March 2012 Books - Poetry, Plays and Survivor Memoirs

In March, our family has been remembering Josh in extra special ways as it was three years on the 18th.  It is apropos that I read these three genres; poetry, tragedies and survivor memoirs.

How To Read a Poem and Fall in Love With Poetry by Edward Hirsch
Published: 1999
Rating: 4
Goodreads
My review coming soon.

Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt
Published: 2010
Rating: 4
Goodreads

I saw this Feb 2010 review in the Washington Post and remember thinking, I need to read this book.  I would recommend this quick read to parents, siblings and spouses who have lost a loved one.

There are a number of thoughts that I could relate to - writing "YES!!" in the margins.

"I seethed at those who spoke of Amy's death in the cliches of modern usage, such as "passing" and "closure." 

"The trouble with a close family is that it suffers closely, too."

"Odd that I seem to know Amy more completely in death than I did when she was alive."

"Grief is a lifelong process for every one of us...one year is no time at all." 

After A Funeral by Diana Athill
Published: 1986
Rating: 2
Goodreads
My thoughts on Josh's blog

The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief & Healing edited by Kevin Young
Published: 2010
Rating: 4
Goodreads
My review coming shortly
Post on Josh's blog: "The Dead" by Billy Collins and original poem: "Where He Lay"

Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron
Published: 1990
Rating: 5
Goodreads
My thoughts on Josh's blog 

I was profoundly moved by my reading of this short but powerful book last summer but for some reason, the pages of quotes, thoughts and questions in my journal never made it to either blog.  However, while reading Athill's book, After A Funeral, and the suicidal thoughts of her friend Did, I was reminded of Styron's words and wanted to re-read the book and share my thoughts.

If you happen to read Styron's memoir, I would highly recommend another Styron memoir, written by his daughter, Alexandria called Reading My Father.  In it, she speaks of the profound response to her father's memoir, from the thousands who suffered from depression, making him more famous to the general public than any of his novels ever could.  It is a fascinating coda to his life.

Audiocourse: Iliad of Homer by Professor Elizabeth Vandiver
Rating: 5

I am reading the Iliad and thought it would be helpful to listen to this course.  I would highly recommend anything by Professor Vandiver - she has a gift of making the material accessible and interesting.

Before I Say Goodbye by Ruth Picardie
Published: 1998
Rating: 4
Goodreads

I found this slim book in a local library book sale.  It is not for the faint of heart.  It is the raw, honest writing of a brave woman who died from an aggressive form of breast cancer in September 1997, less than a year from the initial diagnosis.  She was happily married and a new mother of one-year-old twins.

A free lance writer for numerous British publications, she chronicled her journey towards death in a series of poignant articles in the Observer.  These articles as well as email correspondences with close friend and letters received by Observer readers were pulled together by Ruth's husband and sister for publication.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Published: 1603
Rating: 5
Goodreads

Thank goodness for the "No Fear" versions of Shakespeare.  Being generous, I would have gotten about 60% on my own so I needed it!  It's nice to know the context of such famous quotes as "to thine own self be true" and "To be or not to be?  That is the question."

I am listening to Professor Clare Kinney's lecture on Hamlet and realize that my reading is very much through the lens of Josh's death. Everything I read is filtered through that monumental event because it has fundamentally changed me and how I look at things. See two posts on Josh's blog:  Death, Grief and Suicide in Hamlet Part I and Part II.

The Iliad of Homer
Translated by Richmond Lattimore (Professor Vandiver's suggested translation)
First published: 750 BC
Rating: 5
Goodreads 
Helpful resources: audio course (see above),  The Great Books: A Journey Through 2,500 Years of the West's Classic Literature by Anthony O'Hear, Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton.

Prior to reading, these were my preconceived ideas about The Iliad:  ancient literature, must know Greek to understand therefore inaccessible to the general public, uninteresting, old, irrelevant, boring, very difficult read so why bother?  Read full post.

Electra in The Complete Plays of Sophocles
Translated by Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb
First published: 420 BC
Bantam Classic Edition: 1982
Rating: 4
Goodreads
Helpful resource: The Great Books: A Journey Through 2,500 Years of the West's Classic Literature by Anthony O'Hear.

Even though I have been drawn to books that deal with deep human suffering, the tragedies of Sophocles that I have read thus far, Ajax and Electra are tragic to the nth degree.  There is nothing uplifting in either play and from O'Hear's summary of the Oedipus trilogy or Theban plays, I don't think Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus or Antigone will be any different.   Nevertheless, I plan to read them

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Published: 1605
Rating: 4
Other reviews: Joy's Book Blog, Rebecca Reads
Goodreads

I read the No Fear Shakespeare version of Macbeth in which the original play is written on the left side of the page and the easy-to-understand paraphrase on the right.

I began with with the original text and understood about 75% on my own.  The 25% I would've missed if not for the paraphrase was enough to have dampened my understanding and appreciation of the work.  Here is an example:  "The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be, Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see." Paraphrase:  "I won't let my eye look at what my hand is doing, but in the end I'm still going to do that thing I'd be horrified to see" (I, IV, 54-55).

