Poetry by Marianne Moore

I never thought that, I, of all people, would say that I liked poetry. However, after reading "Poetry" by Marianne Moore, I not only can say that I appreciate poetry but I now have a favorite poem. From the title on, I was intrigued. I have always been apprehensive about poetry. It has always been a sort of writing beyond my comprehension. There was nothing about poetry that seemed worth reading to me. I guess it was just above my head. Not to mention poetry analysis just flat-out gave me a headache.

It was interesting to me that in her poem, Moore didn't force or even seem to want the reader to like poetry. It wasn't an expectation that you liked poetry to be reading this. It was easy to understand and grasped my attention. Here you have a poet, saying that she doesn't like poetry. Stop at that first line, would be like putting a book down right after reading a gripping cliff-hanger and you just don't do that. So, naturally I kept reading. By the end of the poem, I decided that if this is poetry, then there must be some hope for the genre. Honestly, I'm not sure how you can not like poetry after reading it. Thank you Marianne Moore for making poetry interesting!

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

The poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is an extremely well known poem. There is something about the poem that is just appealing to read. I think that a lot of people can relate to this poem, in that they want to take the road less traveled. It is the nature of our society for each person to want to be unique and be independent. The image of a path is a common metaphor for life. I don't think there are many people who consciously want to follow everyone else. Well, I am sure some people out there do. However, there is more of a sense of adventure in taking the road less traveled. I think that is the reason that this poem is so well liked that it is now cliche. I am not a huge fan of poetry, but I do like this poem. I like to think of myself as a person who chooses to take a different path, and I hope it will make a difference in the end.

"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" by Ernest Hemingway

"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" by Ernest Hemingway was about a man's safari in Africa. The man became injured by a thorn, and the wound became infected, because of his remote location he was unable to get treatment and it was slowing killing him. He was with a women, with whom he argued quite a bit. While he was stranded and dying, he began to reflect on his life. He had a lot of regrets about his life. You could even go as far as to say that at this point in his life, Harry is a man of regrets.

He regrets that he didn't live his life in a way in which he would have lived up to his potential. This played out in several ways throughout the expression of his thoughts in the story. He believed that he had "killed his talent" (1075). This death of his talent a provided him with a blanket of loneliness that stayed with him. According to Harry, he had "failed to kill his loneliness."(1075). Tied into this lonely regret was another element of regret about his inability to hold on to love and relationships. His perception of the problem was that "He had loved too much, demanded too much, and wore it out."(1079) In a sense his regrets could be summarized as a feeling that he just hadn't quite lived up to his potential.

The typeface played a strong role in expressing the feeling of regret presented. Henry in the italics is remembering how things used to be or specific events, whereas in the normal typeface his regret in the present moment of not writing of more of his experiences shines through. I think that this showed that his experience of dying impacted his view on the world and himself, which was interesting.

Babylon Revisited by F. Scott Fitzgerald

In our class discussion on this story, we debated for a while on whether or not Charlie had changed and should get his daughter back. I, personally, do not think that Charlie has really changed or should receive custody of his daughter. I don't believe that the three years time is enough to prove you are changed, especially when he had only been limiting his drink for "over a year" (1032). When it comes to the relationship between man and alcohol or any other addictive substance or behavior, it is a complete fallacy to believe that one is alright while still consuming it on a daily basis. There is a middle ground between full out alcoholism and recovery, but that in-between place is not the end. Steps need to continue to be taken to release Charlie from his dependence on alcohol, which he seems to have come to terms with. For this reason, it was disconcerting to hear him say: "I take that drink deliberately, so that the idea of alcohol won't get too big in my imagination." (1032) Drinking "responsibly" for a drunk, is irresponsible. The justification of his daily drink, proves that there is an unhealthy relationship with the substance.

On another level, I don't see that Honoria's return to her father is a welcomed by the ones who know the circumstances better then the reader does. Those who are taking care of Honoria are against it. They know that she might have access to more money, but at the same time the danger and instability is there. When Charlie was talking to Marion and Lincoln about the possibility of taking Honoria back to live with him, his nerves began to strain and "for the first time in a year Charlie wanted a drink." (1034) I think that the fact that when he gets into an uncomfortable situation, he almost immediately wants a drink shows that he still has work to do. While it may be a nice thing for Honoria to have visits from her father, because she clearly loves him: I don't believe that a custody switch is in her best interest at this time.

