James Joyce’s “Dubliner’s Clay”

James Joyce’s talent in narration and novel work is evident in “Dubliner’s Clay” as he portrays the life of Maria, a special member of Dublin by Lamplight laundry, which is a refuge for the prostitutes of the city (footnote 5, 1134).  In modernistic style, Joyce portrays the nontraditional lifestyles of the city in which women lives independently of men with prose uncensored from vulgarity.

The women of this age is clearly portrayed as hard working and independent as “women began to come in by twos and threes, wiping their steaming hands in their petticoats and pulling down their sleeves of their blouses over their red steaming arms.”  This reminds me of the advertisements during warring times of “Rosie the Riveter” (see  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_the_Riveter).  The independent working women are just one of the drastic differences addressed by modern authors of the twentieth century.  Here, Joyce gives a good example of this theme.

What makes Joyce’s style so modernistic is the uniqueness and unorthodox of his work, which is apparent if we look closely as how he constructed the language to illustrate the characters words without the use of quotes and the way at which he structures them.  The rare references to actual speech are singular lines purposefully placed between paragraphs.  In a way, the seclusion of speech from the rest of the narrating paragraphs could be symbolic of Maria’s independence and seclusion from love and men.

Joyce continues to show Maria as a woman who is past her primes and lack of beauty.  She lives a life full of interaction, only to hide the loneliness within her soul.  Her situation is sad, as we can see that her desires still exists when the author constantly teases her with events and jokes relating to marriage.  For example, Maria’s misery is evident as she is frustrated with the “young men [that] don’t seem to notice her” (1135).  As a result she thinks she “would have to stand in the Drumcondra tram” while waiting to go to Mass.  Her situation becomes worse as she learns that the nice “elderly gentlemen” who befriends her in lieu of the “young men” has only done so as to trick her of her “plume cakes.”  With “shame and vexation and disappointment,… she nearly cried outright” (1136).

Her lack of a companion, in part, may be due to her looks as well as her age.  The author uses fine imagery to illustrate her strangeness as we can imagine her ridiculous features of “small” statue with a “very long nose and a very long chin” that the “tip of her nose nearly met the tip of her chin” every time she laughs.  The image is almost annoying.  Her appearance is further stressed as this very line is repeated many more times in the story.  She appears to not fit into any member of society.  Although not a prostitute, she works in Dublin’s Lamplight Laundry.  She goes to mass even though she is made fun of by the “next-door” girls.  And the only person who genuinely treats her nice, is the married Joe.  One of her laundry friends even  jokes (as she done so every year before) about her getting the “ring” during her game of Hallow Eves at Mass.

Maria’s final song “I Dreamt that I Dwelt,” represents a resolution to her true feelings as she sings “But I also dreamt, which pleased me most, That you loved me still the same” (1137).  This line does not just represent Maria’s desire for companionship, but also of her desire for those around her to truly love her as she does them.  Only in her dreams does she fulfill this false happiness.  The story of Maria, in a unique way, is representative of the modernist poet, in that Joyce illustrates the imperfect love that secretly haunts Maria through daily experiences filled the vulgarities of life.  In “Dubliner’s Clay,” Joyce does a fine job at portraying the modernistic view of the independent woman and the experience of love’s miseries and imperfections.

Thomas Stearns Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

As one of the most celebrated poets of the twentieth century, I had much interest in reading T. S. Eliot’s work.  With the help of the detailed forward in the text and a summary from http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/eliot/section1.html, I was able to somewhat understand the poem’s style and purpose and come up with my own interpretation of the poem.

As a lengthy monologue that explores the character’s emotional state, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” ironically portrays Prufrock’s fear of rejection, low self esteem, and high regards to external judgment and opinions.  At the same time, the poem also gives Prufrock a humble personality with almost an obsessive compulsive attachment to the one he loves, which he has yet to confront.  In the following paragraphs, I will try to provide some light to support my assertion.

The first interesting point to note is Eliot’s inclusion of Dante’s Inferno passage of a “damned soul” (1194 footnote).  The soul justifies that he will reveal his name without fear of shame or judgment for he knows that he can never return back to life, and thus have no reason to hide his shame and condemnation.  Like the soul, Eliot’s character Prufrock can openly express the depths of his heart without ever worrying it to reach the one he fancies or anyone else for this is just a monologue that will forever stay with him and him only.  Eliot wants the reader to know that these words are the true thoughts and emotions of his character that is free from bias.  Without anyone to judge or criticize, Prufrock can openly express his nature in this contemplative string of questions and answers.

Ironically, Eliot’s “love song” is not meant for the one he wants to confess, but rather more for him to serve as a path to realization or resolution.  This is apparent with his use of repetitive questions such as “Would it have been worth while… Would it have been worth while… Would it have been worth while” (1196-1197, verse 90, 100, 106).  He constantly questions himself whether love is a reasonable trade for the possibility of rejection.  Prufrock can only sing this song alone due to his inability to confront and reveal his love.  Instead of the reasons for his love, he gives the reasons for his hesitation.

The poem starts off by giving a setting of gossiping women speaking of great artists in the lines “in the room the women come and go, Talking of Michelangelo” (verse 13-14 of page 1195).  This is of particular importance in that Eliot’s character is highly conscious of what others think of him.  Here, he indirectly sets the standard very high for himself as he introduces the great painter.  His self conscience and high affect of others criticism is reinforced as he constantly notices their chatter of Michelangelo through Eliot’s purposeful repetition of the aforementioned lines now evident in verses 35-36.

The monologue continues as Prufrock is self conscious of his appearance, of his “bald spot in the middle of [his] hair” (1195).  He remarks:

(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)
…
For I have known them all already, known them all—
…
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
…
And I have known the eyes already, known them all—
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
(1195-1196)

Here we can see that Eliot makes use of the repetition of “known” and “all” to show the bombardment of his character’s criticism.  They “pin” him on the wall measure his worth like a scientist who measures with formulas except that theirs are “formulated phrase.”  With all these “eyes” fixated upon him, how can he ever confront his love (“So how should I presume?... And how should I presume?”).  His lack of confidence due to their critical presence is evident as he repeats “How should I presume… How should I presume?” (verse 54, 61, and 69 page 1195-1195).  Since this is an internal monologue, the author openly describes the characters humanistic qualities of low self esteem, confidence, and indecisiveness to act.  Eliot gives the reader an account of what goes on behind the thoughts of a person who cannot voice his love, while being torn and tormented by not only their self consciousness, but also the people and his affects of their judgments.  The fear of his love’s friends approval is clear as he states “There will be a time, there will be a time to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet” (1195).  Prufrock’s many useless attempts to confront his fear is portrayed through Eliot’s elegant use of repetition, as the character states “Do I dare?... Do I dare?... And how should I presume… And how should I begin… And in short, I was afraid” (1195-1196).

