http://thenewstalkers.com/feed/group_discuss Mon, 09 Nov 2026 14:45:32 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/27135/stevie-nicks-predicted-midterm-blue-wave-in-poem-titled-morning-symphony http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/27135 Sun, 08 Nov 2026 20:12:14 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/26653/a-century-after-he-left-toronto-is-still-ernest-hemingways-town http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/26653 Fri, 24 Jul 2026 05:48:56 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/26459/neighborhood-bully-the-heart-of-the-matter http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/26459 Thu, 25 Jun 2026 02:58:06 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/26202/10-reasons-why-literature-is-so-important http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/26202 Mon, 18 May 2026 05:36:39 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/26158/9-essential-short-stories-you-can-read-in-under-30-minutes http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/26158 Sun, 10 May 2026 02:22:26 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25724/11-of-the-best-charles-dickens-characters-book-analysis http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25724 Sun, 08 Mar 2026 07:38:27 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25536/top-10-john-grisham-books-thrilling-legal-thrillers-to-keep-you-hooked http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25536 Sun, 08 Feb 2026 21:36:51 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25491/saroo-brierley-a-long-way-home http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25491 Sun, 01 Feb 2026 21:16:19 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25455/major-cold-final-chapter http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25455 Tue, 27 Jan 2026 22:29:21 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25264/jane-austen-at-250-celebrating-a-writer-who-still-inspires-new-chapters http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25264 Sat, 27 Dec 2025 20:32:11 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25232/donald-trumps-favourite-poem-the-snake-by-oscar-brown-jr http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25232 Sat, 20 Dec 2025 23:02:54 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25175/the-rime-of-the-ancient-mariner http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25175 Fri, 12 Dec 2025 23:51:17 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25127/the-universal-soldier-buffy-sainte-maries-timeless-anthem-for-a-world-in-conflict http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25127 Sun, 07 Dec 2025 20:35:00 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25102/oxford-dictionary-names-rage-bait-2025-word-of-the-year http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25102 Wed, 03 Dec 2025 23:02:28 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25066/a-journey-through-the-life-of-ramblin-jack-elliott http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25066 Fri, 28 Nov 2025 23:39:35 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25012/26-haiku-poems-about-moonlit-forest-that-everyone-should-read-once http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/25012 Sun, 23 Nov 2025 05:28:16 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24976/justifying-the-title-of-hemingways-for-whom-the-bell-tolls http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24976 Mon, 17 Nov 2025 20:37:17 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24912/the-tyger http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24912 Sat, 08 Nov 2025 20:14:09 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24889/voltaire-in-candide-says-that-tending-ones-own-garden-is-not-only-a-private-activity-but-also-productive-1759-online-libr http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24889 Wed, 05 Nov 2025 21:59:53 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24797/snake-by-dh-lawrence-a-critical-analysis http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24797 Sun, 26 Oct 2025 22:04:25 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24784/sea-fever-by-john-masefield-poems-academy-of-american-poets http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24784 Sat, 25 Oct 2025 04:51:56 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24714/kubla-khan-a-poem http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24714

By  Samuel Taylor Coleridge



Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment.















In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree:

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

   Down to a sunless sea.









So twice five miles of fertile ground

With walls and towers were girdled round;

And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,

Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;

And here were forests ancient as the hills,

Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.



But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted

Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!

A savage place! as holy and enchanted

As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted

By woman wailing for her demon-lover!

And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,

As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,

A mighty fountain momently was forced:

Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst

Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,

Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail:

And mid these dancing rocks at once and ever

It flung up momently the sacred river.

Five miles meandering with a mazy motion

Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,

Then reached the caverns measureless to man,

And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean;

And ’mid this tumult Kubla heard from far

Ancestral voices prophesying war!



   The shadow of the dome of pleasure

   Floated midway on the waves;

   Where was heard the mingled measure

   From the fountain and the caves.



It was a miracle of rare device,

A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!



   A damsel with a dulcimer

   In a vision once I saw:

   It was an Abyssinian maid

   And on her dulcimer she played,

   Singing of Mount Abora.

   Could I revive within me

   Her symphony and song,

   To such a deep delight ’twould win me,



That with music loud and long,

I would build that dome in air,

That sunny dome! those caves of ice!

And all who heard should see them there,

And all should cry, Beware! Beware!

His flashing eyes, his floating hair!

Weave a circle round him thrice,

And close your eyes with holy dread

For he on honey-dew hath fed,

And drunk the milk of Paradise.



