Romanticism 2.0

The excitement in the air was palpable. The news had spread. We were having a guest lecturer from the British Association for Romantic Studies (and the English department). He had me at hello. Not to mention when he started talking about the myth of Prometheus and its relevance to romanticism. The very dumbed down version (meaning mine) is that Prometheus, a Demi-God of some sort. Stole fire from the Gods and gave it to Man (the women couldn't be trusted), causing him to be punshed by the gods by being stapled to a rock, so that a malevolent bird could eat his liver every day for 30 odd years. This act symbolises many of the actions and emotions that, to romantics, represent the best aspects of human nature.

The Prometheus myth has been a source of inspiration for many of the romantic writers. For example, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has the not-so-subtle link to the creation of man aspect of the myth.

One such text that we looked at in preparation for the lecture was Ozymandias, by Percy Shelley. The sonnet describes a great statue of a "king of kings" which beseeches all who look at it to marvel at the great kingdom before them, whilst there is only sand and dust. The poem was written after Shelley visited the British museum and saw the statue himself. There is an air of irony to be heard in the sonnet, as well as an implied link to the British empire, as if saying that all great things disappear eventually.



Another text we looked at was Keats' Ode on a Grecian Urn (the urn in question was apparently Roman, not Greek, but we'll let him off since he's dead). This was another museum piece that inspired contemplative thought, and a theme of creation and quiet admiration of the artist who made the vase. Once again, heady Promethean influence is shown throughout the piece. Though as well as this, there is simply the feel, that Keats is stretching his literary muscles. With many eloquent turns of phrase, and some personification, where the vase seems to be speaking.

Of course I'm not much of a poem person, I have probably just confused every implication and meaning in each text, and the poets themselves are right now somersaulting in their respective graves. Feel free to school me on my (many?) errors.

Sounds like a novel idea to me.

Telegraph news: Guns, Cabbages and Burglaries.

Today my news is from the Telegraph (don’t worry, I’m not a Tory quite yet), due to problems with car insurance, I’m at my grandparents house being fed rather well, and not having to look after myself (life is hard sometimes).

Let’s see, first story to catch my eye… Ah yes, the leading page four story about Marine commandos complaining about their equipment. Some of you may be saying “A bad workman blames his tools.” And I would reply that, as my uncle (a civil engineer) would say: “You can’t get a good job done with bad tools.” And if I’m honest, a rifle that you have to fire into the baddies 15 times before they die, is probably a bad tool. The 26 year old SA80 is described as “dead” technology and is disliked by pretty much everyone who uses it. Maybe it’s time for the MOD to just get over it, and give them all lightsabers instead.

This next article may cause heartache, hatred, and possibly a slight sense of vertigo. You have been warned. Supermarkets, it appears, are considering dropping the Iceberg lettuce from their shelves in favour of “more exotic leaves with sharper flavours.” This, on top of recent news that most of the years supply of Purple sprouting broccoli was killed by the extended frosts we’ve had in the past few months. At this rate I’ll be living on tumbleweed and thistles by summer.

A police station in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk was broken into and burgled, after a window had been left open. This happened a day after the police began a campaign to help stop burglaries, by telling people to lock their windows… Methinks the irony fairy had a fun time with that one.

Let’s finish with the ‘lighter side’ of the news (hmm, maybe this blog isn’t as serious as it should be), and a story about a pensioner who, getting out of bed in the middle of the night, found a drunk man who had broken in through a window and was trying to steal over £150 worth of knickknacks. The 62 year old, not in the least perturbed by the hammer he was holding, proceeded to tell him off, making him put her belongings back, and clean up the mess he’d made. She probably had a go at him for not taking his shoes off before coming in. All I can say is props to you missus. I reckon there might even be a job for you as security guard of a certain police station in Suffolk that I hear has had a bit of bother.

Have a good Saturday night everyone! Unless you’re French in which case, here’s a Kleenex…

P.S.

For any of my avid readers who don’t pay attention to the Six Nations. The French are upset because they just lost. Poor dears.