Eliot even gives an account of his character’s climactic chance to confess his love in the following lines:

And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep… tired… or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Thought I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophet—and here’s no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
(1196)

The ending of the evening gives us a feeling that his chance is coming to an end and that time is running out.  As he is left alone next to her after their romantic “tea and cakes and ices,” he can’t seem to have the energy to overcome the “crisis” of telling her his feelings.  I can almost feel his heart beating deeply as he comes so close to this defining moment only to give up due to its uncertainty (“I am no prophet”) and the “snicker” of others (the “Footman”).  Even though he has already visualized his rejection (“Though I have seen my head brought in upon a platter”) as the fall of John the Baptist, he is still “afraid” of the outcome (footnote 1196).  Even his “wept, fast, and pray” was not enough to help him face his fears, and thus, served no purpose.  It is sad for in the end, the “human voices wakes [him], and [he] drowns” for it is not their words that is his fall, but effects of those words, and his weak fortitude against them that is the cause of his failure (1197).

In the final stanzas, Eliot resolves the character's final thoughts of experience with love and beauty of women as he gives an analogy of it to the sirens of the sea (I believe this may be a reference to the sirens in Greek mythology).

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.
…
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
(1197)

In Greek mythology, the sirens were known for leering men to their deaths with their beauty and hypnotic voices as the rocks crush their boats as they come near.  Eliot’s analogy serves beautifully to show the causes of Prufrock’s miseries for “voice” is an important factor in this poem with its significant effects on Prufrock.

In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” Eliot succeeds to show the emotions, feelings, and shortcomings of a character experienced with the tragedy of love, that is so representative of the modernistic poets of the twentieth century.  The flow of his verses are smooth as his rhymes, although appearing at random, were structured carefully to be enjoyed most when read aloud as one line follows the next with resonance of repetition.

William Butler Yeats’ “No Second Troy”

Like many modern poets of the late 19^th/early 20^th century, William Butler Yeats suffered from the experiences of (as the forward puts it) “unrequited love” (1115).  It is beneficial in knowing that unlike them, Yeats was rather persistent in his chase for the “beloved” and “statuesque beauty” Maud Gonne.  His extra effort is what pushed his misery further than that of any other common modernistic poet.  And it was only for her political “fanaticism” that prevented Yeats’ success in winning her heart as she marries a revolutionist instead (1115).  Time and time again, he would, as if by fate, be kindly rejected for his inquire of marriage (1116).  It was not until he met Georgiana Hyde-Lees that he is finally freed from his chase for the untouchable love he so fervently desired.  The experiences of tragic love and his maturity through it set the tone of the modernistic “No Second Troy.”

Using Helen of Troy for comparison, Yeats describes the dangers and miseries tied to beauty with respect to Gonne. In verses 2-5, even if men (I believe he is actually referring to himself but giving man as an example) “had courage equal to [their] desire… she would of late” still teach them in most “violent ways or hurled the little streets upon the great.”  If we consider these lines figuratively, we can interpret her “violent ways” and “hurling of little streets” as the dangerous thorns of love.  Not in the physical sense, but perhaps in the mental sense, for she is like Helen of Troy, in that the men among her will fight and be tormented by her beauty that is “like a tightened bow,” full of danger.  A danger that is so hard for them to overcome, as Yeats painful past illustrates.  Regardless of their efforts, they will still suffer the pains of unrequited love.  Yeats analogy of Gonne to Helen of Troy successfully portrays the warring nature of his mind and its final resolution. (1118)

It is evident that he does not blame her for his pains as he questions rhetorically “Why should [he] blame her?” for she is the source of his “days…filled…with misery” (1118).  The answer is finally given in the verses “Why, what could she have done being what she is?”  It was not her choice to be born of “fire” and “beauty” and that their sufferings are the result of their own discontent (I came to realize this from help of http://www.poetryfeast.com/no-second-troy/%20Criticism%20and%20Analysis). (1118)

Finally, Yeats asks the remaining question “Was there another Troy for her to burn?”  The answer lies in the title itself:  “No Second Troy.”  I interpreted (with help from http://www.eliteskills.com/analysis_poetry/No_Second_Troy_by_William_Butler_Yeats_analysis.php) the answer to be Yeats surrender and forgiveness to the “misery” that was caused by his unreachable love.  He no longer wants to rage a war to make her the cause of burning a “Second Troy,” knowing that he can never achieve her “spiritual and emotional consummation” (1115).

Considering his past experiences with love, we can see that “No Second Troy” is Yeats’ resolution to the tiring chase of the beautifully dangerous Maud Gonne.  It has come to my attention as to why so many great poets at the time experienced so many hardships of imperfect love.  But then, the very existence of these tragic experiences is what has induce the limits of their minds thoughts and emotions, necessary in creating the great works that they did.  As the forward suggests, “Blake taught that ‘without Contraries is no progression,’ and Yeats, that ‘all the gains of man come from conflict with the opposite of his true being’” (1116).  It's only through hardships do we ever grow and strengthen the most, for if we can past these tests of peril, there exists no tougher hardships we cannot overcome.  “No Second Troy” holds true to the opposing views of a perfect Romanticist’s love story.

Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem for Doomed Youth”

Wilfred Owen shared views with Siegfried Sassoon, in that the spoils of War are no more than the injustice slaughter of soldiers alike.  Like Sassoon, he also enlisted in the French Lancashire Fusiliers as lieutenant.  And like Sassoon, he also experienced “shell-shock” from “unimaginable privations” and “being blown into the air while he slept in a foxhole” (1100).  As a result, his poetry portrayed the realistic horrors of war with vivid imagery and emotions of despair.  Particularly in “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” instead of a patriotic song of praise, ironically, Owen sings the sad song in honor of the young soldiers’ meaningless deaths.

Owen expresses the value of soldiers in war to that of “cattle” as their lives are disposable by the “monstrous anger of the guns.”  Their deaths are not acknowledged with “passing-bells,”  “mockeries,” “prayers,” or “voice of mourn.”  Only the next soldier is the next object of the “stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle.”  The only songs for their deaths are the “shrill” and “choirs of wailing shells.”  Owens use of imagery vividly expresses the meaninglessness of War through the close encounters of the front line as well as its devaluing of human life. In addition, Owen’s use of alliteration and choice of word in the lines “Only the monstrous anger of the guns.  Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons” gives us the feelings of intense anger and violence of war as well as the helplessness of the soldiers’ inevitable destruction.  In these lines, War gives them no mercer, even in their prayers.  (1100-1101)

The hopelessness is further portrayed as the author describes the “glimmers of good-byes” in the "eyes" of the “boy."  Nothing awaits them at home but the “pallor of girls’ brows” and “flowers the tenderness of patient minds."  It's as if their deaths have been set in stone and only a funeral is what remains waiting for them at home.  Owens illustrates to the reader that the young soldier’s life diminishes everyday at “each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.”  This gives us feelings of grief, despair, and helplessness as they have already died, and all we can do is shut our eyes (“drawing-down of blinds”) to the errors we have made. (1101)

They put their lives on the line only to be “cattle” to the preys of War’s destruction.  They are there to protect us, but who is there to protect them.  Ironically, it is the very weapons that will kill them that serve as their only protector.  We cannot forget that a nation is not only the people back at home, but also the ones on the front lines.  Unfortunately, it is their duty to serve and risk their lives for their nation and the greater good.  They are the few sacrifices to save the thousands.  But is it just, when we consider that many were even forced by drafts?  Is it really something to be proud of when the men sent to the front line never had a choice?  Owen’s “Anthem for Doomed Youth” is exactly that, a song and cry for the injustice and cruel nature of War.  It is this song that acknowledges their deaths to be no more valued on the battlefield than the lives of “cattle” on a farm. (1101)

Siegfried Sassoon’s “Glory of Women”

As a poet during the Great War, Seigfried Sassoon expressed opposing views to the extreme patriotic Rupert Brooke.  Unlike Brooke, his first encounter of war was none other than on the front line itself, where the grotesque of war is experienced to the fullest.  Sassoon held opposing views of the war for he has seen its true nature.  Sassoon is not a coward, for even he was awarded a metal for helping a “wounded soldier to safety during heavy fire” (1099).  But rather, he did not agree with the nature and violence that erupts within war.  And he witnessed every bit of this while eyes on the home front were covered with idealistic and flowery words of patriotism.

