Literature and Place: Entering into the world of Dickens and Jonson

Thursday

We had another field trip today, this time to Rochester and Penhurst.  First on the agenda was Rochester, which is near the town Dickens was born and he set many of his novels there including Ryken’s favorite, the archetypal novel, Great Expectations.  In the novel, it is the town where Pip, Miss Havisham, and Estella live.  Upon arrival, we had some medieval class time and explored Rochester Castle, which is a ruined castle.  Beautiful. I felt like I was in Ever After at the ruins scene.  It was fun to poke around in all the crooks and crannies, and the view from the top of the town, the Medway River, and the Cathedral were beautiful.

Next, Dr. Ryken led us through Ivy Park and took us to the Satis House, which is the basis for Miss Havisham’s house.  To my surprise, the house in on the street and immaculate.  There were no gothic ruins or climbing ivy or a crazy old woman still in her wedding dress (The Wishbone adaptation of this novel forever immortalized in my mind’s eye how I picture Miss Havisham.)  A few of us toured the garden of the house, which was breathtaking.  There were hedges, roses, a green house, and lily pond composing absolute beauty.  There were several elderly gentleman and ladies looking at the garden.  One woman said: “this flower isn’t my cuppa tea.  It is too fleshly.”  I was excited to hear British idioms being used!

The town was most charming and I could easily picture Pip or Pumblechock ambling about.  I hoped to spy the Miss Havisham’s Wedding Store that had been seen on early trips.  To my disappointment, I did not see it, but I did see a store called Estella’s accessories and a Tiny Tim’s Tea Room (extra points for alliteration!)

Our last stop was the beautiful Rochester Cathedral from the medieval ages.  It had painted on the wall a “Wheel of Fortune” (this has nothing to do with the game show).  The Wheel of Fortune was a common motif throughout medieval literature.  You may be on top of fortune, but then the wheel will turn and fortune will suddenly be against you.  Lady Fortune is blind, so everyone is affected by her whims of turning the wheel.  It was interesting to see this belief in a church juxtaposed against faith in God’s sovereignty.

Next, we went to Penhurst, a beautiful estate that was once owned by Sir Phillip Sidney.  Ben Jonson wrote his poem “To Penhurst” about the house and many other famous writers such as Edmond Spenser stayed here.  The royal family also has had events here.  Only some of the staterooms are open to the public and the rest are still owned by the family.  The rooms were huge and ornate.  It reminded me of Downton Abbey, especially seeing pictures of the staff!

After seeing the house, I ambled about in the true highlight of the estate: the gardens.  Why Jonson barely mentioned them in his poem is beyond me (I’m not a huge fan of the poem or 18^th century literature in general). There were rows after row of hedges each containing different flowers.  It was breathtaking, and the best garden I have seen so far.  Dr. Ewart told me on one trip he saw the gardeners trimming the grass by hand.  The upkeep of this place must be so much work.  After wandering about and taking it all in, I laid down by the lily pond and simply relaxed. 

The ride back to London was a bit rough.  The weather was gorgeous today, with an unusual high of 75 degrees (I actually got sunburned which I didn’t know was possible in England). Unfortunately, the coach’s air conditioner broke.  To say the least, it was a long three-hour drive back into the city.  When we returned, I went to my new favorite café to chill out: Costa Café! It is better than Starbucks!  You can purchase a nice sandwich for very little money and their muffins are FANTASTIC. They all have cream inside them.  After eating a sandwich, I took my Earl Grey Tea and my muffin to a nice park and enjoyed the beautiful night while the pigeons ate the crumbs that I dropped.  All in all, an enjoyable evening to recharge for another adventurous day on Friday! 

“All the World’s a Stage”

Wednesday

We actually did the traditional Canterbury pilgrimage backwards.  Wednesday morning we went to the traditional starting point for the journey: Southwark Cathedral, which is in London, near the Globe.  Chaucer did not have his pilgrims start here; he had them start at the Tabard Inn which at the time was in the red light district.  The Inn is no longer standing, but there is a plaque to denote where it stood, which I saw.

