The Dreams of the Lady of Mount Hira

American Women Writers: 18th & 19th Centuries

Much of the literature by American women during the 18th and 19th centuries focused on the inner lives of women and advocating early notions of equality between the sexes. The literature of women in the 18th century mainly focused on issues such as gender equality as well as the struggles that African Americans (particularly women) faced. The writings and work by the women of this century usually remained anonymous, but somehow women’s literature during this time came into emergence and became much more widely known. Puritanism and urbanization as seen in America during this century had placed women under conventional roles of subjugation, and at the same time went against these conventions of viewing women as beneath men. Nineteenth century literature dealt with many changes for women in society. During this century, women fought for the right to vote, to own property, to attend college, to become doctors, lawyers, nurses, and take part in other professions that were typically male dominated. Importantly, women were able to voice their concerns and creativity through art and writing in a way that was acceptable to the standards of American society during this century.

American Modernism and Postmodernism: Overview

Modernism and postmodernism are typically seen as a breaking away from conventional thought. Generally speaking, modernist literature refers to that literature which was produced in the early to mid twentieth century. Also, the era directly between World War I and World War II is usually referred to as the modern era in America. There is no “typical” modernist literature. However, this type of literature has characteristics that differentiate it from early modern literatures. For example, much, but not all of modernist poetry is unrhymed. Also, modernist literature tends to deal with the inner workings of ‘the self’ through the use of techniques such as “stream-of-consciousness”. “Urbanization, industrialization, and immigration” have helped to bring about the modern era, and much of these themes show up in modernist literature in America. In addition, the Harlem Renaissance is a movement in literature that takes place during this era. This movement has given voice to many talented African-American writers and artists.

"I Sit and Sew" by Alice Dunbar-Nelson

I sit and sew-- a useless task it seems,
My hands grown tired, my head weighed down with dreams--
The panoply of war, the martial tread of men,
Grim-faced, stern-eyed, gazing beyond the ken
Of lesser souls, whose eyes have not seen Death
Nor learned to hold their lives but as a breath--
But-- I must sit and sew.

I sit and sew-- my heart aches with desire--
That pageant terrible, that fiercely pouring fire
On wasted fields, and writhing grotesque things
Once men. My soul in pity flings
Appealing cries, yearning only to go
There in that holocaust of hell, those fields of woe--
But-- I must sit and sew.

The little useless seam, the idle patch;
Why dream I here beneath my homely thatch,
When there they lie in sodden mud and rain,
Pitifully calling me, the quick ones and the slain?
You need me, Christ! It is no roseate dream
That beckons me-- this pretty futile seam,
It stifles me-- God, must I sit and sew?

I dreamt a few nights ago that I went out with my friends. We wanted to go to Red Lobster and searched all over for it, but we couldn't find one that was open. We even searched for Appleby's, since my friend wanted a nice pina colada, but nothing was open. So, we ended up going to a bar and we finally ordered our food and pina coladas, which were quite strong with too much alcohol in them. I suppose we were a bit buzzed and we decided to dance to some music on the dance floor, right after we asked the bar tender to make the pina coladas sweeter. I remember having so much fun that I didn't want to go home. The interesting thing about this dream though was that all of the events that I have just relayed actually happened a few hours before I slept. This dream was in no way fictive or a fabrication of my imagination; it was simply relaying what had already happened while I was conscious. Maybe I had so much fun that I didn't want to let go or forget about it? I wonder though.. does anyone else ever have dreams about their actual lives or think about their conscious lives in their dreams?

A close friend of mine told me that she had a dream that something bad happened to me. She had dreamt that I had gotten into a car accident, in which I was thrown into a lake and couldn't get out. After she woke up, she tried to call me to see if I was okay, but she ended up accidently calling her other friend instead. She then calle me (the right person), and told me that she had a bad dream about me. However, she didn't want to tell me all of the details of the dream. I had to force it out of her. I thought that this would be a perfect entry to put on my blog.

