Candid Commonplacing

This quote can have a lot of impact for Catherine beyond just the one view of her giving her heart to a romantic relationship. One way is that she had given her heart and trust to Isabella as her close friend. Isabella has betrayed her friendship as well by rejecting James for Captain Tilney - what she said she would never do. Catherine now cannot be so trusting going into relationships. Also, Catherine has been careful in the past not to just freely give her heart away. She avoids doing to with John Thorpe, despite the pressure from others. She also gives her heart to a lot of ideas without much thought, like her belief that her world is one large gothic novel. Finally, there is the clear heart that she wants to give away to Henry but now has to deeply consider this choice. Catherine is learning that being in society means guarding her heart.

This is the moment I knew Henry is my favorite male Austen character. While he ultimately is far from perfect, he also supports Catherine in a way she has yet to experience from other men . Catherine is being validated! She is also finding true friends in the Tilneys, another thing she has yet to truly experience. This moment also speaks to the female reader of Northanger Abbey in her pursuing novels by showing her that is does not make her less than a man, and both a fictional male and female character are supporting this. Henry is pointing to the novel not being a low brow or feminine way of reading, but a genre that can benefit both sexes equally.

On the other hand, I don’t like this quotation because it does the opposite of what I said above. This moment also implies that in order to be a heroine, a woman needs a “hero”, or more broadly a man, in order to help them make their way through their “story”. Obviously, this is because Henry ultimately is Catherine’s hero later in the story and balances her fanciful thinking with reality at times, while not putting her down. However, I think this quotation is stating how even heroines have to conform into society in some way, in this case through a relationship with a man.

This quotation REALLY resonated with me! To me the draw to reading/watching gothic or horror stories. It’s like an adrenaline rush but of curiosity. I crave to know what wild things are happening within the stories and to see what the resolution will be. The scenes of terror just help propel that curiosity further. Also this quote uses the word “adventure” when describing these novels! It truly is an adventure following the hero or heroine through their journey in trying to escape or defeat the villain of the story. It’s great to escape within the pages to run through dungeons, decaying castles, and forests. I rather be horrified or unsettled than not know what happens within the book or the movie - I have to finish them no matter what. This quotation just perfectly encapsulates my love of spooky things!

This ending, to me, felt very forced and uncomfortable given the severity of the situation for Belinda. The ending essentially comes to the conclusion that all should be forgiven between the sexes after this pseudo war, and that hair is just hair and doesn’t matter. However, this ruins the idea of ruining one’s honor that was earlier mentioned within the piece. The hair is representative of Belinda’s innocence, chastity, and/or virginity. By saying the baron taking forced ownership over it, it is saying these aspects of a woman’s being shouldn’t matter, even if they are unwillingly taken from them. It is also problematic that Pope earlier addressed this piece to a woman that this situation essentially happened to and by writing this ending is saying basically “get over it.”

The Sylphs come in any sexes or forms so work as a non-binary guardian angel or fairy of sorts for young women or “nymphs”. In this description they are clearly protecting a woman’s purity and/or from being taken advantage of by men or society in general. They work as a moral compass for the woman who is very passive in her own life. Primarily they protect women at major events in which they can come in contact with prospective suitors or individuals who may wish to cause them harm. These Sylphs are reminiscent of deities protecting heroes going into battle or venturing home (ala The Odyssey). However, these Sylphs are tasked with specifically protecting Belinda’s hair from being taken by the Baron. To me, while this is meant to be comical with it being a lock of hair, it is highly symbolic of protecting a woman’s virginity which is symbolized by her hair. This is also placing a powerful, otherworldly connotation on the idea of virginity while also satirizing it as well.

This section from “To Night” shows the reader the affect the moon has upon the melancholy narrator. While it does not cure her depression, it provides a sense of inner peace nonetheless. It calms her exhausted heart, though not removing the cause of exhaustion. The moon too is referred to as being female who as well is mournful. This creates a sense of friendship or someone to commiserate with in times of depression or sorrow for the narrator. It’s a sense of belonging and connection without having to say one’s feelings outloud. The moon is providing a sense of safety and understanding just by being present every night in the narrator’s life. I just in total found this pierce achingly beautiful and it resonated strongly with me. The night sky is both depressing and peaceful at the same time. I also really enjoyed this characterization of the moon being ethereally melancholy as opposed to other views of the moon as being something joyous.

Wollstoncraft writes how my strengthening her mind, a woman would be capable of being independent of their husbands. However, I read this quotation as being a direct statement for the women who are reading this piece. The women who may not consider themselves beautiful or gentle in a society telling them they have to be so. In this statement Wollstoncraft is saying that they are capable of being distinguished or accomplished regardless of how they fit into the societal schema of things. It’s inspiration for women who want to achieve an education or those who want to be involved in their various pursuits outside of the domestic sphere. It is validating women about something outside of their beauty or gentle persona.

