Lovely Literature

While I was reading this poem, I was thinking about how poems are awesome because they can compare the craziest thing to something completely unrelated and yet it just works.

Laundry compared to love. Not exactly the expected comparison! I really like the comparison though because it's unusual and because when it is put in the terms that Ritchie put it in, love sounds comfortable and nice.

The speaker speaks about her love as if she has lost him or as if he has gone away. It's hard to tell if he is permanently gone, but he is on some sort of journey or is not with her at the present time. She mentions Kuwait, so maybe he is a soldier and fighting in far away countries. She speaks about how simple their love is by mentioning small things like "pocket surprises" such as "forgotten matches/lost screws clinking the drain." I imagine a woman doing her laundry and finding her lover's clothes mixed in with hers bringing back memories of them together and putting her into a day dreamy mood.

"All those wrinkles
To be smoothed, or else
ignored; they're in style."

This is my favorite stanza. It brings to mind the thought that even though the couple has had a few wrinkles in the past, they accept them and continue on because their love is so strong. I like that she is ignoring the wrinkles by saying they are in style, so they ignore their differences because they are in love.

It's a great love poem...possibly one of the best that I have read because it is simple and easy for most people to read since it includes a common practice like laundry.

I have read a few of Keats' poems before and I'd have to say I'm a fan of his writing. He uses a lot of vivid imagery that must be read a couple times to understand it but it's not as confusing as Emily Dickenson.

"Bright Star" is a symbol. He is speaking directly to the star in apostrophe, but he is actually speaking about something/one else. He is speaking to the star about his love and how he wants his love to be like the star in its unchanging manner. The star can stay forever in its place [in his mind at least] and see everything. The speaker would like to lay with his love forever [No--yet still steadfast, still unchangeable/Pillowed upon my fair love's ripening breast] and never change or lose what he has with her. He claims that laying with her forever would be the best way to spend the reset of his life, and he would even "swoon to death," which doesn't sound like an awful death. The bright star is a symbol for everything he wants to be, except for the fact that the star hangs in the sky by itself. He never wants to be alone and he always wants to be with his lover.

He compares himself to the star in a way by saying all the things that stars can see. If he himself could see all of these beauties [snow upon the mountains and the moors...etc], they would not compare to his love. Keats sounds like quite the romantic poet in this poem. It always makes me wonder what poets and writers think when they write such poems. Is it about their experiences? I'd like to think so in this instance.

"For me, though, it did matter. It still does. I should've stepped in; fourth grade is no excuse. Besides, it doesn't get easier with time, and twelve years later, when Vietnam presented much harder choices, some practice at being brave might've helped a little," [page 221].

Well. Raise your hand if you think the end of this novel is depressing!

Linda. She was barely even mentioned until the very last chapter, yet she was quite a large part of O'Brien's childhood. I'm assuming he is married since he has a daughter, but from what I recall he doesn't mention his wife [correct me if I'm wrong?].

I think O'Brien brought her into this story as a symbol. A symbol for strength, courage, kindness, love, and struggle. O'Brien claims he truly loved her at nine years old, and that he still loves her to this day. If Linda would have lived, who knows if she and O'Brien would have worked, but the thought that they might still be together is uplifting.

It amazes me that O'Brien truly believes he found love at nine years old. I can't even begin to define love at my age right now. That's a heavy burden for a nine year old. The unusual thing is that I can actually believe that O'Brien loved her and knew that he did when he was nine.

Altogether, I actually enjoyed this book. After I finished my previous entries, I took a few hours off of blogging so I could think about the book more as a whole. It had elements that scared me because it was so graphic and real even though I was reading words in print. The stories were vivid and painted a picture in my mind. At the end, I'm still questioning certain stories...but I guess that's what makes an author good right? Still able to raise questions even though the novel is complete.

On to the next one...