One-hundred-and-ninety years ago today, Emily Jane Brontë was born... and it's not like she's been forgotten this year.
The No Coward Soul exhibit at the Brontë Parsonage recently received her famous portrait by Branwell - the portrait that was once part of the 'Gun Group' portrait... it's not like the National Portrait Gallery was actually displaying it, which is probably wise, considering its condition.
To celebrate Emily's birthday, I'd say... read some Wuthering Heights or a few of her incredible poems. If you can, go out onto the moors and see what she saw, the raw power of nature and its incredible hand...
This year really is the year of Wuthering Heights, though. There's the ITV adaptation, the big-screen adaptation... for a book that nobody liked to begin with, its recovered rather well.
Happy birthday, Emily.
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Friday, 25 July 2008
Votes for Women!
I've discovered why I shouldn't watch Mary Poppins prior to starting on my History coursework - I just have that same song stuck in my head... 'Sister Suffragette' isn't a bad song, though, so I suppose I shouldn't complain.
I'm looking for feminist things in novels from the 1800s - from Jane Austen, to the Brontës, to Mary Shelley, and so on. We apparently get extra points for mentioning novels and the like in our research.
...Does anybody have any suggestions as to which characters, and which novels, would be best for something like this?
I'm looking for feminist things in novels from the 1800s - from Jane Austen, to the Brontës, to Mary Shelley, and so on. We apparently get extra points for mentioning novels and the like in our research.
...Does anybody have any suggestions as to which characters, and which novels, would be best for something like this?
Saturday, 7 June 2008
Sabrina the Teenage... Brontëite?
Well, anti-Brontëite, perhaps. She doesn't seem to be very fond of Wuthering Heights.
However, Aunt Zelda liking it is... to be expected, I suppose. Yay for her.
...I'm slightly bothered by Hilda's reference to Emily being in her English class, though - I very much doubt that would've happened, considering Emily's limited schooling.
Other than that, yay for unexpected Brontë references and unexpected Brontëite characters... in an American show.
...For the record "page two-eleven" (211) in my edition of the book puts me at Kenneth announcing Hindley's death to Nelly.
However, Aunt Zelda liking it is... to be expected, I suppose. Yay for her.
Sabrina: I can't get through 'Wuthering Heights'. Can someone please tell me what happens so I can write my book report?This was probably the earliest exposure to the Brontës that I ever had, if I'm honest.
Zelda: Oh, honey, don't take a shortcut. You need to discover the love between Catherine and Heathcliff on your own.
Sabrina: You're right.
She picks the book up again and considers the amount of unread pages to those she's read.
Sabrina: Aunt Hilda?
Hilda: Sorry, never read it. Emily Brontë bugged me. She was in my English class and she always thought she was so brilliant.
Sabrina: I know a way I can find out on my own.
She stands.
Sabrina: Take me into the book, knowing what happens would be heaven. Flip ahead to page two-eleven.
She points at herself activating the spell and in a swirl of sparkles vanishes.
Ext. A dark and misty night on the desolate moors. A petite blonde in a flowing white gown slogs through the mire.
Sabrina: Heathcliff! Heathcliff! Dang, these moors are cold!
Int. Spellman living room. Another swirl of sparkles and Sabrina's back in her white gown shivering, rubbing her arms and blowing on numb fingers.
Sabrina: All right, you're right. I'll read the book. Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Long and Winding Short Cut, originally aired 30/4/99.
...I'm slightly bothered by Hilda's reference to Emily being in her English class, though - I very much doubt that would've happened, considering Emily's limited schooling.
Other than that, yay for unexpected Brontë references and unexpected Brontëite characters... in an American show.
...For the record "page two-eleven" (211) in my edition of the book puts me at Kenneth announcing Hindley's death to Nelly.
Monday, 2 June 2008
No one mourns the wicked?
A thing I've noticed, in my novel-reading adventures.
The wicked are mourned, they are redeemed, they are missed so wholeheartedly.
In Wuthering Heights, Cathy may lash out at Heathcliff and tell him "nobody loves you - nobody will cry for you when you die", but someone does. Hareton views Heathcliff as more a father than Hindley ever was, and he cries and he mourns when Heathcliff dies - he fills in Heathcliff's grave "with a streaming face", and you can't help but feel sorry for him. Nelly points out that "poor Hareton, the most wronged, was the only one who really suffered much."
For all his wickedness, Heathcliff was a man. Hareton reminds us of that.
...It's in the eyes, in Wuthering Heights. Those Earnshaw eyes, the eyes that save Cathy from Heathcliff's murderous rage, Hareton's eyes, the eyes that haunt Heathcliff until his death - "those infernal eyes", he calls them. They're Catherine's eyes, too, as well as Hindley's.
And he's another one. Hindley may drink himself to distraction, but he aids Isabella as best he can - he's the reason she's able to flee from the Heights, after all.
Hindley tries his best, it must be said. Despite him being a failure of a father to Hareton, of course.
The wicked are mourned, they are redeemed, they are missed so wholeheartedly.
In Wuthering Heights, Cathy may lash out at Heathcliff and tell him "nobody loves you - nobody will cry for you when you die", but someone does. Hareton views Heathcliff as more a father than Hindley ever was, and he cries and he mourns when Heathcliff dies - he fills in Heathcliff's grave "with a streaming face", and you can't help but feel sorry for him. Nelly points out that "poor Hareton, the most wronged, was the only one who really suffered much."
For all his wickedness, Heathcliff was a man. Hareton reminds us of that.
