Film - My Oxford Year

Quotes from "My Oxford Year"

Before reading any further I strongly suggest

viewing the film on Netflix so that the material

below can be real, probing, and fresh. And then,

after viewing the film, should this page be read.

- re slater

Poetry Observations

"Poetry should be a lived, felt, and life-changing experience,

rather than just a subject of study." - Anna

"To truly experience a poem, you need to feel it."

"A poem is alive, it has a voice."

"Poetry should be lived... Let it in; allow it to change your life."

"Reading poetry is a conversation of feeling between two people.

It shouldn't answer anything, it should only create more questions,

like any good conversation."

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Film Quotes & Observations

"It turns out, the act of making a choice, of choosing a path, doesn't mean the other path disappears. It just means that it will forever run parallel to the one you're on. It means you have to live with knowing what you gave up."

"I came to Oxford looking for a Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience. [At some point,] I chose to experience a lifetime."

:This is a quiet encouragement to say “yes” more frequently to life events. To take the risk of failing or falling. To live without the nagging what-ifs of inaction.

"Just because something is fleeting doesn’t mean it’s not meaningful."

:Some moments are not meant to last - but that does not make them any less real.

"You never know the choice you make is right or wrong ‘til you make it. What matters is they are yours to make."

"This is the messiness of life, and as an annoyingly brilliant man once told me, these are the best bits."

:The chaos, the curveballs, the heartbreaks - they are never meaningless detours. They are the story of lives mending, molding, becoming.

"You’re not obligated to be the same person you were a year ago, a month ago, or even a day ago. You’re allowed to grow. You’re allowed to change."

“Sometimes the hardest thing isn’t letting go but learning to start over."

:Letting go is an ending. Starting over is a beginning. And beginnings can be terrifyingly scary and brave at the same time.

"We don’t get to choose our circumstances, but we do get to choose how we respond to them."

"Love doesn’t always come in convenient, easy packages. Sometimes, it’s messy and painful and complicated."

"You can’t stop the future from coming, but you can choose what you do with the time you have."

"Love doesn’t have to last a lifetime to be real."

:Some loves are short stories, not novels. But they are no less true. No less affecting. No less moving.

"You should never regret the things you do. You should only regret the things that you don't do."

"I have no expectation of forgiveness, nor do I, arguably, deserve it, but I do know that I acted without malice and my idiocy was nothing more than that. Sheer idiocy." - Jamie

"A well-lived life might come at a price, but bugger me if it's not worth every penny."

"Life is unpredictable. It's okay for things to not go as planned;  ... and growth can happen inside of the messy-middle."

"Taking risks. Taking chances. Stepping outside of your comfort zone. Each can lead to memorable and rewarding experiences."

"Living in the moment: Finding joy in the small, everyday moments is important, even without a clear plan."

"Accepting what is.... Some things are not meant to be forever, and it's important to accept the present moment and find happiness in love and connection where you can."

[ SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ]

My Oxford Year | Anna and Jamie Love Montage

featuring Coldplay | Netflix

My Oxford Year | Official Trailer

Netflix

Anna and Jamie

“’Tis better to have loved and lost

than never to have loved at all.”
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "In Memoriam A.H.H."

“I must lose myself in action, lest I wither in despair.”

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Maud"

“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Ulysses"

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.

Live the life you have imagined.”

 - Henry David Thoreau, "Walden"

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

- Henry David Thoreau, "Journal" (1851)

“There is no remedy for love but to love more.”

- Henry David Thoreau,  "Journal" (1839)

"Forever is composed of now's."

- Emily Dickinson

In the end, Anna's Oxford year was more than a needs-fulfillment chapter of her life abroad before settling down into an esteemed lifetime career, but a personal re-awakening. A reminder that love, even when fleeting, reshapes us more deeply than mere safety and security ever could. She learned that loss is not the opposite of love but its proof, and that a life is measured less by the plans we make than by the moments we dare to embrace. To have loved and lost is still to have lived bravely. To choose one’s own path, even through grief, is to step confidently toward a life once un-imagined. And though nothing lasts in the way we might wish, everything matters in the way it changes us - leaving us wiser, softer, and ready to begin again across the sorrow and grief that holds us. - re slater

 

Ancient Egyptian Love Poetry

Romance Along the Nile

All poems may be found here - Egyptian love poetry link

The Golden Goddess

My beloved stirs my heart with his voice,

He causes illness to seize me...

My mother is right in commanding me:

“Avoid seeing him.”

But, my heart is smitten by his memory,

My love for him has seized me.

Look, he is a fool

But I am just like him.

He does not know my desire to embrace him,

He does (not) send word to my mother.

