swanpoets

[swanpoets]

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“we are all

museums of fear.”

—Charles Bukowski

(The photos aren’t mine. credit to owner.)

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woolgathering by patti smith

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Astronomy vignettes. Learning about our world. 1932.  

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You know what I realize that people underestimate with Pride & Prejudice is the strategic importance of Jane.

Because like, I recently saw Charlotte and Elizabeth contrasted as the former being pragmatic and the latter holding out for a love match, because she's younger and prettier and thinks she can afford it, and that is very much not what's happening.

The Charlotte take is correct, but the Elizabeth is all wrong. Lizzie doesn't insist on a love match. That's serendipitous and rather unexpected. She wants, exactly as Mr. Bennet says, someone she can respect. Contempt won't do. Mr. Bennet puts it in weirdly sexist terms like he's trying to avoid acknowledging what he did to himself by marrying a self-absorbed idiot, but it's still true. That's what Elizabeth is shooting for: a marriage that won't make her unhappy.

She's grown up watching how miserable her parents make one another; she's not willing to sign up for a lifetime of being bitter and lonely in her own home.

I think she is very aware, in refusing Mr. Collins, that it's reasonably unlikely that anyone she actually respects is going to want her, with her few accomplishments and her lack of property. That she is turning down security and the chance keep the house she grew up in, and all she gets in return may be spinsterhood.

But, crucially, she has absolute faith in Jane.

The bit about teaching Jane's daughters to embroider badly? That's a joke, but it's also a serious potential life plan. Jane is the best creature in the world, and a beauty; there's no chance at all she won't get married to someone worthwhile.

(Bingley mucks this up by breaking Jane's heart, but her prospects remain reasonable if their mother would lay off!)

And if Elizabeth can't replicate that feat, then there's also no doubt in her mind that Jane will let her live in her house as a dependent as long as she likes, and never let it be made shameful or awful to be that impoverished spinster aunt. It will be okay never to be married at all, because she has her sister, whom she trusts absolutely to succeed and to protect her.

And if something eventually happens to Jane's family and they can't keep her anymore, she can throw herself upon the mercy of the Gardeners, who have money and like her very much, and are likewise good people. She has a support network--not a perfect or impregnable one, but it exists. It gives her realistic options.

Spinsterhood was a very dangerous choice; there are reasons you would go to considerable lengths not to risk it.

But Elizabeth has Jane, and her pride, and an understanding of what marrying someone who will make you miserable costs.

That's part of the thesis of the book, I would say! Recurring Austen thought. How important it is not to marry someone who will make you, specifically, unhappy.

She would rather be a dependent of people she likes and trusts than of someone she doesn't, even if the latter is formally considered more secure; she would rather live in a happy, reasonable household as an extra than be the mistress of her own home, but that home is full of Mr. Collins and her mother.

This is a calculation she's making consciously! She's not counting on a better marriage coming along. She just feels the most likely bad outcome from refusing Mr. Collins is still much better than the certain outcome of accepting him. Which is being stuck with Mr. Collins forever.

Elizabeth is also being pragmatic. Austen also endorses her choice, for the person she is and the concerns she has. She's just picking different trade-offs than Charlotte.

Elizabeth's flaw is not in her own priorities; she doesn't make a reckless choice and get lucky. But in being unable to accept that Charlotte's are different, and it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with Charlotte.

Because realistically, when your marriage is your whole family and career forever, and you only get to pick the ones that offer themselves to you, when you are legally bound to the status of dependent, you're always going to be making some trade-offs.

😂 Even the unrealistically ideal dream scenario of wealthy handsome clever ethical Mr. Darcy still asks you to undergo personal growth, accommodate someone else's communication style, and eat a little crow.

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Mr. Darcy + flirting

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King Arthur by Charles Ernest Butler (detail) c. 1903

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by Xenie Zasetskaya

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Dark Academia during quarantine

Has lost all sense of time: we just wake up in the middle of the night wanting to write a poem, looking for the translation of a word in our target language, or decide it’s a great time to finish a book...then we go back to sleep. What time is it? Who knows? Who cares?

Finally has all the time in the world to read and write, but is intimidated by an immense tbr pile and blank pages.

“How do you make pj’s dark academia?” is a dominant thought in their heads. I love this aesthetic so much but you will NOT catch me wearing tweed to sit on my couch.

Doesn’t want to indulge in binge watching Netflix shows because ew, modernism. But we’re so bored we’re about to hit that point.

High-key thinking about starting a(nother) diary/journal about life during quarantine. Getting those Anne Frank vibes in and possibly some $ in the future. (I am not comparing covid19 to the holocaust, please don’t come after me).

Now it’s a terrible time to want to read a specific book that is not among the million you already own, because libraries and bookstores are likely shut down.

Seriously, how many times can you watch Dead Poets Society and Kill Your Darlings?

Your Tumblr feed is probably dry because you can’t take aesthetic pictures of your oxfords during your morning commute.

Although it seems like people don’t eat in DA books or movies, you do. A lot. Even more now during quarantine. It’s ok, I do too.

A tip: Listen to podcasts! My favorites are Crime Junkie (true crime), Our Fake History (history conspiracy theories) and Dead Academics Society (MY DA themed podcast).

Coffee and tea are not really needed because you can sleep whenever you want to, but they are very much wanted still.

Your hygiene is either at its peak because showering/bathing to candlelight while listening to Hozier is a mood, or it’s very questionable because staying in your bed all day is also a mood.

Put the scissors down, do not cut your own hair. I am begging you. Actually, do it! I endorse it.

I also endorse writing letters! I haven’t done it myself yet but with this much free time in hand, why not?

Your mental health: declining.

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chicks b like “yeah I’m a bad bicht I’ll ruin your life xoxo” meanwhile they start shaking when they raise their hand in class

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me during reasonable hours of the day: i never want to do anything in my life Ever

me at 3 am: I Have To Learn How To Play The Piano Immediately

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“I was quiet, but I was not blind.”

— Jane Austen, Mansfield Park (via books-n-quotes)

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William Cowper, Anatomy of the Humane Bodies, 1698

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Gabriela Mistral, tr. by Langston Hughes, from Selected Poems; “Quietness,”

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May the next few months be a period of beautiful transformation

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I  h a v e          f u c k i n g                   s u r v i v e d

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Diego passing out at the sight of a needle (for @aliceinwhumperland)