Bijou Poems

While the HTML version of this poem contains the same words and sentences than the page image poem, the format of each differ so much that I did in fact read them differently. The page image was much easier for me to read, because each sentence ended on the same line and there were defined stanza cuts, whereas in the HTML version, stanzas were cut irregularly, throwing the tone of the poem off. It is the tone of every poem that helps the reader smoothly read through its passage and interpret its meaning correctly, or in the perspective the author wishes us to view it. Page image was a lot more similar to the TEI encoded version, because both versions have defined stanzas and sentences that start and finish on the same line. Though I have to admit, the encoded version is very confusing, but still the format is more definate than the HTML version.

It is my preference to read the poem on the page, or in page image. Digitalizing poems rearranges it in ways to emphasize a new meaning or to make one more apparent, but I fail to see the real importance of it. It is hard to see the poem as it should be--how the author wrote it. Digitalizing it almost makes it new, and therefore a poem authored by the digitzer. A poem that loses its format would lose its voice and tone, and that is why I appreciate the TEI encoded version, because even though it is confusing, it holds true the poem's stanzas and sentances. But call me old fashion, I enjoy reading a poem upon a page. Not only is it how the author intended, but the fresh smell of a newly opened book stimulates my excitement in reading it, a scent that contributes to the poem's/author's aim in writing the poem--moreso than what digitalizing poems would do.

Aurora Leigh: Class Notes on Book V

As a class we discussed what Aurora Leigh defines heroism as through her descriptive language and her constant example of past epic heroes. Through epic art she personifies Mount Athos as being actually carved into a statue of Alexander the Great, as mythology would tell us an architect of his time proposed. She also brings to light Homer, King Arthur, Agamemnon, other heroes and epic writers to emphasize that we live in a time of the past--that those great men were men as well as heroes, as we today are just men and women as they were then. "All actual heroes are essential men, / And all men possible heroes: every age." We live in a time where hindsight 20/20 is a fact of life, and we cannot obtain truth until we have lived it or learned it from history. She uses the heroes of ancient times and mythologies to show what models stand for us to learn from. But these models do caste shadows on us, for they were men, and we are men, and therefore have the same abilities or opportunities as they.

I believe whole heartedly that heroes exist among us today. Firefighters save people from a burning peril everyday; my father flies high in a helicopter to rescue a crashed victim; the mother that goes to all ends to ensure safety of her child. Heroism is relative. A hero to me is due to my perspective, while a hero to others is subjected to theirs. To think largely, Obama is a major hero of our time, for he obtains the potential to fulfill our hopes and to improve our economy. If he fails, he is a hero for trying, for heroism is not defined by the number of battles Achilles won, but rather his determination to push forth in territories not yet strayed upon. Action and accomplishment does not define heroism as well--poets and writers save me when I loose sight of life; they help me see and learn of the world, the heart, and the intellectual mind. Some of the greatest heroes are the ones who put pen to paper--at least to me they are.

Romney's Emphasis on the Death of Love and the Failure of Poetry

Book IV 324-40

This passage is Romney's attempt to explain himself to Aurora when Aurora asked why he was going to marry. I believe he was also defending his heart by slighting Aurora, the one who broke his heart. Romney and Aurora shares a "mutual love" while he is marrying Marian for "common love". In this passage we see a very cynical view of love, that mutual love no longer exists and no longer has substance, and is as old as the beginning of life. To Romney it is a paradise tainted by his reality. He claims to marry for the institution, to go with a wife to galleries and dates with other couples. Love is no longer the reason to marriage (he refers to it as "work"), but rather marriage is essential to live "honorable". He defies what Aurora stands for, for it is love that she expresses through poetry and cannot understand his reasoning for marrying someone just to obtain the institution's title. He has always thought she had not the ability to write poetry because she was a woman, but now he accepts her position--bashing her now for being a poet than a woman trying to be one. He feels that poetry is useless because love no longer holds its former position, that she has gnats instead of moths. To Romney love is dead, and therefore poetry has nothing to exist on, nothing to feed on, and nothing remain on.

