Robert Frost

Robert Frost is perhaps one of my favorite poets that I have discovered in my education thus far. His nature themed poems with a dark edge to many delight my senses. If I had to pick a favorite it would definitely be "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening". I love this poem because of it's wonderful imagery. I recall when I was a kid sitting in the doctor’s office when I saw a painting of a man in the woods with a horse on a snowy evening. I often imagine the man from the poem to be the same man in the painting. I often think about Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken". I guess it's due to the fact that I am often second guessing myself. I love the imagery in this poem as well. I also like the fact that Frost leaves the reader guessing whether the road one takes truly matters. It also makes me think a bit about fate and whether or not it exists. “ Mending Wall” is another of Frost’s poems that I really enjoyed. I think the wall is symbolizing protection for the neighbor while it is prison for the other narrator. The wall stops the narrator from feeling complete freedom. The poem “After Apple-Picking” suggests more than just a tired old men exhausted from a day of picking apple. If one looks deeper into the poem the imagery such as the ladder on the ground , the half-filled barrels, and the narrators thoughts at the end of the poem suggests that the man questions whether what he is feeling is normal. The imagery shows a darker scene instead of simply an old man picking apples. It takes a lot of rereading for me to truly point out the imagery and the underlying meaning of Robert Frost’s poetry but it’s worth it.

The awakening

The Awakening is a traumatic story of a woman named Edna. Edna finds herself in a whirlwind of emotions that dramatically change her life and all those around her. At the beginning of the novel Edna is an ordinary married woman with children. However, that all takes a quick turn when she meets a man named Robert. They spend most of their time on the beach. During this time Edna begins to feel differently about life and who she is. Being around Robert just like being around the sea makes her feel free in a way she had not experienced before. Edna begins to rebel against society and it’s standards for woman. She does this by leaving her husband, getting her own place, having an affair, and spending lots of time painting. Her sudden change in lifestyle begins to have it’s toll on her especially after her true love Robert leaves. The departure of Robert and the chaos she has created for herself causes her to commit suicide. I think of this as a tragedy. Edna was finally free but at what cost? There were plenty of alternative methods that she could have taken such as seeking a divorce. The novel foreshadowed that she would kill herself in the midst of the sea. She often described it as beautiful and seductive. I think the sea was symbolizing Robert.

The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper is a daughting tale of a young woman who is a victim of circumstance. She was born in an unfortunate time when cures were often diseases. She begins the story as an average woman who recently had a child. She mistakenly thinks that the visit to her new “home” will be a pleasant one. To her surprise, she looses the bit of sanity she had. The narrator is the young woman in the story who suffers from postpartum depression. She is given the bed rest cure often described for other woman during the Victorian Era. I believe the bed rest cure is a horrific display of masculine control during this time. It is often sad to believe that new mothers had to endure such an unethical “treatment”. It makes me very thankful to know that I was fortunate enough to be born in a generation full of medical advances so I never will have to forgo this barbaric treatment. It does not surprise me that the narrator loses her sanity. It is obvious when she begins to lose her sanity because the way she speaks in no longer proper as it was at the beginning of this short story. Her words and sentences no longer made sense after she started losing her sanity. The yellow wallpaper represents the freedom that not only the narrator needed and wanted but it also represents the freedom that all women deserve. Ironically, the wallpaper could also be seen as a prison. The peculiar thing about this story is that the narrator has a hard time seeing that it is her husband’s fault that she is placed in the room with the yellow wallpaper. The ending is definitely my favorite part of the story because it reveals the complete madness the narrator has become.