R... is for Romanticism

What an immensely rich body of work the Romanticism movement gave us. The 18th century poets, dramatists, theatre-artists, playwrights, authors, everyone gave us a tremendous plethora of intrigue, love, hate, awe, insanity... it was also a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature.
It became important to feel fully and well, and to express this feeling in no uncertain terms. Lofty thoughts and ideals formed the pillar of this movement, both uplifting and humbling, all at the same time. Thought was secondary to emotion, and it was this emotion that took precedence over all else. It gave us beautiful things.
Some of the most noted Romantics include William Blake, Byron, Coleridge, Keats, Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Robert Southey, Wordsworth. Just Imagine!

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This is the eighteenth post for the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge 2014.
Previously, Archaism, British literature, Critical Analysis, Drama, Edinburgh, Faust, Gothic Fiction, Humour, Interpretation, Journalling, Keats, Language, Metaphysical Poetry, Narration, Ode, Papillion(ed), Quatrain

M... is for Metaphysical Poets

One of my biggest takeaways from this course is the knowledge of Metaphysical poets and their poetry. According to Wikipedia, "The metaphysical poets is a term coined by the poet and critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of English lyric poets of the 17th century, whose work was characterized by the inventive use of conceits, and by speculation about topics such as love or religion. These poets were not formally affiliated; most of them did not even know each other or read each others work."
How amazing it is to imagine that there have been times when one's work would not have been inspired by another. I, for my part, cannot quite fathom how one creates a genre, how one starts to write without a precedent. John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvell, and Richard Crashaw were the centrepieces of this kind of poetry. Making love could be the bite of a flea, the soul could be a drop of dew and such other metaphors seem blasphemous even today, let alone in the 17th century. Back then, these parallels would be unheard of! I'll leave you with a few lines of Donne's 'Elegy XVIII: Love’s Progress':

Her swelling lips; to which when we are come,
We anchor there, and think ourselves at home,
For they seem all: there sirens’ songs, and there
Wise Delphic oracles do fill the ear;
There in a creek where chosen pearls do swell,
The remora, her cleaving tongue doth dwell.
These, and the glorious promontory, her chin
O’erpast; and the strait Hellespont between
The Sestos and Abydos of her breasts,
(Not of two lovers, but two loves the nests)
Succeeds a boundless sea, but that thine eye
Some island moles may scattered there descry;
And sailing towards her India, in that way
Shall at her fair Atlantic navel stay;
Though thence the current be thy pilot made,
Yet ere thou be where thou wouldst be embayed,
Thou shalt upon another forest set,
Where some do shipwreck, and no further get.
When thou art there, consider what this chase
Misspent by thy beginning at the face.

Thoughts ;) ?

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This is the thirteenth post for the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge 2014.
Previously, Archaism, British literature, Critical Analysis, Drama, Edinburgh, Faust, Gothic Fiction, Humour, Interpretation, Journalling, Keats, Language

I... is for Interpretation

Interpreting something that one reads is a representation of what one is. How a text is perceived is to a large extent the reader's personality. For instance, a lot of my avid reader female friends are massive fans of Darcy, Heathcliff, and Rhett. What is it about these men that attracts young women, I wonder. I am personally not attracted to any of them. So what is it that draws one? What is the individual's interpretation of a plot? Of dialogues? What do writers want to convey when they write a particular statement in a particular way?
How does one ever know? Which critics are right? It is so strange that the study of literature involves the reading of those people who have read texts widely and have offered their own thorough opinion. I find it strange because every person is entitled to his/her own opinion. Why should I have to conform or quote? Why can't I be a critic!? What's your take on the interpretation of novels, poems, and plays?

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This is the ninth post for the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge 2014.
Previously, Archaism, British literature, Critical Analysis, Drama, Edinburgh, Faust, Gothic Fiction, Humour

E... is for Edinburgh

What a disaster! I was away yesterday and this post was scheduled. :( Anyway, here it is now.
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Many of you here don't know me personally. Actually, profession-wise, I'm an Engineer. I have a Masters in Electronics engineering, and while I'm not a complete geek, I like to think that I have a decent analytical brain. I also love Literature and pick up new languages fast, maybe something to do with a good left brain. I got my Masters degree from The University of Edinburgh and it was that time I spent in Scotland that my passion for Literature really picked up. It was also during that time that I decided I was going to study Literature properly, and give my passion a voice.

