Love

Their Eyes Were Watching God Literary Analysis Essay In 1936 when Zorn Neal Hurst first started to compose her award winning novel Their Eyes Were Watching God she deliberately fashioned the aforesaid work so that Its textual structure created anticipation amongst Its readers. She did this by including great adversity for the main character Jeanie to overcome. Jeanie became entangled in the oppressive powers of early 20th century marriage. That of which constrained her for the greater part of the novel.

Going from man to man only intuiting the tyrannical cycle of being property. Throughout the course of the novel the reader wants Jeanie to find herself and break free. This creates anticipation within the reader. The reader was present during the beatings and the harassment Jeanie experienced. The only reason why the reader is in fact still reading is because of the anticipation he or she has building up inside of them. They only want the best for Jeanie and they want to be with her when she experiences it. All of the hardships and perils Jeanie experiences must lead up to something.

It is through all the adversity hat Jeanie perseveres through that creates anticipation within the reader. Their Eyes Were Watching God was precisely articulated so that it naturally created a bit of hope Inside the reader. The reader wanted Jeanie to finally find love as well as find herself. This feeling amongst the reader first emerges when Jeanie is forced to marry Logan Clicks. “Jeanie and Logan got married in Nanny’s parlor. ” (Hurst 21)Jeanie just wants to have someone in her life, something to ward of the recurring loneliness she experiences. But even the reader knows that Logan Clicks is not the answer.

This in itself creates anticipation. The reader at this point knows something will happen and may speculate what could occur. Essentially all that evolves out of this relationship Is Heartbreak for Jeanie. Her relationship with Logan soon dissolves despite the financial security he brought to the relationship. “Genie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman. ” (Hurst 25) The reader knows that Genie’s has partially given up on her dream of marriage but still wants her to find love. Fundamentally the whole relationship Itself with Logan Kills in turn creates anticipation amongst the reader.

All of which plays a role In the reader’s hope that Jeanie will find love and “all will be well In the kingdom. ” In a second sequence of events Jeanie finds herself In a relationship with the ever so powerful mayor, Jody. This marriage is the foundation for more heartbreak but also more hope for the reader. It all began when Jody “slapped Jeanie until she had a ringing in her ears. ” (Hurst 72) That is the turning point in their relationship. Jody had been an overbearing figure in the relationship by limiting Genie’s social contact with the outside world, but never had he been oppressive In a pugnacious manner.

The reader feels for Jeanie at this point. He or she more anticipation is created amongst the reader. The reader knows that something will happen further down the road. That the previous order of events foreshadows something greater. No situation Jeanie has experienced in the past has remained constant. It seems adversity is inevitable for Jeanie. This forces the reader to ponder the many possible outcomes of Jeanie and Jody relationship as well as Genie’s quest for love itself. The aforesaid inevitable adversity that Jeanie experiences will once again come into play as Jeanie engages in a new relationship with Teacake.

Jeanie awoke next morning by feeling Tea Cake almost kissing her breath away. Holding her and caressing her as if he feared she might escape his grasp and fly away. ” (Hurst 107) The reader at this point is relaxed finally Jeanie has found a man that treats her like a woman. That respects her and seems to love her with all his heart. With all the different men that Jeanie has been with the quality that Teacake has that sets him apart from the other ones is compassion. The reader for the first time experiences one of the qualities of true love alongside of Jeanie. The novel might as well be over at his point all is well.

But then again there is that everlasting feeling in the mind of the reader. Jeanie has never had everything go as planned. The reader anticipates something to go wrong. The past is ever present during Tea Cake’s relationship with Jeanie when Jeanie “found out her 200 dollars was gone. ” (Huston 118) Jeanie soon discovers that Teacake is also gone. This order of events creates immense anticipation in the mind of the reader. He or she asks him or herself questions like: “Did Teacake really steal her money and leave” or “will Jeanie Just finally give up on her ream of finding love. All of this anticipation and speculation on the reader’s part was precisely planned by Zorn Neal Hurst to keep the reader interested in her novel. In her 1937 masterpiece Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zorn Neal Hurst creates great anticipation amongst the reader through her use of textual structure. By precisely ordering events Hurst is able to effectively create said anticipation. By incorporating the ever apparent theme of Genie’s quest for love, into her order of events Hurst creates much anticipation amongst the reader.

The Missing Piece of the Puzzle Delis Lilies Kettering College Medical School of Arts The most obvious symbol of the Black Madonna in the writings of Sue Monk Kid represented a character of strength, endurance, stability, and a loving Mother. Many people ask themselves this question, “What is my true purpose in life? ” Or “Who am I meant to be? ” Most of the time they get an answer based on a religion, inspirational readings or thought. The Virgin Mary, the Black Madonna, is history’s example of a mother.

She is sensitive and firm, relatable and divine. The Black Madonna teaches Lily that she has mothers all around her, Rationale’s protection, Mayo’s caring, and love, Lily finds a mother in everyone around her, including herself. Sue Monk Kid begins her story with a character by the name of Lilly Ray, a fourteen old girl who lives with her abusive father, T-Ray Brown. Lily had the tragic experience of losing her mother at a young age. She never had the intimate relationship that comes with having a mother in your life.

She never experienced the soft voice or embrace of a mothers loving arms, something she longed for all her life. Life has a funny way of eating us down the path we are destine to take, but at the same time, comforting us with situations that are unpleasant. The people that we meet on our Journey are people we are destined to meet. Rosalie, a black house keeper who lived in the south and worked for T-Ray, was one of the closes things Lily could call a mother figure in her life. Lily and Rosalie shared a common ground.

