Eudora Welty

I thought the story "Why I Live at the P.O." was very interesting and funny. I think that what these two sisters went through was something that every child that has siblings go through. I have an older sister and there were times during my childhood that I felt my parents favored her over me. I don't think we went to that extreme, but I am sure many do. Children really need and want attention from their parents and most will do anything to get. Obviously you see many adults just like Sister and Stella-Rondo that need attention from family and will do anything to get it. I like how the title of the story ties in so well to the actual story. I think this story was a lot of fun to read especially considering all the depressing poems we had to read this week.


Dianna

Allen Ginsberg

I am going to be honest about "Howl". I had a very hard time reading it. I think there were too many footnotes and I was really unsure about what was going on. I get the idea he is very upset about the way people are doing things at this time. I reseached it to see what I was missing and it seems most of what I read is about how when this poem came out it gained a lot of media attention. The poem had abscenity in it and I assume it made many people angry. Even though most of it was probably true, but most people do not like to hear the truth especially if it is something negative.


Dianna

Theodore Roethke

The poem "My Papa's Waltz" seems to be talking about the abuse of a father. The first line mentions whiskey on the father's breath and it seems that the boy and his father are dancing the waltz. The words "such waltzing was not easy" makes me think he was not talking about dancing. I also felt like the tone was not a happy one when he said "the hand that held my wrist". If you are talking about a memory of you and your father dancing even if your father had been drinking,then it would have a happy tone. The words battered and beat also make me think of abuse instead of dancing.The papa's waltz must have been when he had to much to drink and he went after the son and then put him to bed.

Tillie Olsen

I enjoyed reading the story "I Stand Here Ironing". Although it was kind of sad. I imagine many women went through the same thing during the Great Depression, and even many women going through it now. Many women then and now have to work very hard and do not have the time to give their children the attention or even the affection they need. One part of the story that really caught my eye was that Emily was the only one of her children to be beautiful at birth. I thought after reading this part that Emily was going to be shown some favoritism. It was not like that at all. I think the mother wanted to but circumstances caused her not to be able to. Even so she seemed to decide right then at the ironing board that she wanted Emily to strive for better and that she is more than what has happened in her childhood and that the past does not make her. I think sometimes people use their past as an excuse. I think the mother in this story was saying that. When she said "She is a child of her age, of depression, of war, of fear." It was almost as the mother was making excuses for her, even though the mother knew Emily had much in her.

Dianna

Elizabeth Bishop

I really like the poem "One Art" because I think everyone can relate to it. Who hasn't lost their keys or wasted an hour doing nothing. And I do think I have mastered the art of losing (losing my mind). I constantly lose things some of the time it seems like disaster and other things don't matter. I even usually find everything I have lost in the first place. I think when she talks about losing houses and continents she is talking about moving away from them. So now it is not necessarily misplacing something, but actually having to leave something for whatever reason. Then finally she loses a person, which in the eyes of most people it is a disater. You can lose people in different ways. You can leave them, or they leave you, or they can pass. Either way it seems that actually losing a person is a disaster, but losing material things is not.

Dianna

Frank O'Hara

The poem "Why I Am Not a Painter" seems to compare a painter and a writer, but in my opinion they are very similar. O'Hara seems to point out these similarities in this poem. The painter and the writer took a long time to create their masterpiece. Both of them named their masterpiece a title that did not have much to do with the actual work of art. In the beginning he says he would rather be a painter, but I do not feel like he gives a reason for this in the poem. My opinion is that they are both very similar. The only difference I seem to find is that the painter takes something out because it is too much, but the author just keeps adding words and pages to his writing.

Dianna

Gwendolyn Brooks

The poem "The Boy Died in My Alley" seemed like a way of saying that if someone knows about a murder then they should speak up. I don't know if the author went through something like this or witnessed it happen. Many times there are murders and people know things but do not speak up. The part that says "I joined the Wild and killed him with knowledgeable unknowing." That seems like the author is saying that they heard something and may have been able to do something but just ignored it. Even though they did not actually do the killing. I think if you see a person heading in a direction that may hurt them or kill them you should say something.