Marília's Blog

The importance of being Earnest is a very interesting book written by Oscar Wilde. It criticizes the way of life the upper class lives in the Victorian Age. There are some attitudes that are not expected by the society, as the Gwendolen and Cecily’s behavior. In the Victorian Age, girls lived under very strict rules, they had to obey the family’s decisions, be innocent and follow the roles of women. In the book, the characters are very contradictory because they wanted to get married with some sincere and respectful man, preferably called Earnest, however a man who were not so earnest and a bit “wild”.

In act 1, Jack proposes to get married with Gwendolen by her insistence:

Gwendolen: “I adore you. But you haven’t proposed to me yet. Nothing has been said at all about marriage. The subject has not even been touched on.”

Jack: “Well… may I propose to you now?”

Gwendolen: “I think it would be an admirable opportunity.” […]

 We have an example of Cecily breaking roles in act II:

Cecily: “Oh, I don’t think I would care to catch a sensible man. I shouldn’t know what to talk to him about.”

The characters do not want to listen to their families. Both choose the person and decide how and when they are going to get married. They are not worried with the society rules. They want to get married by their own desires and it was an absurd in the Victorian society.  In that time, the family saw the marriage as a business and the girl wanted the marriage as a pleasure. In the book, Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen and Cecily illustrate this idea. Thus, Gwendolen and Cecily are criticized in the book because of the way they deal with marriage: they are not submissive, innocent and typical sweet girls from Victorian period.

“When I had that attack of pleurosis – he asked me what was the matter when I came back. I said pleurosis – he thought that I said Blue Roses! So that’s what he always called me after that.” (Laura, scene two, page 35)

While reading the book The glass menagerie by Tennessee Williams, firstly we have the impression that Jim calls Laura by this nickname just because he  makes a confusion when she explains the reason she did not come to the classes. However, if we start to think about the meaning of this nickname, it shows us some Laura’s specific characteristics.

First, “blue” is the color most often associated with issues of the spirit and the intellect. Also, it is the color of the sky, the heaven and the water, so, it can remind feminine, cool and reflective qualities. Its link to the sky  and it also connotes eternity and immensity, time and space. “Blue” may be truth (no clouds to hide it) and transparency; it is linked to loyalty, fidelity, constancy, and chastity. Second, the word “rose” may represent the Virgin Mary, and thus virginity, or fertility and passion. Also,  it is beauty and perfection, happiness and grace, yet it is also sensuality and seduction.

If we think in the meaning of these two words together, “blue rose” may mean a flower that does not exist in nature and in some cultures it traditionally signify mystery. Also, some people believe that it can grant the owner youth or grant wishes. Historically, this symbolism derives from the rose meaning in the language of flowers common in Victorian times. The language of flowers, sometimes called floriography, was means of communication in which various flowers and floral arrangements were used to send coded messages, allowing individuals to express feelings which otherwise could not be spoken.

Thus, when I started to research and think about the nickname Jim gave Laura, I concluded that it was not a simple coincidence of rhymes (pleurosis-blue roses). Probably it came in Jim’s mind because Laura was feminine, cool, true and mysterious. In spite of being crippled, she could be beautiful, happy and a symbol of chastity for him, as a “blue rose”.

Lady Macbeth is an evil character in the play through her ambition, cruelty and manipulation. She is more ambitious than Macbeth is. She has the power and the queen status in mind, so she shows being ready to do anything to come true her wishes. Also, she does not worry about the consequences of her cruelty; she commands the steps of the murder in a simple and natural way. In addition, she is secure of her actions and she manipulates Macbeth in a convincing way.

Before the murder, Macbeth shows his weakness and his doubts about the plan. Lady Macbeth has answers and ideas for every question that his husband could have:

 Macbeth: “If we fail?”            

