Esther's Classic Literature Blog

It's turning chilly! And, the pumpkin patch down the road is open (and busy).

What is your favorite work of literature about frost and pumpkins? Or, do you like to read more about scarecrows (like the one in the Wizard of Oz)? Which works have you read that made you think about fall, as the fall season progress and the end of the year approaches?

In Frost at Midnight, Samuel Taylor Coleridge writes:

"The Frost performs its secret ministry,
Unhelped by any wind. The owlet's cry
Came loud, -and hark, again! loud as before.
The inmates of my cottage, all at rest,
Have left me to that solitude, which suits
Abstruser musings: save that at my side
My cradled infant slumbers peacefully."

Have you read these works?

• When the Frost is on the Punkin
• Feathertop: A Moralized Legend
• Legend of Sleepy Hollow
• Frost at Midnight
• Flowers in Winter
• The Encantadas

Where does literature take you? Does literature affect your mood?

The Bell Jar is the only novel by Sylvia Plath, and it is famous not only because it offers shocking insight into her mind and art, but also because it is a coming-of-age story--told in the first person by Esther Greenwood, who struggles with her mental illness. Her suicide attempts made the book a target for book censors. (The book has been repeatedly banned and challenged for its controversial content.)

In The Bell Jar, we read from Esther Greenwood's point of view: "The sickness rolled through me in great waves. After each wave it would fade away and leave me limp as a wet leaf and shivering all over and then I would feel it rising up in me again, and the glittering white torture chamber tiles under my feet and over my head and all four sides closed in and squeezed me to pieces."

Take a look at a review of The Bell Jar. Also, here are more quotes from the novel.

Cover Art © HarperCollins.

It's time to celebrate your freedom to read. Since 1985, Banned Books Week has been observed during the last week of September each year. The freedom to decide what you will read (and what you will not read) is a vital freedom that seems to be taken for granted. Read more about Banned Books Week, from the American Library Association.

If you've never read a classic, why not start by reading a banned book today? Here are a few:

• Banned Books
• Banned Classics
• Banned Classics List
• Banned Plays
• Banned Books Resources

Here are a few tips for How to Save a Book From Banning... Are books banned in your area?



Photo © Rick Hinson, iStockphoto.

Baroness Emmuska Orczy (1865-1947) was a novelist and artist, who was born on September 23, 1865. She wrote crime stories and then created The Scarlet Pimpernel, which is perhaps her most memorable claim-to-fame. Orczy wrote other novels, but none of them were as successful.

In Chapter 21, Orczy writes: "It is only when we are very happy, that we can bear to gaze merrily upon the vast and limitless expanse of water, rolling on and on with such persistent, irritating monotony, to the accompaniment of our thoughts, whether grave or gay. When they are gay, the waves echo their gaiety; but when they are sad, then every breaker, as it rolls, seems to bring additional sadness, and to speak to us of hopelessness and of the pettiness of all our joys."

How does literature make us feel so deeply? We are touched by a line, and some bits of literature change the course of our lives... How has literature affected you?

On September 22, 1963, T.S. Eliot wrote to the New York Post, saying: "When I see a play and understand it the first time, then I know it can't be much good."

Many of the greatest works of literature aren't easy. They require time, patience, and they often require re-reading. But, when you've put in a bit of time, the experience is very rewarding. You'll be amazed by how much you missed the first time around.

Here are a few tips on How to Read (and Enjoy) a Play! Also, here are a few ideas on How to Read a Difficult Text...

I love those quotes all stumbled upon and "right"... They're so much better than the quotes that I search for, the ones that I wish said just the right thing. Quote hunting is fun, of course. But, some days, I discover a quote that seems to have been placed there just for me (in a book, on a web page, or on a graffiti-ridden wall on the side of the road). It found me:

"For women... poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, and then into more tangible action. Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought. The farthest horizons of our hopes and fears are cobbled by our poems, carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives." - Audre Lorde

What does poetry mean to you? Is your day brightened when a few lines run through your head? Do you find yourself murmuring/whispering words... tasting them to see how they will sound, how they will feel--before you let them live?

If your day ever feels incomplete, try reading a poem. Sit still for just a few moments and let the words seep into you...

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) is one of the most quoted English writers. The end of the 18th century is sometimes called the "Age of Johnson," because he was such a prominent figure. Johnson published poems, articles, sermons, speeches, and much more. Johnson is also famous for his Dictionary of the English Language. Here's a brief biography about Samuel Johnson.

Samuel Johnson once said: "Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords." He also said, "Hope is necessary in every condition."

May hope and great literature be your constant companions...

How fast do you read? Do you want to read with speed?

By now, you're probably chin-deep in homework: reading, writing, test-taking, and beyond. You may be thinking there's really no end in sight, and that you won't be able to read all those books by the deadline the teacher has set for you. Well, there's still hope... Here are some tips to help you read with more speed: How to Improve Your Reading Speed.

If you have tips for how you're able to read with speed, please post your suggestions.

Miguel de Cervantes was a famous Spanish writer, known for Don Quixote. Here's a quote attributed to Cervantes:

"'Tis said of love that it sometimes goes, sometimes flies; runs with one, walks gravely with another; turns a third into ice, and sets a fourth in a flame: it wounds one, another it kills: like lightning it begins and ends in the same moment: it makes that fort yield at night which it besieged but in the morning; for there is no force able to resist it."

"Love" is one of those words that is so overused, mis-used, and mis-understood. The word is used so much that it seems to lose its power and meaning; the idea of love becomes trite and cliché. In literature, writers delve into the depths of it, and come out better than most--perhaps. But, is anyone really unscathed?

You may have been drawn to Romeo and Juliet, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester--all the literary romances through time in literature. With their stories, writers tell us that love is pain, that it's ever-changing/evolving. Lost love causes the biggest heartache; but once found, it offer the greatest joys. That's why so many writers have written about love, romance, passion, connection, bliss, relationship(s)--all that is, or could be.

Read more about Cervantes:

• Don Quixote
• Don Quixote resources

Cover Art © HarperCollins.



Blogs That Link Here

James Joyce is one of those unforgettable figures in literary history. He was everything and he was nothing. He was Ireland to the core, but he was exiled from his homeland. He poured pure genius into his works of literature, but the accessibility level is such that many readers don't get past the first lines of his most controversial works. In short, he was the sort of literate, educated man from whom we could all learn; and we SHOULD learn a great deal more from him than we have...

John Thornton writes: "a look at Dubliners reveals that, together with his genius for destruction, Joyce had an equally fecund genius for structure, for narrative--pure, simple and clear."

Read the full review, and then read more about Dubliners, and James Joyce.

Cover Art © Oxford University Press.



Blogs That Link Here