Book 7: The Warden - Anthony Trollope

It has been a couple of weeks since I read The Warden. There were a couple of reasons I picked the book, first I was tired of reading Human Stain and wanted a break and thought a book set in Victorian England was exactly what this anglophile needed. In addition, I was feeling a little uncharitable towards organized religion and reading a little blurb about Trollope's Barchester Chronicles I felt it was what I was looking for.


I was under the assumption that it would be a scathing attack on the church- well I was wrong. But, I wasn't wrong about the Victorian setting hitting the spot. I liked the book- a little short of loving it. I will revisit Barchester and read the other books sometimes, but for now The Warden was a good introduction.

My only gripe was actually with the edition. The book came with a lot of informative notes at the back which explained the context and Trollope's allusions a lot better. However the text itself had no notation whatsoever about the notes at the back, I had to keep checking in the back whenever I came across something I had to keeping flipping back to check.

The book itself was a very kindly portrait of a clergyman caught in a scandal – to a degree of his making. But he is the typical case of the “more sinned against than sinning”. It is the story told from the point of a kindly well meaning clergyman who is vilified for taking advantage of his wards. Overall, it was an easy read but I wouldn't exactly put this in top 100 or even 200 books.

Anyway an interesting paragraph -

In former times great objects were attained by great work. When evils were to be reformed, reformers set about their heavy task with grave decorum and laborious argument. An age was occupied in providing a grievance, and philosophical researches were printed in folio pages, which it took a life to write, and an eternity to read. We get on now with a lighter step, and quicker: ridicule is found to be more convincing than argument, imaginary agonies touch more than true sorrows, and monthly novels convince, when learned quartos fail to do so. If the world is to be set right, the work will be done by shilling numbers (newspapers).

Someday someone will be referring to Twitter as the decorous art- wonder what will be the frivolous new alternative.. hah hah

Book 6: Songs of Innocence and of Experience - William Blake

Ok, so I am 3 weeks behind. Which is why the title has been slickly changed from a count of the weeks to books. I am back online thanks to my only follower- thank you- you know who you are :-).


I read Blake's book of poems 3 weeks ago so the details are a little blurred. The book is a collection of poems written at 2 different times of the poet's life. Songs of innocence  is the more hopeful upbeat set while the songs of experience is darker and definitely less cheerful.

What shocked me the most was my reaction to them. Without reading much, I thought that I would like the songs of experience a whole lot better than the first part. Specially given my penchant for dark, dismal thoughts. Surprise surprise, I actually liked the first set of songs a lot better! Except for the The Tyger, that will always be my favorite Blake poem.

My one complaint? (or rather the one I choose to voice here) Blake has illustrated the poems so there are all these weird drawings and this makes the reading a little hard. I found myself searching for the poem online just so I can make out the words easier. Also, it was distracting because I was wondering how they produced multiple copies of this in 1789 /1794. Which probably goes to show how little I know about printing technology. But it was terribly distracting, I had to make a concentrated effort to not let my mind wander to the evolution of printing.

A quick summary?
The book came right in time for me to quote one of the poems very aptly.
Blake, you really need to find a way to write "ss" in another way, thank God for Google (Amen!) so I could find what you were trying to write.
Like Blake's imagery, not a fan of the drawings.
Blake seems to have an inexplicable fascination of the lamb - example?
"Little lamb,
Here I am;
Come and lick
My white neck;
Let me pull
Your soft wool;
Let me kiss
Your soft face;
Merrily, merrily, to welcome in the year"
I rest my case
Also, obsessed with Chimney Sweeps - though I dont have an equally delightful example, just take my word for it.
Fav lines - "Dear Mother, dear Mother the church is cold. But the Ale-house is healthy & pleasant & warm"; "Tyger! Tyger! burning bright,  In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"
Fav Poems - The Echoing Green; The Blossom; Laughing Song; The Divine Image; Infant Joy; The Clod & the Pebble; The Fly; The Tyger; A Little Boy Lost (experience); The School Boy;