Analyzing the Rhetoric of "Success"

This youtube video really helped me to better pick up on the use of language and rhetoric in Emily Dickinson's poem I mentioned in my previous post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu8gqm7FsuA

Success

I recently read Emily Dickinson's poem titled "Success is Counted Sweetest" and analyzed it's rhetoric and Dickinson's use of language within the poem to convey her central message. This message was carried forth in a few different metaphors, in that those who succeed never truly appreciate it, it is only those who fail, or who lack something, that can truly appreciate how wonderful it would be if they did succeed. The dilemma presented by this poem is that it is not just those who strive longer before succeeding that can appreciate it more, it is only those who “ne’er succeed” who can count it “sweetest” to succeed. The poem holds the romantic characteristic of individualism and desires for growth and enlightenment while also proposing female success and achievement even through the trials and tribulations those of her time experienced. Dickinson's reference to "he" along with the alliteration "defeated--dying" encompasses the underlying meaning of woman being triumphent over men. The rhetoric and language the Emily Dickinson manipulated throughout the poem brings hope to the reader to continue striving for success even when failure crushes ones spirit. Hope and victory act as dominant themes in "Success is Counted Sweetest" connecting with many of Charlotte Smith's poems that speak of a greater life and opportunity to those who continue to pursue it.

Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple Host
Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of Victory

As he defeated--dying--
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!      

Investigating Dickinson's Poetry

"I'm Nobody! Who are you?"  By Emily Dickinson

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us -don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

“I’m Nobody! Who are you?” is an example of one of Dickinson’s more comical poems, yet the poem's purpose was for more than pleasure. Containing a biting satire of the public sphere, both of the public figures who benefit from it, and all of the people who allow them to. Dickinson’s light tone, childish voice, and invitation to the reader to be on her side, keeps a friendly feeling to the poem. Dickinson attacked the public and their lack of individuality with her reference to "somebodies" and "nobodies" within the poem. The speaker fears that even telling anyone that there is now “a pair of us,” that is, nobodies, outsiders, will lead to their very identities being advertised, and thus taken from them, for they will no longer be able to be the anonymous, free-thinking nobodies that they have chosen to be. Emily discusses the idea of loneliness and distance from the public mass, in both a negative and positive way. Similar to Smith's poem "To Night", Dickinson speaks of anxiety and distress and a dire need for individuality. In continuation to my last post, Emily Dickinson was brought up in a vicinity of highly religious beliefs that were incorportated in much of her poetry. After recently analyzing Charlotte Smith's sonnet "To Night" I noticed that she too included some religous references in her works as well. In "To Night" the last lines are suggestive to a prayer: “While to the winds and waves its sorrows given, / May reach – though lost on earth – the ear of Heaven!” When someone has lost all hope in their life, they pray, hoping that their prayer reaches the ears of God, and thus “the ear of Heaven!” So not only does the sonnet “To Night” deal with the self and imagination, but it also has a subtle dealing with religion. Finding peace and serenity alone reflects a major romantic theme of self and imagination through time spent with nature. The reference to prayer and connection has interested me to further research poetry by Dickinson and Smith discussing an importance of prayer and mediation in order to revive and renew one's soul.

Citation:
"'I'm Nobody! Who are you?'" The Literature Network. N.p., 2012. Web. 21 Apr.
2012.
http://www.online-literature.com/dickinson/448/

Connecting Emily Dickinson and Charlotte Smith

Emily Dickinson was an acclaimed romantic of her time producing many works with corresonding themes to that of Charlotte Smith. Along with this connection I also was interested in researching her works because my mom has always been a big fan of her works, enough so to even name me after her. Ha! Random fact but I thought I would include it in this post. Dickinson's poetry reflects her loneliness and the speakers of her poems generally live in a state of want, but her poems are also marked by the intimate recollection of inspirational moments which are decidedly life-giving and suggest the possibility of happiness. Her work was heavily influenced by the Metaphysical poets of seventeenth-century England, as well as her reading of the Book of Revelation and her upbringing in a Puritan New England town. The suggestion of happiess within her poetry and the speakers desire for a better life strongly connect with much of the elegiac sonnets Smith produced such as "To Sleep" and "To Night" both advocating freedom from distress and anxiety, along with the speaker expressesing a great feeling of loneliness.


Citation:

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/155

The Rhetoric of Smith and Wordsworth

While preparing for my presentation in class I came across this scholarly article about the rhetoric in many of the elegiac sonnets by romantic authors Smith and Wordsworth. I found it pretty interesting because just earlier this evening while reading over my notes and research I found the way Smith would randomly capitolize and add exclamation marks to her poetry pretty peculiar.. even thought to myself "I wonder why she chose to do that?" In the article it also discusses the reasoning behind much of Smith's mournful poetry, and why she and Wordsworth wrote of the poor and unfortunate. I have a new outlook on Smith's approach to her poetry now and view much of the pieces I read to be more in the humanitarian genre after researching and reading further into her intriguing rhetoric.

Check it out!

