What is a child??

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect the other night when I walked into the Emmerson and sat down to watch "My Book and Heart Shall Never Part." First of all I was taken in by the beauty of the old books with their stunning covers strengthened or mended with bits of cardboard, newspaper, pictures, or whatever else people had lying around. I have always been fascinated with things from the past, especially when they are very old--one of the books in the movie was from 1790, almost 219 years old!! The little children made the books come alive, their looks of awe and excitement probably mirrored mine as they searched through fading pages and found themselves immersed in the stories.

The question that really stuck in my mind as I watched the movie was, "What IS a child?" The first time they pick up a book, a whole new world is opened up for them. In fact, I just walked into the room when my grandparents were watching the movie "Love Comes Softly," just in time to hear a woman telling a child that "once you can read, you can have every adventure that you dream of." How very true that statement is; books open a child's eyes to things they only ever imagined. The potential problem with that is, are they learning about some things too early? The answer may depend on a person's answer to the question--what is a child?--It occurred to me during the movie that we can either view a child as a symbol of innocence to be cherished, or a new mind to be molded, shaped, and influenced. Honestly I don't find much wrong with seeing how ripe a child's mind is for learning new things, however, if we choose to focus only on what we can teach them we have a greater potential of destroying their innocence too early.

In class we have discussed how wonderful it would be to read things innocently as a child once again.....do we really want to take that experience away from children early on in their lives?? My answer would be no, but unfortunately the media's answer seems to be becoming a stronger and stronger yes. The movie by Dr. Sexson and his wife, opened my eyes to the power that is in the hands of the writer when it comes to shaping the next generation......I hope that they make the right choice in what they decide to teach.

Opera!!

I have been sick for several weeks, and when I woke up this morning I was feeling especially awful! As a result, I decided the best course of action, to keep up my moral, was to put in some opera music and and crank up the volume. As the magnificent music filled my room, my heart began to sore and flood with emotions. I pictured myself sitting in a balcony with an elaborate ball gown, drinking in the beauty of the music as it blended with the performance transpiring onstage before my eyes....then it suddenly occurred to me (like it has started to a few times before) that I, like Gabryelle, am a romantic and love to imagine myself in that world......I will soon be imagining myself as a damsel in distress being saved by Don Quixote no doubt! haha

At the end of class today, amidst the shuffling of chairs and clatter of books being put away, Dr. Sexson suggested that we enjoy our "day off" from class on Friday and go spend some time in the mountains/nature. My response to that suggestion is that I certainly have no time to go anywhere....... Sir Philip Sydney would probably suggest we just stay home and read about such a place because it would be an enhanced experience without all the possible flaws (bad weather, bugs, exhaustion, etc). He says something to this affect in his "Defense of Poesy"

"Only the poet, disdaining to be tied to any such subjection, lifted up with the vigor of his own invention, doth grow, in effect, into another nature, in making things either better than nature bringeth forth, or, quite anew, forms such as never were in nature, as the heroes, demi-gods, cyclops, chimeras, furies, and such like; so as he goeth hand in hand with nature, not enclosed within the narrow warrant of her gifts, but freely ranging within the zodiac of his own wit. Nature never set forth the earth in so rich tapestry as divers poets have done; neither with pleasant rivers, fruitful trees, sweet-smelling flowers, nor whatsoever else may make the too-much-loved earth more lovely; her world is brazen, the poets only deliver a golden."


So.....I thought I would post a picture I took of a beautiful place I love going (and would like to be this Friday) and write about what I would be doing there-- that way I can read about it and have an experience surperior (according to Sydney of course) to the actual one, without having to even leave my house......



Friday afternoon has arrived. As I open my eyes, the first thing that greets them is brilliant sunshine pouring from the big windows behind my bed. I know at once that it is going to be a glorious day......I pull the covers off of my warm body and swing my legs to the floor, anticipating the chai tea I am going to stop by and pick up from Rockford on my way to the golden pond (as I like to call it during this time of year). It isn't long before I have arrived, looking in awe at the bronze, gold, and red leaves scattered about the path down to the water, and falling from the trees onto my cozy blue knitted hat. I slowly walk forward, taking a deep breath and savoring the scent of cinnamon coming from the paper cup in my hand, mixed with the woodsmoke floating in the air. My camera is around my neck so I swing it up and capture the beauty that's surrounding me-ducks gliding across the smooth water leaving quiet ripples in their wake, birds singing as they fly overhead, and children as they giggle, tossing leaves into the sky and dancing as they fall back down like snow. After awhile I spread a soft quilt on the cool and delicate grass as I pull out the homemade spicecake and fresh strawberries from my satchel. I lay down after eating and look up at the blue sky, stretching to the expanses with no end in sight. It's not long before my body and mind are so relaxed that the warm rays of the sun across my face put me into a deep sleep..........


Wow......I actually feel like I just had that experience.......Sir Philip Sydney, you may be onto something after all! =)

More on DQ....

So as a result of taking too many classes (like Jessica) and being sick for the last 2 weeks, I am just now writing a new blog post. I am still reading Don Quixote, and have made it to page 226 (I wish I was farther). There was a section that I read awhile ago that immediately stood out to me, so I have decided to share my discovery of its contents with anyone who has yet to read it.

On page 193 DQ begins to tell Sancho all about the purpose of imitation and how every great artist wins fame by imitating the most talented in their genre. In other words, he is hence supporting Plato's notion that "poets" (which is used as a metonomy here) are imitators and therefore never original. DQ, however, is using this as a way to support his reason for imitating great knights errant and their chivalry.

