Literature

But here the timidity and awkwardness of youth and inexperience were still apparent and there was a feeling of embarrassment in the atmosphere, as if someone had just knocked at the door. Anna Sergeyevna, the lady with the dog, seemed to regard the affair as something very special, very serious, as if she had become a fallen woman (Chekhov 1527).

I chose this passage because here, Chekhov shows the confusion between Anna Sergeyevna and Gurov as natural and even anticipated Gurov, with his rich experience and dozens of women in his past does not at first consider his love affair with Anna Sergeyevna as serious. As such, the feelings that he is destined to experience at later stages of their relationship reflect his gradual moral and spiritual transformation and his recognition of the young womans feelings toward him.

Gurov told himself that, when you came to think of it, everything in the world is beautiful really, everything but our own thoughts and actions, when we lose sight of the higher aims of life, and of our dignity as human beings (Chechov 1528).

I believe that these thoughts for Gurov signify his gradual transition from the routine materialistic attitudes to life toward higher aims and beliefs. Actually, the whole Chekhovs story is about the conflict between Gurovs materialism and Anna Sergeyevnas romanticism  idealism. Under the influence of his new love affair and the young woman, Gurov is finally given a unique opportunity to re-evaluate his desires, actions, and his dreams about the future. This passage contributes to the overall picture of Gurovs character and the tortures, through which he is bound to go because of his feelings to Anna Sergeyevna.

He began to judge others by himself, no longer believing what he saw, and always assuming that the real, the only interesting life of every individual goes on as under cover of night, secretly. Every individual existence revolves around mystery, and perhaps that is the chief reason that all cultivated individuals insisted so strongly on the respect due to personal secrets (Chekhov 1534).

Gurovs love affair with Anna Sergeyevna becomes so serious, that it turns into a double life for both of them. Anna Sergeyevna tells her husband she goes to Moscow to consult a specialist on female diseases, and she and Gurov secretly meet at the Slavyansky Bazaar. I think that this is where Gurov comes to realize the real essence of his relationship with Anna he is neither willing to make this relationship public, nor is he prepared to break his ties with Anna. To me, Anna Sergeyevna and Gurov exemplify the hypocrisy and falsity of the society, to which they belong.

Arthur Rimbaud Barbarian
I chose this poem because it is equally fascinating and confusing. This poem for me creates a picture of wholeness and reveals the hidden poetic emotions. Repetitive delights and blazing coals create a dubious feeling terror and admiration. The bleeding meat on the silk signifies the inevitability of losses on ones way to triumph. Finally, that Rimbaud begins and ends his poem with one and the same word banner creates a circular vision of the poem and I can see myself in the center of this circular poetic universe.

Charles Baudelaire Windows
Baudelaires poem Windows resembles a short story but I chose it because it is a unique example of a prose poem. More importantly, the poem, which is expected to be an expression of higher emotions and motives, is used by Baudelaire as something earthy and even urbanized. A middle-aged woman, who is already lined and never goes out, looks too commonplace to ever become an object of the poetic description. But I have a feeling that these are the simplicity of language and the lack of sophisticated descriptions that make Baudelaires style recognizable and unique.

Paul Verlaine Moonlight
Verlaines poem for me is the most romantic and the most musical of all three discussed in this journal. The three stanzas are written around the three different rhythms where air boon moon sets jets. The poem is overfilled with romance and the beauty of love. It is easy to read and understand. The metaphors reinforce the sense of romanticism and associate Verlaines poem with spiritual illuminations.