]]> Sat, 18 Oct 2025 23:47:22 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24700/leonard-cohen-decodes-the-lyrics-of-famous-blue-raincoat http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24700 Thu, 16 Oct 2025 22:12:28 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24660/trees-by-joyce-kilmer http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24660 Sun, 12 Oct 2025 22:06:15 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24585/poem-analysis-the-road-not-taken http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24585 Sat, 04 Oct 2025 09:09:29 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24384/what-inspired-the-neil-young-song-helpless http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24384 Thu, 11 Sep 2025 22:53:45 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24239/test-your-literary-knowledge-with-these-fun-facts http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24239 Tue, 26 Aug 2025 23:29:10 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24202/10-essential-shakespeare-works-that-still-resonate-today http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24202 Sun, 24 Aug 2025 08:30:55 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24174/hallelujah-lyrics-meaning-unraveling-leonard-cohens-classic http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24174 Wed, 20 Aug 2025 23:20:19 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24079/10-most-famous-poets-from-the-united-states http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/24079 Wed, 13 Aug 2025 00:01:48 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23932/between-fact-and-fiction-the-mysterious-life-of-ernest-hemingway http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23932 Sun, 27 Jul 2025 21:16:31 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23906/herman-melville-books-quotes-moby-dick http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23906 Thu, 24 Jul 2025 01:04:15 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23778/18-fascinating-facts-about-charles-dickens http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23778 Thu, 10 Jul 2025 06:23:32 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23738/we-are-the-world-description-origins-recording-success-impact http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23738 Mon, 07 Jul 2025 06:51:25 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23670/inside-the-jane-austen-250-exhibit-at-the-morgan-library-museum http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23670 Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:23:54 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23634/meaning-of-neighborhood-bully-by-bob-dylan http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23634 Thu, 26 Jun 2025 09:32:28 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23366/leonard-cohen-vs-bob-dylan-who-was-the-greater-songwriter http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23366 Fri, 23 May 2025 06:49:13 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23288/summer-begins-with-start-of-summer http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23288 Mon, 05 May 2025 20:45:21 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23227/happy-birthday-to-the-bard http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/23227 Wed, 23 Apr 2025 19:09:12 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22982/introduction-to-jane-austens-teenage-writings http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22982 Tue, 25 Feb 2025 05:40:26 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22968/10-best-movies-based-on-poems-ranked http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22968 Sun, 23 Feb 2025 21:43:44 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22915/some-great-poems-by-canadian-leonard-cohen http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22915 Leonard Cohen was an author, poet, songwriter and folk singer, and many of his songs were actually poems.  Here are a few of his greatest ones.  At a huge festival on the Isle of Wight, 600,000 in attendance, Leonard Cohen performed and the audience demanded encores even though it was the middle of the night, Joan Baez was asked if she understood his songs, and she replied that she didn't but his songs come from deep inside of him and they go deep inside those who hear them.
SUZANNE
Suzanne takes you down
To her place near the river
You can hear the boats go by
You can spend the night beside her.
And you know that she's half crazy
But that's why you wanna be there
And she feeds you tea and oranges
That come all the way from China
And just when you mean to tell her
That you have no love to give her
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer                                                                                                                That you've always been her lover
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that she will trust you
For you've touched her perfect body with your mind



And Jesus was a sailor
When He walked upon the water
And He spent a long time watching
From His lonely wooden tower



And when He knew for certain

Only drowning men could see Him
He said, "All men will be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them"



But He Himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone



And you want to travel with Him
And you want to travel blind
And you think maybe you'll trust Him
For He's touched your perfect body with his mind



Now, Suzanne takes your hand

And she leads you to the river
She is wearing rags and feathers
From the Salvation Army counters



And the sun pours down like honey
On our lady of the harbour
And she shows you where to look
Among the garbage and the flowers



There are heroes in the seaweed
There are children in the morning
They are leaning out for love
And they will lean that way forever
While Suzanne holds the mirror



And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that you can trust her
For she's touched your perfect body with her mind



BUZZ NOTE:  It was a cool evening at the 1966 Mariposa Folk Festival north of Toronto when I watched Leonard Cohen take the stage and sing Suzanne to an absolutely mesmerized audience - the hair on the back of my neck stood out straight, and that song has remained my most favourite folk song of all time ever since. 



Montrealers know that Suzanne is THEIR song.  "Our Lady of the Harbour" is a famous Montreal cathedral near the river.