In “Glory of Women,” Sassoon portrays the false idolizing of the men of War and their faming patriotism.  In this piece, “Women” do not necessarily represent the wives and mothers of the soldiers, but rather the people of England, and England herself, who are blinded behind the lines of War’s cruelties.  With a scolding tone, Sassoon criticizes “women” of their judgments on soldiers and their love, idolism, and commendment of their men's heroism (“You love us when we’re heroes”) and famous engagement (“wounded in a mentionable place”) .  It is the “decorations” that they really worship, and not their men.  Because Sassoon tried to escape going back to war and went so far as to “avoid court-martialed” and leaving for the excuse of “shell shock,” it may have been apparent that he received much criticism for what seems to be cowardice.  However, here, Sassoon shows the injustice of the very people he went out twice on the field with his life on the line in order to protect.  Disregarding his opposition of the war, they have forgotten his sacrifice for the country over his beliefs. (1099)

He further demoralizes their beliefs by showing the invalidity of “chivalry” for the excuse of “war’s disgrace” (1099).  Is it a valid reason to kill, as long as it is for a good purpose?  What to it is one of the 10 commandments of the Bible “Thall Shall not Kill.”  As long as we have a reason, can we pass our injustice actions off for the sake of judgment?  Is it really justice when the means detest the ends?

On the front line, the many troops they see as “heroes” will “retire… When hell’s last horror breaks them, and they run, Trampling the terrible corpses—blind with blood.”  Giving examples of the grotesque of war, Sassoon gives accounts of their countrymen “breaking” in the midst of fire.  What they see as patriotism is no more than the common soldier’s “Hell.” (1099)

Sassoon also uses irony when he states the ignorance of “German mother[s]” knitting the socks to send to their son the very moment their “face is trodden deeper in the mud.”  Back on the home front, war is not as real to the people as it is on the front line.  The only consequence they see are the “mourn [of their] laurelled memories when [they’re] killed.”  They cannot see the fire, the hell, and the injustice of war to its participants. (1099)

It is interesting to see the views of Sassoon to consider both sides of the story.  Only those that recognize this and still choose war have accepted its injustice and agreed to the leverage of their sacrifices, and that is to save a thousand with that of one.  It is not idealistic in logic or reason, but it is still rational for the practicality of life this is as close to justice as we can achieve, for there exist those in the universe where words will never reach.

Rupert Brooke’s “The Soldier”

In “The Soldier,” Brooke praises the country with much patriotism and sacrifice.  During the times of the Great War, Brooke was influenced by the purpose and reasons of war.  Why they are fighting and what is to come of it?  In this piece, we can see the idealistic views of valor and patriotism for the country of England.

Opening the poem is a feeling of self sacrifice as we read “If I should die, think only this of me” (1098).  Immediately, we can see his foreshadow of death that exists in every soldiers mind as he sets foot into service.  He knows that by nature, war is a fight until death, and that this line shows their acceptance of a fateful death.

The justifying reason of the fight for England is announced as the author states “there’s some corner of a foreign field that is forever England.  There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed.”  Even though the soldier knows of his death, he claims that it is without a purpose, and to die for his Nation is above any other “rich[es].”  Literally, his definition of England’s “rich” is that of the nation’s Land, its history that it has “bore, shaped, [and made] aware,” as well as its people with their “body of England’s, breathing English air.”  Brooke’s word choice and use of imagery gives good symbolism of patriotism and the fight for one’s own nation.   The “flowers to love” and “English air” are the vitalities of the country that gives him the life and strength to sacrifice himself for the country. (1098-1099)

The last stanza becomes even more personal as the reasons run deep to his heart, to his “pulse,” just for England’s “sights and sounds” to be “happy” as in her “dreams.”  “And laughter learnt of friends; and gentleness, In hearts at peace, under and English heaven” (1099).  The brightness and hopeful tone of this last stanza show the motivation for such a fight.  These are the “richer dust concealed… in that rich earth” of England.  It is no surprise that Brooke had so much patriotism that he immediately enlisted when the War first started in 1914.

In "The Soldier," Brooke successfully creates a poem that lights the honor and idealistic reasons in justifying the sacrifice of a heroic soldier for everything that encompasses his country from the "rich dust" of England to the "breath" and "happy... sights and sounds [of]" "friends" "laughters" (1099).  Reading this poem gives the energy, motivation, and drive necessary for the moralizing of the nations troops.  It is no surprise that it this poem "immortalized" Brooke as it was "read aloud at Sait Paul's Cathedral in London on Easter Sunday, 1915" for it represents the "symbol of English pride" (1097).

If this work was written at any other time, it may have not gained its fame and recognition.  However, during the first of the three Great Wars, this poem reflected the minds of many individuals who fought for their country while serving as their fuel and motivation.  Although commendable, the poem lacks the true nature of War, and that is there are no rules or fairness at the lowest levels, and that in what we see as just and right lies the deaths of the innocents for war is the fight between the higher powers.  War is not between the countries, but rather between the leaders, and among ideals.  The country and its people are left to experience the consequences, whether right or wrong for War knows no peace.  At its roots, War is the ultimate tool of killing and eradication where not the most righteous prevails, but the fittest.   If the evilest powers of human kind raged wars against all, in the end, the evil will win as long as it holds the strongest powers and most fearsome weapons.  We are fortunate that Hitler himself did not hold the key to the Atomic Bomb, even though we regret ever attaining knowledge capable of such peril.  It is not the tools of war that are evil, but people.  Unfortunately, it’s the strongest people, whether good or bad, who prevails, if there was ever absence of justice or gods.  Although I am impressed with the skill of the author, I can’t but help to see this poem as more than an idealistic piece used to promote men into war without portraying the cruel realities that lies behind its curtains.  Patriotism is but a mirage for the true natures of war.  I’m not saying that the purpose of Brooke’s work here is propaganda for the war, for they may very well reflect his true thoughts and emotions at the time.  Rather, I just wanted to address the other side of the coin that cannot be found in this particular piece.

Thomas Hardy's "The Darkling Thrush"

I must say, for a better reason of finishing my posts for Dr. Glance, dissecting Hardy’s poems is quite fun and mentally rewarding, bringing good memories from the time I first read William Blake’s poetic works.  The poets do amaze me with their wordsmanship, style, and a deeper understanding that’s more than what meets the surface.  To be able to inquire the mind of such deep contemplations, it allows the reader to gain intuition and wisdom through their own realizations and inference.  Their works seem to spark the beginning of reason and logic that leads one to a natural conclusion created by the mind.  It is amazing that poetry can create universal knowledge that is only gained from thinking, rather than from reading.  Much fun is it that literature can give the human mind, that which is capable of understanding the hidden meanings and deeper thoughts of one another.