At the beginning of the play, we are introduced to Macbeth, a courageous Scottish general fighting on behalf of his king.  After a series of victorious battles, he hears a prophecy from 3 witches that set he and Lady Macbeth on a path of wanton destruction and murder, ending with their own deaths.

While Macbeth struggles with his conscious, Lady Macbeth does not.  She is heartless and ruthless, almost inhuman.  The only other villainous character I could think of that is remotely similar to Lady Macbeth is from a fairy tale - the Evil Queen in Snow White.  Some chilling quotes:

Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, un-sex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
of direst cruelty.  Make thick my blood.
Stop up the access and passage to remorse (I, V, 41-45).

The extent of her willingness to do what was promised:

I have given suck, and know
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me.
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums
And dashed the brains out, had I sworn as you
Have done to this (I, VII, 54-59).

Macbeth says of her:

Bring forth men-children only,
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing by males (I, VII, 72-74).

Macbeth is set and ready to commit the ultimate treason; regicide of the good, noble and beloved King Duncan.

I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show.
False face must hide what the false heart doth know (I, VII, 79-82).

After killing the king, Macbeth goes a bit batty and foreshadows the sleepless nights that he and Lady Macbeth will suffer...no more baths, balms and nourishment for them.  I love this description of sleep.

"Sleep not more!
Macbeth does murder sleep" - the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care,
the death of each day's life, sore labor's bath,
balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
chief nourisher in life's feast (II,II, 33-38).

Once Macbeth is king, the 3 witches continue to cause mischief.  I now know where this famous couplet comes from:

Double, double, toil and trouble,
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble (IV, I, 10-11)

This play is about unchecked ambition.  About a man, egged on by his conscious-less wife, unable to trust his fate to Fate, and willing to do whatever vile act necessary to secure a destiny believed to be rightfully his.  Macbeth's ambition eventually drives Reason away, shown by his decision to kill Macduff's innocent wife and children.  Macduff is a nobleman who supports Malcolm, King Duncan's son and rightful heir:

From this moment
The very firstlings of my heart shall be
The firstlings of my hand.  And even now,
To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done:
The castle of Macduff I will surprise,
Seize upon Fife, give to th' edge o' th' sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunately souls
That trace him in his line (IV, I, 147-154). 

The words below are spoken by a Scottish nobleman to Macduff after he hears of the horrific murders. These two sentences articulate why I write in my journal, Josh's blog and this blog.  See this post. 

Give sorrow words.  The grief that does not speak

Whispers the o'refraught heart and bids it break (IV, III, 211-212)

Murder begets murder.  This is Macbeth cry when he hears of Lady Macbeth's death by self-murder:

Out, out brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more (V, V, 23-26).

In the last battle, a father loses his son.  Here is another "grief quote" that speaks to me:

Your cause of sorrow
Must not be measured by his worth, for then
It hath no end (V, VIII, 44-46).

At the end, Macbeth is overtaken and vengefully killed by Macduff, who cuts off his head and presents the grisly prize to the new King Malcolm.  Poetic justice, albeit after much violence and bloodshed, finally reigns supreme.  What kind of legacy does Macbeth and Lady Macbeth leave behind?  Not much when one considers the last speech of the play, recited by King Malcolm in which they are referred to as the "dead butcher and his fiendlike queen" (V,VIII, 69).

I have rated this play a "4", having no context as to how Macbeth compares to Shakespeare's other plays.  By virtue of the number of quotes (and I could've have written many more), I would not be surprised if, after reading other works, I later revise it to a "5".

Challenge: Reading Shakespeare - A Play A Month in 2012

After participating in Allie's Shakespeare Reading Month (see below), I've decided to jump in with both feet and join Risa's challenge of reading a play a month.  She has created a blog just for this challenge - click here.

"The Plays of Shakespeare" by Sir John Gilbert (1849)

The plays that we will be reading are:

January — A Midsummer Night’s Dream - scroll down this post to see my short blurb
February — Macbeth - see my post
March — Henry V
April — Much Ado About Nothing
May — Antony and Cleopatra
June — Richard III
July — As You Like It
August — King Lear
September — Cymbeline
October — Twelfth Night
November — Othello
December — Pericles

In my local Barnes & Noble, I have found the No Fear Shakespeare editions which I plan to use.

After some hemming and hawing, I have decided to participate in the Shakespeare Reading Month challenge hosted by Allie at A Literary Odyssey.   The rules are pretty simple:

• Read anything Shakespeare
• Comment on Allie's master post saying you want to participate
• Link to the master post with any individual posts related to the challenge

I have been intimidated by Shakespeare and figure this will be a great way to tackle some plays and learn from others.  I will be reading A Midsummer Night's Dream.  If this goes well, I may commit to the "Reading Shakespeare: A Play a Month" challenge.

January 14, 2011 update - scroll down this post to see my short blurb on A Midsummer Night's Dream