The Sick Rose

The Sick Rose is another example of flower symbolism being used to highlight sexuality, and the consequences of its regulation, while determining links between humanity and the natural world. Contrary to its antitype The Blossom, in this poem from Experience, the themes of death and decay are explicitly linked to the control of desire and abolishment of free love, of which Blake was an avid supporter.

The Sick Rose

O Rose thou art sick.

The invisible worm

That flies in the night

In the howling storm:

Has found thy bed

Of crimson joy:

And his dark secret love

Does thy life destroy.

Form & Structure

Unlike most of Blake’s poems, this one is particularly short and succinct, composed of two quatrains following an ABCB rhyme scheme. The rhythm is primarily anapaestic dimeter accompanied by occasional loose iambic metre, leading it to adopt the form of a song. The fact that lines 2-8 are all one sentence creates the notion of a unified and uninterruptable experience being explored in the poem. The momentum following “sick” to “destroy” also creates the sense that the rose’s circumstances are inescapable.

Stanza One

The symbol of the rose in medieval literature typically represented chastity and virginity; serves as a conventional symbol of love and passion; and may also be linked to mortality in terms of sex and death. It also represents an earthly and not spiritual love.

When the rose is described as “sick”, it has been interpreted that it is not love itself that has caused this sickness, but a particular and corruptive kind of love. Some critics believe that the rose, having moved away from the innocence of chastity and virginity, has become sick from the materialism of the world of experience, thereby her own expression of love has been corrupted.

The “invisible worm” can literally be a cankerworm, which attack rosebuds. But this is English Lit, there’s always a metaphorical meaning! Worms can be associated with death and decay, as they are found on dead corpses (lovely macabre imagery there!). If we look back to medieval literature, the “worm” also refers to snake/serpent, thereby presenting the biblical imagery of the Garden of Eden and how Eve was seduced by Satan in the disguise of a serpent. If we expand on this idea of the worm being Satan, because it is “invisible”, this refers to the Christian teaching that the devil lurks unseen as a master of disguise. While flowers are used as vaginal imagery, the worm is the counterpart to this as phallic imagery. This links to Blake’s belief, that when humankind “fell”, the sexes were separated, and our capacity for sexual ecstasy was reduced from the whole body to genitalia alone.

The “flies in the night” suggests that the worm is active at night time, a time when people are most at prey to their fears and fantasies. There is also a sense of dishonesty among these “flies of the night” that is perverse and unhealthy in Blake’s eyes. They may represent the Church’s doctrines that force people to repress their own sexuality and emotions, leading to love sickness.

Because of the ABCB rhyme scheme, “worm” and “storm” are linked together, connecting the rose’s agent of destruction with the force of nature. The “storm” suggests a time of ungovernable, frightening turmoil and passion that is potentially destructive, and in the case of the rose, it is.

Stanza Two

Reference to “has found” has been linked back to Psalms 90:8, which refers to the exposure of “secret sins”. The imagery of a “secret bed” may be interpreted literally as a flower bed, but may also refer to a marriage bed.

The colour of “crimson” typically connotes passion, but also blood, shame, and in the Old Testament the colours of crimson and scarlet denote sin. Because the worm has “found thy bed/Of crimson joy”, these ideas have reached the innermost part of the rose. The rose’s capacity for “joy” is infected by life-denying emotions, ultimately leading to its death. “crimson joy” could also be the blood shed from losing its virginity. The linking of the positive emotion of “joy” to the negative connotations of “crimson” is also reflected in the rhyme scheme, where “joy” and “destroy” are connecting, suggesting that this positive experience ultimately leads to the rose’s own destruction. It also suggests that the rose, by engaging in these supposed “sinful” acts, is not innocent of its own destruction. The sibilance used in “crimson”, “secret”, “his”, “does” and “destroy” bind all of these words together in this same sense. It is an adulteration of purity (thought this is a good phrase to use!)

