Steeze

Steeze is a series of events in South East London, created with the admirable aim of bringing people together and creating unity through performance. The events feature poets and musicians predominantly young and based locally, and has been described as somewhere where artists “can truly learn from each other, and there’s no such thing as a mistake”. It’s certainly true that the atmosphere created at Steeze is very welcoming, and the first thing on people’s minds is acceptance rather than scepticism.

The commitment of a few young and entrepreneurial people to create Steeze is commendable, and their latest event was also influenced by some of the people behind Brainchild Festival. Brainchild Festival took place during the summer of this year, and it began as one girl’s brainchild; she saw the festival as an opportunity to create something positive with some money she’d inherited, as the rumour goes. The festival was devised as a “celebration of talent, original thinking and creativity” which claimed to be able to “validate the power of our minds”. http://brainchildfestival.co.uk/manifesto.html

One of the performers at the latest Steeze, a band called Nomad Soul, also performed at Brainchild Festival. I’d never seen or heard of the band before, but as I sat literally a metre away- the intimacy of Steeze is part of its attraction- and they began playing their song ‘Murmuration’, I was blown away by the level of energy and technical skill. Their infusion of jazz and electronic ambient music is mesmeric. Although it is reminiscent of other contemporary music in a similar style, Nomad Soul seemingly reached new heights with this outstanding performance. http://soundcloud.com/nomad-soul-collective/murmuration

It is important to mention the band Southpaw in relation to Steeze- because the organisers of the event also perform together in this 7-piece hip-hop, jazz outfit. Southpaw’s EP, entitled Out Of Oak can be found here- http://sthpw.bandcamp.com/album/out-of-oak- and demonstrates a strong level of originality and meaning through its four song progression. Out Of Oak claims to leave you “refreshed, rejuvenated, and reassured of a positive creative direction” and this positive attitude is reflected in their night Steeze.

The latest Steeze was their 10^th event, and the most recent have taken place at The Honor Oak pub in Forest Hill.  They happen on average every month, and the next one is on the 16^th of December. Here’s a link to their Facebook page so you can join the Steeze community, which i would highly recommend. http://www.facebook.com/Steeze.E.D?ref=ts&fref=ts. The page for their next event can also be found here- http://www.facebook.com/events/170784203063578/?fref=ts- and it’s definitely worth a visit! 

Kate Tempest's 'Brand New Ancients' Vs. Ben Drew's 'ill Manors'

Both Kate Tempest and Ben Drew believe they have a role to play in the extremely difficult task of portraying a young generation, angry and disillusioned. Kate Tempest is a 26 year old musician and poet. She was born and grew up in Brockley, not far from the theatre where I saw her perform her show Brand New Ancients, and in many ways this was her ‘coming home’ gig. She combined simple narrative, acapella rap, and atmospheric music to an unstoppable effect, telling the story of the ‘everyman’ in a way that it has never been told before.

Kate tells the story of everyday heroics, and how these age-old stories can help us make sense of our own lives. Towards the beginning of the show she says something along the lines of “everybody has a parable of a friend who could have gone somewhere but took too many drugs. Everybody has the parable of a drunken old man sitting on the bench in their local park”. She goes on to make the point that everyone has an important and interesting story to tell, whether or not this story is immediately assessable. This idea struck me, because one of the reasons I love London is the sheer quantity and diversity of people, each with a special story to tell.

Kate was described by the Guardian as having a “genuinely galvanising presence”. During the show you feel as if you’re watching something sacred. Kate’s messiah like quality leaves you speechless and feeling as if she has been put on this earth to tell her story (or perhaps, more importantly, the story of others.) I’m aware of the hyperbole in these statements, but they are hard to avoid when used in conjunction with this poet! I’ve even heard Kate Tempest referred to as a “21^st century Shakespeare”, and although this term has been applied to other artists before, with Kate it seems to be closer to the truth. 

 ‘ill manors’, the first film made by musician Ben Drew, A.K.A. Plan B, is a tale of survival on London streets. It tells the story of battling against drugs, gangs and violence, which is not new at all, and has in fact probably been overdone. The film is powerful, despite its tendency to slip into the clichéd story of fighting for respect on the streets. Drew interweaves different characters personal tales of hardship, using six songs from his latest album to narrate the story of particular characters.

Drew comes close to telling the story in a new way, by promising in the film’s opening sequence that he will be the sole ‘narrator’ of this struggle. However, apart a few songs, Plan B’s voice is not heard enough in the movie. If Drew expressed his own voice more, with characteristic insight and intelligence, he could have reached a new level of understanding about life on London streets that the film ultimately shrives for and fails.

Kate Tempest and Ben Drew both attempt to narrate the average Londoners disillusionment through spoken word. Brand New Ancients left me inspired, and the only criticism I had was that the show wasn’t being performed to school kids across London, so they could be sprinkled with her gold dust. ill Manors on the other hand left me relatively hopeless, because Drew depicts a world where hope is hard to come by.

Judge for your self...

Plan B – ill Manors http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8GvLKTsTuI

Kate Tempest- Brand New Ancients http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1a8iFSXCHLw#!

Peckham and Nunhead Free Film Festival

Between the 13^th and the 23^rd of September 2012, something amazing happened in SE15. Well, I’m sure many amazing things happened, but the one in particular I’m talking about was a free film festival. The Peckham and Nunhead Free Film Festival is a community driven, completely volunteer run society which held 22 film events across SE15 within the space of ten days. All for free. This was the third year of the annual festival and each year it gets bigger and better.

The project was partly funded by the council, who gave a grant, but one of the many beautiful things about this enterprise is its demonstration that events can be marvellous, accessible and inspiring without costing a lot of money. Take the short film screening ‘Under the Arches’ for example, where short films were showcased underneath a railway arch in the heart of Nunhead. Once a screen and the projector were set up, it only took the generosity of one organisation, ‘Electric Pedals’ (www.electricpedals.com), to create an innovative film event. ‘Electric Pedals’ specialise in transforming bike peddling kinetic energy into electric energy. Sounds cool doesn’t it?

Electric Peddles in action at an event on Nunhead Green

Other events include the trademark outdoor screening in Nunhead Cemetery: films with a death theme are usually screened, such as the 1946 classic ‘A Matter of Life and Death’ in 2010, and this year the Ealing comedy ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’ was on show. Apart from the fact that the film is projected onto a large screen next to the ruined chapel, which is a spectacle to behold in itself, this particular event encourages the local council to transform a relatively unused public space into one bustling with life (don’t worry, I’m fully aware of the paradox).

'Kind Hearts and Coronets' at Nunhead cemetery

There are too many events to chronicle, and a full list can be found on their website www.freefilmfestivals.org, but one more thing I’d like to mention is the emphasis placed on young filmmakers in the community. The Free Film Festival runs ‘Make a film in a day’ workshops, where young people are encouraged to come in and experience the process of film making. Also the ‘SE15 Young Filmmakers Competition’ takes many entrants from people aged 11-25 who have made short films around the theme of ‘My SE15.’ The winner of the 2010 competition was a documentary about young fathers in Peckham (http://vimeo.com/31192736) and the winner of this year’s competition can be seen on Youtube here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_gSk7ufkNk.

