Anna Louisa Karsch

Anna Louisa Karsch (Anna Luise Karsch) – 1 December, 1722 to 12 October, 1791

·         Father was a beer brewer, mother was an inn-keeper; very poor

·         She was an autodidact, meaning she taught herself.

·         Sent to live with her great-uncle, who taught her to read despite protests of her grandmother

·         Mother took her home to hinder to education, convinced it would drive her “insane”

·         When she was 10, she met a sheepherder who gave her books to read, but she had to hide them from her family

·         Married young but her husband was abusive; separated and married again soon after, to an abusive drunkard

·         A poem written for the widow and daughter of a nearby innkeeper got her recognition from a schoolmaster

·         Began to write poems for weddings and celebrations

·         Wrote many praises of Frederick, the Prussian King

·         When her two youngest children died, she wrote “Klagen einer Witwe” (Complaints of a Widow), which gained her the notice of Frederick, who took her and her children to Berlin

·         Most known for her correspondences rather than her poems, especially with Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim (30 years longs correspondence)

·         Gained attention from writers such as Lessing, Mendelssohn, Herder, and eventually Goethe

·         Though promised financial security by Frederick, he did not deliver, and it was not until Frederick II that she had a house built for her where she lived till she died

·         Known to her contemporaries as “Die Karschin”

·         Authored or participated in 14 publications

o   Die Sapphischen Lieder (The Sapphic Songs)

o   An die Natur (To Nature)

o   Gedichte (Poems)

o   Neue Gedichte (New Poems)

o   Auserlesene Gedichte (Exquisite Poetry)

o   Gedichte und Lebenszeugnisse (Poems and Life Testimonies)

o   Die Letzten Leiden des Erlösers (The Last Sufferings of the Redeemer)

o   O, mir entwischt nicht, was die Menschen fühlen (Oh, I don’t escape what people feel)

o   Herzgedanken (Heart Thoughts)

o   Die Karschin (The Karschin)

o   Die Gedichte der Anna Luise Karschin mit e. Bericht ihres Lebens (The Poems of Anna Louisa Karsch with a report of her life)

o   Die Karschin, Friedrichs des Grossen Volksdichterin (The Karschin, Frederick the Great’s People’s Poet)

o   Die Spazier-Gänge von Berlin (The Walking Course of Berlin)

o   Ausgewählte Gedichte (Selected Poems)

http://sophie.byu.edu/literature/index.php?p=author.php&authorid=66

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.wortblume.de/dichterinnen/karsch_b.htm&ei=sijHTLf_AY__ngeJ7tSiAQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=3&sqi=2&ved=0CCAQ7gEwAg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Danna%2Blouisa%2Bkarsch%26hl%3Den%26prmd%3Divo

            https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZgpOrBEFyo28kLsvB2_-Dq45qTSahCmV0-9clbZezwyirS2YSz-YNpZJg7gqp2iijR5oX-1xd8UudE6SNsoG2PekGBjCypBAIPMLRtWgh1surFRE9CnHWr8o-DjjZ75rcI7V_hWUA4lI/s400/439px-Karschin_bild.JPG

Gender Roles of the 18th Century

France;

• Women had no property rights
• Men had the task of completing activities, outside of the household, in order to earn income. 
• Women were seen as fragile, and remained at the home to care for the children and tend to the upkeep of the home.
• Lower class women stayed in the home and often worked around the farm, milking cows.
• Even women in  privileged positions were often held back from independent action by traditional cultural and social norms of behavior.

England; 

• Under the common law of England, an unmarried woman could own property, make a contract, or sue and be sued. But once she married, the woman, defined as being one with her husband;
• gave up her name
• virtually all her property came under her husband's control.

• Queen Victoria was regarded as being a paragon of virtue, a woman that always carried out her duties without fuss and maintained all the traditional gender roles that a wife and mother were supposed to carry out. 
• Queen Victoria and those around her tended to portray the royal family as a fine example of a traditional family with traditional values not only in Britain but across its vast Empire as well. The British monarchy was all in favor of conserving society just as it was to maintain its prestigious status although it was the elected government that carried out policies intended to conserve or to transform society.

 
A traditional 18th Century English Family

The roles of women changed greatly during the enlightenment.  According to sparknotes.com,  ”The Enlightenment was a sprawling intellectual, philosophical, cultural, and social movement that spread through England, France, Germany, and other parts of Europe during the 1700s.”  At that time, the opportunity for education expanded but decreased in quality.  During the enlightenment, education was shown to be very important.  Women in the high and middle class were offered an education, but it definitely was not as high of an education as a man.  Enlightenment thinkers believed that Science and Philosophy were for men.  So women were given training in areas that were going to help their husbands and families. Things like music, drawing, singing and painting were taught to the women.  Women began working as productive laborers with the family around the age of six or seven.  Most of the time, that meant working light farm labor, in agricultural areas. If the family lived in an urban setting, women could find low-level, low-wage jobs in many industries.  This kind of work, for both men and women, was harsh, cruel and paid less than most jobs.  In general, women's lives were oriented around the running of the household rather than the entire family.  The women's marriage and children were put behind the household.

Sources:
http://www.wic.org/misc/history.htm

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/WOMEN.HTM

http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/enlightenment/context.html

http://socyberty.com/history/what-influence-did-changing-gender-roles-throughout-the-18th-19th-century-have-on-the-position-of-women-in-the-practice-of-midwifery-and-gynaecology/#ixzz12urt2Ph0

18th Century

The roles of women changed greatly during the enlightenment.  According to sparknotes.com,  ”The Enlightenment was a sprawling intellectual, philosophical, cultural, and social movement that spread through England, France, Germany, and other parts of Europe during the 1700s.”  At that time, the opportunity for education expanded but decreased in quality.  During the enlightenment, education was shown to be very important.  Women in the high and middle class were offered an education, but it definitely was not as high of an education as a man.  Enlightenment thinkers believed that Science and Philosophy were for men.  So women were given training in areas that were going to help their husbands and families. Things like music, drawing, singing and painting were taught to the women.  Women began working as productive laborers with the family around the age of six or seven.  Most of the time, that meant working light farm labor, in agricultural areas. If the family lived in an urban setting, women could find low-level, low-wage jobs in many industries.  This kind of work, for both men and women, was harsh, cruel and paid less than most jobs.  In general, women's lives were oriented around the running of the household rather than the entire family.  The women's marriage and children were put behind the household. 

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/WOMEN.HTM

http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/enlightenment/context.html

Top 3 Blogs

1.  Kelsey Kubiak- http://kelseykgerman110.blogspot.com/
 Kelsey's blog is organized very well.  It is easy to read and is not completely covered in text.  It has a very nice color scheme and I really like how your can choose to buy German music if you wanted to.  100/100

2. Shelby Gunderson- http://shelbygerman110.blogspot.com/
Shelby's blog is also very organized.  The blog shows a lot of information without overwhelming the reader.  There are many pictures, which are very clear and neat.  Everything is centered and looks great!  98/100

3. Connor Otte- http://connergerman110.blogspot.com/
Connor's blog is very sleek and modern.  I like how he has linked all his sources right on the page.  It looks great, is very organized, but would maybe recommend more pictures. 95/100