Graduation

Good Lord this has been a tiring day. First I had to be up before midday for 2 DAYS IN A ROW!!! Full English in Premier Inn didn't make me feel any better. And of course there is nothing quite as rigorous as attending a graduation ceremony. As I now know.

Today was one of those days when it's family get-together time, all of us coming from our respective lands in an unholy... Square. to celebrate my brother's successful escape from Birmingham City University. Stealing a Bachelors of Science with Honours in Sound Engineering and Production (I kid, he worked damn hard for that degree and fully deserves it).

I was sat with my Dad on a very high balcony looking down, on what must have been nearly a thousand students, as well as all of their respective parents/guardians/legal custodians (get it?). And then had to watch all of them have their name read out, and their hand shaken by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham (we tried to sneak out after Jack had been, but the bastards had locked the doors and we had to wait the whole thing out). As well as this we were treated to several speeches and what was essentially an advert for Morgan Motors Ltd, from... Charles Morgan, CEO of Morgan Motors Ltd. Who was there receiving an honourary degree. And fair play to the man in the frilly hat, who shook hands with every single one of them, and did not (seem) to wane in enthusiasm. About 3 hours near enough, and we proceeded from the ICC hall to the national anthem. I didn't think it was necessary for everybody to stand when I did, but I was touched anyway.

And so, here I sit, two massive meals, two train journeys and a taxi drive later, absolutely knackered. Thinking about my own graduation in just over two years time. And I only want to say one more thing:

Congratulations, Jack!

Local News 101

Having been in Hampshire for about five months now (excluding a month at home for Christmas), I think it's really starting to feel more and more like home. I'm not much of a city person, in the sense of feeling choked with fumes, and surrounded the homeless. And Winchester doesn't count as a city in my book, it's basically just a bigger version of my hometown in Devon, only flatter.

It was only in reading reading an article on the BBC news website for Hampshire that I found myself truly integrating. The article is as simple as it is amazing. It is entitled: Pies and sausages taken in Hampshire garden centre raid. Apparently, a group of daring thieves made of with nearly 50 savoury pies, as well as 18 pieces of cod and a box of jumbo sausages! This credit crunch has forced people to become criminal masterminds!

But the reason I'm relating this story to you is that it struck a chord with my Devon roots, this kind of story would be page one news in my local Gazette. Indeed, there was a story back in January about a man in police custody which said (and I'm quoting from memory here, so this almost certainly won't be verbatim): "The offender then went on to vandalise his cell - with a pasty." If journalism really is turning information into money, I think they struck gold with this. But wait! it gets better: "Apparently [they wrote] he was given a pasty for lunch, and took exception to the fact that it was not heated, and smeared it onto the walls." This is about the extent of crime in the South Hams.

I honestly can't put into words how happy this story made me, and I was elated to read about the Hampshire crooks taking it up a notch. I truly am in Home, Sweet Home.


And they say nothing happens in the Country...


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-12524295

Wollstonecraft Seminar Papers

The topic of our latest seminar was Mary Wollstonecraft, who was essentially the first feminist. She took a lot of influence from Rousseau, and made of point of having a go at women as a opposed to just men, like most feminists seem to these days. One example was when she wrote about the differences between men and women when they undertake a journey. She says that men only think about the destination, whereas women think about what they might see on the way, and what problems might occur, and other flippant thoughts.

I think you'll gain a better understanding of her views by reading a couple of seminar papers written by two of my coursemates: Uldduz and Ali

Badgers: To Cull, or Not to Cull?

Ok it’s a new dawn, it’s a new day. Well it’s nearly half past six but, come on it’s a Saturday. And for that very reason I did not buy a paper today, so I had to be adventurous and seek out some kind of story using the interwebs.

The first thing to really pique my interest was a report on a policy that would allow farmers to cull badgers so as to lessen the threat of TB for their cattle. Not necessarily a topic most people would choose, but hey, I’m a country lad, I know plenty of farmers who are gagging to whip out their shotguns and have a killing frenzy on the stripy little monsters (Any excuse will do). That brings to mind something I’ve talked to people about before. As a rule, non-country folk seem to have a skewed view of badgers, no doubt a result of things like Wind in the Willows, Fantastic Mr Fox, or The (amazing) Animals of Farthing Wood. Which, as a rule, tend to give them fairly nice dispositions, maybe a touch grumpy, but otherwise very amiable creatures.

