tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post7396456452032690408..comments2024-03-29T03:04:00.853-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: There shall be no more sea - Christina Rossetti writes poems about the seaAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-87095358233879305282017-04-04T16:36:42.454-05:002017-04-04T16:36:42.454-05:00They both sound good to me! Is there no end to th...They both sound good to me! Is there no end to the great 20th century English choral music? Thanks for the links.<br /><br />And will I never learn that the book is "Revelation," singular? A perpetual error.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-16255507320990380752017-04-04T14:30:42.199-05:002017-04-04T14:30:42.199-05:00Hmm, this recording actually sounds cleaner than t...Hmm, this recording actually sounds cleaner than the King's College one I linked before (they must have had brilliant sound folks setting up the mics, because St Paul's Cathedral swallows up and bounces sound around like a ginormous echo chamber -- if you're actually in the space, King's College Chapel sounds so much better!!). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo5MExlE8oUUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00929355927308317103noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-46147335361216712132017-04-04T14:19:32.424-05:002017-04-04T14:19:32.424-05:00Well, it's a slightly obscure reference, I sup...Well, it's a slightly obscure reference, I suppose, though it comes from what I think is one of the most profoundly beautiful passages in all of Scripture -- and one on which a lot of poetry riffs, and of which there are many beautiful musical settings (here's one of my favourite -- note the utter calm and still at the line "and there was no more sea": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE7zTYcn3Rw ). I appreciate that you're sharing your musings on literature! - Sarah Hogarth RossiterUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00929355927308317103noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-85019238018570327672017-04-04T12:57:16.388-05:002017-04-04T12:57:16.388-05:00Confusion in the post can be taken for granted at ...Confusion in the post can be taken for granted at Wuthering Expectations.<br /><br />I did not know that Rossetti was poeticizing "Revelations" - thanks for pointing that out.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-17565164446823494792017-04-04T10:35:21.227-05:002017-04-04T10:35:21.227-05:00I just stumbled across this blog post as I was sea...I just stumbled across this blog post as I was searching for one of Rossetti's "sea" poems. There seems to be some confusion, both in the post itself, and in some of the comments, about what all this sea imagery is about, anyway. Some are on the right track in identifying the sea with ideas of chaos, the unknown, the untamed, the terrifying... but it more directly connects with biblical imagery than anyone has suggested. In St John's Revelation, he says: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more" (Rev. 21.1). John goes on to talk about a time and place without pain, without sickness, without fear, without tears, where everything is in its right place, and God once again dwells with men, as was the case in the Garden of Eden. Throughout Scripture, the sea represents chaos, disorder, and terror (perhaps if you think of being in a 1st-century rinky-dink wooden boat on the Mediterranean, it will be clear why...) -- its absence is peace, order, and assurance. Sorry if I'm explaining things already known, but it seemed there was a fair bit of head-scratching going on, so maybe that's helpful to some...Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00929355927308317103noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-29945749639955295352015-04-29T15:48:40.736-05:002015-04-29T15:48:40.736-05:00Some otherwise-reasonable people find the sea to b...Some otherwise-reasonable people find the sea to be chaotic and sinister, so she might mean it literally.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-3266502528967735692015-04-29T14:33:57.773-05:002015-04-29T14:33:57.773-05:00Okay, I have at least heard of Kathleen Raine.Okay, I have at least heard of Kathleen Raine.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-17759449456002689302015-04-29T08:57:07.338-05:002015-04-29T08:57:07.338-05:00Yes, I like it when poems talk to one another in a...Yes, I like it when poems talk to one another in a grouping.<br /><br />Causley is so, so good. He is one of the few recent poets that I can say has influenced my own poems. I can pick out several that feel Causley-inspired, and several of his images (changed but perceptible to me) have cropped up in both my poems and fiction. He's generative for me, and most 20th/21st century poets are not.<br /><br />The other underrated poet I often recommend from that era is Kathleen Raine. She has some lyric beauties, and I also love the energy in some of her spell poems.Marly Youmanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-25776220116054233122015-04-28T23:26:11.293-05:002015-04-28T23:26:11.293-05:00CHarles Causley is new to me and, boy, my kind of ...CHarles Causley is new to me and, boy, my kind of poet. Many thanks!<br /><br />The sea becomes something psychological, doesn't it, some churning burden that will be gone in the next life. I love the image of the wailing sea, its hands raised, but I love it more side by side with "low-voiced creeping" sea of "Birchington Churchyard."Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-39316603938695256972015-04-28T22:04:24.366-05:002015-04-28T22:04:24.366-05:00As to that Allen comment... Larkin and Hughes both...As to that Allen comment... Larkin and Hughes both admired the poems of Charles Causley, and I expect that may be a similar sort of surprise. But the loves of poets are often unexpected and not neatly in line with what we think of them. (And if you haven't read Causley, you should!)<br /><br />I usually read in a selected version of her poems, but don't know (or don't remember) these. Very interesting. The "clamorous waves" and the stanza beginning "Be stilled, my passionate heart / Old earth shall end" remind me of Yeats.<br /><br />Clearly she's referring to the new Jerusalem but whether she intends that "new earth" will literally have no sea is not clear to me from the excerpts--perhaps simply that the new Jerusalem will no longer hear a "wail of loss."<br /><br />Marly Youmanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-58854456716888735282015-04-25T21:45:27.942-05:002015-04-25T21:45:27.942-05:00They are not a pair I would have guessed, no.They are not a pair I would have guessed, no.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-86012564113110983482015-04-25T15:50:43.791-05:002015-04-25T15:50:43.791-05:00Kingsley Amis (who called her "my beloved Chr...Kingsley Amis (who called her "my beloved Christina Rossetti) and Philip Larkin both admired her poetry. It's a sign of the power of good writing that two people with so little in common with her could disregard their own opinions and personalities so easily when faced with her poems.Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-65231268153653982212015-04-24T18:52:32.604-05:002015-04-24T18:52:32.604-05:00I know, "Goblin Market" sort of swamps t...I know, "Goblin Market" sort of swamps the boat with Rossetti. But she is a fine poet her whole life. I wish I had a better grasp of her religious poems.<br /><br />Best of luck with the mysteries.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-68598006289214992202015-04-24T17:30:42.017-05:002015-04-24T17:30:42.017-05:00I am familiar with a few poems (incl. Goblin Marke...I am familiar with a few poems (incl. Goblin Market), but not those you've discussed. You've piqued my interest.<br /><br />All the best from Crimes in the Library (hosted by the same fellow at the now defunct Beyond Eastrod).R.T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13220814349193561823noreply@blogger.com