ANTHEM







The birds they sang
At the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what has passed away
Or what is yet to be



Ah, the wars they will be fought again
The holy dove, she will be caught again
Bought and sold, and bought again
The dove is never free



Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in



We asked for signs

The signs were sent
The birth betrayed
The marriage spent
Yeah, and the widowhood





Of every government
Signs for all to see



I can't run no more
With that lawless crowd
While the killers in high places
Say their prayers out loud
But they've summoned, they've summoned up
A thundercloud
They're going to hear from me



Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in



You can add up the parts
But you won't have the sum
You can strike up the march
There is no drum
Every heart, every heart
To love will come
But like a refugee



Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in



Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in



That's how the light gets in
That's how the light gets in



HEY THAT'S NO WAY TO SAY GOODBYE



I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm



Your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm
Yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new
In city and in forest they smiled like me and you
But now it's come to distances and both of us must try



Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye



I'm not looking for another as I wander in my time
Walk me to the corner, our steps will always rhyme
You know, my love goes with you as your love stays with me
It's just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea



But let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye



I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow, like a sleepy golden storm
Yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new
In city and in forest they smiled like me and you



But let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye



HALLELUJAH



Now I've heard there was a secret chord





That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, the major lifts
The baffled king composing Hallelujah



Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah



Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof





Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah



Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah



You say I took the name in vain
I don't even know the name
But if I did, well, really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light in every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah



Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah



I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah



Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah



Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah



Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah



Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah









]]> Mon, 17 Feb 2025 07:40:06 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22854/10-best-short-poems-about-football http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22854 Mon, 10 Feb 2025 18:04:38 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22841/the-best-pp-variations-where-darcy-is-poor-or-a-second-son http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22841 Sat, 08 Feb 2025 20:35:41 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22793/behind-the-pages-15-unseen-shots-of-literary-icons http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22793 Sat, 01 Feb 2025 08:19:21 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22786/10-of-the-most-comforting-and-beautiful-poems-about-death http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22786 Fri, 31 Jan 2025 08:23:25 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22727/31-of-the-most-beautiful-and-profound-passages-in-literature-youll-want-to-read-over-and-over-again http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22727 Sat, 25 Jan 2025 08:33:00 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22711/popular-songs-that-are-poems-exploring-the-connection-between-music-and-poetry http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22711 Fri, 24 Jan 2025 07:07:44 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22697/cheap-thrills-private-dicks-and-desperate-dames-from-the-heyday-of-pulp-fiction http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22697 Thu, 23 Jan 2025 04:23:22 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22667/the-poetic-meaning-behind-a-hard-rains-a-gonna-fall-by-bob-dylan http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22667 Sun, 19 Jan 2025 19:42:36 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22614/10-reasons-why-literature-is-so-important http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22614 Mon, 13 Jan 2025 07:37:29 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22554/a-minimal-but-perfect-summary-of-pride-and-prejudice http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22554 Sat, 04 Jan 2025 22:50:45 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22523/7-reasons-why-we-love-english-literature http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22523 Tue, 31 Dec 2024 19:55:10 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22507/jd-salinger-a-life-of-seclusion http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22507 Mon, 30 Dec 2024 02:46:55 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22497/a-political-poem-by-gregory-corso http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22497 Sat, 28 Dec 2024 00:45:51 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22467/a-celebration-of-american-indian-poems-capturing-the-essence-of-life http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22467 Mon, 23 Dec 2024 22:07:16 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22447/5-ways-to-celebrate-yule-with-poetry http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22447 Fri, 20 Dec 2024 22:16:49 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22441/38-famous-authors-and-their-greatest-works http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22441 Thu, 19 Dec 2024 21:39:49 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22426/why-is-mark-twain-considered-the-father-of-american-literature http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22426 Tue, 17 Dec 2024 23:33:11 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22401/6-places-in-shakespeare-then-and-now http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22401 Sat, 14 Dec 2024 19:37:26 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22382/what-is-comedy-in-literature-definition-examples-of-literary-comedy http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22382 Thu, 12 Dec 2024 22:42:04 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22360/ernest-hemingway-major-accomplishments-and-most-famous-works http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22360 Wed, 11 Dec 2024 01:45:58 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22335/journey-to-the-west-origin-story-themes-symbolism-of-the-famed-classical-chinese-novel http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22335 Sun, 08 Dec 2024 23:27:38 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22334/journey-to-the-west-origin-story-themes-symbolism-of-the-famed-classical-chinese-novel http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22334 Sun, 08 Dec 2024 22:33:04 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22307/the-forgotten-freddy-the-pig http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22307 Wed, 04 Dec 2024 19:17:16 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22289/leonard-cohen-life-and-legacy-of-the-poet-of-brokenness http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22289 Tue, 03 Dec 2024 04:11:47 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22281/i-took-the-road-less-travelled-here http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22281
If I were to pick three famous poems from the many that I know they would be these three:

A snake came to my water-trough

On a hot, hot day, and I in pyjamas for the heat,

To drink there.

