Virginia Woolf definitely did not have it easy. She had a rough childhood that was filled with pain. She also had nervous breakdowns. These emotional and turbulent times led to her suicide. After reading her background I can understand why she broke down because all the people in her family that were close to her died. She was also tormented with headaches and voices in her head.
I would like to comment on "The Lady in the Looking Glass: A Reflection." Let me make it clear that I am not sure what Virginia was trying to tell us. However, I have my own interpretations of this work. She writes, "People should not leave looking-glasses hanging in their rooms any more than they should leave open cheque books or letters confessing some hideous crime" (p.1224). I found this interesting and disconcerting as I thought about a mirror. I look at myself all the time, as do others. The are mirrors in every bathroom of every home. Before we leave the house we look in the mirror to make sure we look presentable.
When I finished reading this work, I was even more unsure. I am not exactly sure who is speaking in the poem. I also kept thinking about the message she was trying to get across. Woolf gave the looking glass special characteristics, as if to say that it is so much more that just a simple object.
Some of us may be like the lady in the house. Some of us really cannot see ourselves for who we really are. Or is it that we do not want to see the reality staring back at us? Are we lost in a fantasy world that suits our own needs and opinions, while rejecting the opinions of others that do not coincide with these? Some of us are. Woolf could have been referring to this syndrome that we all have had at some point and if not we have been around someone who is suffering from it.
However, the reading also made me think about the fact that many of us may wonder how we are viewed by others. We think we know how people view us but some of us really have no idea. That can be a scary thought. You begin to think, I hope I'm not one of those people.
The message I got from this is that if you are gonna look in the looking-glass, be prepared to stare long and hard because you may or may not like what you see.
Friday, June 29, 2007
T. S. Eliot
"The Waste Land" was a poem that was difficult to find the meaning. It was hard for me to interpret his words. After I would begin to read a section I would think one thing and by the end of that section I would think that I was completely off. I am going to try and tackle the shortest section of this particular work. It is "Death by Water" on page 1212.
"Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, .....
And the profit and the loss. ....
Picked his bones in whispers....."
This section focuses on Phlebas the Phoenician who seemed to have drowned. In his death he has forgotten about his worldly worries such as profit and debts. Eliot tells us that the creatures of the sea have picked his course apart, all the way down to the bones.
"Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you."
I think Eliot ended the poem like this because he wants his reader to think about his own death. He is basically saying that Phlebas is like any one of us and what will we do while we are still alive. Are we doing enough so that we will be at peace in death? It is important to evaluate and ponder our lives every now and then.
"Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, .....
And the profit and the loss. ....
Picked his bones in whispers....."
This section focuses on Phlebas the Phoenician who seemed to have drowned. In his death he has forgotten about his worldly worries such as profit and debts. Eliot tells us that the creatures of the sea have picked his course apart, all the way down to the bones.
"Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you."
I think Eliot ended the poem like this because he wants his reader to think about his own death. He is basically saying that Phlebas is like any one of us and what will we do while we are still alive. Are we doing enough so that we will be at peace in death? It is important to evaluate and ponder our lives every now and then.
James Joyce
I did not particularly enjoy Joyce's work. However, I will comment on some of what I read in Chapter 13 of Ulysses, beginning on page 1165. The main character of the story is Leopold Bloom. In this chapter three girlfriends have come to the strand to watch fireworks. On of the girls is named Gerty MacDowell. Gerty daydreams about finding someone to love her. Her two friends leave to find a better spot to view the fireworks. Leopold comes to the strand and they begin to flirt from a distance. Leopold continues to watch her from a distance but when she sees the troubled look on his face she is concerned and wonders what brings him to look gaze upon her. Her wishes of romance and marriage become more apparent as she stares at him.
All of this occurs at the beginning of the chapter which I find interesting because earlier chapter reveal that Leopold is married. However, he keeps his focus toward Gerty and she begins to entice him with her body. There is a benediction going on at the church and it ends. Everyone leaves to view the fireworks. Leopold and Gerty are the only two people in this area now.
