#literary gardener

[namedvesta]

Rainer Maria Rilke, from Love Poems to God (𝟣𝟫𝟢𝟧)

[preraphaelitepaintings]

Ophelia

Artist: John William Waterhouse (British, 1849-1917)

Date: 1910

Medium: Oil paint on canvas

Collection: Private Collection

[artemlegere]

Marguerite and Faust in the Garden

Artist: Ary Scheffer (Dutch, 1795-1858)

Movement: Romanticism

Date: 1846

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

Description

Scheffer’s work has been criticised as being overly sentimental, but his emotionally charged images struck a chord with the public, and he was one of the most popular artists of his day. Scheffer was inspired by the clarity of composition, and the direct approach to narrative, of Italian painting from before 1500. He frequently drew inspiration from great works of literature, such as, in this painting, Goethe’s Faust. Here Faust is seen courting Marguerite, watched by her neighbour Martha and Mephistopheles. The mocking expression on the face of Mephistopheles points to the tragic consequences that will result from this courtship.

[jkl-fff]

GUYS, I FIGURED OUT THE BLACK TURTLES!

It's a detail of OTGW that's lowkey perplexed me since the series first aired. What's with the black turtles that appear in every episode? What role do they serve in the story, and what do they represent?

A small, seemingly inconsequential detail, but just the sort to occupy my mind every time I watch the show.

My first train of thought: Are they manifestations of The Beast's power and influence? If not, why does eating one turn Beatrice's dog into a slavering monster? But if so, why is Auntie Whispers purely benevolent despite eating one (and presumably much more)? Why aren't they themselves monstrous and malevolent? But also why aren't they, on the contrary, beautiful and benevolent? They're just ... sorta there, which suggests there's no supernatural nor moral element to them. Yet they're clearly not natural turtles, either ...

My second train of thpught: Are they representations of the Unknown's liminal nature, moving between land and water just as the Unknown is between life and death? Thus a foreshadow and a reminder of the brother's state? It would sorta make sense, given their omnipresence. Mirrored by the brother's Frog, whose amphibious nature is likewise liminal. And the weirdness of turtles specifically for this symbolic role fits the the weird aesthetic of The Unknown. Still, it didn't seem to quite fit.

BUT TONIGHT, I FIGURED OUT WHERE THEY COME FROM! THE OLD GRIST MILL!

WHERE THE WOODSMAN HAS BEEN GRINDING EDELWOOD TREES INTO A DISTINCTIVELY BLACK OIL FOR THE LANTERN!

SOME OF WHICH MUST BE WASHED OFF, LEAKING, OR EVEN SPILLED OUTRIGHT INTO THE STREAM THAT POWERS THE MILL, AND THUS CONTAMINATING THE ENVIRONMENT!

It's pollution. Industrial Revolution era pollution is the reason for the black turtles distinctive color and weird effects on some people, but not others.

[quadrantadvisor]

Batfam Secret Garden au?

Tim as Mary, the neglected orphaned child of rich socialite parents who moves into a large and forboding manor owned by a man they've never met

Damian as Colin, the lord of the house's hidden sickly son with an imperious manner

Dick as Martha, the kind natured house servant who first starts to break though our protagonist's walls

Jason as Dickon, Martha's younger sibling, who has such a way with the world around him that he seems to be magic

And of course Bruce as Mr. Craven, a man so preoccupied by his grief that he can't see what's right in front of him

Book quote examples under the cut:

[...] her mother had been a great beauty who cared only to go to parties and amuse herself with gay people. She had not wanted a little girl at all, and when Mary was born she handed her over to the care of an Ayah, who was made to understand that if she wished to please the Mem Sahib she must keep the child out of sight as much as possible.

"Oh!" cried Mary, "is he [Mr. Craven] going away to-morrow? I am so glad!"

"He's goin' for a long time. He mayn't come back till autumn or winter. He's goin' to travel in foreign places. He's always doin' it."

"Oh! I'm so glad—so glad!" said Mary thankfully.

Mistress Mary went a step nearer to the robin and looked at him very hard.

"I'm lonely," she said.

She had not known before that this was one of the things which made her feel sour and cross. She seemed to find it out when the robin looked at her and she looked at the robin.

"I like Dickon," added Mary. "And I've never seen him."

"Well," said Martha stoutly, "I've told thee that th' very birds likes him an' th' rabbits an' wild sheep an' ponies, an' th' foxes themselves. I wonder," staring at her reflectively, "what Dickon would think of thee?"

"He wouldn't like me," said Mary in her stiff, cold little way. "No one does."

Martha looked reflective again.

"How does tha' like thysel'?" she inquired, really quite as if she were curious to know.

Mary hesitated a moment and thought it over. "Not at all—really," she answered. "But I never thought of that before."

Secretly [Mary] quite believed that Dickon worked Magic, of course good Magic, on everything near him and that was why people liked him so much and wild creatures knew he was their friend.

