kxc0616

One last thought on Sab… I found it interesting that noone mentioned Teresa in our discussion of what is “romantic” about Sab.  Her description almost always uses the word sublime, as she is characterized as not the normal beauty, but none the less having a beauty of her own. 

I greatly enjoyed the discussion of many different interpretations of the book.  I had not taken my reading to that level, but it was helpful to see the variety.  I have traditionally tried to stay to what seems to be the author’s intent.  I kind of like the idea that the meaning is up for interpretation, because that means that as long as I can explain my interpretation it is not wrong (as was the case in school).  However, I am not willing to accept that simply because they are not wrong, I should agree to hold that view.  Specifically the thought that Sab’s vomiting blood at the end was connected to the blood lost by Carlota at the loss of her virginity was a bit much for me.  I can see where it comes from, but…, yeah…, too big of a jump from what is on the page for me to get yet, maybe someday, but not yet.  

I enjoyed reading Candide.  I found the paper a little harder though.  Every definition that I could come up with for Enlightenment seemed to go against something in Candide.  Voltaire was having such a good time making fun of the optimism and pessimism.  It is almost hard to see him as an enlightenment thinker. 

Not much to say on this topic, because I bet that the movie will fit into later “isms” better, but… I noticed a similarity between the enlightenment focus on truth, liberty, and happiness and the bohemian ideals of truth, freedom, beauty, and love from the movie Moulin Rouge. 

Ok, I have been freaked out about what I was going to write in here, and so I have delayed quite a bit.  I think that it is one of those blank page things, that the longer that you stare at it, the harder it is to write.  But, time has come, so here goes.

When we came to class on Monday, I felt that I had a pretty good grasp of what Humanism was, based on the reading and some searching on the internet.  Basically, it is an interest in “antiquity” (aka the Greek and Latin cultures).  That seems easy enough.  So, when I read the poems, I wanted to compare them to poems from the old greek poems, or the old latin poems, or perhaps to compare them to other non-humanist poems of the time period so that I could see the differences or similarities.  There I ran into some trouble; I don’t know enough about either of those groups to make any good comparisons.  Nor am I even a fan of more recent poetry.  So, I attended class curious as to how the discussion would go. 

In the end, I think that I was looking for something more concrete.  (example “This is written in iambic pentameter, which was not used until this poem.)  But I should have been looking at the topic, word choice, and voice.  Furthermore, not all of those will reflect humanism in one work.  The part of the work that reflects the humanist ideals may change, and the way in which it reflects those ideals may change.  

So, when I left class, I knew more than when I came in, and yet, it clouded up the picture of humanism.  However, I beleive that class was probably suppose to do that.