Oh, my beloved! I am destined for you,

By the Golden (Goddess) of Women.

Qenamun and His Wife, Tomb of Qenamun, New Kingdom (ca. 1390-1352 BCE)

A Wife Embracing Her Husband

How knowing is my beloved in tossing the lasso,

(But) she draws no cattle.

Her hair is the lasso she tosses at me.

With her eye(s), she beckons me,

With her finery, she binds me,

Her ring is her brand.

Restoration of Decorated Doorway to North Chapel,

Tomb of Puyemre, New Kingdom (ca. 1479-1458 BCE)

A Decorated Doorway

I pass by his house,

Finding its door open.

My beloved stands beside his mother,

His siblings all around him.

He looks at me as I pass,

(But) I alone rejoice.

Had his mother known my heart,

She would have gone inside for a moment.

O Golden One, put that in her heart,

so I may hurry to my beloved,

and kiss him before his companions!

Menna's Daughter Offering to her Parents, Tomb of Menna,

New Kingdom (ca. 1400-1352 BCE)

A Beautifully Adorned Woman

The love of my beloved is there, on the (other) side,

The river swallows my body.

Nun (flood) is strong in (this) season,

(And) a crocodile is waiting on the sandbank.

(Still) I go down to the water,

Wading through the waves . . .

The crocodile, I find, is like a mouse,

The floodwaters like land under my feet.

It is her love that makes me strong,

So she will cast a water-spell for me.

And I will see the one whom my heart loves,

Standing right before me.

Hunting Scene, Tomb of Ineni, New Kingdom (ca. 1550-1470 BCE)

Antelopes Fleeing a Hunter and his Dog

Would that you come to your beloved,

Swiftly as a gazelle,

Leaping across the desert,

Its legs racing,

Its limbs weary,

Its body riddled with fear.

The hunter is behind it, a dog at his side,

(But) they cannot (even) see its dust...

Offerings of a Chariot and Horse, Tomb of Userhat, New Kingdom (ca. 1427-1400 BCE)

Prancing Horse

Would that you come (to your beloved),

(Swiftly) as the king’s horse,

Thoroughbred among all steeds,

The champion of the stable,

Cosseted in its feed,

Whose sovereign recognizes its pace.

Hearing the crack of a whip,

It cannot be held back.

No warrior can subdue it.

How knowing is the heart of the beloved,

That he is not far from (his) beloved.

Man Before a False Door, Tomb of Nebamun, New Kingdom (ca. 1479-1458 BCE)

Lector Priest Holding a Papyrus Scroll

For seven days I have not seen my beloved,

Illness has overcome me . . .

If the chief physicians came to me,

My heart would not respond to their remedies.

Even the lector priests could not find the way,

My illness is not diagnosed.

The one who tells me, “Look, it is she” is the

one who will revive me,

Her name is what will cure me . . .

My beloved is more beneficial for me than any

remedy . . .

I see her - and I become healthy.

She opens her eyes - my limbs are young.

She speaks - I am strong.

I hug her - she drives away evil from me.

(But) seven days ago, she left me.

Woman Holding a Captured Bird in the Marshes, New Kingdom (ca. 1279-1213 BCE)

The voice of the goose cries out,

Caught by its bait.

Your love holds me,

I cannot release it.

I will collect my nets.

What shall I tell my mother,

To whom I go every day,

Laden with birds?

I set no trap today,

(For) your love has seized me.

The Mother and Wife of Userhat, Tomb of Userhat,

New Kingdom (ca. 1294-1279 BCE)

Two Women Sitting in the Shade of a Sycamore Tree

The little sycamore that she herself planted

Opens its mouth to speak.

The words coming forth from its mouth

Overflow with honey.

It is perfect, its branches beautiful,

Blooming and strong,

Laden with ripe and unripe figs

That are redder than jasper.

Its leaves like turquoise,

With the gleam of glass.

It attracts those who have yet come:

“Come spend a day of beauty,

Morning after morning, up to three days, While

seated in (my) shade...

I am discreet and do not say what I see.

I will not breathe a word.”

Winemaking, Tomb of Ipuy, New Kingdom (ca. 1279-1213 BCE)

Wine Making

I sail north on the river,

In the manner of a captain.

My bundle of reeds on my shoulder,

I am headed to Memphis.

I will say to Ptah, Lord of Maat,

“Give me my beloved tonight!”

The river - it is wine,

Ptah is its reed.

Sakhmet - its lotus leaf.

Iadet - its lotus flower.

Nefertem is its blooming blossom.

The land lights up with her beauty.

Memphis is a bowl of mandrakes,

Set before the Beautiful-of-Face (Ptah).

