As a group, we believe that we have created a thorough and well thought out blog full of posts that do an excellent job of taking the works we were given in class and comparing them to our topic of literature. Originally there was worry that literature was too broad of a topic for us to choose but we believe that it was the best decision we could have made. Through our topic of literature our group was able to explore the posts on a level that we could connect with as students. The topic of literature gave us the ability to draw from previous knowledge and to research a topic that interested us inside and outside of the classroom. The topic of our blog allowed us to learn even more about the literature and other works of the 18th and 19th centuries.
In order to achieve excellence on our blog posts we took advantage of the Victorian Web, often using that as our first line of research for finding works to connect to assigned homework. After the initial look at Victorian Web we went beyond that and took advantage of other research sources available to us such as the WSULibs. Our research shined through in every one of our blog posts because we were able to include references to specific writers from the 18th and 19th centuries. Since outside research was a big part of our blogs we often cited our sources at the end of our posts.
In addition to the work we did individually on the blogs we worked as a team on almost every blog post. We did this by creating a Facebook group page and taking advantage of the ease of conversing with all of our group mates at once. Once an entry was posted on the blog we would notify our group mates and not only would our primary editor read through it and report back to the poster but all of the group mates read through the post and left a comment on the Facebook page about the posted entry. By using the Facebook page it made it easy for us to contact our other group mates in case help was needed finding sources or inspiration for a post. The Facebook page also allowed us to check up on each other and make sure posts were being made.
Top five post “A Scarlet Ruth”
https://literature19.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/a-scarlet-ruth/
A “Scarlet Ruth” is a post that compared the story of “Ruth” by Elizabeth Gaskell with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlett Letter” and Robert Browning’s “Porphyria’s Lover”. What I enjoyed about “A Scarlet Ruth” was the idea of bringing more than one work together, and pulling in different themes from the both of those to make one general idea. By being able to bring forward these different ideas from the works that were presented, it showed the beliefs in women within society during the times presented. It also showed the comparison of social views of women compared to men, and how it was obviously unequal. The writer also understands that there has been a huge shift in views since these time periods. By putting in the additional references in the end of the post it helps the readers understand where the writer took the readings from, and helps see the thought process of the writer. It also gives the reader a look at outside resources.
Top five post “The Awakening Society”
https://literature19.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/the-awakening-society/
“The Awakening Society” is post that compared the play “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” by George Bernard Shaw to The Awakening by Kate Chopin. This post has been decided as a favorite because not only is it comparing two pieces of literature together it is also connecting the Victorian society to the American society. The post shows how both societies were challenging social norms through the use of literature. This post also takes advantage of multimedia sources by including a YouTube video that can give the reader more insight and understanding to the play by Shaw. This post also gives the viewer insight in to how the times have changed since then and how literature can play a large role in influencing society.
Top five post “Every Rose Must Wither Some Day”
https://literature19.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/every-rose-must-wither-some-day/
Every Rose Must Wither is a post comparing Oscar Wilde’s poem, “The Harlot’s House” to Dostoyevsky’s work “Notes from Underground”. I had read Notes over the summer and thought it was a perfect accent to the theme of prostitution in the 19th century we had been going over in class. This post comments on the fact that prostitutes were more often young women who either felt compelled into the life for money reasons or were drawn into it, and then found themselves unsatisfied. There is a greater focus on the end of “The Harlot’s House” where the tone gets darker and “Notes” where the male main character belittles a prostitute for her poor choices and lack of a future if she remains in the brothel.
Top five post “Rossetti’s Fallen Woman”
https://literature19.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/rossettis-fallen-woman/
The post, Rossetti’s Fallen Woman, begins by showing some excerpts from the poem, Jenny, and how she is perceived as a prostitute, which is one example of a fallen woman. The post goes on to talk about the poem that accompanies the painting, Found, and infers what might be the story behind the subjects of the painting. The post shows a different kind of fallen woman. One who has made a mistake rather than chosen a lifestyle. It is logical, however, that at the beginning of a woman’s time in the sentence of ‘forever fallen’, she may have just made a mistake that may lead to a lifestyle choice. This lends to the idea that Rosetti had sympathy for the fallen woman, and saw redemption for a woman who’d made a mistake, and forgiveness for a woman who chose wrong. Still, it is unclear between these two pieces alone if Rossetti meant to say anything like that. I really liked all of the pieces talked about in this post, and made the suggestions about what might be Rossetti’s intention because it seems so easily linkable.
The post also shows that by taking two different points from the art and literature two different ideas can come forward, you can still compare and contrast the two different points. The writer of the post also poses questions about the reading that are in depth, and also shows their own misunderstandings in the beginning of the post, which I actually enjoyed. By showing misunderstandings, it could clarify or possibly relate to the readers who read the poem and had the same problems.
Top five post “Living the Ruined Life”
https://literature19.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/living-the-ruined-life/
The post, “Living the ‘Ruined’ Life,” discusses the ideas presented in Thomas Hardy’s “The Ruined Maid.” Two women are conversing; one is poor, the other rich. However, the rich one is a prostitute. The poor woman wishes for comfort of wealth, while the rich woman felt guilt in being ruined. In searching for the contextual meaning of the work, the post suggests that even a successful prostitute is seen as ruined women, not only by society, but herself as well. In reading many different works on prostitution, I was intrigued by the idea that although the woman was wealthy, she was still unhappy with herself. The post then goes on to describe how this is seen in other literary works. The author draws on the example of Oscar Wilde’s, “The Harlot’s House.” This piece also shows the act of prostitution as bad thing to be ashamed of. The post goes even further to suggest that the poem not only shoes them as ruined, but almost as being almost of the underworld. They are addressed negatively and almost inhuman like. I really liked the ideas presented in the post about the prostitute not finding fulfillment because she believes herself to be ruined. I think there were women who were proud of what they were able to attain, and those who were ashamed of it. The ideas presented in Wilde’s poem were also very interesting considering the different presentation of a prostitute.
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By looking at these posts we hope that the reader is able to gain a better understanding of not only the works we discussed but the blog as a whole as well.
Literature 19