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

"A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams contained very unique characters that contrasted each other, so each scene had some element of surprise in interactions. The character that was the most interesting to read about for me, was Blanche. Her character was unstable but bold which I liked. While her relations with men, both past and present, have fed into her instability and insecurities, she still has an extreme dependence on men.

She sees men as her only way to survive and have some semblance of stability. Even though she willingly flirts with the delivery boy, she immediately puts on her prim and proper facade on for Mitch because she sees him as her way to have a stable life. Her desire to have a proper and stable life is thwarted by her promiscuous behaviors of the past that gave her a bad reputation. So, despite her attempts to make a new start with Mitch, her past eventually caught up with her: making her undesirable to the men who might provide her the stability she seeks.

I think that her long baths and concern with appearances show that at some level she knew that her past hadn't left her. She tried to escape in the bath to wash it away, but she had to come out and face life. Her way of dealing with this was to cover her insecurities over with a Chinese lantern and be bold in her escape of reality.

Birches by Robert Frost

The poem Birches by Robert Frost was absolutely fabulous in my opinion. I'm usually not a big poetry fan by any means, but for whatever reason I really appreciated this poem. It might be in part that I used to love to swing on the trees as Frost brought up in his poem. There is just a pure and unspoiled childish joy in leaping up and grabbing a tree branch. I'm not even sure what about it is so much fun. It kind of sounds ridiculous, if you haven't experienced it. However, once you've done it you just know the feeling and it is hard to explain. I really liked that I was able to relate to this poem's imagery, it made it more interesting to read.

I think that most people can relate to the part of the poem, where the speaker wanted to just escape from life to get reinvigorated. He didn't want to die, but just to somehow float away for a while and then come back more able to cope with life. It was as if he knew that life was worth living, but was so stressed out that he just needed an escape from reality. Since we know that Frost suffered from depression, that understanding of the poem seems to make contextual sense. Sometimes the world can get a little overwhelming and I can sometimes find myself wishing for a mini-escape to just take a break. I don't want to die by any stretch of the imagination. It is just that sometimes I feel like if I could just get a break from reality, I'd be more sane. I believe that life is totally worth living and "the right place for love", despite the hard and painful parts. Perhaps, even because of the hard parts? I'm not really sure.

Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce

Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce was a quite disturbing story. When I first read it, I got pulled into the romantic mind of the main character Peyton Farquar. The tale is set in civil war Alabama and Peyton is a well-to-do plantation owner. He thinks of himself as a respectful southerner who would do anything to serve the south, when in-fact, he refused to serve in the army feeling that it was for lesser men.

Regardless of his view of himself, the story begins with the beginning of his death. He was to be hung on the bridge, an execution of the utmost pain. The perspective that the story is told from is third person omniscient, and describes a cold and unfeeling bridge with soldiers preparing the noose and guarding the ends of the bridge. Once the noose is around his neck though, it switches into the thoughts of Peyton.


He becomes distracted by the ticking of his watch. He doesn’t know what the sound is but it overwhelms him. Then slowly his thoughts turn into a vivid escape. Somehow he manages to bring the reader with him off the bridge and into the water, escaping the eminent death a waiting him. This illusion is pretty well conveyed and his escape quite believable. When he gets close to his house though, he is almost in the arms of his wife when he is jerked back into reality.

The next line tells you that he is now dead, hanging from the bridge, as he had been throughout. It was rather difficult to read that part and not cringe at the thought of him swinging there back and forth like the pendulum of a grandfather clock. I personally had creepy images in my head after reading this story and was somewhat upset that I didn't pick up on the clues that he was indeed dead, while reading the escape. I wished that somehow he had managed to do the impossible.

However, as a reader I did just what Bierce, in his realistic writing style, wanted me to do and got caught up in the romantic ideas of Peyton: only to have them dominated by the true reality of the situation. All in all it was a very well-written piece that was definitely thought provoking and is an excellent example of realistic writing.