Edinburgh is a very literary city. There are immense resources for writers, some brilliant book/writing clubs, and endless inspiration. Of course, it helps that nature is predominant in Scotland and very motivating to artists, musicians, and poets. It also helps that Edinburgh itself can also be a very dark and brooding city, with its bloodied past, scary haunting history, and intriguing city-upon-city structure.
Organisations like the Scottish Book Trust and the Scottish Poetry Library promote reading, writing, and generally, the culture of staying associated with good book and good authors. Edinburgh has been a massive inspiration to my literary side, and for that I will always be grateful, and I wrote about that here.

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This is the fifth post for the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge 2014.
Previously, Archaism, British literature, Critical Analysis, Drama

Y... is for Young, James

Well, I didn't have anything that began with Y; but I knew I wanted to do a post about Science in Scotland. Aside from the Literature side that we've talked about and Scotland's footprint in philosophy (read: David Hume), this tiny little country  has a massive contribution to science, especially in innovations! James Young, from Glasgow, was a Scottish chemist best known for his method of distilling paraffin from coal. His Wikipedia page will tell you more, for anyone interested in Chemistry, he was pretty fab!
But wait, you must must take a look at this page, for this blows my mind every single time I look at it. And I look at it at least once a month, to remind me of the greatness of this country!
I mean, Dunlop, Telford, Watt, Bell, Logie Baird, Napier, Maxwell, Higgs, Black, Fleming... absolute insanity to what we use everyday and don't realise was born in good ol' Caledonia :)

from Admit it: you can’t live without the Scots

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This post is part of the ongoing A-to-Z Challenge. Previously, Aye, Berwick, Cramond, Disability, Edinburgh, Forth Bridge, Glasgow, Hamish, Isle of Skye, John o' Groats, Kirk, Loch Lomond and Luss, Mogwai, Necropolis, Old Man of Storr, Portobello, Queen of Scots, Robert Burns, Stirling, Tantallon Castle, Urquhart Castle, Venison, Writers' Museum, Saltire.

Liebster Award!

My lovely friend S, over at Failed Experiments & Experimental Failings, nominated me for the Liebster Award!
A couple of days later, Kathleen from Writing, Reading, and Life, nominated me again! I have only started reading her blog but the name, if you know me, is like a magnet and you should definitely stop by.
This is very special to me as this is the FIRST award this blog has won. Thank you, both of you!
This is a pay-it-forward award. It’s only for participants of the A-Z blogging challenge that began on April 1st... I understand that some of you might not 'do' blogging awards, so just take it as my appreciation for your work :)

The rules are:
1. Thank the person who nominated me and link back to their site
2. Post 11 random things about myself
3. Answer 11 questions that S has for me
4. Ask my nominees 11 questions of my own!


Here we go then:

11 things about myself:

1. I'd really like to be a travel writer. Being paid to travel and to write is my dream.
2. My friends are my life. As an only child, they have always been my support system.
3. I love Scotland! There is something simple and unpretentious about life here.
4. I have lived 23 years of my life in India and am not patriotic at all. Close friends say I was born in the wrong country :P
5. Poetry is a sublime form of life.
6. I believe in magic and fairies!
7. My favourite movie is Walt Disney's Cinderella; there is wayyyyy too much to learn from it.
8. I'm a huge pessimist when my feet are on the ground.
9. I love entering peoples' lives when they are messed up and then fixing them!
10. I get taken for granted by friends a lot, I hate it!
11. I am a Grammar Nazi.

Now to answer the questions S put up:

1. What does your name mean? Do you like your name? Have you ever wanted to change it?
It means 'the rising'. I do like my name. I am called Jhelum at home (most Bengali kids have two names lol), sometimes I wish I was called Udita at home and Jhelum formally.

2. Why did you start your blog?
This blog began on 18th Feb, 2007, the day I turned 18. I wrote my first post at 1800 hrs.

3. Tea or coffee?
Both

4. If you could revisit a  day or a certain period of your life, what would it be?
It would have to be my undergrad years, I loved it then, and I would like to relieve it again!

5. What’s your favourite thing about the internet?
Being able to read pretty much anything that I want to read

6. Do you think all this technology and social media has made us better or worse at being social?
Definitely worse! People can't even read real maps anymore!

