learningaliving

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Commonplace Entry 16: Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey

...and along many gloomy passages, into an apartment never used since some cousin or kin died in it about twenty years before. Can you stand such a ceremony as this? Will not your mind misgive you?Its walls hung with tapestry exhibiting figures as large as life, and the bed, of dark green stuff or purple velvet, presenting a funeral appearance" (115).

Jane Austen successfully uses gothic tropes to craft her satirical novel. Henry Tilney descriptions of the abbey to Catherine Morland are gothic in every sense as they depict mystery, heavy, intricate and dark decor, large haunting images, and invoke images of funerals and death, the macabre. Readers are invited into the mysteries right alongside Ms. Morland.

Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008, pp.115.

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Commonplace Entry 15: Anna Letitia Barbauld's Washing Day

"Ye who beneath the yoke of wedlock bend with bowed soul...no comfort, nor pleasant smile, no quaint device, but silent breakfast anxious looks... Saints have been calm upon the rack" (51).

Barbauld's "Washing Day" is as much of an expose of the torturous nature of women's household chores in the 17th century as much as the institution of marriage that requires it of them. She compares marriage to the yoke that oxen (domesticated labor animals) carry. The tragedy is made yet more apparent in contrast to the men who are in "silken balloons" sporting around. Meanwhile the women carry the load for two and more. The "evil day" that is laundry day is akin to a torture sentence. To Barbauld, even saints or martyrs "upon the rack" are more comfortable than the women on washing day.

Barbauld, Anna L. Washing Day, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th Edition, Volume D, The Romantic Period, New York, London, W.W. Norton Company, 2018, pp.51.

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Commonplace Entry 14: Charlotte Smith's Elegiac Sonnets

On Being Cautioned Against Walking Headland Overlooking the Sea Because it Was Frequented by a Lunatic

"I see him more with envy, than with fear...he has no nice felicities that shrink... He seems uncursed not to know the depth or duration of his woe" (58).

Charlotte Smith's sonnet speaks to the philosophical and cultural prisons that society places on people such as those with abundant assets, properties, homes and the things that fill them. The wealthy have many privileges, but they are also responsible for so much they may experience little freedom. Even more notable in this poem is the prison of the mind referencing those who have knowledge of our condition, or the ills of individual and society. It would seem humanity is nearly made wearier and more miserable with the advancement of knowledge.

Smith, Charlotte. Elegiac Sonnets, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th Edition, Volume D, The Romantic Period, New York, London, W.W. Norton Company, 2018, pp.58.

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Commonplace Entry 13: Jonathan Swift's The Lady's Dressing Room

Jonathan Swift's poem detailed, "Whereof, to make the matter clear, an inventory follows here... a dirty smock...various combs...a forehead cloth...alum flour...night-gloves...gallipots and vials...ointments...paints and slops...towels...petticoats...a handkerchief...stockings...quaff pins...tweezers...a magnifying glass...a reeking chest" (636-639).

In step with 18th century Restoration ideology, Swift's poem takes on a nearly taxonomical approach to the itemization of women's accoutrements and hygienic tools the narrator encounters. It bluntly showcases the "women problem" and demonstrates the otherness of women is society at this time. It dabbles into the realm of the natural world, by itemizing all those things which seem unnatural to make women beautiful or more appealing.

Swift, Jonathan. The Lady's Dressing Room, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th Edition, Volume C, The Restoration and The Eighteenth Century, New York, London, W.W. Norton Company, 2018, pp. 636-639.

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Commonplace Entry 12: Frankenstein Part 2

Said Victor Frankenstein, "These sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving... although they did not remove my grief, they subdued and tranquilized it. The following morning the rain poured down in torrents and thick mists hid the summits of the mountains. The rain depressed me. My old feelings returned, and I was miserable" (47).

Author Mary Shelley touches on 18th century mental health perceptions and practices coinciding with a connection to nature through Victor's brief reprieve away. The sublime of nature can relieve depression and grief, but it's only momentary. The state of his mental health and mood are as quickly ruined as remedied, paralleling the fragile life/death threshold.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: The 1818 Text, New York, Penguin Random House, 2018, pp. 47.

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Commonplace Entry 11: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Part 1

Said Shelley's protagonist Victor Frankenstein of his creative process, "No one can conceive the variety of feeling which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds which I should first break through and pour a torrent of light on a dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source. Many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me" (42).

V. Frankenstein set about as a student of science with the intention of a healer/physician to explore the boundaries of life after death. The loss of his mother had made the experience of death and grief personal. Initially empathy and intellectual curiosity drove his pursuits, though his endeavors were eventually misguided.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: The 1818 Text, New York, Penguin Random House, 2018, pp. 42.

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Commonplace Entry 10: John Keat's Lamia

Wrote Keats in Part 1, "She was gordian shape of dazzling hue, Vermillion-spotted, golden, green, and blue; Striped like a zebra, freckled like a pard, Eyed like a peacock, and all crimson barr'd... her head was serpent, but ah, bitter-sweet! She had a woman's mouth with its pearls complete...Her throat was serpent, but the words she spake came, as through bubbling honey for Love's sake" (986-986).