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10509580214655#preview

Analyzing "To Sleep" from a different perspective

Another one of Charlotte Smith's elegiac sonnets titled "To Sleep" carried a central theme of self and imagination. This theme in Smith's writing represents the general focus of the romantic period on one's self and imagination. Several parts of the poem appeared to have a mournful and dark medium, signifying the doubt and loneliness Smith felt along with many others of her time. On line 4 and 5, I noticed this when Smith wrote "Float in light vision round my aching head! Secure of all blessings, partial Power!" (pg 1398). I felt a sense of anxiety and distress in this line of the poem, possibly the sleeplessness of her own life she experiences due to all the pressures of everyday life. I furthered my research and have found that To sleep is also considered to be an encouragement for growth of economic self-reliance. In continuation to my last post, this idea could be seen as another vestige of Smith's personal experiences with dependence upon men to provide for her. The poem speaks of self-awareness being so strong and daunting even the “opiate aid” does not give relief. Ln 13. Could this be an attempt to awaken the women of Charlotte Smith's time? The speaker seems to almost beg for sleep but still stays awake.. Similar to the restlessness many romantics felt about finding one's true self through embracing the exploration of imagination and free will. What if Smith's goal with the poem was to crticize those remaining awake and unhappy with their lives? "Who wake to labor, libery, and love" (line 12 pg 1398). The idea of self and feeling trapped in one's self appears to be a major focal point of the poem that is once again visiting the issues that Charlotte Smith feels so passionately about.

Citation for my post:

Godfrey, Esther. "Smith, Charlotte." In Maunder, Andrew, ed Encyclopedia of Literary Romanticism. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2010. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= ELR0310&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 10, 2012).

Greenblatt, Stephen. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York, New
York: M.H. Abrams, 2006. Print. Pg. 1397-1405

Smith's personal experiences that fueled her passion for writing

While reading Charlotte Smith's works I began to notice traces of her own experiences being reflected in the themes and components of her writing. I've discovered that Smith delt with financial issues the majority of her life due to the men in her life not properly handling finances and their economic decisons correctly. Due to her father's overspending, Charlotte was forced to marry at a very young age to a man named Benjamin Smith, who led their family of 12 children into a huge hole of debt along with poisoning his marriage with infidelity, physical abuse, and disrespect. After 22 years of matrimonial discord, Smith finally divorced Benjamin Smith. This was a very extraordinary action for a woman of her time, that took a great deal of courage. Once she had fully escaped Smith began writing to earn a living for herself and her twelve children. Benjamin's father left his estate to Charlotte and her children, but the will was full of legal problems and the money remained frustratingly inaccessible during her lifetime, producing a legal quagmire that would inspire the infamous Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce case in Charles Dickens's novel Bleak House (1852–53). I found it very interesting that her own personal experience inspired a male author to write of the legal and financial problems women like Charlotte Smith faced. Themes from Smith's life appeared throughout her novels, which follow the sentimental tradition while openly critiquing parental figures who remain in broken marriages, legal systems that promote fraud and injustice, and social abuses of power. In Emmeline (1788), her heroine narrowly escapes marriage to a charming yet destructive man, and in The Old Manor House (1793) a hidden will restores the rightful inheritor to his estate. Both novels orquestrasted Smith's own personal experiences, and her contradictory romantic propensities that fueled her strong beliefs in reguard to legal systems, politics and social corruptions.

Works Cited:
Godfrey, Esther. "Smith, Charlotte." In Maunder, Andrew, ed Encyclopedia of Literary Romanticism. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2010. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= ELR0310&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 9, 2012).

Written at the Close of Spring

Charlotte Smith's admiration of nature in her poetry compels the reader to really digest and analyze the meaning behind her beautiful arrangements of words, and descriptions of the nature that is all around us. Before beginning my research I learned in class about the major characteristic of the romantic era of literature. One of these charcteristics was the authors love for nature and it's significance, a theme that is constant in much of Charlotte Smith's poetry. Her elegiac sonnet, "Written at the Close of Spring" sports a main theme of the wonders of nature's creations, placing great emphasis on it's beauty and elegance. Though the poem was written in traditonal sonnet form, Smith's poem particularly interested me because of how she personified the flowers in the sonnet giving them futher meaning and significance. This literary technique was  very typical of romantic authors. Smith begins her poem with "The Garlands fade that Spring so lately wove, Each simple flower, which she had nursed in dew," (page 1398). Smith personified the season of Spring giving it a motherly role to the flowers and garlands, which caused me to make an assumption that Spring's relationship with the flowers was possibly symbolizing the roles woman of Charlotte Smith's time were expected to uphold. Smith later mentions in the poem "Ah! poor Humanity! so frail, so fair, Are the fond visions of thy early day," (page 1398). Smith seems to be saddended that humanity cannot renew itself the way the flowers in her poem could, reflecting the "emotional flourish" many romantics of her time incorporated in their writing. It appears that Smith is pitying humanity because we can not renew and bloom again like the flowers, as in the poem she descibes the detoriation of a flower which in actuality is symbolizing the youth growing old. She states on page 1398 on line 11, "Till tyrant passion, and corrosive care, Bid all thy fairy colors fade away!" Smith inventively took a stab at humanity and our selfish tendencies by comparing the exterior fading of a beautiful flower's color to the interior well being and youth of an individual wasting away as a person grows older. Charlotte Smith's insistence on the faithful rendering of detail within the poem caused me to re-read it and search for further meaning and depth within her carefully chosen words. Her last sentence of the poem seemed to intrigue me the most with it's mournful quality closing the poem with "Ah! why has happiness- no second Spring?" (page 1398). This quotation seemed to have mulitple meanings to me, both revealing the unavoidable truth that as humans the life we live will at some point come to an end. Smith questioned the reader with this ending line, by addressing the fact that since humans cannot renew as flowers can why not everyone get the equal opportunity at happiness? The affections and emotions Charlotte Smith associated with nature in this poem demonstrated her own idea and opinion of the mindset that many possessed in her time.