So in that respect, I must continue to indulge myself in another of Hardy’s fine work, “The Darkling Thrush.”

Published at exactly the turn of the century (December 31, 1900), Hardy’s “The Darkling Thrush” was meant not only as a memorial for the past, but also as a celebration and birth of a new era full of change not only in technological ways, but also in literary culture and styles (what we know as the modernistic movement).  It is evident that in this poem, we find Hardy’s common themes of darkness filled with observations of nature’s natural aging, but also with the hint of human hopes and dreams of a better future.

The dark and “desolate” setting of this piece is illustrated by Hardy’s fine use of imagery.  “Frost was spectre-gray” and “Winter’s dregs made desolate the weakening eye of day” (1074).  The grey tones and residue buildup from a cold winter sets the dark mood that resembles the end of the fourth season as it is the end of the last century.  Hardy specifically chose the end of winter to represent this time of change as it is before the season of birth, spring.

The colors and tone of the setting is as if we are at a funeral for the passing era or at the deathbed of it as it slowly dies off with the “weakening eye of day.”  The “tangled bine-stems scored the sky like strings of broken lyres” gives us an impression that the old times have aged and it is now their time to rest as a broken harp needs to be laid down when it is over used.  Beautiful music can no longer be played.  The most difficult lines for me to understand were “And all mankind that haunted nigh had sought their household fires.”  What exactly did Hardy mean by this?  It may be that searching for “their household fires” was a symbolism of action to end the old era, with the burning of the old and broken stringed “lyres.”

The scenery is further dramatized as a graveyard when Hardy illustrates:

The land's sharp features seemed to be
The Century's corpse outleant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy,
The wind his death-lament.
(1075)

The image is morbid, with a glimpse of the dying times as the old “Century’s corpse outleant.”  This image of a corpse leaning out from a coffin shows the presence of age and end of the old era.  As the clouds serve as the coffin’s lid (“His crypt the cloudy canopy”), the winds serve as the crying voice of his (“the old Century”) departure (“the wind his death-lament”).  Although the old times will die, they will still be mourned and remembered. (1075)

The next stanza describes a “blast-beruffled plume” of “aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small” singing the songs of unlimited “joy.”  The bird seems as “fervourless as [he, being the author],” and is a representative of man’s emotional state.  The bird is but another “spirit upon earth” that shares the same remorse as well as celebration of the old/new century’s death/birth.  This duality view can be identified in the bird’s “carolings” even though it ends up “fling[ing] his soul upon the growing gloom.”  Hardy gives the presence of happiness and sadness all in the same stanza to show the emotional state of the minds during this turning point in time.  Hardy was one of those authors that always look at both sides of a coin, but more judgment and emphasis was placed on the darker side of things.  We can see the empowerment of darkness over light in previously referenced lines. (1075)

Like his other works, this one holds true to his style as it portrays the glimmer of hope, light, and reason in a setting overtaken by darkness.  This is important to note since it implies the strength of his characters and of himself.  Even in the face of the darkest moments, he manages to find, or create light and hope, while keeping the possibility of a brighter future in his awareness:  “So little cause for carolings… was written on terrestrial things… that I could think there trembled through… some blessed Hope, whereof he knew, and I was unaware.”  Although the hope is small and little, it is strong for it can “tremble through” the darkness.  Even if the author himself is empty of light, the creature remains filled with this “blessed Hope” that only “[the bird itself] knew.”  Hardy acknowledges that there exists goodness in the world even though it is not in his presence or awareness. (1075)

Even though Hardy has a distaste for the old era, why is it that the celebration of a new century so dark and “desolate” at the same time?  Like many of the modernistic poets, Hardy was against the industrial movement and realizes it’s abomination to nature.  England is being changed for the sacrifice of the natural good, and this serves as the reason for the change in literature.  There must be change in the arts to show the corruptions of the land resulting from technological advancement and materialistic greed.  Even against this direction of change (this darkness), Hardy still has hope for England, and acknowledges the existence of a reform, with poetry and literary means as his tools.  The movement that was once ignited by Bernard Shaw has now picked up pace and Hardy has jumped on the moving train to alert the people of the dangers of the new Century.

Thomas Hardy's "On The Departure Platform"

“On the Departure Platform” is yet another account of Thomas Hardy’s ill fortunate luck with women and love.  Once again, the new found partner “who was more than [his] life to [him]” is leaving him.  After reading his other works, such as “Western Circuit,” and “Wessex Heights,” it is noticeable that Hardy never presented love and romance in any perfect or complete form.  The many encounters of love ends up short lived as a passing zephyr moment in his life.  This piece show’s this reoccurring theme that is frequently highlighted in his other works. (1075)

Like the romance in “Western Circuit” and “Wessex Heights,” “On the Departure Platform” portrays a brief passion of love and lust.  In all three stories, it is the woman who leaves the man (see the end of the post for further details).  In this particular piece, the character is left on the platform while “she left [him]” after their last kiss before departure.  The girl’s leaving presence becomes “smaller and smaller, until [his] view [of her becomes] but a spot.”  This gives us the impression that even though she leaves, he is still waiting for her. The fact that he stands there to wait for her to disappear shows his loneliness and wishful hope for her promised return.  Images of her disappearing and “diminishing” into the “hustling crowds of gentle and rough” gives us a feeling that this may very well be the last time he will see her “to the carriage door.”  The tone is quite sad, but also ironic in that it is the man that waits for the woman.  During this time, woman was viewed as helpless and dependent on the support of men.  However, Hardy breaks this tradition as he portrays the waiting man in the place of the leaving woman.

Hardy does a very good job with visual imagery and wordsmanship as he choreographs the scene of a crowded train station.  “Through hustling crowds of gentle and rough… [she leaves] To the carriage door” gives us a sharp visual image of the chaotic nature of a train station and its inhabitants.  People of all kinds “behind dark groups from far and near” with different directions and “[without] interests… apart from [theirs]” pass by randomly as their parting continue.  The industrial times is reflected in these lines as railway trains was the popular mode of transportation and their workings are obstructive just as they are in the way between the man and the woman’s disappearing figure.

As we move on to the fourth stanza, the woman’s return is further diminished as Hardy uses specific words to describe the man’s account.  Although “she would disappear, then show again” he will still “ceased to see” her heavenly appearance of “nebulous white” as she “vanquish quite.”  It is clear in these lines that his hope to see her again is diminished and that he is rather heartsick.  Hardy’s use of words such as “ceased” and “vanquished” reinforces this concept.  In this poem, it is always from the eyes of the man.  In addition, we have no account of the woman looking back or having further attachments to the man, except for the departing kiss.  The focus on just the man shows the one-sidedness of the relationship between him and his partner.

Once again, hanging on to the brink of hope, the character holds on to their promise of “new plans since that fair fond day” and believes she will appear again “in season.”  However, his uncertainty is obvious when he considers that “perhaps in the same manner… But never as then!” she would come back again.  I was able to find a double meaning to this very last line of this stanza.  On the one hand, "But never as then!" can mean that every moment is unique and that special moment they shared can never be recreated.  On the other, it could express his subtle acceptance that she will not be the same the next time he meets her, in that she may no longer be  in love with him as he will be to her.