Young filmmakers in action in Peckham

I admire the Free Film Festival and all that it stands for, so much so I was involved in the running of a New Cross and Deptford Free Film Festival earlier on in the year. Although my role in the end was minimal, due to other commitments, the festival went ahead and was a big success. This just proves that the Nunhead and Peckham Free Film Festival has inspired others, including people in Camberwell and Herne Hill who are starting to plan their own free film festival for 2013, and has gone either further in creating a model for how it can be done. Long live the Free Film Festivals!

Another picture from the Nunhead cemetery screening

Didn't bring a djembe

The Gypsy in the Field festival 2012 took place on the weekend of the 22^nd and 23^rd of September, and although there were many things about the weekend that I thoroughly enjoyed, the failure on my behalf to bring a djembe is unlikely to be forgotten. The festival is best described in these terms: one field, one stage, one campfire, 200 campers, no djembe.

The festival is the brainchild of the organisers of a night called ‘Gypsy’, which runs in various venues across London. I once performed at one such night at The Alexandra in Clapham. The idea to create a festival under the ‘Gypsy’ banner was inspired, and the first Gypsy in the Field Festival was a resounding success. The weekend sustained a particular vibe with a various assortment of Gypsy regulars (including Joe Inman himself) performing on the main stage. Other entertainment included a tent which played host to spoken word and stand up comedy.

The Joe Inman Project, the band in which I play drums, performed in the sunshine on the Saturday afternoon. We were probably the loudest performers all weekend: described by Gypsy as “blending infectiously melodic guitars with anthemic sing-along choruses” the band is constantly evolving, due to inevitable band dynamics. Our style fluctuates regularly, depending on Joe's writing, and it was the potential of a band split which meant we neglected travel logistics until the last minute. If it wasn’t for a desperate plea for a lift from London to Norwich on Facebook, Joe and the bassist would never have made it.

When the sun went down the focal point of the field became the great campfire in the middle, as people sat around (no cliché intended) and warmed themselves sufficiently, accompanied by cheery guitar sing-alongs. It was at this point the resonance of a missed djembe opportunity struck me hardest- my frustration at being unable to jam along on my beloved drum led me to extremes: attempting to use a battered tambourine as an African drum (not something I’d recommend). Eventually I accepted my mistake, and consoled myself with the belief that a lesson had been learnt. That lesson being that if you’re going to a typically friendly, small music festival, make sure to pack a djembe. 

Oh yeah, and did I mention I did this whole thing on one leg?

Me sporting the Gypsy in the Field t-shirt

The Movement Cafe

On the 28^th of July, the Movement Cafe opened to coincide with the start of Olympics. The cafe is funded by Cathedral Group, a development company who are behind the Movement Greenwich project. Their aim is to create a “vibrant, active new community in the heart of West Greenwich” including new affordable housing, student accommodation and an extension to the West Greenwich Community Centre. The majority of the work on the site is not due to start until after the Olympics so in the meantime in came a few shipping containers, some bright pots of paint and the vision of the artist Morag Myerscough.

Flowers grow for those that know

To bloom is to know your roots

To give the earth all it’s worth

Tend to the new shoots

The cafe under construction- the work of an amazing team led by Danny Elphick. 

Remarkably, the cafe was erected in just 16 days, in time to provide the thousands of visitors to Greenwich for the Olympics with coffee and food. The cafe is conveniently located directly outside the Royal Boroughs ‘front door’- the DLR station, and therefore the herds of visitors to the Greenwich equestrian centre are shepherded right past the cafe's entrance. My job at the cafe originally appeared simple- to serve the customers. But in actual fact my basic duties of making coffee and fulfilling the cafe logistics became secondary to a growing interest in wanting to help publicise the cafe and organise events.

And a horse on course its hooves

Drum beneath the earth

Where dreadnoughts sleeping seamen

Are weeping for the berth

The cafe plays host to spoken word events every Wednesday and live music every Thursday. On Wednesday the 29^th of August, a poetry collective called Liars League came in and performed a few short stories from their anthology of urban tales, entitled London Lies. One of these stories, written by Jim Minton, gruesomely and comically depicted the nightmare of an Olympic steward who encounters an escaped guard dog. On the eve of the 9^th of August, I accompanied emerging talent Poppy Trevelyan on percussion, and that night the wooden amphitheatre that makes up most of the cafe was full of people.

Poppy and I performing at the cafe. 

The cafe is hosting a film weekend on the 6^th and 7^th of October, showcasing short films as part of the London Short Film Festival. Other events currently being planned include an art showcase, organised by the young person’s art collective ENDMOR, and the possibility of a one day outdoor theatre (which would make full use of the cafe's wooden amphitheatre). All in all, the cafe is a vibrant, buzzing place. And whether or not the events appeal to you, come in, grab a coffee, and appreciate what surely must be one of the most beautiful cafes in London.

While the marshes sigh at night

When sky dives into the Thames

Greenwich and I will sleep again

And wake again as friends 

The finished cafe, which has words protruding the scaffolding that surrounds it.

The excerpts in bold come from a poem that Cathedral Group commissioned Lemn Sissay, the official Olympic poet, to write for the project. The poem consists of 13 stanzas but I have simply selected three of the stanzas that I found most powerful. Lemn Sissay’s words are part of the inspiration behind the cafe's impressive design. 

The entire poem by Lemn Sissay is painted onto the hoardings that run from the DLR station entrance to the cafe. 

Ugandan link

My African drumming has taken me to many places over the last few years, and last weekend it took me to Deptford Green School in New Cross. The school, currently a poorly maintained 70s building, played host to a project which was both inspiring and unique. For the last nine years, the secondary school has run an international exchange programme with a school based in the capital city of Uganda, Kampala. Students from the St Kizito School in Uganda come to London every other year, with students from Deptford Green visiting Uganda in the intervening years. This year, the visit of the Ugandans had an added incentive, due to the Olympic Games being held in London, and the project was titled the International Olympic Youth Conference. My role was simple; to organise the drumming section of the music group, comprised of both Ugandans and Londoners, who would perform on the final day of the conference.

When among Westerners not intrigued by African culture, I stand out due to my dedication to playing African drums and my desire to study Africa at university. However, when confronted with the Ugandans, I felt like another English kid whose technical drumming ability was no match for their instinctive and natural rhythm. Richard Dowden wrote in his book Africa that he "was yet to find an African community - or an African - which does not celebrate with music" and the Ugandan group I was privileged enough to meet were no exception. My formulaic Western rhythms were soon replaced by polyrhythmic Ugandan beats and I could not have been happier. One of the Ugandan drums had a small hole in the skin, which was dismissed ironically by one of the East-Africans as a "factory error". Their drums produced a rich, deep bass tone which complemented the sharper, powerful sound of my Ghanaian djembe.

My own pre-conceptions of the school, I’m sorry to admit, were not brilliant. But I was impressed by the willingness of the Deptford Green students to come into school in the middle of their summer holidays to contribute to the workshop. This sense of community in an inner-city comprehensive is not necessarily the norm, and Deptford Green has arguably managed to harness this enthusiasm in young people through their “we’re all in it together” approach. Located in New Cross, a relatively deprived area of London, the school does not immediately have a reputation for success. But perhaps it’s because Deptford Green does not inhabit an expensive new building, and does not have an amazing reputation, that the students are so behind the school: they are eager to work together with each other, and adults, to improve it.