The two loved each other and at the same time, longed for something deeper in their lives. Sue Monk Kid teaches us the and the power of female community. Lily longs for her mother and cherishes the few possession of her mother. She keeps a box of her mother’s memories buried in the orchard. In the box, there are photos, a pair of white gloves, and a wooden picture of a black Mary with the words “Tiburon S. C. ” on the back. Every time Lily feels alone or unhappy, she digs the box up. Sue Monk Kid demonstrates the significance of mothers to adequate human development.

Everyone, regardless of circumstance or color, needs a mother. Lily’s journey brings her to a place where transition and fate kisses face to face. Unfortunately, it also ends a relationship with her father whom she loved but didn’t understand. The Black Madonna serves several functions in Sue Monk Kid writing. It symbolizes as a surrogate mother to Lily seeing this was the only image she could relate back to her mother. However, the real meaning and symbolization comes from Catholic Catechism. Catholics place high emphasis on Marry roles as the protector and intercessor.

The Church holds the Blessed Virgins Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, in special regard. They feel a strong personal relationship to Mary as Lily did to Rosalie and the Bodyweight home. She is in a sense, mother to all. Just as Lilly turned to August for love and support, the Catholics turn to Marry Madonna for the name type of affection. The Black Madonna, through the teaching of August, gives Lily the strength and confidence to begin to change the way she thinks about her father’s behavior. Sue Monk Kid captures the bravery of Lily’s actions.

In a time when slavery was still present and in its strongest form, Lily was able to gather strength from the Madonna and her circle of friends to make her passage way to wholeness and a new beginning. Many different faiths and religions view the icon ‘Mary Madonna’ in different ways, but for Lily’s life, it would be the life changing motivating factor to start her on a new road of healing and freedom. Lilly sees honey for sale with the same picture of a black Mary that her Mother had. She discovers that a women name August Bodyweight sells the honey and Lily travels with her friend Rosalie to the Bodyweight home.

Lily meets the sisters, August, June, and May, who lives in this bright pink house. She was so nervous of the unknown; she began to lie to them about her past. It is human nature to hold onto to something from our past that brings us shame. We cling to the memories of the past; for it is there we can find peace and comfort. August is a black single woman who lives with her sisters and helps run her family business. She invites Lily and Rosalie to stay in the honey house. As time moves on, August develops a special bond with Lily becoming a surrogate mother to her.

In each person’s life, much of the Joy and sorrow revolves around attachments or affectionate relationships making them, breaking them, preparing for them, and adjusting to their loss by death. Among all of these bonds, are the special bonds – of a mother or father we cherish the most. Bonding does not refer to mutual affection between a baby and an adult, but to the phenomenon whereby adults become “Committed by a one-way flow of concern and affection to hillier for whom they have cared during the first months and years of life,” (hacker 20011). According to J.

Robertson in his book, ‘A Baby in the Family Loving and being Loved,’ individuals may have from three hundred to four hundred acquaintances in their lifetimes, but at any one time there are only a small number of persons to whom they are closely attached (Robertson, 1982, p. 53-54). He explains that much of the richness and beauty of life is derived from these close relationships which each person has with a small number of individuals such as, mother, father, brother, ester, husband, wife, son, daughter, and a small cadre of close friends (Robertson, 1982, p. 3-54). Attachment is crucial to the survival and development of human kind. August makes the most important statement Lily would ever receive about the black Mary and who she is; “Our Lady is not some magical being out there somewhere, like a fairy godmother. She’s not in the statue in the parlor. She’s something inside you” (Kid, 288). It is at this point Lily discovers where her true strength comes from. She sees it inside of her. As this story unfolds, Lily is now able to make peace with the past and with her father.

She understands the hurt she was feeling but never took the time to see that T-Ray was also dealing with his own daemons and hurt. It was the hate and bitter heart oft-Ray that drove Lily on her journey, but it’s her destiny that leads her to a new hive of mothers, and falls in love with who she is inside.

‘As You Like It’ Essay Belonging is the inclusion of both acceptance and alienation. Belonging is security, connection and camaraderie where as not belonging is estrangement, ostracism and seclusion. To belong to people, communities or places can create positive as well as negative outcomes. People’s perceptions of belonging are constantly changing due to personal, historical, cultural and social contexts. In Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ incorporates both aspects of belonging; acceptance and alienation. Different types are presented throughout the play by showing connections to place, to people and to ideas.

Each connection that is presented details the characters emotions, actions and morals and values. Connections to certain places is expressed throughout the play but is not restricted to a single environment. Various characters including Orlando, Rosalind and Duke Senior all achieved a sense of belonging through their banishment/withdrawal from the court environment to the Forest of Arden. The Court, once a place where these characters rightfully belonged and had created affinities with, now had became a hostile and foreign environment forming negative outcomes.

Not long after, they created connections to the Forest of Arden by the forest providing them with a place of protection and a place to heal their wounded emotions. The forest and the Court are juxtaposed because both environments are necessary to create balance and unity between the characters so they can live happy and fulfilled lives. Rosalind and Orlando had to be banished from the Court, to then thrive and find themselves in the Forest of Arden enabling them to then return to the Court to live their lives where they rightfully belong displaying the importance of these environments.

Connections to people are what forms their morals and values and defines their actions. Celia is a perfect example of a connection to a person. She demonstrated the power of love and one’s connection to a person through her loyalty and devotion to Rosalind by showing that she would abandon everything; the Court life and her father, to follow Rosalind into the forest. She had displayed that there is no home at the court, no sense of belonging, without her Rosalind. This connection that Celia had with Rosalind created positive effects to herself and conveyed how belonging to a person was necessary for a positive outcome.

