Closer to Nature in Death

When first reading May Swenson’s poem I Will Lie Down I began to wonder if the speaker is mindful or not to the environment around her. I also began think on how the nature may correlate with the speaker.  Towards the end of the poem I began to realize that in death she seems the closest to nature and perhaps as she lays there she feels closer to nature. 

In Swenson’s poem the speaker seems to know what is going on around her but she doesn’t seem to appreciate it.  This is most apparent in the fifth stanza as the speaker states, “I will sleep face down in the burnt meadow no hearing the sound of water over stones.”   She knows that there is a water source near her since she mentions it, however she does hear the sound of the water, whether it is because she is too far away or for what I believe is that she doesn’t want to hear it and is blocking out the sound.  I came to this conclusion because in the poem the speaker states that she slept face down.  Sleeping faced down she is not able to see what is going around her and yet she knows about the environment around her.  After seeing everything around her, she chose to lie face down and when doing so she chose not to acknowledge what was going on around her was more concerned about her own death.

The nature in the poem relates most to the fact that the speaker is dying.  In the last stanza of the poem the speaker states, “Let snow hide the whiteness of my bones.”  The snow covering her bones suggest the association between her death and winter.  This then connects the speaker waiting to death to overtake her, to the season of autumn.  Autumn can be considered the age before death since many plants begin to die off or prepare for hibernation before the winter.  I believe that Swenson used the seasons to show the relationship between the speaker waiting death since both autumn and the speaker prepare for the next stage in life whether it be winter or the end of life.

The speaker though out the poem seems to be the closest to nature as her life comes to an end.  Even though she doesn’t to acknowledge the environment around her she still seems very close to nature in the way she dies.  There are many environments that the speaker could be preparing to die in such as at home in bed or in a hospital, however she decides to die peacefully within nature.  Nature often has peaceful qualities and dyeing within nature gives her death a peaceful attribute.  I believe that she may have wished to be closer to nature and that is why she prepared to die here.  Perhaps by dying in nature she could become one with it before she took her last breath. 

I really enjoyed reading I will Lie Down because of the correlation between nature and death.  For me the poem creates the sense that death can be beautiful because of its balance between the peaceful atmosphere of nature and the darker undertones of death from the speaker.  This would be a poem to keep analyzing to understand more on how nature and the speaker’s death relates.  I am still curious if the speaker may actually wish she was closer to nature in her life and that is why she decided to be closer to nature in death.  

References:

Swenson, M. (2003). I Will Lie Down. In L. Anderson, Sisters of The Earth (Second ed., p. 53). New York: Vintage Books.

Dracula Criticism

Currently I have read Bram Stoker’s Dracula in my British Literature class and I find this book fascinating.  Throughout the book Stoker gives the illusion that Count Dracula is real by incorporating documented articles, letters and Journals.  The book is also interesting on the way it incorporates themes of race, sexuality, science, religion and superstition.  Even though most of these elements are seen within the text I wondered on what other aspects could be found in the book and so I looked for other views on Stoker’s book.  One article that spiked my interest was “Racialization, Capitalism, and Aesthetics in Stoker’s Dracula” by Patricia Mckee and I was able to gain new insight on parts of the novel that incorporate Capitalism.  

            Mckee brings up the activity of late capitalism she witnessed in the novel and explains why capitalism is included in Dracula.  In the nineteenth century capitalism faced a crisis because underdeveloped territory was beginning to diminish and expansion of nation states came to end.  Like many parts of Dracula, Stoker use real events to create a realistic aspect to the novel; it is understandable that he would include capitalism in the novel since it was a problem that countries had to face during the time.

Mckee, P. (n.d.). Racialization, Capitalism, and Aesthetics in Stroker's Dracula. Salem Press. Retrieved 04 22, 2015

Classes in the world

In British news the Green party is working hard to gain votes for their cause.  The Green party devote themselves to making the environment better for everyone and to give a voice to the voiceless.  Currently they are going out of their way to the city’s deprived areas to gain votes form the working class and ethnic majorities.  This news ties into some of the themes of society classes that are brought up within the novels I am currently reading in my British literature class.

In the novel, Villette by Charlotte Bronte, the book contains class structures through pedigrees and social positions.  This novel brings up issues of social class around 1800’s around the time the book was written.  The current book, Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, also brings up the issue of differences in class amongst the characters.  Many of the same class problems of the 1800’s continued into the 1900’s when Mrs. Dalloway was created.  Over time a few things about social classes have changed but today through society some of the differences in class are still noticeable like the working class in the deprived areas of the city. 

To learn more about the Green party and their complain visit here:  http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2015/apr/21/green-party-middle-class-bristol-west-video   

Beatrix Potter: Children's Books

Beatrix Potter does a great job at appealing to her younger audience by using cute, cuddly animals as characters for her Books.  The way she illustrates each book only emphasizes the amount of lovability for each character.  With these cute characters she is able to entertain her audience while sill adding a moral for the children to learn.  There are two of her works in particular that portray both Beatrix Potter’s way of capturing her audience and teaching her audience a lesson in an entertaining manner.