Blake, in his other work “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” describes:

“These two classes of men are always upon earth…the Prolific, the other the Devouring.”

These two classes distinguish the roles fallen humankind has to play in terms of creation on earth. While the “Prolifics” co-create, the “Devouring” use what has been created. While the rose is the prolific of the two, the worm is clearly the “Devouring” in that it uses the rose for its own sexual pleasure, ultimately causing the destruction of the rose.

So what is Blake trying to tell us in this poem? Contextually, prostitution at the time it was written (1794) was on the rise, and so was the spread of the STD syphilis. Blake may be telling the reader about how after the Fall, love and sexuality was considered shameful, which was enshrined in laws and rules brought into power by the Church and the State or the Monarchy. Because of this, love was forced to be associated with destructive forces.

In relation to the idea of the Devouring, Blake may also be warning the reader of how the lust to exert control over others may masquerade as love, making love devouring and destructive.

For a short poem, there’s a lot to be said about this one, and it is perfect as a comparison to The Blossom in terms of love and sexuality should it come up in the exam.

AO3 References: Oxford Shakespeare Guide by Peter Holland

The following are extracts from the introduction of the Oxford edition of A Midsummer Night's Dream which may come in useful for the exam. Unless I have explicitly mentioned a critic, all quotes in this section are cited from Peter Holland.

Ulrich Braker ‘The characters of the Interlude in this dream – they’re the ones for me’.

If we cannot understand the text the fault lies in the reader, not the text, since ‘the dream attempts to reveal rather than conceal. (referring to Jung’s approach)

Oberon and Robin make it possible for the characters –and the audience- to see the play as a dream…a true dream experience, not a similitude.

It is clear that in 2.2.62-7 Lysander has sex al fresco in mind…Lysander has presented Hermia with the problem of his sexual desire, and her dream enacts her anxiety about it.

He argues (3.2.70-3) that ‘Hermia displaces the fear of Lysander into fear for Lysander and fear of Demetrius.

There are similarities between The Taming of the Shrew’s Sly (who is transformed into a gentleman and made to sit and watch the play TOTS) and our Bottom. 

Sly ‘Am I a lord, and have I such a lady?

Or do I dream?  Or have I dreamed till now?’

The play’s ‘emphasis on fairy benevolence seems to have been Shakespeare’s invention.

In the structure of separate worlds…in MSND Puck’s position is more oddly isolated than anyone else. He only speaks to fairy and Oberon. This detachment allows for and justifies his amusement in human behaviour.

The interconnection of the discrete worlds of the Dream is an interlocking network of comic contrasts. 

As Leggatt suggests, ‘Each group, so self absorbed, is seen in a larger context, which provides comic perspective’.

Hippolyta has been conquered, defeated into marriage. Productions have varied greatly in their representations of the degree of her consent. Hippolyta’s speech is ‘a speech ambiguously of reassurance to Theseus of the rapid passing of time or reluctant recognition that the time of her independence has nearly ended’.

He argues that ‘Theseus’ antagonism towards virginity, a state that denies male power’ are expressed in his failed attempts to praise the state “the cold fruitless moon” (MSND)

Hippolyta, alone of the three brides, speaks during Act 5…her open mockery “the silliest stuff” produces an exchange with Theseus that marks both a certain antagonism with him and a disagreement on the nature of art. (“The best in this kind…”).

The complex interlocking of two pairs of lovers in a pattern of chaos and confusion is a staple of romance. What both Hermia and Helena deny…is the notion of male promiscuity and inconstancy, the trait Theseus, above all, embodies.

The lovers need to be set against the courtship world of Elizabethan England…Lysander’s anger and surprise at Egeus’ actions would match comfortably with Elizabethan conventional behaviour…as…the initiative with establishing a couple…lay with young people in all but the very highest reaches of early modern English society.