 

In the deep, strange-scented shade of the great dark carob tree

I came down the steps with my pitcher

And must wait, must stand and wait, for there he was at the trough

            before me.

 

He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom

And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down, over

            the edge of the stone trough

And rested his throat upon the stone bottom,

And where the water had dripped from the tap, in a small clearness,

He sipped with his straight mouth,

Softly drank through his straight gums, into his slack long body,

Silently.

 

Someone was before me at my water-trough,

And I, like a second-comer, waiting.

 

He lifted his head from his drinking, as cattle do,

And looked at me vaguely, as drinking cattle do,

And flickered his two-forked tongue from his lips, and mused

             a moment,

And stooped and drank a little more,

Being earth-brown, earth-golden from the burning bowels

            of the earth

On the day of Sicilian July, with Etna smoking.

 

The voice of my education said to me

He must be killed,

For in Sicily the black, black snakes are innocent, the gold

            are venomous.

 

And voices in me said, If you were a man

You would take a stick and break him now, and finish him off.

 

But must I confess how I liked him,

How glad I was he had come like a guest in quiet, to drink

            at my water-trough

And depart peaceful, pacified, and thankless,

Into the burning bowels of this earth?

 

Was it cowardice, that I dared not kill him?

Was it perversity, that I longed to talk to him?

Was it humility, to feel so honoured?

I felt so honoured.

 

And yet those voices:

If you were not afraid, you would kill him!

 

And truly I was afraid, I was most afraid,

But even so, honoured still more

That he should seek my hospitality

From out the dark door of the secret earth.

 

He drank enough

And lifted his head, dreamily, as one who has drunken,

And flickered his tongue like a forked night on the air, so black,

Seeming to lick his lips,

And looked around like a god, unseeing, into the air,

And slowly turned his head,

And slowly, very slowly, as if thrice adream,

Proceeded to draw his slow length curving round

And climb again the broken bank of my wall-face.

 

And as he put his head into that dreadful hole,

And as he slowly drew up, snake-easing his shoulders,

            and entered farther,

A sort of horror, a sort of protest against his withdrawing into

            that horrid black hole,

Deliberately going into the blackness, and slowly drawing

            himself after,

Overcame me now his back was turned.

 

I looked round, I put down my pitcher,

I picked up a clumsy log

And threw it at the water-trough with a clatter.

 

I think it did not hit him,

But suddenly that part of him that was left behind convulsed

            in an undignified haste,

Writhed like lightning, and was gone

Into the black hole, the earth-lipped fissure in the wall-front,

At which, in the intense still noon, I stared with fascination.

 

And immediately I regretted it.

I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act!

I despised myself and the voices of my accursed human education.

 

And I thought of the albatross,

And I wished he would come back, my snake.

 

For he seemed to me again like a king,

Like a king in exile, uncrowned in the underworld,

Now due to be crowned again.

 

And so, I missed my chance with one of the lords

Of life.

And I have something to expiate:

A pettiness.



I chose that poem because it took me through the most hidden depths of his mind, it displayed his emotions, thoughts of horror, fascination, desire, loss, regret. and fantasy.











I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;

And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

 

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

 

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.



Is there a time in your past that you loved so much you wished Scotty would beam you back there?  This poem brings that feeling to life.















Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment.












In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree:

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

   Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground

With walls and towers were girdled round;

And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,

Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;

And here were forests ancient as the hills,

Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.



But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted

Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!

A savage place! as holy and enchanted

As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted

By woman wailing for her demon-lover!

And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,

As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,

A mighty fountain momently was forced:

Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst

Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,

Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail:

And mid these dancing rocks at once and ever

It flung up momently the sacred river.

Five miles meandering with a mazy motion

Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,

Then reached the caverns measureless to man,

And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean;

And ’mid this tumult Kubla heard from far

Ancestral voices prophesying war!

   The shadow of the dome of pleasure

   Floated midway on the waves;

   Where was heard the mingled measure

   From the fountain and the caves.

It was a miracle of rare device,

A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!



   A damsel with a dulcimer

   In a vision once I saw:

   It was an Abyssinian maid

   And on her dulcimer she played,

   Singing of Mount Abora.

   Could I revive within me

   Her symphony and song,

   To such a deep delight ’twould win me,

That with music loud and long,

I would build that dome in air,

That sunny dome! those caves of ice!

And all who heard should see them there,

And all should cry, Beware! Beware!

His flashing eyes, his floating hair!

Weave a circle round him thrice,

And close your eyes with holy dread

For he on honey-dew hath fed,

And drunk the milk of Paradise.



