The Night is Darkening Round Me: Poem Analysis

The night is darkening round me,

The wild winds coldly blow ;

But a tyrant spell has bound me,

And I cannot, cannot go. 

The giant trees are bending

Their bare boughs weighed with snow ;

The storm is fast descending,

And yet I cannot go. 

Clouds beyond clouds above me,

Wastes beyond wastes below 

But nothing drear can move me :

I will not, cannot go.

This poem was written by Emily Brönte in the first half of the nineteenth century

What I am most curious about this poem is whether the author is implying that she wants to go or not, when it is written "I cannot go". This is because even though I have an impression of a trapped person, when the author repeats "I cannot go", However, in the last verse, the author adds: "I will not", paving the way for a possibility that she chooses not to "go".The first stanza gives us a particularly dark impression, as it starts with the name of the poem: "The Night is Darkening Round me". The perception of being imprisoned is expanded upon in the second stanza, as it implies that the top of the trees are closer to the ground, due to snow as well as the fact that it talks about the trees being down. The words "but nothing drear can move me" provide a feeling of being enclosed. That is because it is written that clouds are at the top, waste is below, but the author cannot be moved. 

In the second last line, the word drear is used, which is similar to gloomy. In that case, the implication seems to be that no negative aspect can move her. In addition, she seems, looking at the previous stanzas to be surrounded by nature. Therefore, it is for to assume that the author at first, does not wish do go because of the weather, but later simply chooses not to leave. 

The Figure in the Carpet by Henry James

I read the book The figure in the Carpet by Henry James. In the story the narrator wrote a review on a famous book by an author, named Vereker. The narrator gets the chance to meet him and show him his work with the help of a female friend of his. However, the author is not at all impressed by it, but rather says that he has missed the "point" of his book. The narrator tries everything in order to properly "understand" the work, but he can't seem to solve the puzzle. He tells his friend, named Corvick of what has happened. However, Corvick doesn't manage to understand the secret, neither does his fiancée. There are only three people who manage to find out what the mystery meaning is - Vereker, Covington and Gwendolen), but they refuse to tell the others and before they get the chance to share their knowledge, they each die one after the other. They pass away just when the narrator thinks that they are going to tell them the secret, which adds tension and intensifies the curiosity of the reader. They call the secret "the figure in the carpet", which is what the title is.

I really liked the book as there are a lot of things happening quickly. There is a certain mystery, which makes the reader want to continue reading in order to solve the puzzle. We never know whether the claims of each of the characters are true or they are just pretending. The fact that they all die also makes the book a thriller. However, it is quite disappointing or rather annoying that we weren't told what "the figure in the carpet" was at the end of the book.

The Life of a Stupid Man - Ryunosuke Akutagawa

This short novel was originally written in Japanese and then translated into English. I thoroughly enjoyed all three of the stories but the last less than the first two.
    The writing and language used in all three stories are clear and easy to follow. However, the first story, In a Bamboo Grove, is a bit hard to understand due to the changing of perspectives of people. It is about a man that is murdered and little by little, we find out who killed the man as each of the characters take the stand. In addition to that, it is hard to distinguish when a different person speaks as in the story, they don't use and speech marks or even change the line. If you are reading the story and fully understand, it will not be hard to follow the dialogue.
   This first story was extremely intriguing because of the three win characters: the wife, the husband and the killer. All three of them have such different personalities and they all contrast and clash each other. I found the wife the most interesting because of her swift changing of mind. However, we never really know which story is true, the wife's, the killer or the story told true a prophet, as all of them are different.

The second story, Death Register, is Akutagawa talking about his family life and how he lost all of his closest relatives. The first lost his father and then his mother went mad so he was then forced to be adopted by his uncle. Soon after that, his mother then died at the young age of 11.
   I like the way that he describes all of his family members, especially the way he describes his older sister: Hatsuko. Although he never met her, he feels the closest to her. He describes her in a way that it makes everyone was rot meet her.

