The Yellow Wallpaper

I really liked this short story.  It was very dark, but things about mental illness/madness/insanity have always been oddly fascinating to me.  The woman’s slow descent into madness is described very well, as is her growing obsession with the woman in the yellow wallpaper.  What is especially tragic about this story is the fact that her husband really did love and care about her – and he truly thought he was helping her.  It wasn’t like he locked her up there so she would be in misery; he tried to save her, but it ultimately just made her condition so much worse.

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?

I really enjoyed William Shakespeare’s “Shall I Compare Thee to a summer’s Day?” because of the simple, sweet message in it.  Shakespeare tells the subject of the poem that he/she is “more lovely and more temperate” than a summer’s day, and says that he/she will live in his verses long after he/she is dead.  I love that there isn’t some hidden dark or vulgar meaning behind this, like there is in so many of the other poems we have read.  It is a straightforward sonnet about love and I think that’s a nice and refreshing change.

The Red Wheelbarrow

I feel the same way about this poem as I feel about “We Real Cool.”  This is basically just a sentence split up in four parts – and no talent was needed to write this “poem.”  It’s absolutely pointless.  If there is some deep meaning behind this poem, Wiliiam Carlos Williams should have tried to express that a little more.

Dickinson and Garbo

Talking about Emily Dickinson was particularly interesting to me because I never knew she was such a recluse.  I knew that the majority of her poems were published posthumously, but that was really the extent of my knowledge regarding her.  Her dislike, or even fear, of the outside world was very similar to Greta Garbo’s.  One Garbo quotation came to mind while reading about Dickinson: “The story of my life is about back entrances, side doors, secret elevators, and other ways of getting in and out of places so that people won't bother me.”  Garbo had few friends, like Dickinson, and would only take walks when it was raining so she could hide her face with her umbrella.

Stop All the Clocks

"Stop All the Clocks” by W.H. Auden has become my favorite poem.  I thought it painted a really beautiful, yet heartbreaking picture of exactly how people feel when they are grieving.  They’re not ready for time to keep moving and they’re not ready to go on with their lives yet – and this poem did an excellent job of capturing that kind of feeling.  Also, it was neither too short, nor too long and it had a nice, simple rhyme scheme.  I love everything about this poem.

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner

“The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” by Randall Jarrell was another short poem, but one that I actually really liked.  It is about the death of a gunner on a WWII American bomber aircraft.  In class, we talked about how the majority of the men who flew in these aircrafts did not make it out alive, and the outcome in this poem was no different.  A lot of the men who fought in WWII were very young, and so I believe that the first line “From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,” is referencing that and talking about how fearful those young men must have been.  The last line is also particularly sad: “When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.”  To go out that way must have been absolutely horrifying.

We Real Cool

"We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks was one poem that I did not like.  I thought that it was really pointless, mainly because of how short it was.  The lines were extremely short and the poem itself was short as well.  Another thing I did not like about this poem was the positioning of the words.  “We” was at the end of the line, rather than the beginning, and this whole poem just bothers me.  It seems to be a poem about that “living fast, dying young” lifestyle, but it’s just so boring.  It does not reflect living a fast, exciting life at all.

A&P

In John Updike’s short story “A&P,” three teenage girls walk into the grocery store in only bathing suits.  The manager of the store, Lengel, confronts them about their attire, or lack thereof, and says that it is not appropriate for a grocery store.  Sammy, a cashier at the store, quits his job immediately after he rings up the girls’ purchases because he did not like the way his manager treated them.  Personally, I think there should be a difference between how one would dress at the beach and how he or she would dress at the grocery store, so I do understand where the manager was coming from.  I had read this story in my 12^th grade English class, but had kind of forgotten about it.  It’s an interesting story and I’m glad we read it in this class.

My Papa's Waltz

“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke was a very powerful poem.  The “waltz” is not really a dance, but a metaphor for something much more violent.  Throughout the poem, it is easy to tell that it is really about a father who is abusive towards his son.  Also, something that is mentioned twice is that the boy is hanging on or clinging to his father’s shirt.  This particular detail struck me because children often cling to their parents and rely on them to protect them from harm.  In this boy’s case, his “protector” is also his abuser, and I think that he is kind of clinging to the hope that his father will change.

Richard Cory

In class today, we read the poem "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson.  I had only heard the name Richard Cory in the Simon & Garfunkel song of that same name; I did not know that it was also a poem.  I thought that was very cool and interesting.  Robinson’s poem portrays Cory as a wealthy, fit, and, and seemingly happy man.  However, at the end of the poem, it is revealed that Cory, “one calm summer night/Went home and put a bullet through his head.”
The Simon & Garfunkel song “Richard Cory” doesn’t use any of the exact lines from the poem, but it is clearly a direct reference to it.  The chorus is sang from the point of view of someone who works in Cory’s factory:

                                    But I work in his factory

                                    And I curse the life I’m living

And I curse my poverty

                                    And I wish that I could be

Oh, I wish that I could be

Oh, I wish that I could be Richard Cory

Even though the words to the song are very different from the words to the poem, both of them are similar in one way; the suicide of Richard Cory is very unexpected.  They just go on about his money and how happy he must be, but then it is suddenly revealed that he killed himself.  The last lines of the song are the only ones that are very similar to lines in the poem.

                                    So, my mind was filled with wonder

                                    When the evening headlines read

                                    Richard Cory went home last night

                                    And put a bullet through his head