Can a poem conjure up in your mind visions of a magical land?  It did for me, and maybe that was one of the reasons I was able to immediately take advantage of the opportunity to be in that magical land when the opportunity arose.



Are there any aspiring poets, or those who have favourite poems to tell us about?  Let's hear from you - take advantage of this opportunity.

















]]> Sun, 01 Dec 2024 18:44:25 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22258/spending-thanksgiving-eve-at-a-bookstore-is-what-the-founders-intended-literary-hub http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22258 Wed, 27 Nov 2024 21:40:21 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22207/12-novels-considered-the-greatest-book-ever-written http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22207 Wed, 20 Nov 2024 22:44:01 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22204/11-banned-books-through-time http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/22204 Tue, 19 Nov 2024 21:32:05 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/21761/austen-vs-dickens http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/21761 Sun, 29 Sep 2024 05:19:34 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/21219/why-jane-austens-novels-matter http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/21219 Sat, 03 Aug 2024 23:42:52 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20900/jane-austens-cinematic-universe http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20900 Sun, 30 Jun 2024 00:44:10 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20807/pride-and-prejudice-turns-200-a-cartoon-celebration-npr http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20807 Tue, 11 Jun 2024 21:47:00 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20711/10-of-the-best-words-from-jane-austens-novels http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20711 Tue, 28 May 2024 00:58:48 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20672/why-jane-austen-never-married http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20672 Sun, 19 May 2024 01:06:15 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20631/love-courtship-and-marriage-in-the-regency-era http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20631 Sat, 11 May 2024 21:13:43 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20616/the-king-of-clubs http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20616 Wed, 08 May 2024 22:39:25 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20558/stanford-literary-scholars-reflect-on-jane-austens-legacy http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20558 Tue, 30 Apr 2024 23:25:20 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20486/pride-and-prejudices-mr-collins http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20486 Fri, 19 Apr 2024 23:09:05 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20429/a-selection-of-images-drawn-for-jane-austens-pride-and-prejudice-novel http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20429 These are images that were drawn by Charles E. Brock and others back in the early 19th century for insertion into the early printings of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice novel.  Some are very faded, and not in the order of the story.  I will try to identify what is happening in the images.
1.

The caption reads "Will you do me the honour of reading that letter."  Darcy had just proposed to Lizzy (Elizabeth Bennet) in a most ungentlemanly manner wherein she criticized him for being mean to Wickham and breaking up the relationship between her sister Jane and Charles Bingley and refused his offer, and in the image Darcy is later handing Lizzy a letter.  In the letter Darcy explains how Wickham had gambled away the money Darcy's father had left him, and tried to get Darcy's 15 year old sister to marry him because she was going to get a big inheritance, indicating what a horrid person Wickham actually was.
2.

The caption reads "Lydia interrupted him."  I believe this to be when the Reverend Mr. Collins was reading Fordice's Sermons to the Bennet family after his first dinner with them.
3.

The Caption reads (with my additions) "She [Lizzy] perceived her sister [Jane] and Bingley standing together."  This is most likely showing Bingley "making an offer" (proposing) to Jane, or just after having done so.
4.

The caption reads "You must allow me to present this young lady to you."  Sir William Lucas is presenting Lizzy to Darcy at the Meryton Ball.
5.

The caption says " 'Read it aloud' said their father."  It is a letter from Lizzy's uncle Mr. Gardiner that Mr. Bennet was asking Lizzy and Jane to read to him, a letter that says Lydia and Wickham have been found and would be getting married if Mr. Bennet would provide 100 pounds a year to Wickham.
6.

The caption reads "Come, Darcy" said he [Bingley] "I must have you dance."  At the Meryton Ball Darcy was very aloof and not wishing to dance with anyone with whom he was not yet acquainted, and his friend Bingley is coaxing him to dance with one of the young ladies. 
7.

Caption reads: "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me."  Darcy is responding to Bingley's suggestion that Darcy dance with Lizzy, and Lizzy overhears him say it.  
8.

Caption: "And this offer of marriage you have refused?"  The Reverend Mr. Collins has proposed to Lizzy and she refused him.  Mrs. Bennet flipped out about it because such a marriage would guarantee that when Mr. Bennet dies the house would remain in the family because Collins was going to inherit it.  She demanded that Mr. Bennet talk Lizzy into marrying him.  He has responded by asking that question (and following that he would not give his consent for it).
9.