Aurora Leigh: A Dynamic Character

From what I took from reading Aurora Leigh was that Aurora, the narrator of this novella, was an ambitious child, seeking the true meaning of life as well as following her scholarly abilities. She was a child who was under her father's care, because her mother died when she was four. At age 13 Aurora's father died and she was sent to live with her Aunt, who is a bitter and cold woman. I also see Aurora trying to identify herself and/to her position, especially when she explains the poet and the reader, and tries to make sense of what we are imagining her as. In her situation i feel she is trying to make sense of her life in her surroundings, living with the fact that she exists in a world wanton of motherly affection and without her father's influential form. It was without her mother's influence she had to identify with femininity as well as obtaining the language that forms from the mother sweetly giving "full sense into empty words".

I agree entirely with the topic we went over today, that Aurora defines and lives by two meanings of living. That there is a physical way of life and an emotional "real" way of life. Aurora exhibits both, for she obediently sews and acts properly under the eye of her Aunt, while in her father's attic and in a certain small room in the house she observes nature and breathes her true self.

Photo of J.K. Rowling

"Glorified! Look at me, overwhelmed with thousands of flashing lights...Do i smile? Do i speak? This is impossible. If i didn't cover up a pimple, will they notice it? I can't even think for myself anymore--am I an idol? Silly world, that my picture will sell for bucks."

The fact that we can create an entire thought process by gauging the appearance of a person tells us a lot about the way our minds function. If we can judge what people are talking about by the way they look and the way they dress and the way they talk, is it that that governs our feelings of emotions and love. You begin to project what you want them to be or not what you want them to be based on inadequate assumptions. We spent time in class talking about George Elliots's character Latimer, who had the ability to read minds. Taking in mind that we ourselves personify people based on their appearance and the way they act, can we agrue that Latimer's power is rather a truth about our humanity? I believe that Elliot intended to create a story in order to hold out a mirror to her readers, so that they may see their own "power" to create the face of someone through their personal judgement.

The Lifted Veil; or, the Modern Frankenstein

There are many similarities between Latimer and Victor. To begin with, they both suffer the loss of a mother, that variably affects their future ideology. We have Victor, who after the loss of his mother, was so crushed and hurt eventually dedicates his life to finding a way to avoid death touching those he loves. By being able to create life, he makes it possible to bring to life the ones he loves if anything were to happen to them. He dedicates years to this study, and upon accomplishing it, that very mindset occupies him in every aspect of his life. It has altered him to the point where he would not recognize himself, associating with a wretch more than humanity. If Victor is in fact the monster--taking on a seperate personality that kills all who Victor loves and loves him, we see this alternate personality as a result of the traumatic death of Victor's mother. Latimer early on loses his mother as well, no longer feeling her gentle touch and missing her dearly. It is this loss that alters his upbringing and his attitudes toward other people. He claims to "have never fully unbosomed myself to any human being" (Elliot, 8). Here we see Latimer disassociating himself to the societal world--distancing himself so that he may not be hurt by their death as he was with his mother. He says: "While the heart beats, bruise it--it is your only opportunity" (Elliot 8). He has an idea that to love is to let yourself down, to fall down a path that dead ends. Again, if Victor is the monster, isn't he doing the same thing? They together are warding off love--even Latimer, after being married, does not submit to everything the wife desires but instead stands in his own "indifference", independant alone and strong. Latimer also lives in Geneva and has a scientific education, which falls somewhat along the same lines of Victor's environment. Victor and Latimer adore the scenery of the outdoors and they both bask in the setting sun in the Alps and obtain a "perpetual sense of exaltation". Yet it is the fact that by the end of both stories we see both character's refering to themselves as being wretches. The life they both led had made them feel they obtained wretched knowledge and therefore wretched modes of life. Being a wretch, in his own terms, Latimer states a very interesting line, that characterizes Victor and what he is experiencing: "...when, after our mean striving for a triumph that is to be another's loss, the triumph comes suddenly, and we shudder at it, because it is held out by the chill hand of death." (Elliot, 25) Death inevitably follows the experiment by Frankenstein, whose objective in creating life was turned sour upon accomplishment.

Hero Machine

I created the Hero De Lacey by making an abstract persona of the old man; he is blind, and therefore without eyes; he lives in the wilderness, in a cottage, and therefore has weapons for hunting and skin that of an animal; he was an angel to the monster, kind to everyone, hence the wings. He is kind to the monster because he bases his opinion of the monster on his speech and mind and is unprejudiced on the monster's appearance.