The third story, The Life of a Stupid Man, consists of 51 short reflections of previous memories in his life. I have never read an autobiography written in this way and I found it amazing. Instead of him writing long paragraphs of important aspects in his life, he writes the memories in just a few sentences and each of the small accounts are given a title. When reading these memories, I felt like I was instantly transported to the time and place of the event because of his amazing writing. Throughout the 51 memories, there are some recurring themes so it makes the story flow almost like a poem. These memories shows that he was very wise. However he committed suicide at the age of 35 so it means that he must have written his autobiography around his thirties.

I honestly enjoyed these short stories a lot and I would recommend this to a lot of people that enjoy stories about death.

“How Much Land Does A Man Need?” by Leo Tolstoy

“How Much Land Does A Man Need?” by Leo Tolstoy is a short book that is made up of two short stories translated from Russian into English. The first short story is “How Much Land Does A Man Need?” and it is about men’s greed and selfishness; it tells the story of a modest farmer in Russia that owns very little land in his hometown. He then wishes for more land, but by doing so he also provokes the Devil. Consequently of making this newfound enemy, the farmer finds a couple of opportunities to expand his land and increase the quality of his crops, but that entails having to move to another town. The farmer, along with his family, moves to another town south of the Volga for agricultural reasons, but that too doesn’t seem to be enough for him; he still feels cramped, without enough air to breathe, and with “bad” soil. He isn’t satisfied, so he moves to another town that offers very large areas of amazing soil but he is challenged to walk as much as possible in one day, and all the land he will have marked would be his. He sets off to conquer as much land as possible, but it never seems to be enough, he always wants more. As the sun starts to set, he realizes he is very far from his starting point and making it back would be difficult. So he runs and runs, until he reaches the starting point, and as the chief of the town is congratulating him, the farmer drops dead. This short story symbolizes human greed, and how men never have enough, and it’s that greed that will lead humans to death. The second short story is “What Men Live By”, a story with similar themes as the first one. It’s based around the themes of generosity, kindness, harmony between men, and religion. It is the story of a Fallen Angel, punished by God, and forced to live on earth as a mortal to learn three crucial lessons: “ what dwells in man, what is not given to men, and what men live by.” He would only be welcomed back into heaven after learning these lessons, which he finally does at the end.

The Beautifull Cassandra

The Beautifull Cassandra

The little black book i decided to read was called The Beautifull Cassandra, by Jane Austen. The reason i chose this book was because in the past i have read many of her novels. She is one of my favourite authors. However after reading this book, my view on Jane Austin has changed. This book is very unlike other books of hers, the book is made up of little extracts of her early stories of when she was a child. I fond these stories to be fun and very entertaining. I found it a very light read, which is very funny. It was also very cool to read her earlier stuff and compare it to her later writing style. I also liked how Jane made themes like death and prison breaks add to the people's humour of the book. 

I really enjoyed the book, and really recommend to people who enjoy a fast, light and funny read.

The Great Gatsby pt4

As the novel progresses, Fitzgerald builds mystery around Gatsby's character; he keeps him in the dark, not only for us but for Nick too. In the first few chapter a lot is said and thought about Gatsby, but never by Gatsby himself. Nick and Gatsby eventually go to lunch together in the city and on the drive there, Gatsby tells him about his past and personal life but everything he says seems very improbable to Nick. That irritates Gatsby and makes him want to prove himself to the narrator. When they finally arrive, Gatsby introduces the narrator to a shady, New York city entrepreneur. Seeing the two men being friendly, Nick begins to suspect that Gatsby's wealth might be shadier than people think (organized crime?).

The Great Gatsby pt3

At this point in the novel, Tom brought Nick to this gas stop that lays in between West Egg and New York: an abandoned valley of ashes. There, they attend a party at Tom's mistress's house, which ends horribly wrong and violently too due to an exaggerated consumption of alcohol. Further on in the story, Nick receives an invitation to one of Gatsby's famously opulent parties and he attends. Carraway is surprised by the luxury of the party and by Gatsby's wealth. Even more surprising is that no one seems to know whom Gatsby is; everyone speculates about his wealth and his background, but nobody really knows the generous host. Everyone is a stranger to Gatsby. Finally, a man that seems familiar to Nick introduces himself as Jay Gatsby, and that is when they meet. The two of them, and Jordan, go on to talk very briefly. The party ends and Nick returns to his ordinary home and life, almost as though being at the party stopped time. Everyone let these inhibitions free during these parties, and forgot about the rest of the world for the night.