There were many comparisons between the Deptford Green-St Kizito link and the relationship between my old school, The Charter School, and their link school in Ghana. Both London schools boast that they have maintained their African partner school for almost ten years, whereas other schools only manage to keep the communication up for three or four. I left Charter last year, and when I started the school was only five years old. Similarly to Deptford Green, it had a “we’re all in it together” approach because it was a new school, attempting to establish itself. However, recently I’ve heard it said that Charter has lost some of its togetherness and underdog mentality due to its desire to be branded as ‘outstanding’ by the Office of Standards in Education. Deptford Green is soon to move into a flash new building, 100 metres down the road. This begs the question; will Deptford Green maintain its natural grit and determination once it’s moved onto their brand spanking new site?

As well as our music performance there was some poetry reading, a native Ugandan song which included traditional dress, and some speeches from important people, such as the head teacher of Deptford Green and the Deputy Major of Lewisham. The Deputy Major emphasised the importance of such international union, and made a claim to support the project, whilst making it clear he could not promise any extra funding! Eventually the presentation closed, in true Olympic spirit, with gold medals being handed out to those young people who had made contributions to the conference. I was genuinely surprised when my name was read out and then followed by the words "highly gifted musician", but I collected my medal nonetheless and was slightly disappointed as I walked away from the school knowing that my role in that particular project was over, or is it?

My Olympic day out

The second day of the Olympics in London, the 29th of July, and rather than watching on TV from home as Team GB attempt to surpass their 47 medals in Beijing, I jumped on a train to the Olympic Park. An hour and a half later, and having passed through stations that were not on my journey plan, I arrived at West Ham, rather than my intended destination of Stratford. Nevertheless, as I left the station I was greeted by purple-clad volunteers all waving 'London 2012' foam fingers at me, which somewhat blocked my view of the impressive stadium looming before me.

Before long I had found an illustriousness foam finger myself, one which had been discarded and cast to the wet ground, neglected by one of the 'have-a-nice-day' volunteers. I carefully placed the item in my bag, sandwiched between my copy of the Metro and the Daily Telegraph (which came free with my chocolate bar.) There it quickly dried and was shortly being waved around contently as Tunisia took on Sweden in an enthralling handball match. One friend dismissed handball due to the fact that it was "just a foul in football" but any man or woman who fails to acknowledge the athleticism and skill involved in handball merely acknowledges their own naivety. Eventually Sweden triumphed, as did Spain in the next match against Serbia. Serbia had the muscular advantage but were outdone by quintessential Spanish bravado and skill. Next stop: McDonald's.

A rumoured  £50 million was forked out by the American burger giants to be the sole restaurant sponsor of the 2012 games, a deal which seemed justified as the queue for what is apparently the biggest McDonald's in Europe was the longest I encountered all day. After my meal (which unfortunately didn't include a mayo chicken because the biggest McDonald's in Europe didn't provide a full menu) I was off again, this time in search of some good quality basketball. Team GB vs. Russia unfortunately didn't comply. Even our own NBA All-Star Luol Deng was not much more than a spectator as Russia (ranked 11th in the world) slowly and painfully dismantled a GB team ranked 47rd. This put me in a bad mood, why did Team GB seem to be losing all the time?

However my mood was lifted somewhat when the Basketball arena became drenched in light blue and green as the national teams from Argentina and Lithuania bounced onto the court. Perhaps surprisingly, both these teams are ranked in the top five in the world, but their quality was evident as a fiercely contested game ended leaving Argentina with more points, and many Lithuanians despondent.

Yes, the sport was great. The spectacle of having people who can run faster, jump higher and be stronger than possibly anyone else in the world in one place is wonderful. But it was as I left the Basketball arena shortly after midnight and walked back towards the station that my love for the Olympic Park was most deeply felt. The stadiums, both temporary and permanent, were impressively lit up, exhibiting some wondeful architecture. Protruding from the aquatic centre was a giant, graceful sweep resembling a whales fin, and the stunning circular velodrome reflected the geometry of cycling. Another thing that struck me was the fact that it's easy to imagine the Olympic Park becoming just that after these games; a park! The venues are fabulously and thoughtfully laid out, allowing them to be both impressive yet not overpowering. Also the size of the park means that congestion was not an issue.

Having visited the Olympic Park once, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't very keen to go again. But now I know that if I cannot, and Paralympic  tickets sell out faster than expected, I'll be able to jump on a train to Stratford and wander through the park after these games, thereby enjoying the London 2012 legacy for many years to come.

The Secret Garden Party festival

This weekend, from the 20-22nd of July, I was lucky enough to attend the best birthday party of the summer; the 10th anniversary of the Secret Garden Party. What originally began a decade ago as an invitation only private garden party has developed into a marvellously eccentric weekend of music, art, food and fun. Luckily for the 30,000 festival goers, or 'gardeners' as they are affectionately referred to, the festival has managed to maintain the adjectives that give it its name: it remains relatively unknown, and the line-up is strong yet not over publicised; it unfolds a midst the beautiful Cambridgeshire countryside with a picturesque lake as its centre piece; and, above all, it is a party arguably second to none.

The festival has many attractions, including a giant paint fight and a lake you can swim in. This lake also has a stage in the middle which is ceremoniously burnt down on the Saturday night for the punters pyromaniac pleasure. However, although it is not necessarily at the heart of the weekend, the variety of good quality music performed across the unique stages is not overshadowed by pure hedonistic joy. Here's a breakdown of my two favourite acts from the weekend.

King Charles

Until you have heard King Charles, it is hard to imagine his original blend of folk, rock n' roll and pop-electro, all performed with the spearhead of an egocentric lead singer. In his prime on stage the ‘King’ often looks like a blur of flying dreadlocks. This was the second time that I'd seen King Charles this summer, the first being at the Latitude festival, and it is indisputably the case that his performance at SGP on the Where the Wild Things Are stage was head and shoulders above the other, and not just because I watched from above. The stage was enchantingly entwined in a delicate wooden structure, but not so delicate to prevent me climbing up and marvelling from above as the West Londoner captivated his audience with his skilful guitar solos, poetic lyrics and pop melodies. He performed with a slightly tongue-in-cheek arrogance which left many teenage girls in the crowd (and to my surprise some fully grown men!) screaming for more.

This acoustic rendition of 'Love is the Cure' demonstrates the soulful lyricism which won him the prestigious International Song writing Competition in 2009, which has been judged by the likes of Tom Waits, Robert Smith and Adele. http://www.virginmedia.com/music/video/player/king-charles/love-is-the-cure-(live-acoustic)/1341407192001/#vid-1341407192001

However, for a better idea of what the gardeners at SGP experienced, listen to his song 'Lady Percy' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slm3BcOqMlk

Lianne La Havas

Although I missed Lianne's full performance at SGP I made sure I was present for her breathtakingly intimate acoustic set on the Living Room stage. This area imitated a living room with sofas to sit on, and although I was stuck on the muddy floor, my wet bum was quickly forgotten as Lianne strolled on stage and cemented herself as one of my favourite artists. Her skillful blues-esque guitar playing and perceivable confidence in her own ability meant that Lianne gave off the impression of being born to play music. Looking relaxed, and playing virtually the whole set with a smile on her face, are two examples of the many endearing qualities she possesses- she was definitely gifted with more than her fair share.

The first time I saw Lianne was whilst watching Later with Jools Holland where she performed her song ‘Age’. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYDhQdzo4Io

I find that when Lianne naturally drops the cute girl persona and transforms into a strong woman that she is most captivating. At SGP, it was when she was reaching for the tough notes in her song 'Forget' that the smile disappeared and was replaced by a steely strength. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPrdfvBVaA8

So yeah, they're my shouts for the weekend! But the Secret Garden Party is amazing not solely because of the great music, the stunning scenery, or the casual nakedness you encounter- what makes it truly remarkable is simply the spectacle of an awesome party!

