Oh the English and the Irish and their songs

I have written before about my love of music, and how I connect it with many different texts that I am exposed to. In James Joyce’s “The Dead” I made a few connections specifically to music that was included there. I was very interested in becoming familiar with the included songs because music says so much about a scene, just like the soundtracks of a movie. Becoming familiar with the music allowed me to feel the mood a little more, or at least what I thought was the mood.

 

I became very interested in the song “The Lass of Aughrim” whose lyrics are as follows:

Well if you be the Lass of Aughrim

As I suppose you to be

Come give me the last token

Between you and me

 

Ah Gregory don't you remember

That night on the hill

When we swapped rings off each other's hands

Surely against my will

 

Mine was of the beaten gold

Yours but black tin

Yes mine was of the beaten gold

Yours but black tin

 

Once I had listened to the song, I was reminded of an English Folk Song called “Early One Morning.” This wasn’t because the words were the same or were sung in similar meaning, but more because of my reaction to the words.  It reminded me of Gretta. The lyrics to this song go:

 

Early one morning just as the sun was rising, I heard a maid sing in the valley below: “Oh, don’t deceive me! Oh, never leave me! How could you use a poor maiden so?”

“Remember the vows that you made to marry, Remember the bow’r where you vow’d to be true; Oh, don’t deceive me! Oh, never leave me! How could you use a poor maiden so?”

“Gay is the garland and fresh are the roses I’ve cull’d from the garden to bind on thy brow; Oh, don’t deceive me! Oh, never leave me! How could you use a poor maiden so?”

Thus sang the poor maiden her sorrows bewailing, Thus sang the poor maid in the valley below: “Oh, don’t deceive me! Oh, never leave me! How could you use a poor maiden so?”

The first time that I sang this song, I was a sophomore in high school, and it was one of the pieces that I prepared for state’s Music Festival. It was something from years ago that made me happy when I sang it then because while I had striven to insert as much emotion into the piece as possible, I could not feel what the music was truly saying. A couple of days ago, I heard the song on NPR. The experience that came with that listening was indescribable, but it almost brought me to tears. The song that I had once loved for its mere beauty had become, in a sense, a part of my life.

After two years I learned that I had been no better than a cook and a maid to a guy. He spoke pleasantly often enough to me to keep me around, but most of it was a lie. He swore he was truthful in his actions and words, but I was deceived. Needless to say, we broke up, which is actually a blessing in disguise, but because of that experience, a familiar song became something so new and different that it was profoundly unrecognizable. I think this might've been how Gretta felt too.

Random connection

Reading “The Dead” by James Joyce reminded me so much of reading Henrik Ibsen’s play “A Doll’s House.” I have no idea what sparked that idea in my head, but I remember how BORED I was reading Ibsen’s piece, and I’m not going to lie… Joyce bored me to death, no pun intended.  After watching several of the clips that were posted on Sam’s blog of the cinematic version of “The Dead,” the connection became much stronger because no longer was I directing the action in my head, rather I was watching an interpretation of those scenes. The themes don’t exactly match up, but the action, or rather lackthereof seems to be very similar!

Live henceforth in my heart

Music has played an important role in many of our discussions of epiphany, and as this semester has progressed, other themes have begun to connect themselves to these concepts for me. I have been performing my entire life. I have sung the National Anthem professionally for as long as I can remember, had the privilege to be involved in various opera companies and musical theatre productions, competed in a variety of vocal contests, etc. Music is a language unto itself, and it can be understood and interpreted by so many and in so many ways. Music has connected with the way that I have read for many years, but in my own mind, as themes are brought up, a repertoire of music surfaces as well.

 

 

As I have been working on my group project (Little Gidding), the image of a rose is seen in many different forms. Roses have played a very important role in my singing career, and last year when I had thought about throwing in the towel, I had an ‘Ah’ moment because of a rose. It was in an upper division choral music instruction class here at MSU that I sang a song that reignited my passion for music. It revived my love for performing and for sharing that part of myself. For this class, I was asked to sing a song titled ‘No Flower that Blows’ by Thomas Linley. The lyrics are as follows:

 

No flow’r that blows is like, is like this rose,____ No flow’r that blows____ is like this rose, Or scatters such perfume, or scatters such perfume; No flow’r that blows is like, is like this rose,___ no flow’r that blows___is like, is like this rose: Upon my breast, ah! Gently rest___And ever, ever bloom, and ever, ever bloom. No flow’r that blows is like, is like this rose,___ no flow’r that blows___ is like, is like this rose, Dear pledge__ to prove a parent’s love, A pleasing, pleasing gift___ though art; Come, sweetest flow’r, and from___ this hour Live hence-forth in my heart, live hence-forth in my heart. No flow’r that blows is like, is like this rose,___ no flow’r that blows___ is like, is like this rose.