The truth is, badgers are evil bastards who can be as viciously crazed as a maniacal Francis Begbie on PCP (Hurray for Trainspotting references). I remember when I was little, I was told on a field trip, that if a badger were to attack you and bite, say, your leg. That the best thing to do was to grab two rocks, and hit them together, because the sound would trick the badger into thinking it had broken your leg bone, and that was the only way to make it let go. Personally I think hitting it with your two rocks would be effective as well but you don’t question your elders when you're eight years old.

As a rule, badgers shouldn’t attack you unless they feel backed into a corner, but let’s face it they’re not the most intelligent animals (they could probably think the middle of a field is a corner), especially judging from the number of deaduns on the side of the road in Devon (I feel sorry for whoever hits them, badgers are built like the proverbial poophouse, and can leave one hell of a dent in your car). The best way to avoid them is to make sure you don't stick your hand down any six inch (or so) wide tunnels, looking for treasure. You may end up with a hefty manicure.

Now that most of you think I spend my free time burning ants with a magnifying glass, I'll share something. Funnily enough, I’m not in favour of killing animals, unless it’s for food. Frankly, I find trophy hunting disgusting. But like I said, I know farmers, and I know what badgers can mean for them, and for their cattle. So maybe this culling order should go through. All I know is that there are better qualified people than me who will decide.

What are your thoughts? Should there be a cull? Or is it going too far?


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12500468

Friday News: Bears, Bread, and the Bottle

I thought that I'd finish my working week with a mash-up of several stories that mattered to me today. Here goes.

Firstly. I was not aware quite how well known this humble blog was, yet it seems that it is read by some of our best and brightest. Following my blog earlier in the week, No Space Babies!!, that discussed the needed invention of some form of cryogenic freezing for space travel (since it seems we can’t procreate in the great vacuum). And lo! I was heard, a mere few days after reading my blog, scientists have conducted research that could lead to just such that!

Studies conducted on American Black Bears (Am I allowed to say that?) have revealed how their bodies react to their annual five to seven month hibernation. They found that the bears show a reduction of about 75% in their metabolic rates, and also, that they did not lose as much muscle and bone mass as would be expected in a human. Scientists believe that if they can discover the genes that provide this protection, they could use it to create new therapies and medicines. But, more importantly (getting to the crux of it here), it could help scientists to develop suspended animation! Allowing humans to sleep off months of gruelling space travel. Let's just hope that we don't also start to grow fur at the same time.

It’s nice to know you’ve helped science along.

On a different bear-related note, Panda Pops (anyone from my generation and older should remember these) have finally gone ‘extinct’. Apparently they simply could not survive in this health obsessed world any longer, their parent company wanting to focus on fruit and water based drinks that weren’t full of artificial crap. Let the bell toll and the funeral bier pyre burn. Another one bites the dust. Cheers Jamie Oliver.

The i newspaper had a story that caught my eye concerning the world’s heaviest drinkers, and wouldn’t you believe it, they're Eastern European. Moldova is a fairly unremarkable country, with a poor economy, though it does have one major product: booze. And they are light years ahead of the competition to be crowned Sir Drinks-a-lot. Let’s apply some perspective. The global average for alcohol consumed per year is 6.1 litres of pure alcohol. The Moldovans are nearly three times ahead of this, guzzling their way through 18.1 litres per year. And that‘s just the general population. Imagine what they’re like when they go to Uni.

Lastly I was asked to do a comparison between Egyptian headdresses: “baguettes or saucepans - what’s the best?” I would go through the pros and cons of each, but we all know there’s no contest.

All Hail Breadman!

Pun in the Sun

In a follow up to my earlier post on Number 10's new chief mouser, I felt it my duty to relate the Sun's take on the same story:

"Purr-litical Animal

Downing Street's mewest resident wastes no time getting his claws into business in the Cabinet Room.
Larry the No10 cat was yesterday spotted trying out chairs and the famous green table.
But while he certainly seemed to enjoy his time on the centre stage, it's not thought he'll have any effect on official paw-licy.
Perhaps the government's official rat catcher would do better in the Mouse of Commons".