It seems at times as if they (lovers) are turned into puppets by their couplets, made to speak in particularly limited ways by the style imposed on them’. In a BBC production lengthy parts of 3.2 were spoken overlappingly by the lovers.

Throughout Act 5 H and H never speak. 

Jonathan Goldberg, noting that after the night in the woods ‘they return to Athens as bodies, married, barred from discourse’, also emphasises that the play marks, but does not necessarily condone, their place in patriarchal culture’.

Lysander and Demetrius share with Theseus an intellectual snobbishness. The feebleness of their wit emphasises the extent of our sympathies with the mechanicals.

The dream has consequence, the marriages have taken place but the pattern of patriarchy has not altered.

The Context of Religion

The contemporary religion of Ford has great prominence in his play 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, and in order to understand the play, it is necessary to gain an understanding of religion in Ford's time and the influence it had on his play.

1517 - Martin Luther's ‘Wittenberg Theses’ began the Protestant Reformation, which lead to breaks with the Catholic Church

1534 - Henry VIII himself broke with Rome (the seat of the Catholic Church), primarily because of the Pope's failure to annul the king's childless marriage to Catherine of Aragon

1534 - Act of Supremacy - Henry VIII Historical Context 32 declared himself the head of the English Church

Religion remained a divisive issue, though, as Henry's son Edward VI continued England's move toward Protestantism (this trend was violently reversed by the Catholic Queen "Bloody" Mary)

Protestantism vs. Catholicism was a divisive issue, and it explains Ford's negative representations of the Catholic Friar and Cardinal

Religion itself—about which different people may hold different beliefs—fails to offer any absolute standard of ethical conduct

Sexual Regulation in Renaissance England

This was sustained through religious tenor

In the Consecration of marriage, the priest would tell Renaissance couple that holy matrimony was ordained by God for three reasons:

1. Procreation & education of godly children

2. Avoidance of fornication

3. Mutual company and comfort of spouses

After the Reformation, marriage replaced celibacy as “the ethical norm for the virtuous Christian” – sexuality was regulated by granting legitimate sex through marriage. In addition to perpetuating the Christian church, marriage was also a device for restraining man’s free use of his flesh.

Ford and Religion

Ford was baptised at Islington Church, Devon and the son of a parish. His play seems to reflect the religious and political conflicts which were prevalent throughout his life. There are not exact historical sources that can be identified as sources for Ford's characters.

But the anxieties about

   - marriage and power

   - religion and ethics

   - the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie

And other increasingly controversial issues of his day play significant roles in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore

This suggests that his context informs and moulds his writing (and this is linked to Marxism).

King Charles & William Laud

He was suspected of converting to Catholicism from Protestant movement and believed he was appointed by God to govern. Married French Catholic (Henrietta Maria), he was a protestant (generated anxieties). There was concern over religious preferences - King Charles appreciated ornate, decadent designs & wanted this in his churches, however the decoration of a church symbolised faith & thus they appeared Catholic.

Arch Bishop of Canterbury (William Laud) was chosen, much like a Catholic (his account of religion was very different from mainstream Protestantism of the time - believed in order, ceremony & ritual, refurbished churches - very decorative) - many parishioners were concerned (appeared very Catholic). The use of decoration, ritual and enforcing obedience all increased the worries of Puritans.

Laud's theology was influenced by the teachings of the Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius (1560-1609), who emphasised free will over predestination and an acceptance of ordered and uniform practices of worship. Laud's love of ceremony and harmonious liturgy—the "beauty of holiness"—was favoured by King Charles because it encouraged obedience to the King's authority as head of the church. Laud believed that he was restoring discipline and order to the Church of England according to the rules laid down in the earliest days of the English Reformation. However, his attempts to force uniformity of worship ran contrary to all shades of Puritan opinion, and his Arminian doctrines were regarded as dangerously close to Roman Catholicism.