Connections to certain ideas define who people are but they also can be poignant and thought provoking toward the audience. Through the play the quote ‘All the world’s a stage’ pessimistically tells us that we all are one in this life. The play affirms that everyone belongs to the same human race and they all have the same ending. This idea is expressed in the dance at the end. It represents a social ritual where everyone belongs and they celebrate love, marriage and common humanity. Ideas can also shape ones perceptions of the world and how they act toward them.

Belonging can not just create positive or negative outcomes but it can either enrich or diminish a person’s life; their actions, decisions, morals and values and emotions. In Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ everyone experiences positive outcomes because it is one of his comedies. Belonging throughout the play established its importance to the characters and also detailed the connections they had with each other, their environment and themselves. It also showed how belonging is continually modifying to one’s circumstances but also by their personal, historical, cultural and social contexts.

Elizabeth Commits Mrs.. Mullen AP European History 19 September 2013 Literature in the Renaissance time period introduced new themes and ideas to the European population. Such writings revolutionized Europeans opinions and the roles in society of man, the Catholic Church, and ancient Greece and Rome. Four Renaissance works, Oration on the Dignity of Man, The Prince, “Frederic’s Falcon”, and The Abbot and the Learned Woman, reflect the humanistic, secular, and classicist themes through the glorification of man and subsequent indifference or criticism of the Church.

Monorail’s Oration on the Dignity of Man demonstrates humanism more than the other themes. The entire purpose of the address is to leonine and celebrate humans. Essentially, the general opinion holds man as “the mediator of all creatures, the servant of superior beings, the lord of inferior ones the interpreter of nature by the keenness of his senses, by rational inquiry, by the light of his intellect” (Miranda 335). Humanism is channeled particularly through the statement “we are what we wish to be” (Miranda 337), which praises the perseverance and confidence of man hat he may do and be anything he wishes.

According to Miranda, humans deserve to strive for the highest honors and to be of equal power of angels and God, for he calls man to “let us emulate their dignity and glory and, if we desire it, shall be in no way inferior to them” (Miranda 338). Machiavellian The Prince involves humanism in the sense of praising the reality of humans. Through the example of Pope Alexander X’, Machiavelli recognizes the struggles man faces and his incredible ability to prevail over such hardships. Alexander “great spirit and high ambition” allowed him to overcome obstacles and employ successful designs during his rule.

There is also a great value in the “truth of things” and not the imaginary; princes aren’t perfect, yet it is a balance between good and bad qualities which makes them successful. Even when discussing princes who came to power through corruption and crime, Machiavelli still admires their bravery and spirit. Of Prince Stagecoaches: in respect of “the velour with which he encountered and extricated himself from dangers, and the constancy of his spirit in supporting ND conquering adverse fortune, there seems no reason to Judge him inferior to the greatest captains that have ever lived” (Machiavelli 347-348).

In addition, Vocation’s “Feedings Falcon” also references humanism in characterizing human emotions of love, generosity, and compassion. Foddering, the protagonist, is wildly in love with Mona Giovanni. The story praises reciprocal human kindness and generosity, for his actions reward Foddering in the end with his marriage to Giovanni. Similarly, Erasmus The Abbot and the Learned Woman emends human love and respect of one another: the woman and her husband share a love for learning, which brings them closer together.

The piece simultaneously scorns disrespect and cruelty toward other humans; the Abbot, who is very sexist and rude to the woman, is made the fool in the story for being so ignorant and standing on weak, immature arguments. Secularism, the indifference or criticism toward the Catholic Church, can be identified in the Oration on the Dignity of Man mainly through the undermining of God’s (and the Church’s) power. The oration does not capitalize “he” when speaking of God, suggesting that God is of equal power as any ordinary man.

Moreover, when God creates Adam, He gives him and all humans the power and freedom to do what they want: muff, unhampered, may determine your own limits according to your own will, into whose power I have placed you” (Miranda 336). This declaration gives God less control and dominance over man, thus heightening the belief that the Church and God aren’t superior to man. In The Prince, continuous reference to “Fortune” as determining humans’ lives omits God from interfering in the lives of man; “it was through no fault of his but from the extraordinary and extreme malignity of Fortune” (Machiavelli 343).

The pope’s weak power over territory is highlighted through Pope Alexander Vic’s conflicts with monarchical rulers and his inability to take lands belonging and not belonging to the church. Criticism is apparent in Alexander creation of Pope Julius II, for Machiavelli notes that “after using his reputation for liberality to arrive at the Papacy, [Pope Julius II] made no effort to preserve that petition when making war on the King of France but carried on all his many campaigns without levying from his subjects a single extraordinary tax, providing for the increased expenditure out of his long-continued savings” (Machiavelli 351).

When remarking that “No Prince was ever at a loss for plausible reasons to cover a breach of faith”, Machiavelli accepts that royalty disobeys the church often, but it’s commonplace and easy to cover up. Secularism is present in “Frederic’s Falcon” because there is a complete lack of the Church and its role in society; Fortune is offered to as the ruling factor of life instead of God. In comparison, The Abbot and the Learned Woman is secular through outright criticism of the Church, portrayed by the abbot’s character.

He is rude, ignorant, condescending, and close-minded; for his poor reasoning and indignant attitude, he is the fool and loser in the argument. The story serves as a lesson for the Church to reform its ways and become more accepting, open-minded, and educated in the modernizing world around them. References to the study and revival of ancient Greek and Roman history are included n Renaissance works as a meaner to intensify the glorification of man during the humanistic movement.

