Quotes from Literature Written in the English Language
“never worse than now – ever I suffer the torment of my exile.” (Line 4-5)
“that man’s kinsmen began to think in secret that they would separate us” (Line 11-)
“so we would live far apart in the world” (Line 13)
“My lord commanded me to live with him here” (Line 15)
“I had few loved ones or loyal friends in this country, which causes me grief” (Line 16-17)
“filled with grief, concealing his mind,” (Line 19-20)
“plotting murder with a smiling face” (Line 21).
” I must endure the hatred of my dearest one” (Line 21-26).
“There are friends on earth, lovers living who lie in their bed” (Line 33-34)
“I walk alone in the light of dawn (Line 35).
“I can weep for all my exiles” (Line 38)
“ I may never escape from the cares of my sorrowful mind” (Line 39-40)
“May the young man be sad-minded” (Line 42)
“let him have a smiling face along with his heartache” (Line 43-44)
“let him be outlawed in a far distant land” (Line 46-47)
“My beloved will suffer the cares of a sorrowful mind” (Line 49-50)
“Woe to the one who must suffer longing for a loved one” (Line 53-54)
The Lessons Learnt from Collecting Quotes
Marriage is one of the underrated social justice issues because people generally prefer assuming that the love between a couple makes it equitable. In a few cases where marriage has been analyzed as a social justice issue, the focus is always comparing the lives of the married couple against those of people who never marry. However, after reading through Christian Beck’s poem, “The wife’s lament,” I realized that even within a heterosexual marriage, it is still possible to experience injustices. Some overarching themes include exile by relatives, dissertation, forceful relocation, deep loneliness, and psychological stress. As the poem progresses, the reader gets the impression that the woman is cursing her husband and wishing him ill. Although marriage is supposed to be a loving relationship of joy and happiness, it sometimes brings significant inequalities that put women at a disadvantage.
One of the words that keep repeating is “suffer,” used to show a state of struggle and pain. In most cases, one of evidence of social justice is when one group of people is experiencing turmoil, and the other is doing fine. The other word that is repeated throughout the quotes is “exile,” which means being barred from home. Noteworthy, after marriage, the woman is often expected to leave her father’s house and make her husband’s residence her new home. The other word with repetition in the literature is “kinsmen,” which means extended family members with blood relations or the same ethnic background. In the poem, it is apparent that the relatives of her husband do not love the wife. The implication is that she feels like a woman in an exiled country with hostile hosts.
However, there is also a surprising absence of vocabulary that are typical for the social issue. For example, words such as divorce and separation are not present despite an obvious struggle in the marital relationship. I think the words such as tolerance and commitment are typical when there are wrangles between a married couple. However, those vocabularies were surprisingly missing from the quotes, and the persona even claims that there is a plot of murder. There were no such words as forgiveness and reconciliation, which are typical in a marriage relationship undergoing some challenges. However, it appears that there is no hope for the relationship as It ends with curses.
The quotes offer some insights about changing values in a marriage relationship. For example, at the start, one of the quotes shows the person referring to her husband as lord. Notably, the title she has given shows that she has respect for her husband. Moreover, she obediently followed and lived where her husband commanded. Later, he uses the phrase “you man,” which shows less honor when referring to her husband. She later uses the term “my beloved” ironically as she curses and wishes ill to the man. The implication is that the values have changed from that of honor to a feeling of disgust.
There are words that change and drop as time goes, some drop, and others emerge, all with the same meaning. For instance, the phrase “my lord” is present at first but then changes to a new word, “beloved.” The changes in these words are an indication of historical changes in cultures and circumstances. For instance, traditionally, a married woman was like a subordinate to the man. She was expected to obey her husband without question. However, when she refers to him as “man” or “beloved,” there is a cultural shift where there is equality in marriage. Circumstantial changes have made the wife to lose reverence for her husband and start despising him for the sorrow she feels. The inequality gradually breeds resentment among couples as the wife feel that they gave everything for the man but received nothing in return but abandonment and heartbreak.
If I was to create a lesson plan for high school students based on the changes I have noticed on my commonplace journal, it would be about the influence of culture on the evolution of English language. The lesson plan would be about the metamorphosis of English due to social Injustices. I will then use heterosexual marriage as an example of social injustice. The quotations that I have collected will serve as examples of the social injustices and the differences in terminologies from the past and present decades. In concluding the lesson plan, I will ask each student to select a form of social injustice in society and trace its historical roots. They can choose any topic, including racism, slavery and human trafficking, disability, and religion, among other themes. Each student will then have five minutes to present what they have discovered in front of the class.
The English language has various restrictions and affordances of the English language. Some words can be restrictive and not subject to any changes as language develops. For example, the word money is restricted to mean currency used for business transactions. Within the context of social justice, the term marriage is restrictive to mean only a legal partnership between a couple who relate romantically. However, some words have affordance and can mean many things or keep evolving. For example, the word lord is ideally used to denote a master, the word has been used in reference to god and husband. The other word with affordance is like, it can mean love to something or comparison of things that are similar. Thus, in as much as the English language is evolving, there are some root words whose meaning do not change and use are restrictive.
Reference
Beck C. The wife’s lament.