Direct Links to the Play

The Cardinal arguably fits perfectly with the contemporary Protestant assumptions about the Roman Catholic Church (As the main surviving man of authority at the end of the play, he speaks for part of the Caroline audience in his orthodox condemnation of ‘incest and murder’ (5:6,161), a religious rather than a merely Catholic position.)

Ford wasn’t even necessarily hostile to Catholicism in all its forms. Research by Lisa Hopkins has shown that he had close contacts among the English Catholic gentry.

The deaths in the end of the play link to the idea of Catholic view of incest as a sin - punishment (Ford must punish characters, through death, in order to keep with social rules of the era). Alternatively, the lack of punishment for the incest may also be seen as a satyr of the church. incest was a religious crime so the church was supposed to enforce punishments, however the Friar fails to bring the relationship out into the open, fails to get Giovanni to repent and in the end flees and leaves both Giovanni and Annabella unpunished.

Friars - including Shakespeare’s Friar Laurence and the sharper Friar Francis in Much Ado About Nothing - have a generally benign image on the stage at this time compared with other Catholic clergy. The two main groups of Friars, Franciscan and Dominican - Bonaventure is named after a thirteenth-century Franciscan saint  - emphasised preaching and charitable involvement with the community, not the prayerful seclusion favoured by some religious orders.

Crystal Spears writes in her work: Incest and the Grotesque in John Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore

'a much more strict religious, political, and economic era under James I'

'Religious life had become more and more constrictive as James made citizens sign declarations that the king was closer to God than the common man and that the Pope had no power over the monarchy.'

'The patriarchal power structure that kept men at the head of both household and state was believed to be instated by both God and nature. Ford's era was rife with cultural conditions and historical changes in English culture that were reflected in his dramas.'

Louise Fordham

•       With regards to the beginning of the play: 'According to A. P. Hogan the use of nature, reason and religion as justifications are not sustained in the rest of the play as, "Ford gradually and inexorably shreds the grande alliance which his hero has so laboriously built up" '

•        'The myth of Jove and Leda portrays an unnatural coupling between a mortal and a god in the form of a swan, thereby paralleling the "unnatural" union of brother and sister.'

•        In the death and marriage-bed scene Giovanni plays god by taking her life, an action which he subsequently proclaims to be a "rape of life and beauty“

Bill Levy

•       'Ford was very close to his religious mother. Ford biographer Tag Gallagher declares that Ford inherited the religious fervor of his childhood from her.'

•       'Robert Parrish's quip about John Ford, 'He was a cop hater by religion''

And that's about it for religion in 'Tis Pity She's A Whore! This would be an ideal exam topic if, like me, you are comparing it to William Blake.

The Blossom

The Blossom is a Song of Innocence that explicitly focuses on sexual awakening, making it a useful poem to use should a question on love or sexuality come up in the exam. It also tells us a lot about what Blake believed to be the nature of innocence.

The Blossom

Merry Merry Sparrow

Under leaves so green

A happy Blossom

Sees you swift as arrow

Seek your cradle narrow

Near my Bosom.

Pretty Pretty Robin

Under leaves so green

A happy Blossom

Hears you sobbing sobbing

Pretty Pretty Robin

Near my Bosom.

Form & Structure

The poem consists of two sestets (six-line stanzas), each composed of a regular ABCAAC rhyme scheme, giving them a rigid structure, suggesting that nature is indifferent and unchanging to human conventions. The rhythm alternates between trochaic dimeter and trimester, echoing children’s rhymes. The repetition of patterns highlights the contrast between the two birds, despite the speaker not recognising this.

Because the speaker receives no response from the blossom, the poem takes the form of a monologue, demonstrating that this aspect of nature is impersonal, unlike the paganist beliefs of nature typical of Romantic poetry. Instead, in the material world there is no vital personality or feeling.

Stanza One

The repetition of “Merry Merry” and “Under leaves so green” demonstrates the simplistic and childish nature of the innocent speaker.

