El Fin

Today marks the last day of my English Literature since 1800 class. I have to admit this class wasn't as grueling as I quite expected it would be. I was basing most of bias on English Literature to 1800. I have actually come to appreciate British Literature more than I had 8 weeks ago. I enjoyed most of the poems and I have always enjoyed "Frankenstein" and "Great Expectations." I think at the beginning of this class I was asked to write about what I hoped I would get out of this class. My hope was that I larded to appreciate English Literature. I can truly say that my hope came true. I'm glad that I was removed from some of my ignorance. More so that I had the opportunity to be removed from some of my ignorance. This is why I'm grateful to be able to go to college. I feel that I have learned so much from my time here. It has left me cultured and aware. It has removed my prejudices and I have gained much appreciation for other cultures.

Mrs. Dalloway

I'm closing in on the last week of my 8 week course of English Lit. Since 1800. I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised with the course. I had small expectations that I would like the literature based on the literature I read in English Lit to 1800. This read my assignment was Mrs Dalloway. It was a story focused on character development that takes place in a day. One of the characters really stuck out to me and he was Septimus. Septimus was in the war and developed "shellshock." We know shellshock today as PTSD. Septimus tries to get help but ultimately takes his own life. I had to ponder about this character a bit. I felt sorry for him. Probably because I have known soldiers with PTSD and it is a very real disorder. Fortunately (if you could call it that), more is known about the disorder today and there is medicine and therapy available today. At the time Mrs Dalloway was written, although fictional, obviously not as much was known then as it was today. My heart goes out to anyone suffering from the disorder.

Website and Poetry

This week for class I created a website based on The Garden of Love by William Blake. Please check out Seth's Website for The Garden of Love. I also read The Waste Land and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot. I would have to say that I enjoyed Prufrock more. I felt that the poem could easily be tweaked into a song. The first stanza of the poem reminds me of a song. I think this is why the poem is still popular today. I also read W. B. Yeats' When you are Old and James Joyces' The Dead. The poems and Joyces' short story had very much in common. The common theme to me was that life is too short. Whether it was procrastination or being an unhappy person life is too short to not be happy. I think my favorite out of the 4 works was When you are Old. The poem is about loving someone unconditional. We are all growing to grow old and our looks will fade. Beauty is truly only skin deep. Find someone you connect with that you love spending time with. Find someone who you can work with and truly be a partner with. Who says you can't learn from literature?

Great Expectations

Speaking of Expectations my appreciate of English Literature is browning. I am not a fan of early English literature but I'm liking the literature I'm reading in English Literature since 1800. This week I've been studying Great Expectations. I always loved this story and it's been great reconnecting with it over the last week. I even went back and watched the latest film adaptation. There are actually two different versions on netflix right now. There are a few stories within the story of Great Expectations. I tend to focus on the relationship between Pip and Estella. There is much psychology going on here. Estella has been trained from an early age to break the hearts of men. Pip falls into Miss Havisham's trap and falls in lust with Estella and ends up chasing her for pretty much the rest of his life. The relationship between Estella and Pip almost mirrors the relationship of Forrest Gump and Jenny. I haven't googled it yet but I bet there was some inspiration in Dickens' Great Expectations for Winston Grooms' Forrest Gump.

Victorian Period

This past week I have studied several poets from the Victorian period for my English Lit. Class. What I found interesting was this was a period of time where people began to doubt Institutional Christianity. It can be seen in the poem "The Forsaken Merman," by Matthew Arnold. In the poem the protagonist Margaret leaves her life in the sea with merman to return to religion. She has a family with the merman and seems quite happy there but wants she remembers Easter she returns to the shore. She seems that she is afraid that she will lose her soul if she remains with the merman and does to devote herself to religion. These poems and other stories were some of the only media that people had available to them so I'm sure they helped aid in this period of doubt.

Frankenstein

I've recently been studying Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I first discovered this work when I was 7 years old. I love the horror genre and although Frankenstein has never been one of my favorites it paved the way for the my favorite works in the genre. I was not able to watch the movie's as I ran out of time. I will be going back and watching them as soon as I am able to however. The main theme of the novel that I grasped was that one shouldn't play God. The story is actually more relevant today than I'm sure Mary Shelley ever envisioned, from Stem Cell research, in vitro, and DNA replication. Victor creates life from death however unethical as it may be. Victor succumbs to his moral dilemma after his Monster is created. Victor has to pay the price for his creation. The monster begins to kill members of his family. When Victor's brother is killed Victor can't even muster up the courage to tell everyone how his brother really died. That it was the monster. For if he were to tell the truth he would be seen as responsible for the murder as the monster that carried out the murder. It's amazing that Frankenstein is still recognizable in pop cutler. There have been many films, tv shows and even songs about the creature. Every year there is at least one trick or treater that dresses up as Frankenstein. I like to think of him as the teddy bear of all monsters. He's not really that scary at least not like Dracula or the Wolfman. Not that those guys scare me but you catch my drift.

English Lit

I recently began taking English Lit since 1800. Honestly I wasn't that thrilled after taking English Lit to 1800. I was not a fan of the early English literature. Not only was it difficult to understand but I was not a fan of the content. After 2 weeks of class I enjoy the content of English Lit since 1800. I can recall reading "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner as a senior in high school and I felt a since of relief when I saw it was on the reading list for my new class. As a senior in high school I found out that Iron Maiden performed an interpretation of the poem so I went and bought the cd. This time I simply pulled up a live concert of the song. Technology sure has changed! Also on my reading list for next week is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I first read an adaptation of this novel in 2nd grade. I also read Phantom of the Opera and Dracula. My 2nd grade teacher told my parents she was concerned because all I read were horror novels. They may be horror but they are some of the most famous works of literature. I'm excited to read Frankenstein. I'll also watch the movie that Robert De Niro starred in. I've never seen that one. I'm not sure that it could compare to the original.