Southwark was starkly different from Canterbury.  We were not allowed to take pictures (although I did sneak one of the cross that the pilgrims would touch before they left).  There were services going on while we were there and only a few tourists.  It felt much more reverent than Canterbury, which had tourists everywhere.  The church was gorgeous; the stone on the outside was black, which gave the cathedral a unique look that I have not seen in other cathedrals.  Shakespeare’s brother Edmond is buried in the Cathedral and Shakespeare attended church there.  We also saw a recent addition to the stained glass with a new one celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.  Furthermore, there was a John Harvard Chapel because he was baptized in the church.  Yes, this is the same Harvard who started the university. 

After we explored the Cathedral, we bought theatre tickets for the night and grabbed lunch in an open-air market.  It was very similar to the farmer’s markets back at home, but with more ready to eat food.  The man I bought lunch from asked me where I was from in the USA.  When I told him Louisville, Kentucky, he said: “Ah Kentucky! You have bourbon! I had some bourbon last night! Jack Daniel’s! (Note: that is actually a whiskey from Tennessee, but I didn’t mention that).  I love bourbon!”  I then told him that in Kentucky we have a bourbon trail that you can tour, haha.  Glad my state is famous for something!

At 2:00 we saw Henry V in the Globe.  It was good, but I would have enjoyed it more if I had been familiar with the play.  Sitting in the Globe and seeing a play as it would have been done in Shakespeare’s time was an unforgettable experience (there were no gypsies this time although there were still some fairly bawdy moments).  They try to keep it as authentic as possible and do not let the groundlings in the pit sit down.  I felt bad for those standing in the pit when it rained during the performance.  We had seats on the far left on the first floor (if you were facing the stage).  We couldn’t see everything, but it still beat standing for three hours. 

            That night a group of us saw another play at St. Martin’s theatre: The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie.  It was wonderful.  Once again, Christie kept me on the edge of my seat and delivered many twists that I didn’t see coming.  It was a wonderful day at the theatre.  

Pilgrimages and White Cliffs: Canterbury and Dover

Tuesday

We had our first field trip out of the city; we made our own pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral.  It is the seat of the Church of England, and the Archbishop of Canterbury is in charge of the whole Church, second only to the Queen.  It is still a working church, but membership is extremely small, although it does apparently pack out on Christmas and Easter. The Cathedral is the famous one that Chaucer writes about in his Canterbury Tales that millions made trips to in order to see the shrine to Thomas a Becket, who was murdered at the Cathedral by henchman of the king.  The king was frustrated with Thomas because he would not support capital punishment.  Immediately, Thomas was revered as a martyr, and his shrine was believed to have healing capabilities.  T. S. Eliot wrote a famous play about the event called Murder in the Cathedral. 

The Cathedral was exactly what I imagined: It was beautiful and overwhelmingly grand.  Inside I felt like a tiny ant milling about under the huge arches.  We saw where Thomas was murdered, but King Henry VII destroyed his shrine during the Protestant Reformation.  The Protestants also destroyed most of the medieval stained glass and the statues of the saints, which was too bad.  The few that were left are gorgeous.  The Protestants did not destroy the statue of the patron saint of travelers, since they were traveling around “de-idolizing” the churches.  I found that to be a bit of an ironic detail. 

After seeing the Cathedral, we wandered into the town for lunch.  I was a bit disappointed by the town; it was completely commercialized.  I was expecting just the Cathedral and a few houses with thatched roofs.  Instead, it was extremely touristy.  Still, the Cathedral was beautiful and well-worth seeing.

Then we ventured to Dover.  Our first stop was Dover Castle, which is located on the beautiful White Dover Cliffs.  The Medieval Castle had some furniture in it to give a feel for how the Castle used to look.  We also went into the Medieval-era underground tunnels that British soldiers later used to hide out from Napoleon.  The highlight was sitting on the cliffs facing the Channel.  This entire trip we have been blessed with beautiful weather, and Tuesday was no exception.  Standing at the top of the Castle, with my hair blowing in the sea breeze, I could almost imagine knights coming through the gate. 

