We began with fairy tales, touched on the education of
children based on Locke’s beliefs, and now are venturing into the educational
styles of “The Romantic Child.” Mary
Wollstonecraft believed that beauty fades and that every young girl needs to be
educated because, they must be able to have a meaningful conversation. Priscilla Wakefield’s “From Mental
Improvement; or, The Beauty and Wonders of Nature and Art, conveyed in a series
of Instructive Conversations (1794),” was extremely boring. It was like reading from a dictionary for four
pages. I realize that the point is to
teach children the proper way to have a conversation and use social topics of
the time. “The Purple Jar,” by Maria
Edgeworth teaches a valuable lesson. If
the young girl had listened to her mother and had been a smart consumer,
comparing the two products, she would have been happy. Unfortunately, she is miserable because, of
her impulse buy. This is the departure
from fairy tales and into a more realistic life lesson. William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and
Experience (1789-94) title pages show images of life and death. The early edition has a mother and two
children sitting under a tree reading. The
later edition has the mother lying down and the children in morning positions
around her. His poetry is just as
intense. In “The Little Black Boy,” the
small child is comforting an assumed white child. He was raised to expect hardship and is now stronger
than the other child. Much of Blake’s
poetry has a religious theme. God is
found in almost every poem, especially “The Chimney Sweeper.” The religious child comforts the miserable
one, who is named Tom. In his sleep, Tom
finds comfort and peace by accepting God.
The chimney sweepers are children.
This is for many reasons, the main ones are that children are small, can
be pushed around, and don’t eat as much as grown men.
It is interesting to see the many themes we have covered in class, the changing face of "proper children's literature" and the premeditated (and unpredictable) effects of the pedantic agenda. From the fairy tales of days past to our most recent analyzing of the classic meditations of the "Romantic Child", the thoughts on the education of a child seem more relevant to the time period and its dynamics than a "universal" assemblage of morals, ethics, and behavior. Religiously driven material and the Rousseau-esque emphasis on a rational,"denatured" being less influenced my the divine and more on the fine tuning of the mind, overshadows the actual, tangible words of the stories/poetry/etc. They are all saturated with one motive or another, rather than just creating "art for art's sake," as Oscar Wilde would later promote.
ReplyDeleteI have to completely agree with you on your opinion of Priscilla Wakefield’s “From Mental Improvement. As I was reading the pages, especially the scientific background on sugar canes, I felt like I was reading an encyclopedia. I understand the story was written to portray an idealistic family, the conversation however was so artificial and unnatural I questioned the age of the targeted audience. I feel like stories such as "purple jar" provide a much more persuasive education. The stories grab your focus and attention, and relay their lessons through relatable characters.
ReplyDeleteI was always intrigued by Blake's religious themes in his poetry-by all accounts he was fairly unwelcoming of most organized religion. He seems to advocate both for a spirituality outside of religion and an education outside of the classroom. Both his poetry and his art question our social structures and their influence on "innocence."
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed "The Purple Jar" and it was actually one of my favorites for the week. I did'nt even think about this until our discussion in class, but you are absolutely right aas far as her being a better consumer as one who thinks and compares instead of making hasty decisions. I think that it is hilarious that even in the time period that these were written that there was actually a consumer market for young children and they were targeted with all these unecessary things that they didn't need yet their parents were expected to buy things for them anyway.
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