It's... Hard. To put into words, the 'puntastic' nature of this "journalism". Frankly, I'm in sheer awe. I can only hope one day, to be half as eloquent with words.

Let’s just hope the Sun keeps being a valuable asset to British reporting. Or who knows what kind of rubbish we might end up reading.

GBH Revisited

As my commited readers (Hi Mum!) will know, way back when, I mentioned that I was involved in a dispute against a bouncer. What I mean is that he kicked me in the face and knocked out two of my teeth, but let's not get pedantic. Obviously the police got involved, and started a case of GBH against said bouncer.

However, despite the fact that this happened within three feet of the club I was being 'escorted' out of, and there was a hefty queue still wanting to go in, who clearly saw it happen, there was no CCTV evidence of it happening (the CID guy in charge of the case called it a 'blip') and only about two people came forward as witnesses, aside from those I approached directly.

The case trudged on without gaining much traction, the bouncers all denied it, saying I was headbutted by someone in the queue (I was wondering where my teeth ended up, they must have been lodged in this fictional forehead). About a month or two ago, CID man called me sheepishly to say that the case was being dropped because there wasn't enough  decent evidence to bother going to court with. He hastened tp explain about evidence needing to be 'beyond reasonable doubt', which I found somewhat ironic seeing as that's one of the things I've been learning about in Media Law. I did get the impression that he was used to people shouting at him at that point as they don't understand what that means. Basically the only real evidence I had in my favour were the witnesses, and let's face it, it was past midnight, outside a club. They were drunk, and therefore, testimony could not be trusted.

But I'm not bitter. Don't get me wrong, I'll never trust a fat, skinhead, police academy dropout to look after my safety again, and I wouldn't be averse to hear that the club in question burnt down and was replaced with a Starbucks. But I'm not bitter...

Anyway, the main reason I'm writing this is that I think it's a good exercise of catharsis, and I just wanted to thank everyone who helped me out that night, and throughout the investigation, you all know who you are.

Cheers.

P.S. Sorry if this made any of you awkward, but it's finished now. I promise I'll get right back to reporting the inane stories that so appeal to my core demographic (Hi Mum!).

Yet Another New Aide to Mr Cameron

Fresh news from the politics section of the BBC's website that seems to have caused no little controversy in Westminster. Following last month's reports of Number 10's rat problem, the right honourable household has adopted Larry the cat, a former stray, who has experience in ratting from his time on the streets. The tom is a tabby moggy, who is apparently family friendly, and if my personal experience of stray toms is anything to go by, he'll be (as my dad says) built like a brick shithouse, and will no doubt be leaving many a gall bladder in our PM's slippers.

Larry was chosen by the pro-cat faction of Downing Street, despite calls from MPs that dogs make better hunters, one saying that "a good Jack Russel would come and sort out the problem pretty damn quick." He will join the ranks of former chief mousers such as Rufus of England, the Munich Mouser, and Humphrey, of the Thatcherite era.

As a cat-lover I'm very happy to hear that Battersea Cats and Dogs' home has lost a resident. Though I can't help but think that many Country-Tories will be outraged at the hypocrisy. If they can't hunt, why can he? It's also worth wondering whether we'll be seeing a new name on the sheets of the expenses scandal, having spent £5000 on Sheba and a luxuriously plumed scratching post.

So tell me, avid readers, which are you? Cat, or Dog?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12288771
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12460596

No Space Babies!!

Sad news today, as scientists confirmed everyone's biggest worry about space travel. That's right, according to priority one research from NASA, it will be damn near impossible to conceive in space. No doubt there will be rigorous testing, just to be certain mind, but it does seem that all those sci-fi fantasies of space colonies living on for generation after generation were all so much wasted imagination. I can only think that our only option is either getting on with inventing warp speed. Or finally sorting out cryogenic freezing in an Alien-esque form of sleeping off a mere 50 or so years.

