John Mcrae's lecture on "A Streetcar named Desire" 02

02 scene 1

Notable for long stage directions.
- clue to themes which will be important.
"Elysian fields", "Stella for star"
The play goes from May to September, throughout the summer.
- When you read the play you feel the heat.
Everything takes place in evening. Dark.
Not just two or three people involved in a stiuation.
- microcosm for society, the people upstairs, going by on the streets etc.
The stage directions are communicating to the audiences senses.
When we see characters we don't know who they are.
- first two characters are white and black; women.
- integration of white and coloured because the society of new orleans is advanced more than anywhere else in america.
Multicultural society
Jazz is played in New orleans, emotional undercurrent
- glimpse into the family home
"his dog to lick her" physicality
"Red hot! Red hot!"setting up a scene before the main characters come in.
The main Characters are rapidly established in context of money, relationships.
Binary of play is movement.
Blanche is static.
- "Her appearance is incongruous to this setting" Blanche is already established as a fish out of water.
Blanche doesn't know this society.

John Mcrae's lectures on "A Streetcar named Desire" 01

01 introduction to "A Streetcar named Desire"

It was first performed on stage in the late 1940's and was considered very modern.
This is less than a hundred years after the Civil War.
- The American Civil War was about slavery and was North America vs South
America.
Williams always sets his plays in the South.
The South is seen as another Country.
- Williams takes a lot of inspiration from southern literature (mentioned in the play Poe, Whitman etc)
- Also a world removed from traditional America
The play is a tragedy without a death, even thpough there is a significant one.
Many cliches in the play, Williams being gay (an outsider to society), his sister being institutionalised.
- However the play goes much deeper than that.
The tragedy is Blanche's
- Of time and loss, it focuses on the disintergration of mind, society, what family is and was, old families of the deep south, love and sex.
This is important because the play culminates with an act of sexual violence, but when it was first shown it wasn't seen as sexual but it is now.
It's tragedy of gender and power
- Who rules, what people want and what (most importantly) people desire.

Maude Clare

The poem "Maude Clare" by Rossetti is about a woman, Maude Clare who had a relationship with Sir Thomas, but he has married another woman, Lady Nell. Throughout the poem we hear Maude Clare's account of their relationship, however the poem ends with Lady Nell telling Maude Clare "he's my Lord for better and worse," which is Nell telling Maude Clare that her husband's past does not matter to her because he is her husband now.

One of the most interesting aspects of the poem "Maude Clare" is the order in which the narrator and speakers talk. For instance, Rossetti has decided that the first stanza should be the narrator speaking, this is because she wants to reflect the author's power and control over the poem. It also means the poem begins with a neutral speaker, who has presumably no bias, although at one point in the fourth stanza the narrator says "My Lord" so it could be inferred that perhaps the narrator is a servant or maid who was aware of Maude Clare's and Lord Thomas' relationship.
 

Up-Hill and Good Friday by Rossetti

Up-Hill

Up-Hill is a poem about someone on a spiritual pilgrimage, searching for somewhere to seek refuge from the darkness in their life. Significantly, throughout the poem Rossetti uses a Christian catchism  (question and answer format) which could be to represent the fear we feel about death, and that God is always a guide through life to help us.

One of the most notable aspects of this poem is the way in which Rossetti uses landscape as a metaphor for a spiritual journey. For instance, "the road" is symbolic of life's path and "that door" represents the space between the living and the death.

Good Friday

- Important Christian day because it's the day Jesus died.
- Jesus is crucified along with thieves.
- Peter denies his friendship with Jesus.

The poem is about the speakers self-doubt because they realise their lack of emotions about Christ's death isolates them from everyone else because they're grieving.

How does Rossetti explore human emotion in "Good Friday" and other poems you have studied?

At the beginning of the first stanza of 'Good Friday', Rossetti explores human emotions of self doubt and insecurity by using an ontological verb "am" to illustrate the insecurity she feels about her own identity. This is reiterated with the use of a metaphor "stone" which Rossetti is using to express that she is feeling insentient and almost unfeeling, however this metaphor also allows Rossetti to explore feelings of guilt because she is unable to express her emotions at the death of Christ. However, in "In the round tower at Jhansi" Rossetti explores human emotions such as love and intimacy, through the use of repition in the final stanza to show how desperate the characters were for human contact and intimacy in the face of death "It is not pain thus to kiss and die, one kiss more." this is a stark contrast to "Good Friday" where the speaker is completely unemotional and detached.