Reformulation

Hello, now that I've finished my A-levels (in particular my English A-level) it's time to reformulate this blog as a means to write about and share other things besides my (often insightful) opinion on books I have read. Instead I am now going to use this format to review music gigs and festivals, share pieces of information I find interesting and many other things of which I am yet uncertain!

Anyway, I hope this blog continues to be of the same level of use as it was during my English A-level, despite the fact that I am no longer working towards a final examination. Bring on the study of life!

A Doll's House- Henrik Ibsen

A Doll’s House is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and was first performed in 1879. Ibsen is believed by some to be the greatest dramatist since Shakespeare and his plays often deal with the power dynamic between men and women, issues of morality and the realities that lay behind many social constructs. The play was highly controversial when first staged because of its presentation of marriage, and Ibsen was forced to rewrite the ending when it was performed in Germany, because many people saw Nora’s abandonment of her family as immoral. Ibsen’s play establishes debates about women’s rights, marital relations and the nature or love.

In his first two lines, Helmer calls Nora “my little songbird” and “my squirrel”, demonstrating the pet names he gives to her which make her the “Doll” of the title. Him calling her his “songbird” has connotations of keeping her in a cage, and expecting her to perform. As the play develops, the audience learn that Nora isn’t as childish and flippant as she originally seemed, and is actually rather shrewd, demonstrated by the fact that she secretly borrowed £250 to get her husband treatment when  he was ill, and has been deceiving him ever since.

Nora tries to keep this information secret throughout the play because she knows that Torvald will see it as a disgrace to his name. Krogstad, the man whom the money was borrowed from, informs Nora that he is aware that she forged her father’s signature on the document, which is a criminal offence. Krogstad then blackmails Nora into persuading Torvald not to fire him, because Torvald has recently become the manager at the bank where Krogstad words. Nora fails to persuade Torvald not to fire Krogstad, because Torvald is convinced that he is an immoral criminal, even though the crime he committed in the past was no more than forging a signature. When the secret is revealed Nora is remarkably calm and collected, despite the fact she has been worrying about this moment throughout the play. This is because Helmer’s angry reaction leads her to the realisation that he wasn’t the man she thought he was.

Some critics have viewed A Doll’s House as a play embracing the struggle of women for equal rights, however others have suggested that the play is about “the need of every individual to find out the kind of person he or she really is”, not just Nora. Perhaps Nora isn’t the only person in the play who is trapped and is striving to escape: Torvald spends the majority of his time working and could be seen as being at the mercy of society because he’s constantly worried about what other people will think of him. One type of love the play explores is love of self, exemplified mostly by Nora’s realisation that she must leave her home in order to be true to herself. Torvald attempts to persuade to stay by saying that she has a duty to bring up their children; Nora replies that “I’ve someone else to bring up first- myself.”

Mrs Linde is an interesting character in the play, and arguably supports the domestication of women. Mrs Linde previously abandoned Krogstad for a richer man because she needed the money. However following her husband’s death they are reunited and she says to him: “there’s no pleasure in working only for yourself, give me somebody and something to work for”. On the one hand, this implies her dependence on a man to work for; however on the other hand she just wants a sense of purpose in her life. The love depicted between Krogstad and Linde is arguably the most romantic in the play: Krogstad described himself as a “broken man clinging to the wreck of life”, and perhaps this is because the barriers of hypocrisy between the two have been broken down: Linde knows Krogstad is blackmailing Nora and Krogstad has already experienced anguish at being abandoned. However the two are able to accept each other for who they are, something Nora and Helmer fail to do. 

Dr Rank is another interesting character in the play. He frequently visits the Helmer household partly because he and Torvald are friends but mainly because he’s in love with Nora. Rank is arguably a slightly more realistic character than the others, because he ironically mocks his situation in life in a way that the other characters don’t. Rank is dying from a generic decease, suffering for his father’s exuberant lifestyle, and the theme of children suffering for their parent’s actions is recurrent. Nora is frequently reminded by Helmer that her father got himself into debt by overspending, and that she should refrain of doing the same. Rank is aware that his days are numbered and he therefore has nothing to lose in claiming to love Nora “as deeply as anyone else”, but his love for her is ultimately unrequited. 

Don Juan- Lord Byron

In this poem Byron satirises the story of Don Juan, the infamous womanizer, and presents him as being seduced by an older woman named Julia. Julia is married to Don Alfonso, and Byron writes that “she inly swore/ by all the vows below to powers above/ she never would disgrace the ring she wore”. These lines suggest that Julia does not intend to go against her marital sacrament by seducing Don Juan. However, Bryon continues by writing that “while she pondered this…/ One hand on Juan’s carelessly was thrown/ Quite by mistake- she thought it was her own.” The humorous, ironic tone of the poem is exemplified here because while Julia is pondering the religious values of marriage, she places her hand on Juan’s. Although Byron writes that this was “quite by mistake-she thought it was her own”, this is most definitely not the case, and is merely further evidence of the poems ironic tone.

This poem seems to suggest that Don Juan’s immoral actions in later life are a direct result of being victim to seduction as an innocent young man. Julia is described as being attracted to his “prudish fears” and his “victorious virtue”, two attributes the adult Don Juan certainly doesn’t possess. Furthermore, when Don Juan returns Julia’s advances with a “grateful kiss”, Bryon writes that he “withdrew/ in deep despair, lest he had done amiss”, which further exemplifies how the portrayal of the young Don Juan differs greatly to his elder representation.

One critic described Don Juan as the “passive recipient of the erotic attentions of aggressive women.” However this interpretation seems to exclude Don Juan from any responsibility for his own actions, and a feminist approach is that this poem is yet another example of how women are unfairly blamed for mans failings. This feminist viewpoint is supported by the manner in which the narrator succinctly accuses Don Juan’s mother of influencing events: “twas surely very wrong in Juan’s mother/ to leave together this imprudent pair”. Therefore the narrator’s attribution of blame solely to the women in the poem is arguably unfair, and excludes the responsibly of Don Juan. However, a post-feminist approach may conclude that the poem empowers female beauty because Julia holds a position of power of Don Juan because of her sexuality.

The narrator in the poem commentates on events and seems to hold a position of moral judgement, describing Don Juan’s mother as “wrong” in leaving the pair together and saying that what Don Juan did “was much what you would do” when advanced upon by a woman. One possibility is that the narrator’s voice is a reflection of the author himself, however I believe this is highly unlikely. Byron is more associated with the character of Don Juan, because as a critic points out, “the adventures of Don Juan are poetic re-imaginings of Byron’s own escapades and dysfunctional relationships with women.” Therefore the poem becomes a sort of insight into Byron’s mind, a biography of his life, and whether or not the poem is a work of self-indulgence is a point of debate. 

La Belle Dame sans Merci- John Keats

The poem La Belle Dame sans Merci was written by John Keats in 1819. Keats was a Romantic, and the Romantic Movement peaked around the years 1800-1840. Some features of this poem which are stereotypical of Romantic poetry would be simple language, emphasis on beauty, and medieval as well as supernatural subject matter. Keats’s poem “avoids simplicity of interpretation despite simplicity of structure”. It has 12 stanzas, each with four lines which follow the rhyming scheme ABCB. The poem takes the form of a ballad, which were typical of the Romantic era, and takes its name La Belle Dame sans Merci (“The Beautiful Lady without Pity”) from the title of a 15^th century French poem by Alain Chartier about courtly love.