This devastating news, comes in the wake of the Mars 500 experiment to see how humans would cope with being isolated in a spaceship for the 8 months or so it would take to reach Mars. The volunteers for the research were shut up in mock spaceships last June, and limited to voice contact only. They are due to be let out this Saturday, wearing real spacesuits, to have a jaunt around in the desert, pretending they are on Mars. Sounds a bit like my childhood. Except for the part about being shut away in steel tubes for months at a time. Mine were perspex.

It does make me very happy that all this important research is going on. I mean, what else do scientists have to do with their time?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/why-infertility-will-stop-humans-colonising-space-2213861.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/mock-mars-mission-simulates-landing-on-red-planet-2214628.html

Sunday News

It's a Sunday and it's pouring with rain, and yet I still trudge into town to buy the paper, this course is clearly starting to affect me. I thought I'd try something a little different and do a little of the news in brief. Unfortunately I'm not topless and there's no picture anyway so you'd just have to use your imagination. To be honest, if you want to see some boobs that badly then what are you doing reading this blog? You must be on the Internet if you're reading this. Either that or you've nicked my iPad. One way or the other, go have fun.

Ok, for the few of you left who either didn't fancy it, or weren't horribly offended, congratulations! You've passed the first test.

Back on track then. The first story that caught my eye was in the New York Times. They were discussing the implications of an estimate from the UN that, by 2050, there will be about 1.5 billion people aged 65 and over. My first thought to this was that the whole world is going to start looking like Devon. My second thought was, what on earth is the girl in that picture wearing? It looks like a cross between a builder's overalls and hardhat, and bungee jumping gear. It is called Age Gain Now Empathy System. Or more simply, Agnes. It is designed to simulate old age, to help teach young(er) people the difficulties that face the old. Now, I have a problem with this. Before you all start writing angry comments (here's hoping). I don't mean I have a problem with people empathising with the elderly. But why do I never read about a suit that simulates flying, or playing a video game. Better yet, people making suits that do fly, or turn invisible, or do your homework for you. I'm just saying. That'd be cool too.

I also want to give a shout-out to the Americans, who seem to be becoming more and more tolerant by the day. Not only do they have black president, and a female presidential candidate. Fred Karger is now America's first openly gay candidate for the White House. It's still early days yet, and he is virtually unknown, even to Americans, yet he seems to accepts this quite happily. At this point, most people are asking the same question as that emblazoned on much of his campaign gear: "Fred who?"

The New York Times also had a fantastic story about the oldest of Australia's 'micronations'. The Principality of Hutt River. Formed by Leonard Casey, also known as His Majesty Prince Leonard I of Hutt, after a wheat quota dispute with the government 40 years ago, it has apparently become a tourist attraction for many backpackers, and the like. also giving citizenship to about 13,000 people, not to mention bestowing knighthoods on their loyal subjects. I think this story is brilliant for so many reasons, but mostly I just admire the man for doing it in the first place. Not to mention when he declared war...

Ok then one more and I'll let you go off and do something you enjoy. The rise in student tuition fees is still being reported on. While many older readers may think of us students as a load of sponging, work-shy, layabouts, not to mention a load of hoodlums since the demonstrations. There are a few of us that do want to leave uni with something more worthwhile than a hangover. However, the budget cuts that are forcing many universities to increase their fees, may also be having an effect on teaching levels. Research done in the Russell Group of unis has found that the average amount of hours a week that a student spends with a lecturer has gone down from 15.6 to 14.7. Admittedly, not a great deal of change, but that is only between 2009 and 2010. What could it end up being by the time the increase in fees occurs, and the full effect of the budget cuts become apparent? Among this is also a survey that has found that students rating their experience of university as excellent has dropped by half. Once more, you have to wonder where it's going to end.

