Gerald Manley Hopkins

I truly enjoyed Hopkins' poem, "Spring and Fall". In the beginning of the poem he talks about a girl who is "grieving" over the leaves falling. This poem sounds like a grown up teaching an innocent child of how things may come and go. Generally when people grieve it's over something like a person who has died, but she is so innocent she is able to grieve over leaves, which she seems to believe is dying. He explains to the girl that "As the heart grows older, It will come to such sights colder," which i believe he is telling her that, as she grows up, she will experience much more things such as true death, and other cruel things which she doesn't quite understand just yet. As the leaves are falling, they symblize death. Leaves are always falling, and people are always dying. Children begin to realize death more and more when they grow up, and this child will one day realize that leaves aren't as important than people dying, and she will eventually no longer "spare a sigh" for the leaves.

Virginia Woolf

After reading Virginia Woolf's biography, I realized she had a very troubling childhood. She had so many breakdowns, I guess she just couldn't take it anymore and decided to take her own life. In her writing, "The Lady in the Looking-Glass: A reflection," I believe she was actually speaking about her own reflection, or her life's experiencing may have influenced her greatly in this piece of work. For me this story was quite vague, and I was not quite sure what Woolf was talking about. She first talks about a mirrow and the place where the mirror was located. Then she finally introduces Isabella Tyson, a rich woman, who seemed to have all the riches of the world. Although she had all these nice possessions, as she looked into the mirror, "she stood naked in that pitiless light. And there was nothing. Isabella was perfectly empty." she may have all the riches in the world, but it does not buy happiness. Woolf may have been searching for peace and happiness within herself for so long, and it may have helped her to write how she was feeling about herself in this story.

Victorian Ladies and Gentlemen

Men and women during the Victorian age had specific role during this time. Middle class women were the ones who managed the household, and men managed business and things that pertained outside of the home. Men and women did not have equal opportunities to go to school. It was more important for men to go to school not really for intellect but to help improve character (555). Women’s right did not exist, and basically women’s duty then was to take care of their own men. According to the book, “They could not work outside the home; they could not vote; they had no legal rights, even over their own children; they could not attend university or enter the professions”
(556). There were women such as Florence Nightingale who did not believe in this and tried to make a career outside the home. On the other hand there were women like Sarah Ellis who accepted the fact that women needed to stay in their place, and just wanted for her family and herself to be happy. There were different out looks on the roles of women during these times. Things have completely changed since then in our society, because women are now seen taking over companies, working outside the home, and we are also now allowed to vote.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

One of my favorite poems by Percy Shelley is “Ozymandias”. He is writing about a statue of Ozymandias, also known as Ramses II, who is thought to be the pharaoh from the book of Exodus whom challenged Moses (399). In the poem the reader learns that all that is left of the statue are the feet, and the head which is “half sunk” in the sand (399). Ramses was once a great king, but his reign has now since ended, just like the statue, which use to be a great monument, and now there is hardly anything left. The speaker says that Ozymandias was “cold,” but was powerful enough that he still was “mocked” by other tyrants after his day. The statue represents Ozymandias rule because, like him, the statue stood great and tall, but it only lasted for so long. The statue is now “sunk” in the sand, and it just shows that nothing really last forever. As great as he was, he is now forgotten, and the statue is also in ruins.

Thomas Carlyle

After reading all so much poetry, Thomas Carlyle’s stories were a bit of fresh air. I thoroughly enjoyed his story “The Irish Widow” from Gospel of Mammonism. He writes of an Irish widow with three kids. She goes asking for charity for she has nothing. It is actually quite a sad story, but I think has a good moral at the end. She is infected with typhus fever, and no one shows any sympathy probably for the fact that she is Irish. As sick as she was, no one lends a helping hand. She died of fever, along with 17 other people who caught it from her. I believe Carlyle was trying to make the point that people should not judge other people or look down upon them because they are less fortunate. Those who were “better” than her also caught the fever as well. This story kind of reminded me of the Beatles song “Eleanor Rigby” because no one really paid attention to those people in the song, and they will be forgotten forever. Well I don’t know if anyone else would have gotten the comparison, but as soon as I read this story, the song started playing in my mind. The Irish widow was pleading with those around her saying “I am your sister, bone of your bone; one God made us: ye must help me!” I don’t think she was referring to those people as her biological sister but as a spiritual sister, because we are all made in God’s image and we are spiritually all brothers and sisters. While the physician is speaking, he makes us realize that we are all created equal regardless if we are poor, Irish, rich, or etc. Those people let an innocent person die all because she was not like them. He uses the word “impossible” repetitively throughout the story, making different uses for it. Carlyle first uses it when the people deny that the woman can be their sister, “No, Ipossible; thou art no sister of ours.” He then continues on and the doctor uses it somewhat mocking the people who denied her, because now 17 people are dead, and it is impossible for her to be their sister. Without those people’s help the woman and 17 other people are dead. Was it impossible for the people to help, would it have been impossible for the 17 people who died to live if those people helped the Irish woman. This story makes us realize we are all the same, and we should help the needy.

The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a time when technology began to take over the world. Textile mills and railroad tracks were popping up all over England. The factories were opening up doors for more people such as women and children which were disrupting the typical “family life”. There were people who benefiting from these new improvements, but not so much for the working, poor class. Lots of authors during that time believed that the industrial revolution was an evil time, and often portrayed it as a dark time covered by smoke and it was a detrimental to society. It inspired writers such as Charles Dickens and Thomas Carlyle to write of the poverty and life of people affected by the industrial revolution. Children were put to work as well, even for 16 hours a day. Population increased in London as well, and so did London. For some people it was a time of luxury and growth, but for others, it was a time of hardship and poverty.

John Keats

Keats was an extremely talented writer for it is a shame he died so young. I was thinking to myself maybe if he were to have continued medicine and apothecary would his life been a tad bit longer? Of course if he lived in our time and age, he would probably be living longer due to the medical advances we have today. Anyways, while reading his works, I could sense sadness in his writings. This may have been due to his childhood. He had to bear the loss of his father at a young age and his mom took off for a few years and came back sick later for him to take care of her on her death bed. He has a sad tone in most of the poems. One poem that touched me was “Ode on Melancholy”. He also has a love for nature. Every stanza mentions a part of nature from animals to the weather. He was a very sensitive person. I think he is talking about a man who has lost his loved one from the line
“his soul shall taste the sadness of her might,
And be among her cloudy trophies hung” (442).
After she died, the heavens poured out as if it was crying and he pointed out that

“Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud” (442).
It was a sad poem, but beautifully written. John Keats was a fantastic author who lived a short life, he would’ve accomplished a lot more.