My Literary Interpretation Blog

"I being Born a Woman and Distressed" By: Edna St. Vincent Millay

This poem may seem to many as a love poem between two people. However I feel it has more of a personal meaning towards the woman. This poem was written during the age of the feminist movement and i believe the poem is trying to say that she is a woman, and there's nothing she can do about it, but shes not going to let that make her be any different from any other person.
She is in love with who she is. And she will not change her feelings for that person. Whether it be herself, or a possible lover.



"The Raven" By Edgar Allen Poe

The Raven to me is one of the most confusing and longest poems i have ever read. It seems almost mystical how well Poe explains his feelings in it. I question why Poe has his character question the bird continuously as if he had no idea what was being discussed. The Raven is about self pity and agony. And those emotions can be hard and confusing. Thus the reason for Poe's character questioning the bird.



"The Sick Rose" By: William Blake

The poem "the sick rose" looks into the darker aspects of death and love. What I enjoyed most was interpreting what a rose symbolizes and what it also means when it dies. A rose symbolizes love. This connects to the crimson joy in the poem that love is living. Although when the rose dies it turns purple. A color of death and sickness. The poem is a strong metaphysical one and is difficult to understand what the rose itself symbolizes.



"To Coy His Mistress" By: Andrew Marvell

The poem "To Coy His Mistress" is an intense love story between an older gentleman and a younger woman. He begins by saying how he loves her and that he'll be able to wait for her love. However it seems quite obvious that he has no intention of waiting and is trying as hard as he can to overwhelm the woman his his sweet romantic sayings. However the woman seems to see through his plot and being the woman she holds the real power of the situation and whether or not the man will be successful in his influence.



"Death Be Not Proud" By: John Donne

The poem "Death Be Not Proud" symbolizes the overall fear of death. But then again it also stands for strength and courage of the living and the belief that death has no power over anyone and should not see itself as a threatening force to the living.


"My Papa's Waltz" By: Theodore Roethke

The poem "My Papa's Waltz" is believed at first to be a story of an alcoholic father who beats his son, and makes his wife and son very unhappy. However I was not given this impression as i read it. I saw this poem as a story between a father and son and the behavior they express to one another as the day ends. The waltz is almost seen as a form of playing, or rough housing and the most significant message that this is a poem of love is when the poem states the boy is to leave, but still clings to his fathers shirt. This proves how the boy truly felt of his father and that he actually loved him.


"A Streetcar Named Desire" By: Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire was a turning point for the portrayal of violence in families. The image of a southern belle who lies and manipulate for her own self gratification. The violent and alcoholic expression of the husband who speaks his mind. And the wife who lives with the violent husband and untrustworthy sister. All this brings them together through the violence of living together in the house. The destructive power of violence thus crumbles the family from within leaving nothing for anyone.


"Trifle" By: Susan Glaspell

Trifles is a story that pinpoints the perceptions of men and women. The women of the story gather together as they learn more details leading them to believe who the killer of Mr.Wright is. However the men who feel as they have control of the crime see these detail only as "trifles." Also, the house is seen as a wreck and the women see it as an abandonment of wifely duties and begin to suspect Mr. Wrights wife.


"In the Lake of the Woods" By: Tim O' Brian

The story "In the Lake of the Woods" is one of depth and shadows. The narrative tone of the story keeps the reader guessing and always trying to understand what is happening. The characters are always seen in a dark, and suspected of a deeper anger.

John is a character who seems from the start as a troubled person. After service in the Vietnam war we turns to politics however looses the election. His wife Kathy is happy the two of them are able to spend more time together now that John is done with politics. However Kathy soon vanishes and John is suspected of killing her. The story is a large collection of lies, confrontations, and surprises as the story leads us to believe John is innocent and leaves the lake as if it were magic.


"Young Good Man Brown"

From the very start of this story I knew it had to do with good and evil. It was strange though how Goodman himself was evil, and how his wife was part of the witch association that he himself was going to. I also found it interesting how Goodman almost represents the devil himself. I dont know if others got that impression but I did.