7. What’s your favourite food?
I'm not fussy about food, anything goes. But I quite like my Gran's Mutton Curry :)

8. Are you a city person or a country-side person?
Oh I'm a countryside person through and through; I'm miserable in cities

9. If you won the lottery, what’s the first thing you’d buy or spend on?
More books :) and travelling

10. Why did you decide to do the A-Z challenge this year?
It gave me a reason to put down in words all the thoughts I have in my head. Also, I wanted to catalogue Scotland the way I saw it.

11. Describe yourself in 4 words.
Imagination. Creativity. Free. Aquarius.

Now for Kathleen's questions:


1. Of the Three Stooges, which one are you most like: Larry, Curly, or Moe? Curly!

2. If you could take the place of any character in any book, who would it be and why?
Tough, maybe Alice, or Sophie... they're both curious :)

3. Mac or PC? PC

4. What is your favorite book cover of all time?
Don't know, maybe the old cover for The Bell Jar

5. What are the last 5 books you’ve read?
Leave of Absence
This Mobius Strip of Ifs
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared
Leonardo’s Swans
... all of which i have written about at BookMark

6. If your life was a movie, who would you want to play your nemesis? (HA! Tricked you on that one!)
Liv Tyler

7. Vanilla or Chocolate? Vanilla :)

8. By some strange accident of fate, I’ve been stranded in your home town. Can I stay at your place?
Yes!

9. Are you sure? Yeah...

10. What was your favorite book as a child?
Moby Dick and Treasure Island

11. What is one word that describes your current MC?
MC?


So, here are the people I nominate. They are doing a great job in their spaces!
Life and Times of a Student
MAGICAL MYSTICAL MIMI
The Ruralhood
Paula's Place
Life on the Muskoka River
Crazy California Claire
Finding Eliza
Voices in my Head
Oh, Frog it!
Michael Abayomi
Phenomenal Lass

My questions for you are:

1. Do you know the meaning of the German word 'Liebster'?
2. One place on your must go list?
3. Do you believe in astrology? Why? Why not?
4. What is the most daredevil thing you've done?
5. What is your favourite book? If you don't read, movie?
6. What is your biggest weakness?
7. Do you believe in fairies?
8. Tea or Coffee?
9. Who is your best critic?
10. Life in five words?
11. One blogger you read everyday (doesn't matter if they aren't taking the challenge)

Enjoy!

S

S is for ‘Scarlett’.

What a girl, what a woman! She is the epitome of womanhood. A match of strength for every Rhett, a match of folly for every Ashley… This O’Hara is beautiful, brave, cruel, and brilliant. So what if Rhett left her (I do not think that the sequel to Gone with the Wind counts); she was no left weak. No when he played with her, not when he loved her. Bonnie’s death was Rhett’s fault. Period.

Scarlett needed a different man, she didn’t need a charmer, she didn’t need a fool. She was ahead of her times and men just couldn’t catch up with her. Ever since I’ve read the book five years ago, her words have given me strength on many a hopeless day. Whenever faced with trials and tribulations, judgment, loss, and despair; she always believed:
"After all... tomorrow is another day!"

Vivian Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara

So far: Atticus, Beth, Cassius, Dumbledore, Estella, Francesca, Gandalf, Humbert, Ishmael, Jean-Baptiste, Kali, Long John Silver & Lisbeth, Miu, Nancy, Oliver, Piyali, Quentin, Rebecca

I'm writing every day of April for the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. I'm writing of characters of fiction that are immortal and touch hundreds of lives everyday...

N

N is for 'Nancy'.
Nancy Drew, who else!? The smart, intelligent, fantabulous young sleuth from River Heights; the epitome of modern girls. The champ driver, swimmer, actor of a girl that gave rise to one of the most widely sold Young Adult books. The hundreds of books, written by different people, were published under the common pseudonym of Carolyn Keene. Nancy, along with her friends Bess and George, sometimes her boyfriend Ned, nabs some pretty obnoxious criminals.
I spent some 3 - 4 years of middle school devouring these books one after another. And I think all little girls should have wonderful girl inspirations. And Nancy was one such... I loved her intelligence and her wavy blond hair; her powers of deduction and the blue convertible. Good days... simple days...

Nancy Drew, from http://www.nancydrewsleuth.com/

So far: Atticus, Beth, Cassius, Dumbledore, Estella, Francesca, Gandalf, Humbert, Ishmael, Jean-Baptiste, Kali, Long John Silver & Lisbeth, Miu

I'm writing every day of April for the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. I'm writing of characters of fiction that are immortal and touch hundreds of lives everyday...