Gerty ends up naked as a roman candle is shot into the air. I assume the rocket being shot off is referencing a penis. At this point both she and Leopold are sexually aroused. The excite themselves and she ends up leaving while he stays and meditates on what just happened. It is revealed in a later chapter that his wife committed adultery. However, that still does not make what is occurring between him and Gerty right. This chapter was extremely interesting because it had sexual content as well as religious content and at some points I did not really understand what Joyce was really trying to say. This is a book I would like to read thoroughly in order to get a better understanding.
All of this occurs at the beginning of the chapter which I find interesting because earlier chapter reveal that Leopold is married. However, he keeps his focus toward Gerty and she begins to entice him with her body. There is a benediction going on at the church and it ends. Everyone leaves to view the fireworks. Leopold and Gerty are the only two people in this area now.
Gerty ends up naked as a roman candle is shot into the air. I assume the rocket being shot off is referencing a penis. At this point both she and Leopold are sexually aroused. The excite themselves and she ends up leaving while he stays and meditates on what just happened. It is revealed in a later chapter that his wife committed adultery. However, that still does not make what is occurring between him and Gerty right. This chapter was extremely interesting because it had sexual content as well as religious content and at some points I did not really understand what Joyce was really trying to say. This is a book I would like to read thoroughly in order to get a better understanding.
William Butler Yeats
Yeats wrote a poem about his daughter, Anne Butler Yeats born February 26, 1919. "A Prayer for My Daughter" was my favorite in this section.
"Once more the storm is howling, and half hid
Under this cradle-hood and coverlid
My child sleeps on" (p. 1123).
Looking at these lines from a literal stand point I would say that his daughter is sleeping through a fierce storm occurring outside. Some children can sleep through anything. However, for a figurative point of view, I would say that the storm represents turbulence around him, such as events during the time in which Yeats lived. People want to keep their children safe and he wishes to shield Anne from badness.
"And for an hour I have walked and prayed
Because of the great gloom that is in my mind."....
"Imagining in excited reverie
That the future years had come"
Yeats seems to be an anxious and worried father. He has put much thought into his daughter's future. All parents want their children to have better lives than they did. He wants her to inherit the traits and character necessary to lead a fulfilling life. He wants her to be happy.
"May she be granted beauty and yet not
Beauty to make a stranger's eye distraught,
or hers before a looking glass, for such
Being made beautiful overmuch,
Consider beauty a sufficient end,"
These lines tell us that Yeats wishes for his daughter to be beautiful, but not strikingly or overly beautiful. My interpretation was that he was saying that having too much beauty can be a detriment. It can be a curse because it can deceive those that observe the beauty as well as the person that possesses it. I can understand where he may derive this opinion because I know some people that are extremely beautiful on the outside and ugly on the inside. We all know if you are ugly on the inside, that beauty on the outside no longer seems so attractive. Its what's on the inside that counts. Later in the poem he mentions Helen of Troy to further get this point across.
"Once more the storm is howling, and half hid
Under this cradle-hood and coverlid
My child sleeps on" (p. 1123).
Looking at these lines from a literal stand point I would say that his daughter is sleeping through a fierce storm occurring outside. Some children can sleep through anything. However, for a figurative point of view, I would say that the storm represents turbulence around him, such as events during the time in which Yeats lived. People want to keep their children safe and he wishes to shield Anne from badness.
"And for an hour I have walked and prayed
Because of the great gloom that is in my mind."....
"Imagining in excited reverie
That the future years had come"
Yeats seems to be an anxious and worried father. He has put much thought into his daughter's future. All parents want their children to have better lives than they did. He wants her to inherit the traits and character necessary to lead a fulfilling life. He wants her to be happy.
"May she be granted beauty and yet not
Beauty to make a stranger's eye distraught,
or hers before a looking glass, for such
Being made beautiful overmuch,
Consider beauty a sufficient end,"
These lines tell us that Yeats wishes for his daughter to be beautiful, but not strikingly or overly beautiful. My interpretation was that he was saying that having too much beauty can be a detriment. It can be a curse because it can deceive those that observe the beauty as well as the person that possesses it. I can understand where he may derive this opinion because I know some people that are extremely beautiful on the outside and ugly on the inside. We all know if you are ugly on the inside, that beauty on the outside no longer seems so attractive. Its what's on the inside that counts. Later in the poem he mentions Helen of Troy to further get this point across.
