Porphyria's Lover

Robert Browning is again challenging the Victorians boundaries, this time via one of his earliest poems; 'Porphyria's Lover'. Browning is tackling highly frowned upon topics and the result is a very intense poem, he presents these topics through the characters. The madness of Porphyria's lover is shown through the simple ABABB rhyming pattern and Porphyria herself is presented as a beautiful but simple woman, this is reflected in the simple layout of the poem (one stanza) and the simple language used. The Victorians are renowned for their 'prudery' so sex out of wedlock would have been severely frowned upon. However, Browning managed to mask the immorality of the poem behind Porphyria's affection for her lover. According to spark notes, after Porphyria proclaimed that she had 'overcome societal strictures' to see her lover, he realised that eventually she would give in to society's pressures and leave him, this is what causes him to strangle her to preserve the moment.

At an Inn - Comments on Setting

location: Unsuprisingly the poem is set at an inn.

Time: The poem, up to stanza four, seems to be in a chronological order whereas stanza's four and five are told from a past perspective. i get this impression from the use of rhetorical questions, it's as if he's reminiscing about the experience and reflecting on why certain things happened for example 'why cast he on our port a bloom not ours?'.

Circumstance: I understand this poem to be about newlyweds visiting and inn, possibly for their honeymoon? I came to this conclusion because of the repitition of the word 'love' and the couple being referred to as 'loves own pair'.

Titanic Poem

• I particulary like stanza 8 because it brings the two componants of the crash together in a really poetic way (obviously because its a poem). The only thing i dont like about this stanza is the repition of 'grew', i think the second use of 'grew' sounds wrong and takes away the emphasis of the last word rhyming scheme.
• I think the lexis used in stanza 2 and stanza 6 are interesting, because the words 'salamandrine' and 'cleaving' sound exotic and mysterious and honestly i have no idea what they mean but i think thats half the reason why i like them so much.

My Opinion of Nick

After reading the novel ‘The Great Gatsby’, I think that Nick is portrayed as a loner, whether he chooses to be alone remains untold, but I have a suspicion that his constant judgement of others causes people to be very aware of his presence, this may be why he only has a few friends.
We see evidence of Nick judging people throughout the novel, for example, when he meets Mr Wolfshiem in chapter four he uses negative words to describe him such as ‘flat-nosed’ ‘large head’ and tiny eyes’. This is typical for Nick to make a first impression on the way someone looks, if someone has pleasant features he gives kind descriptions of the for instance when he sees Daisy in chapter one he uses positive words like ‘bright’ ‘passionate’ and ‘lovely’. This leads me to believe that Nick is quite shallow.
During the novel Nick doesn’t make many strong friendships, although he does eventually befriend Gatsby he doesn’t get the opportunity to really get to know him because of his untimely death. Nick does form a bond with Jordan Baker but that too is short lived as he puts a stop to the relationship in chapter nine. This furthers my idea that Nick might like being alone, he might enjoy blending into the background and remaining an observer, as throughout the story we see him being quite uncomfortable in situations when he is in the spotlight.

Here are some books that i have read and enjoyed recently:

• The Five People you meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
• Past Mortem and Dead Famous both by Ben Elton
• Fag Hag by Robert Rodi
• The Dream Merchant by Isabel Hoving
• The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Fag Hag and The Undomestic Goddess are deffinately aimed at a female audience and i highly recomend them to the girls in the class. The rest of the books on the list could be enjoyed by both male and female members of the class. If you're looking for a diverse read then i suggest The Five People you meet in Heaven, the book starts with 'The End' of a mans life and finishes with a better understanding of who he was as a person and how he came to be that way.

I'd appreciate it if you left some book suggestions and comment on the books ive mentioned if you've read them too.

Our First Creative Assignment

Cinderella Story

“Miss G. Mother, how would you describe one of your previous wish making successes?” The interviewer asked in a professional yet genuinely interested manner.
“Well, I have had many, as I am sure you are well aware. Yet one remains a very fond memory of mine, a story which shows both my great aptitude for Godmothering and is a heart warming tale.”
The interviewer beckoned the old woman to continue.
“Many, many years ago; in a land far, far away, there was a young girl named Cinderella. Her dear father had passed away when Cinderella was just a young, innocent child. Her evil stepmother and two stepsisters then began to cruelly enslave her and treated her like a lowly house maid.
Until one day when I was surfing my crystal ball I came across an advert that the ugly sisters had posted for a makeover for the forth coming Princes Bachelorets’ Ball; but after looking at their profile pictures I realised that even I could not help them.
However I’d heard of this household previously and knew that there was a third sister, this intrigued me. I visited Cinderella on the eve of the ball and that was the moment her life turned around.
I conjured her up a fabulously elegant chariot from a mere foul looking root vegetable; it was majestic, splendid and it outshone even the princes’ fine chariot. I transformed her filthy tarnished rags into a grand ball gown. The deep blue material shone in the moonlight as she waltzed in the starlit sky.
Cinderella marvelled at my astonishing feats of magic, how I had transformed her from a plain little house maid into a stunning princess fit to rule over her ugly sisters and evil step mother. However, being a responsible fairy godmother and sensible fairy godmother I gave her boundaries; she had to be home by midnight otherwise the spell would break and her identity would be revealed.
So, she went to the ball and of course blew away the Prince with her now astonishing beauty, all due to my highly skilled and marvellous magic.