The “Sparrow” is associated with carefree joie de vivre and also a symbol for nature. In the Bible, Jesus stated how not even the insignificant death of a sparrow goes unnoticed.

The “happy blossom” represents fragility, and thereby the fragility of innocence, although it also demonstrates the naivety of innocence. It is also signifies the time of Spring and its light-heartedness. Blake is suggesting that the tenderness and fragility of the blossom provides solace for two different human aspects of experience.

In line with the theme of sexual awakening, the “swift” “arrow” is phallic imagery, whereas the “cradle narrow” is vaginal.

The repetition of “Near my Bosom” indicates the nurturing and secure nature of the speaker, suggesting a maternal instinct, and represents a focus on erogenous breasts.

Stanza Two

The repetition of the first two lines in the second stanza, with the exception of turning “Merry Merry” into “Pretty Pretty” unifies the sparrow and robin as symbols of nature, and creating a harmony between nature, creatures and humankind, but also demonstrates the ignorant innocent nature of the speaker in generalising the two creatures despite their differences.

The repetition of “sobbing sobbing” highlights the differences between the sparrow and the robin. In between the two stanzas, it is insinuated that a sexual act has taken place. From this, the sparrow has gained sexual experience while the robin is left “sobbing” from a broken heart.

The “Robin” is usually associated with friendliness and compassion. According to tradition, the robin tried to remove a thorn from the crown of thorns on Jesus’ head while he was crucified. A drop of blood fell from the thorn onto the robin’s breast, and this has remained a symbol of compassion.

In his Proverbs of Hell, Blake wrote:

“Excess of sorrow laughs.

Excess of joy weeps.”

This seems to suggest a cyclical nature of emotions, in line with the belief of Levi-Strauss that contraries are interdependent by the very fact of their opposition. In regards to this specific quote from Blake, any human feeling when over-exerted becomes its opposition; these contraries blur rather than maintaining a stark divide. So once again, this poem uses excesses of emotions created from sexual experience to demonstrate the need for both innocence and experience. Should someone stay in innocence, they stay in the naivety of the speaker of this poem.

To be honest, I’ve probably over-analysed this poem to death so do not feel forced to remember every single point I’ve made in this section, but should love come up, so long as you intertwine your analysis with the theme of the two contrary states, this is a good poem to discuss!

Fatal Attraction: Desire, Anatomy and Death in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (pt.2)

This post is a continuation of my previous post on the anatomization of desire in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, which, if you have not already read, can find in the following link:
Part One

This section focuses on the Death of Desire, and how Ford creates a "desire/death dynamic" through the genre of a Revenge Tragedy.

Michael Neill: Death was not only invented by those involved in the practices of burial and associated rituals, but also through art and literature, especially tragedy, which for Neill "was among the principal instruments by which the culture of early modern England reinvented death."

Barthes: "in the amorous realm, the desire for suicide is frequent", and desire is directed outward "aggressively against the loved object or in fantasy uniting myself with the loved object in death."

Jonathon Dollimore: "the absolute object of desire is, experientially, a fantasy of the absolute release from desire, i.e., death of desire/death of the self."
This is based on the Freudian contention that "the aim of all life is death".
ALSO
"socialised desire is a lack, impossible to appease because it is the lack of death itself , and life merely an enforced substitute for death."
ALSO
'Tis Pity is an exemplar text of desire as a supremely "death-driven, death-dealing and death-desiring" phenomenon, elucidating aspects of its early modern cultural moment of production and imbricated in a rhetoric of desire that seems not yet to be exhausted.

The relationship between death and desire takes two main forms:
1. Union with the other
2. Death

While Giovanni and Annabella's vows set up desire and death as mutually exclusive, antithetical possibilities, e.g. "Love me, or kill me.", as the play progresses we see that these terms are inextricably bound together and admit the possibility that to love is also to kill.

