Literature Rocks

The Call-For-Paper article that I found is “The Treatment of nature by romantic poets”. It discusses the Romantic Era poets who were lovers and admirers of nature. Among these were Keats, Wordsworth, and Percy Shelley Bysshe. Since my paper will be about poets of the Romantic Era and their poetry, I chose an article which sounded intriguing to me: Treatment of Nature by Romantic Poets” backed up by information on Edgar Allan Poe and his influences, which included Lord Byron (George Byron), John Keats and Percy Shelley Bysshe. The first paper tells about the descriptions and ideas of nature by different poets and the backup explains the techniques and command of language which Poe exhibited and how they will apply in my paper on Poets and Poetry.

Since my paper will be centered around Romantic Era poets and their poetry, I read several articles on how nature and the human mind are connected. Our relationship with the natural environment can be understood through the concept of biophilia and the biophilia hypothesis. This term is defined as humans’ innate need to affiliate with other life such as plants and animals. This essentially means that humans have a desire to be near nature.

As I was searching through the CFPs, there did seem to be a lot of papers geared toward politics and government. Education probably came in second as far as subjects. Many of the subjects listed are actually related to each other: politics are related to education by the theoretical objectives of education to achieve politically active individuals. Most of the conferences mentioned in these papers were between February and October of this year. October 12-14, our own Dr. Tolliver will be presenting a talk on Edgar Allan Poe!

I haven’t got it all figured out yet, but thanks to my discussion with Dr. Gates ( thanks so much for the talk), I think I finally have an idea about what I will write about. My paper will be on the rural side of living. The country seems to hold a fascination for me. Poets like William Wordsworth in the Romantic Era and some other Modernist poets, such as William Carlos Williams seem to gravitate their settings toward georgic or landscape poetry. A contrast between them would be very interesting. I have had several questions pop into my mind as I began to think about this thesis.

When comparing poets some of the questions which arise are: What was the origin of each poet? Similar or different? Which era were they writing in and who were their influences? What was their writing style? What was the incentive for writing a specific poem? In the poem, is nature nurturing the protagonist or is the protagonist nurturing nature? Why do they choose to write in the country rather than in a city such as London or Edinburgh? These questions I hope to be able to answer in a clear and concise way, so I guess I will be comparing and contrasting the poets and their poetry to answer these questions.

The Elegiac Sonnets written by Charlotte Smith uses nature to express her complex emotions. Just like in the case of Reginald St. Leon, she had to come to the rescue of her family after her husband, Benjamin, chose to continue to live way “beyond his means”. His father obviously knew of the problem and would not put his son in his will. The poem that I chose to dwell on the most was To Melancholy . Metaphorically speaking, Smith is really talking to herself. She isn’t sad, she is being thoughtful and introspective, and thinking real deep thoughts. Is there a possibility that she enjoys being melancholy?

When she mentions “Autumn spreads her evening veil”and “half-leafless wood that breathes the gale:” she is using pathetic fallacy or personification. In the winter time, it gets darker toward the evening, so an “evening veil” is a metaphor. Line 7 and 8 contain alliteration: the S and M sounds of “Strange sounds” and “mournful melodies”. Other literary devices used in Melancholy are the apostrophe and paradoxes. You will find these on lines 12-14. On line 10, Smith is describing meeting a guy named “Otway” who probably lived somewhere close because she speaks of “his native stream”. Someone who could help out with the money situation would be nice. That’s what dreams are made of, but it would seem that Charlotte Smith was sad and melancholy most of the time.

Smith was also sensitive about several different types of criticisms, one of them being women making money by writing. What can you do when your man wants to spend his money on everything but the family? Her argument with Hannah More who had rescued her from poverty, really started over money, which Smith had made from her writing. The reason behind More’s not handing the money over was because she did not want Benjamin Smith to get his greedy hands on it and spend it on himself. At least, that is what she claimed. The family was imprisoned for a while for debt and that is when The Elegiac Sonnets were written.