In the last stanza, Hardy changes tones to converse with the reader to elegantly address the question as to why it will end (“eternally fly”) when it will “repeat” when she comes back as long as he still “love her well.”  The question is self contemplative, rather than a speech between him and a stranger.  The answer Hardy gives is that love doesn’t happen “twice” and that he cannot predict what may happen in the “future.”  Uncertainty is a common theme portrayed in Hardy’s work, and these last lines are yet another reoccurrence.  It gives me the feeling that Hardy (or the character rather) is uncertain in absolute love and long lasting love due to the nature of change.  Ironically, his characters are the only one who doesn’t change for they seem wait endlessly with unmoving love of their "departuring" partner.
(All references above from page 1075 of the text)

For clarity, I want to give a quick reference to other works that was not discussed but briefly referenced in this blog so as to not break the flow of my thoughts.  The following gives examples of Hardy’s other works that show how incomplete his character’s love experiences are:

In “Western Circuit,” Charle’s true love (Mistress Harham) leaves him as she is already married, and that he is chained down to the responsibility of taking care of Anna (who he does not love) as her lifelong husband as punishment for his own lust (Anna is now pregnant bearing his child).
 (see “Western Circuit” e-text)

In “Wessex Heights” verses 25-28, the character remembers and describes his short lived love with “one rare fair woman” in which he was only “but a thought of hers.”  Sadly, he is betrayed by her moving on as he only “enters her mind [while] another thought succeeds [him] that [she] prefers,” although his love for her is still in its “fulness [that] she even did not know” (1074).  In this account, the male character is also left by a woman and the only thing to cure his broken heart is time.

Another interesting observation to note is that this “imperfect love” may have been one of the new movements in early twentieth century literature lead by Bernard Shaw’s paradigm shift.  Particularly similar to Hardy’s poems, Shaw’s “Pygmalion” portrays the untraditional love story as the transformed Liza leaves her most interesting subject, Professor Higgins, even though they were felt or predicted by the reader (such as I) to be meant for each other, disregarding their quarreling nature and differing views.  The authors of the modernistic movement tend to veer away from the romantic love relationship while leaving the reader with uncertainties of the future to promote the mind's imagination to deduce differing outcomes other than the obvious in the traditional works at the time.  It even holds true today as many of us are dissatisfied with the quality of a movie as we walk away feeling the predictability of its plot since it was just another movie with a different shell, only with different actors, settings, and makeup.  The unpredictability and complex but rewarding plot is what really leaves us with feelings of awe, satisfaction, and amazement of the author’s work.

Thomas Hardy’s “Wessex Heights”

Thomas Hardy’s “Wessex Heights” gives me an impression similar to that of Dante’s Inferno.  Not that Hardy is traveling through the gates and levels of hell, but rather, he is mentally reminiscing the different gates and levels of His hell.  His heaven if you may call it is at the peak of Wessex, named “Ingpen Beacon eastward, or on Wylls-Neck westwardly.”  He describes this place as being “if [shaped] by a kindly hand” for “thinking, dreaming, dying on, and at crises when [he] stands” (1073).  Hardy hints that this may be the very place that he was born and may be the place he will die:  “I seem where I was before my birth, and after death may be” (1074).  This may very well be the place at which he calls home, or heaven, for he further contrasts his journey into the “lowlands” and his negative encounters with reality.  In the second stanza, he describes the lowlands as a place without “comrade” and much less a place with a “lone man’s friend.”  “Down there they are dubious and askance; there nobody thinks as I” meaning he is out of place.  He is different from them and does not belong.  However, he still recognizes his heaven since “mind-chains do not clank where one’s next neighbor is the sky.”  Here, he is referening to Ingpen Beacon/Wylls-Neck, for it is here that his mind is free to roam than locked as if “chains [that] clank.”

Continuing on his journey, he meets “phantoms” that track him in “detective” ways who say “harsh heavy things” with “wintry sneer” and “tart disparaging.”  In this place, he is scrutinized and treated with low respect.  He feels that he is being judged and dissected like an object by a “detective.”  It almost feels that he is not even treated as a human.

“Down there I seem to be false to myself, my simple self…”  This line makes me think that he is “acting” to please and satisfy the wants and desires of others.  To be someone he’s not.  He feels as if he is living a lie, an illusion to himself.  However, he “is not now” as he acknowledges his mistake in the third person view as he ironically scrutinizes himself:  “I see him watching, wondering what crass cause can have merged him into such a strange continuator as this, who yet has something in common with himself, my chrysalis.”  Hardy's skillful metaphor of the character's past to that of a pupil in a cocoon portrays the entrapment of his true self.  Here, “chrysalis” is used to identify his past self as someone who has not awakened or that he has not fully become himself until now, and that only in time will he hatch into a butterfly, free of his “crass[ness],” free of his cocoon's "clanging... chains."

Hardy’s eccentric style is representative in this piece in that he not only is aware of his surroundings, but most importantly, he looks deep into himself to identify his own problems and restrictions.  The following two lines are relevant to explore this theme:

I cannot go to the great grey Plain; there’s a figure against the moon,
Nobody sees it but I, and it makes my breast beat out of tune;

Here, the “figure against the moon” is he, a mere reflection off the water.  And it is himself because “Nobody [can] see it but [him].”  Only he is disturbed by his own unhappiness.  If he was like the rest of the people in the “Plains,” then it would be alright.  However, because he is different, his own presence there leads to his dissatisfaction and “out of tune” heart.  In fact, the rest of this stanza is the implication of himself and his mind’s cry:

There’s a ghost in Yell’ham Bottom chiding loud at the fall of the night,
There’s a ghost in Froom-side Vale, thin-lipped and vauge, in a shroud of white,
There is one in the railway train whenever I do not want it near,
I see its profile against the pane, saying what I would not hear.

I interpreted the “ghost” to be the thought of himself in the past when he used to be in the "Plains".  He was living “out of tune” “falsely” to himself.  It’s only his horrible reflection of his “false” self that he sees as a “profile” that says what he would not hear.  He speaks and acts opposite to what he truly is.

In the next to last stanza, he gives an account of his betrayal of love.  “[As] I enter her mind and another thought succeeds me that she prefers.”  The girl has moved on to something better while he still loves her to the “fullness that she herself even did not know.”   Thus, the love was one-sided, and may be due to his inability to grasp her for he was but a “thought” in her life.  In the end, it is time that “cures [his] heart” and frees her from his thoughts, which is quite contradicting in that it still remains as the words laid out here serve as evidence of that.  I feel it’s something that he will live with as long as he has memory of it.

The last stanza ends where he started, in which he snaps back to reality (or dream) where he is now free (“I know some liberty”) from the “lowlands” criticism and his own falseness (“ghosts then keep their distance”).  It is here that he can “think, dream, and die on” as he wishes, even in the face of “crises.”

This story is interesting in that it shows Hardy’s travel through life, the people he meets, and the realization of his own imperfections.  He realizes and scrutinizes himself, for not being true to what he really thinks and who he really is.  I think that reaching the "crest" is not literal in meaning, but rather figuratively expressing a state of mind that the character has acheived, such that now he has reached a heaven where he can be true to himself and his mind can rest against judgement.  Somewhere along his journey, he was able to change, and disregard other’s thoughts and opinions.  It is himself that that brought upon the pains of his mind, the dissatisfaction with scrutiny.  Scrutiny will always follow him, but at least now, they no longer affect him, now that he has come back to the “crest” in which he is liberated in thought and mind.