Caption: "Lizzy" said he "are you out of your senses to be marrying this man."  Up until this point the family hated Mr. Darcy, but Lizzy discovered that he was actually a wonderful person having secretly done very beneficial things for the family, that he did mostly to please LIzzy, so she realized that she loved him and wanted to marry him.  When her father was told about those things, and was convinced Lizzy truly loved Darcy, he gave her his consent.
10.

Caption:  "Her ladyship, with great condescension, arose to greet them."  After Lizzy's best friend Charlotte Lucas was married to the Reverend Mr. Collins, Lizzy visited Charlotte at the parsonage at the estate of Lady Catherine de Burgh.  This image shows Charlotte and Lizzy when they came to visit Lady Catherine. ]]> Sun, 14 Apr 2024 05:57:01 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20422/who-inspired-pride-and-prejudices-mr-darcy http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20422 WHO WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND PRIDE AND PREJUDICE'S MR. DARCY? –  IT’S PROBABLY NOT WHO YOU THINK


Illustration by Charles Edmund Brock (1870-1938) for Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1775-1817) (London: Macmillan & Co, 1895)
If you have ever read Jane Austen’s classic  Pride and Prejudice   (and let’s be honest, probably re-read many a time over), you may be one of those who have marvelled at the character of Fitzwilliam Darcy, the hero to deserve our heroine Elizabeth Bennet. If you have, you are not alone. A virtual ‘cult’, within the Jane Austen-fandom, has grown up around the character of Mr. Darcy.
Thus, it is perhaps no surprise that much speculation has centred on who might have been the original source of inspiration for Austen when she invented  Pride and Prejudice's  popular hero. Often, the chief candidate for this has been named as a young, Irish law-student,  Tom Lefroy.  This is perhaps unsurprising, due to the facts that he is the most well-documented romantic interest of Austen’s and that she began writing Pride and Prejudice shortly after their brief courtship.
However, I would like to argue for another view on the matter; that Lefroy was probably more of an inspiration for  Pride and Prejudice's  George Wickham than he was for Fitzwilliam Darcy. I say this, fully recognizing that it may be an unwelcome idea to some. With the 2007 film  ‘Becoming Jane',  the romantic dramatization of the Austen/Lefroy love-story, Lefroy has been expertly imbedded in the popular consciousness as the great love of Austen’s life.
However breath-taking and well-acted ‘Becoming Jane’ was, there is little to suggest it is more that a mere fiction. What we do know of this chapter of her life, is that they met whilst he was visiting relatives who also happened to be neighbours of Jane. They danced together, flirted, laughed and sparked a fair measure of local gossip by their behaviour. We know this mostly from Jane’s own letters in which she jokes about expecting an offer of marriage from him. Or was she secretly being serious? Whatever she was actually wanting or expecting, it all came to nothing. Neither Lefroy nor Jane were rich enough to justify them marrying, and has been suggested that his family took some steps to discourage Lefroy from flirting further with Jane.
Very little of bitterness towards Lefroy exists in those letters of Austen’s which survive. And I do not personally believe that Jane Austen harboured deep resentment towards him in her later life. Still, there is a common theme present within mostly all of her novels, including  Pride and Prejudice;  young, charming, witty, flattering men are not to be trusted. They will disappoint or fall short of morality sooner or later. Only consider, George Wickham, John Willoughby, Frank Churchill and William Elliot.
There are several inconsistencies when attempting to parallel the two relationships. Jane and Lefroy take an immediate liking to one and other. Elizabeth Bennet and Darcy most certainly do not. Lefroy was out-going, charming, lively and a keen dancer. Darcy, famously, is none of these things. These factors are in fact much more aligned with the character of Wickham in the novel. As I said, I do not believe Austen felt the same level of disgust towards Tom Lefroy as the character of Wickham, or Willoughby or Elliot, are set up to inspire in her readers. Rather, I believe Jane was telling us all not to trust in what is obviously charming and delightful; to look beyond first impressions of our own love-interests and see what valuable things may lie obscured behind what is awkward, withdrawn and un-flattering.
  Anna-Christina Rod Østergaard is 26-year-old university student, currently reading for a master’s degree in English and Philosophy at Aalborg University in Denmark. She r eads every Austen novel at least once a year and rarely reads a book that is less than a century old. She is a lover of history, literature, folklore, fairy-tales and, of course, Jane Austen. If you, like Anna-Christina would like to make a contribution to the Jane Austen blog, read our instructions on how to  Submit a Blog ]]> Fri, 12 Apr 2024 09:27:21 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20180/why-is-this-new-statue-of-jane-austen-so-controversial http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/20180 Wed, 13 Mar 2024 07:28:16 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/19838/10-surprising-facts-about-jane-austens-pride-and-prejudice http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/19838 Sun, 28 Jan 2024 06:29:28 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/19752/becoming-jane-a-first-look-demanded-a-second-and-more-will-come http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/19752
As an advocate for all things Jane Austen, why did it take me so long to watch the movie Becoming Jane?  I missed the enjoyment of its wondrous story for so long.  As I do with many movies that I particularly like, I watched it again the next day.  And I knew that I was going to watch it again and again just as I have watched the other movies adapted from Jane Austen's novels over and over again.  Becoming Jane is also an adaptation from a book, one I never did read.  
I reveled in detecting the weaving together of the dialogue and situations of the movie with her novels, specifically Pride and Prejudice.  The scenes were magnificent, the chemistry between Jane and Tom Lefroy palpable as it developed, many of the characters in what is thought to have been in her real life the impetus for those in her novels.
There are excellent comprehensive reviews of this movie, and if anyone is interested, I suggest that these are good ones:
Austen Flowers (Roger Ebert)   LINK -> https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/becoming-jane-2007
Becoming Jane: Sorting Fact from Fiction (Jane Austen Society of North America)  LINK -> https://jasna.org/austen/screen/other/becoming-jane-sorting-fact-from-fiction/





