As we come to a close....

As the semester ends I sit here and reflect back on everything this one taught me. I have learned quite a lot of things, including life lessons! This was my first semester taking 9 hours instead of 6 while working full time with two kiddos and hubby and lots and lots of stress! I believe I handled it very well. Much better than expected, that is for sure.

More specifically, through this class I learned much more about the works of the Romantic Period, the Victorian Period and everything before, after and in between. I especially enjoyed reading the three novels we read. "Great Expectations" was such an interesting work. I have always heard stories about that novel, but never had the chance to read it. The same holds true for "Frankenstein." As a child and growing up "Frankenstein" was always a highly publicized work. After reading the novel, I now see that the story was so different than the cartoons, etc. made it out to be.

"Mrs. Dalloway" was another novel I was so interested to read. Although I thoroughly enjoyed it and its messages, it was definitely not what I thought it was going to be about. It was a bit scattered for my taste but I see the reason why it resonates so strongly with all of the readers.

And as I sit here, home bound for the day and who knows how many more days to come (ice), I am thankful for all of the blessings I have received this year and will continue to receive.

Happy Holidays everyone! It's been fun!

The Disturbing Era

This week we learned about T.S. Eliot, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. This was a very exciting, not to mention challenging week for me to read all of these works (more than once) and delve into the specifics of their meaning.

T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" was a disturbing poem. The disturbing qualities in this work made it just that much more interesting. The speaker talks down on himself throughout the entire poem. Eliot's "The Waste Land," was much more disturbing than the prior work. This work essentially talks about the destruction of life and the world itself. Some of its major themes are corruption, disillusionment and chaos. I think a reason this poem resonated so strongly with its time period was because it was told in a truthful voice.

Another work that was discussed this week is Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway." I have heard so much about this novel over the years and was very excited for the opportunity to read it. I now understand why it is so highly praised and criticized at the same time. The text itself is very jumpy. There is not necessarily one single beginning, plot, climax or resolution to this story, yet there is!!! It is all about remembrance and thinking back on one's life.

I am thoroughly excited to be nearing the end of a very fruitful semester and class! Till next week.........

Thankful

Well this week we learned about a few new poets and read some interesting poetry. One poem in particular caught my eye more than the others. "Sailing to Byzantium" by W.B. Yeats was an interesting and thought provoking experience.

In it he talks about the fact that he is older and thinks back on his life. One place in the opening stanzas is not meant for him. This place is meant for the younger generation. He, however, will go to Byzantium where he will find some sort of a resting place. When he dies he will be made into a golden bird. When most people talk about re-incarnation (if you are a believer), they always talk about coming back to this earth as either an animal or human, regardless it is something living. However, Yeats wants to come back as a bird. A golden bird, not a living bird. In this sense I believe he connects art with immortality in the fact that if he is a golden bird, he will never die. Even if the end of the earth presents itself or a massive natural disaster occurs, he will still persevere in his golden form.

I think a lot can be said for this. I often wonder what mark I am going to leave on this earth and who will remember me for what and so on. I understand Yeats' interpretation of immortality and remembrance. After you are long gone, what you have achieved and done on this earth will stay with the generations to come. Art does just that. He will always be remembered for what he accomplished and in turn, he will never die.

On a side note, I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving and break from school!!!

My "Great Expectations"

This week we dove into the Victorian Era. This period paved the way for many new advances in technology, evolution and medicine, among many others. At the same time, literary scholars were beginning to write works which would influence society into the 21st century. One of those scholars is Charles Dickens. Dickens wrote "Great Expectations." This novel, without delving into the plot, has many different themes and meanings. One of those meanings which I did not touch on in my essay the power of social class. One of the reasons I believe this novel has stood the test of time is because of its universal aspect. This novel relates to many different social classes. Magwitch is a low life criminal, Pip is low class, Pumblechook is middle class and of course we have Miss Havisham and Estella which represent the elite/rich class of society.

Throughout the duration of the novel, Pip realizes that social status has nothing to do with how good of a person you are. As we see, the ones who have the most money seem to be the ones with the most flaws, whereas the ones who are poor (with the exception of Mrs. Joe), are the ones who have the biggest hearts.

