Christmassy Thoughts

What is it that actually turns the time before christmas into the famous "Vorweihnachtszeit"? Having been in England last year, I decided that this term specifies something which is particularly German.

The first and foremost thing is the following: The English do not have proper christmas markets! I found this to be essentially missing when strolling the streets of London. Of course the Londoners, being very cosmopolitan and so on, try to simulate christmas markets. But to be honest: Every atmospheric thing there was imported from Germany. Seriously, you could have "Bratwurst" and "Glühwein" but it didn't feel right.

So I asked myself the question: What is so special about our German pre-crhistmas period. (Even the English word sounds odd...)

First of all there are the candles. Connected with the tradition of the Advent, they create a thoroughly peaceful atmosphere. They make you sit down, look at the warm light and relax for a moment. There are certainly more candles in german houses during December and I am convinced that there is a more peaceful atmosphere due to that.

And even in the streets you can find the lights. Of course it is not candles there - that would not be very reasonable with the winter weather conditions. But you can find various kinds of decorations (including an enormous amount of lights) above the streets, in the display windows and so on. Of course some people say this hype around christmas everywhere gets on their nerves. But I am sure that really most of us are left in a more positive mood.

Talking about the Advent there is also the famous calendar. Certainly you can buy a proper advent calendar in Great Britain, especially containing chocolate. But I had the impression that nobody really cares to make one themselves. But excuse me if I got anything wrong: what is bad in making one yourself and create it for one of your beloved ones? Exactly, there is nothing better in the world!

Then in addition there is the music and the silence. I don't want to judge about British christmas music right now - carol singing is definitely a brilliant idea! But what about the silence? Snow (if there is any) makes the world quiet. This creates, again, such a peaceful atmosphere that people tend to be in a good temper much more often. The problem with England is: The tiniest glimpse of snow makes all trains break down and the whole transport systems collapse. Therefore people are so worried about how to get anywhere that there is no time left to relax in the snowy silence.

You might have already guessed: I am a huge fan of London and England in general, but during the pre-christmas period I would always choose to be in Germany and I can only invite everybody to come here and have a look yourself. But please, do not do it with a whole school class. Because you see, there is the silence aspect...

Short Analysis of the poem "The Fountain" by Henry Vaughan

The unthrift sun shot vital gold,

 A thousand, thousand pieces;

 And heav'n its azure did unfold

 Chequer'd with snowy fleeces;

 The air was all in spice,

 And ev'ry bush

 A garland wore:

 Thus fed my eyes,

 But all the earth lay hush,

 Only a little fountain lent

 Some use for ears,

 And on the dumb shades language spent,

 The music of her tears.

These are just a few thoughts on one of my favourite poems:

In this wonderful poem, Henry Vaughan establishes a beautiful picture of nature by means of intriguing images and a splendid use of words.

The vocabulary he uses is clearly derived from nature. By describing the sun and the skies in the beginning, nature as a theme becomes evident right in the beginning.

Also the words used by the poet refer to the five senses: The vital light of the sun can be seen, the snowy fleeces of the sky point to touching, the spicy air can nearly be smelled and tasted while the musical sound made by the fountain can abviously be heard. But these five references are not presented in the same way. The first four senses are depicted with the aid of very vivid imagery leaving extremely strong impressions, whereas hearing carries more quiet and careful attitudes.

This mirrors the overall development of the poem. It starts in a very positive way immediately into a colourful scene and leads to this completely inward description of the fountain making beautiful but gentel and hushed sounds. So the author throws us into a beginning making us want to rejoice over the beauty of nature and leaves us in a state of quietness. And this is a quietness which can also be interpreted as unsure.

The structure of the poem contributes to this uncertainness. We have the following rhyming pattern:

a

b

a

b

c

d

e

c

d

f

g

f

g

On the whole this is highly symmetrical and at first glance it seems to be very smooth in its structure. But when breaking it down one realises that there is a division. We can find what is described by the German term “Kreuzreim” three times. The first and last four verses are not disrupted but the rhyme in the very middle has one additional verse inbetwee separating it. This adds to the feeling of unsecurity as it leaves the impression that the poet is depicting something nearly perfect. But by means of one non-rhyming verse the whole scene can be seen in a different light.

The remaining question for me is: What is it that Henry Vaughan finds missing?

Scene Analysis

In class, we had to analyse a scene from the play "Doubt" by J.P. Shanley. What you can read below is my thesis about the central point of the scene and the evidence I found in the text.
Anyway, I can only recommend reading this play or, even better, go to the theatre and see it live on stage!

Thesis Statement On A Scene From „Doubt“

And Evidence From The Text

Shanley uses this scene to reveal the clear differences between the three main characters and their relationships by means of a varying use of language as well as the short but clear stage-directions.

First of all, Sister Aloyisius and Father Flynn are clearly distinguished by the use of words that Shanley has chosen for them. While father Flynn’s more modern attitudes are becoming clear as soon as he uses the words “woebegone” and “jolly”, Sister Aloysius’ language is presented in a rather antiquated way. For instance she sais:

“’Frosty the snowman espouses a pagan belief in magic. The snowman comes to life when an enchanted hat is put on his head. If the music were more somber, people would realize the images are disturbing and the song heretical.”

Here, she does not only explicitly state her personal beliefs, but also uses a style of speaking which establishes her as old-fashioned. Words like “espouses”, “somber” and “heretical” are exactly what Father Flynn would never choose for his sentences.

Being completely different from each other, both characteristics of language still build a sharp contrast to what Sister James sais. She is very simple in her choice of words. For instance when she exclaims:

“No! I loved it! [...] But I love all Christmas pageants. I just love the nativity.”