]]> Tue, 16 Jan 2024 21:36:05 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/19695/the-enduring-legacy-of-jane-austens-truth-universally-acknowledged http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/19695 Tue, 09 Jan 2024 06:54:22 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/18954/international-literacy-day http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/18954 Sat, 09 Sep 2023 01:31:49 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/18694/new-evidence-suggests-jane-austen-was-poisoned-to-death http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/18694 Tue, 01 Aug 2023 01:31:07 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/17775/jane-austens-childhood-home-is-up-for-sale http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/17775 Thu, 06 Apr 2023 08:04:38 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/17619/jane-austen-6-interesting-facts-about-the-beloved-english-author http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/17619 Tue, 14 Mar 2023 07:19:17 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/16075/jane-austens-persuasion-meets-the-girlboss-era http://thenewstalkers.com/hallux/group_discuss/16075 Fri, 15 Jul 2022 18:22:46 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/15743/want-to-see-jane-austens-film-costumes-take-a-trip-to-cincinnati http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/15743 Tue, 10 May 2022 05:43:21 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/15165/the-life-and-times-of-emma-author-jane-austen http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/15165 Mon, 31 Jan 2022 04:47:41 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/14493/pride-and-prejudice-gets-an-austen-tatious-update-where-pre-marital-sex-exists-but-darcy-is-still-a-douche http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/14493


Pride and Prejudice gets an Austen-tatious update, where pre-marital sex exists, but Darcy is still a douche
Book review by Sadaf Ahsan, National Post, April 20, 2016
 