Giovanni's murder of Annabella can certainly be read as a desire to revenge himself upon Soranzo. However, both his and Annabella's deaths can at the same time be read as a desire to become one, or be united with the other.
This links to Barthes' desire "to be the other, I want the other to be me, as if we were united, enclosed within the same sack of skin."

Desire exceeds society's containing structures and ultimately manifests itself in death, killing those that uphold the law as well as those who transgress it.

Annabella's phrases, i.e. "Dying in favour with him I would die without pain" might stand as a precursor to a Wagnerian liebestod.

Catherine Belsey: the play participates in attempts in the early modern period to make desire "more thoroughly contained and confined within the institution of marriage, and thus brought under the control of the Law."
ALSO
"Desire, which is an absence, takes possession of the subject, tantalizes with an imagined omnipotence, and ultimately delivers nothing more nor less than an annihilation."

And that concludes this section on desire, anatomy and death in the play. I'll be uploading notes from more of the sections in the critical guide, but for now, try to wrap your head around these concepts, and if love or death come up as an exam question, you're sorted!

The Impact of the Great Patriotic War

Victory for the USSR came at a great cost.

o    There were 19 million civilian deaths

o    Soldier deaths amounted to 9 million

o    1200 towns were destroyed

o    20,000 villages were destroyed

o    A total of 65,000 km of railways were destroyed

o    40,000 hospitals were destroyed

o    100,000 collective farms were left in ruin

Much of the territory regained from 1943 onwards was of little value, because anything of value had been destroyed during the German retreat.

-          Over ½ of the Ukrainian capital Kiev had been reduced to rubble

There was a mass diversion of financial and material resources to the military sector, while consumer goods remained in short supply. The war had destroyed 2/3 of Soviet property, especially through their own “scorched-earth” policy.

There was also a loss of seven years’ worth of pre-war levels of income, leading to a decrease in living standards.

Mass casualties totalled 1/5 of the pre-war population. Other than casualties, there was a traumatic impact as 18 million more soldiers were wounded, and by 1945 6 million prisoners had been tortured or killed. Because 3x as many more men than women died, this led to inter-ethnic marriages which went against Stalin’s policy of russification.

After the war, Stalin used force to reassert his control over collaborators and the national minorities:

-          General Vlasov – leader of the Russian Liberation Army. He was hung publically in the Red Square.

-          Returning prisoners of war – they were taken to labour camps and treated as potential enemies

-          National minority groups (e.g. Crimean Tartars and Volga Germans) – transported from their homes and abandoned in Kazakhstan. They were treated as enemies of the State.

·         In 1944 – 400,000 Volga Germans were exiled to Kazakhstan. Over 1/3 died, most were used for slave labour.

-          Slave labour camps – the number rose from 1.6 million in 1942 to 4.7 million in 1947

4^th Five Year Plan

In 1946, Stalin introduced his 4^th Five Year Plan that aimed at national reconstruction, and industrial recovery came at an amazing rate with the Dnieper Dam reopening in 1947.

-          By 1950, industrial production was 75% higher than it had been in 1940

-          Coal rose from 149 to 261 million tonnes between 1945-50

-          Between 1945-50 90% of industrial investment went into capital goods industries

BUT threats of famine returned as the government relied on grain procurements accounting for 70% of the harvest.

Essay: Extent of recovery after the Great Patriotic War

This is an essay I wrote answering the following question, and it received band 4/5, which is the equivalent of an A*.

“The USSR had failed to recover from the impact of the Great Patriotic War by the time of Stalin’s death in 1953.”

Assess the validity of this view

                Following the Great Patriotic War, despite their victory the USSR was suffering from the destruction the war had left in its wake. It is estimated by modern historians that an excess of 20 million troops were killed during the war, leaving a gap in the workforce that would need to recover the production line, despite 2/3 of Soviet industrial property also being destroyed. In the post-war environment, Stalin was quick to return to his hard-line politics, calling upon the people to help rebuild the world power status of the USSR with their iron will, though great hardship followed. The period of 1945-53 was coined as “High-Stalinism”, where his hard-line politics allowed the USSR to achieve great recovery economically and industrially. However, in other areas, most notably agriculture, recovery was either limited or non-existent, where the climate was similar to that of the USSR during the 1930s. Therefore one would be more inclined to align themselves with the interpretation that while the USSR may have succeeded in recovering economically, this has its own limitations, while other social and political aspects are viewed as a failure to recover.