The poem narrates the journey of a Knight who is lured by a “faery’s child”, a nymph, into her “elfin grot”. The Knight “made a garland for her head” and sets her on his “pacing steed”. By putting the woman on his horse the narrator is metaphorically and physically putting her on a pedestal. This aspect of attraction is a key feature of courtly love, which often depicts love as a terrible sickness, as well as the only cure. The narrator gives clues to the reader that his love is dangerous by describing her eyes as “wild”, but it is not until he is lured into her territory and “lulled asleep” that he dreams of “pale Kings, and Princes too” who attempt to warn him that he’s under threat (“La belle Dame sans merci thee hath in thrall!”) However by this time it is too late, and he is left “alone and palely loitering” on the “cold hill’s side”. 

Keats employs the pastoral convention, where women are presented as nymphs and generally at one with nature. This technique was popular in the 16^th century and often portrays the woman as passive, however in Keats’s poem this is certainly not the case. Keats’s apparent subversion of the pastoral convention could be interpreted on a post-feminist level as an empowerment of female beauty, because the woman in La Belle Dame sans Merci has control over her male suitor. However, a contrasting feminist approach may argue that Keats has presented a two dimensional, voiceless, deceitful woman who is ultimately portraying femininity in a negative light. The debate around whether or not the poem empowers or degrades women is an example of one of the many debates it raises.

One interpretation of the poem would be that the narrator has not actually encountered a nymph, but that the whole of the poem is in fact a dream he has had in which his view of love has been personified. For example, the narrator says that he was dreamt “the latest dream” and “awoke, and found me here on the cold hill side.” If this is the case, then we can infer that the story of the poem is designed to represent the narrator’s view that women are deceitful, and that love will eventually leave the bearer sad and lost: ballads often lament the loss of love, and perhaps the narrator is reminiscing on how love has left him miserable and alone.

The poem suggests that the narrator is on his death bed. In the opening three stanzas, the Knight is come across by another man who says he can “see the lily on thy brow” and “on thy cheek a fading rose/ fast withereth too”. The lily is often associated with death and Keats is said to have used the lily because it “symbolises death”. Furthermore, the claim that on his cheek is a “fading rose” suggests that the colour is going out of his face, which relates to the repeated claim that the Knight is “palely loitering”. Keats nursed his brother when he was suffering from Tuberculosis, and briefly after writing this poem he himself was diagnosed with the disease. Keats presents the narrator of the poem as suffering from some of the symptoms of TB, such as his paleness, fever and inability to move, and perhaps his illness explains why he is “alone and palely loitering.”

Another point of interest is that vampires were becoming popular in literature around this time, and some readers have suggested that perhaps the “faery’s child” is a vampire. The girl lures him into her “grot” whereupon they “kiss.” The “kiss” could signify a vampire’s bite, and perhaps the enchantress of La Belle Dame sans Merci is one in a long line of supernatural beings who have charmed immortals into spiritual slavery. If this is case then no wonder he is left “palely loitering”. Whether or not the temptress is a vampire, and whether or not the narrator is dreaming, are not of great significance because they merely exemplify the tremendous possibilities for different interpretations that are in the poem.  

She Stoops to Conquer- Oliver Goldsmith

Last week I went to see a production of the 1773 classic She Stoops to Conquer written by Oliver Goldsmith, performed at the National Theatre. Goldsmith’s play was written at a time when much of London theatre was censored because it was seen as a method of distributing anti-establishment ideas. Following an act of 1737 every play had to be approved by the government. Despite this censored approach to 18^th century theatre, Goldsmith’s play was first performed in 1773, with a few adaptions from the original, and was immediately a huge success.

Goldsmith’s play can be seen as a response to the sentimental comedy which had become popular during the 18^th century. Sentimental comedy was based on mankind being good and virtuous and Goldsmith believed this made for bad comedy because peoples mistakes should be laughed rather than pardoned or excused. Goldsmith wrote in an essay comparing sentimental comedy and laughter that “comedy is defined by Aristotle to be a picture of the frailties of the lower part of mankind” and therefore, according to Goldsmith, “comedy should excite our laughter by ridiculously exhibiting the follies of the lower part of mankind.” Goldsmith’s main intention was to make people laugh, and this was certainly achieved in the production I went to see.

The crux of the plot comes when two fashionable young gentleman from London are tricked by country joker Tony Lumpkin into believing that the house they are visiting is an inn, when it is in fact the home of a respectable man named Mr Hardcastle. Mr Hardcastle’s daughter has been selected as a potential wife for one of the young gentlemen from town called Marlow, son of Mr Hardcastle’s old friend Charles Marlow. Marlow is awkward and shy around upper class women, but transforms into a strutting, confident young man around women of a lower class. Therefore, on perceiving this feature of Marlow’s character, Miss Hardcastle cleverly adopts the role of a barmaid to attract Marlow, demonstrating how she stoops to conquer.

One point of interest in the play is that Marlow and Miss Hardcastle have been pared together as potential lovers by their elders. Goldsmith’s decision to in cooperate this feature of 18^th century society in his play demonstrates how he mocks social conventions. Arranged marriages were common in the 18^th century, and often had the intention of some kind of financial, social or political reward. Perhaps by putting a comic slant on the idea of arranged marriages, Goldsmith is mocking their value.

The plays uses stock characters, such as the fashionable young gentlemen about town, beautiful young women, old hags, loyal and disloyal servants and gullible people, which is typical of restoration and 18^th century comedy. Also a review of this rendition in the Evening Standard talks about the plays power of “delayed gratification”, and this goes hand in hand with Goldsmith’s use of dramatic irony, because the audience is aware of the deception that has taken place but has to wait until the end of the play for all to be revealed.

Goldsmith himself was said to be shy around women of a higher class, but confident around women of lesser rank. Furthermore, the story is said to be partly autobiographical, because Goldsmith was apparently once led to believe he was staying in an inn when in fact he wasn’t, only realising when the landlord refused his cheque in the morning. The importance of the play in the context of the 18^th century and in particular in the theatre of this century make it valuable to my course. 

The Waves- Virginia Woolf

The extract I have looked at from Virginia Woolf’s modernist classic The Waves is taken from the beginning, when all six characters are children and the narrative fluctuates freely between their separate voices in the form of free indirect speech. The stream of consciousness technique employed by Woolf allows the narrative to effortlessly rotate between the actual and the metaphorical, the real and the unreal, in an attempt to accurately portray the intricacy of the human mind, and express how a person’s sense of reality is located in their private subconscious. 

Towards the beginning of the extract, the character Jinny notices that the hedge she’s looking at is moving, causing her to ask “What moves the leaves? What moves my heart, my legs?” This is an example of how the stream of consciousness technique allows a characters thoughts to flow one after another. In her essay “Modern Fiction”, Woolf describes life as “an incessant shower of innumerable atoms”, and by using the stream of consciousness technique Woolf is attempting to “record the atoms as they fall upon the mind in the order in which they fall.” In this particular instance there is an obvious shift from considering the real (“what moves the leaves?”) to making a philosophical observation (what moves my heart?”) and this shift characterises the form in which Woolf is writing.

