Virginia Woolf has been another challenging modern poet for me. She was one of the most popular women writers of the 20th century. Born into a very privileged British family, she was given a good education considering her status as a woman. However, she actually had many psychological issues, including depression as well as she suffered from mental breakdowns for much of her life.
One of her most popular works is The Lady in the Looking-Glass: A Reflection, which includes many of her signature themes and her unique writing style. In this prose, she writes about the life of a Lady through what of her belongings one can see through a mirror hanging over her mantle. The mirror is something that Woolf enjoyed using in her work; having it illuminate the idea that writing is supposed to mirror reality, but Woolf was very skeptical in that even the best writers cannot utilize language and words to explain something as well as when someone actually experiences something. She was a firm believer that words and language have limits and they simply are no substitute for the subjective experience of something.
She begins the prose with the following comment, “People should not leave looking- glasses hanging in their rooms any more than they should leave open cheque books or letters confessing some hideous crime” (p. 1224). This certainly hints to the fact that Woolf believes that firstly, when looking through a mirror we get a pretty good glimpse of reality and secondly, looking at a person and their belongings through a mirror can give you a good idea of their personal identity. She then describes everything that can be seen in the room through the mirror’s reflection including a sofa, a path outside the window, curtains blowing, and a rug. She describes the images seen through the mirror as, “held there in their reality unescapably… things had ceased to breathe and lay still in the trance of immortality” (p. 1225), which is very true; they are stuck there forever as if in a picture book as opposed to real life.
Woolf begins to describe the young lady who lives in this house. “But one was tired of the things that she talked about at dinner. It was her profounder state of being that one wanted to catch and turn to words, the state that is to the mind that breathing is to the body, what one calls happiness or unhappiness” (p. 1227). This sentence gives a lot of interesting ideas for the reader to interpret. First, she discusses certain things at the dinner table probably because those are things expected of a young lady. She was not taught to discuss how she was feeling. Woolf may be hinting to some issues she has with gender roles of the time. Secondly, interestingly, Woolf uses the word “profound” to describe the state of being happy. This word seems to be reserved by most people for well versed public speakers and intriguing novels not for a woman’s state of being. Thirdly, Woolf desires to have the woman’s state of being interpreted into words; but, turning a subjective feeling into words for others to comprehend seems like a very difficult task. Lastly, she makes the claim that happiness is to the mind that breathing is to the body, which I’m not sure is scientifically valid, but considering Woolf’s constant state of depression, she is certainly aware of what it is like to live in a state of unhappiness.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Alex,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on completing your 20th blog post!
You end your blog admirably, taking up the challenge of exploring and explaining Woolf's text (one hardly knows whether to call it an essay or a short story). Although I am not fully convinced that the text absolutely supports some of your suppositions, you do make a good faith effort to understand and share your thoughts on the text.
You should be proud of your work on this blog during this summer!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHey Ms. Quag!!
ReplyDeleteI read the post left on my wall and indeed, we did interpret the poem much differently :) I immediately thought of the author as in fact the "lady" in the mirror. From knowing of Woolf's "mental breakdowns" and "depression" and that she wrote her stories based on her own "painfully won freedom of observation" (1224) I figured that she wrote about what she no longer experienced but longed to. I don't believe that people see something completely different than reality when looking into the mirror, but I do believe that when people do look at themselves, they get a glimpse of reality. I thought this could be her way of escaping while living her reality.
Otherwise, your poem was very elaborate and detailed. I really enjoyed the way you were able to analyze it differently than I had :)
I'm interested in the idea of happiness/unhappiness being to the mind what breathing is to the body. I know you say, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that it's not "scientifically valid" that happiness is so crucial, but I think perhaps Woolf means it in a different way.
ReplyDeleteBreathing is indeed crucial to our bodies, but we don't really think about it. It is a natural state of our being, and continues when we are asleep, when we are stressed out, when we are too busy to consider breathing. Happiness and unhappiness are, perhaps, the same way: we can focus on them and think all about them, but some combination of them will still exist in us whether we focus on it or not. In that sense, the state of happiness is as essential and as subconscious as breathing.
Alex,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your blog.
In your anaylsis of Wolfe's writing, I stand behind her in the belief that words are no substitute for experience. All successful tasks are completed with words or instructions and the know how of completion. There are jobs that can be accomplished in more than one way and can be safer as well as cheaper. You think of a person who has worked in a position for a years and compare him to one that started yesterday. I am sure that the individual with the experience is the more secure asset.