In addition, the author's use of the setting is symbolic of his character's state of mind.  The “lowlands” and “Plains” are the sufferings, dissatisfaction, and negative effects of reality on him.  The “crest” represents the realizations he made that frees him from these effects for it is in the mind that happiness can be found.  This brings me back to one of my favorite quotes from Shakespeare:  “Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”  Personally, I interpreted this story to be an expedition of the mind and its final destination to be liberation from mental sufferings attained through changing of perspective towards external inputs and the acceptance and content of oneself.

(All references not identified are from the text page 1074)

Thomas Hardy's "Hap"

After reading Thomas Hardy’s “Hap,” I was left confused and curious with feelings of doom and questions of life’s sufferings.  I could not quite grasp what it is the author is trying to say due to either my unfamiliar with the language or the obscurity in his riddles.  With some research, I was able to better understand, or better come to an understanding of, Hardy’s message in this piece. 

Beginning with the title of “Hap,” and considering it the piece of “happening,” I read that this word was an archaic simile of “chance,” or “luck” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hap). This is quite important in trying to dissect this poem in that Hardy questions whether the existence of such a “vengeful” god is the reason for life’s cruelties.  Hardy presumes that only with the existence of such a god could there be justification for allowing such evils in the world for their own pleasure and “ecstasy, that [the character’s] love’s loss is [the god’s] hate’s profiting.” (1073)

However, uncertainty in such the existence of a god is displayed as we identify the structure of the three stanzas (credit to danamercer.blogspot.com for seeing this).  The “If,” “Then,” “But not so” structure is like that of an argument, leading up to a conclusion.  The first stanza states that “If” there is such a god that has pleasure in his “suffering” and “sorrow,” “Then” he would “bear it, clench… and die” meaning he would accept it for he must submit to that which is more “Powerfuller” who has “willed” his “tears.”  “But [it is] not so.”  Concluding that there does not exist such a God or any God for suffering is but many of nature’s “Hap” events, and thus the importance of the title.  To the character, all of life’s pain and suffering is but a “dicing” or roll of the dice, a gamble rather.  He doesn’t believe in the existence of a god that has “joy [in life’s] slain” and that allows the “unblooms the best hope ever sown.”  What is the purpose of idolizing and turning to such a God that hates us so?  How can there be such a god that is so unjust and morbid?  The final answer is that it is just “Crass Casualty [that] obstructs the sun and rain” due to only chance itself.  This belief is reinforced as Hardy identifies the “Doomsters” as “purblind” as well as their reasons for his “pains.”  Why is “doom” what he encounters although he is searching for the light of god (“my pilgrimage”).  He is unsatisfied with the existence of such a god as he states “Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited.”  He feels so strong in the wrongness of a “vengeful” god that only by “bear[ing] it” and “die[ing]” would he accept this.

The poem is very dramatic as it represents the authors fight with faith and the existence of a God that could allow the sufferings of life.  Conversely, how can there be a God that controls everything, including the free will of humans.  That’s just one of many arguments against a God that would only allow evil as well as good in the world.  Because we are human, and because we have free will, we will always have two sides of the coin, good and evil.  And one cannot exist without the other, for they are dependently defined.  Hardy’s remaining answer is his realization that chance or “Hap” is the defining justification for life’s “Crass Casualty.”  Hardy’s style is indeed representative of the transition from Victorian/Romanticism to modernistic views in that the “good” does not always win and that “things [doesn’t] always happen for a reason” since he considers chance as one of the answers much traditionalist overlook when they consider “purpose” for the answer of all unanswered questions.

(All references are from the text page 1073)

Aside from the one reference of danamercer, all interpretations are those of my own.  The following references were only used as a spark to start my writing of a topic.

See the following references for some interesting views of this piece:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMXkEroSwxc – Unknown author.  But this video gives a good analysis walk through of the poem and the reader’s own perspectives.

http://danamercer.blogspot.com/2005/03/hardys-hap.html - Blog that gives a detail analysis of the sonnet.

Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”

I was quite intrigue by the forward that considers Bernard Shaw as “one of the most celebrated and controversial writers of the twentieth century” (1002).  With much curiosity and amusement, I was quite excited to read “Pygmalion,” although I am not a big fan of playwrights.  What is it that makes him so controversial during his time?  “Pygmalion” gives many answers to this question with its portrayal of the rise of poverty and women above the late nineteenth’s century traditional culture, beliefs, and literature.  In Pygmalion, Shaw humorously sends the message that the “aristocratic status is made to look like something of a parlor trick” (1004).  It is by the transformation of Liza Doolittle that the high class society is mocked and undermined.  However, Shaw does this not to say that the poor is any better, but rather that this system of values between the people is illusive, and that equality exists between everyone, regardless of their social status.

The character of Liza is an eye opener in that although poverty stricken, her personal value and belief is higher than that of an aristocrat.  Liza is just a flower girl of the lowest poverty level, in which the only “visible luxuries” is  “a small room with very old wall paper hanging loose in the damp places,… a broken pane in the window [that’s] mended with paper,… a portrait of a popular actor and a fashion plate of ladies’ dresses, all wildly beyond [her] means, both torn from newspapers, are pinned up on the wall,… and a birdcage [with no bird that] remains as a memorial” (1015).  Liza’s situation is utterly poor, much less livable.  But her visions pinned on the wall of actors and fashion ladies show her inner desires to rise above.  These are just foreshadowing signs of her coming fate with the phonetician Higgins.  Liza’s situation is further depressed when the author introduces her in the first act speaking unrecognizable English due to her lack of education:  “The Flower Girl:  Ow, eez, ye –ooa san, is e?”  The author even apologizes that it is so “unintelligible outside of London.”  Even the native themselves find it hard to understand her dialect.  Liza’s first sign of innocence is displayed as she is unwilling to submit to Mrs. Pearce’s command to take off all her cloths to get bath when she defies “Oh I couldn’t, Mrs Pearce:  I reely couldn’t, I never done such a thing” (1023).

It is interesting to note, that Shaw wanted to show that Eliza’s only barrier to shine was language itself.  It is not that she is dumb or stupid, but rather that she has no way to communicate herself except through the use of her jargon dialect attempt of English.  As the story continues, and Eliza is trained to properly speak, rather well, and in fact better than the aristocrats themselves as they are astonished awkwardly at her perfection, her sharpness and natural intuition is reflected as she explains to Pickering her thoughts and emotions:

Liza:  It’s not because you paid for my dresses.  I know you are generous to everybody with money.  But it was form you that I learnt really nice manners; and that is what makes one a lady, isn’t it?  You see it was so very difficult for me with the example of Professor Higgins always before me.  I was brought up to be just like him, unable to control myself, and using bad language on the slightest provocation.  And I should never have known that ladies and gentlemen didn’t behave like that if you hadn’t been there.

Pickering:  Oh, that’s only his way, you know.  He doesn’t mean it.

Liza:  Oh, I didn’t mean it either, when I was a flower girl.  It was only my way.  But yo see I did it; and that’s what makes the difference after all.

…

Liza:  It was just like learning to dance in the fashionable way:  there was nothing more than that in it.  But do you know what began my real education?