...It's in the eyes, in Wuthering Heights. Those Earnshaw eyes, the eyes that save Cathy from Heathcliff's murderous rage, Hareton's eyes, the eyes that haunt Heathcliff until his death - "those infernal eyes", he calls them. They're Catherine's eyes, too, as well as Hindley's.
And he's another one. Hindley may drink himself to distraction, but he aids Isabella as best he can - he's the reason she's able to flee from the Heights, after all.
Hindley tries his best, it must be said. Despite him being a failure of a father to Hareton, of course.
Saturday, 24 May 2008
Poetry... what a great thing.
I have to admit that, prior to taking my A-Level English Language-and-Literature course, I never used to like poetry - I thought it was dull and tedious stuff, really.
But... now, I see it for the better.
Take On The Death Of Anne Brontë as an example.
That poem is heart-wrenching to read, in my opinion.
And Anne's own Last Lines... they're beautiful. I find the version that Charlotte published in 1850 all the more poignant, just for the addition of her own comments.
And I think it's pretty obvious that I adore The Old Stoic, considering the title of this blog...
I've yet to come across any of Anne's or Charlotte's, and I've never even seen a glimpse of Branwell's.
But... now, I see it for the better.
Take On The Death Of Anne Brontë as an example.
That poem is heart-wrenching to read, in my opinion.
The cloud, the stillness that must partPoor Charlotte. To lose two sisters in such quick succession... it must've been torment so see them waste away, knowing that there was precious little that could be done to save them.
The darling of my life from me;
And Anne's own Last Lines... they're beautiful. I find the version that Charlotte published in 1850 all the more poignant, just for the addition of her own comments.
These lines written, the desk was closed, the pen laid aside--for ever.And I admit that I adore Stanzas To ----.
But my sad heart must ever mournA strange bit of foreshadowing, which Emily seems to have been fairly good at. Hello there, Branwell... isn't it a bit early for your sisters to be doing things like this? It is, really.
Thy ruined hopes, thy blighted fame!
And I think it's pretty obvious that I adore The Old Stoic, considering the title of this blog...
Riches I hold in light esteem,...And on a final note in relation to poetry, I can only ever seem to find books of Emily's poetry.
And Love I laugh to scorn;
And lust of fame was but a dream,
That vanished with the morn:
And if I pray, the only prayer
That moves my lips for me
Is, "Leave the heart that now I bear,
And give me liberty!"
Yes, as my swift days near their goal:
'Tis all that I implore;
In life and death a chainless soul,
With courage to endure.
I've yet to come across any of Anne's or Charlotte's, and I've never even seen a glimpse of Branwell's.
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Audiobooks!
I have here, sitting on my desk, an audiobook. It's a Doctor Who one, The Resurrection Casket... and it came free with the Radio Times.
...And I can't imagine that happening a few years ago, if I'm entirely honest. The Doctor Who audiobooks are insanely popular now.
In fact, audiobooks in general seem to be gaining in popularity... never mind the fact that I've yet to find an unabridged version of Wuthering Heights!
I've noticed that there's a Jane Eyre one that's popped up recently - I don't envy that woman's task, considering all of the omissions that Charlotte placed in the novel... although BrontëBlog have claimed that the Juliet Mills version "''reads' all these most naturally".
I wonder how difficult it'd be to read Agnes Grey in that manner?
...And I can't imagine that happening a few years ago, if I'm entirely honest. The Doctor Who audiobooks are insanely popular now.
In fact, audiobooks in general seem to be gaining in popularity... never mind the fact that I've yet to find an unabridged version of Wuthering Heights!
I've noticed that there's a Jane Eyre one that's popped up recently - I don't envy that woman's task, considering all of the omissions that Charlotte placed in the novel... although BrontëBlog have claimed that the Juliet Mills version "''reads' all these most naturally".
I wonder how difficult it'd be to read Agnes Grey in that manner?
F---- was a village about two miles distant from A----.
Agnes Grey, Chapter XXIV.
"Agnes, I want you to take a walk with me to ----" (he named a certain part of the coast - a bold hill on the land side, and towards the sea a steep precipice, from the summit of which a glorious view is to be had).If anyone can read that and make the omissions sound natural, they deserve a medal or two. Perhaps three...
Agnes Grey, Chapter XXV.
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
The Phantom of the Opera is there... somehow!
You wouldn't think The Phantom of the Opera would show signs of the Brontës, would you?
Remember, if you will, Rochester's tale of his exploits in Paris in Jane Eyre - Céline, a dancer and an opera singer, was his mistress for a time... and who does he catch her with? A vicomte, one who Rochester describes as a "young roue" and "a brainless and vicious youth".
...Now, why does that sound rather like Christine and Raoul?
Rochester is gentler than the Phantom - no murderous rages, of course - but he fills the same role... essentially.
(Ignoring, of course, that Rochester is far more romantically-inclined than the Phantom, as is to be expected, and that he's not hideously deformed, as is also to be expected.)
Remember, if you will, Rochester's tale of his exploits in Paris in Jane Eyre - Céline, a dancer and an opera singer, was his mistress for a time... and who does he catch her with? A vicomte, one who Rochester describes as a "young roue" and "a brainless and vicious youth".
...Now, why does that sound rather like Christine and Raoul?
Rochester is gentler than the Phantom - no murderous rages, of course - but he fills the same role... essentially.
(Ignoring, of course, that Rochester is far more romantically-inclined than the Phantom, as is to be expected, and that he's not hideously deformed, as is also to be expected.)
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