Okay, is it me, or did anyone else think the relationship between Dorothy and her brother was too much? Granted, I don't know how things worked in the 18th and 19th century, but it's still gross.
Anywho, outside of the previous comment, I really enjoyed reading Wordsworth's "Grasmere Journals". It is clear that her attention for detail is what made her such an excellent writer. Instead of throwing a big word at you every other sentence, Wordsworth allowed you to imagine, in rich detail, what she was describing without you having to grab a dictionary. For example, in her entry "Home Alone", she wrote "A beautiful yellow, palish yellow flower, that looked thick round & double, and smelt very sweet--I supposed in was ranunculus--Crowfoot, the grassy-leaved Rabbit-toothed white flower, strawberries, Geranium--scentless violet, anemones two kinds, orchises, primroses. The heckberry were very beautiful(294-295)." This kind of writing helps take me out of Macon and puts me into the author's shoes.
While I'm still not 100% clear on why they travelled so much, I enjoyed the author's detailed descriptions of the people they encountered. Whether it was the random beggar, or the lady whose husband had just left her, they livened up a lot of her writings. For me, when I read about nature too much, I sort of zone out and lose interest. She placed these characters in the right position so as to hold my focus. She also added what I presumed to be comic relief in discussing a serious situation when she wrote, "The mother when we accosted her told us that her husband had left her & gone off with another woman & how she 'pursued' them" (297). Putting "pursued" in quotations cracked me up, because it probably unfolded a lot differently than that.
In one of her last entries, Wordsworth logged something that cracked me up, as I related to it all too much. She wrote, "Wm promised me he would rise as soon as I had carried him his Breakfast but he lay in bed till between 12 & one (298)." Now I don't know if she was trying to be funny or wrote it out of frustration, but it was an excellent way to end the reading.
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4 comments:
I don't know if the relationship between William and Dorothy was "too much," I just think the brother/sister bond that they shared was very different than the same kind of relationship today. I'm close to my younger brothers, but I certainly don't go out of my way to "please" them as she did for William.
Much like you, I also enjoyed reading D. Wordsworth's work because of the minute details that she included. She does do a great job of placing the reader in her shoes, as you can pretty clearly picture what she was seeing in nature. I found it interesting, however because I don't really pay attention to my surroundings at all. That could be in part due to the fact that when I look around I see a lot of buildings and trash in the street, but who knows...maybe she was able to look past some of the affects people had on the natural world (though they would be much different than what I see) to find beauty wherever she was. Do you think she would appreciate nature the way she did in her time if she were alive to see what humans have done to the world today?
Daniel,
Good observations on Dorothy Wordsworth's journal entries. I like the way you quote and discuss specific passages. (I am not as thrilled by your unspecified insinuations in the opening paragraph, though.) In general I like the way you show that you are actively reading the text, and that you are imaginatively engaged in your reactions to what she wrote in her journal.
I agree that the sister-brother dynamics between Dorothy and William was kind of strange. I'm very close to my brother and would do anything in the world for him, but she seemed borderline obsessed with the boy.
The natural, simple language that she employs kept my attention as well. I think her style is probably due to the fact that she did not see herself as an author, needing to sound impressive. She was simply writing for the pleasure of her brother. (which is indeed a little "too much")
You wonder if maybe Dorothy wrote for "Wm" because she had no one to address her thoughts to. Although her writing seems so selflessly directed toward her brother, you can always take a gander at the idea that (maybe...) it was a clever front? This is perhaps a stretch, but I do think it is important that we ask questions like this when reading the work of a female author during this time period (particularly under her unusual circumstances). If you really think about it, the general goal of writing to please a talented older sibling is an excellent paradigm in which to write; think of it as creating a new character to be interspersed in the writing...what an interesting "onlooker" presence that she inserts into her work.
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