Classicism reinforces the beliefs of humanism by comparing man to revered Greek and Roman figures. In Oration on the Dignity of Man, “What a miracle, Oh Ecclesiae, is man! ” indicates Ecclesiae, a son of Apollo and the ancient Greek god of medicine and healing. Associating man with such an important Greek figure heightens man’s value and superiority. Later on in this speech, man is said to symbolize Protests, a sea god known for his ability to assume different forms. This imprison of humans to Protests emphasizes their extraordinary ability to be versatile and dynamic.

In The Prince, a reference to Chirps the Centaur demonstrates the value of princes to understand how to act both like the man and the beast; many successful princes including Achilles were trained by the centaur. According to Machiavelli, “it is necessary for a Prince to know how to use both natures and that the one without the other has no stability’ (Machiavelli 353). The development of humanism, secularism, and classicism in the Renaissance affected how writers depicted society at the time.

New ideas of the superiority of man arose, revitalization ancient Greek and Roman figures in order to further glorify the human. Along with praise of humans also came criticisms of the Church, questioning the Church’s outdated beliefs and common frauds, encouraging major reforms. Often the Church wasn’t mentioned whatsoever, showing the dwindling importance and influence of the Church in society. Renaissance writers captured the changes in European life through their works by crafting clever stories while giving their two cents on the issues at hand and revolutions to come.

“The Hurt Man “is a short story written by Wendell Berry taking place in the late asses. The childhood memories of the man Mat Filter are described from a third person narrator whose omniscience is limited to Mat.

The fact that the narrator is able to give away information regarding much later events such as “she would begin to matter to him a great deal in a dozen of years, and after that she would matter to him all his life “of course referring to Margaret; Mat’s coming wife gives the reader the opportunity to reflect on the current events with the future events in mind to each a greater understanding and later conclusion of the story. “The Hurt Man “takes on a very traditional short story form. First the characters are described then the setting.

After that the banalities and dangers of Port William are portrayed followed by a trigger to lead on the story in a dramatic order: a hurt man arrives bleeding at the house of the five year old narrator and his mother. At first the title of the story seems easily analyzable and one might think that the story it called “The Hurt Man” only because of the hurt man it among other things revolves around. But I live it could also be referring to changes in Mat and how his innocence is taken away when learning of pain through the mother’s care of the man. The setting of the story plays a decisive role as well.

As stated initially, Mat grew up in a rather tumultuous and harsh setting where disputes were mostly settled out of court with violence; a town in which the “proof of mortality would be given in blood”. Here a noteworthy word “mortality “occurs for the first time in the story and almost from the beginning. The usage of the word mortality later becomes an essential part of the story and Port William. It is also told that the three deceased siblings of Mat are resting at the town’s graveyard and their headstones became an immortal proof of their tough and short life in Port William.

The mother was a strong and seemingly independent woman. She was treated with respect from the friends of the hurt man first when she stopped them to ask them who they were and secondly when she delegated the different task in an attempt to save the hurt man. Even though she had previously lost 3 of her children at very young ages much like her present son she did not hesitate to let him experience the airdrops of life first handedly. After all such experiences are necessary when growing up especially at that age.

Of course she was concerned about his wellbeing to a certain motherly degree also did she love him. So she kept an eye on him but also let him grew up like any other child. Especially on Saturdays did she watch out for him since the town had a tendency to turn additionally disorderly that day. So in contrast Mat’s mother is very similar to the mother of Creeps in “The Soldiers Home “. Both of them want to protect their child but they don’t want their protection to be arced on them they would rather have their children experience hardships and progress in life.

The fact that it is two completely different situations and ages their children are affected by is secondary. The important part is their motherly care and the experiences they let their children have for the better on the long run. Mat was surprised when the mother almost without hesitation let the man inside their house. He was not afraid of man or the blood on his face and body. But if there was one thing he was not surprised about was that the mother took care of him and nursed is wounds. He knew she would do this for she did this to himself so why should his caring mother refuse to help this stranger?

He was simply surprised about the facial expression of care, love, empathy and uneasiness which he had only seen directed at him. Then Mat realized what death really is by seeing his mother’s genuine care and love for a complete stranger. He also understood that this stranger would have been dead had it not been for his mother. When Mat then moved closer to his mother and uncovered her facial expression usually only directed at him: that passionate, careful ND worried look he has an epiphany in which he sees the world through the eyes of an adult for the first time.

This is a milestone is his life (and life in general) and of course at his age he can only be shocked. For all of his short life Mat thought that the world was revolving around him and his mother only but after seeing how his mother reacted to this man’s condition he realized that this man could have died and never returned like the many people buried at the graveyard. He then truly understood what dying means. This might also be the reason why “she would begin to matter to him a great deal in a dozen of years, ND after that she would matter to him all his life “.

First she did not matter to him she could have been a boy for all he cared but he ended up marrying her maybe because he realized that life does not Just revolve about him and his mother. Through the pain he learned of he also learned about love, care and compassion which he later would share with his wife and grandson and as long as Mat would be happy there would always be a loss” He learned it all his life”. That is the law of equivalent exchange in which we and our universe live by.

Have you ever gone to the museum and glanced at paintings but had to do a double take because a painting grabbed your attention so strongly? This is what happened to me when I saw the painting by Pablo Picasso entitled Mother and Child 1901. This painting was done during what was called the Blue Period. “Picasso Blue Period was in 1900 and ended in 1904. ” (unknown, Pablo Picasso Blue Period 1901-1904, 2009) All of his paintings during this period were created in shades of blue and blue-green with other colors occasionally. Picasso had many paintings that had the same title UT in different time periods.

Paintings by Picasso brought out warm and loving feelings in my heart. This one particular had me to think of the Joys of being a mother. I chose this painting by Picasso because it is warm and loving. You can see and feel how much the mother and child loved and cared for each other by their embrace. The mother clothed in a dark blue wrap that covers her head and continues around her body; has her right hand softly touching the back of her child’s head. She is delicately bending down towards the child as she kisses him/her on the ordered. It is hard to tell if the child is a boy or girl.