"I say, too, that when a painter wishes to win fame in his art, he attempts to copy the orginal works of the most talented painters he knows; this same rule applies to all the important occupations and professions that serve to embellish nations, and it must be, and is, followed when the man who wishes to be known as prudent and long-suffering imitates Ulysses, in whose person and harships Homer painted a living portrait of prudence and forebearance..........In the same manner, Amadis was the polestar, the morning star, the sun to valiant, enamored knights, the one who should be imitated by all of us who serve under the banner of love and chivarly. This being true, and it is, then I deduce, friend Sancho, that the knight errant who most closely imitates Amadis will be closest to attaining chivalric perfection."

I love to see this discussion on imitation because of the huge role that it has played in our class. What is also interesting to note in the next page (194) is how Sancho reactes to DQ's assertions. He ends up responding somewhat how I believe Plato would have.

"By God, Senor Knight of the Sorrowful Face, but I lose my patience and can't bear some of the things your grace says; because of them I even imagine that everything you tell me about chivalry, and winning kingdoms and empires, and giving me insulas and granting me other favors and honors, as is the custom of knights errant, must be nothing but empty talk and lies, and all hamburg or a humbug or whatever you call it"

I now can say most definitely that I understand why Dr. Sexson chose this book to accompany our class, and I know that, in reading it, I am further expanding my understanding of the concepts discussed in class.

A whole new way of seeing things!!

I had a strange experience today. Ever since the first day of class, Sexson informed us that we were going to start looking at other classes differently and seeing how the information in literary criticism bleeds into other areas of study. Well........no surprise, he was right! I have not been able to help listening to what I am being taught in my other classes and seeing how it applies to Frye's modes, DQ, and discussion that we have had in ENG 300. As I sat in my History of Yellowstone class today I began to write some very unusual notes on the sheet of paper in front of me which had very little to do with Yellowstone, and much more to do with the modes as well as Sir Philip Sydney's defense of the poet.

My history teacher, Mr. Lee Whittlesey, began his lecture today by discussing the book that we have just recently finished reading called Myth and History in the Creation of Yellowstone. He wanted to define for us the difference between myth and legend and these are the definitions that he used:

Legend-- an unverified popular story with sufficient entertainment value to survive through generations

Myth--A real or fictional story/reoccurring theme (with more weight and antiquity than a legend) that appeals to a society by embodying its cultural ideas or by giving expression to deep commonly felt emotions

As we began to discuss these words, my mind strayed to where I have heard them used most recently and that is obviously to Frye and Literary Criticism. What will follow now is where my thoughts went from there as they began connecting the dots from one class to another.....

The main topic in the book (Myth and History...) is about the "myth" surrounding the establishment of Yellowstone. For many years it was thought the the Washburn-Langford party (a group of explorers) had a discussion around a campfire one night about how amazing the Yellowstone area was and how it needed to be set aside as a "National Park" and not allowed to be settled. This would mean that credit for the idea of Yellowstone would belong to these men, as well as credit for coming up with the idea for the first national park. People reached out and firmly grasped this story and began to hold it very close to their hearts. A shrine was even set up at the location of the famous discussion and everyone heard about (and believed) the great "campfire story." The huge problem ensued when a historian began to debunk the credibility of the story and eventually enough evidence was brought forward to prove that the story was not credible and was, in fact, a lie. No one wanted to believe that the story that they had latched so firmly onto was untrue and, as a result, they forced the historian into early retirement and people to this day believe the story.
I was having so much trouble understanding why people would refuse to accept the reality that the campfire story was not true even when presented with so much evidence....that is until I realized what was happening. As we have discussed in class and seen in Don Quixote, people don't want to live in the low mimetic, they want to live in the age of myths and romance, when wonderful romantic stories come to life and men are above the levels of greed-- acting in a heroic way (like not taking the land for themselves but deciding to turn it into a national park for all to enjoy)! It makes so much more sense now thanks to Frye.


I also began writing notes when thinking about Sir Philip Sydney and his defense of the poet. In literary criticism on Friday, we talked about his idea that the poet is above the historian and the philosopher because he/she delights as well as teaches. While I was in class that made sense...yet sitting and listening to my history teacher today made me question the notion.....we are reading 6 books in our class and many of them have been written by my teacher Mr. Whittlesey. The book that we are reading right now is called Storytelling in Yellowstone and it is full of myths, legends, and other stories about Yellowstone. So....my thought is that historians can also be poets. When I read Whittlesey's books, they are full of facts, history, and important information, YET they are told in a way that teaches AND delights me because the stories in them are amazing, exciting, and (just as the definition of myth describes) they give expression to some of my emotions.

Poetry.......

I am extremely tired right now so I hope that this makes some kind of sense....

"The expression of the imagination"

This is a quote that jumped off the page at me when reading Shelley's A Defense of Poetry. I realize that there doesn't seem to be anything especially awe inspiring about those words, which describe poetry, yet they have come to finally mean something to me which makes them worth writing about. I have heard poetry described in similar ways several times, however, it wasn't until our class discussion last week that I began to see the truth about what it is saying. We discussed how the poet's role is to write about those things which we want to do in order to keep us from turning the desire into action. In other words, we imagine ourselves in different places around the world, meeting certain kinds of people, even performing acts of violence and revenge. The beauty of poetry is that it expresses what takes place in our imaginations---takes us to Italy to ride in a canoe through the streets, introduces us to the remote tribes in South America, and allows us to be taken through the emotions of poisoning our greatest enemy or murdering our brother, yet without having to actually perform the action ourselves.

I appreciate seeing how words are coming alive and forming new thought processes within my mind as a result of this class and the works which we are examining/discussing.