Pickering:  What?

Liza:  Your calling me Miss Doolittle that day when I first came to Wimpole Street.  That was the beginning of self-respect for me… things that shewed you thought and felt about me as if I were something better than a scullery-maid; though of course I know you would have been just the same to a scullery-maid if she had been let into the drawing room.

(1057)

We can see from this converse that Eliza, or Miss Doolittle rather, has become quite philosophical.  And it may have been influenced from her time with both Pickering and Higgins.  However, we can see that she understands what self respect is, and what it means to be a lady, even if her English was perfect.  Higgins alone would never have won his own bet if Pickering was not there to teach her what a true Duchess would require.  And that is not a perfect tongue, but the combination of proper etiquette, and elegance of speech, and most importantly, self respect for oneself.  Liza was not taught to think this way, this is already what she is and how she feels, but because she has broken the communication barrier, she can now outwardly express her complex emotions.  And this is the same reason we have language, otherwise, we would all be cave men.  It is language that allows us to build upon our previous understandings, to further realize, deduce, and infer the deeper meanings that the human mind is capable of.  Shaw uses Eliza to show that this human trait even resides in the humans of lowest status.  And this is the very reason why Pickering treats everyone with respect, as Higgins treats everyone with unintentional ignorance of their feelings.  They both truly represent characters that see everyone on the same level.  Pickering will treat everyone with respect, regardless of their social status.  Higgins, likewise, treats no one with respect, regardless of their status.  In fact, Shaw explicitly sends this message through Higgins:

Higgins:  About you, not about me.  If you come back I shall treat you just as I have always treated you.  I cant change my nature; and I don’t intend to change my manners.  My manners are exactly the same as Colonel Picker’s.

Liza:  That’s not true.  He treats a flower girl as if she was a duchess.

Higgins:  And I treat a duchess as if she was a flower girl.

Liza:  I see.  The same to everybody.

Higgins:  Just so.

Liza:  Like father.

Higgins:  Without accepting the comparison at all points, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all human souls:  in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one sould is as good as another.

Liza:  Amen.  You are born a preacher.

Higgins:  The question is not whether I treat you rudely, but whether you ever heard me treat anyone else better.

(1059)

Higgins try to show Liza, that it’s not about the manners of a person, for Shaw tends to disregard what is wrong and right, but that it’s about how one treats all with the same natural manners that one was inherently born with.  To be yourself and no one else to all beings is the transcendental belief that Higgins had, but ignored by Liza due to her current state of pride, anger, and self greed.  It’s not that she disagrees, but in some sense, she is attached to Higgins.  She has much interest in him, and does not want him to regard her the same as everyone else, otherwise, what is she to him?  She wants to win a place in his heart, rather than a place in his morals.  Unfortunately, Higgins is true to himself to the end, and this is the very reason he will remain a Bachelor to the end of his days, for he cannot treat people unequally.  It is because we value people differently, that we have what we call friends, family, and lovers.

I must say, that I thoroughly enjoyed this piece of work, and have realize why the author of this anthology has dubbed its greatness, and why Shaw was fated for the Nobel Prize for literature in 1925.  His work is very deep, and reaches morals, understandings, and philosophical thoughts that only the thinking mind can achieve.  Aside from the aforementioned theme, I would like to point out a few other specific quotes that captured my interest:

Higgins:  She offers me two-fifths of her day’s income for a lesson.  Two-fifths of a millionaire’s income for a day would be somewhere about £60.  It’s handsome.  By George, it’s enormous!  It’s the biggest offer I ever had.

(1018)

This particular line really touched me in that Shaw understands the nature of relative worth.  What we offer for charity is so relative when we consider what we have.  A poor person’s offering of food, is so much more valuable that a millionaire’s dispensable income that is only “change” in his pockets.  Higgins is not a character that does not value money, but he understands what he is truly getting, even though Liza herself has not recognized this as she confusedly states “But I ain’t got sixty pounds” (1018).  It really amazes me how humorous Shaw can be in his work.  In fact, I was literally in chuckle when I read Higgins response to Mrs Pearce’s request for him not to use the “b” word:  “Oh, that!  Mere alliteration, Mrs Pearce, natural to a poet” (1025).  This particular line was quite funny and clever at the same time.

In addition, his constant name callings made me laugh many times, especially when he said “I shall make a duchess of this draggletailed guttersnipe” (1019).  I don’t know what “draggletailed guttersnipe” is, but it was hilariously funny.  In fact, it makes me think that Higgins ironically treated Liza unequal to everyone else, as he treated her worse with his name callings and utilitarian teachings (of course in good faith).  Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so furious with her taunting him of marrying Freddy.  Higgins is human after all, and is hugely affected by Liza.

In this piece, Shaw successfully transforms the status of women to show that it is merely external appearance that sets the social classes apart.  When one is armed with the same level of education and practice, one too can become the “duchess” of London.  Liza’s sharp wit and defiance to Higgins show Shaw’s unorthodox thinking that not all women are submissive, “self-sacrificing, pure, noble, and passive” (1004).

Thomas Hardy’s “On The Western Circuit”

After reading Thomas Hardy’s “On The Western Circuit,” I could not narrow down my views of the novel enough to come up with a topic of interest to write about.  After some research, I found out that Thomas Hardy was part of the Naturalist movement during his time, which gave me a starting point.  The following are interesting references that helped narrow my ideas for this blog:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/naturalism
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570473/thomas_hardy.html
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570473/thomas_hardy.html
And of course, the e-text

Different from the Romantics before his time, Hardy’s faith was not affirmed by the supernatural symbols or the explicit “signs” of god.  Being the age of industrial maturity, life’s experiences was heavily influenced by the materialistic surroundings.  As technology and science advances, the movement is more towards realism, where what is to be proven is through the five senses.  The title “On the Western Circuit” itself portrays the modernistic nature of the time.  The complex story unfolds under a crowded atmosphere of a dizzying technology that Hardy depicts as the mechanical workings of the revolving “circus” merry-go-round:

Their motions were so rhythmical that they seemed to be moved by
machinery. And it presently appeared that they were moved by machinery
indeed; the figures being those of the patrons of swings, see-saws, flying-leaps,
above all of the three steam roundabouts which occupied the centre of the
position. It was from the latter that the din of steam-organs came. (Hardy 1)

You can tell from this passage that life in the city was not simple, but very fast moving and complex.  And this imagery may well be the very depiction of the inner thoughts and emotions of the people at the time.  No longer is farming or “the simpler things in life” a goal of England’s people.  Instead, due to the nation’s growth, the wants and desires have expanded towards the aristocracy, high regards to education, and prosperity gains.   Even Charles of the story demines his absent minded wife when he learns of her illiterateness:  “To his surprise she had progressed but a few lines, in the characters and spelling of a child of eight, and with the ideas of a goose… ‘Anna,’ he said, staring; ‘what’s this?’” (Hardy 8)  Anna herself proclaimed of her shortcomings as she protest to tell her future husband the truth when mistress Harham inquires her so:  “‘O mis’ess, dear mis’ess—please don’t tell him now!’ cried Anna in distress. ‘If you were to do it, perhaps he would not marry me;” (Hardy 7).  In addition, mistress Harham’s jealousy pity on her maid expressed her value on intelligence:  “‘O!’ she groaned, as she threw down the pen. ‘Anna—poor good little fool—hasn’t intelligence enough to appreciate him! How should she? While I—don’t bear his child!’” (Hardy 7)  It is clear that education and material wealth plays a big part in what is defined as success or happiness in modern England.  Even though Charles may have portrayed a glimpse of  noble sacrifice for true love (“He said that in offering to wed her he had, at first, contemplated the step of retiring from a profession,”  its authenticity was defiled as he justified the crux to his reason:  “He felt sure that, with her powers of development, after a little private training in the social forms of London under his supervision, and a little help from a governess if necessary, she would make as good a professional man’s wife as could be desired, even if he should rise to the woolsack” (Hardy 7).