Wordsworth reigns today as one of the top Romantic Era poets. Sometimes, poetry can be confusing and difficult to read like Wordsworth’s Preface but by using the language of the peasant poets, Michael: A Pastoral Poem, becomes a very down-to-earth and endearing poem. This type of transitioning shows how talented William Wordsworth really was. There are only a few poets who I would consider to be on the literary level with him: William Shakespeare, William Blake (that’s a lot of Williams), John Keats and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. These are not peasant poets, but many of the peasant poets were very good also.

John Clare, one of the peasant poets and author of Remembrances, mourns the loss of open fields and the rights of the local people to carry out their duties as farmers and shepherds. In this poem, there are a lot of ampersands which confused me at first, then I realized that perhaps a common person is not going to write everything out, they will probably use a type of shorthand. So ampersands, misspelled words (in the opinion of an educated person), and missing or different punctuation is to be expected. In this poem, Clare touches on past memories, remembering how it used to be before the wealthy people came in, bought all the land up, and fenced everything in.

Clare’s Written in a Thunder Storm July 15th 1841, is all about nature and natural things also. The peasant poets knew these things and dealt with them on a regular basis. So the poetry could be about their way of life and generally was. Wordsworth was not a working poet but he chose to write his poetry like a laborer and poet. It is an amazing fact that people would actually come out to the fields and watch the peasant poets work. Whatever your background may be, this genre of poetry can cause deep emotional feelings if you let it. The loss of the farm at the end of Michael: A Pastoral Poem shows the effect of what these poor poets lived and dealt with in their lives.

The first 50 lines of Wordsworth’s poem, The Prelude, sounds like he is answering someone’s question. He does speak of prophecy in these lines, “Even in the very words which I have here /Recorded: to the open fields I told/ A prophecy:…”(Balfour 117). This poem is about his life; he wrote it over a period of years and he is giving a kind of prophecy of his own life. Wordsworth does not seem like God or a deity to me, he was a poet, a good one, yes, but his poems can be confusing at times. I still try to go back and reread The Prelude to answer some of my questions. There is one thing missing in his prophecy, (if you want to consider his poetry prophecy), a second voice! Balfour notes that it “requires at least two voices” (p.118), the voice and the echo of the voice. Is there a possibility that he is thinking of Coleridge as the second voice?

Stepping away from prophecy a little bit, I think about the language of the poem itself. Wordsworth was enamored with nature and his poetry reflects that love. The poem was autobiographical and reflected his views on life when he was younger. In the sixth book, lines 631-635, (This particular book describes Cambridge and the Alps) Wordsworth personifies nature, “”the brook and the road were fellow travelers”, winds thwarting winds, bewildered and forlorn”, and “the rocks that muttered close upon our ears,” (p. 421). Like Wordsworth, when the Alps are mentioned my first visualization is of a snow-capped mountain range and the tranquility found there.

The common people of that time had a great respect for nature and the world around them; I believe that this was something that Wordsworth was trying to point out in his poetry: that nature is God’s creation and the people who live around nature are closest to God. Michael is a very touching poem and Wordsworth did a wonderful job of depicting the life of a pastoral man and his family. In a letter to Thomas Poole he wrote, “I have attempted to give a picture of a man of strong mind and lively sensibility,” (Romantic Poetry p. 345). Michael sacrificed his greatest treasure to help someone else and as I read it, I could almost see what was going to happen in the end, but I had hoped that it would have a happy ending. It’s just too bad that Luke, Michael’s son, did not follow in his father’s footsteps. As a matter of fact, you could almost say that he was following Reginald St. Leon and his misadventures.

The Prelude is an autobiographical poem which explores Wordsworth’s life. His descriptions of nature interest me a lot because I love nature. This poem traces the growth of the poet’s mind by stressing the mutual consciousness and spiritual communion between the worlds of nature and man. In the course of the poem, literal journeys become the metaphorical vehicle for spiritual journeys. As the speaker ages, the allusions to nature become less tranquil or innocent. At some point in adult life, nature is no longer alluded to because we grow up.

