Poetry in Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own
According to Laurence Perrine, author of Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, "poetry is as universal as language and almost as ancient"; however, "people have always been more successful at appreciating poetry than at defining it" (517). Perrine initially defines poetry as "a kind of language that says more and says it more intensely than does ordinary language" (517). After defining literature as writing concerned with experience which allows us to imaginatively participate in it (518-19), Perrine adds, "poetry takes all life as its province" (522); no sharp distinction between poetry and other forms of imaginative literature exists (523); and "poetry . . . is a kind of multidimensional language" because it appeals not only to our intelligence but also to "our senses, emotions, and imagination." Perrine points out that "poetry achieves its extra dimensions . . . by drawing more consistently than does ordinary language on a number of language resources, none of which is peculiar to poetry." Finally, Perrine asserts "it [poetry] must be an organism whose every part serves a useful purpose and cooperates with every other part to preserve and express the life that is within it" (524). Perrine states that poetry "has been regarded as something central to existence, something having unique value to the fully realized life, something we are better off for having and spiritually impoverished without" (517). Because mankind holds poetry in high regard, Virginia Woolf uses male versus female success in writing it as the basis of comparison in A Room of One's Own, her 1928 essay that examines the struggle of women for acceptance and esteem as writers. According to Woolf, rath...
... middle of paper ...
...on against women may appear to be an unusual topic, it also appeared in Lady Winchilsea's poetry. Woolf uses language in a multidimensional manner because she employs techniques that involve not only our intelligence but also our senses, emotions, and imagination: we savor the sole, chew the stringy beef, experience anger at the Oxbridge library because Woolf's expertise with the language puts us in the middle of these experiences. Those passages that have that extra brilliance do not detract from the more prosaic parts of the essay; rather, they impart life to it.
Works Cited
Jerome, Judson. The Poet's Handbook. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, 1980.
Perrine, Laurence. Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. 4th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983.
Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One's Own. San Diego, Calif. : Harvest-HBJ, 1989.
The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2013. 1471 - 1534 -.
Meyer, Michael, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999.
Roberts, Edgar V., Jacobs, Henry E. “Literature.” The Lesson. 470-475. Toni Cade Bambara. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. 2001
Tolvanen, A. (1992). The rise of Native Self-determination and the crisis of the Canadian Political Regime. Culture, Volume XII (No. 1), 63-77.
Canada likes to paint an image of peace, justice and equality for all, when, in reality, the treatment of Aboriginal peoples in our country has been anything but. Laden with incomprehensible assimilation and destruction, the history of Canada is a shameful story of dismantlement of Indian rights, of blatant lies and mistrust, and of complete lack of interest in the well-being of First Nations peoples. Though some breakthroughs were made over the years, the overall arching story fits into Cardinal’s description exactly. “Clearly something must be done,” states Murray Sinclair (p. 184, 1994). And that ‘something’ he refers to is drastic change. It is evident, therefore, that Harold Cardinal’s statement is an accurate summarization of the Indigenous/non-Indigenous relationship in
As a conclusion summary to the ideas that were represented in this essay, the aboriginals in Canada were and are still are to certain degree victims of a predigest government.
Residential schools, systemic-racism, and the repression of Aboriginal heritage and tradition have resulted in a deeply engrained distrust among aboriginals towards the government. Over the last few decades the Canadian government has tried through a variety of initiatives and policies to reconcile with Aboriginal communities. Court victories and greater constitutional recognition of Aboriginal peoples suggest that the Canadian government has recognized their past mistreatment of Aboriginals and have taken steps towards reconciliation. Even with a federal policy geared towards the recognition of past wrong-doings, Aboriginal court victori...
Genocide, assimilation, and segregation-- these are all forms of cultural and ethnic cleansing that we as Canadians do not necessarily associate with what it means to be a Canadian, rather they are terms that we associate with occurrences in distant, dangerous and abysmal places (Fleras, 2012; p. 10). However, these terms are evidently applicable to the treatment of Aboriginals during the time of European colonization of Canada. Genocide is considered to “be the most serious of punishable crimes under international law…” (Fleras, 2010; p. 11); unfortunately, genocide has been inflicted upon Aboriginals in numerous forms as they suffered a loss of cultural identity through European-colonization. Assimilation has also affected Aboriginals as through the use of residential schools, Aboriginal children were taken from their families and forced to learn the dominant white way of life and abandon their culture (Fleras, 2010; p.13). Segregation of Aboriginals has also occurred, as reserves are restricted purely for individuals with Indian citizenship, hence keeping Aboriginals separate from the dominant culture (Fleras, 2010; p. 15). There is a lack of awareness on the horrendous and disgusting treatment of the original Canadian settlers, Aboriginals, which can be partially attributed to a narrative that has helped create the image of what it means to be a Canadian, a narrative that has provided the belief that white Europeans were the first to settle on Canadian land and has painted a picture of white settlers struggling to survive on their discovered Canadian land. This narrative has been termed the ‘frontier narrative’, and it truly has shaped Aboriginals lives in Canada. This paper will provide first and foremost a clear definition o...
Besides that free trade encourages strengthen the development of a country’s institutions, in order to protect the country’s eco...
The deer population has seen a dramatic increase since the late 1800s. Before that time, the deer census had been threatened. In the 1900s the deer population rebounded from about 20,000 to more than 1 million. This drastic increase can be attributed to changes in habitat, including reverting abandoned farm fields to forests, and migrations in human population to rural and suburban areas. Both of these progressions created open and forested habitats preferred by deer. In addition, landowners have excluded hunters out of many areas, subsequently, deer populations have increased. “Although the recovery of deer populations from only about 500,000 nationwide in the early 1900s to more than 15 million today is considered a wildlife management
For the past 500 years the native inhabitants of this land have lived a legacy amongst and became subordinates to the European colonialists. They have had to adhere to stipulations that did not translate into their way of understanding and life ethos, and were misinterpreted. “The misunderstanding of my ancestors at treaty was linguistic and conceptual. We did not understand your language or your concepts of property” (Johnson 2007:41). The legacy consists of poverty, powerlessness, and the breakdown of social cohesion that plague so many Aboriginal families and communities. These conditions did not come about by chance or failure to modernize. They were created by past policies that systematically dispossessed Aboriginal people of their lands and economic resources, their cultures and languages, and the social and political institutions through which they took care of their own (Brant-Castellano 2001:5). Due to colonial and imperial impositions the majority of Canada’s Indigenous population is amongst the most highly excluded, poverty stricken, oppressed, and disadvantaged groups. Within the past half century, Aboriginal peoples have been relentless and determined in their struggle to attain self-determination, maintain their treaty rights and dispute rightful control of land possession matters. By means of mobilization and resistance movements they have contested and are challenging the policies that originated with colonialism and continue with government policies of the present day. The following essay will begin with a timeline of significant dates in the history of colonial and present day policy and law making that governing powers have applied and imposed on First Nation populations. A portion of the paper will cover a h...
In the article, “ Dwight” Newman (2015): Of aboriginals, Metis, First Nations, Inuit and Indians (status holding and otherwise)”, it depicts massive struggles for
Roberts, Edgar V., Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, 4th Compact Edition, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2008, print
Woolf divided this thought into three categories: what women are like throughout history, women and the fiction they write, and women and the fiction written about them. When one thinks of women and fiction, what they think of; Woolf tried to answer this question through the discovery of the female within literature in her writing. Virginia Woolf Throughout her life Virginia Woolf became increasingly interested in the topic of women and fiction, which is highly reflected in her writing. To understand her piece, A Room of One’s Own Room, her reader must understand her.
Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Compact 8th. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.