Susan see’s Jinny kissing Louis through the hedge, and grows distressed because she has feelings for Louis. This anguish causes her to say “I will wrap my agony inside my pocket handkerchief... it shall be screwed tight into a ball.” This profound image seems to represent the depth of emotion reminiscent of an adult rather than a child. However this mature sense of despair is juxtaposed with Susan’s childish claim that “I will not sit next Jinny or next Louis.” The representation of the close link between adult and childish emotions is one feature which makes the extract so strong. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the image is reinforced when the narrative shifts to Bernard’s point of view, and he says that Susan’s “nails meet in the ball of her pocket-handkerchief” as she runs with her clenched fists outstretched. This exemplifies how the constant narrative shift allows Woolf to employ a sense of irony and togetherness with her characters.

Another point of interest in the extract is the power dynamic between the male and female characters. The two girls in the extract, Jinny and Susan, personify two different representations of females. Jinny is very feminine; she wears a pink frock, instinctively kisses Louis and immediately afterwards dances and smells geraniums. In contrast, Susan sums up her distress in seeing Jinny kiss Louis with claims that she wants to sleep under branches, and allow her hair to become “matted” while she eats nuts under the brambles. In addition, Bernard says himself that his role is to follow Susan and “comfort her when she bursts out in rage and thinks, “I am alone”, demonstrating a stereotypical approach to the male ‘looking after’ the female.

All in the all, the extract has a depth of language and ideas which make it ideal for analysing in terms of love and grammatical devices. The next step for me is to read a Virginia Woolf novel and compare this extract to a more informed response of her work.  

Wuthering Heights- Emily Bronte

Since beginning my course on Love Through the Ages, I have read books that I thoroughly enjoyed, and ones which I have loved, but Wuthering Heights is neither of the above. Emily Bronte's Victorian classic was published in 1847, under the pseudonym of Ellis Bell, and although I can see the appeal of the unconventional romance which infuses aspects of the Gothic novel, I must say that the overall message of the novel is somehow lost in it's convoluted narrative and vast time span. Indeed the Wordsworth addition acknowledges in its Introduction that the novel can be viewed as "constructing a play of meanings which always seem to promise a central revelation but never quite manages to do so." Nevertheless, the novel does exhibit many literary devices and even though I did not connect with the story, I cannot deny it's intricacy.

The novel is mostly narrated as a story within a story, as the housemaid Nelly spends hours by the bedside of the original narrator, Lockwood, and tells him the background of the two houses he has visited on the West Yorkshire moors. Nelly can be described as the "moral, rational hub of the tale, holding everything together" and she narrates the relationship between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff from their meeting as children to their eventual death. Although the novel's central characters have a certain amount of respect for our almost omniscient narrator, she doesn't always appear to fully understand the romance she depicts. For example, when Catherine declares "Nelly, I am Heathcliff", she is dismissed as a foolish girl rather than one struck with overwhelming passion. The use of narrative form in the novel is one thing which distinguishes it as unique and is a possible feature for comparison to other texts.

Emily Bronte's character Heathcliff is cemented in history as a romantic hero and even sometimes described as a sex symbol. However, despite some signs of romance, such as his belief that Catherine will return to him as a ghost following her premature death, he is an altogether gruesome character, and one who is wholly deranged. I fail to see how a romantic hero can regularly ejaculate such violent propositions as "I'll crush his ribs in like a rotten hazelnut" or "I would have torn his heart out, and drank his blood", but this is exactly what Heathcliff does. Similarly, many view Catherine Earnshaw as a damsel in distress; a heroine who suffers at the hands of fate; but I often found it hard to look beyond her selfish, spoilt nature.

The presence of the supernatural is evident in the novel: Catherine's ghost seems to attack Lockwood in a nightmare during his stay at Wuthering Heights, and Heathcliff describes a feeling of tranquility in knowing that Catherine's spirit is with him always. Another point of reference is the importance of opposites in  the novel, such as the house in the title and Thrushcross Grange, light and dark, love and hate, life and death, and even and name Heathcliff has both horizontal and vertical associations. Ultimately, the view that the novel is about a "passionate unity with transcends death" seems to be partly true, and although I did not really enjoy or fully connect with the story, it's influence in a course on Love Through the Ages is unquestionable.

An Arundel Tomb- Philip Larkin

This is my first encounter with Larkin's work (apart from being familiar with the opening line of This be the Verse, who isn't?) and I find his open ended pessimism intriguing. The final line of An Arundel Tomb has been quoted as yet another comment on the immortality of love, "what will survive of us is love", but I believe this is exactly what Larkin was criticising.

The poem narrates a visit to the tomb of two old lovers with "faces blurred" who have been visited by "endless altered people" since their burial. The narrator, who may possibly be Larkin himself, describes how with "sharp tender shock" he notices that the man's hand is "withdrawn, holding her hand." The "tender" shock originally suggests a pleasant surprise because seeing the two deceased lovers united in death is touching. However, Larkin continues to suggest that this detail is exactly that, "just a detail", and merely the work of a "sculptor's sweet commissioned grace." On the contrary, the second line of the poem "the earl and countess lie in stone" suggests the love shared isn't genuine, because the word "lie" has a double meaning.

Larkin is making the point that love is not immortal, and ends with death. This could be interpreted as a pessimistic view which differs to the representation of love by the romantics, who emphasised the immortality of love. For example, Shakespeare writes in his Sonnet 18 that as long as his verse survives it will "give life to thee" and "nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade". In other words death cannot claim his loves beauty. Larkin parodies this idea in his final two lines: "and to prove our almost-instinct almost true: what will survive of us is love." Therefore it's our "almost-instinct" to believe that love is eternal, and this is "almost true", but it is not true according to Larkin, which demonstrates his pessimism.

The Sun Rising- John Donne

This poem is written from the narrative of a young man lamenting the sun rising because it brings with it an obligation for him and his lover to leave their bed. In the opening line, the narrator describes the sun as "unruly" and a "busy old fool", demonstrating his anger towards its unwanted presence. The man speaks directly to the sun, asking why it must "through windows, and through curtains, call on us?" and this is evidence of the mans arrogance, because he's addressing something infinitely more powerful, and also shows how Donne personifies the sun.

In the second stanza the narrator declares that he could "eclipse and cloud" the sun with a wink and this is further evidence of narrative arrogance because he is undermining the suns power. Furthermore, it's possible that Donne uses the work 'wink' rather than 'blink' because 'winking' is associated with cheekiness and hidden secrets, sometimes sexual attraction, and implies confidence. The fact that Donne uses the sun in his poem demonstrates the metaphysical aspect of the poem, because the sun is most definitely beyond the physical world.

One feature of metaphysical poetry employed by Donne in this poem is the use of a conceit. A conceit is an elaborate metaphor which takes two things wholly unalike and forces similarly. In this instance, Donne compares the couple in the bed to the entire world. Firstly, the narrator declares that there is no need for the sun to orbit the earth because all kings "here in one bed lay." Secondly, the third and final stanza begins with the line "She's all states, and all princes I", further supporting the conceit. Therefore, because the sun can only cover half the world at one time, and they are the whole world, it follows logically that the sun is only "half as happy" as them. One critic commented on this conceit lightheartedly by saying that "to a man in love, the bedroom can seem to enclose all the matters in the world."

