Pamela Norris

Pamela Norris’ scholarly and exhaustive examination of the Biblical legend of Eve splinters off in so many directions that a comprehensive review would result in something almost as long as the 400-page original. Suffice to say that it looks at the ways in which the story of mankind’s loss of Eden lays the blame squarely on Eve, and was used for centuries as the driving force for institutionalized misogyny.

The most interesting portion, to me, was the “biographical” end section, which examines the writing and thinking of female authors on the theme, from the Renaissance to modern times. Ranging from intellectual challenges aimed at the heart of the myth to contemporary and experimental fictional treatments, the character and motivations of the feminine archetype are turned upside down and inside out, concluding with the notion that “Eve’s story … is a reminder of the difficult choices and compromises of adult life, the requirement to balance exploration and individuation with social and family demands. … Perhaps what is most important is Eve’s recognition of the need to challenge boundaries, to make the imaginative leap, however difficult, unpredictable and even dangerous, into a new phase of existence.”

Copiously footnoted and containing an extensive bibliography, this 1998 publication belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in women’s history.… (mere)

Given to me by my parents on my sixteenth birthday, this anthology of 19th-century women poets served as my introduction to the work of many of the authors included, from Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Christina Rossetti. It also served as my introduction to the Pre-Raphaelites, as the artwork accompanying the poetry is taken from that school. Some of the authors - particularly Emily Dickinson and the Brontë sisters - were already known to me, although in the case of Anne, Charlotte and Emily Brontë, this was solely through their prose works.

Although I have not picked it up in years, I read and reread Sound the Deep Waters: Women's Romantic Poetry in the Victorian Age countless times as an adolescent, and derived significant enjoyment from both poetry and artwork. I must have been more romantically inclined, in those days! My favorite, of the pieces included by editor Pamela Norris, is Anne Brontë's "Lines Composed in a Wood on a Windy Day", which still retains its power over me, despite the years:

"MY soul is awakened, my spirit is soaring
And carried aloft on the wings of the breeze;
For above and around me the wild wind is roaring,
Arousing to rapture the earth and the seas.

The long withered grass in the sunshine is glancing,
The bare trees are tossing their branches on high;
The dead leaves, beneath them, are merrily dancing,
The white clouds are scudding across the blue sky.

I wish I could see how the ocean is lashing
The foam of its billows to whirlwinds of spray;
I wish I could see how its proud waves are dashing,
And hear the wild roar of their thunder today!"… (mere)

The Brontës by Pamela Norris is a collection of selected poems from not only the Bronte sisters, but also certain poems from their brother Patrick Branwell Brontë. According to the introduction, Patrick Bronte was a good poet, but did not reach the level of sophistication of his sisters. Emily Brontë, according to Norris, is the most accomplished of the poets in terms of grasping meter and other components of poetry. Anne Brontë is the most accessible, and readers often find it easier to emotionally connect with the poet. Charlotte Brontë‘s poems often resemble her novels with their passionate women and abrasive men, but Norris says her narrative style can often overwhelm the poem and obscure its meaning.

The collection begins with a selection of poems from Charlotte, and many of these poems are bogged down in narrative, poetic prose, but the meaning of the poems are not completely obscured. In fact, the selection of poems offer a sense of longing and despair topped with a current of optimism and rays of hope. In “Mementos,” Charlotte alludes to the precious nature of material objects, which even though tied to loved ones, is now moldy and dusty — long forgotten.

Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2010/12/the-brontes-by-pamela-norris.html… (mere)