Sonnet 44

           Charlotte Smith was a poet and sonnet writer in the time of the Romantic period of writers. She wrote Sonnet 44 while she was in a churchyard at Middleton in Sussex. She wrote her feelings and emotions about the experiences she perceived as she thought about the visuals of this seascape while she walked the area. It is hard to know if she was emoting and writing down ideas she was truly personally experiencing or if she was writing about the "mythology" or tales told about people who lived in the area and had experienced its secrets. Charlotte speaks about the moon and its creation of the science of tides and how these tides wear away at the seashore of this area in England. She states how powerful the tides are and how they have caused the erosion of the shore. She talks about how the power of the ocean timelessly wears away the shore. She talks about the huge breakers and the breaking waves in this geological area and refers to the "caves". Next she begins to talk about the graveyard and how the power of nature eats away at the graveyard. She states the shoreline is not typical by stating shells and sea weed mingled...bones whiten in the frequent wave"...clearly bones do not belong whitening in an ocean on a sea shore. Therefore she reveals the bad secret of this area , that the graveyard was built too close to the raging waves of the ocean and the graves are being revealed and uprooted by the ocean and the bones decimated.
           Although Charlotte seems sad about this lack of appropriate rest for the bodies of the dead, she personalizes the plight of the dead as she experiences her own personal depression and chooses to engage her thoughts upon the serenity of the dead who lie on the moor. She states a wish that "gaze with envy, on their gloomy rest...." Charlotte Smith lived a sad life and had a very unhappy marriage so perhaps, according to her biographers, her sad demise caused her to wish for an early death where she could escape her life and lie in repose with the other graves on the seashore. Being a romantic poet and writer of sonnets in this time period, nature would have had a strong meaning and significance and reference to her mentality. Romanticists were drawn to the serenity and symbolism of nature and the ultimate reunited of man with nature in death as well as life.

Charlotte Smith- Sonnet I

           Charlotte Smith uses nature to explain a lot of her feelings and to express emotion. She uses nature to portray different ideas and feeling in her Sonnets.  Nautre is used when speaking of both pain and pleasure. A Sonnet is a poem in which it expresses a single complete thought or sentiment. Her poetry and Sonnets are elegiac and express sorrow and lamentations. Charlotte Smith laments and expresses the feelings she has in this way, by using nature. She uses specific words to show the feelings she has. “Smil'd on the rugged path I'm doom'd to tread...” (line 2). She is on this “path” which could mean what she does for a living, her being a poet, writing these Sonnets and expressing all of her feelings to those who read her poetry. But this path that she is on she is “doom'd to tread” which could be the feeling she has while being on the path as she takes each step. It could be that she doesn't feel that it is the right path for her but she still expresses her inspirational writing and poetry. The word nature is expressed in the poem as pain and pleasure. As in line 3, “...and still with sportive hand...wild flowers”. Where she  explains sportive and what fate could do with us and “play” with us and using "rose" to express love and emotion. Whereas in line 8, “Reserves the thorn...” she uses nature in a negative aspect and that it festers in the heart and rots in side of you. Emotions are very strong feelings a person has and it sometimes could “eat you up inside”. It is very evident to see that Charlotte Smith may be missing something and that she had a very hard life, while in debt was put in debtors prison. It is clear to see that she expresses emotions through this art of poetry and writing to express all that she feels inside. But to inspire people as well as express what she had gone through, feels and emotions themselves.

From a Discourse Upon the Origin and Foundation of The Inequality Among Mankind

Why is there inequality among mankind. Rousseau tries to answer this by looking back on the history of mankind and explaining that before societies developed, people were much more compassionate and human to one another. As society developed inequalities developed and were imposed upon mankind. People needed to survive and instead of merely strength and compassion allowing people survival of the fittest,societal norms and prejudices developed. The state of nature that Rousseau could hypothesize about in the primitive island cultures he studied gave way to a society were wealth, and privilege took precedence over compassion and self expression. Society as it became so called civilized actually felt victim to more than self preservation. People saw and evaluated themselves and were measured and evaluated by other people and their imposed real and artificial standards. Being rich gave prestige and power, not being kind and compassionate. These traits can even be inherited and not earned by compassion for one fellow human. Wealth was the measure of inequality in society now, not survival of the fittest or the most kind or compassionate leader of men. This measurement of value in the eyes of others unevaluated the true nature of man for humanitarian survival and imposed different standards of value in society. Self importance became more based on societies perceptions than natures innate demands for an humanitarian and kind, existence of compassionate caring society. Instead artificial values and measurements based on pride and self preservation based on societal norms and wealth and power became the motivation of people in contemporary society.