She repeats the word “love” three times, which can be interpreted as not very elaborate. Also the structure of the sentences is very simple using little more than subject, predicate and object. All this is underlined by the fact that she scarcely speaks during the scene. The vast amount of talking remains with the two officials. But at the same time, these sentences reveal a lot about Sister James’ character. As she is very open-minded, good-hearted and fair-minded, she simply sais what she thinks, and this she does from the heart.

An additional layer is being presented through Shanley’s stage-directions. Namely they reveal a lot about the relationships between the characters, especially the one between Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn. If you read them without the context of the situation or even the whole play, they don’t sound striking at all:

“Sister Aloysius looks at Sister James.”

“Sister James and Father Flynn exchange a look.”

But as soon as you read the whole scene, it becomes clear that more than a simple exchange of looks is intended. We find here an explicit information about how the characters like or dislike each other. When Sister Aloysius looks at Sister James, it is obviously because she is appalled about the amount of sugar which Father Flynn likes in his tea. And the other way round, Father Flynn and Sister James are exchanging a look as they both don’t think tha same about “Frosty the Snowman” as Sister Aloysius.

And again, Sister James is characterized very clearly with the instruction “Becomes self-conscious”. What else should this mean than point out that she was not before?

All these devices used by the author, be they linguistic or about stage directions, reveal certain character features or the relationship among them. So Shanley found an elegant way of describing his figures to the audience without actually describing them.

How to find the right topic

The thing with writing is that you always need a topic. This is obvious: When you don't have anything to talk about, there won't be much sense in writing it down. Well, actually there won't even be anything to write it down. I guess you see the point. So what is there to do when you are supposed to practise your writing (which is of course not a bad idea) but you don't have a fixed theme? Usually in these situations, our mind is either blank or comes up with a billion vague ideas. None of these possibilities is really helpful.

So what I will try to come up with in the following, is different ways of finding wonderful topics:

1.) You have a brilliant teacher who tells you to write about the glamorous person 'x', the wonderful place 'y' or the amazing event 'z'.

This is quite easy (unless you don't particularly like 'x', 'y' or 'z'), so let us search for more possibilities requiring your own initiative:

2.) Have a look in the newspaper or watch the news on television. Writing about current affairs has the definite advantage that you do not have to justify yourself for writing about it. Prevailing politics and politicians have a justification for being talked and written about within themselves.

3.) Simply sit down, start thinking and write it down. Actually, you don't even have to actively start thinking because you are constantly doing it. Intelligent people call this method "stream of consciousness" writing. Isn't this wonderful - you simply type into your computer what is on your mind and people might find it fantastic literature.

4.) Considering your daily routine and your average week: Is there anything particularly important for you? I imagine things like different kinds of sports or music - your personal hobbies so to say. Or it could also be people with whom you deal every day or - as simple as that - your job. What I want to point out: You will probably be brilliant in writing about anything that you personally admire!

5.) (And this is to be read as a justification for writing this text...) Should you experience problems in finding a suitable topic - simply turn your problem into a topic. It will be faster than expected that you can come up with an entertaining and informative text containing 434 words.

Do you have any other ideas? Don't hesitate to tell me - I am sure there will be another time for me to have a blank mind and honestly, I cannot do this again and again...

Stream of Consciousness writing...

... on the "Habanera" from George Bizet's opera "Carmen".

I simply love this piece of music! It is opera, yes, but it is not what everybody considers to be a strictly classical composition, apart from the fact, of course, that it was not written in the period which we call classical. We hear classical instruments, a choir and a very professional voice but it has also an atmosphere of dancing. It is not exactly Salsa but it does still make me think of short skirts and flirty women. At the same time I imagine Carmen is wearing a long skirt. This is important because she can use it to play with, which could be seen as symbolic of the way she plays with men. When I sang this aria during my singing lessons and particularly in the final exam at university, it was really fun being this "femme fatale". Being soft and mean at the same time felt just as thrilling as acting as though every single man was in love with me - which is pretty much the case in the plot of the opera. At least Carmen is the typical erotic and self-confident woman. But we must not forget how tragic this figure also is! While singing the "Habanera" she is of course perfectly alright and content, but in the end she will be nothing but dead. So what do we learn from this? Feeling sexy, erotic and kind of omnipotent is brilliant for five minutes, when you sing only this aria, or for two hours, when singing the whole opera. But for my whole personal life? No, thank you!

What is good writing?

This was what I produced in our first in-class writing task. I imagined my text to be an introduction to a guide for good writing.


I imagine it feels like you have written a hundred essays and papers during the years of your studies. And how many times did you actually feel from the beginning: "I know what I have to do."? What I want to point out is the following. Millions of teachers as well as professors have a spectacular talent to expect brilliant texts from their students while they never really taught them how to be brilliant in writing.

This book shall be your guide from now on. You will find information about how to produce a good structure and where to find a variety of words. As it depends on your readership how you have to form your work, you will find a number of chapters dealing with various approaches. Starting with the uninformed reader you will learn how to address relative outsiders as well as high-level readers.

While reading these pages you will see that the use of correct language is as important as being informative and interresting. But what I want you to learn most of all: It is a pleasure to produce good texts! Don't look on it as hard work, have fun in creating something yourself.

Introduction

This is my first attempt to use a blog for my studies at university. When I first tried blogging, it was to let my family and friends know about my life during an eight-month stay in London. This was of course a very different situation as everybody was glad to read some lines, no matter how brilliant my style or how interesting the content was. And, by the way, it was all in German...

So let's see how this will work out. I decided purposefully to let everybody read this blog and also I resolved to make it possible to be found on google. This is because I am interested in everybody's opinion concerning this experiment. So please be so kind to read my texts and don't hesitate to let me know what you think.

Thanks and all best,
Mareike.

Welcome!

Have fun reading my blog!