Well, it just so happens that bad things have been happening to me of late, in relation to school, home, and social issues. I'm just hoping that things will get better soon. Maybe if someone has a good dream about me then things will get better? Or is this just going back to the pre-Freudian depiction of superstition in dreams? Who knows, but I hope I or others who happen to dream about me have good ones about me. Perhaps I'm a little bit superstitious after all.

I felt that the first sample exam was very helpful in giving me some notion of what I should expect to see on the actual exam. I also felt that I did not give my all on this sample test. This is because I felt that my answers could have been much more complete, since for some of them, I did not write enough. This test has shown me how much I need to study, which is a lot. Out of the nine quotes that I chose to identify, I could only fully identify two of them with name and author. Somehow I think that this was by luck only. Getting random quotes from Anglo-Saxon to Postmodern periods in England and America (although for America we only have to really worry about literature from the 16th century to the present) is both overwhelming and nerve-wracking at the same time. I feel that it is simply too much literature to intake and to memorize. But what can we do, but try our best? The only solution I see is to study. That is something that I will be doing very soon!

A few weeks ago I had a dream that I recorded down on a piece of paper, but I cannot find the paper anymore, so I'll just have to post my dream as I remember it. I dreamt about a guy who was interested in going out with me. In the dream, he tells me that he likes me, and would like to get to know me better, but then he tells my friend the same thing. Instead of devoting his time to me, he devotes it to her, and I become a bit jealous. For some reason though, I am omnipresent in the dream. Although I am not supposed to be where my friend and this guy are, I see and know everything that is happening. This was an odd dream because I know the guy that I dreamt about, and we are friends; nothing more. Also, the girl and guy who were in my dream do not know each other, and never met. I wonder why my imaginative unconscious state decided to make up a story and put things that never happened, and are unlikely to happen... happen? This is why we have to love dreams. They are just so unrealistic sometimes.

My friend has had a reccuring dream that she is swimming in a pool, but there is a blue plastic cover on top of it. She's underneath this cover and someone has shut it closed. She is struggling very hard to get out of it. Sometimes she is able to get out of it, but other times she cannot. Sometimes in the dream, someone pulls on her leg. Other times, a man hands her a knife to cut the plastic open. That is when she escapes. Sometimes in the dream, she searches for him because she wants him to give her the knife, but she cannot find him. As soon as she gets out from underneath the covering, she wants to be as far away from the pool as possible. Sometimes she runs away, and at other times she is totally unable to escape the pool. Yet when she does escape, it's very hard to lift herself off of the covering because the water goes on top of it. But what is interesting is that in real life, she's never seen a pool cover before, and she's only been in a pool twice in her life. So, why is it that she has a reccuring dream about being in a pool if she rarely goes in one? Can anyone offer any interpretations about this dream?

Although I missed the class when we discussed this topic, I believe that writing about poetry is not all that difficult. I believe that some poetry is difficult to understand and interpret, but if you have evidence to back-up what you are saying then it is not that hard. Also, analyzing poetry is not all that difficult either, at least not if you know different poetic/literary terms, and you know how to use them. The second part of the honors exam looks a bit tricky in that you don't know what poems you will get, but I think that they will most likely deal with the same type of theme or topic. Yet, sometimes my problem with writing about poetry is that I don't know if the poem is a sonnet, and I don't know how to scan lines, or look for iambs, trochees, etc. I need to review this more. But hopefully this won't be an issue for the honors exam. I'm hoping that my writing about poetry will get better and that I will be able to analyze poetry better for the future.

