Song

My favorite poem out of the three we read was "Song" by Christina Rossetti. Being someone who just recently had to cope with the death of a loved one, this poem felt like a message from the person I lost. I think that is what the poem is aimed to do. It is to the loved one, telling them to celebrate their life and not to mourn their death. It says that if the person dies, they should be an extension of them; they should be the happiness that this person would have felt if they were alive. The speaker says that if you feel sad, understand that they are not suffering. They do not feel pain and cannot see the pain others feel. That should bring peace to you.

This definitely brings peace to my mind. Whenever we think of someone who has passed away, we tend to think of only the way they suffered at the end and it breaks us. It's truly one of the saddest thoughts to think. I know, whenever I think of the last six months I spent with my stepdad before he passed away last year, I can only dwell on the fact that he wasn't himself. And I end up feeling cheated, like I didn't even get to spend those six months with him. But it never really occurs to me that HE doesn't feel pain anymore. And that should be the thing that matters the most. The person who was suffering is no longer suffering, and we should all celebrate their lives and continue being happy because, if they were here, that's what they would do. They would continue being happy.

Likes: Long Walks on the Beach

I had to read Matthew Arnold's poem twice in order to really get anything out of it. The poem took an unexpected turn into dreariness around line 24. So, the second time I read it, I was overwhelmed with a sense of nostalgia. It was as if he was remembering the good times while surrounded by the dark times. He refers to the Sea of Faith, which is a good metaphor in my opinion because faith, like the ocean, is based on blindness. The ocean is deep and full of things we cannot see. It is full of possible situations and so is faith. We have faith in things in hopes that they'll change. We never know what will actually happen, until something does happen.
I really like Arnold's use of decsriptions in this poem. Even with the dark turn that the poem took, I still felt whisked away by his detail. He made the darkness beautiful. I also like that he brought Sophocles into the poem as well, because I do love me a bit of Greek tragedy. I am a drama student, after all.

10-07-14

In her essay, Margot Norris analyzes The Dead from a feminist point of view. Norris makes the point that Joyce criticizes patriarchy, as well as his own country in general. This can be seen when Aunt Kate shows her disagreement with the Pope that women should be taken out of the choir. She even blatantly states that she would say something right to his face. I believe Joyce's support of feminism also comes through in between the lines of the book. His critique on the treatment of women, of blacks, and of the Irish tradition in general are all indicators that he has a strong support for feminism.


She also describes back answers- the retorts the women make during almost every conversation held by the male lead. He gives the female characters a strong voice in the book, allowing them to express their opinions. However, Norris does say that, during Gabriel's argument with Mrs. Ivors, the narration is on Gabriel's side. I would disagree with that because I think it shows that women aren't afraid to tell it like it is and shows Gabriel's fear of judgment because he is, for all intents and purposes, a West Briton.


Norris says that he silences certain characters, such as Julia and Lily, because he does not have respect for feminism. I disagree with that. I believe those characters are less developed and do not need to have loud voices the way Aunt Kate and Mrs. Ivors do. I believe that they were "filler" characters- ones that take up space in a story.