English 021 Creative Reading

Weblog - Category - E2 Possession
We’re holding out for our heroes
E2 Possession
by kmcqueen

A hero defined as a person noted for feats of courage, nobility of purpose, or one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life. Both Haroun and Alice display heroic qualities throughout their separate journeys. Each character encounters different situations to enact their heroism, but Haroun’s socially directed...
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May 13, 2005, 04:54 PM
Braided Together
E2 Possession
by kanders2

As shown in A. S. Byatt’s Possession, hair is one of a woman’s most defining physical characteristics. Byatt links many of her characters together by hair color, such that we may visually perceive their connectedness. The importance of these women’s hair is further accentuated by the attention others pay to...
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April 26, 2005, 02:18 PM
Possession: A Romance?
E2 Possession
by jsese

A.S. Byatt considers herself a feminist, but by American standards she is not. The female characters in Possession: A Romance do not fit the ideals of a traditional American heroine. They do not reach self-realization on their own accord. Instead, men are the catalyst for changes in their lives as...
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April 16, 2005, 06:49 PM
I posess the paper on possession
E2 Possession
by sstewar2

A.S. Byatt’s Possession focuses on two literary scholars, Roland Mitchell and Maud Bailey, who are learning more about their modern lives by looking to the past and investigating the lives of two Victorian poets. As Roland delves into the life of Randolph Ash, he comes across correspondence that links Ash...
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April 14, 2005, 10:29 PM
I am in your hands
E2 Possession
by kmcqueen

Roland is dominated by the life of Randolph Henry Ash. This emulation has kept Roland from establishing any true sense of self, leaving him obsessed over a poet who lived a hundred years before his time. Roland comes across many different personal letters, but it was Christabel’s unopened letter...
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April 14, 2005, 07:41 PM
"Possession": Not a Love Story
E2 Possession
by bellwang

The subtitle A. S. Byatt gives “Possession” is “A Romance”. Superficially, the story may be a magical weaving of lives with the binding ties being sempiternal love. From the moment Randolph Ash sees Christabel, he knows “that she was for him, she was to do with him” (302). Whenever Roland...
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April 14, 2005, 04:59 PM
Modernity and Creativity in Possession
E2 Possession
by jhoffman

John Hoffman 4/14/2005 021 Creative Reading Modernity and Creativity in Possession The subtitle to A.S. Byatt’s Possession, whether added by the author or her publisher, is “A Romance.” Yet the majority of the novel takes place in modern London, in an era when the concept of romantic love has been...
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April 14, 2005, 03:48 PM
the secret language of poetry
E2 Possession
by pdecoste

Randolph Henry Ash uses poetry as a medium to communicate his true emotions on a high metaphysical platform. Ash’s communications to Chritabel LaMotte in “Ragnarök,” “Swammerdam,” and “Mummy Possest,” serve as the basis for their love affair. Ash’s poetry is his only true means of communication to Christabel. Ash’s letters...
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April 14, 2005, 02:25 PM
Stabbed with "Faery Needles"
E2 Possession
by aahearn

A Dutch microscopist who investigated the corneas of gnats and the ovaries of bees seems a strange figure to surface in the center of Randolph Henry Ash and Christabel LaMotte’s love affair in Possession. Yet Jan Swammerdam, the biologist whom A.S. Byatt dredges out of 17th century history and positions...
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April 14, 2005, 02:13 PM
Poetry's Possession of Power
E2 Possession
by began

Possession is the consummate work of literature for investigative readers who wish to connect written poetry to real life. A.S. Byatt supplies connections between the written word and reality that stress the value of the substance of literature. Randolph Henry Ash’s and Christabel LaMotte’s poems contain references to their secret,...
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April 14, 2005, 01:30 PM
The Princesses Burn to Ash
E2 Possession
by lcolon

Randolph Henry Ash, throughout A.S. Byatt’s Possession, is driven by sincere passion. He is passionate for women: both for his wife, Ellen Ash, and his mistress, Christabel LaMotte; for knowledge: he masters numerous intellectual fields including biology and metaphysics, and for poetry: through which he masters his readers. Ash’s passion...
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April 14, 2005, 01:24 PM
beASHlebub
E2 Possession
by oradwan

Possession opens with the myth of Proserpina in a poem written by Randolph Henry Ash. The placement of this poem at the beginning of the novel begs the immediate question, which Possession character represents which Greek legend. The innocent Proserpina, whose presence on earth is partially responsible for the beauty...
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April 14, 2005, 01:19 PM
Seeing Through the Glass Coffin
E2 Possession
by jsimpson

The Glass Coffin is one of the many myths that contribute to Possession. In the story a traveling tailor is desperately in search of some business. He finally, after wandering the forest, found a small house of which he knocked on the door. The tailor requested for work and...
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April 14, 2005, 01:04 PM
Christabel LaMotte: Private Lives and Hermetic Jars
E2 Possession
by acathcar

Christabel LaMotte, the great Victorian poet of A.S. Byatt’s Possession, places significant value in her privacy and independence. She values “her unbroken egg[,] her self-possession, [and] her autonomy” (549), as it is what protects her from the harsh scrutiny of the world. Through her imaginative poetry and fantastical fairy tales,...
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April 14, 2005, 01:22 AM
The Power of the Future
E2 Possession
by rmccally

When Ellen Ash dies, she leaves behind two different objects that the academics take and interest in: one is a personal diary, the other is a box of letters and mementos that she buries with Ash. The existence of these two things marks an interesting split in the character of...
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April 13, 2005, 11:39 PM