Assignment 3

EUDORA WELTY
"Why I live at the P.O"

Holy dramatic monologue! The sister tells the story from her point of view after moving away from her family and into a post office. Her claims that the younger sister has turned the family against her seem unjust because we only see her side of the story. This story was just painful to read, and impossible to keep the characters straight. I actually caught myself imagining my dysfunctional family, although instead of the post office, my sister moved to North Carolina. :)

TILLIE OLSEN
"I Stand Here Ironing"
This story is one that a lot of people can relate too. I actually found myself thinking this was probably how my mother felt some mornings when I was still living under her roof. There were many days when my mother would ask "what did I do so different with your sister" leading me to believe I would never be of comparison to my sister. Although as this story reflects along the life of her 19 year old daughter, she begins to reflect upon her own life. Everyone is able to just get lost in reflection, wondering what happened to put you where you are or what will happen next. I enjoyed reading this and going down that road with the author.

THEODORE ROETHKE
"My Papas Waltz"
FINALLY, we get to debate "My Papas Waltz." For the last 2 years, "My Papas Waltz" has remained a 'hot topic' in Dr. G's classroom discussions.
For ONE- this is not about molestation. lets throw that out there.
People have such wide interpretations of this poem and it drives me crazy! So I'm going to break this down loud and clear.
Stanza One.
The whiskey on his breath, does not make him an abusive alcoholic right off the bat. In this time period labor was a much harder job than it is today and he probably came home to have a drink. He is not belligerent, just having a drink after work. The boy said he "hung on like death" so obviously he wasn't trying to run away from this abusive father people will claim he had, and he called his fathers walk a "waltz" as if his fathers drunken stagger was a dance to the child.
Stanza Two.
The word ROMPED
1. To play or frolic boisterously.
2. To run or advance in a rapid or easy manner.
3. Slang To win a race or game easily.
DOES NOT HAVE "TO BEAT DOWN" in the definition.
so pretty much they played until the pans fell from the shelf, just rough housing like boys and fathers do. Then people will argue the mother is frowning, yes she is because her pans got knocked off, not because her son is being beaten by her husband.
Stanza 3.
the description of his fathers hand "beaten on one knuckle" proves he is a blue collar worker, and his hands are rough from a hard days work. As the two are "waltzing" the father stumbles a little causing his son who is clinging to him "like death" to scratch his ear on his belt buckle.
Stanza 4.
As the father waltzes the son to bed he pats his hand and again the fathers hand is described to further the proof that he is a hard labor worker. The sons emotions at this point are clear, as his father is putting him to bed he is "still clinging" to his father because he wants to play a little longer with his father.
That's it. Non- negotiable. :)

ELIZABETH BISHOP
"One Art"
"the art of loosing isn't hard to master" I liked this one, as much as I hate to admit it. But it seemed like she was making loosing everything not sound as bad as it usually is. We have all lost something, or someone at one point in time and it wasn't the end of the world. Next time I start to feel like I'm loosing everything, ill just remember "their loss is no disaster

ALLEN GINSBERG
"Howl"
DISLIKE.
ILL MAKE MY BLOG AS DIFFICULT AS THIS STORY. EH?
one great run on sentence. epic win? I think not.
I don't know what he is rambling about, or why he is rambling about it.
Shmoop says..
"Howl appears to be a sprawling, disorganized poem. But it's not. It consists of three sections. Each of these sections is a prolonged "riff" on a single subject. You could even think of the poem as three enormous run-on sentences. The first section is by far the longest"
(Ill highlight what I agree with after reading this)
I just picture some guy spinning around all these words.. possibly on opium? He describes a bunch of weird things, then randomly throws in something that makes sense then throws in the word 'tortilla.' Those poor people burned in flannel pajamas. Why would someone jump off the Brooklyn bridge? Dancing on broken glass?? Finishing a glass of whiskey and throwing up defiantly sounds believable. The word Denver is getting annoying. "crashed though their minds" well this story is crashing through my mind FOR SURE.

FRANK O'HARA
"Why I Am Not a Painter"
This was kinda hilarious to me. It was random, and I liked it.
It was exactly what the title said, it describes why he is not a painter. The painter Goldburg worked with O'Hara on his silk screen print illustrations. So he describes what would happen if he was a painter and him and Goldburg were talking about a painting. The different mind sets between a painter and a poet become obvious in O'Hara's point of view.

GWENDOLYN BROOKS
"of De Witt Williams on his way to Lincoln Cemetery"
"The Boy Died in My Alley"

These were the two works that I chose from Brooks collection. These were my two favorites because they both really showed her character. Brooks was a proud African American woman and she wrote of what she knew. I really enjoyed reading these two and look forward to teaching my lesson on them!