Author: j.wong16

Walcott’s love poems, “Bleecker Street, Summer” and “The Fist” are very different compared to the typical love poems that we have read in the past. These poems highlight the darker and negative aspects of love that demonstrate the pain that love can make you feel. Specifically, in “The Fist” he uses a fist to represent the hold that love has on people and how oftentimes, it can be terrorizing. He describes the feeling like there is a fist around the heart that makes it hard to breathe. Additionally, Walcott’s poems represent love poems that are not necessarily dedicated to a person but to other things. For instance, Walcott’s “Bleecker Street, Summer,” describes Walcott’s love for Manhattan during the summertime. Walcott’s poem once again includes the negative aspects of love with his bittersweet relationship. His appreciation for manhattan is undermined by the uncolorful aspects of Manhattan with “the smell of water down littered streets that lead you to no water.” This clearly demonstrates how Manhattan is not as fruitful as it may seem. While talking about the negatives of Manhattan, Walcott looks back to an island that he misses, that Manhattan cannot compare to.

In the “Oven Bird” by Robert Frost, the relationship between man and nature is represented as if, they are one entity. Frost sees how the changes in nature, almost represent that of life. He sees the Oven Bird as more than just a bird. He even goes as far as to say that the bird “makes the solid tree trunks sound again” (line 3), which reflects how the song of the bird brings life to what may seem like an ordinary part of nature. He talks about the seasons changing, and how the songs of the birds demonstrate that.  During the spring and summer, the birds are at their peak, in song as well, just as how the flowers are in full bloom. However, as fall and winter approaches, the birds will soon cease to sing, just as how the flowers and trees are in decline. Frost compares the bird’s songs that change with the seasons, to the life and stages of man. As winter approaches, it almost represents the final stages of life, just as how nature becomes lifeless as the birds stop singing in the wintertime. Frost also acknowledges that the birds bring life to nature like how poets bring life to the words they use to write poems.

The Gilded Six-Bits comments on the betrayal and infidelity of Missie May against her husband, Joe. Throughout the story, it is portrayed that Missie May and Joe are in a happy, stable relationship, from their constant laughter and constant reassurance of their love. However, their happiness in the relationship was misleading as Missie May was found in bed with Slemmons. At first, Joe and Missie May don’t know how to act around each other, and Joe even comments on why he does not know why she is crying. They stop doing their Saturday morning traditions, and the coin, that Slemmons left behind, is still a symbol of the infidelity that Joe holds onto. As long as the coin stays, the memory of the betrayal are still engraved in their heads and they cannot move on. However, we see that with time, forgiveness and acceptance is possible in intimate relationships. In the end, Joe and Missie May go back to their normal Saturday morning routines, that symbolize the beginning of the forgiveness that can help their relationship go back to the way it was.

Anton Chekhov’s The Lady with the Dog takes place in the small resorted town of Yalta, where Anna and Dmitri meet. The remoteness of the town plays an important role in the story because this is temporarily their life outside of reality and their responsibilities. Anna is in Yalta for a vacation, but has a husband back home, while Dmitri is married with children. The lovers continue their relationship in Yalta, where they become inseparable. Reality hits them hard when they have to leave each other and go back into their lives outside of Yalta. Yalta acted as a foundation for them to build their relationship, where they did not have to care for their outside responsibilities. When Anna has to leave Yalta, that is where they think their relationship ends— until Dmitri goes to S—— to surprise Anna. However, the reality of their relationship finally came into light for both of them. When Anna sees Dmitri she is unpleasantly shocked and realizes all the implications of their relationship. She says “We are mad. Go away to-day; go away at once. . . . I beseech you by all that is sacred, I implore you. . . . There are people coming this way” (page 8). Outside of Yalta, people will actually recognize them and they realize that their relationship cannot go beyond what was built in the town.

From the very beginning of The Gilded Six-Bits by Zora Neale Hurston, we can already see how wealth and poverty are a vibrant theme in this short story. The story starts with a depiction of the house that Missie May and Joe live in. They put on a facade of a wealthy and happy lifestyle through the lines, “the fence and house were whitewashed. The porch and steps scrubbed white.” The description of the house shows how they work hard to make the appearance of their house seem nice and clean, which is another symbol of wealth. We can tell that Missie May and Joe might not be as well off as they are perceived to be. Although it seems that Missie May and Joe have a happy marriage, with their constant games and laughter, we see how money plays an underlying role in the story and taint their marriage. Missie May’s willingness to risk her marriage to receive gold from Slemmons demonstrates how money and a higher class play an impactful role in influencing her decisions. She is overcome with her desire for wealth that she is willing to sleep with another man, even though she claims her immense love for her husband. Soon, the positive symbol of the coin for wealth and happiness turns the coin to a symbol of the infidelity and betrayal that Missie May brought upon Joe. However, towards the end, we see how Missie May and Joe realize that money and the power of wealth can no longer put a strain on their marriage.

Blake’s ideas did not fit the traditional Enlightenment thinking, and his poems often criticized the faults that he saw with this time period.  Many of the Englightenment ideas consisted of independent thought and personal enlightenment to improve society as a whole. However, Blake criticized the disparities in society that he saw between those in power (the church and the monarchy) “the priest and king” and the lower class such as the “Chimney-sweepers” and “Harlots” who were suffering in society. Blake’s work directly criticizes the fact that not everyone benefits from the enlightenment through self-reasoning, no matter how hard they may try to work on themselves. He criticized and opposed the ideas of the church and the government who abused their power that led to the suffering of many people.