Today, I have been reading through some old poetry notes and I wanted to share one of my favourite Shakespearean sonnets. I really love it… plus I have no time to blog properly at the moment. I absolutely love the relationships that Shakespeare presents in his collection of sonnets… controversial for his time, yet really unique! I have posted this sonnet before in my ‘Eureka Literature’ blog post, so if you want to read more about it, then check it out there!
Sonnet 124 by William Shakespeare
If my dear love were but the child of state, It might for fortune’s bastard be unfathered, As subject to Times love or to Times hate, Weeds among weeds, or flowers with flowers gathered. No, it was builded far from accident; It suffers not in smiling pomp, nor falls Under the blow of thralled discontent, Whereto th’inviting time our fashion calls, It fears not policy, that heretic, Which works on leases of short-number’d hours, But all alone stands hugely politic, That it nor grows with heat, nor drowns with showers, To this I witness call the fools of time, Which die for goodness, who have lived for crime.
I read Molière in my first year of university in my theatre module. I was instantly hooked when reading The Misanthrope… and then went on to read Tartuffe, Les Femmes Savantes and Le Malade Imaginaire. I think that I liked his writing mostly because it was French literature, and having studied French for over eight years, I appreciated the craftsmanship and beauty of the language. It was also ridiculously witty, and his characters were so outrageous, that the memory of them just stuck very well. I also loved that we began focusing on something other than English Literature, and not just the theatrical tragedies of Shakespeare and Marlowe.
Here are a few quotes that I enjoy:
‘Of all follies there is none greater than wanting to make the world a better place.’
Molière
‘The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.’
Molière
‘It infuriates me to be wrong when I know I’m right.’
As deadlines approach and I have no willpower to write anything that screams: creative, analytical or interesting, I have decided to blog simple quotes from famous writers and pieces of literature. For my viewing millions…
Today, I found an old F. Scott Fitzgerald quote, that I made a few years ago. It fell out of my A3 sketch book, begging to be featured on my blog. Et voila!
The painting is by Otto Scholderer, and is called Young Girl Reading (1883). It is was tweeted in relation to Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, saying:
READ ‘A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN’!
I really liked this painting, and thought that it goes very well with Mary Wollstonecraft’s arguments. I first read ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’ when I was 17, for my A-Level English coursework. I though it was bold, commanding and extremely persuasive. Also, the idea that the Godwin/Wollstonecrafts were this radical and innovative family, was pretty cool… and made producing draft-after-draft of coursework, on Frankenstein, somehow more bearable!
Here are a few quotes from ‘A Vindication of the Right’s of Woman’, that are well known:
“I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.”
Mary Wollstonecraft
“There must be more equality established in society, or morality will never gain ground, and this virtuous equality will not rest firmly even when founded on a rock, if one half of mankind be chained to its bottom by fate, for they will be continually undermining it through ignorance or pride”
Mary Wollstonecraft
“It is justice, not charity, that is wanting in the world!”
Mary Wollstonecraft
I would definitely recommend reading this – if you are a student trying to understand the Shelley’s lifestyle, or grasp the concept of Romanticism. Wollstonecraft is also a hugely influential figure, in regards to Feminism. Feminists everywhere… she was THE proto-feminist, and wrote so amazingly!
After venturing around the local park today, it made me miss the London green spaces – especially Hampstead Heath, which is quite close to where I am in London. Looking through old Heath pictures, it made me think of Keats and some of his poetry.
Hampstead Heath
This is one of my favourite poems. Often overshadowed by his never-ending amount of odes, but just as lovely.
Bright Star by John Keats
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art— Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night And watching, with eternal lids apart, Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite, The moving waters at their priestlike task Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores, Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask Of snow upon the mountains and the moors— No—yet still stedfast, still unchangeable, Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast, To feel for ever its soft fall and swell, Awake for ever in a sweet unrest, Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath, And so live ever—or else swoon to death.
As it is almost midnight, I thought I had better write a short blog! Today has been full of procrastination, rereading books I don’t need to read, and starting to brainstorm a play idea… I know, madness!
But yesterday, I started to talk to somebody about Ulysses and thought it may make a good, quick blog post.
I read Ulysses about six months ago – it was a battle and took me around five months to read it entirely including making annotations and going over the top with sticky notes . But I finally conquered it and it is the best ice-breaker/conversation opener that I have going. Plus, if you have read Ulysses then you definitely deserve to boast about it!
My friend asked me if I knew that ‘strange quote about hair’ in Ulysses, and despite it being almost 1, 000 pages long, I knew exactly what he was talking about! So here it ,is one of my favourite quotes from the book:
‘Her wavyavyeavyheavyeavyevyevyhair un comb:’d. Yet too much happy bores. He stretched more, more. Are you not happy in your? Twang. It snapped. Jingle into Dorset street.’
Ulysses, James Joyce
Thank you, James Joyce for hurting both my brain and eyes when reading a single word… ahhh Modernism!
