of industrial nations. An Inconvenient Truth is a movie that hits home to a lot of people about Global Warming, and though I feel it is more of a gimmick for Al Gore, it has a good message that people need to see and act upon.
Oscar Wilde - Symphony in Yellow
I like Oscar Wilde a lot. He does not seem to be a Victorian, instead a Romantic, with his description of detail and painting a picture with words, in his poem, Symphony in Yellow.
His poem describes the butterfly that "crawls" and "Te yellow leaves begin to fade" this descriptive imagery is more than the poem itself. It describes the yellow in synergy, or as he puts it synergy. Wilde sees the aesthetic imagery in poetry and uses it to hid advantage. "And at my feet the pale green Thames, Lies like a rod of rippled jade." The only thing I can think of with a "rippled jade" is an oil painting, I do not actually see these things in real life, I am too busy living my life "too intensely." Oscar Wilde saw things differently, he wanted us to stare at paintings and analyze their symmetry and find "symphony in yellow" instead of trying to make money and live a rat race of a life, he wanted us to find the beauty in art.
I can relate to this poem by looking at a painting of the time period and seeing what he sees in these poems (read Impression du Matin), the imagery he gives is very realistic to the actual painting.
His poem describes the butterfly that "crawls" and "Te yellow leaves begin to fade" this descriptive imagery is more than the poem itself. It describes the yellow in synergy, or as he puts it synergy. Wilde sees the aesthetic imagery in poetry and uses it to hid advantage. "And at my feet the pale green Thames, Lies like a rod of rippled jade." The only thing I can think of with a "rippled jade" is an oil painting, I do not actually see these things in real life, I am too busy living my life "too intensely." Oscar Wilde saw things differently, he wanted us to stare at paintings and analyze their symmetry and find "symphony in yellow" instead of trying to make money and live a rat race of a life, he wanted us to find the beauty in art.
I can relate to this poem by looking at a painting of the time period and seeing what he sees in these poems (read Impression du Matin), the imagery he gives is very realistic to the actual painting.
John Stuart Mill - Statement repudiating the Rights of Husbands
In this excerpt from Mill's experience of pre-marriage to Harriet Taylor. He saw the laws of marriage, the married woman in England could not own property or sign legal documents.
This statement seems to be defending his future wife, and all legally married woman. He does not see the sense in having a married woman be bound to her husband and give up her rights to own property or anything that demeans her at all. He is protesting the marriage laws and would rather not get married at all if she would not be considered an equal partner in this marriage.
"And in the event of marriage between Mrs. Taylor and me I declare it to be my will and intention, and the condition of the engagement between us, that she retains in all respected whatever the same absolute freedom of action, and freedom of disposal of herself and all of that does or may at any time belong to her, as if no such marriage had taken place;"
I do not know the circumstance of this letter, if it had been forced by Mrs. Taylor (at the time Ms. Taylor) and if he had done it on his own accord. I believe he did it on his own accord, looking into his personal history, as a utilitarian and being against unlimited state control.
I see him as the first Libertarian, he wants small government rule, a leave me alone!, attitude. And then he wants social equality for everyone and not just including himself. He is definitely someone I can relate to, especially after reading the murders of fictional characters by Browning. I think his liberal ideology and apparent love for the oppressed class, especially for his time, speaks wonders for his character and humanitarian aid.
This statement seems to be defending his future wife, and all legally married woman. He does not see the sense in having a married woman be bound to her husband and give up her rights to own property or anything that demeans her at all. He is protesting the marriage laws and would rather not get married at all if she would not be considered an equal partner in this marriage.
"And in the event of marriage between Mrs. Taylor and me I declare it to be my will and intention, and the condition of the engagement between us, that she retains in all respected whatever the same absolute freedom of action, and freedom of disposal of herself and all of that does or may at any time belong to her, as if no such marriage had taken place;"
I do not know the circumstance of this letter, if it had been forced by Mrs. Taylor (at the time Ms. Taylor) and if he had done it on his own accord. I believe he did it on his own accord, looking into his personal history, as a utilitarian and being against unlimited state control.
I see him as the first Libertarian, he wants small government rule, a leave me alone!, attitude. And then he wants social equality for everyone and not just including himself. He is definitely someone I can relate to, especially after reading the murders of fictional characters by Browning. I think his liberal ideology and apparent love for the oppressed class, especially for his time, speaks wonders for his character and humanitarian aid.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
