The Germ & the Band Perry

Hey, here’s some added information on the Pre-Raphaelite style of art, and some resources if anyone’s curious to know more!



Please keep in mind that the Pre-Raphaelites were not artists that existed before Raphael, but who were inspired by the style of art that was popular before his lifetime. They themselves lived after him, during the Victorian era. They were a gathering of male artists who wanted to revolutionize art by rejecting the popular neoclassical style of the time. They felt, according William Rossetti’s introduction to The Germ, that “this condition of the art seemed offensive, contemptible, and even scandalous” (Gutenberg) because of the absence of original, creative ideas that was a feature of neoclassical-inspired pieces. They chose to instead employ stylistic elements common in medieval artwork, specifically Gothic aesthetics, as it encouraged simplicity and originality. Finding solidarity in each other’s ideas, they founded the Brotherhood in September of 1848, and in the following year began to construct works that were based on this specific intention.



The Brotherhood also published a magazine-like periodical centered on prominent Pre-Raphaelite poems and essays of the time, as well as critical reflections of the artists themselves about these works, entitled “The Germ: Thoughts towards Nature in Poetry, Literature and Art”.



You can actually read a publication of some of the issues that was compiled by William Michael Rossetti and edited by his brother, Dante (both being members of the original Brotherhood), online on Project Gutenburg, if you’re curious - it’s very in-depth, with an extensive inclusion of poems from the same period and with the same themes as those we are studying. It even has an introduction from Rossetti discussing their intentions and the history of the Brotherhood’s formation in detail. It’s a very valuable source, and even more so as it’s straight from the horse’s mouth:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17649/17649-h/17649-h.htm



However, The Germ encompasses only text. If you want to see some of the Pre-Raphaelite paintings, rather than the poetry, here’s a site created by the Delaware Art Museum, with a handy overview outlining more of their main characteristics at http://www.preraph.org and a gallery featuring ten pieces of PRB art located in their own collection: http://www.preraph.org/gallery/ It can give you a very good idea of what the ideas actually looked like when translated onto canvas.



In a more contemporary vein, we also found this music video that was made by The Band Perry for their song ‘If I Die Young’. It actually works as a modern revisioning of The Lady of Shalott, and you can see that it reflects and makes use of a lot of the same tropes as the original poem (and many of the characteristics inspired by Pre-Raphaelite art) - the heavy natural imagery, the emphasis on the female form and female beauty, the role of the river, the interplay of themes of death, sight and innocence, and the act of drawing from literary sources from information.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NJqUN9TClM



Enjoy!



Jillian, Jarrett & Thuraya



References:

The Broadview Anthology of British Literature Concise Edition Vol. B. Ed. Don LePan. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2008. 519-21.

"The Germ". Project Gutenberg.January 2006. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17649/17649-h/17649-h.htm. Web.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Hey, so Maddy and I did some research on the Pre-Raphaelites and this is what we came up with! Hope this helps clear anything up that might not have been clear in the presentation!

The Pre-Raphaelites began with the initial group of seven (James Collinson, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, Frederic George Stephens, and Thomas Woolner) who formed the group in 1848 that strove to revive what they believed was a “simpler, fresher, more natural art that existed before Raphael (1483-1520)” (Broadview Anthology). One of the most focal mediums for the group was painting, as it was the best way to present their “pre-Raphaelite” vision of simplicity and freshness. Eventually, more poets became involved in the P.R.B., and they started going off of one another, most commonly painting portraits of the poems that others wrote. Most notable of this is the poem The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, which was emulated by numerous different painters including John William Waterhouse, William Holman Hunt, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The art of the P.R.B., particularly its representation of women, was aptly analyzed and documented by Jan Marsh in her illustrated book, Pre-Raphaelite Women: Images of Femininity (1987). As she points out, consistent features of these women – including the Lady of Shalott – are loose hair, large eyes, an elongated neck, and a sorrowful expression (Marsh). She also posits that the group “established new structures of feeling and of representation whereby women were both elevated and constrained, worshipped and restricted to specific roles” (Marsh). The Lady of Shalott’s motif of confinement seemed to be the focal point for the painters in spite of protests from Tennyson himself that the poem was a metaphor for one who lives in a world of shadows and is transformed through love into the world of what is real (Marsh).