In a related note, there is news that may well anger the middle class among you, those students whose parents earn less than £28,000 a year will receive help from the government, and the uni, to the tune of £6000. Leaving the student to pay the remaining £3000. That is actually an improvement to what is being payed by the majority of students at the moment (£3,290). Including me. Damn, younger poor people. They have all the luck.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/business/06aging.html?scp=1&sq=Age%20Gain%20Now%20Empathy%20System&st=cse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/13/republicans-gay-rights-presidential-race
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/world/asia/02australia.html?pagewanted=1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/feb/13/university-students-teaching-hours-tuition-fees?INTCMP=SRCH

Matters of Murdoch

The phone hacking scandal, brewing since 2006, after Clive Goodman and his asscoiates were charged with hacking the phones of the royal household has taken, even more of a downturn. Lately, the number of high profile victims is on the increase. Sarah Ferguson and John Prescott have both been informed that there is evidence that they have been targeted by phone hackers working with Rupert Murdoch's paper the News of the World.

Prescott said (no doubt as eloquently as possible) that the new Assistant Deputy Commissioner of the Met, Sue Akers, had expressed her dissatisfaction with the initial investigation. Unsurprising, since, as this debacle has progressed, one story after another has unravelled like a roll of toilet paper being chewed on by Labrador puppy.

I do take issue with Murdoch over this business. I don't particularly want to move into a profession which has gained a dodgy, untrustworthy reputation. I'm fully aware that this is by no means the first time journalists have earned us all a bad repute, and it certainly won't be the last. But, as my teachers used to tell me: "You're not just letting yourself down..."

Though it seems likely Murdoch will hardly be touched by the ongoing investigation (he can spare at least one of the skeletons that not doubt litter his septic tank), it will be interesting to see how this may affect his plans to increase his media monopoly into the UK. Though he probably doesn't need much help on that front. In fact, News Corp is set to buy television company Shine Productions (the company behind the likes of Masterchef and The Tudors) the majority share of which belongs to... Rupert's daughter Elisabeth (I guess the old maxim about keeping it in the family really does ring true occasionally). She stands to make at least £400m from the deal, and speculation is also rife over whether she will become more involved in the running of News Corp. And if so, whether she, or her brother, James, will succeed their father.

Let's at least hope that they don't become as bad as the Borgia, I'm not sure if Rupert's obsidian heart would be able handle the excitement...


http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/10/phone-hacking-john-prescott-named
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cd4f972a-344c-11e0-993f-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1DgS4AscP

High Profile Tweetment

Picture source:http://androinica.com

Rumours abound on the internet as the Wall Street Journal has reported that internet giants Facebook and Google, have both held "low-level talks" with Twitter, over the possibility of acquiring the social networking/microblogging service. Twitter's valuation has grown enormously over the past few years and reportedly the current 'RRP' is somewhere between $8bn and $10bn! It's not particularly surprising then, that two of the largest Internet superpowers are eyeing it up like a randy panda looking at a nice, long, hard,  bamboo plant. Especially when you consider what has happened to social networking sites like Bebo and MySpace, it's understandable that Facebook want to have another bird in it's hand for when the next 'big thing' appears. And Google? Well Google's just keeping to it's mission statement: World Domination.

I never got into Twitter myself, though I have several friends who tweet religiously, anything I have to say is much too deep and philosophically ambiguous to be expressed in 140 characters or less. But bloody hell, I wish I'd known about it 5 years ago so I could have bought a couple of shares and capitalised on one of the most simple and popular forms of media on the web. Whether it will stay as such we will only find out with time.

Here is a link to the original article on the WSJ.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703716904576134543029279426.html

Rousseau, Romanticism, and the French Revolution.

Bright-eyed and bushy tailed, we emerge from our festering Christmas pits ready to glory in the renewed magnificence of HCJ. After a brief fistfight with a script writing lecturer, we put down our flag and were ready to get cracking. This year we kicked off with a sortie into the Romantic. And no, I'm not talking about Stephanie Meyer's sparkly, angsty, vampire novels (Team Edward FTW).

Perhaps a little background is needed.

We're in France, it is the end the 18th century, the Church's creative force has diminished, and a man named Jean Jacques Rousseau has taken a sabbatical to wander the mountains of Switzerland and the beaches of Vienna. Following an intense experience listening to the sounds of nature, and finding all his cares slipping away, he decides that the void of creative force left by the Church should be filled by the divinity of nature. He felt that all that had been written and proposed before were lies, that there was honesty in nature. That the empiricists were wrong, and it is feeling, not reason, that drives us. Reason did nought but stand in the way of innocence and beauty, and what it was to be truly human.