World War I
"BLESS the HAIRDRESSER" was very amusing. First I thought it was interesting that the hairdresser is referred to as he. The stereotype is that women are hairdressers and the poem did not follow this. In the present, there are many male hairdressers. "He attacks Mother Nature for a small fee." This line was comical to me. I'm sure some people really have a mop of hair on their head that needs to be tamed. I guess that is why he mentions plowing through heads. "Scours chins and lips for threepence." This poem also reveals how much he charges for various services. I think that this particular hairdresser does women's and men's hair. He trims, tames wildness, and makes clean shapes. It really does take talent and patience to deal with the public in this capacity. Hair is a part of a person's appearance and most people are very serious about their appearance. The society we live in places so much importance on the way we look. However, I think this hairdresser can handle anything as he is described as an "expert correcting the grotesque anachronisms of our physique." What a superb way of saying he fixes hair. This poem makes you feel like you could go to this hairdresser without any anxiety about not be satisfied with his services.
Thomas Hardy
I have been in a long distance relationship before so I related to "On the Departure Platform." Hardy did a great job at describing what it is like to say goodbye to someone. It does not matter if you are saying goodbye for a little while or forever, it still seems like one the hardest things we have to do in our lives.
"We kissed at the barrier; and passing through
She left me, and moment by moment got
Smaller and smaller, until to my view
She was but a spot" (p. 1075).
When I read these lines I thought that a man was taking the love of his life to the airport and he kissed her before she went into the entrance to board the plane. He watched her as she disappeared into the crowd of people.
"Through hustling crowds of gentle and rough
To the carriage door.".....
"Behind dark groups from far and near,
Whose interest were apart from ours,
She would disappear."
After reading these parts of the poem I started to think about the platform in which you board a train. A train has carriages as well. As he is preparing to say goodbye there are people getting their luggage and things together, going back and forth. Some live near and other far away. The other travelers seem to be unaware of the agony that the couple is experiencing. It is amazing how sometimes we feel like we are the only ones going through something. However, it could be that there is someone in the world going through the exact same thing.
"And she who was more than my life to me
Had vanished quite...."
I loved how he ended this poem. I haven't heard someone express their feelings so eloquently. I could only hope that I matter that much to someone one day. After reading the entire poem, it reminded me of a scene from a romance novel or tear-jerking movie in which lovers must say goodbye.
"We kissed at the barrier; and passing through
She left me, and moment by moment got
Smaller and smaller, until to my view
She was but a spot" (p. 1075).
When I read these lines I thought that a man was taking the love of his life to the airport and he kissed her before she went into the entrance to board the plane. He watched her as she disappeared into the crowd of people.
"Through hustling crowds of gentle and rough
To the carriage door.".....
"Behind dark groups from far and near,
Whose interest were apart from ours,
She would disappear."
After reading these parts of the poem I started to think about the platform in which you board a train. A train has carriages as well. As he is preparing to say goodbye there are people getting their luggage and things together, going back and forth. Some live near and other far away. The other travelers seem to be unaware of the agony that the couple is experiencing. It is amazing how sometimes we feel like we are the only ones going through something. However, it could be that there is someone in the world going through the exact same thing.
"And she who was more than my life to me
Had vanished quite...."
I loved how he ended this poem. I haven't heard someone express their feelings so eloquently. I could only hope that I matter that much to someone one day. After reading the entire poem, it reminded me of a scene from a romance novel or tear-jerking movie in which lovers must say goodbye.
Oscar Wilde
I was not sure exactly what Wilde was trying to say in "Symphony in Yellow" on page 831. I read the foot note that said the title suggests Whistler's series of paintings called "symphonies" in various colors. I found it interesting that he chose yellow. I wonder if it is his favorite color. Maybe he chose yellow because of its brightness. Yellow is not my favorite color but I like it because it just pops. It is one of the those colors you can see a mile away. In the poem he mentions a yellow butterfly, yellow hay, and yellow leaves. He took the color yellow and applied it in the poem to things that are shades of that color. Imagine if he had chosen the color green. There are so many things in nature that are shades of green. I like the fact that he chose yellow because it is different and unique. He also mentions fog, elms, and jade. He used the idea of art and directed it toward the natural aesthetic around him. After I read the foot note, the title and content made sense.
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