Blog Post 4

You are stuck in a snow storm (or a sand storm), or you are lost in the bush. Describe your last moments. How will you react?

The trip out to the Siberian tundra started out well enough for Me and Viktor. The sky was clear and the roads empty of snow and black ice with only a slight breeze to remind us of the impending winter snow storms expected later this week.

Later in the afternoon around 4pm a sudden roaring wind blew up from the east and with it an unexpected snow storm reducing visibility on the road to barely 10 meters and soon I was losing control with the wheels due to the intense wind and now slippery icy road before blackness. I awoke sometime later in the snow next to my truck which was bent around a huge pine tree with the windows all smashed open and the doors ripped from their hinges as if by a monster of untold strength. Viktor was nowhere to be seen and the roaring wind was increasing in strength bringing with it snow storming so hard and fast it felt like thousands of miniature bullets slamming into me. It was at this moment I felt the pain, a large piece of glass was embedded in my lower abdomen which must have hit me when my body was thrown from the windows of the truck. There was blood and a lot of it, my first instinct was to find some kind of shelter and hope the storm subsides.

A collapsed Pine tree covered in old branches and leaves made little shelter but I could feel a cold numbness spreading through my body like some insidious corruption and knew it meant death to be out in the storm. I was tired, so tired I began to nod off but the pain in my side kept me awake for hours until the creeping numbness took hold of me and then there was nothing but blackness…

image retrieved from https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/tundra-biome.php

Blog post 3

Blog Topic 2: Imagine you are a Victorian woman or man. Describe the things you value most in life.

As a man living in the Victorian age I like to think of myself as a gentleman especially since being born into British aristocracy. There’s nothing I value more than the ideals set out for being a gentleman in Victorian England and of course the importance of the real estate I own to earn me a generous income to support me and my family.

Respect is something I value greatly in life as I strive to avoid a clash in opinions with others I may be conversing with while maintaining a reputation of being a likeable and respectable man. I do not think so highly of myself that I am perceived to be arrogant or selfish quite the opposite indeed! I diverge from highlighting myself or bringing day to day matters that concern myself into conversations with other people male or female.

My image is a essential aspect in my life that I value so greatly. Being extremely well presented with not a hair out of place im sure many other aspiring gentlemen such as Dickens is vital in maintaining the gentlemen image we all aspire to have. wearing handsome and clean clothing, wearing top hats and maintaining a sharp and clean amount of facial hair is something I take great pride and value in and I hope others do the same.

(image retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/36451078207623282/ )

Blog Post 2

5/ Chose one of the paintings from our NSW Art Gallery visit, describe the painting in some detail and say how the painting has expanded your understanding of the links between painting and and understanding of literature and its contexts.

In this weeks blog post I chose to talk about a painting from our trip to the NSW Art Gallery visit which I was unfortunately unable to attend due to sickness. However I did some searching on the Galleries online archives and found an artwork I found interesting to me. Bellow is ‘An extensive landscape near Paris’ by Hubert Robbert in 1781 is an oil on oak panel painting depicting the open countryside’s around Paris featuring an almost Italian Campanian inspired take on the countryside surrounding Paris. Studying this painting reminded me oh how literature and art can share numerous links and contexts with each-other. Particularly with the Romantic period literature having strong links with nature and art similarly sharing the same perspectives. Art is able to capture the physical and visual beauty of nature for the viewer to immerse themselves in while literature is able to enhance this experience through using text and emotions to stimulate the readers mind to develop a deeper and spiritual connection with nature.

(Image retrieved from https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/177.1995/ )

Blog Post 1 Week 3

2 Find out some more about the monastery Tintern Abbey and its location and describe why and how you think Wordsworth was so inspired by the place.

https://sites.ualberta.ca/~dmiall/Tintern07/geography/TinternAbbey_NE_Ireland.JPG

Tintern Abbey was founded on the Welsh bank of the River Wye in 1131 and was the first Cistercian foundation in Wales but fell into ruin in the 16th century after the Dissolution of the Monasteries to be reclaimed by nature and the elements. Being situated on the banks of the Wye and surrounded by forested cliffs and hills nature is in abundance in this area and was subject to the poem ‘Tintern Abbey’ by William Wordsworth conveying experience through nature. I think Wordsworth was so inspired about the Abbey by how much had changed in the five years since his last visit to the area with nature having grown more abundant. The effect this had on Wordsworth inspired a course of reflection that brought him along a rout of present awareness and introspection finishing with hope for the future through change and natures power over the mind. Using detailed imagery to describe his experience Wordsworth is able to draw his readers closer into his own perceptions by creating a vivid image of the place in their minds inspiring them how he was inspired by the Abbey and the impact nature had on it and the surrounding buildings.

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https://sites.ualberta.ca/~dmiall/Tintern07/geography/TinternAbbey_NE.JPG