The Grasmere Journals

One of my favorite genres to read are memoirs in the style of diaries--or just entirely collected journals themselves! It seems nosey, of course, to want to peek into someone's own reflections on their everyday activities or their personal relationships and encounters. This is why I was particularly excited when I came to "The Grasmere Journals" in the reading. I was curious to see who this woman though herself to be apart from her brother, William. As it turns out, she didn't think much of herself at all.

The first section of her journals in the reading is subtitled as "Home Alone." She begins by explaining that William and a friend have just left for Yorkshire and that she must endure a brief stint of time apart from her beloved brother. She explains her feelings on the departure by saying, "My heart was so full that I could hardly speak to W when I gave him a farewell kiss. I sate a long time upon a stone at the margin of the lake, after a flood of tears my heart was easier (294)." The last thing she wants is to be apart from her brother. To keep herself from becoming too depressed by the subject, she changes it, moving on to describe the scenes around her--the flowers, the landscape, and the animals. Most of what she writes is very episodic within every few sentences. Her writing flips like her mind, fickle in choosing a topic to fixate herself on. Then again, maybe this is really an accurate depiction of her everyday activities. She seems to have no real occupation of her own, other than being a loyal right hand woman to her brother. Maybe the activities of her life really do primarily consist of observing other people very quickly and then allowing her mind to wander to perception of other instances within her sight. She maintains her fmaily loyalty and devotion even while writing a personal journal. "I resolved to write a journal of the time till W and J return, and I set about keeping my reslove because I will not quarrel with myself, and because I shall give Wm Pleasure by it when he comes home again(295)." Why does she capitalize "Pleasure?" By giving it the status of a proper noun, she personifies it, making a reader wonder if there was some kind of goal that she continually tried tried to feed for William. She would work to do her bst to accomplish this Pleasure for him. It seems similar to the way in which people personify "Success, " "Love," or "Failure." To achieve "Pleasure" in William's eyes was ther purpose--for in truth, she had no occupation to willfully pursue.

Reading her observational commentary on her surroundings makes it easy to realize that this is also the way she carries on conversations. She mentions, "Oh! that I had a letter from William (295)!" She has quite alot to babble about, but not one to receive it.

Her comfortable state of being supported by her brothe also makes it unusual to listen to her make mention of the beggars she encounters. In each case, she takes pains to say why it is they are left to beg. Perhaps she mentions it because she wonders why she is so lucky to not have a professional life and still not beg--or because she knows that without the support of her brother, she would be reduced to a similar situaiton of destitute circumstances.

In her other entries, she usually starts a discussion by explaining something that William had said or observed. When her observations are recorded alongside William's, she always allows his to take precedence. At one point, she begins to discuss their encounter with a mailman--they were in the process of travelling to recieve their letters when they happened upon him on the way. Dorothy takes a moment to reflect on his occupation, as she often seems to do with the people abot which she writes. She records that the mailman "takes it all quietly, & though perhaps he beither feels thankfulness, no pleasure when he eats his supper & has no luxury to look forward to but falling asleep in bed, yet I daresay he neither murmers nor thinks it hard. He seems mechanized to labour (296)." Of course, this passage is interesting because Dorothy Wordsworth is not necessarily familiar with the "working world." She seems to consider labor to be a very long walk to pick up the mail, or finishing a particularly wordy piece of literature. To walk for so long everday delivering letters seems to be only means to survival. She does not understand nor embrace this behavior, stating that he must be absolutely "mechanical" in his actions. However, she alludes to neither approval or disapproval in her written observaion.