The child is in a light blue gown with matching slippers. His/her head is tilted upward to welcome the kiss from his/ her mother. It appears that the child has brought the mother a piece of fruit. Based on the colors of orange and pale yellow, it could possibly be an orange, mango or peach. The mother has a basket next to the black rocking chair she is sitting in. There is a white cloth in the basket along with some thread and scissors. It looks like the child brought the fruit while the mother was sewing. The child may have wanted his/ her mother to take a break and eat something.

When I first saw this painting, I thought of Mary and Jesus. It evoked feelings in me of warmth, love and pure Joy. As I look at the way the mother expresses the love for her child, I can put myself in her place and feel how much she loves her child. I can feel my hand embracing the soft hair on the child’s head and the soft kiss being placed on his/her forehead. To me the blue color of her wrap evokes the feeling of comfort. I can also feel the child’s heart being warmed from the kiss he/she receives room the mother. The mother has her eyes closed as she kisses the child on his/her forehead.

I can see that the kiss is a result of the fruit that the child has brought to her. In this painting it appears that the child is in his/her night clothing and is preparing for bed as the mother is busy sewing a piece of clothing in the basket. I can feel that this special moment between mother and child is a soft and loving moment. Pablo Picasso has many paintings that have the women seem to have a religious resemblance to Mary and the child possibly to Jesus. I can see that Picasso held elision as an important part of most of his paintings.

I felt that Picasso viewed this painting as one of love from a mother to a child and vice versa. He painted the love of them as beautiful and distinctively warmly. I love how the child shows that he/she loves the attention his/her mother is giving and love they express between them. If I was a mother and alive in Picasso time, I would have asked him to paint a portrait of me and my children. Perhaps I will come across a painting from this century that resembles Picasso and it will make me feel warm and full of love as well.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning : unexpectedness of love Falling in love with Robert and his returning of her love came as a great surprise to Elizabeth, considering past her circumstances. Analysis: Reworks the traditional sonnet sequence by transforming gender roles. She utilities the female voice instead of the traditional male voice. She assumes the role of epic hero. She adopts the patrician sonnet style. The octet’s strict rhyming pattern reflects how she feels her life has been static so far.

The sextet’s alternating near rhymes modulate from move’ to ‘strove’ to ‘love’ reflecting gradual emotional and spiritual pavement as a result of discovering this unexpected love. The distortion of iambic pentameter reflects the distorted and enharmonic patterns of her own life. B uses past tense show how Joy escapes her- ‘once’ ‘sung’. The brevity of ‘once’ suggests that this kind of love Is fleeting. ‘Once’ also has fairytale associations ‘once upon a time’ which suggests that love for her Is a myth.

She utilities the classical Greek reference (allusion) to Theocratic whose poem suggested that every year of life brought new happiness with it. This allusion evokes the original pastoral tradition from Sicily and implicitly allows a world of classical Italian paganism (and potential sexuality) Into the world of Victorian poetry. Creates a dramatic effect by using enjambment to set off a phrase at the beginning of the sestets. Volta, (Italian: “turn”) the turn in thought in a sonnet that is often indicated by such initial words as But, Yet, or And yet. The Volta occurs between the octet and sestets in a Patriarchal sonnet.

Here the thought continues from line 8 to 9. This suggests that the melancholy blends itself across all aspects of her life. That she remembers the poem as being ‘sung’ (past tense) also suggests that armory and sweetness have not been a part of her life’s journey. Listing the sweet years, the dear and wished for years’ ‘The sweet ,sad years, the melancholy years’. This again emphasizes how much Joy and beauty she has missed out on and how much she has suffered ‘antique tongue’ classical adjectival reference, could suggest these notions are foreign to her Just as an antique language is or that this happiness could only be found in the past. Lung’ powerful and Jarring verb. Browning feels that fate has powerfully ‘shadow she is now an image of her former self due to the illness, offering and oppression she has been through OR darkness has spread, there is no light of hope in her life. ‘mystic Shape’ capitalizes-shape is personified. Mystic means”spiritually allegorical, pertaining to mysteries of faith,” “pertaining to occult practices or ancient religions” So… This shape is foreign to her ‘shape’ “creation, form, destiny,” from root of shape (v. )). Meaning “contours of the body” is attested from late ICC. Meaning “condition, state” is first recorded 1865, Aimer. Eng.

In M. E. , the word also had a sense of “a woman’s private parts. ” ‘hair’ :An allusion to Homer’s Iliad. Epic which begins with Athena pulling Achilles by the hair. Divine intervention by the Gods. EBB could see Borrowing’s love for her as divine intervention. Her allusion to Homer’s epic subtly suggests that there is something heroic and brave about this romantic engagement. The gender dynamic of this allusion should not be overlooked. At the opening of the Iliad Achilles and Agamemnon are contending over who will get to keep a captive female in his tent-an odd and interesting allusion for the beginning of feminine love sonnets.

In Barrett Browning;s revision of this scene, the desiring female speaker assumes the position of epic hero. Pulled away from destructive, seductive thoughts of death, she engages with the emotional risks of love when the conditions seem to glorify her as much as her beloved; thus the speaker is both the subject and object of love, revising without entirely reversing the Perchance tradition in which the woman is a silent object of admiration. This allusion to homer’s epic, as well as the heroic sonnet form, subtly suggests that there is something brave and heroic about this romantic engagement.

