Last lesson we looked at the term "fallen woman", and tried to come up with possibilities for what it could mean. There were lots of suggestions, but a few that stood out to me were Mollys and Hannahs interpretations. They thought that the term "fallen woman" could mean that a woman has been tricked into the trap of love, and so is viewed poorly in society. That turned out to be the meaning of the term, so it was odd how spot on they were.
Anyway, as it always does, it linked in to a particular poem called "Cousin Kate" by Christina Rossetti, which was all about the way society viewed women ho weren't married but having sex. It was from a women's perspective and adressed to 'the other woman' whom she was dumped for. This other woman is her cousin called Kate, and she is portrayed as someone without a heart throughout the poem.
There is so much I could analyse about this poem, but I'm not going to right now. Basically, the poem seems to have a strong link to Goblin Market because of it being by the same poet, with that poets morals involved with them. For example, the ongoing theme of feminism, eroticism and religious aspects and meanings.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Thursday, 22 September 2011
Goblin Market: erotic?
In English we have been split up into groups to analyse the poem the "Goblin Market". My group has been given the title "erotic", which seems to be far too exciting for the boys, but I shall analyse anyway.
Basically, every other line throughout the poem COULD be thought of in an erotic way, intentionally or not, but I will only be analysing a few, otherwise it'll get crazy.
There is a link between the theme of eroticism and Christina Rossetti, because she was very religious and believed that erotic behaviour was a sin and that people would suffer from such things.
A quote from the text is "unplucked cherries", which could be interpreted in various ways. The way my group has to interpret it though, is the erotic way, and so we saw that line to be symbolising a girls virginity, and because of the context it was in- the taking of a girls virginity. That quote was paired with another ("come buy, come buy") and we get the sense of temptation.
Temptation is a very key thing throughout this poem, because it's showing how the temptation of these "fruits" are persistent and have bad side effects.
"Maids" is what the two girls in the poem are referred to as, which to us, symbolised innocence and purity. That is coupled with the "cutting of a gold lock", which seems to be of some value to the girls, and a vital piece of information. We interpret this as the cutting off from innocence and childhood, and the entering of the adult world.
These Goblin men which are frequently discussed between the two characters in the poem, seem to be representing men in the real world. Men who will try and tempt young women into bed or into buying things from them. We found that Christina Rossetti's poem seemed to be teaching the audience a lesson, and that is that if you fall into the trap of temptation, you will be punished. This was obviously what she was taught as a child, which gives the poem a more religious feel, but I think that's another groups title (:
Basically, every other line throughout the poem COULD be thought of in an erotic way, intentionally or not, but I will only be analysing a few, otherwise it'll get crazy.
There is a link between the theme of eroticism and Christina Rossetti, because she was very religious and believed that erotic behaviour was a sin and that people would suffer from such things.
A quote from the text is "unplucked cherries", which could be interpreted in various ways. The way my group has to interpret it though, is the erotic way, and so we saw that line to be symbolising a girls virginity, and because of the context it was in- the taking of a girls virginity. That quote was paired with another ("come buy, come buy") and we get the sense of temptation.
Temptation is a very key thing throughout this poem, because it's showing how the temptation of these "fruits" are persistent and have bad side effects.
"Maids" is what the two girls in the poem are referred to as, which to us, symbolised innocence and purity. That is coupled with the "cutting of a gold lock", which seems to be of some value to the girls, and a vital piece of information. We interpret this as the cutting off from innocence and childhood, and the entering of the adult world.
These Goblin men which are frequently discussed between the two characters in the poem, seem to be representing men in the real world. Men who will try and tempt young women into bed or into buying things from them. We found that Christina Rossetti's poem seemed to be teaching the audience a lesson, and that is that if you fall into the trap of temptation, you will be punished. This was obviously what she was taught as a child, which gives the poem a more religious feel, but I think that's another groups title (:
Christina Rossetti
My task is to tell you all about Christina Rossetti, without boring you to tears, so here we go..
Christina Rossetti was a very religious woman, who was educated by her mother from a young age. She was taught fairytales and about religion, Classics and novels, which influenced her writings that we read today.
However, Christina Rossetti's family was forced to bring her up the way they did, as they had huge financial trouble which needed to be over come with education. Christina was a very nervous child at school and suffered a nervous breakdown at age 14, so her experience of that would enter her poetry.
She was opposed to slavery, exploitation of underage prostitute girls, and animal cruelty, which you will see strongly influences her work.
Christina died of breast cancer in December 1894 and was buried in high gate cemetry.
What a lovely way to finish off...
Christina Rossetti was a very religious woman, who was educated by her mother from a young age. She was taught fairytales and about religion, Classics and novels, which influenced her writings that we read today.
However, Christina Rossetti's family was forced to bring her up the way they did, as they had huge financial trouble which needed to be over come with education. Christina was a very nervous child at school and suffered a nervous breakdown at age 14, so her experience of that would enter her poetry.
She was opposed to slavery, exploitation of underage prostitute girls, and animal cruelty, which you will see strongly influences her work.
Christina died of breast cancer in December 1894 and was buried in high gate cemetry.
What a lovely way to finish off...
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
A destination of a novel
Today's English lesson was about the destination of a novel, and my homework was to blog about it. However, I handed in my sheet with all my notes on the subject. So here goes...
