Today in English we started talking about another Christina Rossetti poem, The Convent Threshold. It is the story of a woman trying to persuade her lover to repent his sins and join her in heaven, while fighting her temptations to sin. We were thinking about how voices, character, point of view, setting and destination impacted the story. We split up into groups and spoke about the poem. We found it a bit difficult because the poem is very vague, so we did a few points on setting and places, then switched to characters.
Setting and Places
We said that the poem was like Heaven vs Earth for the speaker, as she has to decide which is better, as her lover wants to stay on Earth (and I believe the sinful/rebellious part of her wants to stay on Earth too) and she wants to repent and go to Heaven, 'your eyes look downward, mine look up.' She also has a dream, which I believe worries her about her lover going to Heaven and becoming drunk on knowledge and her not loving him anymore. Rossetti also makes it at times like Earth is the better place, as the speakers lover is there and she believes that if she goes to Heaven without him, it will be hell for her as she can't live without him.
Character
The speaker is in constant conflict with herself for the entire poem, over which to choose - religion or love. She wants to repent back to her Christian, pure life, but she loves her lover so much - 'I prayed against my will.' She may want him to repent too, so everything in the afterlife will be perfect for her. This may parallel Rossetti's real life, as she had to choose between religion and love herself. However, she chose religion and refused to marry two men she loved, because they were a different religion to her. The speaker also has worries about decending to hell in her dream for the sins they commited - 'Crushed downwards through the sodden earth.' She also doesn't want to go to Heaven without him, which is why she is pleading to him throughout the poem to repent with her - 'How should I rest in Paradise or sit on the steps of Heaven alone?'
Friday, 7 October 2011
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Cousin Kate...
We spent the lesson planning what we could write in the exam question 'To what extent do you agree that the women in Cousin Kate are heroic?' We made lists of why Cousin Kate and the speaker are heroic and not heroic.
Heroic
We said the speaker is heroic because she acknowledges her mistakes with 'my shame, my pride' and 'shameless shameful life.' Also, you could say that Cousin Kate is heroic because she stayed pure and virtuous, it is just the speaker that portrayed Kate as horrible. The speaker is heroic, as she challenges the stereotypical 'fallen woman,' as she builds herself back up rather than just falling to pieces. The speaker also stays strong in the face of injustice, as it wasn't her fault, it was the Lords.
Not Heroic
The speaker cannot move on from her 'bad experience' and constantly ridicules Kate about the fact that she cannot have children. Kate also marries the Lord even though she doesn't love him and just does it for materialistic purposes - 'your love was writ in sand.' The whole poem is patriarchal, as men control everything (the Lord is the reason the speaker is not pure and partially the reason what splits up the relationship between Kate and the speaker.) Lastly, Kate doesn't speak up for her cousin in any way and just lets the speaker become an outcast from the village and doesn't do anything about it.
Heroic
We said the speaker is heroic because she acknowledges her mistakes with 'my shame, my pride' and 'shameless shameful life.' Also, you could say that Cousin Kate is heroic because she stayed pure and virtuous, it is just the speaker that portrayed Kate as horrible. The speaker is heroic, as she challenges the stereotypical 'fallen woman,' as she builds herself back up rather than just falling to pieces. The speaker also stays strong in the face of injustice, as it wasn't her fault, it was the Lords.
Not Heroic
The speaker cannot move on from her 'bad experience' and constantly ridicules Kate about the fact that she cannot have children. Kate also marries the Lord even though she doesn't love him and just does it for materialistic purposes - 'your love was writ in sand.' The whole poem is patriarchal, as men control everything (the Lord is the reason the speaker is not pure and partially the reason what splits up the relationship between Kate and the speaker.) Lastly, Kate doesn't speak up for her cousin in any way and just lets the speaker become an outcast from the village and doesn't do anything about it.
Monday, 3 October 2011
Cousin Kate
In lesson, we were talking about the narrative methods in 'Cousin Kate.' We spoke about character, setting, point of view, language, sequence and destination.