A lot can also be said of the time period in which this novel was written. During the Victorian Era, there was a great distinction between all of the referenced social classes. However, the majority of this money came from commerce and hard work. Dickens here is showing the importance of working hard which can ultimately lead to money, a theme which also reinforces another meaning of the novel, which is ambition.

I began to wonder after reading this novel what my great expectations are. What about my search for self-identity? What do I want to achieve in life? My answer: I live a life complete with ambition and fulfillment. My family means the world to me and they are my motivation. My children and husband are the epitome of every dream I had as a child. I can honestly say I am one of the luckiest women in the world. The only dream which I have not achieved will be realized upon finishing college. I will be attending either OU or OCU law school and its history from there!

The Victorian Age

This week we started reading about the Victorian Era. Most people call this the Victorian Era because it was a time of many new beginnings and for the most part calmness and peacefullness under the reign of Queen Victoria between 1837 and 1901.

During this time, many developments were taking place in the fields of medicine, science, religion, and many other forms of life.

One of the authors we are reading about is Alfred Tennyson. I have heard of Tennyson for years and have never had the opportunity of reading any of his works. We got the chance to read an excerpt called "The Woman's Case is Man's." I thoroughly enjoyed reading this part of his poem. During this time period, woman were granted a few more rights than they had before. One was the Married Women's Property Act wherein women were granted the right to their share of the property when married. They were also granted the right to divorce and custody proceedings in case of divorce.

So it is safe to say that women, while alway striving to make a name for themselves, were finally able to go a little further and do just that. At the same time, Tennyson was writing his works and in this specific one, argued for the equality of man and woman. I have enjoyed reading works from their era and cannot wait to read further!

It's Time For "Frankenstein"

I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Frankenstein" this week. I was excited to finally get to read this novel and learn about Mary Shelley and a bit about her hubby.

Since I am writing my essay over this novel, I would like to talk about something that I do not talk about in my essay. There are many different aspects of this novel which bring to life its intense, deep and sometimes creepy subject matter. Out of these factors, the physical attributes of the monster was just one.

One of our focus questions for the week was to describe a reason why Victor rejected the creature. I think Victor was very shocked, surprised and turned off by what he created. He was so caught up with performing a task that he believed had never been done before, that he did not take into consideration the outcome of his work. He was so self-absorbed and one minded about his task. He grabbed random body parts and basically anything he could find to make his creation. He never took into consideration "what" he could potentially be creating. I think this is one of the many messages Shelley attempts to make in this novel. To relate it to the human race, we do this on a daily basis. Many of us just do without thinking about the potential consequences of our actions. I do not know how much of an effect this novel has had on other readers, but this is one of the life lessons, if you will, that I have taken from it.

On a personal note, I am thoroughly enjoying this class thus far and I look forward to all my future readings and assignments!! (Yes I really do!)

Poets, Poems and Paint, Oh My!

Well let me first start off by saying that I am throughly enjoying this class thus far. However, I almost wish I would have taken this class in a 16 week session and/or at the college. Reading all of the works and bio's of the authors and poets to date has been a very enlightening experience. I would like more time to study them more thoroughly and also had the experience of a professor's knowledge.

That said, I am still thrilled to have this opportunity to learn about Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron and others studied thus far. I find all of their works either disturbing, enlightening or a mixture of the two. It is easy to tell that this marks the beginning of Romanticism in that prior works I have studied before 1800 were mostly about chivarly, aristocratic values and religion. The works after 1800 seem to shift to a broader range of ideas and values, some not including aristocratic or religious ones.

The only thing I am not excited about is deciphering the language. I believe this language was called Old English although I could be wrong, but whatever it is, it is not Standard English as we know it today. This makes it a bit more difficult to figure out what is actually being said. However, it also makes the text just that much more interesting to decode, if you will, the meaning of it all.

Ok, so I finished the Poets and Poems portion of my blog, now on to the paint. Definitely not as exciting as the readings for the week, but this week I am going to help my mother take down wallpaper in her entire house which has been there since her house was built in 1962. Once that task is completed, we are going to paint the entire house! Thank goodness we have help, nonetheless, I am not thrilled about it. I guess I will be taking my laptop to her house and logging in to Moodle and reading as much as I can to give me something entertaining to do!

Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts! Happy Halloween!