Charles Dickens: "The Great Winglebury Duel"

This novel first struck me because of its title; quite gripping and intriguing in a way. I have always loved books written by Charles Dickens so I took this as an opportunity to read more. It is book N°37 in the Penguin Little Black Classics.

The first part of the book, The Great Winglebury Duel, was the best story in my opinion, my favourite out of the two stories from the novel. I enjoyed it because it was funny and exciting, unlike many of Dickens' books at the time, which were more of mockery and slightly gloomy in a way. It was a story about mistaken identity and with humour within it, something I wasn't really expecting but this made it all the more enjoyable to read.

On the other hand The Steam Excursion; the second story, was rather boring and dull. About a lazy law student, Percy Noakes, who organises a steamship excursion. He's a very good man, and gets his way around by being so. But on this steamship excursion, where many guests are present, a storm rises causing the boat to tilt and many of the guests on board get seasickness. They blame it all on Percy; frustrated by his lack of success on this journey, he goes back to being an ordinary law student and continues his studies. In time he becomes a prosecuted counsel, feared by everyone. I didn't enjoy  this story that much because it is too predictable what happens in it.

I personally preferred many of Dickens' plays rather than these short stories, but it was something different to read therefore slightly entertaining.

'Circe and the Cyclops' by Homer, summary, analysis, and thoughts on the book

I have finished reading my black book, Circle and the Cyclops by Homer. The book takes you on the journey of Odysseus and his men. Odysseus narrowly escapes being killed by a Cyclops. Odysseus and is men find a home of Aeolus, master of the winds, for a month before he decides to continue his journey home. With the help of Aeolus’s pouch that captured the winds that may drive them off course, they set sail. During the ten day journey Odysseus falls asleep and his curious men open the pouch handed to hum by Aeolus, this caused the master of wind to refuse help them anymore. With no wind favoring them, the Greek men were forced to row and appear at Laestrygonians where they meet giants that attack them suddenly by throwing large boulders at their ship, and killing many of Odysseus’s crew. Only Odysseus’s vessel escapes and sails to the island of Aeae, home to the beautiful yet dangerous goddess Circe who poison, and capture many of Odysseus’s men. Odysseus manages to overcome her powers by receiving help from Hermes, son of Zeus. Hermes gives him a herb called Moly, which protected Odysseus from Crice’s poison, amd allowed him to het his men back.

Circle and the Cyclops is a very gripping story about Greek mythology and the idea of narrowly escaping death adds a sense of curiosity and fear in the readers, which really attracts us deep into the story of Odysseus and his crew.

Throughout the book, Odysseus shows many signs of judgment and courageousness. His men told him not to instigate the Cyclops, as well as not to go visit Crice, the beautiful which. Odysseus ignored this advice and due to his ignorance, he managed to save his men in those two scenarios. However his success is also due to the help of the gods as without Aeae, he would not have had a place to stay and without Hermes, he would not have been able to withstand Circe’s poison and rescue his men.

The way the book is written has an effect on the readers, as it is very poetic at times. At times of courageousness or confidence, this poetic structure adds a 

wavy flow to the lines and engages the readers into the book, as well as helps them understand the storyline more Cleary.

In conclusion, I enjoyed the book very much and it really inspired be to read more stories about ancient Greek mythology. It also engaged me very well due to the storyline of how Odysseus and his men always, narrowly, escaped death, and the poetic structure which added a nice flow, and helped me understand the language and storyline better.