A destination of a novel is where the novel is leading you: where do you (as a reader) feel that the novel is going to take you? What will the text be about?
In our case, the opening chapter of Pride & Prejudice is just a conversation about a wealthy single man named Bingley, so we (as readers) know that the text will be focused on marriage and money. We can be sure of this destination because the text does not start with a description of the setting, but instead, of a conversation between a man and his wife about marrying off their daughters. That means that the conversation will be key to the rest of the novel, and so to open with it will be important.
The readers know the novels destination because of a few things that happen during the first opening chapter. These are:
- the opening sentence (a single man in possession of good fortune, must be in want of a wife) suggests that the book will be based on marriage and money. The author wrote that because they wanted to give the reader knowledge of the destination.
- the paragraphs during the first chapter are all paragraphs of conversation between a couple, which seems odd to the reader as usually the first chapter contains lots of descriptions of setting which are important to the rest of the story. However, using conversation makes the reader understand the importance of the text and use that as a destination for the novel.
- finally, the last sentence of the first chapter is (the business of her life was to get her daughters married) leaving the reader with an idea of what the novels destination is.
I hope this is right.. I didn't really know what to write.. :S ah well, I've learnt my lesson to not hand in my notes.
A destination of a novel is where the novel is leading you: where do you (as a reader) feel that the novel is going to take you? What will the text be about?
In our case, the opening chapter of Pride & Prejudice is just a conversation about a wealthy single man named Bingley, so we (as readers) know that the text will be focused on marriage and money. We can be sure of this destination because the text does not start with a description of the setting, but instead, of a conversation between a man and his wife about marrying off their daughters. That means that the conversation will be key to the rest of the novel, and so to open with it will be important.
The readers know the novels destination because of a few things that happen during the first opening chapter. These are:
- the opening sentence (a single man in possession of good fortune, must be in want of a wife) suggests that the book will be based on marriage and money. The author wrote that because they wanted to give the reader knowledge of the destination.
- the paragraphs during the first chapter are all paragraphs of conversation between a couple, which seems odd to the reader as usually the first chapter contains lots of descriptions of setting which are important to the rest of the story. However, using conversation makes the reader understand the importance of the text and use that as a destination for the novel.
- finally, the last sentence of the first chapter is (the business of her life was to get her daughters married) leaving the reader with an idea of what the novels destination is.
I hope this is right.. I didn't really know what to write.. :S ah well, I've learnt my lesson to not hand in my notes.
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Amy Winehouse
I was really sad when Amy Winehouse died, not because I knew her personally, or even followed her life story of being in the trouble that is addiction, but because we lost a great artist. I felt I had to mention it since I'm listening to a long playlist of her music...
I was also sad when she died because that's another person who shall remain 27 forever, frozen in time, never moving forward. And things like that scare me. Stuck in the capsual of time and being someones faded memory from 30 years back. I don't want to be that, ever. I hate to think of the world losing talented people like Amy because of drug addictions.
And whilst we are discussing tradgic deaths of famous 27 year olds, I'd like to mention Jeff Buckley, because he still remains one of my favourite artists, and it makes me so sad to think he'd take his own life like that. From these deaths, we all lost a whole lot of precious talent.
I was also sad when she died because that's another person who shall remain 27 forever, frozen in time, never moving forward. And things like that scare me. Stuck in the capsual of time and being someones faded memory from 30 years back. I don't want to be that, ever. I hate to think of the world losing talented people like Amy because of drug addictions.
And whilst we are discussing tradgic deaths of famous 27 year olds, I'd like to mention Jeff Buckley, because he still remains one of my favourite artists, and it makes me so sad to think he'd take his own life like that. From these deaths, we all lost a whole lot of precious talent.
Mr Francis and the piece of paper
I have been given the starter: "Mr Francis entered the room. There was a piece of paper on the floor."
How exciting! Now I will try and think of an equally exciting story line to go with it!
So.... (It's the first day back so my brain isn't functioning at it's usual high speed...)
Ok. The story line is that Mr Francis discovers a list of names whilst walking back through the empty school. This list of names was special though, unlike a register or anything of that kind. He read the names, and realised that the names were the names of the victims of the "Silverdale School Shooting", that had taken place the day before. The names were crossed off, and he then understood that the shootings were systematic and logical; alphabetical, even. He wanted to believe that the person who was accused as the shooter, was actually innocent, so he takes the list, scrunches it back up and puts it in his pocket.
So there we have it Mr F. You covered up a school shooters preparation... What would Mrs Storey say?
How exciting! Now I will try and think of an equally exciting story line to go with it!
So.... (It's the first day back so my brain isn't functioning at it's usual high speed...)
Ok. The story line is that Mr Francis discovers a list of names whilst walking back through the empty school. This list of names was special though, unlike a register or anything of that kind. He read the names, and realised that the names were the names of the victims of the "Silverdale School Shooting", that had taken place the day before. The names were crossed off, and he then understood that the shootings were systematic and logical; alphabetical, even. He wanted to believe that the person who was accused as the shooter, was actually innocent, so he takes the list, scrunches it back up and puts it in his pocket.
So there we have it Mr F. You covered up a school shooters preparation... What would Mrs Storey say?
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