That said, I begin to wonder if Wordsworth’s use of ‘spiritual references, really describe how his life was proceeding at that time or was he just remembering his past? “I believe/ that there are spirits, which, when they would form/ A favoured being…” (ll. 68-70). By personifying items such as boats as persons, he is using the magical element of imagination. Wordsworth on line 93 refers to the boat as “her” and line 106 “”like a swan” describing the progress of that boat as he rows it across the water. The vision of a swan on a lake is a magical and beautiful sight. References to magical or spiritual beings or elements add an extra layer of contemplation to the poetry. One of those references is found on ll 96-97, “A rocky steep uprose/ Above the cavern of the willow tree, …” It is hard to envision a huge rock rising out of the water but the mind of a child can be perplexing for an adult. Following those lines, he continues to explain his feelings and emotions as very depressing. He refers to it as “a darkness, call it solitude…” ; (ll. 123). Wordsworth has aged and a little more of that childhood magic has disappeared.

The first 330 lines of this poem give a nice description of the poets’ life and show how close to nature William Wordsworth actually was. The main point that I find, is that nature and small children are connected and as we age, we lose the innocence which we have as children. With that innocence comes imagination. As a child, it is easy to believe in magical elements, monsters, and fairies as we walk through a forest or field of grass. As an adult, many times we don’t even notice what our environment is. This is the experiment that William Wordsworth tested from 1799 until the end of his life; fifty years is a long time to study an idea or thought!

While reading from the Preface to Lyrical Ballads, I found it very interesting that William Wordsworth published this text as an experiment and he continually defers to the readers interests. He wasn’t sure whether he would please or displease his readers and seemed that he was surprised to learn “that I have pleased a greater number than I ventured to hope I should please.” (p. 334) Wordsworth wanted the reader to make his own conclusions and opinions of the poetry and subject. To further this goal, he uses a low or rustic life style because country people speak in a plainer language (of that day) and represent the pastoral lifestyle. In his poetry, Wordsworth states, “the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can attain their maturity,” (p. 335). A shepherd does not have to be socially correct.

Wordsworth mentions “metrical composition” in this article and I will admit that I had to look that one up to remind myself what it was. It is poetry in a form that embodies beautiful thought, feeling, or action in an imaginative and artistic construction. After reading “Michael”, I fully realized what he was talking about. This is a tale which even though it is in poetic form, it is also prose. An older father who sends his son to make money to save the farm and keep it out of “stranger’s hands” (351) reminds me of Silas Marner by George Eliot. Michael leads a simple but solitary life until his wife gives birth to their son, Luke. Then Michael is no longer alone and has another male to bond with, while lavishing all his love on him. When he has to send him away, he is alone again and the son never returns, leaving his father to die alone. Another connection that Michael has with Silas Marner is the community; as Luke prepares to leave, “And all the Neighbours as he pass’d their doors/Came forth, with wishes and with farewell pray’rs,” (350). The pastoral lifestyle is hard work and lonely but community is important to them also.

Wordsworth’s work is all about nature and how it provides a positive influence on the human mind. People who spend a lot of time in nature retain an innocence and nobility that is not attached to a city dweller. The transformative powers of the mind are available to all regardless of class or background. Nature strengthens the imagination and uniqueness of an individual.

Godwin’s story pf St. Leon raised many questions for me but I will narrow it down to just a couple. Is the death of Marguerite St. Leon an allusion to the death of Mary Wollstonecraft, wife of William Godwin? There is a distinct possibility that could have been a contributing factor to the way the story proceeds. Mary Wollstonecraft died of sepsis, a condition which can be caused from either an infection or some type of shock. Marguerite died after delivery a dead baby prematurely. The new shock of the death of Hector, along with the rioting and mobbing according to the book was the cause of her delivering the baby early. Once she got to Barcelona, I believe she had had enough and chose to give up.