                Through Stalin’s 4^th Five Year Plan the USSR succeeded in recovering their heavy industry, which the war had had a great impact on. For the duration of the German occupation, industrial infrastructure had been damaged by the bombing of Blitzkrieg tactics, while the USSR itself used “scorched earth” policy to avoid the German invasion using Soviet resources. The material damage can be expressed in terms of the loss of output and income, that loss of income 7 years’ worth of pre-war levels. However, due to the target-driven nature of the 4^th Five Year Plan, most targets in heavy industries such as coal, iron, oil, electricity, etc. were met or exceeded. By 1950, industrial production had increased by 75% compared to the figures of 1940. There were also great gains made in rebuilding damaged infrastructure, including the Soviet railway and Dnepropatrovsk dam. But this wasn’t just through the 4^th Five Year Plan. After the war, the USSR was able to strip assets from its newly acquired territory, including East Germany, and these assets were also used to help recover industry. Although it may be claimed that Soviet figures of industrial recovery may be exaggerated to an extent, it must be acknowledged that the trend of progression and increased output shown in these figures is likely to be realistic. From the evidence discussed, one cannot conclude that the USSR had completely failed to recover, as heavy industry can be viewed as an economic success in terms of recovery.

                However, there were limitations to recover within this area of industry. Due to the quantity over quality nature of the target-driven Five Year Plans, much of the Soviet industry remained inefficient and labour intensive, leading to low productivity levels due to obsolete machinery and the mass casualties of skilled workers. In light of this comment, the Stalinist model led to many serious hardships faced by the workers who were expected to achieve targets despite the lack of manpower. As a result of the Five Year Plans encompassing government priorities, many consider there to be a negation in recovery as consumer industries were completely neglected as a fundamental component to the economy. This led to shortages of basic necessities, including clothes, which drove people towards Black Markets where they would play “unofficial” prices for goods. Many suggest this led to a loss of wealth, suggesting that there were limitations to economic recovery. One may refute this point, as statistics indicate the GDP of 1948 exceeded that of 1938, which may be viewed as indication of recovery. Yet, when considering the fact that the post-war period was known as the “Golden Age” where many countries experienced economic recovery, one may be more inclined to argue that when compared to the recovery of countries such as France, the gains made by the USSR are less impressive. Linked to international affairs, the economic recovery of the USSR was limited in that after the war the USSR lost the economic aid provided by her previous allies: the UK and the USA. The USA lend-lease programme had accounted for 23% of aid received by the USSR during the war. Therefore, there was economic recovery within heavy industry, consumer industries suffered as a result of neglect due to priorities being focused on the former. And even while being prioritised, there were limitations to the extent heavy industries recovered, due to the inefficiency of the Stalinist model under which heavy industry was governed. Therefore one may conclude that heavy industry overall was neither a total success, nor a total failure in terms of recovery.

                On the other hand, one area of economy that may be viewed as a total failure in terms of recovery, was agriculture. Like in the 1930s, farming was viewed by the government as a source of revenue gained from exporting grain, and by feeding the industrial workforce, even if the farmers themselves went hungry. And this turned out to be the case, after 1945 the state took 60-70% of harvested grain, despite actual grain production depleting. The 1946 grain harvest was 1/3 of that of 1940, and the actual 1940 figure remained unreached until 1952. This prompted a famine that lasted between 1946 and 1947, echoing the famine from the 1930s. Stalin’s successor Khrushchev painted a bleak picture of the state of rural USSR by claiming there were reports of cannibalism started as a result of starvation during the famine, which certainly suggests attempts of recovery in agriculture, such as reducing the bureaucracy in rural areas, or creating brigades in 1950, totally failed. But, it is disputable as to whether the war had an actual impact on the state of agriculture. The state of agriculture post-war was only a continuation of the failure of agriculture during the 1930s, and that this economic area never recovered before the war. Therefore it would be incorrect to assume that agriculture is an example of failing to recover from the war, as it was always failing to recover even before the war.