Another feature of metaphysical poetry which is evident in this poem is the use of sexual innuendo. So far nearly every metaphysical love poem we have studied has had a sexual reference. For example, Marvell uses phallic imagery in his poem To His Coy Mistress when discussing "vegetable love" and in A Valediction Forbidding Mourning Donne describes how the compass "grows erect" when its other half comes home. Similarly, following the description of his lover as "all states" in The Sun Rising, the narrator says he's "all princes" who "do but play" on their land. Therefore the woman's body is the land on which he gets to play because he's a prince.

I'm enjoying studying Donne's work and metaphysical poetry as a whole. I particularly enjoy the use of wit employed by metaphysical poets in establishing elaborate conceits.

Enduring Love- Ian McEwan

Another thoroughly entertaining McEwan novel. Some people believe that all McEwan offers is entertainment but this novel demonstrates much more. This particular novel is famous for it's opening; a dramatic scene in a field where a hot air balloon glides perilously towards an uncertain fate, completely out of control, causing five complete strangers to run towards it in an attempt to hold it down. One of the men who attempts to prevent the balloons journey is Jed Parry, who subsequently develops an obsession with the narrator, Joe, because he believes something unspoken has passed between them in this moment of horror. One critic sums it up superbly by saying that the "first chapter acts as a drug and McEwan plays the part of dealer most effectively."


One aspect of the novel which adds to its intricacy is the element of unreliability you have with Joe as a narrator. Jed follows Joe everywhere. He stands outside his house when Joe's at home and sends him letters pulsating with crazed affection. Nevertheless, as a reader McEwan forces us to question whether or not Jed is real or merely a construct of Joe's imagination, as his girlfriend Clarissa believes. Evidence of this can found when Joe is asking Jed for his address in case he needs to talk to him, after which he tells the reader that he was "playing along" because it was a remark Jed "was bound to misinterpret." When faced with a pathological stalker, you are unlikely to "play along" with their madness. This explains why we are likely to question some of Joe's decisions.

Many of McEwan's novels seem to have an element of horror about them, and Enduring Love is no exception. The actions of Jed Parry are bone-chillingly suspenseful, which explains why one critic ended his review by saying "I'm still looking over my shoulder." Another theme of Enduring Love which is recurrent in McEwan's work is the concept of a couple collapsing under pressure: Clarissa and Joe's love is found to be anything but 'enduring' as their trust for one another unravels slowly. This relates to the novel On Chesil Beach by McEwan, when a young couple are torn apart on their honeymoon night by their inability to overcome their fear of intercourse. This is mainly because the novel is set in the pre-libertarian 60's when "conversation about sexual difficulties was plainly impossible", as the first sentence explains.

One final aspect of Enduring Love which ultimately separates it from being solely entertaining is the influence of science on proceedings. Joe is a science journalist who struggles with his desire to be a practical scientist. However, Joe's rationality and the believe that 'truth' is merely analytic combine to produce the complexity of Joe's viewpoint, which embodies McEwan's fascination with science. One critic remarked that "rationality is a precious and precarious construct in the novel" and through this story McEwan demonstrates what can happen to a persons sense of reality when they are solely scientific, and cannot accept the idea of unproven fact (intuition, love, religion etc.)

To His Coy Mistress- Andrew Marvell

Marvell is one of the most famous metaphysical poets, whose work often uses wit and elaborate conceits to create a poem deep with meaning. A conceit is a metaphor employed by a poet, often of the metaphysical genre, to compare two things wholly unalike and invoke similarity. For example, in John Donne’s poem The Sun Rising, Donne compares the bed he’s lying in to the entire world by saying that all kings “here in one bed lay” and “this bed thy centre is”. Similarly, in To His Coy Mistress, Marvell compares the woman he’s trying to seduce to the entirety of time, saying that “two hundred (years) to adore each breast” and “thirty thousand to the rest”.

To His Coy Mistress has a clear message of 'seizing the day’ or carpe diem as it is known in Latin, and this is represented in the poems structure as well as its language. The poem is split into three stanzas; the first is mostly an admiration of female beauty with the conceit of his “vegetable love” growing “vaster than empires”, which could be interpreted as phallic imagery representing sexual desire. The second stanza sees a distinct change in tone because “time’s winged chariot” is at the narrators back, suggesting that if they do not submit to love and sexual desire before it’s too late they will be left in a marble grave where “none do there embrace.”

The final stanza is a conclusive plea for the end of his mistress’ coyness, asking her to sport while they may like “amorous birds of prey”. Therefore although the poem uses a pleasant rhyming scheme of rhyming couplets throughout, and appeals to the woman’s beauty in the opening stanza, in conclusion it’s merely a call for her relinquishment to his sexual desire. The narrator uses the idea of death and life’s brevity to entice his mistress to have sex with him which in the 17^th century when the poem was written would have led to her becoming ‘damaged goods’ and not fit to marry a gentleman.

The poem opens by declaring that if he and his mistress had all the time in the world, her coyness would be “no crime”, but the fact that it’s referred to as a crime in the first place leads me to the conclusion that the narrator is putting overwhelming pressure on his mistress to sleep with him. This is supported by Marvell’s use of imagery surrounding death to reinforce the importance of sex. Therefore the poem represents a kind of game where the man is growing more and more desperate in an attempt to make his mistress sleep with him. 

Atonement- Ian McEwan

Atonement is a fascinating novel and one which McEwan describes as his "Jane Austen novel", possibly because it narrates the trials and tribulations of the romance between two young lovers. The opening chapters of the novel are divided between the viewpoints of different occupants of the Tallis household, and unlike some of McEwan's other novels, most notably Enduring Love, the action doesn't commence immediately.

When the youngest member of the family, thirteen year old Briony Tallis, witnesses a scene of ambiguity outside her bedroom window, she imagines that the working class Robbie Turner is proposing to her older sister Cecilia. Briony comments that although Robbie is "the son of a humble cleaning lady and of no known father", this match is adequate because "such leaps across boundaries were the stuff of daily romance." Here McEwan is referencing an aspect of Courtly love, which states that lovers must overcome boundaries in order to be together. This strongly links to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, because both Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy must overcome their individual pride and prejudice to accept their mutual love, further evidence of Atonement being McEwan's "Jane Austen novel."

One feature of the novel which stands out for me is the way McEwan ironically references literary tools. For example, Briony Tallis is an aspiring writer and towards the beginning of the novel McEwan writes that "a story is a form of telepathy" in which she was able to "send thoughts and feelings from her mind to the reader's." This is ironic because McEwan describes writing as a "magical process" and he is obviously biased because he is an author himself. Furthermore, later in the novel Briony sends a short story to a magazine in the hope that it will be published and the magazine responds by telling Briony that "such writing can become precious when there is no sense of forward movement", and this is arguably a self-criticism of McEwan's first few chapters.

The narrative of the novel has many shifts, and opens with each chapter having a different narrator. However, following the conviction of Robbie Turner for a crime he didn't commit, the novel shifts to Robbie's experiences during the British evacuation of France in Second World War. This shift is particularly effective because, as the Guardian review says, McEwan "deploys his research" into "vividly realised details and encounters." Another shift ensues following Robbie's evacuation and we are plunged into the world of nurse Briony Tallis during the war, where archival imagination is highly effective once again at making the shift in time and place seem effortless and without fault.