Professor Canuel’s discussion with us in class raised another question: Is Marguerite an angel or did she have some other reason for doing the wonderful things for her husband? As a new wife, she was happy but I believe her father gave her in marriage to help guide him into making better decision and being a more rounded husband. When the children came along as a mother, Marguerite has a new incentive for her actions. She tries to be sure that her family was fed, clothed, and nurtured. By doing this, perhaps she was worried that if her children saw any antagonistic actions between their parents, it could cause them troubles. All in all, I still feel that Marguerite, after guessing her husband’s secret, felt that magic or whatever it might have been was a poor way to create wealth. I’m not sure if she understood that her husband would live forever. One thing is certain after reading the book, Reginald St. Leon found out too late that he messed up badly when he accepted the secret from the stranger. (I don’t use his given name here because I can’t pronounce or spell it).

Professor Canuel’s discussion was very enlightening and I hope that Dr. Gates will pass on my regards and thanks to him for our private discussion of St. Leon.

If it weren’t for the secret and the stranger, who knows whether Reginald St. Leon would have ever kicked his habit of addiction or continued to make poor choices. Godwin in “Political Justice, Magical Science and Harry Potter”, “argues against the idea of punishment as a corrective against vice:…” (p. 407). How many times was Reginald thrown in prison for having money that had no visible source? If the punishment fits the crime, it would seem that good, old Reggie has definitely been punished! He has lost his mother, his wife, his only son, and his daughters do not know that he is even alive. The loss of family and all connections is the loss of any shelter at all, morally. Unfortunately, Reginald does not realize this until it is too late. He is able to give his son one last gift without him knowing, the gift of a dowry for Pandora. He is still alone as he was when he accepted the secret of the Stranger.

A question that I would definitely like to ask of Mark Canuel when he comes to our class is “How can Reginald cure himself of “ambition’ and “pomp” when his cultivated family demands both?” In reading his paper, I see where he draws a comparison between his son’s love for his mother which is regenerated in his love for Pandora. The only reason that Pandora was able to marry Charles was through “beneficent fraud” committed by his father. You could call it a parting gift, hoping that Charles will be happy and understand the relevance and need for family. This almost sounds sappy in Reginald’s direction but I really do feel for the guy at the end.

The Philosopher’s Stone is just an inanimate article, or is it? No one knows if it is a rock, an elixir, powder, or what, but it did bring ruin and loneliness to Reginald as well as the stranger. Why else would he die penniless and alone? The reason for that is the morals and values of family and friends is corrupted when wealth and fame are added. To seek after wealth, fame, and immortality is a to demean oneself; having family and friends to support and show their love for you makes them the treasure which we should each seek after,

It would seem that whatever Reginald St. Leon does with the secret that he has been given, his efforts put him into trouble. The biggest and most noted question seems to be, where has he gotten all the money that he throws around?”

From the Middle Ages until the late 17th century, the most sought after item was The Philosopher’s Stone. In the 19th century, it was conclusively disproved by scientific experiments. In the first Harry Potter book, The Philosopher’s Stone was renamed as “The Sorcerer’s Stone” by J. K. Rowling. The stone may not have been a stone but a powder or other type of substance. It has been considered mythical and not real. It would seem that this is the gift from the stranger to Reginald St. Leon but it does repeat what has happened to the stranger throughout the rest of the book.

The gift that Reginald is trying to make into something positive is “The Philosopher’s Stone”. That stone, in Godwin’s book, represents capitalism’s ability to multiply money. In today’s world, one way to enrich one’s life would be to invest in stocks and bonds, or in the case of some women, marry a rich man. When St. Leon is trying to “better the lives of the Turkish people”, he is actually creating a culture of fear and passivity, in which the people begin to see everything, including themselves and other people of their land, as objects to be owned and managed, bought and sold. A common man who works for his living and wants to provide for his family with his own hands would consider it an insult to his manhood when someone comes along to provide for him without a catch. This is the standpoint of the people, the bashaw and eventually of Bethlem Gabor. When St. Leon refuses to go to Constantinople and then decides he needs a friend, he is making another bad decision. Too bad he doesn’t have another female to help guide him!

That decision, of course, lands him in an underground prison. On page 402, Reginald is given a chance to get rid of the ‘secret’ which has caused him to lose his family, his reputation, and his honor. At this point in the book, I would tell him, “By all means, give him that stupid stone and be done with it.”