A critical view of "A Streetcar Named Desire"

Title, author and Date of publication
Firstly, the title of the article is "Old south versus New America - A Streetcar Named Desire", this is heavily referencing the end of the civil war which started in 1861 and finished in 1865 which happened because President Lincoln wanted to abolish slavery and the South of America was strongly apposed to this because it meant that they would lose a lot of money, whereas the North of America was more forward thinking and agreed with the end of slavery. Furthermore, Tennessee Williams uses the characters of Blanche and Stanley as literary devices to represent "Old America" and "New America" and the conflict that happens between the two of them explores how during Post World War Two America was losing "traditional" values and modernising.

The article was written by Gabi Reigh who is a teacher and in the article she looks specifically at the conflict which happens throughout the play due to the cultural differences between Blanche and Stanley and the "Power Struggle" for Blanche to maintain her Old world. Also, the article was published in September 2015.

Summary
Overall, the article focuses on the conflict between Blanche and Stanley, who are representations of "Old" and "New" America, Blanche symbolises tradition and old values and has a love for art poetry and literature whereas Stanley is symbolic of new America, which is immagration, working hard and enjoying things like sports rather than literature. Throughout the article, Reigh examines the way in which Williams has shown conflict in the play, such as with their costumes, Blanche arming herself with pretty white clothing whilst Stanley wears his blue work uniform.

A streetcar named desire context

Southern belle - southern belle is derived from the French word belle, 'beautiful' and is a character which represents a young woman from the American south's upper class.

immigration from other countries into the USA in the twentieth century increased greatly after the great depression of 1873. immigrants from western Europe, Canada and Latin america etc went to America because they were seeking asylum from racial, political and religious persecution or looking for more economic opportunities.

New Orleans is a city in the state of Louisiana which sits just along the mississippi river. In the twentieth century New Orleans was struggling to integrate witch lead to many white residents leaving the city, which lead to an increasingly African American and impoverished residency. However, New Orleans was culturally booming with jazz music and new technology.

Tennessee Williams wrote several plays throughout his life, his first work 'The glass menagerie' (1944) was a four character play that was slightly autobiographical, it was also his first successful play. Next came 'A streetcar named desire' (1947) as well as 'Cat on a hot tin roof' (1955) and explores the family of a wealthy cotton tycoon. Finally, 'Sweet bird of youth' (1959) was his final play which looks at the life of a fading gigolo.

Tennessee Williams  was born on March 26, 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi. After college he moved to New Orleans which would be the inspiration for many of his plays. Williams had a good childhood, but once his family moved to St Louis things became strained, also Williams relationship with his father wasn't the best due to his alcoholic tendencies and preference for work. Although his parents would become inspiration for his writing.
Unfortunately, Williams struggled with personal demons such as his sexuality, which would lead to a lengthy addiction to drink and drugs which would ultimately lead to his death on February 25, 1983.

context on Rossetti

Christina Rossetti

 Early Life/childhood

Christina George Rossetti was born December 5th, 1830 in London to parents Gabriele Rossetti, a political exile and poet, and Frances Polidori (Italian).

She was the youngest of four children  and her brother, Dante Gabriel was an artist and poet as well.

Rossetti was home schooled by her mother and father; had a happy childhood often telling stories before she could actually write. She was also raised as high Anglican and taught about it from a young age.

 Religion

Rossetti was raised as High Anglican, she was often taught about religion as a child.

In 1850 Rossetti broke off her engagement to artist James Collinson, an original member of the Pre-Raphaelites brotherhood, as he’d become Roman Catholic which conflicted with her devotion to the High Anglican church.

She also rejected Charles Bagot Cayley min 1864 because of her religion, although they remained friends.

Significantly, throughout her career her poetry is often laced with religious themes and imagery.

 Society

During the Victorian era men and women’s roles became more defined. Men would often commute to work whilst women were expected to stay at home and cook, clean and raise the children. Also, the only subjects middle class women were supposed to be versed on was music, modern languages, art and dance.

 The Pre-Raphaelites

In 1850, under the pseudonym “Ellen Alleyne” Rossetti contributed seven poems to the Pre -Raphaelite journal “the Germ”. She also sat as a model for members of the Pre-Raphaelites brotherhood; due to Rossetti’s ill health, she had pale skin and a look of fragility, which was thought to be the embodiment of  feminine beauty. 

Explore the way Rossetti presents nature in her poems.

Rossetti consistently presents nature in her poetry to represent different aspects of life; religion particularly. Rossetti was brought up in a religious house hold and became more enveloped in her religion throughout her life, however in the 1800’s women weren’t expected to know anything more than dance, music, art and home economics so through the medium of poetry she had a way of expressing her thoughts and feelings about her religion.