Although much emphasis was placed on the visual imagery of the surroundings, I believe that Hardy’s main focused was to show the complex emotions involved with the experiences of imperfect love, which was contrasted the Romanticist definition of love.  Particularly in this work, Hardy shows three transpiring emotions:  the quick first impressions love (between Charles and Anna’s first encounter), the more deep spiritually developed love (between Charles and Harham’s correspondence), and the disconnected and unfulfilled love (between Anna and Charles and between Charles and Harham).  No longer is there the “happily ever after” love that exists with traditional poets before his time.  Hardy wanted to change this, and also change the direction of poetry, in order to express what was missing in the art, and that is the imperfections of life.

It seems that every author is influenced by his/her religious background and that their work ultimately tries to show their perspective and understandings of life.  For Hardy, his faith lies not in signs or supernatural experiences of God, but rather the natural causes and effects of nature.  The story is like a fable, in that there lays the simplest teachings of morality.  As a result of characters selfish greed (Anna’s selfish desire to keep Charles, Mistress Harham’s superficial love interaction through the letters with Charles, and Charles selfishness for both lust and true love), each resulted in bearing the worst consequence.  Charles, with an empty soul, has the responsibility to take care of the ill educated Anna that stemmed from his short-lived lust.  Mistress Harham must bear for the rest of her life a love that will never be but in her dreams and the letters through her correspondence with Charles while returning to her husband, who knows no “language of love making.”  In addition, she blames herself for Charles “ruin.”  Charles himself accepts this as his punishment as he states “It serves me right!” (Hardy 9).  And Anna is worst of all, in that even though she gained Charles for the rest of her life, she has not gained his heart and ironically, is even ignorant of the fact:

‘What are you doing, dear Charles?’ she said timidly from the other window,
and drew nearer to him as if he were a god.
‘Reading over all those sweet letters to me signed “Anna,”‘ he replied with
dreary resignation. (Hardy 9)

In “On the Western Circuit,” Hardy shows how each and every consequence is the result of a previous action whether intentional or not.  All three main characters in the story have some moral sense.  However, they are unable to win over their human desires to do what is right.  It is themselves that they love more than anything else and their fate is a consequence of the distrust, falsified identify, and selfish desires that have stemmed from the nature of their “mechanical” society.  Once again, I believe the title was named to give multiple meanings.  The obvious is that the name represents a symbol of the superficial materialistic nature of modern England.  The other is that it represents a symbol of the complex and unhealthy spiritual nature of the people as a result of the England’s “Western Circuit.”  In this piece, Hardy does a good job of portraying modern England, inside and out, while introducing the new concepts of love that is so different from the popular Romantic poets.

Hopkins’ Alliterative Poetry of “Pied Beauty”

Of all of Hopkins work referenced in our text, the “Longman’s Anthology,” “Pied Beauty” is most notable in finding the author’s alliterative style.  Almost every verse is filled with the repetitious consonance in his imagery of all things.  “couple-colour,” “Fresh-firecoal,” “Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough,” just to name a few examples all show the author’s significant use of alliteration combined with illustrative words to depict his objects of interest (775).  Why is it that Hopkins makes so much use of this style of prose?  The answer is hinted in the opening foreword preceding his works in our text.  It is referenced that Hopkins state “My verse – less to be read than heard” because “it is oratorical” (774).  This means that his work is very eccentric and is meant of the reader to not just “hear” but also to use his creative imagination to experience the observations.  By using his detailed visual, audio, and tactile alliteration, the experience is further amplified to not only submerse the reader into the imagery, but also to exemplify God’s supernatural greatness, which is an overarching theme of his works.  In “Pied Beauty,” this is accomplished well as we can see the meticulous of all of nature simultaneously rather than a focus on any single one entity:  the “skies,” the animals’ movements, the “chestnuts” falling, the plowing of the earth (775).  Although such a short poem, Hopkins diversity of subjects allows the reader to see a grand view of “Pied Beauty.”  It’s interesting to note that Hopkins studied for seven years for priesthood (773).  It makes me think that his style is either the result of the oral skills practice and required for preaching, or the result of a need for such a device to build energy in his audience to further motivate and moralize them.

Hopkins' "God's Grandeur"

What is it that makes a Victorian poet Victorian?  Like the variable definitions of Romantics, so is the diverseness of what defines Victorian.  After reading Gerard Manley Hopkins’ “God’s Grandeur,” we can see one of the many forms of Victorianism.  With alliterative style and sharp attention to detail, Hopkins portrays the greatness of God through the depiction of nature with powerful uses of imagery to show nature and its natural beauties.

Observing the author’s illustrative style, we can see that the reader is directed to focus on the finest detail of nature’s simple, yet marvelous traits:  “It will flame out, like shining from shook foil… like the ooze of oil” (744).  It’s as if Hopkins was observing nature under a microscope while time is slowed down to view its intricacies.

This illustration just one of many common and frequent occurrences of nature that is normally overlooked and ignored by a passing observer.  It makes me think that the author is telling his reader to “stop and smell the roses.”  Greatness is all around us as long as we are aware of it.  This idea is further reinforced as Hopkins states men’s ignorance of God’s “Grandeur”:  “Why do men then now not reck his rod?”  Here, Hopkins reference to “his rod” is God’s rod of greatness.

Hopkins abhorrence of men’s industrialism is evident when he notes that “all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil.”  His use of words gives us an unpleasant feeling of men’s actions.  Even after all of men’s work and contamination of the land (“And wears man’s smulge and shares men’s smell:  the soil” ), man still misses to see the greatness of it all:  “and for all this, nature is never spent.”  I interpreted this line to mean that although man spends so much on the tilling of the land and technological advancement, he has yet to spend nature’s true greatness, and that is time, beauty, and its natural magnificence. (775)

The last 5 verses are particularly interesting to note since there is a message of not only God’s greatness, but also of its timelessness.  “Although the last lights off the bleek West went… Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—Because the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.”  Here, Hopkins portrays the daily and never-ending presence of God as the “Holy Ghost” with a metaphor of the sunrise and sunsets of each day.  Although the light ends the night, the day will always come to once again light the world with of “warmth” and “bright wings.” (755)

Hopkins’ “God’s Grandeur” was very interesting and different from previous authors that we have read in that he uses powerful imagery through his use of alliterative prose.  His style allows the creative mind to feel, see, touch, and experiences the imagery and glory of God’s presence.  For Hopkins, even in the most meticulous of things contain the greatness of God.  If we stand back and realize that this is just a speck of nature, how great is it when we consider the whole of things!  Indeed, “the world is charged with the grandeur of God” (774).