 

In the lyrics there specifically is an ‘Ah’ moment, but that was not my epiphanic moment. Mine came when I, at one point, crescendoed and ritarded as my voice climbed the scale. The point was so thoughtful and meaningful in the lyrics, that there were many comments that followed the song about that section; however, I felt those emotions too. I was no longer the speaker in the song singing about her love. I was singing about my love. The rose became my music. The rose is my love. 

The Book Smart vs. the Tech Savvy

DISCLAIMER: Well the lag in my postings was not due to laziness rather technical difficulties (which we English majors seem to be subjected to more often than not!). I am pleased to say that my blog is now up and running, again, so I will be able to post all of the blogs that I have typed up in Microsoft Word.  To kick things off, here is my blog on my career as an English major:

 

The following is a list of the English classes that I have taken over the past five years, including those of that are in progress:

Fall 2005

English 121W—College Writing I

English 123IS—Introduction to Literary Study

 

Spring 2006

English 212—Biblical/Classical Backgrounds in Literature

English 236—Theory and Methods in Linguistics

 

Fall 2006

English 216—British Literature I

English 218—American Literature I

 

Spring 2007

English 217—British Literature II

 

Fall 2007

English 221—College Writing II

English 300—Survey of Literary Criticism

 

Spring 2008

English 219—American Literature II

English 343—19^th Century British Literature

English 385—History of the English Language

 

Fall 2008

I had originally enrolled in a handful of classes, including Dr. Sexson’s children’s literature course, but I unfortunately became very ill. I withdrew from all of my courses because my health declined so quickly and in a very extreme fashion. I learned that hospitals do not make for good classrooms, and that while it was important to me to obtain my degree, I was not going to do so if I didn’t have my health. That was one of the biggest “Ah!” moments in my life.

 

Spring 2009

English 214—Regional Literature (focus on Montana)

English 342—Restoration/18^th Century British Literature

 

Summer 2009

English 326—Advanced Composition

 

Fall 2009

Literature 324—16^th/17^th Century British Literature

Literature 414—Literature of Place (focus on the American West)

Literature 440—Studies in World Literature

 

Spring 2010

Literature 233—Classical Foundations of Literature

Literature 337—Oral Traditions

Literature 420—Critical Theory

Literature 494—Seminar: Research Issues

 

 

Thanks to a wide variety of course materials, I have been exposed to what I would think is a pretty well rounded assortment of writing. There have been classes that have influenced me more than others, and the same can be said for texts, as well. Here is a brief and rather informal analysis of a few of those:

 

The Penguin Guide to English Literature: Britain and Ireland—this was the first book that I bought from the MSU bookstore. I actually bought it the weekend of orientation, the summer before my freshman year. I was so excited to major in English being the daughter of a graduate Yale’s English program, and the granddaughter of a highly accomplished grandmother who held bachelors and masters in both English and Latin and went on to teach. I also have aunts and uncles who have specialized in the same field, so it was no surprise that my passions laid there.  The book itself is a very broad overview of the study of literature, but it gave me a taste of what was ahead of me!

 

“Six Walks in the Fictional Woods” by Umberto Eco—This was a lecture series that Umberto Eco presented at Harvard. My instructor for English 123 actually went to the lecture series and admitted that the content was difficult to understand, and that even she was unable to grasp it in its entirety. The first time I read the book I became frustrated, so I read it again…and again… and again, and I never quite got it; however, I was able to find out that this book could alleviate the pain of other situations, and so when I was upset in other areas of my life, I would read Eco. Oh wait, I still do.

 

A History of the English Language—This was the textbook that was required for English 385, and it lead me to become infatuated with the English language. I graduated from being an English major who reads books for understanding, enlightenment, and enjoyment (etc) to being an English major who read an appreciated all of the history behind the words themselves. I also found that I love Old English for its raw beauty. The English language is ever changing, thus the way we read changes as well. This book helped me step back and learn to read in a different way.

 

Other books, which have inspired me, include: “The Elizabethan World Picture” by  E.M.W. Tillyard, “Verbivore’s Feast” by Chrysti the Wordsmith (LOVE HER NPR SHOW!), and the Oxford English Dictionary.