Another friend of mine told me that he has had a recurring dream, which is more like a fantasy. I'm not sure if this is appropriate for the blogs, but this recurring dream is very sexual. The dream starts off when he pours a glass of wine for the woman who is in his room, and they both drink. He tells me that he is wearing clothes that look like those worn by knights from romance novels. The dream increasingly becomes more intimate and sexual as the two people in it hug, kiss, embrace, and perform sexual acts. The dream really starts to sound like a romance novel...one of those sleezy ones (no offense to my friend, of course). At first I thought my guy friend was crazy for telling me about his sexual dreams, but then again, I suppose in many ways, it is very normal. Anyway, he wanted me to interpret these recurring dreams. Of course, I'm still an amateur, so what do I know? I was of no use to him in that department. I could only refer him to some really good dream theorists! I wonder though why I haven't read about any sexual dreams on these blogs. Perhaps I missed seeing some? Or is it because people are embarassed to relay their sexual dreams to the class, or to the world? I tend to keep the dreams I post on here at a PG- 13 rating myself. Yet, I'll admit that I have had sexual dreams. Not often enough so that I can post them, but perhaps the next time I have one, I'll post about it. What about everyone else? Does anyone else have dreams that are sexual? Or am I the only weird one that has?

Last night I had a dream that I cannot remember much of, but that I will try to remember for the sake of writing an entry. I was taking care of my niece, who is almost 2 years old. She is wearing very cute /little girl clothing, which I believe that I bought for her. Her hair is in two pony tails, and she is talking her non-stop baby talk, which is cutely annoying. There is some conflict involving here though in my dream. It seems as if my parents are fighting over her, and they are saying that she belongs to them, and not to my sister, who is her mother. I just stand their watching them, not knowing what to say, but I think that I start to agree with them about the baby being ours and not my sister's. I then start to feel bad about how I feel, and then I pick up my niece and give her to my sister. I then walk out, I think feeling pissed? And then I go to my room. I cannot remember the rest of my dream, and I think some pieces may be missing, but this is basically the jist of it. I noticed though, as seen in my dream that I feel "bad" and guilty a lot about things... sometimes about things that are unnecessary. Hopefully I will learn not to so much anymore...

I felt that the first part of this exam was a lot harder than the first part of the first sample exam. I say this because I wasn't able to identify a lot of the quotes. I got plenty of them completely wrong. What I mean by "completely wrong" is that I was completely wrong about the period in which the quotes were taken from. If I identify the time period wrong, then everything else that I have to say about it is probably wrong as well, except for maybe the name of the text that the quote comes from, or the author of the quote. I honestly thought that the second sample test wouldn't be "easier", but that since I knew a lot more about the exam after taking the first practice exam, that I would do a lot better this time around. However, that wasn't the case in my experience of taking the second practice exam. This just shows me how much more I need to study for this exam. Wish me luck, as I will for you all!

I started off by coming in about 10 minutes late, since I thought that the exam was supposed to start at 10:30 am. It actually started at 10 am. How could I get the timing wrong? However, we started the exam late, so I was actually just on time. Lucky me! On the first part of the exam, I couldn't believe that I could actually completely identify three of the passages. (Well let's hope that my identifications were correct). On the second sample exam, I don't think that I could even identify one of the passages completely. I suppose the fact that I could identify something on the actual honors exam at least gives me some hope. Did anyone else see passages from Whitman, Woolf, and Rich on the exam? I believe some people did since we spoke about it during our break and after the exam.

Two nights ago, I had a dream that I was watching something on the television in my sister's old room. However, everytime the good part of the show came on, I would always be interrupted by something or someone coming in from the room across. After this happened, I would become very mad. On several occassions, I locked the door, but whenever I head footsteps coming near the door, I would become afraid like I was doing something wrong, so then I would shut the t.v. off and open the door. I remember once when I opened the door, I saw my brother outside. He had his ear up to the door as if he was listening intently to what I was doing/watching. I cannot remember much else of the dream though. I wish that I remember what I was waching on the t.v. that was compelling enough for me to lock the door, and sit and watch it. I'm sure it must have been something really good. I wonder though why I had to secretly watch it. Perhaps it was something that I might be ashamed of watching? It's funny though how I dream about watching t.v., but in waking life, I probably haven't really sat and watched t.v. for a few months. (No, I'm not odd... it's just that my t.v. isn't working and I haven't gotten a chance to get it fixed. But you should all feel bad for me since I'm t.v. deprived!) Anyone else have dreams where you dream of something that you are lacking in real life? (I'm sure others have...). I suppose this is what we call Freud's "wish-fulfillment".