Quote of the Week 58
I am luckily in the process of studying Persuasion ... how can it be work?! I am also mid-way through preparations for an upcoming Shakespeare exam, so I had to seize on this weeks' quote. It's from Persuasion, chapter 11. Anne is in Lyme, and is entertaining Benwick:
For, though shy, he did not seem reserved; it had rather the appearance of feelings glad to burst their usual restraints; and having talked of poetry, the richness of the present age, and gone through a brief comparison of opinion as to the first-rate poets, trying to ascertain whether Marmion or The Lady of the Lake were to be preferred, and how ranked the Giaour and The Bride of Abydos; and moreover, how the Giaour was to be pronounced, he showed himself so intimately acquainted with all the tenderest songs of the one poet, and all the impassioned descriptions of hopeless agony of the other; he repeated, with such tremulous feeling, the various lines which imaged a broken heart, or a mind destroyed by wretchedness, and looked so entirely as if he meant to be understood, that she ventured to hope he did not always read only poetry, and to say, that she thought it was the misfortune of poetry to be seldom safely enjoyed by those who enjoyed it completely; and that the strong feelings which alone could estimate it truly were the very feelings which ought to taste it but sparingly.
This is a very different type of quote for me, and I love it ... Anne is a magnificently constructed character - I wouldn't mind having her for a friend! (In the flesh, anyway.) I believe the power of poetry lies in its ability to say so much, in so few words. I love Anne's thoughts, regarding poetry and Benwick: all good things in moderation. The dangers of too much inward literary excess??
One of my greatest pleasures in life is finding my soul in anothers' written words. Sometimes it's poetry, sometimes a play, a diary, a novel. It would be ideal for this communion through words to have an outward equivalent, but sometimes life doesn't provide for that. At any rate, I love Anne's thoughts, and I'm going to continue dwelling on them. Brilliant novel.
Pic: Anne Elliot from: muohio
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3 comments:
Anne is definitely my favourite character of all Austen characters :) Regarding poetry, I personally prefer prose - there are just a few poems I like.
Wow Michelle. I have to say that I do envy you enormously to be actually studying such wonders full time. I fear, however, that I would not do it a justice as you clearly do. You analyse the lines so wonderfully and the passion is contagious. I have to completely agree with you; I often find that my inner self is accessed and grabbed at the most spontaneous times- reading a line in a novel, seeing some words written on a card in a shop, a scene in a film etc. I sometimes crave for a real person to have a such an effect or even to appreciate the effect that something inanimate (in fact so alive to me) has had on me. Maybe that day will come soon when I will meet that special person.....
Hey Michelle, sorry for the very belated reply... I also love Anne Elliot, and I also think this quote is amazing.
But then I think of poor Capt Wentworth; wouldn't he be so jealous of Benwick at this stage? Seeing the lady of his life actually engaged in a very animated - albeit in low tones perhaps - conversation with one of his best friends? I would be VERY jealous if I were Wentworth...
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