Fate is symbolized as a woman constantly turning. Her hair had to be grabbed while he was facing you. Allusion to a A children’s game. The sestets is based on a children’s game of the time in which one child would creep up behind another, grab her hair and ask: “Guess who it is? ” The poet compares falling in love to this game. She suggests than when the strange feeling (of love) metaphorically “drew me backwards by the hair”, she assumed that it was death that was seizing her (her pessimistic expectation). Mystic Shape” (line 10) suggests something mysterious and possibly sinister. In line 12: “… A voice said in mastery while I strove” suggests the power of her new linings and her attempts to resist them because she feared them. Silver answer-color imagery-love has found her but isn’t quite gold yet. She can while she is Joyful to find love she is wary of it. Silver also represents purity, so perhaps the answer of ‘love’ is pure and simple as further witnessed through the use of monosyllables ‘Not Death but Love’ Rang-connotative of wedding bells or announcements.

Loud volume. Has it awoken her from her melancholy and sadness? Rang is also in present tense to show her awakening to love and Joy, as opposed to the past tense ‘sung Wished’ Sung, Voice,Rang -the experience is auditory. Why? Siren’s call? Has she subverted this? She is like the men lead to their death? The dangers of love? Perhaps she only understands love when she hears it from someone else, she herself cannot articulate it because of her isolated existence. Bells are commonly representative of Joy and freedom.

The shape of the bell is closely related to the vault of HEAVEN. A bell’s pendulous motion can represent the extremes of good and evil; death and immortality. Its sound is a symbol of creative power, but can also be a call to arms. Is also phallic in some senses, a bell and handle = a vulva and a phallus. Embodiment of virginity, unmarried women adorn themselves with bells. The use of direct speech in lines 13 & 14 dramatists her surprise. The ellipsis in line 14 creates suspense before the final antithesis of “Not Death, but Love. Which highlights the great change in her outlook on life from the second quatrain. Volta: Browning plays with the Patriarchal form because she’s more intent on meaning rather than staying with form. Goes into 9th line in sestets. Provides a Volta in line 13 after the caesura ‘but there’. Ellipsis. The function of these is to show that she is reserved and reticent about embracing love due to her societal constraints which include: patriarchal power structure, history of illness and tragedy, feels unworthy and mistrusts herself.

Sense of Self-she is aware of her limitations and cleverly questions and challenges those through her poetry. Classical Elements in Poem Modern Elements of Poem Patriarchal Rhyme Scheme Theocratic Antique tongue Hair-allusion to Homer’s Iliad epic The drama of death and love evokes classical drama and mythology, figures such as Orpheus and Eurydice and the fugue of fate. Can read her poems as a version of the silent, suffering powerless woman

Usurps masculine conventions-she’s no longer silent but eloquent Uses her structure to infer movement from stasis to an opening up of emotions Cleverly invokes sexuality and desire in a strict patriarchal society Transforms ritual of identity-sonnet is about (values debate about identity within context of conformity) She is aware of her limitations and cleverly challenges them throughout her poetry She is reserved and reticent about embracing love due to her societal constraints: patriarchal power Elizabeth Barrett Browning Sonnet 13 Theme: The dominant idea and tone of this sonnet seems to be uncertainty – uncertainty bout whether the poet/persona can trust her lover and whether she can control the intensity of her own feelings. This poem is about EBB being unable to speak or admit her love to Robert Browning, however, she paradoxically creates a work of art to declares her love. She declares herself as a poet maker which will then be her gift to Robert. She isn’t ready to admit love yet. She will declare it when she is ready. The female voice instead of the traditional male voice.

Unlike the traditional depiction of a woman in Patriarchs poetry-she is not silent. She poses and answers the heterocyclic question, ‘And wilt though have me fashion into speech/the love I bear thee, finding words enough… ‘ She adopts the Patrician sonnet style. She has control over her own silence, questioning the validity of words and hence the sonnet form itself. Paradox-this poem is about her not being able to communicate yet she communicates with Robert Browning through this poem. She does not introduce a Volta in lines 8 or 9 which shows her determination to express her uncertainty about revealing her feelings to Robber Browning. The sonnet.

This is reflective of the conversational style of the letters and also emends the reader that the sonnet is part of a sequence of ideas. *The use of the archaic forms and “wilt” suggests that the question may be a device, as used in the sonnets of Shakespeare and the Metaphysical poets, to introduce her ideas dramatically, rather than a response to a real request from Robert. ‘Hold the torch out where the words are rough/ between our faces, to cast a light on each?.. ‘ The torch and light here can symbolism illumination, exposure or disclosure and hence the revelation of their love to others, which EBB is afraid of as it will allow them to be criticized by others. In these lines EBB is also creating a drama of epic significance. The flaming torches allude to classical drama.

She is also the one in control as she is the torch bearer, which again subverts the traditional notion of the submissive woman in Patriarchal poetry. The metaphor “where the words are rough” suggests the external forces that make it difficult to her express her love publicly, possibly a reference to her father’s opposition. “I drop it at thy feet’. Cleverly denounces her previous image of power and control by submitting humbly to him. The use of the verb drop suggests her inability to effectively be a torchbearer and consequently she reveals to him that she in unable to effectively communicate her love to him in her writing, ‘l cannot teach my hand to hold my spirit so far off/From myself.. Me. ‘ The high modality reflects her inability to do so. Nay, -let the silence of my womanhood/Commend my woman-love to thy belief-‘ Cleverly adopts the role of a virtuous Victorian woman who until the point of marriage will not talk and must remain a mystery. The first word of the sestets “Nay’ (No) does not introduce a Volta (turn) in this case. Instead it emphasizes her determination not to declare her love, reinforcing the second quatrain. ‘And that I stand union, however wooed’. There is a lovely play on contrasting words here with the W sound which emphasizes the paradoxical nature of her situation. She is in love but cannot admit it, however, cleverly explores and conveys her emotions of uncertainty to Robert through her poetry.