Female Musicians, New Kingdom (ca. 1400-1390 BCE)

Troop of Female Musicians

Seeing you, my beloved, is a festive day.

Regarding you is a great favor.

May you come to me with beer,

Musicians equipped with instruments,

Their mouths with songs of love,

For joy and jubilation.

Your excellent beloved is in adoration before you,

Kissing the ground at seeing you.

Receive her with beer and incense,

Like offerings to a god.

Facade of a House, Tomb of Djehutynefer,
New Kingdom (ca. 1458-1410 BCE)

Facade of a House

I pass by her house at night,

I knock, (but) no one opens.

A good night for our doorkeeper!

Bolt, I will open (you),

Latch, my fate is yours,

(Latch), my very soul is yours

Restoration of the Hathor-Head Frieze in the Tomb of Senenmut, New Kingdom (1479-1458 BCE)

Ancient Egyptian love poems, often found on papyri and ostraca, express passionate and relatable emotions through vivid imagery of nature, longing, and physical affection. These poems, which originated from an oral tradition, describe feelings of desire, jealousy, and the joy of being with a loved one, with some famous examples including the "Cairo Ostracon 25218" and texts from the Chester Beatty papyri.

Themes and imagery

Longing and separation

Poems often depict the pain of separation, comparing the lover's absence to loneliness and death. A common theme is the difficulty of reaching the beloved who lives across the river, separated by a flood and crocodiles.

Praise and physical beauty

Many poems praise the beloved's appearance using metaphors from nature, comparing their beauty to stars, lotuses, and the rising sun. One poem describes a woman with hair like "lapis lazuli" and fingers like "lotus flowers".

Intimacy and desire

The poems are also known for their frankness and focus on physical intimacy. They describe the joy of being together, caressing, and embracing, and the delights found in a shared moment.

Jealousy and secrecy

Some poems touch on the anxieties of love, such as a lover passing by their beloved's house and hoping their mother won't notice their affection. Others deal with the desire to be together in secret, away from the prying eyes of others.

Examples from famous poems

"Whenever I leave you, I go out of breath":

This poem from Papyrus Harris 500 expresses the feeling of dread and stillness when the loved one is away.

"My beloved has come, my heart exults":

This poem, found on Medium, describes the overwhelming joy of the beloved's arrival.

"I am to you like a bit of land, With each shrub of grateful fragrance":

This poem, found on Wikisource, uses agricultural metaphors to describe love and connection, saying that the beloved's presence makes the poet feel like a fruitful garden.

"Come, my Soul, swim to me! The water is deep in my love Which carries me to you.":

This poem, found on Facebook, describes a love so powerful it is like a deep, life-giving body of water.

"I pass by his house, Finding its door open.":

This poem from The Metropolitan Museum of Art portrays the bittersweet experience of seeing a loved one in public while needing to hide one's feelings.

 

Comparing the Novels of Emily and Charlotte Brontë

Comparing the Novels of

Emily and Charlotte Brontë

by R.E. Slater & ChatGPT-5

I was wondering the other day whether between the Brontë novels of Wuthering Heights by Emily, or Jane Eyre by her older sister Charlotte, which novel is the more raw, the more emotive, the more emotionally torn? Let's begin with a general introduction, a few of their poems, some helpful references, and finally, a few observations to see if we can answer this query.

R.E. Slater

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Charlotte, Anne & Emily Brontë -

Walking in the footsteps of the Brontë Sisters

by MemorySeekers

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Lawrence Olivier & Merle Oberon

Wuthering Heights (1939)

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Jane Eyre (1943)

Orson Welles, Joan Fontaine

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Painting of the Brontë Sisters by
their brother Branwell Brontë

Their brother, Branwell Brontë, painted his three sisters who are, from left to right: Anne, Emily and Charlotte Brontë. Branwell did not paint himself in this portrait. The National Portrait Gallery, London.

References

Emily Brontë - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Bront%C3%AB

• Wuthering Heights - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuthering_Heights

Charlotte Brontë - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Bront%C3%AB

• Jane Eyre - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Eyre

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Select Poems

No Coward Soul Is Mine

(1846)

by Emily Brontë 

No coward soul is mine,
No trembler in the world’s storm-troubled sphere:
I see Heaven’s glories shine,
And faith shines equal, arming me from fear.

O God within my breast,
Almighty, ever-present Deity!
Life - that in me has rest,
As I - undying Life - have power in Thee!

