Another Jane Austen Poem

I Love You Jane Austen

I love you, again, Jane Austen
its true
I just can't seem to get my mind off of you.
I know that if you were alive today we would be friends
but sometimes I think this unhealthy obsession needs to end.
But I don't care what others may say,
I'll continue to read your books everyday.
I want to be Emma, I want to be Anne,
I want to be Elizabeth, I am such a huge fan!
Your words are inspiring,
your characters are true.
Your novels are enlightening,
You're just super duper cool.
I'm jealous of your genius,
and I can only aspire to be,
half as good a writer
I can only wish, hopefully.
I'm pissed that you died,
because you were just getting started,
the best was yet to come,
but then you departed.
Your memory will live on
until the world ends,
your words will inspire
because they just do, and they can!
Jane, Jane, Jane,
these words are not enough to express
how unhealthily lovely I find you!!

England Here I Come! (And Jane Austen Too)

Whenever I hear the name of Jane Austen my heart skips a beat. The world stops, and my mind is overwhelmed with the thought of Austen and her novels, the nineteenth century, Regency, Mr. Darcy, Captain Wentworth, Elizabeth Bennet, Mansfield Park, the list goes on and on. I can never get enough of Jane Austen’s novels. They are timeless, they are classics, and they express the deepest and most true effusions of human emotion and the human condition. Her novels are universal. Her characters are untouchable. She has written the greatest love stories the world has ever read. Jane Austen is pop culture. We all want to be Elizabeth Bennet. Her life is a fairy tale and Mr. Darcy is the man that every woman wants. But Pride and Prejudice is more than that. It is a story of wit and true human emotions. Elizabeth Bennet isn’t perfect and neither is Mr. Darcy. But they recognize their faults. They come to the realization that they love one another. They see past their prejudices and overcome their pride. Society cannot control their love, and their love for one another transcends the hierarchy of society and societal norms. Their love is a meeting of the minds. A special connection where there is a complete understanding of one another. This is the love that Jane Austen left for us. It is her legacy.I am going to England in one month, and I will be fast on the trail of Jane Austen and her world. I am out to discover who Jane Austen was, and who she has become in today’s world. Her novels have led me on the discovery of a life time.

Harlaxton College

Harlaxton Manor

I lived here for a month! It was the experience of a lifetime.

The Jane Austen Centre in Bath

Jane Austen Centre

The Jane Austen Centre in Bath is a quaint and beautiful museum that preserves the memory of Bath's "most famous resident."


Outside the center you are greeted by Jane Austen herself... Well a mannequin of "Austen", but either way, the Austen look alike provides a great photo opp.




Upon entering the Jane Austen Centre you are greeted by Mr. Darcy (a.k.a. Colin Firth), which is very fitting and most definitely sets one in an Austen mood. After ascending the staircase, lined with portraits of Austen's most famous characters, the upstairs room is filled with Austen memorabilia. The portrait of Jane Austen painted by her sister Cassandra is quaintly displayed along with regency costumes and other Austen artifacts. When upstairs, a tour guide gives an overview of Austen's life and the impact that Bath had on her.





Austen and her family moved to Bath in 1801 and lived there until 1806. Almost all of her novels mention Bath, but Austen's most famous "Bath novels" are Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

The Jane Austen Centre also displays various exhibits throughout the year. While on my visit the exhibition being displayed were the costumes from ITV's Miss Austen Regrets. Along with the costumes were first editions of Austen's novels including a letter that Austen wrote to her sister Cassandra.





After the exhibit and the gift shop, a stop at the Tea Room, also located upstairs, was a necessity. Who could resist having tea with Mr. Darcy?

Fashion Museum in Bath

The Fashion Museum in Bath, England

While in Bath, visiting the Assembly Rooms and Fashion Museum is an essential. The Fashion Museum displays a magnificent collection of fashions from the eighteenth to twenty first centuries. All of the clothes are beautifully displayed and well preserved. In visiting the museum you discover the evolution of fashion and the impact that fashion has had on society and vice versa. Here are some pics of eighteenth and nineteenth century fashions.

Eighteenth Century Gowns

Regency/Nineteenth Century Gowns

New Production of Emma

BBC Production of Emma

A new production of Emma is in the works, most likely to be released in 2010. Starring in this new production is as follows:

Emma Woodhouse .......................... Romola Garai
Mr. Woodhouse ............................... Michael Gambon
Mr. Knightley .................................. Johnny Lee Miller
Frank Churchill ............................... Rupert Evans
Harriet ............................................. Louise Dylan
Mr. Elton ......................................... Blake Ritson
Jane Fairfax .................................... Laura Pyper

Bronte Parsonage Museum

The Bronte Parsonage Museum

The spirit of the Bronte sisters were ever present on my visit to the Bronte Parsonage Museum in the summer of 2008. Upon entering the parsonage house I was surprised to find the home as beautiful and even cozy. This surprised me after reading a biography of Emily Bronte, in which the author describes the despair and isolation the house embodied. Most certainly the home was surrounded by sickness and death, making the home itself somewhat of a safe haven for the Bronte sisters.


The graveyard in front and to the side of the house is particularly striking, and creepy to say the least. The cemetery presents an overbearingly constant reminder of death.

After spending some time at the museum and wandering through the graveyard, we headed out to the moors, which presented a refreshing contrast to the dreariness of the parsonage. To walk in the footsteps of the Brontes, along the moors that Emily Bronte was so inspired by, was a dream come true. I channeled my inner Catherine as I wandered the moors looking for solace in the arms of Heathcliffe. Standing in a sea of purple heather I felt so small, engulfed by the hills and valleys of the moors. At that moment I was engrossed by the beauty and the magnificence of the English countryside.



"Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being." - Wuthering Heights

Ode to Jane Austen

I wrote this humorous poem about Jane Austen:

Ode to Jane Austen

Jane Austen,
Why did you have to die?
My world would have been so much better if you had stayed alive.
I love your books,
but you only wrote six,
But no matter, every month I need my Jane Austen fix.
How many more masterpieces would you have created,
If your body had not been earthly cremated.

Mr. Darcy is my ideal man,
and no real man can compare,
That is why I partially blame your for my loveless life and despair.
I live in your novels,
Which isn't healthy at all,
But they make me feel better when no boys come to call.

Your a genius,
it's true.
And if you were alive today,
Oh, all of the things I would love to say to you!
Come back from the dead,
Jane Austen please do!