Author and poet John Keats addressed his Romantic Period audience aptly with the inclusion of a half-human half-beast Lamia poem in his writings. Through Hermes perspective, Keats points to themes of seduction (by women) and the broader English exploration of the natural world that was a hallmark of the era. Zebras being from Africa and peacocks from Burma, these animal's inclusion may seem a surprise to the modern reader. While the snake was somewhat known to the English at this time, this particular Lamia-snake creature is a monstrosity and a beauty as partial woman. It contains elements and characteristics of both familiar and mysterious exotic animals. This passage may speak to skepticism of English explorations abroad, provide a cultural warning against the expansion of too much knowledge too swiftly, or be a nod to the role women play in society.

Keats, John. Lamia, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th Edition, Volume D, The Romantic Period, New York, London, W.W. Norton Company, 2018, pp. 986-989.

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Commonplace Entry 9: William Blake's All Religions Are One

7 Principles outlined by 18th Century Poet William Blake helped define his philosophy that all religions have premise in the same root of origination. "Principle 2nd" states, "As all men are alike in outward form, So (and with the same infinite variety) all are alike in the Poetic Genius" (126).

According to The Norton Anthology of English Literature, The Romantic Period, Blake was both against Natural Deism and Christian Orthodoxy (125). Using language and style relative to both schools of thought, Blake set about to create a new argument. He believed all people possessed the same creative spark of Genius, derived from Roman ideology. And because of this belief in imaginative spark, he argued that all people have some intrinsic value and potential.

Blake, William. All Religions Are One: The Voice of one crying in the Wilderness, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th Edition, Volume D, The Romantic Period, New York, London, W.W. Norton Company, 2018, pp. 125-126.

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Commonplace Entry 8: John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Said Locke in his philosophical quest of an essay to understand humanity, "I know there are not enough words in any language to answer all the variety of ideas that enter into men's discourses and reasonings" (109).

Locke is confident there is no limit to the gaining of new knowledge in the world of the English. Thanks to the advancements of technology, science, and engineering in that world and outside of it, Locke recognizes the culture of England embracing values that prize the acquisition of knowledge. He represents the broader trend towards better human understanding, while also standing to critique the institutions that claim that to have "clear and distinct" ideas. Modern philosophers are also at odds with this theme in an Internet Era of accessible information, in deciphering what is true and what is not.

Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding: From The Epistle to the Reader, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th Edition, Volume C, The Restoration and The Eighteenth Century, New York, London, W.W. Norton Company, 2018, pp. 109.

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Commonplace Entry 7: Mary Prince Part 2

Said Mary Prince in her history related by herself to her good friend, "They tie up slaves like hogs--moor them up like cattle, and they lick them, so as hogs or cattle, or horses never were flogged;--and yet the come home and say, and make some good people believe, that slaves don't want to get out of slavery. But they put a cloak about the truth. It is not so. All slaves want to be free--to be free is very sweet" (121).

Nothing could be more direct than Prince's claim that all slaves want to be free. Prince leaves no room for questioning with her readership and audience when she speaks as an enslaved person for other slaves. She desires it to be undeniably clear that the need and want for liberation is completely natural for all humans. She later calls those who claim otherwise "ignorant or lying persons" (121). Prince gets to the heart of the matter in the question of human value.

Prince, Mary. The History of Mary Prince Herself, A West Indian Slave, Related by Herself, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th Edition, Volume D, The Romantic Period, New York, London, W.W. Norton Company, 2018, pp. 121.

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Commonplace Entry 6: From the History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave, Related by Herself, Part 1

Mary Prince, a Bermuda native, and an enslaved woman by the English, shared her story as evidence of the inhumanity of slave conditions and the need for abolition. Said Prince after working all day in salt ponds, with boils and blisters opening down to the bone, "We then shoveled up the salt in large heaps and went down to the sea where we washed the pickle from our limbs..." (121)

The cruel irony of this situation cannot be ignored. Sea water is inherently of high salt content. It begs the reader to question how sea water may be a relief for salted legs. Prince's powerful testimony to the realities of the labor required of her is undeniably the sort of testimony that could move the unfeeling heart toward compassion. Fluency and literacy in English was in large part a path towards abolition because it provided Prince a platform to share her first- person experiences. This along with Equiano's writings, helped the English public and government begin to understand the harrowing realities for enslaved people and begged for a resolution to the questions about human equality.

Prince, Mary. The History of Mary Prince Herself, A West Indian Slave, Related by Herself, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th Edition, Volume D, The Romantic Period, New York, London, W.W. Norton Company, 2018, pp. 121.

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Commonplace Entry 5: Olaudah Equiano [The Middle Passage]

Olaudah Equiano exposed the mind of the enslaved African when he penned his experiences. Wrote Equiano, "I asked if we were not to be eaten by those white men with horrible looks, red faces loose hair" (982).