The rape of Lola, a visiting cousin to the Tallis house, is pivotal because if it had not happened Briony wouldn't have lied and accused Robbie, and he therefore would not have been sent to prison. The rape was in fact committed by Paul Marshall, a wealthy visitor to the Tallis house. The rape is foreshadowed by McEwan, because when Marshall is attempting to get Lola to eat a chocolate bar his company has produced, McEwan writes that "he crosses and uncrossed his legs" before taking a deep breath and saying "Bite it. You've got to bite it." Lola then unwilling accepts and it is written that the chocolate "yielded to her unblemished incisors", further evidence of sexual innuendo employed by McEwan.

The novel is exceptional for many reasons, and partly because McEwan explores many different types of love. Love of family is vital because Briony's atonement is arguably never achieved and therefore Cecilia fails to forgive her sister for a mistake she made as a thirteen year old girl. Furthermore the loss of love, and the subsequent yearning for completion, is recurrent in both Robbie and Cecilia and has a profoundly emotional effect on the reader.

Shadowlands- William Nicholson

Shadowlands is a play adapted from a film in the late 20th century, and is about the deep love between the writer C.S. Lewis and an American called Joy. The extract I have taken is from the final scene, and primarily deals with the way in which Lewis, or Jack as his friends call him, copes with the death of Joy. The extract opens with a short conversation between Jack and Joy, and although it is not absolutely clear, it appears as though this is their final conversation before "her eyes close" and she dies.

In this piece of dialogue between the two lovers Jack tells Joy that she is "the truest person (he's) ever known". The idea that 'truth' is a vital aspect of love relates to Forster's novel A Room with a View. In Forster's novel, the character of Mr Emerson, who represents the voice of the author, tells the young protagonist Lucy that "we fight for more than Love or Pleasure: there is Truth. Truth counts." Similarly, in the concluding stanza of Matthew Arnold's poem Dover Beach, the narrator speaks directly to his companion and says "Ah, love, let us be true to one another", making the point that although the world around them "hath neither joy, nor love, nor light", truth between lovers is more important.

Another key aspect of the extract from Nicholson's play is Jack's questioning of faith. Harrington says that Jack has "faith solid as a rock" but this faith is seriously questioned following Joy's death. People often struggle with belief in God when faced with suffering and Jack is no different, asking angrily "does God care? Did he care about Joy?" Jack goes on to describe God as the vivisectionist and human beings as "rats in the cosmic laboratory" and by referring to science Nicholson is exploring the idea that science had begun to triumph over religious belief in the early 20th century, mainly following Darwinian understanding.

The extract from Shadowlands deals with the idea that love and pain go hand in hand and are ultimately inseparable. Jack says to his step-son Douglas, whose grieving the loss of his mother, that "if you want the love, you have to have the pain." This demonstrates one of the ideals of courtly love, a medieval conception dealing with love and admiration, which says that love will inevitably lead to pain. Jack closes the play by saying that "the pain, now, is part of the happiness. That's the deal", demonstrating this aspect of courtly love which is recurrent in literature. For example, Auden's poem Stop all the clocks ends with the line "and nothing now can come to any good" demonstrating the narrators pain following the death of a loved one.

This is one of the first plays I have looked at as part of my course, and although I was only given a short extract I think the play has great wealth in the topic love through the ages because it explores how grief is expressed in relation to friends and family, and how it can impact on a mans religious belief.

Stop All The Clocks- W.H. Auden

Auden’s poem follows a traditional rhyming scheme of AABB and has four stanzas with four lines in each. The poem has a generally pessimistic tone and this is because the narrator is mourning the death of a loved one. The opening line “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone” proposes unrealistic actions which imply the narrator has been heavily struck by grief, and would prefer that the world stopped altogether. Furthermore, the reference to time may be a comment on the brevity of life and how the clocks have stopped for the deceased.

The first stage of grief is often denial and this is represented in the opening stanza by the narrator’s unrealistic propositions. The second stanza opens with the lines “Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead/ Scribbling on the sky the message He is dead.” The use of the word ‘moaning’ to describe the noise made by the planes is effective because it’s similar to the word ‘mourning’ and represents the aspect of death in the poem. The image of a plane writing the message ‘He is dead’ in the sky suggests that the person who has died was well known, and this is reinforced by the idea of putting “crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves.” However, planes are unlikely to share this message and public doves are unlikely to wear crepe bows making these more unrealistic propositions and further evidence of the narrator’s denial.

With the third stanza comes an obvious shift in tone. An intimate relationship is implied by the fact that “He was my North, my South, my East and West/ My working week and my Sunday rest”. The reader learns that a man has died, however the relationship is never made explicit. The poem could be a man mourning a man, a woman mourning a man or even a man/woman mourning someone that they didn’t know personally but who had a powerful influence on their life (politician, celebrity etc.) Although the narrator is left partially ambiguous, the final line of the third stanza, “I thought that love would last forever”, suggests naivety, and reinforces the narrator’s disillusioned interpretation of time.

The narrator becomes angry in the final stanza, and Auden uses hyperbolic metaphor’s such as “Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun” to represent the void left by the lovers death. The final line is extremely pessimistic: “nothing now can ever come to any good”. This is further evidence of the narrator’s depressive state and concludes the poem in the same melancholy tone that has persisted throughout. Auden’s narrator is hyperbolic, disillusioned and unrealistic, and this is arguably a comment on the power of love to bypass reason and reality, in this case unfortunately for the worse. 

The End of an Affair- Graham Greene

The End of an Affair is a semi-autobiographical novel, written from the perspective of an up and coming novelist, and set with the back drop of World War II. The protagonist Maurice Bendrix starts an affair with his friend’s wife Sarah. Sarah’s husband is a civil servant whose impotence and general dullness leads her towards other men, but Maurice struggles to cope when she cuts off their affair without an explanation.

This is the last in a series of novels written by Greene which focus on Catholicism and religious belief. Through Greene’s protagonist many questions are raised of religion, such as whether belief in God can lead to a sense of loneliness and whether or not it injects false hope into people. Therefore it’s possible that Greene wrote these novels in an attempt to propose and make sense of these big questions himself. The character of Sarah is loosely based on a lover Greene once had, further demonstrating the autobiographical nature of the novel.

A bomb strikes outside Maurice’s house and Sarah find him limp underneath the dislodged door. Believing him dead she prays that if God brings him back she will leave Maurice and repent her adulterous sins. Maurice was merely unconsciousness and when he rises from the ‘dead’ Sarah slowly but surely starts believing in God.

One book review describes the novel as a “three-way collision between love of self, love of another and love of God.” Maurice becomes fixated in trying to find out if Sarah left him for another man and who this other man may be, before discovering that God’s presence had replaced him in Sarah’s heart. This leads to a deep resentment towards the religion that has taken away his one true love: “I wanted Sarah for a lifetime and you took her away.” 

Maurice’s resentment of religion grows into undisguised hatred. However as the novel draws to a close, Maurice seems to unwillingly draw closer and closer to the conclusion that God exists, and the novel ends with him speaking directly to God and asking to be left alone forever. This suggests that he is resigned to the fact that whether he likes it or not, God has power over him.

As well as love of God, the love depicted between Maurice and Sarah is crucial to the story. Maurice says that “there was never any question of who wanted whom- we were together in desire” and although their relationship originates from lust, it develops intensely into something else. Maurice claims “even vacancy was crowded with her”, demonstrating the ‘love of another’ that I mentioned earlier. I enjoyed the novel, and would like to read The Heart of the Matter by Greene next because it also explores Catholicism and is set in West Africa.