Week 5, Entry 1

This week I looked over the syllabus to see what texts we would be covering. I was quite exasperated to find that for the "Decadent London" week we would be covering the poetry of the Rossetti's. Having studied the Rossetti's briefly at Ohio State, I had come to the firm conclusion that I disliked them most intensely. I felt that their poetry was far too overwrought and flowery, to pretentious to be taken seriously. However, when we discussed it in class I was amazed to discover once again that talking over a text in class can make me to a complete 180 when it comes to my opinions.

Honestly, I did not expect to come to London and learn a lot about the education system. Although I am interested in it and plan on becoming a high school teacher, my priorities for this trip included mostly pubs and tourism. However, I am incredibly thankful that I was lucky enough to receive instruction from skilled professors who know how to make their focus subject interesting. After we read the Rossetti poems and discussed them, I found a new appreciation for Christina Rossetti in particular. Specifically, the poem "In an Artist's Studio" was quite moving to me, and I really felt connected to her female voice, and found the concept of her exclusion from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood fascinating. I felt so connected to this poem that I decided to include it in my large paper.

Christina Rossetti's other poem, "Monna Innominata" Sonnet 4, moved me in similar ways. Seeing the female perspective from the past is always fascinating because it brings to light the fact that the feminist movement is still quite young. Women are still facing the same issues of exclusion by men today, even if it is in different ways. One of the lines in the poem states, "I loved you first: but afterwards your love/Outsoaring mine, sang a loftier song" reminded me intensely of the book "A Freewheelin' Time" by Suze Rotolo, who writes about being the girlfriend of Bob Dylan in the early 60s when he was just gaining his fame. She was an artist herself, and wrote in her book that the two of them were very much in love and on the same wavelength. However, once he gained his fame, his love "outsoared" her's. His songwriting and his fame overshadowed her and her identity, and Rotolo writes the painful account of the strain their relationship went through due to the changing times, and her own struggle with what her place in the world should be.

It was because of the discussion in class that I came to this conclusion, and it is discussions like these that make me want to teach others. Making connections like this gives meaning to this jumbled, chaotic world we live in. And sometimes, however small, those meanings can bring comfort.