Part Six of the Aurora Leigh venture… Today’s blog is going to be a short one – on account of my lack of motivation and raging procrastination. But never fear, the overview of today’s section: Aurora in now in France, roaming the streets of Paris, until she comes across Marian with a child. I like this section because we see Aurora in a new and foreign environment, but then she is met by a face from the past. (Insert evil laugh here)
And so I am strong to love this noble France, This poet of the nations, who dream on And wails on (while the household goes to wreck) For ever, after some ideal good,– Some equal poise of sex, some unvowed love Inviolate, some spontaneous brotherhood, Some wealth, that leaves none poor and finds none tired, Some freedom of the many, that respects The wisdom of the few. Heroic dreams! Sublime, to dream so; natural, to wake: And sad, to use such lofty scaffoldings, Erected for the building of a church, To build instead, a brothel . . or a prison– May God save France!
Two blogs in a day… wow…somebody finished their assignment! So thus, the journey continues and we are on Book Five of Aurora Leigh.
I am really enjoying blogging about this in my Pandemic Ponderings series – after a day of writing assignments and reading endless streams of critical material, I look back on the section of Aurora Leigh that I am blogging about and just enjoy something different! I haven’t read this epic poem , in its entirety, for over year, and combing through it everyday reminds me how much I loved reading it the first time around.
In this section, Aurora continues to write and doesn’t let society stop her! She tries not to be confined by society’s ideal role of a women, yet fears that epic poetry may not be the correct mode of expression. She also thinks of Romney and reveals that she has not seen him for over two years. Then after wallowing over a man, by the end of the book, Aurora decides to travel to Italy for some new inspiration.
Aurora Leigh – Book V
We women are too apt to look to one, Which proves a certain impotence in art. We strain our natures at doing something great, Far less because it’s something great to do, Than, haply, that we, so, commend ourselves As being not small, and more appreciable To some one friend. We must have mediators Betwixt our highest conscience and the judge; Some sweet saint’s blood must quicken in our palms. Or all the life in heaven seems slow and cold: Good only, being perceived as the end of good, And God alone pleased,–that’s too poor, we think, And not enough for us, by any means. Ay–Romney, I remember, told me once We miss the abstract, when we comprehend! We miss it most when we aspire, . . and fail.
I think most students would reply with either ‘exams’ or ‘coursework’. But what makes this ten times worse, is when you are trying to do these in the middle of a pandemic.
Many university students are heading towards the end of their Summer semester, and this can only mean one thing: deadlines! More so, than ever before, the pressure is on to produce something which resembles academic thought and show off what you have learnt throughout the year.
And guess what??
A pandemic makes this really hard to do!
I thought that I would talk about some of the challenges I have come across when studying and writing from home, and maybe some solutions to combat these problems:
Researching
For somebody who spends all day, everyday in the library, with an endless amount of books and resources, this has been a hard change for me. Usually, when I start researching for an essay, I walk along the bookshelves on the top floor of the library, hoping for something to jump out at me and help begin my argument. In a pandemic, I didn’t have this! I like to have a mixture of print sources and a few electronic sources (mostly Cambridge Companions – because they are god-send) just to show a range… and look like I’m well read! As university buildings and libraries are closed, the internet has never been, becoming the centre of student research.
My advice is that with these assignments, don’t do something really obscure – I know a lot of students want to write about something really out-there, but sometimes you need to cut back and use your available secondary sources as best you can! You’ll have time to do something quirky later in your degree!I have decided to focus on texts that I am relatively confident talking about, and that will make an interesting piece. – figures like Thomas Hardy or Virginia Woolf! These writers are so interesting, have a lot of research readily available to use (on so many platforms) and can easily become the centre of your academic arguments!
If your university or institute do not have as many online articles or journals or books, then never fear! There are many sites which are helping students out during the pandemic, with readily available research. Here are a few of my recommendations:
Now a lot of students are home, don’t have to cook their own meals or even get out of bed to go to a lecture, the motivation and procrastination hits a whole new level. Even for me, as a morning-person, I know that I would rather just watch Netflix in my bed, all day, instead of listening to an hour-long lecture on punctuation (trust me – the pain is real!). Whilst everyone in the house is reading or watching what they want to and I am stuck, attempting to write something that doesn’t sound like a 10-year old wrote it!
Here are a few things that I have done to help me get into the working zone:
Don’t spend hours upon hours working on one thing – work in small intervals
Music can help – I usually listen to instrumental music, or classical piano to drown out the sound of my siblings, and as an attempt to get moving
Tea breaks are a lifesaver
Plan your time – sometimes if you write nearer the deadline, the adrenaline might help!
Food always works as a motivational device
If anyone has any advice about how to combat lack of motivation or procrastination, then please let me know!
Stressing about making an essay perfect
Many of my friends are worrying about making our essays perfect – we are in our second year, and this year’s grades count! But my advice is don’t worry!
You are writing in a time with heightened anxiety and uncertainty – all the rules have been thrown out of the window and turned upside down. I think, even if you are getting up everyday, turning on your laptop and writing anything, you are already doing a great job!
A good way to keep active and creative is to try and write something everyday – whether this is an idea, something creative, a diary entry – it will keep you productive, allowing you to reflect or get into that mode of thinking again. I have found writing a blog a day for the last three weeks, has helped keep me busy and productive. And it doesn’t have to be any good!
At my university, there is so much support in regards to submission – from academic advice, to more appointments with tutors and aids for hardship. This is a strange time, and university lecturers understand that lives have been changed completely by this pandemic. I would recommend grabbing all the help you can get, and make the most of your support networks and advice.
Even if you have picked up a pen – you are doing amazing!
Oh! You Little Things 