*The poem, written shortly before Emily’s death, is an astonishing assertion of raw, defiant inner strength - the same elemental forces which animates her fierce novel, Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff and Catherine are not sentimental lovers; they are cosmically eternal presences forcefully speaking of “undying life” entwined beyond mortality forever and ever. The exceedingly jealous God within her breast mirrors the novel’s wild spirituality, its refusal to be tamed.

Remembrance

(1845)

by Emily Brontë 

Cold in the earth - and the deep snow piled above thee,

Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave!
Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,
Severed at last by Time’s all-severing wave?

No later light has lightened up my heaven,
No second morn has ever shone for me;
All my life’s bliss from thy dear life was given -
All my life’s bliss is in the grave with thee.

*This is the emotional shadow of Catherine and Heathcliff. The imagery of snow, distance, eternal grief, and undying love which perfectly embodies Heathcliff’s obsessive mourning. Wuthering Heights is less about romantic fulfillment than it is about eternal, haunted attachment. “Remembrance” is to Wuthering Heights what a cold wind is to the moors - eternal, echoing, unrelenting.

Life

(1846)

by Charlotte Brontë

Life, believe, is not a dream

So dark as sages say;
Oft a little morning rain
Foretells a pleasant day.

Sometimes there are clouds of gloom,
But these are transient all;
If the shower will make the roses bloom,
O why lament its fall?

*Unlike Emily’s tempest, Charlotte’s verse carries hope through suffering. Her novel, Jane Eyre, is marked by a myriad of personal sufferings and trials - orphanhood, betrayal, and loss - yet Jane chooses moral resilience over despair. “The shower will make the roses bloom” captures her inner steadfastness and capacity for growth through hardship.

The Teacher’s Monologue

(excerpt)

by Charlotte Brontë

I dreamed once more - for I had dreamed in youth,
Of something which a word of mine might do;
Of hopes which, being once my own, had fled,
But, lingering, left behind them joy or pain -
The fevered pulse of a too burning brain.

I dreamed of love; it was a passionate thought,
And yet it was a soft one…

*This lesser-known poem mirrors Jane’s inner longing - restrained, intelligent, and moral, yet deeply passionate. Charlotte writes of love as a private fire, not an inner, violent storm: something deeply felt within, yet never allowed to consume the self entirely. This quiet, steady burn is exactly the energy of Jane’s expressed voice - self-respecting, yearning, resilient.

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Public Comments

• "For me, Wuthering Heights is by far the best. I expected Jane Eyre to be better since it's so well known, but to be honest I found it quite boring. On the contrary, I expected Wuthering Heights to be a regular love story, but it absolutely amazed me. I definitely did not expect what I read. It is now my favourite book. It is incomparable to Jane Eyre for me." - Anon (found on Reddit)

• "I don't know why but I have a feeling that people get turned off by depressing books and that is the reason that Wuthering Heights is under-appreciated by so many people. The story is compelling because of its negativities. The evil that floats in the book actually resembles the evil in all of us. It is there and we ignore it. But when we have to read something that tells us more about it, we don't like it. The characters in Wuthering Heights are original because Emily has portrayed them in such a way that they have nothing to hide from the audience. She has bared the truth of humanity in every single of them. These characters, if looked closely can be related to so many people in our lives that it's not funny. By no means am I implying that Jane Eyre doesn't do the same or is not worthy. It is a very good read and has it's own redeeming qualities. However, Wuthering Heights is the one that is out for my heart." - Yukti (Goodreads)

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Opening Statement

The novels, Wuthering Heights (1847), by Emily Bronte, and Jane Eyre (1847), by Charlotte Bronte, each stand as emotional opposites, forged in the same furnace but tempered very differently from one another. Here are four qualities which may help measure the differences.

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1. Rawness of Emotion

• Wuthering Heights is the wilder, more feral of the two.
  Emily Brontë writes as though ripping open the human heart - no filters, no moral comfort. The passions between Heathcliff and Catherine burn with cruelty, obsession, longing, and revenge. It is as elemental as the wind, moors, and storms Emily experienced at her homeland. For Emily, love is destructive, not redemptive.

  “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”

• Jane Eyre, by contrast, is deeply emotional but much more contained.
  Jane’s love for Rochester is deeply passionate, but it’s mediated by her (father's) constant moral conscience, self-respect, and spiritual vision. Her inner turmoil is expressed through a keen self-awareness and an intense, internal moral struggle rather than raw, unmediated passion as expressed by Charlotte's sister Emily in Wuthering Heights.

  “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”

✅ Verdict: Wuthering Heights is the more raw in emotional expression.

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2. Psychological Depth and Inner Tornness

• Wuthering Heights externalizes deep, personal pain - its characters enact their torment through vengeance, cruelty, and wild, forbidden love. Heathcliff’s interiority is volcanic but often displayed by his destructive acts. The book feels like an open wound.