Character
I thought that you may side with the speaker because she acknowledges her mistakes, even though she is not ashamed of them, through the use of 'shameless shameful life' and 'my shame, my pride.' You also feel empathy for the character by how she is treated by the Lord, who tosses her aside for someone more beautiful than her and also by how the neighbours call her a 'thing' for not being a virgin and not being married. However, the reader may lose symapthy for the speaker because of how bitter she is towards Kate.
Setting
The poem is set in a village, which may be done by Rossetti to make the speaker and Kate 'cottage maidens,' which makes them sound innocent and pure. I also believe it is a village setting to make the speaker more isolated in her experience, as in a town, there might be more 'fallen women,' so the poem wouldn't have been as effective.
Point of View
You see all the characters through the speaker, and it is a very feminist view, which is a running theme in Rossetti's poems. It says that the Lord is evil and is to blame for corrupting the speaker, who is the victim. Like traditional feminsist writing , the heroine overcomes her problems to be stronger in the end. She also makes Kate out to be very weak, but not refusing the Lords offer of marriage, even though she doesn't love him - 'your love was writ in sand.'
Language
The poem mentions 'sun and air' in the first verse, which as well as symbolising purity, could be a hint to the eventual end and the speaker having a son and inheriting land. The whole poem contrasts the speaker and Kate, for example, calling Kate 'good and pure' and the speaker an 'outcast thing.' There is also a lot of imagery such as the mention of doves, which symbolise the purity the speaker could have had. The bitterness of the speaker is also shown by how the speaker calls her 'Cousin Kate' and puts emphasis on the fact they are related, which may seem like a betrayal (the poem also seems to be written to Kate.)
Sequence
The poem is in chronological order and looks at the speakers past, present and future. It is done this way to show the highs and lows the speaker goes through and so the big twist can occur at the end. If it wasn't this way, I do not believe the poem would flow properly.
Destination
At the beginning of the poem it seems like a traditional fallen woman story (a woman becoming an outcast never to return) but then the ending of her having a child with future land to inherit proves the destination changes throughout.
Character
I thought that you may side with the speaker because she acknowledges her mistakes, even though she is not ashamed of them, through the use of 'shameless shameful life' and 'my shame, my pride.' You also feel empathy for the character by how she is treated by the Lord, who tosses her aside for someone more beautiful than her and also by how the neighbours call her a 'thing' for not being a virgin and not being married. However, the reader may lose symapthy for the speaker because of how bitter she is towards Kate.
Setting
The poem is set in a village, which may be done by Rossetti to make the speaker and Kate 'cottage maidens,' which makes them sound innocent and pure. I also believe it is a village setting to make the speaker more isolated in her experience, as in a town, there might be more 'fallen women,' so the poem wouldn't have been as effective.
Point of View
You see all the characters through the speaker, and it is a very feminist view, which is a running theme in Rossetti's poems. It says that the Lord is evil and is to blame for corrupting the speaker, who is the victim. Like traditional feminsist writing , the heroine overcomes her problems to be stronger in the end. She also makes Kate out to be very weak, but not refusing the Lords offer of marriage, even though she doesn't love him - 'your love was writ in sand.'
Language
The poem mentions 'sun and air' in the first verse, which as well as symbolising purity, could be a hint to the eventual end and the speaker having a son and inheriting land. The whole poem contrasts the speaker and Kate, for example, calling Kate 'good and pure' and the speaker an 'outcast thing.' There is also a lot of imagery such as the mention of doves, which symbolise the purity the speaker could have had. The bitterness of the speaker is also shown by how the speaker calls her 'Cousin Kate' and puts emphasis on the fact they are related, which may seem like a betrayal (the poem also seems to be written to Kate.)
Sequence
The poem is in chronological order and looks at the speakers past, present and future. It is done this way to show the highs and lows the speaker goes through and so the big twist can occur at the end. If it wasn't this way, I do not believe the poem would flow properly.
Destination
At the beginning of the poem it seems like a traditional fallen woman story (a woman becoming an outcast never to return) but then the ending of her having a child with future land to inherit proves the destination changes throughout.
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