She urges her lover to assume that she is following the conventions of courtly love (suggested by the phrase “woman-love” and the archaic word “wooed”), in which the woman was expected to pretend disinterest as a sign of modesty and a way to encourage her lover to more extravagant protestation of his love. (This links to the archaic forms in the first quatrain. ) Here, the verb ‘rending is powerful and sexual. Her outward unresponsiveness conceals deeply felt passion. The image of being ravished is suggested in the metaphor of her life as a garment being torn apart. The superlative ‘most’ coupled with the rhyming and long sounding ‘dauntless, voiceless’ reveals the amount of mental and emotional strength needed by EBB to guard her feelings.

She again creates the classical image of woman. She is heroic and strong in grief. Lest one touch of this heart convey its grief’. The singular ‘One touch’ conveys the powerful brevity of tenderness and instantaneous consequent vulnerability of revealing her love. Should she reveal her love, she will be open to ‘grief, the grief that comes with love and happiness. It may also be personal grief due to the loss of her brother as well as the social grief that comes as a result of the restrictions placed on women during her time. Revealing her love will make her vulnerable in many ways and will open up a plethora of emotions for her. Admitting love.

The pronouns change from male thou’ and thee’ to female to ‘I’ and ‘myself…. Me’ to neutral this’. This could reveal the process in which she constructs a hybrid gender for herself which allows her to escape patriarchal constraints and usurp masculine conventions (see below). The drama is that this is a woman speaking as a lover to a lover, about the nature of love poetry. The emphasis is on the nature of Woman-love’ and the paradox is that her traditional ‘silence’ has become powerful eloquence. Part of the challenge is that EBB works with cross dressing and paradoxes about hybrid gender , as in her poems o George Sand, that ‘large-brained woman and large-hearted man’.

While she usurps masculine conventions, authority and eloquence she also insists that she retains a tragic identity as the always ‘union’ and enduring woman, the lover who cannot admit love, and in that way suffers love that in turn leads to sadness. Intellectualism and paradox are certainly part of her strategy and essential to the emotional power of the sonnet. Elizabeth Barrett Browning Sonnet 14 In this poem EBB has accepted her suitor’s love, but now makes demands regarding the nature of that love. She urges her lover to love her not for any particular reason, but simply because he loves her “for love’s sake only’. She argues that if there is a particular reason for loving someone, then a change in circumstances can remove the reason and destroy the love.

One interesting interpretation is that she is cleverly This could be validated with the fact that ‘love’ is repeated nine times in the poem. ‘If thou must love me, let it be for enough/Except for love’s sake only. ‘ The opening line is very dramatic and is addressed directly to the lover in the archaic second person (“thou”). She tells him: If you must love me, let it be for nothing. The high modality of the auxiliary verb “must” may be playfully suggesting that she does not really want him to love her or that she cannot believe that he would actually want to (a sign of her sense of inferiority). Like Sonnet 13 she also begins with the conjunction ‘if which creates a conversational tone. The idea of loving her for nothing seems strange until we read line 2. (I. E. He power of the idea is created by the enjambment, creating a pause before the qualifying condition – “except”). ‘Do not say/ ” I love her for her smile.. Re look.. Her way [Of speaking gently.. ; for a trick of thought/ That falls in well with mine, and Cortes brought/ A sense of pleasant ease on such as day-” EBB uses the imperative voice and listing of conventional attributes that are admired in women to warn Robert not to love her for these superficial qualities as they are subject to change. Ellipsis is used in these lines to suggest alternates that he might say. (Cortes – certainly) ‘For these things in themselves beloved, may/Be changed, or change for thee,.. ND love so wrought,/May be inwrought so. Here, EBB explains why she does not want IM to love her in these ways – because these things may change, destroying the love. In using the contrast of opposites Wrought/inwrought’ EBB highlights how easily love may come undone when it is based on transient qualities, as easily and simply as adding a small prefix to a word that resonates with work and effort. The word “beloved” in line 7 shows that she really loves him, dispelling any doubt that may have been created by line 1 . She has not used this word before to address him in previous poems for study. ‘Neither love me for /Thing own dear pity wiping my cheeks dry! For one might well forget to weep, who bore/Thy comfort long, and lose love thereby-‘ The idea in lines 9 – 12 is that he should not love her because he pities her unhappiness, because his love would make her happy, so he could no longer pity her, and therefore, no longer love her. The exclamatory shows that she is horrified of being pitied. ‘But love me for love’s sake, that evermore/ Thou Mays love on through love’s eternity. ‘ The poem ends with a clear and direct use of the imperative mood to emphasis her main idea – “love me for love’s sake”. She repeats the words of line 2, avian explained why she made the opening statement. Not be affected by changing circumstances, further reinforcing the poet’s main idea.

In terms of the sonnet form, EBB has now moved away from the half rhymes in her sestets to full rhyme for’, ‘bore’ ‘evermore’ and ‘dry, thereby. However, she utilities half rhyme in ending with ‘eternity. This serves to emphasis the uniqueness of the word and the longevity of their love (made up of four syllables and the longest sounding word in the poem) and hence the uniqueness of their love if it isn’t based on approaching her and loving her as a conventional woman. F a woman in Patriarchal poetry-she is not silent. She is in control and makes demands of Robert Borrowing love. Elizabeth Barrett Browning Sonnet 21 The tone of this sonnet is dramatically different from the three previous ones set for study.

