Feb. 26, 2009: Journal Entry

Charlotte Bronte

Noted Works:
-Jane Eyre

Analysis of Jane Eyre:
Probably what caught me the most through reading the first couple of chapters of Jane Eyre was when she was pouring her life story out to Helen Burns. Helen noted that Jane remembered every single bad thing that Mrs. Reed did against her. Helen "scolds" her and says, in other words, to not let the pessimistic things people do or say affect you so negatively that it ruins your life. So many times people dwell in misery because one bad thing was caused by their enemies. Letting them get you down may sometimes bring satisfaction to the wrong-doers, which may sometimes encourage them to repeat the same action again, if not the same, maybe worse. God teaches us to return, not evil for evil, but evil for good. It's a lesson that was taught to a ten-year-old, but it's one that still has to be learned and practiced by all.

Application:
It's funny how I can also remember all the bad things people have done to me, but I can barely remember all the good they've done for me too. I think it's because the "evil" things had a greater effect on me because of my lack of appreciation of the good things. I'm going to make it a subconscious goal to return evil for good even though I love to seek revenge and give people what they deserve. But I know that God gives me a ton of grace, so the least I can do is try to love my neighbors (enemies) as myself.

Feb. 19, 2009: Journal Entry

Charles Lamb 1775-1834
-"prince of the English Essayists" (Horton 554)
-He has a romantic reverence, "nostalgia for the past," "splendid sadness of youth"

Noted Works:
-"Oh China" - "superiority of the old days of youth" and appreciation (Horton 555)

Analysis of Oh China:
This essay talks about having more happiness when you're poor versus having more money and being not as content. The society that we live in exemplifies money as an idol--money equals happiness. According to Lamb, this isn't true. It seems as if Lam and his sister had a much better time while contemplating whether or not to buy something when they were poor rather than just going out and buying it when they had a lot of money. It's possible to find joy in the simplest and dire of circumstances.

Application:
Sometimes I think that more money means more happiness, but money isn't everything. Money can buy things to satisfy the desire for happiness. However, my Salvation was free for me, and that makes me happy beyond measure. I need to remember that God promised in His word that he will supply all my needs.
Horton, Ronald A. British Literature for Christian Schools. Greenville: Bob Jones University Press, 1992.

Vocabulary

allegory: a story with a literal and an inmplied level of meaning
apostraphe: addressing an inaminamte object
burlesque: entertainment of broad and earthy humor
blank verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter
closet drama: plays written to be read
didacticism: instruction in literature
elegy: formal poem lalemtning the death of a particular person or meditating on the subject itself
empiricism: the philosophical view that all knowledge originates in sensory experience
epigrams: a short, highly compressed poem making a wise or humorous point
familiar essays: the personal essay perfected by Charles lamb and his successors, as distinct from the more formal and public neoclassical periodical essay
herioc couplet: couplets of iambic pentameter
neoclassicism: a cultural attraction to the art and thought of ancient reece and Rome
odes: a long, highly stylized lyric poem written in a complex stanza on a serious theme and often for a specific occasion
personification: iving characteristics to an inanimate object
poetic diction: artificially selected and refined languiage
poet laureate: the official poet of a nation or region
primitivism: the preference for an uncivilized life
progressivism: belief in the importance and possibility of social and material progress
rationalism: the belief that human reason rather than revelation or authority is the source of all knowledge and the only valid basis for action
realism: the attempt in fiction to create an illusion of actuality by the use of seemingly random detail or by the inclusion of the ordinary
satire: constructive ridicule in literature
soliloquy: self-revalation overheard
traditionalism: a reverance for tradition as a source of authority or values in religion, morality, or art
tragedy: a drama that ends unhappily
transcendentalism: set of religious concepts
utilitarianism: an ethical system developed by jeremy Bentham based on the human desire for pleasure rather than pain and, politically, on the principle of the greatest good for the greatest number
verisimilitude: the inclusion of minute, or even superfluous, details to create an illusion of realism

Horton, Ronald A. British Literature for Christian Schools. Greenville: Bob Jones University Press, 1992.

Frankenstein

In a way towards the end of the story, Frankenstein is like what Jesus is to us, and the monster is kind of like what we are. Frankenstein is the creator, and Jesus is our creator. At the end of this story, the monster goes off to die after he mourns over the death of his maker because he really has nothing else to live for. If Jesus were to suddenly die or stop existing, Christians or any being wouldn't have the slightest reason to keep on living (and that's not just because everything exists because of God and only by God).

February 5, 2009 Journal Entry

Isaaw Watts 1674-1748
-Father of the modern hymn
-"The Protestant Reformation returned church singing to the laity" (Horton 425)
Noted Works (Horton 427-431)
-"Heavenly Joy on Earth"- religion was never designed to make our pleasures less.
-"The Christian Race"
-"Breathing After the Holy Spirit"
-"Against Idleness and Mischief"
-"The Day of Judgment"
Analysis of "Heavenly Joy on Earth"
Some people say, "just shoot me already," or "I just want to die". When people say that, they usually don't mean it literally. Others may say, "I'm afraid of death," or, "I don't want to die". People say that because they are either afraid of death because no one has come back to tell us about it or they are too selfish to give up what material things they have accumalated here on earth. Every God-fearing Christian knows that Heaven is going to be a place of "amazing bliss" (Horton 427), yet we still (most of the time) want to stay here on earth. Some Christians, or maybe it's just me, feel guilty for sometimes wanting to stay here. However, is earth really that bad? I think one of the things Isaac Watts is trying to say in this work, is that it's okay to enjoy this world even though the Bible tells us not to be a part of it. The eart itself isn't evil; it's the people and sin that cloud the earth from it's "Utopia" state (like the Garden of Eden).
Application
"Heavenly Joy on Earth" talks about, in a way, being grateful to our "awful God" (Horton 427) for giving us such a great world to dwell in. I need to remember to thank Him once in a while for giving us His best by giving my best to Him.

Horton, Ronald A. British Literature for Christian Schools. Greenville: Bob Jones University Press, 1992.