Lately I just cannot get enough of everything Jane Austen and the whole Regency period. Everything seems so romantic and whimsical. I want to step back into time and experience the lifestyle myself. I was hooked after watching the PBS Masterpiece Emma. The movie was so well done, including the acting and the cinematography, which was truly stunning! The movie aired over three nights and after the first and second parts I was dying to catch the next installment. I had never read Emma before so the storyline was new and exciting for me. Although modern life has its perks, I would not mind stepping back in time for just awhile. The fashion is truly spectacular. Unlike other eras, women's fashion in the Regency period is very beautiful, with its floral patterns, and yet simple and not too gaudy. Each item has a romantic and feminine touch. I particularly enjoy seeing how the men dressed. Why can't this be the style today? Everyone was so formal then and today, especially in California, we are just too casual.
All photos courtesy of Jane Austen's World, a truly spectacular and informative site if you're at all interested in Austen-esque things.
The whole movie I was just dying to have Emma and Mr. Knightley end up together. The two characters had such great chemistry and I loved how they had been friends for so long before realizing their true love. Sweet! I am now reading the book and I am enjoying it so much. I really appreciate Austen's writing and I think I'll reread Pride & Prejudice once I'm finished. The romance is just to die for. Like where can I get some of these Austen men to tell me that they've always ardently loved and admired me? Where are they hiding? I think Mr. Darcy says it best:
"In vain I have struggled. It will not do! My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you...Almost from the earliest moments of your acquaintance, I have come to feel for you a passionate admiration and regard, which despite my struggles, has overcome every rational objection. And I beg you, most fervently, to relieve my suffering and consent to be my wife."
And then there is the movie version of course...which is just as AMAZING!!
"You must know...surely, you must know it was all for you. You are too generous to trifle with me. I believe you spoke with my aunt last night, and it has taught me to hope as I'd scarcely allowed myself before. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from you will silence me forever. If, however, your feelings have changed, I will have to tell you: you have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on."
Sigh! Where is my Mr. Darcy?
Image courtesy of allmoviephoto.com.
I particularly enjoyed watching all of the letter-giving in these movies. Mail was such an important part of people's lives then and with email today, it's just hard to imagine. The letters themselves are works of art. They were folded pristinely and written with such a careful hand. The handwriting is just unbelievable. I consider myself to have nice handwriting but Regency era writing puts mine to shame. And having to write in cursive all the time, especially exquisite cursive, is definitely something I avoid. I got some inspiration from these letters and decided to write a few myself to some friends and family. I Googled how to fold Regency letters (I used this tutorial which was great), wrote my messages, and then even sealed them with a wax stamp. I felt very Jane for a minute! Hopefully my friends appreciated the effort.
I must work on perfecting my craft of wax sealing. The wax didn't drip perfectly for me.
I worked on this Jane Austen collage this morning which includes another great romantic quote. This quote if from Persuasion, said by Captain Wentworth to his love Anne Elliot. The quote in full is this:
"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating."
Yes, another too-good-to-be-true man. Well, I can't produce these romantic men but I can produce this romantic Austen picture collage! Better than nothing.
Images used to creat the collage were found on Flickr: here, here, here, here, and here.
Sunday, June 3, 2012 at 11:40AM 
