As a former member of the American Legion Auxiliary and having just observed another Memorial Day service “Glory to Women” was a much needed reality check to supplement our efforts to remember our fallen here in America. With the use of the word glory in the title of Sassoon’s sonnet those two things combined lead readers to believe the poem will me a romancing of ones love; a woman who is worthy of honor and magnificent. This was hardly Sassoon’s desire to convey in the poem; rather the poem is very sarcastic in meaning. Sassoon paints the picture of women who are so head over heals about telling the world ‘my man is fighting so bravely to serve his country’ and become so goo-goo eyed that they don’t see what horrors these men are suffering. Sassoon portrays the women of war time Britain as naïve as ‘you make us shells, you listen with delight.’ (Greenblatt, pg. 351) The women while now working which was a change from Victorian era which, will be touched on a little more later, were in factories making the shells that the soldiers will fire to protect and defend not only their country, but their own lives. However ‘shells’ could also in this context be interpreted as the woman were so worried about the outside appearance the men gave them that they didn’t once think to consider the emotional impact made by the war creating a ‘shell of a man’. Why is it that the women would be so insensitive and so clueless as to the real consequences of war? I feel John Ruskin’s “Of Queens Garden” written in the early Victorian Era holds some very good clues to why the women would act in such an insensitive way. “By her office, and place, she is protected from all danger and temptation”. (Greenblatt, pg 661) Ruskin was one of the forerunner is the race to have separate spheres for men and women and felt that it was woman’s place to be at home rearing the children, and not dealing with the things outside the home. This ideology was a wide spread thought that monopolized British way of life in the 1800’s. So, in Sassoon’s time most of the women of the time would more than likely be daughters or granddaughters of this generation of women who were adorned and admired for being to be blunt naïve. For the soldiers to mock or degrade the women for acting how they did about their fight in the war the men have also not taken into account the background of the women is very hypocritical. How can the women understand what is happen when the generations who brought them up were kept away from the ugliness of life. I certainly am not saying women were in the right to be uncompassionate, but as the men felt their mental states disintegrate as the ladies of their lives turned a blind eye to the sadness and distress they faced how can the men be upset when more than likely it was their father or grandfather’s who wanted the women of their time to be the as Coventry Patmore puts it ‘The Angels of the House’. As a member of the Legion I must be a direct descendant of a serviceman of US war time. My great grandfather was on one of the first ships to storm Normandy beach. While I am so proud to honor and adore him I do not take lightly the sacrifices he made physically and mentally to fight so bravely for others to stay at home and live the ‘American dream’. Even the German mother knitted socks to send her son which implies that there was no fear of death or reality of war. (Greenblatt, pg 351) This was not just a British issue, but a world wide issue. So many just did not understand the implications that came with the fight. While Memorial Day has now passed in America let us not forget and be thankful for the horrors suffered by our service men and women to keep us free, and let us be sensitive to what they have experienced. We will never be able to understand watching a fallen comrade pass in our sights, or having killed an innocent civilian, but we can make the effort to not just view our veterans as heroes but as people who have feelings just as everyone else. I thank Siegfried Sassoon for his service to his country, but also his service of writing to all who have not served as he helped to tear down the fake façade of war. Work Cited Greenblatt, S. and Robson, C. (n.d.). The Norton anthology of English literature.