To give you guys some context, we thought we’d link you to a couple websites that show the art of Raphael as well as the Pre-Raphaelites so you can decide for yourselves if they achieved their goal of being more simple, fresh, and natural!

Links:

P.R.B.

http://persephone.cps.unizar.es/~spd/Pre-Raphaelites/Pre-Raphaelites.html

Raphael

http://www.art.com/gallery/id--a110/raphael-posters_p6.htm

References:

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature Concise Edition Vol. B. Ed. Don LePan. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2008.

Marsh, Jan. Pre-Raphaelite Women: Images of Femininity. New York: Harmony Books, 1987.

Jane Eyre'vrywhere!

Here is a cool post that I found (posted literally an hour ago!) from a blog that I follow and coincidently it's about Jane Eyre and its adaptation/popularity within pop. culture. From films to graphic novels... check it out! http://iheartclassics.tumblr.com/post/3327180803/jane-eyrevrywhere

Child Labour in 19th Century England

For our presentation we have chosen to do it on Child Labour in England during the 19th century. Within this post we are going to present our interpretation on the poem "The Steam Loom Weaver" and also share with you a video that summarizes child labour during the Industrial Revolution in England.

This is our interpretation of the poem “The Steam Loom Weaver” (c. 1830) (author Unknown)

This poem seems to be a lot more upbeat and happier when regarding the working world of England in the 19th century. The speakers talks about the loom being out of order like it is just another general problem and does not seem to worried about the consequences of not working when things are broken. Like we heard from Elizabeth Bentley when she was talking about her working life, if you did not do your job fast enough or did not do it to the level that your boss wanted it then you were given the strap and that really hurt. The speaker does not seem to concerned and a lot happier then what would be expected from workers of mills in England in the 19ht century.

In the video mentioned below, they mention that when a machine breaks that it is not time off but time that will be added to your shift. Unlike in the poem where it seems like it is a time to relax and to take a break, in reality when a machine broke down you would have wanted to fix it as fast as possible and then get back to work going as fast as you could to make up for the time lost.

This clip summarizes the beginnings of child labour during the Industrial Revolution in England.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgu61a_victorian-child-labour_lifestyle

This is brought to you by Jonathan and Chris! Thank you!

"Victorian Child labour." Flog It!. 2001. Daily Motion. Web. Transcript. 3 Feb.
2011. xgu61a_victorian-child-labour_lifestyle>.

"The Steam Loom Weaver." 2007. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature:
Concise Edition. Vol. B. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2008. 572.
Print.

Child Abuse in Jane Eyre

Laura McReynolds

For my side of the presentation, I’ve been studying the instances of child abuse in Jane Eyre and how this instances are important in the development of Jane’s character and the progression of the novel. What is particularly interesting about the display of child abuse in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is the combination of physical and emotional abuse, and how it is very apparent that this abuse is rooted in social status. Jane, the orphan of a poor couple, is abused at home and school, while her wealthy cousins enjoy luxury. Helen and the other girls at Lowood share similar stories – all students having lost a parent, if not both, and all are abused, particularly through their lack of nutrition at Lowood. It is interesting to see the stark difference between the lower class abuse and the high class’ lack thereof.

Jane’s triumphs in this novel are made all the more extraordinary when considering the feats she faced as a child and how she made a life for herself independently. The instances of child abuse are important to the novel’s progression because they make a social and economic commentary on the time, but also provide Jane with depth of emotion and a ferocity that she would not have attained otherwise. It is the unpleasantness we experience when we imagine ourselves in Jane’s shoes that makes the novel so captivating.

The 1983 BBC adaption of Jane Eyre does a great job capturing the abuses Jane experienced as well as providing insight into her thoughts, which develop her character throughout the novel as well.

Some instances of the abuse can be watched in the following clips:

Jane Eyre 1983 Episode 1 (Part 1/3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThlLlkv2GTE

John hits Jane: 2:22-2:34

Jane is locked in the room that Mr. Reed died in: 4:40-6:00

Jane Eyre 1983 Episode 2 (Part 2/3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU5FRgRXm1A&feature=related

Mr. Brocklehurst demoralizes Jane: 4:16-6:40