So I made this card, using Papertrey's Beautiful Blooms II and Turning a New Leaf, and a sentiment from Gina K's Hello Sunshine set.
Thank you, Angela, for inspiring me to use beautiful blue...a color I really should use more often!!
On another subject entirely...
My apologies to anyone who was offended by my reference to the opening lines of TS Eliot's The Waste Land in yesterday's post. My use of a literary allusion (which was clearly more obscure than I thought it was) led some to believe that I was dissing April out of pure meanness or negativity when in fact I was merely trying to creatively emphasize the importance of lifting people up when they are sad.
Eliot opens The Waste Land with the following lines: "April is the cruelest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land...." He draws on a rich literary tradition of April as a month of starvation, illness, and death happening at the same time flowers are starting to bloom...cruel, indeed, especially from Eliot's point of view. The tension between those two themes of death and new life is poetically powerful and sets the tone for his entire masterpiece of modernist poetry.
My card yesterday was intended for someone who was in need of hope and encouragement (a state of affairs that cannot be limited to any one month in the calendar), but as I was posting it for delivery to in-boxes on April 1, I decided to make timely reference to Eliot's poem to show how cards can be a positive influence even in the "cruelest" month. That's what we English majors do...make connections. Clearly it backfired on me here, with unintended consequences.
My only intention was to encourage all y'all to send an encouraging card to someone who needs a lift. Again, my apologies for any misunderstanding, and I promise to keep future literary allusions limited to Shakespeare and Harry Potter, where there's less chance of confusion or offense!
Oh my oh my! This is gorgeous! Wonderful! I love it! What inks and blue hues did you use please? They are beautiful! Well done you! Now please, don't take this the wrong way.By all means quote TS Eliot but please do not guide people towards Harry Potter. These books have led children and adults alike to dabble or become fully involved in the occult. Harry Potter is allowed in schools, and it promotes witchcraft yet the Bible, creationism etc is banned. Just food for thought my friend intended in a loving way.
ReplyDeletelovely card!
ReplyDeleteLove both cards, love the blues used. Thank you for sharing, love your cards and your comments.
ReplyDeleteNot a blue person myself but these cards are very cheerful.
ReplyDeleteKeep the quotes coming - makes me reach for the relevant text so that I can read the whole piece, or most of it anyways. It's good to read 'proper' books, defo not HP, lots of made up words and portions that are not grammatically correct (in my opinion).
I love English grammar and Literature, even managed to persuade my DH to watch a Shakespearian Play - Coriolanus!
Hey Susan -
ReplyDeleteI loved the Eliot quote -- I try to drop it on my students every April just to see if they can parse it out for themselves. Good times. Lit nerds unite! All reading is good reading.
PS: love the card too, duh. ;)
Love this card, as always. I so enjoy your posts everyday and your comments are witty and appropriate, even for those of us who are not scholars or literature majors. I loved the Eliot quote and your explanation of it. Thank you for sharing with us!
ReplyDeleteWow! Shocked that you got negative feedback on the Eliot quote. Hope you won't be deterred from quotes like this -- would not want to think you would have to "dumb it down" for your readers. Those grumpsters need to open up their minds a bit!
ReplyDeleteLOVE your work -- your writing and your papercrafting! Thanks, Susan! Hugs, Sherry
Totally awesome card. Like it better than the inspirational one.
ReplyDeleteSusan! You bang, not whimper! English majors, raise your hands and share on.
ReplyDeleteSusan, I rarely comment on any blog, but have to on this one. I am not an english major, and have never read TS Eliot (although I've heard of him), but even I recognized "April is the cruelest month" as a quote from . . . somewhere :) I'd like to thank you for explaining it.
ReplyDeleteBefore the internet, was the world so filled with those who seem to be looking for any possible reason to be offended?
And I meant to say, I love your card. Blue has always been my favorite color, and I like your interpretation much better than the original!
DeleteBeautiful card! You've inspired me to go pull out my blue inks.
ReplyDeleteAnd please, don't change. This is your blog, so do what you like. I chose a scientific field of study, so I didn't have much chance for in depth literary study outside of the required courses for a liberal arts education. So I very much enjoyed your explanation this morning. I'm feeling enlightened - what a great way to start the day! Thank you!
As a fellow English major, I totally got the reference to The Wasteland and appreciated it. I love the contrasts of April and am so grateful to see my garden coming to life. I agree with LaurieJ - "don't change" - your blog is fabulous, and even though I don't always take the time to comment, your literary background and your style of writing is always a source of pleasure for me.
ReplyDeleteAnd you can't please everybody all of the time. As I see from one of today's comments, Harry Potter will cause offence to some. But I am a huge fan so do quote from Harry Potter to your heart's content! I am not a church-goer, but I can appreciate biblical references too!
I'd not encountered TS' quote before today (I haven't seen the original post yet) and thought it interesting and it made me thing, Good for you for inspiring me beyond just paper crafting. However, for the love of everything holy and even the unholy stuff, please don't start with the Harry Potter quotes. I was just remarking last week that old HP has finally dropped away quietly so that I no longer have to encounter random people shouting random words and then getting offended I don't know the Harry Potter spell in question.
ReplyDeleteI like your interpretation quite a bit better than the original.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about dropping in lit quotes. Those who read will get it; those who don't should simply read more.
The shades of blue and the layers on this card are beautiful. I really like how you placed the sentiment. I also have an April birthday. I was not offended by your remarks. I thought it must be a quote from somewhere and meant to try to look it up. Thanks for saving me the trouble of doing so. I always learn so much from you.
ReplyDeleteYou're kidding me....people are offended with the mention of a fictional character, but not by the anti-Semetic ravings of TS Eliot?!!! Has anybody actually READ the poem? How can they not be offended by that?
ReplyDeleteThanks to everyone who has commented on this post. Ultimately, this is my blog and I'm going to do what I want to do with it, up to and including quoting JK Rowling, TS Eliot, and whoever else pops into my brain. But I very much want my corner of the internet to be a warm and funny and creative place. While there's no way to avoid offending at least someone on occasion, please know that my intention is always to encourage kindness, generosity, and peace even in disagreement.
ReplyDeleteI apologize: I was thinking of his Bleistein poem. Different poem, same offensive poet.
ReplyDeleteNot asking for anyone to agree with me and I don't want Susan to change a single thing on her blog. I only weighed in when I read the HP comments.
Kegbo
You created a beautiful card today and don't change a thing on your blog. I enjoy reading whatever you have to say....I learn so much....thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou created a beautiful card today and don't change a thing on your blog. I enjoy reading whatever you have to say....I learn so much....thanks!
ReplyDeleteA gorgeous card - I love the blue inks used. I aways enjoy your literary "bits and pieces".
ReplyDelete