Afterwards, we made a quick trip down to the rocky beach to see the famous beach that Matthew Arnold immortalized in his poem “Dover Beach”.  Dr. Ryken read aloud the poem as we settled into the pebbles.  It was amazing to sit there and see what Arnold saw as he wrote the poem.  Here is the first stanza:

“The sea is calm tonight

The tide is full, the moon lies fair

Upon the straits; on the French coast the light

Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,

Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.

Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!

Only, from the long line of spray

Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,

Listen! You hear the grating roar

Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,

At their return, up the high strand,

Begin, and cease, and then again begin,

With tremulous cadence slow, and bring

The eternal note of sadness in.”

On the way home, we saw from the coach “The Shakespeare Cliff” where King Lear was to have stood as he contemplated jumping. Overall, Dover was beautiful.  It was a quaint seaside town and was untouched by commercialism.

Once we returned to London, we made one last pilgrimage for the day.  A few of us on the trip are fans of the British television show Sherlock.  We went to where they film the street front on Gower Street (they don’t use Baker Street because of the Sherlock Museum.)  In addition, we saw the famous Speedy’s restaurant where Sherlock and Watson often sit and eat and muse about their current case.  We were hoping to order a “Sherlock Wrap”, but unfortunately Speedy’s only serves lunch.  Hopefully, we will make it over to Speedy’s again!

“By My Troth, I am Sexy and I Knoweth It” or Shakespeare Re-imagined

As mentioned before, one of Dr. Ryken’s greatest dream for the program was to see A Midsummer’s Night Dream” in Regent’s Park on a beautiful night in midsummer.  We were unable to buy tickets until the day of at 2:00 PM.  As a whole, we all looked forward to what promised to be a magical evening.

            It started rather rough, as the three of us who toured Kensington were too late to go with Dr. Ryken and the group to the park.  We rushed to catch up with them, and we thought all was lost at the Baker Street Stop as it was the time to meet the group and no one could give us directions to the outdoor theatre.  In the nick of time, Dr. Ryken appeared out of the blue.  Bless his soul; he had been waiting for us.  We then joined the group, but we all got turned around and barely made the performance on time.  After running to my seat to make the 7:45 show time, I sat down and took in my surroundings.  I was in… a construction zone in a trailer park? What? Is this Shakespeare? People were milling about dressed in trailer trash clothing and yelling at each other, flirting with each other, and cleaning.  I asked those around me if the play had started, and I was assured it had.

            Finally, the opening lines of Shakespeare were spoken, but the trailer park stayed.  The play was set in a modern day gypsy scene (apparently this is very similar to TLC’s My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding TV show), but the original Shakespearean English was used.  The mechanicals were construction workers (Bottom wore a shirt that said: “Kiss My Ass” which was a nice touch since he turns into a donkey), Hippolyta was played up as an abused woman, the four lovers were gypsy teenagers, the fairy queen was more on the sexual side, and Puck rode a bicycle. 

            Obviously, this was not what we expected.  We all turned periodically throughout the show to see Dr. Ryken’s reaction.  During intermission he gave us his opinion: “Cheap and tawdry.”  It was only the beginning however.  The second half of the show really delivered, especially during the wedding scene.  All the married couples are dancing nicely to some cute oldies song when all of a sudden the music changes and we hear: “When I walk on by the girls be looking like damn he’s fly…”.  Yes they danced to LMFAO’s “I’m Sexy and I Know It”.  I kept thinking: “Is this real life? Did they really just put that in a Shakespeare play? Is Shakespeare rolling in his grave or would he approve of this? After all he had some ‘cheap and tawdry’ jokes in his plays.” The mechanicals performed their play to a ukulele and used “Eye of the Tiger” for the lion’s roar.  They then did a hip-hop remix dance that included the “All the Single Ladies” dance and ended with “Time of My Life” and Bottom almost attempting Baby’s famous jump.  At the end, Hippolyta runs off with the Mechanicals and after bows we all exited while the Dolly Parton song “Jolene” played.  Whether or not this was true Shakespeare, it was high entertainment. Which after all, is the job of the play, whether or not “these shadow

Stolen Marbles, Rare Books, and Royals! Oh My!

