Difference between revisions of "Felicia Hemans"

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(Casabianca)
 
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=Poetry=
 
=Poetry=
 +
==Casabianca==
 +
* mixing ballad meter with orientalism '''for a female audience who must emulate these self-sacrificing values'''
 +
* importantly it's narrative, again balladic, vs. lyric
 +
* story of filial devotion past death, nobility
 +
* last stanza (36-40):
 +
With mast, and helm, and pennon fair,
 +
That well had borne their part -
 +
But the noblest thing which perish'd there
 +
Was that young and faithful heart!
 +
 +
==The Image in Lava==
 +
*her note: "the impression of a woman's form, with an infant clasped to the bosom, found at the uncovering of Herculaneum."
 +
*"woman's heart hath left a trace / those glories to outlast" (7-8)
 +
*"childhood's fragile image...survives the proud memorials reared / by conquerors of mankind" (9, 11-12)
 +
** compare to Ozymandias: not the total futility of saving something against time, but that the mother/child bond (rather than conquerors' monuments) will survive
 +
* the aphoristic point (33-40):
 +
Oh! I could pass all relics
 +
Left by the pomps of old,
 +
To gaze on this rude monument
 +
Cast in affection's mould.
 +
[ ]
 +
Love! human love! what art thou?
 +
Thy print upon the dust
 +
Outlives the cities of renown
 +
Wherein the mighty trust!
 +
* genre of infant mortality poems
 +
* in some ways characteristic Romantic distinction between Man's monument and Nature but here nature leaves a monument (see my note above about Ozymandias)
 +
*relics less holy than the grasp between mother and child: redefining the pilgrimage
 +
** '''the strangeness of relics in modernity -- it's not taken for granted anymore'''
 +
*love as a secular religion?
  
 
=Context=
 
=Context=
 +
* Hemans a professional, commercial poet: cf. [[Leighton 1992]] for a discussion of her success and work in Keepsake-style annual publications
 
*from Charles's seminar:  
 
*from Charles's seminar:  
 
** FH is representative of a type of piety that gets articulated in Anglo-American poetry
 
** FH is representative of a type of piety that gets articulated in Anglo-American poetry
 
** Elizabeth Gray, NZ scholar: second wave feminsm takes for granted that women's religious poetry participates in patriarchy: taking it away takes away the most salient position from which these women could speak
 
** Elizabeth Gray, NZ scholar: second wave feminsm takes for granted that women's religious poetry participates in patriarchy: taking it away takes away the most salient position from which these women could speak

Latest revision as of 15:17, 27 October 2017

Poetry

Casabianca

  • mixing ballad meter with orientalism for a female audience who must emulate these self-sacrificing values
  • importantly it's narrative, again balladic, vs. lyric
  • story of filial devotion past death, nobility
  • last stanza (36-40):
With mast, and helm, and pennon fair,
That well had borne their part -
But the noblest thing which perish'd there
Was that young and faithful heart!

The Image in Lava

  • her note: "the impression of a woman's form, with an infant clasped to the bosom, found at the uncovering of Herculaneum."
  • "woman's heart hath left a trace / those glories to outlast" (7-8)
  • "childhood's fragile image...survives the proud memorials reared / by conquerors of mankind" (9, 11-12)
    • compare to Ozymandias: not the total futility of saving something against time, but that the mother/child bond (rather than conquerors' monuments) will survive
  • the aphoristic point (33-40):
Oh! I could pass all relics
Left by the pomps of old,
To gaze on this rude monument
Cast in affection's mould.
[ ]
Love! human love! what art thou?
Thy print upon the dust
Outlives the cities of renown
Wherein the mighty trust!
  • genre of infant mortality poems
  • in some ways characteristic Romantic distinction between Man's monument and Nature but here nature leaves a monument (see my note above about Ozymandias)
  • relics less holy than the grasp between mother and child: redefining the pilgrimage
    • the strangeness of relics in modernity -- it's not taken for granted anymore
  • love as a secular religion?

Context

  • Hemans a professional, commercial poet: cf. Leighton 1992 for a discussion of her success and work in Keepsake-style annual publications
  • from Charles's seminar:
    • FH is representative of a type of piety that gets articulated in Anglo-American poetry
    • Elizabeth Gray, NZ scholar: second wave feminsm takes for granted that women's religious poetry participates in patriarchy: taking it away takes away the most salient position from which these women could speak