#brit literature

[burningvelvet]

When We Two Parted (1816) by Lord Byron, written about Lady Frances Webster:

"When we two parted    In silence and tears, Half broken-hearted    To sever for years, Pale grew thy cheek and cold,    Colder thy kiss; Truly that hour foretold    Sorrow to this.

The dew of the morning    Sunk chill on my brow—  It felt like the warning    Of what I feel now. Thy vows are all broken,    And light is thy fame; I hear thy name spoken,    And share in its shame.

They name thee before me,    A knell to mine ear; A shudder comes o'er me—    Why wert thou so dear? They know not I knew thee,    Who knew thee too well— Long, long shall I rue thee,    Too deeply to tell.

In secret we met—    In silence I grieve, That thy heart could forget,    Thy spirit deceive. If I should meet thee    After long years, How should I greet thee?—    With silence and tears."

Frances Webster in a letter to Lord Byron, December 1813:

“You know not the various torturing Thoughts which tear my Mind – but did I not tell you my temper – did I not confess my weakness to you before we parted – Great God! so many terrifying thoughts rush up on my Mind – I dare not continue least I should betray my folly – and yet I will write – for if you are changed – if – oh! if you are another’s now – it matters little how I expose myself – still less what becomes of me – each other is alike indifferent to me – Would that I could see you – but for one Day – even one hour – I could – Alas! what? [..] Dearest Byron – I must hear from you – Will you tell me if I still preserve a place in that heart – you once flattered me I solely possest – Oh! tell me if you will carry with you the remembrance of her – who cannot change – who is and ever must continue – how great so e’er the distance which separates us – constant to a spontaneous attachment – to an eternal affection – Your picture dearest Byron is my constant Companion – I gaze upon it – till every feature seems to speak. – it recalls to my Mind many – many Scenes – when we were together – when I was happy – in the looks of love [..] I am not what I was – Once I was gay and innocent. Now – what am I? Oh! I will not say – But am I guilty? Oh! no – Farewell! Who has made me what I am? Who has rob’d me of health peace & Joy? He – who I now petition not to expose me to the ridicule of the World – and who forces me to say farewell! forever. My Biron – farewell – & oh! remember me!”

[words-and-coffee]

People thought that being one of a kind made you special. No, it just made you lonely. What was special was belonging with someone else.

Brit Bennett, The Vanishing Half

[aierie--dragonslayer]

When I read my Dear Friend Jonathan Harker's description of the paprika hendl he had on his work trip, I just had to try it myself! It's quite good!

[galwithalibrarycard]

When I say I never listen to music this is exactly what I mean: I was today years old when I listened to “Hozier” (self-titled, 2014) for the first time. It is 2023.

[morbidwlws]

so i wrote an essay last semester examining themes of monstrous femininity and mankind’s path toward divinity last semester for my brit lit class if anyone would be interested in reading it <3

[itsbebebe]

Looked at the inspector calls tumblr tag out of curiosity and its full of british teens crying abt their gcses and making yaoi out of it to cope. As it fucking should be

[hero-i-am-not]

I adore Charlotte Brontë's writing... This page is just too beautiful <3

[nortonliterature]

In honor of Jane Austen's birthday today, what's your most controversial opinion about her books? Do you hate Mr. Darcy? Is there a movie that's better than the book? Let the people hear it!!

[floweringgodhead]

For the Wilkie Collins fans among us.

I'm slow when I'm writing by hand so maybe this is just a personal thing, but does anyone else get a little irritated when they read the Marian Halcombe sections of The Woman in White?

Marian goes through a long and complicated hell -- escapes, obfuscations, attempted murders, grief, trauma, a really tense dinner, breaking Laura out of an asylum, etc., etc. -- primarily over the course of a single day. And instead of taking a nap or panicking or muddling everything that's happened, she picks up her diary and is able to set down in clear, beautiful prose her very detailed account of events(!). It gets worse: as outlined above, her day was extremely busy, and yet somehow she still finds the time to go upstairs and dash off a three-hundred-page report of it -- only occasionally breaking off from her narrative to make comments like, "I think I hear someone," "it's late, the candle dims, but I must keep writing," "my hand begins to tire a little [I'm killing myself]."

I bet Wilkie was laughing his ass off writing this

[bookwatching]

📺 A Murder at the End of the World S01E01

📖 The silver doe, Darby Hart

[snowrassa]

reading ea robinsons lancelot to cleanse myself of the blasphemous camelot academic takes i have read this morning

[moonofiron]

- Evelyn Waugh, The Loved One

[frogshunnedshadows]

How do you do, fellow kids?

Did you know the Journal of Dracula Studies has all of their articles posted online, free to read? Well, they do.

Give it a try!

[redglassbird]

I genuinely don't know how to process the end of Great Expectations. Thanks Dickens.

[artemismatchalatte]

The official book list from The Great American Read, 2018. PBS held a vote to find out what America's favorite books were. And this was the top 100. I voted for Wuthering Heights several times (we were allowed to vote several times over a certain time period).

Already Read:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Sun also Rises by Earnest Hemmingway

The Lion, Witch, and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (only read the first book in this series)

Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (unfortunately I read all 4 of the original books from the mid 2000s)

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Gone with The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Harry Potter (books 1 and 6- I did not read the whole series) by J.K. Rowling

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (I have read the first 3 books)

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Memoirs of a Geisha by William Golden

Gulliver's Travels by Johnathan Swift

1984 by George Orwell

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Call of The Wild by Jack London

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White

Want to Read This Year:

Tales of The City by Armistead Maupin (currently reading)

Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The remaining books on the list that I have not read yet, some of which I doubt I will ever read for a variety of reasons. But I figured I'd share this list because I mentioned it on an earlier post.

[inlovewithquotes]

Her death hit in waves. Not a flood, but water lapping steadily at her ankles. You could drown in two inches of water. Maybe grief was the same.

-The Vanishing Half