• Jane Eyre internalizes Jane’s psychological journey. Her broad interior conflicts between desire, conscience, dignity, and faith, make her personal story more of a moral and psychological Bildungsroman.(eg, a novel depicting one's significant formative years or spiritual education). She bleeds more quietly - but all the more deeply.

✅ Verdict: Jane Eyre is more introspectively torn, while Wuthering Heights is more explosively torn.

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3. Tone and Emotional Texture

• Wuthering Heights: gothic storm, elemental, bitter winds, seething, unredeemed pain. The world is harsh, unyielding, and soaked in passion and death.

• Jane Eyre: gothic as well, but tempered by reason, hope, and eventual redemption. Its pain is purposeful, shaping the self.

✅ Verdict: Wuthering Heights feels more emotive in texture - it does not offer comfort or resolution in the way Jane Eyre eventually does.

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4. Moral and Emotional Resolution

• Wuthering Heights ends with a haunting ambiguity - death may or may not bring peace, but love remains wild and untamed.

• Jane Eyre ends with reconciliation and balance: love and dignity united, passion redeemed.

✅ Verdict: If we measure “tornness” by unresolved wounds, Wuthering Heights wins. If we measure it by the depth of the struggle toward selfhood, Jane Eyre has its own quiet power.

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Comparative Table

Feature	Wuthering Heights	Jane Eyre
Emotional expression	Ferocious, unmediated, destructive	Controlled, moral, reflective
Psychological tornness	Explosive, externalized	Internalized, morally complex
Tone	Dark, stormy, tragic	Gothic but redemptive
Resolution	Ambiguous, unresolved	Harmonious, earned
Overall feel	Raw, wild, elemental	Measured, introspective, resilient

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Observation

• If you’re seeking the most raw, emotive, and torn in a visceral sense - the kind that rips apart the soul rather than heals - Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is the more brutal and emotionally feral novel.

• If you’re drawn to a quieter but emotively profound inner tornness - such as the battle of a broken heart and conflicted conscience -  Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre has the greater interior depth.

Many readers feel that Wuthering Heights is the storm, while Jane Eyre is the furnace. One consumes the world, the other refines the soul.

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If Wuthering Heights is the storm, the quotes below are its thunderclaps.

If Jane Eyre is the furnace, the quotes are its steady, defiant flames.

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Supporting Quotes from the Novels

Emily Brontë - Wuthering Heights (1847)

A wild, tempestuous, and haunting love.

1. Love as Obsession

“Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
- Catherine Earnshaw

“I cannot live without my soul.”
- Heathcliff

“If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.”
- Catherine Earnshaw

2. Rage and Torment

“I have not broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.”
- Heathcliff

“I cannot express it; but surely you and everybody have a notion that there is, or should be, an existence of yours beyond you.”
- Heathcliff

“I have to remind myself to breathe - almost to remind my heart to beat!”
- Heathcliff

3. Gothic Wilderness

“He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
- Catherine Earnshaw

“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.”
- Catherine Earnshaw

“I cannot look down to this floor, but her features are shaped in the flags! In every cloud, in every tree - filling the air at night, and caught by glimpses in every object by day - I am surrounded with her image!”
- Heathcliff

🌀 The language of Wuthering Heights is wild and feverish -  love as an elemental force that consumes rather than heals.

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Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre (1847)

A fierce, moral, and interior love.

1. Love as Freedom

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
- Jane Eyre

“Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton? - a machine without feelings? Do you think because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!”
- Jane Eyre

“I have as much soul as you, - and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you.”
- Jane Eyre

2. Passion with Conscience

“I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.”
- Jane Eyre

“I would always rather be happy than dignified.”
- Jane Eyre

“I am not an angel,” I asserted; “and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself.”
- Jane Eyre

3. Gothic Interior

“Reader, I married him.”
- Jane Eyre

“I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.”
- Jane Eyre

“I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh: it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God’s feet, equal - as we are!”
- Jane Eyre

🔥 The language of Jane Eyre burns inwardly - love as moral courage, freedom, and spiritual equality rather than annihilation.

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Final Summary Contrast

Theme	Wuthering Heights	Jane Eyre
Love	Consuming, destructive, obsessive	Liberating, moral, self-respecting
Voice	Fevered, stormy, Gothic wilderness	Fierce but measured, interior monologue
Characters	Heathcliff & Catherine - entwined & damned	Jane & Rochester - torn but redemptive
Emotional Tone	A Wild tempest	A Steady flame
Signature quote	“I cannot live without my soul.”	“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me.”