Jane Austen

Jane Austen was an English novelist whose books, set among the English middle and upper classes, are notable for their wit, social observation and insights into the lives of early 19th century women.

Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 in the village of Steventon in Hampshire. She was one of eight children of a clergyman and grew up in a close-knit family. She began to write as a teenager. In 1801 the family moved to Bath. After the death of Jane's father in 1805 Jane, her sister Cassandra and their mother moved several times eventually settling in Chawton, near Steventon.

Jane's brother Henry helped her negotiate with a publisher and her first novel, 'Sense and Sensibility', appeared in 1811. Her next novel 'Pride and Prejudice', which she described as her "own darling child" received highly favourable reviews. 'Mansfield Park' was published in 1814, then 'Emma' in 1816. 'Emma' was dedicated to the prince regent, an admirer of her work. All of Jane Austen's novels were published anonymously.

In 1816, Jane began to suffer from ill-health, probably due to Addison's disease. She travelled to Winchester to receive treatment, and died there on 18 July 1817. Two more novels, 'Persuasion' and 'Northanger Abbey' were published posthumously and a final novel was left incomplete.

The Convent Threshold

In today's lesson we read the poem, 'The Convent Threshold' and I was most interested in the idea of earth being as heavenly as heaven. I found this interesting because the earth is usually described as a dirty and an unworthy place compared to heaven. However, in this poem it is described as a place that people would want to stay in instead of going to heaven.

The idea of fallen women in Cousin Kate

In today’s lesson we looked at the idea of a fallen woman and after reading the poem ‘Cousin Kate’ by Christina Rossetti, we tried to find ways that it linked to this idea.  We brainstormed some ideas about what a fallen women could be and after a couple of suggestions, we came to the conclusion that a fallen woman is a woman who has lost her dignity and place in society. They become a social outcast because of behind tricked into losing their virginity by sneaky men. This then led to a discussion about why women had so many negative words for sleeping around like ‘whore’, and men had none and are sometimes congratulated for sleeping around.

After discussing the context of the poem a little more, we read the poem which is about how two women who were both seduced by a Lord into having sex out of wedlock and how differently they are treated due to their circumstances. One of them, the persona, thought she was in love with the lord but was still shamed in society for losing her virginity before she got married. The other, Cousin Kate, slept with the same man but is talked about the neighbours as 'good and pure' because she is now engaged to the Lord. this unfairness causes bitter from the persona as she says things like 'you love is writ in sand' and 'I have a gift you have not got, and seem like to get' which shows that even though she knows what she did is socially unacceptable, she believes she has done nothing wrong. We later find out that the 'gift' is her son and although he was bought into the world due to her 'shame', he is her 'prise' and is very happy to have had him. 

Feminist interpretations of Goblin Market

I think the strongest interpretation of Goblin Market that we learnt in today’s lesson is the feminist interpretation. This is the idea that woman can prevail over men and that they don’t need them. Throughout the whole poem there is no mention of men except the goblin men and when at the end Lizzie and Laura are married. The goblin men in this poem represent men as a whole even thought they are grotesque and have animalistic features. However in the feminist interpretation we are led to believe that all men are like the goblins and they’re all ‘evil people’ as they are described in poem. As there are no other women in the poem, we are also led to believe that Lizzie and Laura represent all woman and that like Lizzie and Laura women can be the hero’s of the story. This poem also shows how good women are and this is shown when Lizzie is prepared to risk her own life for her sister which also shows the love between the two sisters. The intimacy between the sisters is almost lost when the goblin men try to get in between them, which shows that the men try to destroy the bond that they had.

Marxist interpretation of Goblin Market

In today’s lesson, my group had to study the Marxist interpretation of Goblin market. This is the idea of consumerism and trade and, in my opinion, the most effective way of showing this interpretation is the golden curl. When Laura wants to buy the fruit but has no money, the goblin men are insistent that she pays with a golden lock of her hair. The lines ‘"You have much gold upon your head," They answered altogether: "Buy from us with a golden curl."’ Show that they didn't want money anyway, they had already agreed to ask for a curl as they all ‘answer altogether’. This shows that they are willing to buy at any cost and are really desperate to sell because they didn't say come back another day with a coin, they wanted her to have the fruit this instant. It also shows how the goblin men, who represent big businesses, have bullied someone into buying their products and almost selling part of herself.

Fruit in Goblin Market

In today’s lesson I was particularly interested in the symbolism of the fruit in goblin market.  I think the fruit mainly symbolises temptation and I think this because of the number of fruits listed. Rossetti listed 29 exotic fruits which, in relation to the poem, show how much temptation there is for Laura and Lizzie and how appealing it is to them. It also shows how overwhelming the temptations are as the number of fruits listed are overwhelming for us. Someone in our class likened it to the story of Forbidden Fruit in the Adam and Eve story, and I completely agree. 

Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti was a poet in the mid-1800’s and her most famous poems are Goblin Market, Up-Hill, A Birthday and Remember. She found her highest inspiration in her deep religious faith and it features in many of her poems. Many of Rossetti’s poems feature feminism and this is mostly due to her personal experiences. When she wanted to publish any work, she had to do it through her brother because women were not equal to men in the publishing world. I shall leave you with my favourite Rossetti poem which is A Daughter of Eve.

A fool I was to sleep at noon,
And wake when night is chilly
Beneath the comfortless cold moon;
A fool to pluck my rose too soon,
A fool to snap my lily.

My garden-plot I have not kept;
Faded and all-forsaken,
I weep as I have never wept:
Oh it was summer when I slept,
It's winter now I waken.

Talk what you please of future spring
And sun-warm'd sweet to-morrow:--
Stripp'd bare of hope and everything,
No more to laugh, no more to sing,
I sit alone with sorrow.