The Victorians
For Christina to be around so much death, this must have taken its toll
on her. She was especially close to her brother whose wife killed
herself after the death of their still born child. The poem called;
Song has the feeling of melancholy, and yet there is an unmistakable
sense of ones mortality, life’s ephemeral quality.
When I am dead my dearest.
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
(Song, 75)
The magical world of goblins and fruit has a childlike quality amidst
the succulent fruits plucked from vines. One hears how the Victorians
really enjoyed their sumptuous feasts?
In the United States post Industrial age, everything is drive-through
and 5 minutes meals. The closest I have come to a more leisure time was
in Iran, with my Persian family, and with the Italians in Italy (where
one works to live.
The Victorians were not as repressed as the undergarments they were
made to wear. The floor length dresses hid feminine curves, all the
more erotic when you read the fervent unconscious desires of Christina
Rossetti! The poets and painters of the day do however, offer a glimpse
into thie world and provide an intimate view. Reading the lives of the
poets, even from a Norton Anthology is a rather compressed perspective,
but it does offer a glimpse.
Confession: I love reading the introductions to learn about the
lives of the poets, sometimes more than the actual works. Side by side
however, it gives one a complimentary view.
Interesting factoids: Chastity Belts: is it fact or fiction? Turns
out it may have sprung up during the 19th century, not the middle ages
as some might think. In fact, they were “anti masturbation devices for
both men and women, although now they appear to be more S& M props.
Sexual repressions aside, some of the written works are wonderful!
Even Oscar Wilde’s quotations taken out of context are great fun.
Quotes like:
Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.
I’m a bit late in getting my 10 quotations for my journal (To span one
month's time, so the following will contain at least 20 some odd quotes
and journalistic prose to compliment what I’m learning.) Of course what
are words without pictures? So, I will try not to disappoint in this
regard.
Lord Tennyson
Imagine growing up in a dysfunctional family of eleven children; I
cannot fathom this.
Madness, epilepsy, addiction and a patriarch who was a raging
alcoholic? From this world sprung a poet, Alfred Tennyson, a poet
through and through. According to
Norton's Anthology of British Literature, Alfred was haunted by fear of the “black blood of the Tennysons.” (584)
I suppose this was his legacy, saved for the warmth of his mother.
But, it’s from this background that Tennyson read the books of poets and lived the life
of a poet. From a literary standpoint maybe a dose of Camelot and the Arthurian Legends produced lines such as:
Who is this? And what is here?
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
And they crossed themselves for fear,
All the Knights at Camelot;
But Lancelot mused a little space
He said, "She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott."(592)
While some poets live a life of obscurity and only find fame after
their death. Tennyson was well regarded during his life. Yet, the
familiar quest in the balance of art and life, it seems Tennyson had a
business deal go awry. (A scheme for carving wood by machinery where he
lost all his money) I can appreciate the desperation of a poet who
takes a chance even though there is the risk of losing. I find this a
struggle for myself in my own life. The life of an artist how does one
prosper?
I was quite taken by Ulysses. In it Tennyson imparts tender morsels of breadth and depth.
Of course Greek Mythology, always pulls me in (My name Lygeia comes from the story of the siren women—half bird)
“I am part of all that I have met………….
For always roaming with a hungry heart……
From that eternal silence something more..”
(593)
And to know of death and the affect of one so dear, Tennyson as a poet
was influenced by his supporter and closest friend. In Memoriam A.H.H.
a tribute to a mentor and a healthier representation of “family” if not
by blood. As a writer moving from the music sphere…I hope to find the
same. One must seek it out, be willing to risk those who don’t always
“get” who you are. Or, try to stifle your passions.
But, for the unquiet heart and brain,
A use in measured language lies;
The sad mechanic exercise
Like dull narcotics numbing pain.
(601)
Hopefully Academia will not cause too much static and dissonance.
Form has its place, I know. The mechanics are part of this journey, yet
I know that which cannot be contained and measured
is not an exact science.
Elizabeth Browning
Most intriguing is a writer who marries at 40 years of age, and names
her son “Pen” Hopefully I may one day meet someone as well...who
accepts me as I am. While I do have son with three letters (Kai) I have
yet to meet the kind of man, a kindred spirit who sought her out. Is it
not possible to meet someone with whom you can be yourself?
And of the writing, the words and the spaces between…?
"Will write my story for my better self,
As when you paint your portrait for a friend,
Who keeps it in a drawer and looks at it
Long after he has ceased to love you, just
To hold together what he was and is."
(Aurora Leigh, Book One)
In all my cosmological wonder Ms. Browning reflects these words back to me in a
happen chance:
"That murmur of the outer Infinite
(Book One)
Robert Browning
“Art Remains the one way possible…of speaking truth”
Browning
Note to self: I have the sense that Elizabeth may never have
married if not for Robert Browning, who was 7 years her junior. Just a
hunch I guess.
What an interesting man. Peculiar that as ones life expectancy was
brief during the Victorian age, that Browning lived with his parents
till he was 34? His mother was a non- conformist I can appreciate that.
Also, his creative life was fully expressive he dabbled in many art
forms. On a side note Susan from English 206 class was reminded of me
when she read his intro. Hmmm OK..
The first poem I read of his Porphyria’s Lover? The unexpected dark
turn, when Porphyria is strangled with her golden hair? The murderous
act, a dramatic departure from Words worth and the Romantic poets that
came before. Do people have unconscious desires to be enacted in the
verses of a poem? Or is life so tenuous that one realizes that as one
holds
on to a lover that he or she may die so suddenly?
"No pain felt she"
(Porphyria’s lover, 662)
"And yet God has not said a word!"
(663)
Matthew Arnold
Like many artists, Arnold was a bit “tortured.” The emotionality
of art, and creating art, is something I can relate to. Also, was
Matthew Arnold’s love of outdoors and away from the confines of the
classroom. I can surely relate to that!
So, as an exercise I will allow myself to go there. Let my mind travel to a wider expanse of earth and sky.
“Where the sea meets the moon blanched land, Listen!”.
(Dover beach, 751)
“For the world, which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams”
(752)
Arnold wasn’t all about poetry though, he also ventures into the
critical essay as a means of expression. Culture and Anarchy, is the
name of his important works. He was after all a Professor of Poetry at
Oxford, so he was a learned man, and was a believer in teaching respect
for “beauty and light.” I think I would have liked to have sat in on
one of his lectures!
“The disparagers of culture make its motive curiosity;
sometimes, indeed,
they make its motive
mere exclusiveness and vanity.”
(Sweetness and Light, 752)
