21 January 2019: Preparing for class tomorrow, I re-read a passage from Aurora Leigh that I haven't read in at least 16 years (maybe longer? can't remember if Aurora Leigh was on my comps reading list). But as I read it, every word crashed back into my head.
"Therefore, this same world
Uncomprehended by you, must remain
Uninfluenced by you.—Women as you are,
Mere women, personal and passionate,
You give us doating mothers, and chaste wives,
Sublime Madonnas, and enduring saints!
We get no Christ from you,—and verily
We shall not get a poet, in my mind." --Romney Leigh to Aurora, Book One
The passage's resonance for me all these years later isn't entirely surprising. Aurora Leigh was, after all, the subject of a Summer Scholar's project that I completed at Roanoke in 1998. I remember analyzing this passage and incorporating into my oral presentation--a presentation I practiced dozens of times. (My first public scholarly presentation...)
It's a heck of a speech from Romney: condescension cloaked in concern, self-assured as heck, and the worst way to build up to a proposal. Can't wait to see what the students have to say tomorrow...
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