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“Nosce te ipsum”, or better read as ‘know thyself. Ancient Latin words spoken over 2000 years ago. These words ring very true in the literary work of ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ by Robert Louis Stevenson. This gothic novella is personally one of my favorite pieces from the late Victorian Era, such an interesting story of a well respected doctor trying to rid himself of the evil inside him, and subconsciously the social pains Britain felt at the time, this piece resonates on many different levels. With the rise in literacy and leisure time for reading at the end of the Victorian Era, Novella became more and more popular as they entertained and related to the public instead of solely focusing on political or religious issues. ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ challenged readers to ‘know thyself’ and understand the psychological effects of society at the time. With Jekyll standing as the superego and Hyde as the inner id waiting to be unleashed, this tale relates to all who struggle with repressing their inner instability. In the beginning of ‘Jekyll and Hyde’, through the lens of a good long time friend Dr. Lanyon, Jekyll is introduced as an older gentleman and doctor: one of respect and money. He was considered a model citizen, who was shaped and formed by society. In psychological terms, he was the Superego. Hyde as Jekyll’s counterpart has the appearance of a young man with primitive unhuman like features. It is quite interesting the name Hyde was chosen for the id of Jekyll’s life. It sounds like ‘hide’ and a big game of hide and seek is exactly what Jekyll attempted to accomplish. When Jekyll gives his full statement of the case, stating "Jekyll had more than a father's interest; Hyde had more than a son's indifference." he is really saying that Jekyll had all to lose, and to Hyde the consequences did not matter. (Greenblatt, pg. 804) Anything that Hyde did as Jekyll’s dark side would come back for Jekyll to have to answer to, and it would be Jekyll who would take the brunt from society, as Hyde would just hide away. Was Jekyll in the right to try to separate out the evil into another human being? After all, if the id is left unchecked, the ego or superego cannot suppress its urges and tendencies. Jekyll knew himself well enough to recognize there was ‘evil’ inside him that he could no longer contain and that he must separate himself from it. But, can we really ever separate ourselves from the ‘evil’ inside? Biblically I say no. After ‘The Fall’ where Eve ate of the forbidden fruit sin, or the evils of the world, that God wished for us not to know were introduced to man. It was after that fatal mistake that man stood no longer pure and sinless in God’s eyes. With that each man was born a sinner and would be tempted, and have the desires of the flesh or id to urge off daily. We all have that little voice inside our heads speaking thoughts tempting us each to ‘the fall’ in our own lives. We need the good and the bad to check each other to stay on course in life. Here’s the question though, how do we know those thoughts are evil if we have no superego checking and suppressing? Also who dictates the standards of good verse evil? In the time of writing ‘The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde, Stevenson was witness an evolution of Britain in the political, social, and religious arenas. As Singh and Shubho state in their study in dualism, “Interestingly, Christianity, the religion Stevenson was born into, rejects dualism and preaches a monistic origin to the universe from one, infinite, and self-existing spiritual being who freely created everything.” Was Stevenson’s novella a way of expressing the inner demons he would have suppressed during his childhood years? Was this Stevenson’s way of expressing Britain’s suppression of the ‘evil temptations’ that began to arise in the late Victorian Era? There is so many other areas topics and themes that can be discovered in this excellently written novella, not to mention the way it was written in itself, but for my analysis I will leave you with… do you truly ‘know thyself’? Work Cited Singh, Shubh M, and Subho Chakrabarti. “A study in dualism: The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Indian journal of psychiatry vol. 50,3 (2008): 221-3. doi:10.4103/0019-5545.43624 Greenblatt, S. and Robson, C. (n.d.). The Norton anthology of English literature. Hymn to Prosperine is a very heavy read that has many layers that one must peel back before finding the core of the story. Too be honest as a Christian at first I read this Hymn as a very strong revolt against Christianity. It wasn’t until I took my blinders off and dug into the reading that I truly began to understand Swineburg’s message. To start I think it’s best to understand why Prosperine? Why sing her praises? Prosperine, or in Greek mythology Persephone which I will use for the background, was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She was the maiden of the spring. At one time Demeter lost her, and because of that was filled with grief and being the God who brought spring and the beauty of flowers blooming and growing the earth turned to bitter ice. The lord of the underworld was fascinated by the blooms up above of Persephone and drugs her down into the underworld with him. With that Demeter continued her rage and kept the earth desolate, until she was able to see her daughter. Now according to Greek mythology every spring Persephone rising to bring life back to the Earth, and each year must die again as she returns to the underworld. (Hamilton pgs 50-55). Prosperine was the only God who understood death as the Olympians were immortal, so men sought out Prosperine in their times of sorrow. So why the hymn? Written through the lens of a pagan during Roman time when Christianity was spreading, and the ancient Gods were dying Swineburg dismayed that society would follow this religion that would bound and regulate life compared to the God’s who could live and love freely. Under the ancient God’s sexualities of many kinds were more freely accepted and in many times worshipped. The reference to Apollo “with hair and harp string of gold, A bitter God to follow, a beautiful God to behold” as the guide to the men on earth, (Hamilton, pg 31) seems to be have a sense of desire of look at his brilliance, but not too much as it will be a bitter taste in the end. Remember in the Victorian times homosexuality was a crime punishable by death. Even in 1952 famous