Monday

One of the things I love most about London is everywhere you go there are literary sites.  For example, on the way to the British Museum we saw the building where T.S. Eliot used to work when he worked for Faber & Faber!  There was a blue plaque to denote it, as there are for all such famous sites.  When we got to the British Museum, we first went to the Elgin Marbles that Keats wrote about.  On the way there we saw the Rosetta Stone.  I was excited to see the Marbles, because last summer I was in Greece and realized a good chunk of the Parthenon is in the British Museum.  I can now say I have seen all of the Parthenon (even the replica in Nashville, TN). I also got a nice pamphlet from the museum about why they won’t give the marbles back to Greece.  In addition, I realized the British have stuff from all over the world that is not theirs! Even our stuff! Hmph.

After the marbles, Dr. Coolidge took us to see the medieval artifacts from the Sutton Hoo ship discovery.  It was cool to see things that tied into what we have been reading.  All of the medieval things were beautiful and intricately designed.  It is amazing what they created with such limited technology.  In addition we saw a special exhibit about the evolution of the horse.  All racing thoroughbreds came from three Arabian horses.  There were also videos of the Derby, which excited me greatly, until I realized it was the English Derby, not the Kentucky Derby. 

Afterwards we went to the British Library to see a display of old manuscripts (Note: If you don’t have an intense love of books you may not appreciate these next two paragraphs and wonder: “Why is Shelby raving about old books?”  Feel free to skip ahead.)  Dr. Coolidge directed us towards the old Chaucer and Shakespeare texts.  We also saw parts of the Magna Carta, Jane Austen’s journal, coronation notes from King Henry VIII’s rise to the throne, the original handwritten lyrics to Beatles’ songs, Wordsworth papers, a Gutenberg Bible, and countless others.  My favorite in the room was Jane Austen’s writing desk!!!  I stood there staring at it, open-mouthed, for at least two minutes. 

This was only the beginning of a wonderful experience.  There was a special exhibit called: “From Wastelands to Wonderlands: Writing on Britain” that showcased authors who wrote on Britain.  Dr. Coolidge paid our way in, and the magic began.  If I listed everything I saw, it would be extremely long.  My highlights: a drawing by Tolkien of the Shire for The Hobbit (I got chills as I looked at it), George Eliot’s manuscript for Middlemarch, the manuscript for Persuasion, some original T.S. Eliot publications, a Winnie-the-Pooh book, and a copy of Pygmalion with Shaw’s revisions.  It was an amazing exhibit and made me reconsider my childhood dream to be a librarian.  If I do, I hope I someday work in this library.

Then, we ventured to Kensington Palace and Gardens.  Three of us toured the Palace.  It is beautiful! Royal news for anyone interested: Kate, Will, and Harry will be moving to Kensington soon.  Harry sometimes likes to dress up as a guide and “give tours”.  Unfortunately, he wasn’t there yesterday.  Kensington is where William and Mary lived, Victoria grew up, and where Princess Diana lived for a while.  Only forty rooms are open to the public.  My favorite exhibit centered on Victoria and Albert’s love story.  It was beautiful.   I saw the staircases where they first met! If you have ever seen The Young Victoria, you know what I am talking about. If you haven’t seen it, you should.  After a charming visit to the Palace, we went to see A Midsummer’s Night Dream.  However, that adventure deserves a post all to itself. 

The Bells of St. Paul's

I realized I’ve haven’t written in a few days; London has been nonstop action.  I will do a few entries to break up all we have done instead of just one extremely long post.

Sunday:

We woke up and went to church at St. Paul’s Cathedral.  If you have ever seen Mary Poppins it is the church where the bird lady sits.  It is also where Princess Diana married Prince Charles.  The church is absolutely beautiful.  There is a large dome at the top, which makes for amazing acoustics.  Upon arrival, I felt like I was in Mary Poppins (in case you didn’t know, I love Mary.)  There were pigeons all around the front and lovely bells chimed signaling us that church was about to begin. 

The service was very high church, more so than the Anglican Church I attend in Wheaton.   The Bishop of London spoke and delivered a great sermon on faith and doubt.  One thing he said that struck me was that “faith without doubt is infantile, because we then think that God wouldn’t let us suffer.  Doubt sends us back to Jesus.”  Amen.  I received communion from the Bishop, which was exciting.  The best part of the service was the choir.  I honestly think heaven will sound like the St. Paul’s chair.  Their “alleluias” echoed all around us as they praised God.  It was breathtaking.