It is more exuberant (excited, high-spirited), clearly shown by the number of exclamations. This might suggest that her doubts about the genuineness of Robber’s love are decreasing and she is beginning to enjoy their relationship. (One study guide refers to her “pleasure”, another to her “thrill”. ) An alternative reading might be that there is a sense of desperation in her excitement – that she is urging him to keep telling her that he loves her so she can overcome her doubts. There is evidence in the poem to Justify either approach, so you must make your own Judgment. In lines 1 -6 she urges her beloved to keep telling her that he loves her.

There is a typical dramatic opening, addressing her lover directly “Beloved” and using repetition “again and yet again”. The repeated use of exclamatory in line 6 and 7 line create a sense of exuberance. The foregrounding of the adjectival ‘Beloved’ may reveal an acceptance of her feelings towards Robert Browning, as she has now placed the term f endearment at the start of the poem (in contrast to Sonnet 14). Mores it relegates him to the object of the poem and thus EBB again subverts the traditional Patriarchal sonnet which had the woman as the object. EBB also subverts the form by taking control through the use of the imperative tone. She compares his repeated declarations of his love to the song of the cuckoo (“cuckoo-song” & “cuckoo-strain”).

This bird is heard very frequently in spring in England, and many people get sick of its monotonous calling. She suggests that while people might get sick of hearing the cuckoo, it should be welcomed because spring Anton come without it. In the same way, she cannot experience love without him ‘Remember, never to the hill and plain/ Valley & wood, without her cuckoo-strain. ‘ Hills were the first manifestation of the creation of the world, standing high enough to be set away from primeval chaos, but lacking the majestic size of mountains. Biblical allusion Isaiah 40:4 ‘Every valley shall be raised, and every mountain and hill made low, the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.

This suggests how everything will be complete and perfect when he repeats his love for her. Plains-symbol of space and boundless earth. Horizontal and opposed to the vertical hill. Valley-symbolic complement of a mountain. Egg yin (valley) and yang (Mountain). Commonly a symbol of fertility and life. Valley is also a Biblical allusion to Psalm 23:even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me (lots of sexual connotations here! ) Wood- Symbolizes superhuman wisdom and knowledge. The carpenter uses tools symbolic of the divine power of bringing order out of chaos.

Through the use of these natural and Biblical symbols. EBB suggests that they will not find perfection, complementing unity or order in their love without him repeating he loves her. Note the personification of “sweet Spring in all her green completed’ to herald a fresh start/rebirth/growth. Green is also the color of the Goddess of love Aphrodite who was born from a green sea-so . In lines 7 – 9 she admits to doubts about his love. “darkness”, “doubtful spirit”, “doubt’s pain” and “Cry’ have powerful negative connotations, suggesting that the process of deciding whether he really loves her has been very painful. Are these doubts in the past or the present? The use of ellipsis in line 9 suggests hesitation, making the use of the imperative (“Cry .. Speak seem a little desperate. In lines 9- 11 the rhetorical question suggests renewed confidence. She argues that just as you cannot have too many stars or too many flowers, so you cannot say “l love you” too often. This continues the association of his love with positive aspects of nature begun in line 6. Stars are symbols of divinity and constancy much like their love. Flowers in contrast are transitory (they don’t live forever). EBB again uses humbly to show how their love whilst mortal, can remain eternal. In lines 12 – 13 she again uses the imperative mood, combined with repetition to urge him to continue to say he loves her. Toll” metaphorically compares declaring his love to ringing a bell and “silver utterance” has positive connotations. (Note that she used “silver answer” in Sonnet 1) We discussed silver as being less precious than gold and therefore their love whilst still precious is more real rather than ideal. The bell is a symbol of Joy and freedom and in some senses is also phallic- so there are sexual connotations here again. In line 13 the dash introduces a change of idea, and a change to a more serious tone. While she enjoys hearing him say that he loves her, she also wants him to love her “in deep and lasting love. In terms of the sonnet form, this is the first sonnet for study that does not employ half rhyme in the sestets.

Thus the full rhyme could signify her growing confidence in their love. Elizabeth Barrett Browning Sonnet 22 The tone of this sonnet is very different to that of Sonnet XIX. It is extremely serious but also confident, suggesting that the poet is absolutely sure of the truth of what she is saying. EBB suggests that their love can take them into a spiritual realm away from earthly concerns, but then rejects this. She prefers them to remain earthly lovers, even though she recognizes that physical love is not permanent because it cannot overcome death. She argues that nothing in life can harm them because they love each other. There is also a sense of equality in this poem. There is no masculine or feminine aspect.

She’s become a man/woman voice (note the allusions to masculine mythological figures. Angels are gender neutral). In this sonnet the poet uses the first person plural (we / us / our). This is a velveteen from the previous ones set for study, in which she used the first and second person singular. The change reflects her growing certainty that they truly love each other. In the octave she imagines their souls facing each other in silence, getting closer together until their “lengthening wings break into fire. ” This image seems to refer to their deaths, when their physical bodies will be destroyed and their souls will escape to heaven together. This interpretation is supported by the reference to angels.

It links to the wish expressed in Sonnet XIV to be loved “through love’s eternity. ” and in Sonnet XIX to be loved with his “soul. ” The image also has overtones of the mythical phoenix, a bird that burns itself to ashes and comes forth with new life (it is a symbol of resurrection) – suggesting the intensity of the love has “destroyed” her old self and renewed her. ‘Until their lengthening wings break into fire’. Here we have the use of classical/ mythological allusion to Circus who flew to close to the sun and had his wings melt. Could this suggest that their love is so passionate it could be dangerous? Fire is also a symbol for knowledge and wisdom and again refers to the classical story of