           “The Tale of Tom Kitten” is one of my favorite children’s books by Beatrix Potter because of the characters.  Its main characters are three adorable, little kittens that are forced to wear clothes for their mother.  Their mother wishes the kittens to look nice for company so the kittens struggle to keep their clothes on and clean.  Most little girls find kittens to be cute, cuddly creatures that they wish to touch; by adding clothes to the kittens, not only creates more of the plot, but also adds to how adorable the kittens are portrayed.  Beatrix Potter with the use of these cute character convoys the message that it is important to listen to your mother.  The three kittens are required to wear clothes by their mother for company visiting and she warns them that they must stay clean and that they should stay away from the Puddle-Ducks.  Even though the kittens listen to their mother at first, they still end up getting dirty and then losing their clothes to the Puddle-Ducks because of this they are punished.
            “The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit” is a story of two cute rabbits that any child finds adorable.  However, this story even with these cute characters teaches the audience an important lesson.  The fierce bad Rabbit is a mean rabbit and picks on the nice gentle Rabbit throughout the story.  In the end of the book the fierce bad Rabbit pays his misdeeds by losing his tail to a hunter.  This is how Beatrix Potter displays the lesson that if you cause misfortune to others that misfortune will befall you.

John Keats: Ode on a Grecian Urn

In Ode on a Grecian Urn, John Keats efficiently portrays that simple objects can capture a moment in time.  In the second stanza Keats writes, “Fair, youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve; She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!”   This part of the poem indicates that the young couple shown upon this Urn are frozen in this moment of time. The boy playing his song for eternity never able to gain a kiss from his lover and the girl will always be there to listen to him play. This part of the poem can cause the audience to feel sorrow for the couple because they are trapped and unable to move on from this point in their life; from this section the audience is also left to wonder what would have happened if the couple they were able to continue on.  Another example of the moment of time being captured is when Keats writes, “And, little town, thy streets for evermore Will silent be; and not a soul to tell Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.” in the forth stanza.  With this line the audience is left to wonder why this town is empty but this mystery of the town will stay secret forever because the Urn is only showing this moment of time.

Emily Bronte: The Night is Darkening Round Me

Emily Bronte’s poem, The Night is Darkening Round Me, is an interesting poem because of the way it presents the feeling of suffocation and loneliness.  The night darkening around her, the giant trees weighed down with snow and the storm that is quickly descending are images that allow the reader to imagine these surroundings and creating the feel of suffocation from the environment within the scenes.  Throughout the poem, the narrative is alone facing the darkness and the feeling of suffocation; the line “the wild winds coldly blow” adds to this sense of loneliness. These feelings that this poem provides, leaves the audience to wonder if Emily Bronte felt suffocated or lonely in her own life.

Villette by Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte novels are unique because the way the author incorporates her own experiences within the texts. Villette is no exception to this as the novel includes parts of Charlotte’s visit to Brussels. As Charlotte Bronte’s third and last novel that she wrote the text is an interesting novel because of the attention to close detail that the main character, Lucy Snowe, illustrates throughout the book.

Lucy goes into great vivid details in her surrounding which allows the reader to imagine the scenery. This small passage from the text illustrates the experience of Lucy explains to her readers when she travels to the concert with her godmother, “the sight of the stars glinting fitfully though the trees as we rolled along the avenue; then the freer burst of the night-sky when we issued forth to the open chaussee, the passage through the city gates, the lights there burning, the guard there posted, the pretence of inspection to which we there submitted, and which amused us so much”. This section creates the image of how fascinating the city gates are with the dazzling lights of the city and the beautiful night sky above.

The main character, Lucy, also adds details about the people around her getting the reader to understand how the characters are viewed Lucy. A larger passage from the text describes Lucy’s view of Mrs. Cholmondeley in the dress that she plans on wearing to a party, “Beautiful she looked: so young, so fresh, and with a delicacy of skin and flexibility of shape altogether English, and not found in the list of continental female charms. Her dress was new, costly, and perfect. I saw at a glance that it lacked none of those finishing details which cost so much, and give to the general effect such an air of tasteful completeness. I viewed her from top to toe. She turned airily round that I might survey her on all sides. Conscious of her charms, she was in her best humour: her rather small blue eyes sparkled gleefully. She was going to bestow on me a kiss, in her school-girl fashion of showing her delights”. Lucy views Mrs. Cholmondeley as being a feminine and beautiful woman, because of the details that Lucy includes it leads the reader to believe that Mrs. Cholmondeley is an attractive woman.

With the amount of detail that Charlotte allows the character Lucy show the reader, makes the novel very fascinating. When reading this novel its important take the time to notice these details that are incorporated with Villette because these details allow the reader to broaden their imagination and see life in another person’s point of view.