One way Rossetti presents nature in her poems is in the title of the poem “Paradise: In a Dream”. The word “Paradise” is significant because it connotes a personal Heaven or Eden; however, a paradise is usually seen as an unachievable state of perfection or is often connoted with being postlapsarian which is the fall of man, often depicted in the Bible. The idea of paradise being unattainable is then reiterated with the following part of the title, “In a Dream”. Perhaps to Rossetti “paradise” is a representation of Heaven.

Rossetti presents nature as being new and hopeful in the poem, “Paradise: In a Dream”, “the flowers that bud and bloom in Paradise;” interestingly the idea of a flower being a “bud” often represents freshness and fertility, the idea that it will grow and develop into a beautiful flower is continued because Rossetti chose to use the word “bloom”, which connotes hope and youth. It’s significant though that Rossetti only described a paradise where the flowers are either new, or just growing because it leaves a sense of eternity, this is supported through the use of endjandment which leaves the impression of eternity. 

Also, Rossetti presents nature as a sort of paradise in the poem, “Shut out” similarly to the poem “Paradise: In a Dream”. Rossetti’s speaker describes being shut out of “My garden, mine, beneath the sky,” the continued use of pronouns creates an impression that the garden is personal and belongs to Rossetti’s speaker, almost as though it’s the only thing that truly belongs to them. Therefore you could infer that the “garden” is perhaps a representation for paradise/religion, childhood and imagination or even femininity. Especially considering that women during the 1800’s did not have a lot to call their own because once they were married they were the property of their husbands.

Notably Rossetti often presents nature as being vividly colourful, or having more than one colour. This is apparent in several poems. For instance in the poem, “shut out” she describes the flowers as being “Pied” which means to have two or more colours, it appears that the flowers being pied makes them richer and more alive. This is confirmed later in the poem when the speaker is described as “Blinded with tears; nor grieve for that” when the speaker is no longer able to see the “garden”, but instead the speaker sees that “A violet bed is budding near,” This is important because the flowers the speaker sees are no longer pied, but they’re one colour, “violet” and notably violet is usually associated with death. Therefore we could infer that Rossetti is showing nature as bright and colourful to represent life, but that when you’re dead everything is colourless.

Another way Rossetti consistently presents nature in her poems is as being religious. For instance, in the poem “A Birthday” Rossetti’s speaker describes a dais with “doves and pomegranates,” this is important because doves are usually connoted with the biblical story of Noah, and Christians usually recognise the dove as a symbol for peace, furthermore Rossetti herself was High Anglican so it’s likely she would use nature in order to represent religion as it was so prevalent throughout her life. Also, “pomegranates” are often associated with religion and are seen to symbolise resurrection and the hope of eternal life, due to the fruits abundance of seeds, this is exemplified in Christian art such as Botticelli’s painting “The Madonna of the pomegranate” which sees the Christ child holding a pomegranate to symbolise eternal life. Furthermore, in the poem “Paradise: in a Dream” Rossetti constantly describes nature, especially living creatures in plurality, however in the fourth stanza the speaker says “The Tree of Life, stood budding there,”. This is significant because it’s singular, yet Rossetti has chosen to portray it as “budding”, it could be because trees have connotations of being strong and rooted, but it could be because it represents Christ. In medieval literature especially, “The Tree of Life” is often depicted as Jesus’ crucifixion, which makes sense because Jesus allowed himself to be crucified because he loved humanity and wanted to save them, all people were forgiven their sins and could go to Heaven, Similarly a tree is thought of as being strong, helping to sustain the rest of nature and as a refuge.

 

How does the speaker from 'I come from' create a sense of his identity?

The first way the speaker creates a sense of identity is in the title by using the word 'come' which shows that the speaker feels that they are a product of their up bring and environment. It also sets the tone for the poem by using the word 'I' because the speaker has a sense of pride and ownership about their life experiences and childhood.

Another way the speaker creates a sense of identify is through the structure of the poem which is a stream of consciousness, there's no stanzas but there is endjandment and end stopped. This shows the speaker is thinking through their life and is possibly feeling nostalgic or missing their family, home and childhood.
Significantly, throughout  the poem we see juxtaposed imagery from the speaker which eludes to their childhood, 'I come from clean handkerchiefs, dinner money, God' this is very pure and childlike. The word 'God' also gives the impression that the speaker is longing for their childhood, that it's better in comparison to their life now, 'skinheads and fights if you look the wrong  way' which is very gritty and rough In comparison to their life now.

Later on in the poem we get more of a sense of the speakers identity when they discuss their childhood in more detail 'I come from a garden' and 'from fences, walls, gates and hedges' this is very idealic almost clichéd, which reflects it's a childhood memory, like it's almost too perfect but this is the life he wants because it represents happiness,.