Thanks to the ability of Equiano to formally and adequately express himself in writing and speak for himself for the first time English, the people of England were able to reflect on their actions more acutely than ever before. What seems for the first time in English literature, white people's humanity is being questioned. It is likely that Equiano's fear for being eaten seemed absurd to those never having been in his shoes. This world view likely would have been violating to the conscience and awake the interest and compassion of the highest Society of readers, particularly those in government positions.

Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, Written by Himself, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th Edition, Volume C, The Restoration and The Eighteenth Century, New York, London, W.W. Norton Company, 2018, pp. 982.

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Commonplace Entry 4: Epistle 2. To a Lady of the Characters of Women

Alexander Pope explores what it means to be an 18th century woman in his address to his close friend Martha Blount. Says Pope "...Proud as a peeress, prouder as a punk (harlot); Chaste to her husband, frank to all beside, a teeming mistress, but a barren bride..." (645).

Pope's satirical approach to women's sexuality touches on the duality he observes in women's character in English culture. He calls out women who are two-faced, those that appear virtuous to their husbands but have the tendency to flirt or sleep around like a harlot. Perhaps this commentary is an aside to the marriage institution as much as it is on women's character. It's difficult to distinguish whether women are innately dualistic, or their social economic circumstances require this dualism for survival. Either way Pope is eager to weigh in on women's characters as a moral issue worthy of writing to and publishing about.

Pope, Alexander. Epistle 2. To a Lady: Of the Characters of Women, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th Edition, Volume C, The Restoration and The Eighteenth Century, New York, London, W.W. Norton Company, 2018, pp. 645.

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Commonplace Entry 3: Letters...Written during Her Travels [The Turkish Embassy Letters]

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu observed in one of her Turkish Embassy letters, "I was here convinced of the truth of a reflection I had often made, that if it were the fashion to go naked, the face would hardly be observed. I perceived that the ladies of the most delicate skins and finest shapes had the greatest share of my admiration, though their faces were sometimes less beautiful than those of their companions" (631).

Women travel writers such as Montagu had significant influence in the 17th century. The rise of the middle class and technological advancements made for more security and freedom in global travel for English citizens. Montagu, wife of Constantinople ambassador and the daughter of an aristocrat, was invested in sharing her observances and the English were invested in reading her words in turn. Her ability to witness foreign social cultural curiosities and report of them gave her an edge as an influencer. 18th century English were particularly interested in unveiling activities that would typically be removed from the public eye. Montagu's experience of the Turkish women's bathhouse gave her a taste of the surprising freedom found there. In "veiling" oneself from the gaze of others (men), superficialities, such as clothing and jewelry, became moot. Women's wisdom could be observed and expressed when the importance of outward appearance was subdued. Montagu continues to successfully asks modern audiences what makes a person fully valuable?

Montagu, Lady Mary W. Letters...Written during Her travels [The Turkish Embassy Letters], The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th Edition, Volume C, The Restoration and The Eighteenth Century, New York, London, W.W. Norton Company, 2018, pp. 631.

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Commonplace Entry 2: Gulliver's Travels Part 2

In Gulliver's Travels, author Jonathan Swift comments on the tendencies of the English through the lens of Gulliver's observance of the Lilliputians. Said Gulliver, “As the news of my arrival spread though the kingdom it brought prodigious numbers of rich, idle, and curious people to see me; so that the villages were almost emptied and great neglect of tillage and household affairs must have ensued, if his Imperial Majesty had not provided by several proclamations and o and orders of state against this inconveniency" (292).

The English have prospered long, making many advancements in society. These technological and scientific advancements have yielded copious numbers of wealthy people. With an excess of wealth, people of the upper class are left stumbling about for entertainment to pass their time. The wealthy are also easily distracted from their labors and can be found seeking bemusement over other ways of spending one's time. They are quick to forget their obligations unless a law is enacted to keep everyone in place doing their part. Both homeowners and land managers are part of this distracted group and Swift draws clear parallels here to English upper class cultural values and those of the Lilliputians.

Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th Edition, Volume C, The Restoration and The Eighteenth Century, New York, London, W.W. Norton Company, 2018, pp. 292.

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Commonplace Entry 1: Gulliver's Travels Part 1

In Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Gulliver observes the Lilliputian people. He notes, "These people are most excellent mathematicians, and arrived to a great perfection in mechanics by the countenance and encouragement of the Emperor, who is a renowned patron of learning" (288).

It takes one learned (hu)man to recognize another. Lemuel Gulliver, the main character of Swift's iconic work, has a long history of apprenticeship and knowledge acquisition. He labored under a variety of disciplines before he had the opportunity to depart on his several voyages, finally arriving on the island of Lilliput. Initially, he voyaged for the sake of financial stability but ended up remaining partially out of sheer curiosity to observe the miniature inhabitants, their language and cultural norms. He noted unspoken oaths of hospitality which 18th Century English highly valued, alongside their commitment to learning endorsed from the top down. The government leaders preached education, and Gulliver found this honorable. His observance of education in action, helped him develop a respect for the islanders he may not have had otherwise.

Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th Edition, Volume C, The Restoration and The Eighteenth Century, New York, London, W.W. Norton Company, 2018, pp. 288.