A Word About Polls

In case you didn't notice, I finally let the poll on my sidebar run out. ;-) It was fun for me to see who voted and how many characters got how many votes. I thought I'd copy the results here.

There were 2 for Marianne Dashwood: "You are impulsive, romantic, impatient, and perhaps a bit too brutally honest. You enjoy romantic poetry and novels, and play the pianoforte beautifully. To boot, your singing voice is captivating. You feel deeply, and love passionately."

There were 4 for Elinor Dashwood: "You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see."

There were 6 (!!) for Elizabeth Bennett: "You are intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. You have a good head on your shoulders, and oftentimes find yourself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of ridiculousness. You take great pleasure in many things. You are proficient in nearly all of them, though you will never own it. Lest you seem too perfect, you have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves you very ill indeed."

There were 0 for Fanny Price (to my astonishment!): "You are quiet, faithful, and moral, but those around you may think you priggish. You love deeply...and jealously."

There were 0 for Emma Woodhouse: "You like being the queen of your social circle (small and provincial as it may be), and feel it's your duty to help those less influential than you. You often meddle in the affairs of others, though you do it with a pure heart. You are often deluded in your flights of fancy, but your good intentions and creative spirit make you someone anyone could like."

There was 1 for Catherine Morland: "You love a good Gothic romance - so much, in fact, that you'll fool yourself into thinking you're living one! You are imaginative and naive, which is at once endearing and perplexing. Perhaps your heart is TOO pure...but it is adventurous. After all, you love a trip to Bath or a stay at an ancient Abbey."

There were 3 for Anne Elliot: "Let's face it; you're easily persuaded, particularly when friends and relatives try to use 'the Elliot way' against you. But this doesn't mean that you don't have conviction. Actually, your sense of duty is overwhelming. And though you won't stick your neck out too often, you have learned to speak up when it counts. To boot, you know how to handle sticky situations. You love deeply and constantly."

That was pointless, indeed, but it was also fun, to me at least-- and I hope you all enjoyed it too.

The next series of polls will be on the first line from books. When I was younger, it was my habit to pick up a book, read the first chapter, get bored with it, put it down, pick it up later, read the first chapter again for review, put it down again.... and so on. So there are some books with whose first lines I'm rather familiar. On this series of polls, I will give the first line of a book and let you guess which book has that first line! Let's see how you all do!

On a more spiritual note (it would be a waste to write a whole post and not have been driven to look to Christ) I am NOT worried about who's the new president! The verse in the previous post (from Daniel 4) keeps coming to my mind as I realize it is the MOST HIGH who rules, and it is HE who sets up rulers on earth and brings them down again. I know that I can trust my almighty, unchangeable God to do His will, accomplish His purpose, grow us, and glorify Himself. I am humbled and blessed to serve this God and do not know how I could ever live without Him!

Note on Pictures: First picture: Marianne Dashwood (played by Kate Winslet) in Sense and Sensibility, 1995. Second picture: Elinor Dashwood (played by Hattie Morahan) in BBC's Sense and Sensibility, 2007. Third picture: Elizabeth Bennett (played by Jennifer Ehle) in BBC/A&E's Pride and Prejudice, 1995. Fourth picture: Fanny Price (played by Billie Piper) in BBC's Mansfield Park, 2008 (?). Fifth picture: Emma Woodhouse (played by Kate Beckinsdale) in A&E's Jane Austen's Emma, 1996 (?). Sixth picture: Anne Elliot (played by Sally Hawkins) in BBC's Persuasion, 2007. I did not include a picture of Catherine Morland because there are no movie versions of Northanger Abbey that I would recommend to anybody who wishes to "set no wicked thing before my eyes". The book, I understand, is much better than the movies, but I have not read it myself.

Note on quotes next to names/pictures: All quotes are taken, unedited, from http://strangegirl.com/emma/quiz.php. To those who aren't familiar with Jane Austen's works, not all the descriptions accurately describe the characters, in my opinion. :-)