Friday, April 4, 2014

Poetry Rant

As much as I used to love poetry as a kid.....I don't so much these days. The entire nature of poetry has changed. It once was a playful, rhyming mixture of words and imagery, but now it's a complex puzzle with hidden meanings and themes. Every once in awhile I'll come across a poem that I actually understand, and I get a little glimmer of hope. I think to myself, "maybe poetry isn't all that bad after all..." and then somehow another confusing poem magically comes along, and I'm back to square one all over again. Maybe just maybe poetry isn't for everyone....AKA me. Okay, rant over. :)

Friday, January 24, 2014

Annoying Endings

    Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, keeps the reader guessing from start to finish. It's one of those stories that seems to never end, but rather continues to build up and build up. Finally the end comes, making the reader hopeful for questions answered. . . then boom. Nothing but more confusion. The ending leaves the reader hanging, again wondering what the whole point of the story was to begin with. With a little articulation and a bit of stretching though, it can be applied to everyday life.
     The woman who narrates the story becomes so fixated with the ugly yellow wallpaper that surrounds her as she lay ill in an old nursery, that she begins to lose touch with reality and becomes delusional. Not saying that this exact situation applies to most people, but every so often people run into "ugly" situations. These struggles should  not be allowed to take over and control our lives though. Instead of becoming obsessed, we should rethink, revision, and then continue to move on. Life is too short to go crazy over the little stuff, especially something as little as yellow wallpaper.