The Farseer Trilogy series

The Farseer Trilogy series

I read a series called The Farseer Trilogy series written by Robin Hobb. The series comprises of 9 books separated into three sub series for different years of the hero's life. 
       The books are all fiction, and are based in a medieval time. They talk about the bastard son of a King-in-Waiting and his adventures with his royal blood and magics.
      I read some of these books over the Christmas holiday and have almost finished the entire series. I would give them an 8.5/10, as I find them a very enjoyable read. The author uses good language and complex plots in the books, which makes the books very intriguing.
   One of the main reasons that I'm writing this blog about this series is because the author uses many themes from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. For example in Twelfth Night Viola says: "She sat like Patience on a monument, Smiling at grief". In The Farseer Trilogy series one of the main characters is called Lady Patience. In Twelfth Night, Feste is the smartest character, a mock showing that in a play full of foolishness and stupidity (in the drama between the characters) and only the Fool knows what is happening. In The Farseer Trilogy series a Fool is one of the main characters who not only is the smartest person in the play but also is the only one who can predict the future as a 'White prophet'. In Twelfth Night Feste is disguised as Sir Topaz which can be a golden honey coloured stone. In The Farseer Trilogy series the Fool has many disguises one of which is Lord Golden, a noble from a faraway country.
   I find the link between Twelfth Night and The Farseer Trilogy series very intriguing and Robin Hobb seems to use Shakespeare's characters who have incredibly interesting and smart personalities to light up her very own book.

Theo C-W

My Black Book

I read The Meek One by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and in this book a man who has taken a interest in a young girl tries to help her and give her a better life, it was quite an interesting book with a lot of turns and twists throughout the book, but i did not really find it as enjoyable as i thought i would. If you like sad stories about being treated wrongly and about depression, then this is the book for you.

"Travels in the Land of Serpents and Pearls" by Marco Polo

Upon finishing this book, I found myself wondering what a different experience the events told by Marco Polo must have been compared to the western life he was used to in 14th Century Italy. The culture shock that he would have experienced coming into the "Land of Serpents and Pearls", or as I suspect 14th century India, due to the population being completely against eating ox, which is an inherently Hindi tradition, as with the worshipping of many idols. 

The book itself speaks of many traditions that would have been considered strange to a western man at the time, even today when you do go to the eastern part of the world, many of the habits will be entirely strange to the people living there, though some will still be practiced. Marco Polo speaks of the King of the land that war many jewels, and used them as a currency, almost, paying twice their value to any who found them, which is seen to be a very similar way of life to that of the western kings at the time, who would also wear many jewels, and keep many more in their castle, as with the Crown Jewels of England, which are still considered to be a very important sign of the English Monarchy.

Marco's style of writing is also one that is somewhat antiquated, and is strange to read, his grammar, though correct, being used in a very different manner than the way that it is used in today's times.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I very much enjoyed the book, and thought that it was very interesting to delve into the world of nearly a millennium ago, and through the eyes of someone who is unused to the culture as well, and seeing how my personal perception of that eastern world is different from that of Marco Polo.

Mrs Rosie and the Priest

I am about half way into the little black reading book that has been assigned in class, called Mrs Rosie and the Priest my Giovanni Boccaccio.  The little book contain 4 tales taken from Boccaccio’s Decamaron, written in Tuscany in the 14th century. One is about a man being robbed and himself a thief to regain his losses, one is about an old man being cuckolded by his much younger and wife, the third is about a priest tricking a married woman into having sex, and the last story I have not yet read. Though I must say that the previous three stories have sadly not blown me away, some parts were quite humorous and funny but mostly it was not exactly what I was looking for, so not gonna recommend this one, Im sure there are better ones out there ! 

What I have recently finished reading was "the end of an affair" by Graham Greene, I thought it was an amazing book, which took some time to get into but eventually really caught the readers attention. It is mainly about a love triangle really between a young married couple and the main character who had a affair with the wife a few years back. The book shows very deep insight into the main characters thoughts and obsessions with the young couple, quite shocking at some points but very interesting. I had to read some passages again to really understand what going on since the way it is written is slightly confusing but very descriptive and insightful so GO read it !