Ingram is showing the idea of equality - that men and women are the same in their motivations. Both men and women desire power and fame and pleasure. Ingram then points out that women just have to go about achieving these desires through different means than men due to societal expectations and mores. They have to “move in a narrow orbit” since they are not able to directly go for their goals like a man is capable in society at this point in history. Women had to work within the domestic sphere or other occupations they were involved in in order to gain power and pleasure. This poem also associates power with the female gender, note solely the male gender.

Shelley is making a biting remark against certain governmental leaders in a way that is subtle and allows him to have plausible deniability. This can be seen as being directed towards King George III, whom Shelley was also extremely critical of in other works due his actions towards the British people. Ozymandias can also be representative of Napoleon as well. Shelley is using a seemingly mythical story set outside of modern England to discuss his beliefs about the politics and governing forces at the time. By saying “look on my works, ye mighty and despair” is the most sarcastic statement in the piece. While the leader may be saying that to show their power, Shelley is using it to show that the actions these leaders are taking are horrendous.

This portion of the poem really illustrates the concept of escapism through imagination. This imaginative flight is enabling the narrator to temporally mentally escape the pain they are experiencing. They now have “a quiet breath” in contrast to the coughing and soreness typically associated with tuberculosis. The narrator is finally at peace within this imaginative nightingale state of being. They are finding a way to cope apart from other typical coping mechanisms. While it still discusses the topic of death, it is in a much more peaceful sense than what is expressed prior. This poem shows the power of art and how it can provide momentary escapism.

This moment really describes the feeling of so many things. Literal grief, depression, anxiety, heartbreak, dejection, etc. This moment Coleridge is working through his feelings in regards to Sara, the “Lady”. He is mourning the loss of a relationship that never really happened. He is essentially being haunted. Opposed to Wordsworth discussing immortality, Coleridge is writing about grief which defines mortality. This moment is exceedingly human in its feeling or, in this case, void of feeling.

I love this quotation so much! It shows that Werther is trying to literally move on through his life (except he doesn’t) and is trying to experience all that he can. However, the second sentence is my favorite part. Saying “But what else are you!” Pulls both Wilhelm and the reader into the perspective of Werther. Everyone is venturing through the world as a wanderer trying to take in as much as they can and to get as many new experiences as possible. To me, this moment was Werther at his very best before his dramatic decline after returning to Walheim.

Werther’s stance in this moment intrigued me since Werther, himself, is typically ill humored. However the more I thought about it, I came to two conclusions as to why he takes this stance. 1.) Werther doesn’t like himself and often calls himself a “wretched” creature when in a depressive episode. While Werther believes everyone else likes him, he struggles with his own self image. He is the ill humored individual who is destroying his own pleasures. However, 2.) Werther often inadvertently blames others for his own bad moods. He blames Charlotte, Albert, The Ambassador, The Prince, etc. Perhaps he views them as the ill humored people that have the power over his heart.

I really liked how this stanza explains the “backstory” to Shelley’s, at the time, scandalous reputation of being an atheist. The greater force he tried to talk to didn’t answer him back. I also liked the image of a young boy wandering through the woods trying to find ghosts or otherworldly beings. This in and of itself feels both sublime and gothic. Then the scene turns completely to the sublime and gothic when the spirit of Intellectual Beauty makes itself know to the narrator. This entire section, to me, shows that it’s possible to have a personal belief, religion, or spirituality separate from the traditional forms. This piece makes the sublime its own religion of sorts to the beholder.

While Xanadu is now connected in the cultural zeitgeist with ideas of pleasure and emotion, this passage also hints at darker undertones. While using words like “enchanted”, “romantic”, “holy”, Coleridge also uses the words “chasm”, “savage”, “haunted”, “wailing” and “demon”. By having this vast juxtaposition, it makes the setting of Xanadu inherently a gray area in the minds of the reader. It is no longer completely idyllic. It contains a darker, shadowy side to it which gives a sinister tone to the story as a whole. It no longer feels like a dream, it becomes more of a nightmare scape. However the sinister and the beautiful blend into one another so well that it still feels very unreal and imaginary to the reader, like a new world just out of grasp.

This quote describes how Reason is now “good” at this point in society while acting on emotion is viewed as “evil”. Blake is refuting philosophers, like Locke, in the idea that Reason is the best way to interact with the work. Blake writes of Reason as being “passive” which is typically a negative connotation in most respects and “active” a positive trait in one’s character. This piece turns it on it’s head by making passivity in one’s life worthy of Heaven and playing an active role as being worthy of Hell.