Absent in the Spring

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The title of the story comes from a quote from Sonnet 98 by William Shakespeare, “From you I have been absent in the spring” and is about being unable to enjoy the spring due to the absence of their loved one. Instead, it feels like prolonged winter.

In Absent in the Spring, it's the late 1930s. Joan is married to Rodney Scudamore, a successful but dissatisfied solicitor, and they have three grown offspring. She's pleased with her image as the caring and dutiful mother who had rushed to her youngest's bedside. Never mind that her youngest, Barbara, is married, has a baby, and resides in Baghdad, Iran. And now, after taking leave of Barbara's home, Joan is stranded in Tell Abu Hamid, which is just one of many stages of the nearly week-long journey between Baghdad and home in Crayminster, England. Sonnet 98” As a Representative of Sorrow: This sonnet recounts the separation of the speaker from his loving friend. It begins when the speaker paints his friend’s absence with the touch of woes. April is the time when nature provides solace to the world. Unfortunately, this time, Spring does not bring happiness to him. His friend is not with him. Therefore, he marks this time untimely because the beautiful nature does not appeal to his senses. Even the chirping of melodious birds fails to incite his usual inspiration. Regardless of having all the bounties of the spring, he fails to sing the tale of this lovely season. His mental faculty seems to deny him the capability to appreciate the fertile material mother nature offers him in the spring. In the third quatrain, he tries praising the white lilies and roses, but he feels that their beauty has faded away. He claims that these unique and divine patterns are inherent in love and happiness. Thus, his friend’s absence has turned spring into winter for the speaker. In the final lines, he invites his friend and vows to play with the shadows of the things. If you'd nothing to think about but yourself for days and days I wonder what you'd find out about yourself--"I was reminded of the "Dark Christie" mysteries of this period, the tales that dare to make us uncomfortable and that refrain from offering neat and tidy--or "cozy"--resolutions (as Christie's books so often are stated--over-sweepingly--to do). The poet says that he was away from his love for the spring “From you have I been absent in the spring,” at a time when egoistic April dressed with the freshness of new blooms “When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim,” made everything look new and young again “Hath put a spirit of youth in everything,” to the point of Saturn (considered an old god) also taking part in the enjoyment “That heavy Saturn laughed and leapt with him.”

You can’t wait for the ending because you hope for a positive beginning but know deep down that it may not happen. Oh, you’ll come to hate Joan, pity her, and even hope for her. But can you love her? In this telling scene, it is Joan, not the author, who believes the question is ‘quite natural’, that the reaction to it is ‘ludicrous’ and William’s voice ‘odd’ when replying. The reader, of course, reads more into the exchange. When the speaker looked outside he only saw imitations of his lover. His patterns of beauty were everywhere and rather than comfort, this fact only brought the speaker more pain. The poem concludes with the speaker describing how when he did go outside, he was only playing with the lover’s shadow. Me encantó esta historia, y no porque simpatizara con la protagonista, porque no soporté a Joan! Pero me encantó todo el viaje, y Agatha Christie comprende y retrata tan bien comportamiento humano que me deslumbra... Todos los personajes, distintos, complejos y reales!

From you have I been absent in the spring’ is not up there with Shakespeare’s classic opening lines, such as ‘ Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ or even ‘ How like a winter hath my absence been!’ But it’s an intriguing sonnet that deserves closer analysis, so let’s dive among the birds, flowers, and Saturn with the Bard and find out how his spring’s going. He did not even feel like being amazed at the whiteness of Lilies’ “Nor did I wonder at the lily’s white,” or even bother to praise the bright red color of the rose “Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;” he says such things sweet and objects of delight “They were but sweet, but figures of delight,” created as imitations of his love “Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.” Further to sessions recorded as absence, the rate of sessions recorded as not attending due to COVID circumstances across autumn and spring terms 2021/22 combined was 1.3%. This was 1.0% in the spring term, a decrease from 1.6% in the autumn term 2021, and 29.4% for same period in the 2020/21 academic year.

Popularity of “ Sonnet 98”: Written by William Shakespeare, an English icon, “Sonnet 98” is a sad poem. It presents a speaker who is aggrieved about the absence of his friend. It also presents the situation in which he explains his mind to dramatize the separation that haunts him. The popularity of this sonnet, however, lies in the fact that it presents the agony of the speaker over separation. Eventually the trains begin working again. The trip recommences. Her self-analysis--where will it lead?Ah, si! Se había preguntado si no teniendo uno nada más que hacer que reflexionar durante días y días, no llegaría a descubrir cosas ignoradas sobre sí mismo. Absent in the Spring was Christie’s most satisfying work - “...the book that I had always wanted to write, that had been clear in my mind. It was the picture of a woman with a complete image of herself, of what she was, but about which she was completely mistaken” - and she does this masterfully, offering us a dramatic and intriguing psychological study. More than half (55%) of enrolments had zero sessions recorded as not attending due to COVID circumstances across both the autumn and spring terms 2021/22 combined, while 1% had ten percent or more sessions recorded under this category.

Agatha Christie writes here under the pseudonym of Mary Westmacott. The Westmacott books focus on relationships rather than the solving of a mystery. I prefer them. Why? Because human relationship fascinate me and because Christie understands people and how they interact. No two of us are the same. She eloquently captures this through her characters’ dialogs, actions and thoughts. He knew objectively, that the flowers were beautiful and sweet. But, he also knew that their sweetness had one source, the intended listener of the poem. The “Fair Youth” to whom the speaker is talking. Agatha Christie wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. She wanted to experiment with her skills. And she didn’t want the reputation of her detective novels clouding over these books. She wanted these books to be judged on their own merit. So that’s definitely something you need to keep in mind when you’re reading her Mary Westmacott books.The novel was first serialised in the U.S. in Good Housekeeping in two abridged installments from July to August 1944. [2] International titles [ ] We look here at a mother, happily married with three adult kids. What is focused upon is the wide disparity between the woman’s own view of herself and how others in her very own family see her! Keep in mind, they know her well! How can views differ so?! After publishing her first mystery novel in 1920, Agatha Christie wanted the freedom to experiment with her writing. Under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, Christie wrote six novels from 1930 to 1956. Absent in the Spring was published in 1944. In the progression of Joan's mental state, I can readily discern the psychological pattern that Christie had described so effectively in And Then There Were None. I also wonder how related were Joan's thoughts to Christie's own musings during her 1926 disappearance. To sum up, Absent in the Spring is a must-read if you like analyzing characters and people. It is a must-read if you want to go introspect on your life and look at it from another perspective. The book has given me greater satisfaction than some of her mystery novels (and I’m saying this as a fan of the author and a mystery lover). of pupils were persistently absent across the combined autumn and spring term 2021/22 (i.e. missed 10% or more sessions). Again, this has been driven by illness (including positive COVID cases).