‘Eligible’, by Curtis Sittenfeld
A story as classic as Pride and Prejudice can expect to see countless inadequate reinterpretations in its future, so many of them, in fact, that Jane Austen’s cautionary tale of Elizabeth Bennet, her sisters and one Mr. Darcy has practically become an English proverb – as if the Bennet family has become positively Arthurian.
The last decade alone has seen Elizabeth tackle everything from zombies to Bollywood, with Pride and Prejudice regurgitated so often for (rarely) better and (frequently) worse, that annual reboots are to be expected. But Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible, which transports the Bennet sisters from 19th century England to the present day in the author’s hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, borrows more from Bridget Jones and the 2012 YouTube adaptation created by Hank Green and Bernie Su , thrusting smart phones into the sisters’ hands and CrossFit into their social schedules.
A master at writing about social class and American privilege, Sittenfeld (Prep, American Wife) is a modern variation on Austen herself, and so she is a welcome addition to The Austen Project, a series pairing six bestselling contemporary authors with Austen’s six complete works: Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Emma, Persuasion, Mansfield Park and Pride and Prejudice.
As Eligible opens, Liz and Jane, the eldest and closest siblings of the Bennet family, have spent the last decade living in New York City; Liz as a 38-year-old magazine writer and Jane, nearly 40, as a yoga teacher. They’re brought back home to Cincinnati to help their droll as ever father recover from heart surgery, only to find their uppity mother hopelessly spending money the family no longer has – and sisters Lydia, Mary and Kitty none the wiser.
Meanwhile, the family’s sprawling and neglected Tudor is falling apart in its old age, a metaphor if there ever was one, and sporting its share of dripping faucets, splintering floorboards and burned-out light bulbs. It quickly becomes apparent to Liz that the home, and the family, are in disarray.
Romance is not too far from the plot, of course, with Mrs. Bennet’s only remaining hope being to marry her daughters into money. Liz – trapped in an affair with a hopeless, married man (Jasper Wick, a.k.a. Mr. Wickham) she’s been desperately in love with for nearly two decades – and Jane – single for so long she’s resorted to the very modern route of attempting artificial insemination from anonymous sperm donors – are on the market, and their mother is desperate to sell them off to the handsomest, wealthiest bidder.
So who should come calling but Chip Bingley and Fitzwilliam Darcy? Two Ivy League grads, the first is a former contestant on the reality show Eligible (a la The Bachelor), and the second is a grumpy, arrogant surgeon who is the best in his field. Heat is quick to follow for Jane and Chip, but for Liz and Darcy, the smoldering love that Austenites know best takes its time to manifest, as Liz attempts to reconcile her feelings for a long-time love with something new that doesn’t look quite like love at all.
In a descriptor that took two centuries for Darcy to earn, Liz portrays him at their first meeting as looking “like a model in a local department store newspaper insert: handsome, yes, but moody in a rather preposterous and unnecessary way.” His superiority triggers her defenses, but also her dry wit. This Liz remains feisty. Jane remains unfailingly sweet, and the sisters are still as maddening but equally entertaining as in the original. Meanwhile Mr. Darcy remains, well, to put it in modern words, a douche. But a handsome douche.
As Liz and Darcy’s heated dynamic evolves from an undeniable but angry chemistry to hate sex to what just might be love, there is no question of will-they-won’t-they. Pre-marital sex no longer comes at a prohibitive price, and marriage is no longer a woman’s sole goal, taking away a central conflict in Pride and Prejudice, and leaving a space that never quite gets filled by Sittenfeld.
However, while Eligible may be slightly contrived in its efforts to be fresh on the uptake – as if Sittenfeld pulled out a checklist to ensure the book covered each signature step towards ultimate literary rom-com candy (e.g. Liz’s magazine job, perfunctory for female characters on the whimsical hunt for a husband) – the modern setting still allows the monumental romance some of its original luster: the slow heartbreak, the waiting and the pain of relationships, a credible complexity.
Does the world need another Jane Austen lovechild? No, and it never did. But as lived-in as the story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy may be – having birthed romantic tropes that, once novel, have since become clichés – Eligible is nonetheless a fast and satisfying read.
Touching on everything from racism to homophobia to (of course) gender wars, Eligible does its best to be everything, including its predecessor, Pride and Prejudice – never quite getting deep enough into the latter for all its attempts to stay light and contemporary. But it doesn’t matter, because by the time you’ve quickly devoured Sittenfeld’s witty rework, you won’t have noticed.
]]> Thu, 21 Apr 2016 07:49:35 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/13435/a-new-modern-day-adaptation-of-pride-prejudice-is-coming-to-netflix http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/13435 Fri, 09 Jul 2021 05:36:40 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/12803/jane-austens-love-for-tea-will-face-historical-interrogation-over-links-to-slavery http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/12803 Tue, 20 Apr 2021 01:46:21 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/11820/pride-prejudice-the-10-best-movie-tv-adaptations-ranked-according-to-imdb http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/11820 Wed, 13 Jan 2021 06:26:55 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/7727/images-of-jane http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/7727
There are so few images of Jane Austen.




]]> Sun, 08 Mar 2020 06:26:46 -0400 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/7686/why-jane-austen-never-married http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/7686 Thu, 27 Feb 2020 06:15:26 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/7684/was-jane-austens-mysterious-death-at-the-age-of-41-due-to-arsenic-poisoning http://thenewstalkers.com/buzz-of-the-orient/group_discuss/7684
Christopher D. Shea and Jennifer Schuessler, The New York Times (Reported by National Post) March 10, 2017


The cause of Jane Austen’s mysterious death at age 41 has been much pondered over the years. Was it a hormonal disorder? Cancer? Complications from drinking unpasteurized milk? New research by the British Library suggests a more dramatic possibility: arsenic poisoning.

Researchers at the library, working with the London optometrist Simon Barnard, recently examined three pairs of glasses believed to have belonged to Austen, and said that they show evidence that her vision severely deteriorated in her final years.

That kind of deterioration further suggests cataracts, and cataracts may indicate arsenic poisoning, Sandra Tuppen, a curator of archives and manuscripts at the library, wrote in a blog post on the library’s website on Thursday.

But not all scholars are buying the arsenic theory. Janine Barchas, an Austen expert at the University of Texas at Austin, called the arsenic theory a “quantum leap” and referred to the blog post’s splashy web headline (and the library’s promotion of the post) as “a smidgen reckless.” ]]> Sun, 12 Mar 2017 07:46:57 -0400