Creative Engagement Week 4: Helpful Timeline I Stumbled Upon This Week

In my Rumination this week, I wanted to do some research of the history of British literature on a larger scale. When Professor Calhoun discussed Helen Vendler's comments on Shakespeare's unoriginality, I wanted to research the truth behind it. I found this timeline which lays out nicely the major themes of the time period, the years it lasted for, styles/genres, effect, historical context, and sample works and authors of the time period. In this course we go through the eras chronologically but if you ever wanted to remind yourself of where we are in history, this timeline maybe a helpful tool to use. I know it helped me when I was trying to think of the eras, works, and themes that came before Shakespeare this week.

I hope some of you find it helpful! :)

Here is the link:

http://www2.bakersfieldcollege.edu/gdumler/English%205A/Periods%20&%20Timelines/british_literature_timeline.htm

If Shakespeare’s Ideas Are Not Original, Whose Are?! -- Appreciating the Form of Sonnets

Rumination #2: Week 4

When I first read our Prologue for this week and the introduction to Shakespeare in our Norton’s Anthology, I was surprised to read that Shakespeare’s thoughts and themes were thought to be unoriginal. I just reread some of Vendler’s claims that are mentioned in the Prologue for week four. I decided to investigate these suggestions. As I was researching British literature, I stumbled upon a pretty helpful timeline, which I will post and explain above my rumination as my creative engagement for this week. The timeline gives a pretty good jist of the major concepts of the time period and also provides some staple examples by authors of the era.

So far in our course, we have “traveled” through the Old English/Anglo-Saxon Period in which there was an emphasis on fate, the success of heroic characters (as we saw in Beowulf), and expression of religious beliefs. To me, none of these concepts showed up as prominent themes in Shakespeare’s sonnets. The next stop on our travels was the Middle English Period. This is where I began to see Vendler’s point. When we read the works from the Middle English period, we saw themes revolving around love, which Shakespeare also focused on.

However, after I began writing this Rumination, I started to think of another quote by Vendler mentioned in the Prologue by Professor Calhoun. He pointed out Vendler’s quote that “The appeal of lyric lies elsewhere than in its paraphrasable statement” (14). I will admit that I had to reread this statement several times before I could make sense of it for myself. What I took away from this is that maybe what we should be appreciating about Shakespeare’s sonnets is the actual format of the sonnet and not necessarily the sonnet’s theme or message. Sonnets are definitely a difficult form of poetry to write. In the appendix of our anthology, a sonnet is defined as “a form combining a variable number of units of rhymed lines to produce a fourteen-line poem, usually in rhyming iambic pentameter lines” (A48). It also goes on to explain the Shakespearean sonnet as being “formed by three quatrains (abab cdcd efef) and a couplet (gg)” (A48). Talk about a mouth full! I was challenged by my high school honors English teacher to write my own sonnet, and let me tell you it was not easy. There are so many things to work with while trying to express an idea. You not only have to worry about conveying your ideas but you also have to think about the meter and the rhyme scheme of the sonnet. I now understand Vendler’s point that, yeah, maybe Shakespeare’s sonnets about love were not the most original themes or ideas but maybe that is not what we are supposed to worry about while analyzing the work. To me, Vendler was trying to tell us that the actual format of the sonnet is something that we should appreciate while reviewing the sonnets of Shakespeare instead of the theme or message of the sonnet.

As I started reading the sonnets from this week, my focus was more on the main idea of the sonnet. However, after I began this Rumination, I continued reading and rereading the sonnets focusing on the format of the sonnet versus the message. It really is impressive that Shakespeare was able to write this many sonnets while having to focus on the meter and rhyme scheme of each one. I definitely have a newfound respect for the sonnets of Shakespeare.

Lyrical Sequence: The Love Songs by A Fine Frenzy in "One Cell in the Sea"

When I first listened to our wildcard assignment for this week, many artists and albums came to mind. The album that choose to focus on is “One Cell in the Sea” by A Fine Frenzy (AFF). AFF is composed of only one female singer, Alison Sudol. Most of her songs focus on the lost of love and how it feels when it is gone. She also writes about relationships and the journey many can take only to end, similar to many of our readings for this week. Also similar to our readings this week, her songs give you a feeling as if she is singing to some in particular. AFF’s lyrics are very emotional and strong. Itunes describes Sudol’s lyrics as “dreamily evocative wordplay”. Although all her songs have sonnet-like lyrical sequences, I decided to discuss three of her more powerful and thought provoking songs, “Almost Lover,” “Ashes and Wine,” and “Last of Days”.

“Almost Lover” is the album’s most popular song. Sudol writes about the man who was “almost” her lover. She says goodbye to him in this slow tempo song. Sudol explains the reasons why she feel for this man and explains how is trying to deal with her loss. She puts the blame on her stating:

“I should've known you'd bring me heartache,

Almost lovers always do”.

The lyrics in this poem are similar to the sonnets we read this week because she examining why she had these feelings and explains how it feels when those feelings are no longer returned. The refrain is the most emotional part of the song and is repeated through the song:

“I never want to see you unhappy

I thought you'd want the same for me

Goodbye, my almost lover

Goodbye, my hopeless dream

I'm trying not to think about you

Can't you just let me be?

So long, my luckless romance

My back is turned on you

I should've known you'd bring me heartache,

Almost lovers always do”

The album continues with “Ashes and Wine” in which Sudol is also mourning the loss of a relationship. This time she is contemplating if there is anything she can do to bring the relationship back to life. There is a very hopeless feel to the song from the beginning when she states:

“Don't know what to do anymore

I've lost the only love worth fighting for”

She continues on to ask her lover if there is anything she can do to get them back in the refrain:

“Is there a chance?

A fragment of light at the end of the tunnel?

A reason to fight?

Is there a chance you may change your mind?

Or are we ashes and wine?”

This song is filled with emotion and desperation trying to get back her lover.

The last song I want to focus on from “One Cell in the Sea” is “Last of Days”. The lyrics of this song show Sudol’s feelings about how she is handling the loss of a love. She explains that:

“The world carries on without you

But nothing remains the same

I'll be lost without you

Until the last of days

Until the last of days”

Not only did this song remind me of the readings from this week, but it also reminded me of the readings from last week, specifically The Wife’s Lament, in which the wife describes how her life cannot on the same without her husband.

Overall, many of AFF’s songs have sonnet like lyrics and themes within them. If you have not ever listened to AFF and you enjoy female vocalists, I highly suggest the artist and the album.