Showing posts with label Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Show all posts
Monday, September 19, 2022
Sonnets from the Portuguese
19 September 2022: Had a pretty good discussion with my Victorian lit class about a couple of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's famous sonnets. First, we acknowledged them for what they are--absolutely devoted love poems from someone who has it bad. It was also fun talk about how she works within yet stretches the form. I particularly find myself drawn to the single word sentence in line 6 of this one. So surprising and arresting.
Friday, January 25, 2019
More wisdom for Barrett Browning...
25 January 2019:
"For say a foolish thing but oft enough,
(And here’s the secret of a hundred creeds,—
Men get opinions as boys learn to spell,
By re-iteration chiefly) the same thing
Shall pass at last for absolutely wise,
And not with fools exclusively." --Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh
In class yesterday, I said this current moment--as sad, fraught, and frustrating as it is--is such great time to be teaching two upper-division classes on nineteenth-century literature. Each day, each class, reveals some "everything old is new again" insight. The selection of Aurora Leigh quoted above is no exception.
"For say a foolish thing but oft enough,
(And here’s the secret of a hundred creeds,—
Men get opinions as boys learn to spell,
By re-iteration chiefly) the same thing
Shall pass at last for absolutely wise,
And not with fools exclusively." --Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh
In class yesterday, I said this current moment--as sad, fraught, and frustrating as it is--is such great time to be teaching two upper-division classes on nineteenth-century literature. Each day, each class, reveals some "everything old is new again" insight. The selection of Aurora Leigh quoted above is no exception.
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Lady Waldemar on love...
23 January 2019:
"But, after all, this love!... you eat of love,
And do as vile a thing as if you ate
Of garlic—which, whatever else you eat,
Tastes uniformly acrid, till your peach
Reminds you of your onion. Am I coarse?
Well, love’s coarse, nature’s coarse—ah, there’s the rub!" --Lady Waldemar, in Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh
Lady Waldemar is a heck of a character who has quite a way with words, so naturally her description of being in love is strange (and gross?) yet also kind of perfect.
"But, after all, this love!... you eat of love,
And do as vile a thing as if you ate
Of garlic—which, whatever else you eat,
Tastes uniformly acrid, till your peach
Reminds you of your onion. Am I coarse?
Well, love’s coarse, nature’s coarse—ah, there’s the rub!" --Lady Waldemar, in Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh
Lady Waldemar is a heck of a character who has quite a way with words, so naturally her description of being in love is strange (and gross?) yet also kind of perfect.
Monday, January 21, 2019
Like a time machine...
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...
"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...
Sunday, January 13, 2019
"stirred up and shaken..."
13 January 2019: "It is good for me to get stirred up and shaken once in a while." --Lucy Larcom, writing to John Greenleaf Whittier about her reaction to Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh
Being more or less stuck in a hotel room in Charleston for the second straight day has led to a burst of productivity. It isn't snowing here, but it is really raining (a cold rain, too) and I am reluctant to do much exploring. So today I've moved between the hotel room, the hotel lobby, and restaurants, reading and getting work done.
One of my tasks led to me the Larcom quotation above. Every once in a while, she'll drop a soundbite like this (here's another one) and I laugh and feel like we might be kindred spirits. I've even been thinking a lot about Aurora Leigh, which I am teaching for the first time this semester. Weird!
Being more or less stuck in a hotel room in Charleston for the second straight day has led to a burst of productivity. It isn't snowing here, but it is really raining (a cold rain, too) and I am reluctant to do much exploring. So today I've moved between the hotel room, the hotel lobby, and restaurants, reading and getting work done.
One of my tasks led to me the Larcom quotation above. Every once in a while, she'll drop a soundbite like this (here's another one) and I laugh and feel like we might be kindred spirits. I've even been thinking a lot about Aurora Leigh, which I am teaching for the first time this semester. Weird!
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