Citation:
Greenblatt, Stephen. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York, New
York: M.H. Abrams, 2006. Print. Pg. 1397-1405

Charlotte Smith's Background

• Charlotte Smith was an English Romantic poet and novelist. Major contributor to the revival of the English sonnet, wrote many political novels of sensibility- a character trait important in the mid to late 18th century which meant one was attuned with nature and was easily and rightly affected by the feelings of others. 
• Smith was born May 4th 1749 into a wealthy family, but her father's irresponsible spending forced her to marry early at a very early age. The marriage she later described to be prostitution, was a violent one full of marital discord with a man named Benjamin Smith. Her unhappiness and violence within her marriage leads me to think it fueled the fire within in her for truth, reason and equality in the world. Set her apart from many females in her time!
• Charlotte Smith eventually left Benjamin Smith and began writing to support her twelve children she had with him. Not only was this very brave of her, but also extremely uncommon because women of her time never left their husbands or had the courage to do so. 
• Smith's struggle to provide for her many children and numerous attempts to gain legal protection provided many of the themes of her poetry and novels. *Supporting my observation of Smith's incorporation of her own personal life.
•  Portraits of herself and family in her works provided many details of her life. Unlike other   authors.
• Very successful writer, publishing ten novels, three books of poetry, four children's books, and other assorted works, over the course of her career.
• Majority of Smith's novels were autobiographical. Prefaces to Smith's novels told the story of her own struggles she had faced, including the death of several of her children.
• Repetitive theme of her novels included vocal critic of the laws that had kept her and her children in poverty. Reflection of the revolutionary spirit perhaps?? A definite fight for rights for all.
• Smith's Poetry: Signed herself "Charlotte Smith of Bignor Park" on the title page of Elegiac Sonnets. All works of poetry were published under her own name (VERY daring decision for a woman at the time) 
• Though her novels ranked in much more cash, throughout her career Smith identified herself as a poet, because she believed her poetry would bring her respectability. 
• Smith became involved with English radicals while living in Brighton from 1791-1793. She supported the French Revolution and its republican principles. 
• Her novel Desmond tells the story of a man who journeys to revolutionary France and is convinced of the rightness of the revolution and contends that England should be reformed as well. The novel was published in June 1792, a year before France and England went to war and before the Reign of Terror began, which shocked the British public, turning them against the revolutionaries. 
• Smith's experiences prompted her to argue for legal reforms that would grant women more rights, making the case for these reforms through her novels. Smith's stories showed the "legal, economic, and sexual exploitation" of women by marriage and property laws. 

All information from the post found at:

 http://www.poemhunter.com/charlotte-smith/biography/

Drum roll please...

Today marks day one of my research process on Charlotte Smith (1749-1806):

After exploring the works of various romantic authors in my British Literature book the one that appealed to me the most was Charlotte Smith. Though I was previously unfamiliar with her works, I found her poetry and boasts on equality very intriguing. From the start of my research blog, I had decided I really wanted to select an author that produced deep, meaningful poetry. Charlotte Smith seemed to fit that mold almost perfectly with the interesting motives she possessed in all of her writing. Much of her work was considered to reflect the views of Mary Wollstonecraft and Anna Levitia Barbauld, which were both feminist authors I have previously read. This connection makes me feel like I can empathize much better with Smith and her poetry from already learning about how the woman of her time really felt. In fact, in my literature book I recently read that Mary Wollstonecraft and Anna Levitia Barbauld were both major influences and inspirations in Charlotte Smith's writing. Their contributions to the revival of sonnet form in poetry served as a major contribution to the romantic era of literature. I enjoyed reading the works of Smith because though she had a constant theme of typical romantic characteristics in her works, she also incorporated her own personal life. This greatly questioned the gender roles of her time by using a common time-honored form of writing to create powerful meaning. I have found her style extremely inventive and inspiring. In addition to the deep and powerful meanings woven into her works, Smith's emphasis on nature and it's importance reflected numerous romantic beliefs while also transforming her poetry into a beautiful arrangement of words. Her interesting observations and questions that arise from reading her works makes me excited to further explore and research them. 

New at this, but excited to try!

Here on my blog you can explore all of my documented research and questions as I study the works of an author from the romantic period of literature. My indecisiveness has gotten the best of me recently and I'm still trying to choose between a handful of authors I would enjoy learning more about. In my next blog I will inform you of who that is, and explain why I chose that particular author to research.