Rousseau calls to mind a state of nature, quite different to that of Hobbes, who would have us believe that before society was formed, we were all psychotic savages living in an anarchical world and that we cannot be trusted to live without a sword of Damocles threatening to drop at the slightest provocation. Rousseau claims that natural man was virtuous and was the perfect example of humanity. Indeed, he glorified what he called the 'Noble Savage' as being pure and beautiful.

While I'm sure he salivated over the idea of stripping down to a loincloth and running around the countryside, he was intelligent enough to realise that this would not be possible, what with all the trappings of society cemented about us. He claims that the origin of civil society and all of it's incumbent inequalities was found in property.

"The first man [he wrote] who, having enclosed a piece of land, bethought himself of saying "this is mine", and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of society." One wonders what he would have said to Locke on the subject if they had ever met, Locke being a great lover of property and basing near all his philosophy on the stuff. But I digress.

Rousseau's Romanticism was built upon the supremacy of emotions and was essentially a reaction to the enlightenment, which he perceived to be passionless. He despised the situation that man had gotten himself into, saying: "Man is born free but everywhere is in chains. One man thinks himself the master of others, but remains more of a slave than they are." As far as his view is concerned, the world was is rotten, and civilisation corrupt. Man is engulfed in an endless competition of self esteem, which can never truly be conquered, 'am I doing as well as I could be?', 'why is my horse a poorer model than my neighbours?', 'why is the other man's joopleberry shrub always a more mauvy shade of pinky-russet?' etc.

Rousseau wished for a different type of social contract than had been proposed before. The problem was finding a government that would protect you, yet leave you free to do what you wished. And also create laws which everyone agrees with, allowing everyone to keep their freedom.

Now, Rousseau's idea of 'everyone' needs a little explanation. He came up with the concept of 'general will'  which decides the best way doing anything e.g. "we shall all eat Crunchy Nut for breakfast." Every citizen has a share in the general will, allowing everyone to be free, yet it is a conglomerate, and if an individual was to differ from the mass, then they would be "forced to be free." think of it as a tyrannical form of peer pressure, à la 1984.

This 'cult of sensibility', while initially, not particularly popular,was a political time bomb that would throw all of France into chaos. All it would take was a country that was completely out of pocket, and a king willing to let the paysans help sort it out. Quel surprise! Just such an event occurred. The commoners were brought in to discuss the country's financial problems and they decided this would be a perfect time to write their own constitution, which happened to be in the image of Mr Rousseau. Men being free and equal, and laws being an expression of "general will". This eventually led to the French Revolution.

As revolutions go, this one began somewhat, bureaucratically. Until the Bastille was stormed, a symbolic act that apparently irritated the six or seven prisoners residing there, as they had probably been having a kip. Whilst all this unruliness was going on in France, radicals in England, were becoming more and more intrigued. Indeed, many went over to France to see Rousseau's natural man becoming a reality for themselves. Wordsworth wrote that "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven."

But of course, this could not last. The power vacuum that resulted from the idea of general will, meant that no one had any idea who was supposed to be in charge, leaving everyone running around like the proverbial chicken. France's neighbouring countries, were not looking too happily at the chaos beginning to engulf France. The Prussians (being renowned for their sense of liberty and their happy-go-lucky attitude) were looking to invade France and banish this unseemly attitude once and for all. And the French, becoming more and more paranoid, began handing out weapons willy-nilly to allow the citizens to defend themselves and their country (the two being virtually synonymous). And this, coupled with their paranoia, made the French begin to massacre each other in search of counter revolutionaries. Tens of thousands died before it was brought to an end, along with much of the revolution, though it changed France forever. A legacy of the Romantics. Take that Robert Pattinson!

During the lecture, we also discussed Mary Wollstonecraft, and her writing, including her Vindications of the Rights of Women. But as she will be the subject of our seminar next week, I will discuss her in more detail then. Cheerio!