                From a political perspective, many Western historians agree that rather than there being recovery in this aspect, there was only a regression, both on a domestic and global scale. From her participation in the war, the USSR had gained alliance with Britain and, though not to as much an extent, the USA. However, by 1953 these alliances had been completely cut off as a Cold War climate of tensions and a Nuclear Arms Race ensued. Though it could be considered a political success that the USSR was considered competition to other Western superpowers in terms of its military and weaponry, as well as extending its control to the Eastern European satellite states, this wasn’t without creating its own enemies. In terms of domestic politics, Stalin by 1953 had secured his position as he maintained “High Stalinism”, which some Soviet historians claim is an example of recovery as by securing the regime’s position, Stalin had secured political security and stability within the USSR. Others, like intentionalist historians refute this claim, comparing Stalin’s “totalitarian” state to that of the Tsarist regime. Stalin had managed to centralise his government, while making sure that officials remained inferior to him as the “god-like” figurehead from his cult of personality. The sense of political terror and militarism of the 1930s was echoed by The Leningrad Affair and Doctor’s Plot, the former involving the imprisonment and possibly even torture of 200 Leningrad party officials, leaving no room for input under Stalin’s rule. However, it is debatable as to whether the war had an impact on Stalin’s political position in the first place. Though generals like Zhukov were allowed to make great contributions to the war effort, Stalin remained the figurehead and High Commander of his centralised military organisation the Stavkha, and therefore arguably the war had no impact on his position in the first place.

                In terms of social recovery, one must focus on Zhdanov’s cultural reforms that were implemented into Soviet society following the war. Due to the high death toll, many women found it harder to marry, resulting in a rise of inter-ethnic marriages, which were clearly in contradiction with Stalin’s aim of “russification”. Furthermore, following the war Stalin became more paranoid of Western influences seeping into Soviet culture and tainting the Russian “identity”. Leningrad became viewed as a “window of the West”, which may have been a motivation for the Leningrad purge mentioned before. In order to correct this social impact, Stalin turned to Zhdanov and his cultural reforms, which became known as Zhdanovism. He introduced a policy of “anti-Cosmopolitanism”, banning any Western influences including jazz, as well as encouraging a surge in “Russian Nationalism”. While the population were certainly influence by these reforms, this was accompanied by a rise in Antisemitism and the feeling of alienation by the other nationalities. This could potentially viewed as a reason for the collapse of the USSR later down the line, but at that point also weakened the USSR’s social unity. Furthermore, it discouraged people being able to think for themselves, and hindered Soviet technological and scientific advancements as they were prohibited from collaborating with Western science communities. Therefore, though Stalin achieved his aims of ridding the USSR of Western influence, this was to be a hindrance to the USSR’s own advancements, which can be viewed as a failure in social recovery.

                In conclusion, although from an economic perspective the USSR recovered their loss of heavy industry production, this had its own limitations, while other areas of the economy like agriculture failed to recover. Politically, domestic politics consisted of a secured regime which brought both stability, but terror, though the war may not have affected this to begin with. Through the social reforms of Zhdanov, Russia managed to retain its own national identity, but the nationalities surrounding Russia became alienated, and so the unity of the republics became fragile, which, when considering it synoptically, could have been a reason for the eventual collapse of the USSR. Therefore, in some respects the USSR managed to recover, but in other areas completely failed to do so, leading to the conclusion that the USSR partially failed to recover from the impact of the war.