For this prompt I am going to analyze the protagonist of Wolf Hall, Thomas Cromwell. After reading the first three chapters of the novel, I can already tell a lot from Cromwell’s character. I saw his childhood, his job, and his interaction towards his wife and his “client.” Thomas’ life at 15 was very rough. He (along with the rest of his family) was subjected to domestic abuse. His father, Walter, continually beat his son until one night where it just got out of hand. Tom ran to his sister to seek help, and it was then where Thomas left his life to pursue a better one. Fast forward around 30 years and Thomas is a lawyer. His client is Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey is worried about the future of England because of the Queen not being able to produce a son – which is where the story really starts. So from this part of the book, I can see Oliver’s physical appearance and his viewpoints on the current situation. Thomas has dark hair and small eyes (p29), which suggests a boring physique that matches the hard working lawyer stereotype. He knows many books in Latin ( “it is said he knows by heart the entire New Testament in Latin” – p29). Cromwell is already seen to have quite rebellious thoughts while talking to the Cardinal. They both agree that something needs to be done about Henry having a son, and is proved by the Cardinal sending someone with money to Rome to talk with the Pope (p25). It is well known in England that Cromwell was a villain, so already there are some thoughts in this book that are portraying this theory.
Month: June 2015
Week 1, Prompt 1: 250 Poems
The poem, “When I was fair and young,” by Queen Elizabeth I was very interesting to me. It has four verses, and I noticed that it goes in a chronological order.The first half of the poem is her stressing her opinion of being a “wanted woman” in her younger days; but then shifts to the speech by a man who is impugning her thoughts of declining men like that. She finds his words fascinating, and then decides to stop this view of hers. That view, which is represented by, “Go, go, go seek some otherwhere, Importune me no more!” acts as a refrain in this poem. It is used at the end of each verse, and in the third verse it is said but this time by the man who called her out (Venus’ son). The refrain is used a statement and matches the message of the poem. I think that this poem was a message from herself saying that she didn’t want have to live up to the standard of how “a Queen should live.” I think that she didn’t like men that much, but in contrast didn’t want to be alone. From my knowledge of the Queen, I know that she never married – which could possibly prove this message. She realizes after declining men for years that it was time for her to change even though she didn’t want to. Finally, to analyze the aspects of the poem, I noticed that the lines are ordered in an interesting way. The refrain is laid out differently and the verses always have at least two rhymes in them.
Introduction
This is the sophomore summer blogging assignment. I will be answering prompts from 250 poems: A Portable Anthology and Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel.
An American Brit's point of view 