Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Princess Haiku; searching for Heathcliff


"It's me, It's Kathy...I've come home again."

I'm surprised that Kate Bush's song "Wuthering Heights" didn't awaken the ghost of, Heathcliff, said Princess Haiku. I was chatting with him yesterday on the Moor. There I was, walking with my friend, Chedwick, the cat and then voila, there he was. .. As broody as ever. I really don't understand Kathy's thing for him, do you? But then-how do you explain chemistry, asked Princess Haiku vanishing in a haze of San Francisco fog.


Wuthering Height's was Emily Brontë's only novel. It was first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, and a posthumous second edition was edited by her sister Charlotte. The name of the novel comes from the Yorkshire manor on the moors on which the story centres. (As an adjective, wuthering is a Yorkshire word referring to turbulent weather.) The narrative tells the tale of the all-encompassing and passionate, yet thwarted love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and how this unresolved passion eventually destroys both themselves and many around them.




Kate Bush

Out on the wiley, windy moors
We'd roll and fall in green
You had a temper, like my jealousy
Too hot, too greedy
How could you leave me?
When I needed to possess you
I hated you, I loved you too

Bad dreams in the night
They told me I was going to lose the fight
Leave behind my wuthering, wuthering
Wuthering Heights

Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy come home
I'm so cold, let me in-a-your window

Oh it gets dark, it gets lonely
On the other side from you
I pine a lot, I find the lot
Falls through without you
I'm coming back love, cruel Heathcliff
My one dream, my only master

Too long I roam in the night
I'm coming back to his side to put it right
I'm coming home to wuthering, wuthering
Wuthering Heights

Oh let me have it, let me grab your soul away
Oh let me have it, let me grab your soul away
You know it's me, Cathy

Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights"
(her first hit in 1978)


15 comments:

Anonymous said...

i'm intrigued .....

did i tell you that i attempted to re-read wuthering heights this summer .... oh those moors, those moors ..... catherine was young and foolhardy - we can forgive her her youthful passions. but heathcliff ????

chemistry ... ah yes. elusive chimera. passion - a must have ingredient ..... but for a love to transcend? kate was right. your soul must be grabbed .....

tell me more, princess......

xxx
red

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with you about Kathy's attraction to Heathcliff. Actually I've always wondered why this book is so popular. It's one of these books that inordinately influences young girls in a bad way... Girls should be exposed to strong positive role models. I'm always concerned when I hear of it being taught in Junior High.

Anonymous said...

red dirt girl muses on soul hunger ... do we control it? or do our souls' hungers control us ??

stop by for a read ..... leave me a thought or two or more..... I thank you for the inspiration, dear princess.

much love and gratitude this holiday,

xxx
red

soubriquet said...

I came here after posting a comment on Red Dirt Girls blog...
Silly me.. I posted Kate Bush's lyrics there too.
When I go to Howarth, where the Brontes grew up, I muse about the dark dreams and passions of those young girls, growing up in a house which overlooks the village graveyard.
Heathcliffe?
Oh yes, there are still Heathcliffes and Cathys living up there, where the wind wuthers, whirling around the each other, moths around the flame.

A strange trivia fact: There are a lot of bilingual signs in Howarth, English/Japanese.
For some reason, the Brontes are HUGE in Japan... A Japanese language film of Wuthering Heights was made here. Lots of Japanese tourists followed.
Konnichi-wa?

Dorlana said...

Hi,
Just stopping by to wish you a happy Thanksgiving. You always have such interesting post.

Bobby D. said...

it is incredible that Kate Bush wrote that song when she was a teenager-- she would make a role model for high school girls everywhere.

Olivier was a very good heathcliff. All his insecurity and feelings of not being accepted and loved, and the passion that he and Cathy shared. I wonder how the film would have been if Olivier had gotten his way and Vivien Leigh had played Cathy? The love scenes may have been truly heartbreaking.

Cergie said...

Really, I do like "Les Hauts de Hurlevent"
I am filled with wonder that such a young girl had such a knowledge of laws, Nature and especially of human heart. How sad it was when one often died so young. We miss the novels that Emily Brontë would have written if her life would have be longer...

Celestine said...

i was just checking out wuthering heights on wiki yesterday! btw, did u write the wiki version?

Diane Dehler said...

Soubriquet- I had no idea. Would like to see a photo of the house they grew up in.

Celestine- I didn't write that version

painterblue- I guess it depends on how you present the book.

Cergie- It is sad about the Bronte's dying young and the brother never finished anything.

Hi Dorlana, nice to hear from you and hope your holiday was pleasant.

Ched- they should film it again. Let's do the casting.

Acquaintance said...

Thanks for catching my miscalculation I fixed it, idk why I typed 64 myself but I was really thinking 44 in my head. For some reason I was thinking it was 64 years idk why? lol :P So i typed it then til you said something about it it clicked in my head and I thought "woops that's right how did I make that miscalculation considering I'm good with math?"

Oh well....

I love JFK I think he was one of the best presidents America has ever had, sadly I wasn't around during his time to see how he changed this country in person instead of just through books and the internet. Although I do have stories about him through people telling me about him and how it was back then so that is a plus.


Thank you and take care Haiku


PS - I have another profound poem posted with a beautiful drawing by an artist named Eyvine Earle.

Bobby D. said...

I want to be Heathcliff--not that miserable orange cat from the comics!

When i was a kid, a neighbor kid younger than me talked about reading "Wuthering Heights" She was so young I thought she was fibbing. Turns out her mother told her the story many times, she'd seen the film, and bought an old "Classic Comics" of Wuthering Heights. I tried reading the book back then, at age 9 or 10, but gave up--read all the Brontes later, in College. I liked Ann best for some reason.

mystic rose said...

interesting song.. and quite an unusual interpretation.

Princess Haiku, I wanted to tell you I watched The Last Mimzy.. and I just loved it.

Annie said...

Bella Swan in The Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer is reading Wuthering Heights.

xxxxx said...

Ah... a favorite novel and song of mine! I particularly loved that cinema version of the story too. Ralph Fiennes was so intense and mesmerizing in it. Those characters will never die, not even fade...

Diane Dehler said...

That was quite a book to aspire too Ched. My first attempt at literature was Oliver Twist at the age of 10, "Please Sir, May I have some more..." It was a heady wine that first novel; even if I had to skip a lot of words.