Lady Macb.: “We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking place, and we’ll not fail” (ACT I. SC. VII. Lines 66-69)

So, in my opinion, both are guilty because he is the king’s murderer and everything he did was planned by his wife, she convinced him about the murder. According to her, it is a perfect crime:

Lady Macb. “Who dares receive it other, as we shall make our griefs and clamor roar upon his death?” (ACT I. SC. VII. Lines 87-89)

In conclusion, Lady Macbeth is not conscious about the dimension of her actions, she focus just in the results. Also, in her mind, the consequences are nothing compared with her achievements. She is ambitious, cruel and she manipulates the tragedy. Thereby,  she did not take the dagger and killed the king, but it happened exactaly in the way she planned.

None us in this so

burdened earth has known

how to live, let alone

who is too many.

Presence, each day

afresh, you give a

purifying signal to

sting us alive.

Vast territories and seashores

still bear these thronging

strangers . May none die

without somebody caring.

To know even one other is

costly. And being known.

Alive, among so many

more now? a concern…

Hunger makes men desperate, threatens

to congeal the quandary. Yet

Presence abides untouched

in the churn if Quantity.

***              ***             ***

Analysis of the poem To Counter Malthus by Margaret Avison

First of all, it is necesary to point some characteristics out about Margaret Avison and Thomas Robert Malthus’ theory.  Margaret Avison has the reputation of being a cerebral poet. Her work has been characterized as “intellectual” and “deliberate”. Her use of word-play, disconcerting shifts in viewpoint, complex metaphors, and literary allusions make her poetry a challenge to read. She exposes to the readers her favourite themes: the love and power of God. Thomas Robert Malthus developed a famous theory: the growth of the population vs the production of food. In other words, if the people feel better, I mean, if they have great conditions of life, as health, good houses and benefits, they will have more and more children. So, the growth of the population become a chaos and the food starts not to be enough for the population.

None us in this so

burdened earth has known

how to live, let alone

who is too many.

Since this stanza the poet shows that she is against the Malthus’ ideas. The poet says that there is no way of to make a theory of how to live in the earth and how to relate with others. The poet decides to put the malthus’ideas out of the real possibility. Then, the comma is used to separate the poet position, that she is against ‘handbooks’ about how to life in the earth, from her opinion, that people should not consider who has the same thoughts as Malthus.

Presence, each day

afresh, you give a

purifying signal to

sting us alive.

Firstly, between the commas, there is an explanation for the word ‘Presence’. Secondly, the poet personifies the word ‘Presence’ as Christ. He represents a help, a support for the people’s life.

Vast territories and seashores

still bear these thronging

strangers . May none die

without somebody caring.

In this stanza the full stop finishes one idea to start another one. They contrast each other and it gives a beautiful conclusion. Until the first full stop the poet says that we live in an extensive place where exist many strangers. After the full stop the poet says that everybody has a person who will worry with their death. In other words, in spite of we life with different people in the earth we need to consider the possibility of the people feel worried about the human being death.

To know even one other is

costly. And being known.

Alive, among so many

more now? a concern…

    This part of the poem is composed by the poet thoughts. It is about the human being situation. She has ‘flashes’ of thoughts. It is symbolized by the short sentences and a question. Also, after the question, she does not use capitalized letter and there is ellipsis. It represents that the poet starts to think in a conclusion.

Hunger makes men desperate, threatens

to congeal the quandary. Yet

Presence abides untouched

in the churn if Quantity.

In this stanza the poet concludes her thoughts. Until the first full stop the poet agree with the idea of a men become desperate because of the hunger caused by the growth of the population. After the full stop the poet concludes that this theory is not useful. Also, there is the possibility of ‘Presence’, I mean, Christ, tolerate this kind of trivial theory. It is because the theory of Quantity does not influence in the life. It is going on in spite of the human being explanations.

The sonnet A Thunderstorm was written by Archibald Lampman and it is very interesting to analyze because it has characteristics from the Impressionism. Thus, I will expose my thoughts about the five senses that are referred to and the movements that occurs in the sonnet.