            Afterwards we ate in the crypt of the church, which is where Lord Nelson is buried.  In typical English fashion it was raining before lunch, but then the skies cleared for Dr. Ryken’s literary walk.  The walk mostly centered on Dickens’ sites from Great Expectations which is Dr. Ryken’s favorite Dickens’ novel.  He has you read it in both 216 and his Romantics class.  On a side note, I did see St. Bartholomew’s hospital, which if you are a Sherlock fan, you know that figures importantly in the show.  We ended the walk in on old Victorian garden next to a dissident church.  Dr. Ryken also wanted to impress on us that not all of England is Anglican, despite the prominence of the Anglican Church. 

            Then, we went to the London Museum and saw the old Roman walls that survived the fire.  Ryken lamented that we would not be able to see the nearby St. Giles Church where Milton is buried because the church would be mostly closed as service was over.  We decided to check the church anyways, and as luck would have it, the doors were open because of a used book sale.  A double-win!  It was a beautiful church full of wooden beams, stained glass, and John Milton statues (Ryken loves Milton. A lot.)   We then did a quick trip through the London Museum, which was interesting. They had recreated a street to look as it would during Victorian times.  Then four of us ventured off and saw the Churchill War Rooms/Museum.  These are the underground war rooms that Churchill and his employees stayed in during WWII to survive the bombing.  They are preserved to look as they did during the war.  It was fascinating.  It is one of my favorite museums in London, and I highly recommend it to all. 

            To top the night off, we went to a Pub and had fish and chips.  I generally avoid fish, but I decided to try it.  It was good and did not taste fishy at all because it is fried, and I squeezed lemon on top and dipped it in tartar sauce.  We then rode the London Eye! It was a beautiful night and we could see for miles around at the top. We could even pick out Buckingham Palace!  From the top, I realized London is extremely green for such a big city, mostly because of the several parks.  It is indeed a “green world”.   

            

"Travelers Must Be Content"- Entry into the Green World

Traveling to England was of course an adventure unto itself.  Since I am staying over in Europe after the program, I was booked on a different flight.  Luckily, so was another student, my friend Katie.  We were supposed to arrive in London five minutes before the group and hopefully meet up with them.  Unfortunately, our flight was delayed an hour in typical United fashion.  The computer system was also on the fritz, which again is classic United.  As Dr. Ryken would say we “handled it with our characteristic maturity”.   The experience was still better than the United fiasco of 2011 when their computer system shut down across the nation and my family and I were traveling home from Greece and had been awake for 24 hours.  Rough moments for the family. 

Before the flight we had received specific instructions from Dr. Ryken not to watch any “cheap and tawdry” movies.  He told us to have a chant going in our head at all times: “cheap and tawdry, cheap and tawdry, cheap and tawdry” that was supposed to lull us into a deep sleep.  I ended up being lulled to sleep by Beauty and the Beast, which I figured was both literary and cultural, instead of cheap and tawdry.  

After a long and semi-restful flight, Katie and I landed in Heathrow!  We split a taxi to the hotel and barely made it in time for Dr. Ryken’s walking tour of Regent’s Park. Walking into the Park was at first like walking into a movie: one of the scenes from The King’s Speech was filmed there.  Then being in the Park felt like being inside a dream: one area of the park was nothing but roses.  Roses of every size, shape, and color.  I simply wandered in awe at how many types there were and how much work went into it.  Several weddings were going on, and understandably so: what better place to get married than an English Rose Garden?

After the park, we picked up some food in a grocery store and picnicked in a garden near our hotel.  There we were stalked by bold and overfed squirrels who wanted our food.  I have never had a squirrel come so close to me before.  My dogs would have had a field day.