"A Hunger Artist" By: Franz Kafka

I found this story to make no sense at all. Why is it that this circus act keep fasting? I did not catch any symbolism in this story other than maybe this was a type of way for the man to gain attention. I also thought it was strange how they quickly lost interest with him just because he was fasting. I would have been more concerned for his health rather than how long he had been fasting. So this story had absolutely no influence on me at all.


"The Jewelry" By: Guy De Maupassant

This story had me interested from the very beginning. I knew the year of the story by the way the characters spoke and by some other interesting words the narrator choose as well. I thought the most interesting part was when the man found out his past wife's jewelry was worth more than he ever imagined. I also liked it how the narrator never quite explains how the man's wife was able to afford such expensive jewelry. It left my mind open for other more scandalous explanations. Over all, I enjoyed the story, and how the man is still miserable even after becoming rich.


"Recitatif" By: Toni Morrison

I didn't quite understand this story and found it very uninteresting. It tells of two girls who live together in an orphanage. They become friends and live their lives in the orphanage. However, years later after the two have moved out they grow apart and no longer are the friends they used to be. Pretty much the story turns into a huge argument between the two old friends and seems like its just a lot of drama for nothing. I didn't find this story to mean much of anything and wished the author made it easier to understand.


"A Rose for Emily" By: William Faulkner

I found this story to be creepy and mysterious. I was interesting to read and suspect it was the Emily herself who dies of old age but in fact it turns out to be her over pertective father who has died years ago and has been left in a bed inside the house. I realize now that this was out of respect and love by Emily though I wish I didn't learn that she would sleep next to her dead father every night. That was just too weird.

"The Lady with the Dog" By: Anton Chekhov

This story was long and confusing. It begins with Demitri seeing a woman on the beach with her dog. He becomes interested in her and eventually the two have an affair. The woman realizes this cannot happen so she leaves Demitri. However Demitri follows her and even though it turns out the two are in love and wish to be with each other they can not. I expect a little more however the details were interesting.


"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" By: Ambrose Bierce

This story had me fooled the whole time. It starts with a southern man during the Civil War who learns of a bridge taken by Union forces. He knows the penalties for fooling with the bridge but he takes the risk for he believes in the southern cause. However he is caught and sentenced to hang from the bridge by Union orders. When the story tells us how he escapes and makes it home i truly believed by the amount of vivid details in the story. Though when i learned it was all just an image the man had in his head seconds before he hung is when I was seriously upset with the story. I almost wished the man made it back to his family because he loved them and the story didn't tell me enough reasons for me to condemn the man even though he disobeyed orders.


"Girl" By: Jamaica Kincaid

This story never seemed like a story to me. Rather it felt more like a memory of the young girl. It seems like the girls teacher is trying to mold her into the perfect image of a good wife and how a lady should act. However it is implied that the teacher does not really see any hope for the girl when she refers to the girl as a slut. The most interesting part of the story was when we discussed the word "slut" in class and was very surprised when the meaning of the word was a messy person. After learning the new meaning the story made much more sense and I felt I had more of an understanding than before.


"Hills Like White Elephants" By: Ernest Hemingway

When I read this story for the first time it was very confusing between all the dialog and it was difficult to understand who was talking at what point. However I was able to catch that neither of the characters were from the general area. I knew the couple was disusing a possible abortion however neither of them seemed to want to talk about it. That only strengthened my belief that there could be a possible affair going on.
My favorite part of the story though was when I realized what was meant by the term, "The hills look like White Elephants." The term "hills" relates to the woman's pregnancy, and "white elephant" is the burden the possible child is for the two people.
Over all, I thought it was a good story and liked the small amount of details given so the reader could imagine more without being bombard by descriptive words telling the reader how to imagine the story.


"A Good Man is Hard to Find" By: Flannery O' Connor

The story, A Good Man is Hard to Find was a very fun story for me to read. I felt a connection with the family road trip because in my family we have to drive on our vacations because flying is too expensive for the whole family. I found it interesting how the grandma seemed like she was the only one with "values" and how one should behave in public. However she seemed to be from a much older generation because of the way she talked about Aferican Americans. I looked for hidden messages in the text though I didnt find much that indicated the ending. I was quite saddened when I later read that the whole family was killed because it seems like it could happen to my family because we normally always have car trouble, get lost, and travel with younger children. Overall, I liked it. Hope to learn more about it in class .