mathematician Alan Turing who is credited with quite possibly single handedly winning the world war with the breaking of Enigma was prosecuted for homosexual acts. (Wikipedia) Swineburg through his plea to Prosperine wanted freedom to choose who and how to love. His use of “Thou hast conquered O’ pale Galilean” signifies the overtaking of the church and setting very distinct and set roles for the sexes. (Greenblatt, pg 573). There was no more freedom of sexuality as the church took its reigns and seeped into society. By the use of the word pale it lends to graying or washing away the color of life. Reminds me of the movie ‘The Giver’ where the movie starts out in black and white and slowly as the movie progresses different colors begin to be seen… only in this case it’s the opposite. The pagan in the Hymn is seeing all the colors of desire and sensuality being washed away for very refined, dull, and meek rules of life. In this way Swineburg condemns the church for it’s dulling of societies minds and spirits, and by saying “I kneel not, neither adore you, but standing, look to the end.” Refuses to sub come to the views that have overtaken. (Greenblatt, pg. 574) The pagan in the hymn however understands that while Christianity has put to death the ancient powerful gods, the cycle of Prosperine of renewing and dying will also be inevitable and “yet the kingdom shall pass, Galilean, thy dead shall go down to thee dead” Jesus and Christianity will die out as well. (Greenblatt, pg 574). While I do not agree with Swineburg’s desires and do quite favor my God and His desires for my life I appreciate how he while sneakily doing so wrote about sensualities that would have I’m sure caused controversy at the time. I mean you could be put to death for being homosexual, so I’m sure there were serious consequences for writing about it. The only way mankind can grow is if we continue to challenge the standards and views in our time. Work Cited Hamilton, Edith, and Steele Savage. Mythology. New York: New American Library, 1969. Print. "Alan Turing." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 12 Nov. 2001, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing. Accessed 20 May 2019. Greenblatt, S. and Robson, C. (n.d.). The Norton anthology of English literature. This poem while on the surface may seem like an innocent love poem from a man to his delicate love, a sinister meaning lies beneath the surface of the lake. Lord Tennyson uses imagery to allure readers into his love poem with visions of white, lilies, peacocks, and sweetness builds the readers heightened senses in dream like world up with tranquility and peace only to unmask an overtaking of the innocent in the end. In his writing Lord Tennyson builds a beautiful imagery of what a woman of England in the 1800’s ought to look and behave like. Use of words such as white signifying pure and holy, lily to illustrate delicacy and innocence, Lord Tennyson brings forth the imagery of an angelic creature, which in time is overtaken by the passion and lust of the ‘crimson petal’.
To open the poem Lord Tennyson gives the vision of stillness and sleep leading readers to picture darkness and night. The author also uses a ‘milk-white peacock like a ghost’ to reiterate the darkness as a peacock in light would be ‘glimmering’ with bright colors in the light, and a ghost appears in the wake of the night. By using this illustration, Lord Tennyson instills a fear that something is amiss. ‘The silent meteor’ conveys that the woman sits silent and should not speak. Danae of mythology carefully tucked into line 7 was the only child of King Acrisius and the King longed for a son. When he went to the gods asking for a son he was told no and also that Danae would have a son who was destined to kill him. Fearing his predestined fate Acrisius built Danae a bronze house with only the top open for air to keep her tucked away and unheard in the world outside. This is the same for the women of Victorian era who were dominated by the men, and were expected to remain quiet and reserved. In the last stanza, the risqué writing of its’ time vividly expresses one sinking into the chest of another, by collectively analyzing the poem as a whole the last lines are much darker than an erotic dream dancing through one’s head. ‘Now folds the lily all her sweetness up, and slips into the bosom of the lake. So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip, Into my bosom and be lost in me.’ This suggests that the lily, once innocent and sweet, turns inward and silences itself, only to surrender falling onto the darkness of the lake, and as “impracticalcritism” states in their interpretation “might reveal a preoccupation with loss of identity through submitting to another person”. While this man certainly could have had visions of love and feelings of lust for the woman of guilty desires, there was a deeper rational waiting to erupt at the surface. The use of the word ‘slips’ is also a very interesting play on what was happening in society of the Victorian Era. Merriam Webster defines slip as “to move quietly and cautiously”. During this period women were expected to not make a fuss and without notice to others submit into the subjugation of the men. I cannot help picturing the lily gracefully falling into the pond, and with that comes an outward force steering the lily where it should go. The same was true of the men ‘steering’ their wives and giving them criteria or standards that should be met. While certainly not direct in his approach to speak against the travesties happening in England to young women and wives, Lord Tennyson brings to light the darkness that is occurring in the Victorian society in such a romanticized way. Victorian women were not being viewed as equals or helpers to the men, as God had intended, but rather an item that that the men kept at home to raise the children and tidy the house, and occasionally to be brought out to show off as a trophy. Now even almost 200 years in some areas and cultures societies still adhere or fight these standards. Work Cited: Hamilton, Edith, and Steele Savage. Mythology. New York: New American Library, 1969. Print. Alfred, Lord Tennyson – Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal, 29-Sep-2011. [Online]. Available: https://impracticalcriticism.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/alfred-lord-tennyson-now-sleeps-the-crimson-petal/. [Accessed: 12-May-2019] "slip." Merriam-Webster.com. 2011. https://www.merriam-webster.com (15 May 2019). |
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