Then, after some downtime in the hotel, a group of us used our new Tube passes to explore London.  We went to Trafalgar Square, home to the National Gallery and St. Martin’s in the Field.  We also saw a great deal of pre- Olympic setup. We acquainted ourselves with the city by wandering for a bit, and then we made our way to The Punchbowl, a pub owned by Guy Ritchie.  After resting there and enjoying conversation along with lemonade and coffee, we meandered back to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep.  Tomorrow morning we are going to church at St. Paul’s Cathedral! 

Coffee, Gelato, and Afro Circus: Finals Week WIE Style

It is a truth universally acknowledged that finals week can drive students to caffeine and interesting procrastination diversions.  I didn't realize that in our short time here at Wheaton, we would experience this phenomenon.  Today I had a paper due, a test on Macbeth, and two hundred pages of reading.  I also was in charge of chapel along with two other students.  One minute you are in the English department getting tea, and then the next thing you know Dr. Ryken has put you in charge of chapel so fast your tea hasn't even steeped.
I was not alone in this stress, which is good because if you are going to stay up late reading about the tragic love of Tristan and Isolde, you might as well have friends with you.  And snacks.  Last night, we stumbled into Evviva (located across from Terrace Apartments.  Despite living in Terrace for a year, I went to Evviva twice.  I was missing out on a true gem of Wheaton) and proceeded to order enough sustenance of life (coffee) that they had to put on a new pot.  The cashier kindly asked us, "What the hell is going on?  Are you guys in finals or something?"  We conceded that we were and she offered us her condolences.  She also told us that she would have the coffee brewing until 10:30 (a shrewd business move).  Armed with coffee and gelato, we marched back to the St. and Elliot apartment complex to master.....the afro circus dance.

The Afro Circus dance is my new favorite internet sensation.  It was made for finals week.  It is brilliant in it simplicity and ability to stay stuck in your head forever.  I am forever indebted to Elisabeth Fojtik for introducing it to the group.  If you haven't seen the video yet, or if you yourself need some festive merriment to distract you, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAzXjaIWbh0.

Since classes are over today, life is looking pretty fine.  While these two weeks have been intense, it is nice to have a ton of work behind you and be able to enjoy London.  Tomorrow is our last day of classes in Wheaton and we are ending on an easier note.  In Shakespeare, we are watching Henry V as our one foray into Shakespeare's histories.  In Oxford we will pick back up with his tragedies and finish with a romance (we have already covered three comedies).  In London, we will be able to see a play at the Globe!  In addition, we will hopefully be able to fulfill Dr. Ryken's greatest dream for the trip: to see a performance of A Midsummer's Night Dream in Regent's Park right after Midsummer.  A magical evening, if I do say so myself.
Medieval Literature is also taking a theatrical turn tomorrow as we will be performing morality plays from the middle ages that were used in the Church for those who did not understand Latin.  It'll be a nice break after the heavy reading of Arthurian Romances we have just completed.  Interestingly enough, this early romances are not even about Arthur.  He is just a background character who naps most of the time and lets others rescue his wife (which really backfires when Lancelot rescues her...).  The best romances of the collection are not even about the famous Arthurian Knights (Perceval, Lancelot, etc).  Instead they focus on Erec and Yvain (who had a lion that followed him around and fought for him. Win).
Arthurian only meets every other day, so we have tomorrow off.  We recently finished Tristan and Isolde which is one of the most famous tragic love stories of all time and was the inspiration for Romeo and Juliet.  Tonight a few of us are celebrating finishing it by watching the 2006 movie version starring James Franco.  It is probably nothing like the book which is OK. Sometimes a light hearted mental break is needed.

And then Friday.........we fly to LONDON!

The Beginning: Preparation in Wheaton

One thing not commonly known about Wheaton in England is that the journey begins in Wheaton.  And continues in Wheaton for two and half weeks.  In those two and half weeks, we complete half a semester's worth of work.  As you can imagine, this is extremely intense (think boot camp for English majors.  Instead of drills though, you get to spend all your time reading Shakespeare and Arthurian Romances).  Even though this has been exhausting, it has also been rewarding.  A lot of bonding takes place in a group when you live together, go to meals together, and try to ace Dr. Ryken's tests.  The nice thing is when you get to London, you have a lot of work behind you, and can enjoy all that London has to offer! (London theater here I come!)  Five days until departure! Woot!