“A moment the wild swallows like a flight

Of withered gust-caught leaves, serenely high,

Toss in the windrak up the muttering sky.

The leaves hang still.”

The sonnet starts describing the landscape before the thunderstorm. The sonnet shows us the movement of the swallows flight. It is compared with the movement of the withered leaves when they are flying. It is because the gust takes them away. However, according to the description, the leaves are still on the trees. This movement implies a very beautiful sight. Another movement is when the wind tosses everthing and then the sky mutters. The word “gust” and “muttering” refer to the hearing sense.

“Above the weird twilight,

The hurrying centres of the storm unite

And spreading with huge trunk and rolling fringe,

Each wheeled upon its own tremendous hinge,

Tower darking on.”

In this part the description of the landscape before the tunderstorm continues and the focus here is the storm. There are three movements that describes this idea. The first one is the movement of the sun going down. The second one is the movement of the storm being formed very fast and spreading above the sunset. The last one is the movement of the sky and consequently the tower becoming dark because of the strong storm that is being formed. These three movements implie the sense of sight because the movements description makes us to imagine how the storm is being formed.

“And now from heaven’s height,

With the long roar of elm-trees swept and swayed,

And pelted waters, on the vanished plain

Plunges the blast.”

In this part of the sonnet the poet starts to describe the thunderstorm. Now the movement is characterized by the rain falling down by the height heaven. The wind is very strong and it makes the elm-trees sway. The expression: “pelted waters” implies the idea of an intensive rain. So, these movements imply the sense of hearing because of the noise that the wind provokes in the elm-trees. Also, there is a sense of sight because of the way that the rain falls down.

“Behind the wild white flash

That splits abroad the pealing thunder-crash,

Over bleared fields are gardens disarrayed,

Column on column comes the drenching rain.”

In the last part of the sonnet it continues to describe the thunderstorm. There are two movements in this part. The first one is of the strong rain coming by columns from the sky. The second one is of the wild white flash in the sky and it causes strong noise. The poet mentions that there are fields and garden in the landscape. According to his description, the fields are bleared and the gardens are disarrayed by the weather. Thus, the sense is hearing because of the noise that the wild white flash makes and sight because it is possible to imagine the rain coming gradually on the fields and gardens.

To conclude, the sonnet has 14 rhyming lines: ‘A B B A C D D A E F G G E F’. About the rhythme, the scansion of the first three lines shows us that the sonnet has a regular alternation of unstressed and stressed syllables and it is called as iambic pentameter.

  ˇ     /    ˇ      /      ˇ       /      ˇ       /    ˇ     /

A moment the wild swallows like a flight

  ˇ     /     ˇ        /       ˇ            /   ˇ       /    ˇ         /

Of withered gust-caught leaves, serenely high,

    ˇ     /     ˇ      /     ˇ        /    ˇ      /     ˇ         /

Toss in the windrack up the muttering sky.

The poem Welsh History summarize the events that happened in the Welsh people lives in the past, what is happening in the present and what they hope for their future. The poem shows these three moments in sequence. The R. S. Thomas descriptions are very interesting and transmit to the readers the Welsh people feelings, as sadness and hope.

The view of the past of the Welsh people is showed by R. S. Thomas as a suffered past. The Welsh people lived periods of wars which leaft in their mind sad memories. They put their lives in risk against the colonizers. They fought, killed and many of them were dead by their enemies in name of their masters, kings and legends. It was a hard period without glories, but the Welsh people were together.

About the present, the words: “We were a people, and we are so yet.” shows that the Welsh people are still together in spite of their bad conditions after the wars. According to R. S. Thomas, they have lived the consequences from the battles. They have suffered with the poverty and with their culture that was destroyed by the colonizers.

Finally, about the future, R. S. Thomas shows that the Welsh people believe in their recovery. They believe that their country conditions and their culture will become stronger again, however, they are conscious they need to fight for this in a different way from the past.