At first the robin watched Mary and Colin with sharp anxiety. For some mysterious reason he knew he need not watch Dickon. The first moment he set his dew-bright black eye on Dickon he knew he was not a stranger but a sort of robin without beak or feathers.

Even Mary had found out that one of Colin's chief peculiarities was that he did not know in the least what a rude little brute he was with his way of ordering people about. He had lived on a sort of desert island all his life and as he had been the king of it he had made his own manners and had had no one to compare himself with.

[Mr. Craven] had not meant to be a bad father, but he had not felt like a father at all. He had supplied doctors and nurses and luxuries, but he had shrunk from the mere thought of the boy and had buried himself in his own misery.

Colin put out his hand and laid it on his father's arm.

"Aren't you glad, Father?" he ended.

"Aren't you glad? I'm going to live forever and ever and ever!"

Mr. Craven put his hands on both the boy's shoulders and held him still. He knew he dared not even try to speak for a moment.

"Take me into the garden, my boy," he said at last. "And tell me all about it."

[princesskealie]

gahhh, nervous about tomorrow ;-; it's time to take my mom to the doctor again, but she has to get lab work this appt...as always, if anyone can send thoughts/prayers/good vibes her way that everything goes smoothly, i'd be very grateful ;-;

[gennsoup]

"You can never make the world over to protect the ones you love so much. But you do not have to defend your having tried."

Joanne Greenberg, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

[booklover]

My copy of Frankenstein. I reread it about a month ago. Mesmerized by the prose and vision of Mary Shelley again after all those years.

[errolzunic]

Bad people do not win by just hurting you. They win by turning you into the same piece of s*** as they are.

author: errolgarden

[in-tenebris-et-in-solitudine]

Eat Clean

[namedvesta]

— Carl Phillips, from Cortège (𝟤𝟢𝟢𝟤).

[galleryofart]

Marguerite and Faust in the Garden

Artist: Ary Scheffer (Dutch, 1795-1858)

Movement: Romanticism

Date: 1846

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

Description

Scheffer’s work has been criticised as being overly sentimental, but his emotionally charged images struck a chord with the public, and he was one of the most popular artists of his day. Scheffer was inspired by the clarity of composition, and the direct approach to narrative, of Italian painting from before 1500. He frequently drew inspiration from great works of literature, such as, in this painting, Goethe’s Faust. Here Faust is seen courting Marguerite, watched by her neighbour Martha and Mephistopheles. The mocking expression on the face of Mephistopheles points to the tragic consequences that will result from this courtship.

[artemlegere]

Aurora Leigh’s Dismissal of Romney (‘The Tryst’)

Artist: Arthur Hughes (English, 1832–1915)

Date: 1860

Medium: Oil paint on board

Collection: Tate Britain

Description

This painting illustrates an early scene from the poem Aurora Leigh (1856) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Aurora is an aspiring poet. Her cousin Romney has proposed marriage, asking Aurora to devote herself to his philanthropic projects. She rejects him and this role of ‘helpmate’ in order to follow her vocation as a writer. Here, she holds a book of her poems that Romney has dismissed with doubts of a woman’s ability to create meaningful art. This work was commissioned by a friend of Barrett Browning, art collector Ellen Heaton.

[altraviolet]

I highly recommend putting easter eggs in your fics that only YOU might ever know about!

here's one >D this food mentioned in TEG:

“Woo! Good enough for me!” Rodimus flopped back down into his co-captain's chair. “Does anyone know what the Swerve special is today?” “Vosnian crystal curls,” said Blaster quietly. “With spicy red sauce.” “Mmm,” said Rodimus. “Spicy sauce.”

was first written in Face the Past:

They pushed all the stools and chairs together and set out a big feast. Skywarp had bought a strange assortment. It was odd to have Vosnian crystal curls on the same plate as Polyhexian cubefruit, thought Flatline, but hey, they were a strange mix of mechs anyway. There were specialty drinks in containers that changed colors as you drank and an assortment of small treats Spreem had made. Mirage laughed and smiled, cutting everything into pieces and chewing it slowly and declaring each bite more delicious than the last. Skywarp watched him, field flowing in and out with happiness. Flatline watched the monitors.

there was really no narrative reason to do this. I did it because it delighted me

delight yourself with your creative works :D

[tendthegarden]

hello! i’m g and this is my digital garden. i first heard about this concept from an episode of Anna Howard’s podcast on YouTube, Wild Geese.

ultimately i’m looking to cultivate an intentional space to share, explore, and expand on different subjects. over the last year, i’ve become increasingly more frustrated by my relationship with social media and the internet. i’m hoping to increase my attention span, rediscover my love for writing, and make deeply analytical connections across seemingly unrelated media.

so, if you enjoy any of the following, i’d love to see your garden:

weird or strange literary fiction

science fiction

personal essays/substacks/self published newsletters

literary analysis

book reviews and deep dives

examining trends across pop culture and the internet

deep dives on characters

doomed/haunted narratives

intertextuality

film analysis

notes on living or the human condition

[scorpionsandhoney]

omg i never showed you guys my new pan’s labyrinth/secret garden(1993) tattoo