Poetry, The awakening, etc

So, I started trying to find poems that I “connect” with but it is harder than I imagined. I have never really been into poetry so it’s hard for me to find poems that I really enjoy. But several of the poems that we have read in class have been enjoyable so I’m sure I can find something interesting. I guess I need to start looking at some poetry books or something. Also, I thought that the timed writing went well today. I wrote about the poem “The Century Quilt” and I found the imagery of the leaves very fascinating. I think that the leaves represent something dying. The speaker’s childhood, for example, is something that is over and the memory could be “dying”. However, she makes it seem like because it is put into this material object that her memory is preserved eternally. It was an interesting concept, I liked it. And I’m glad that we wrote that essay on The Awakening because it forced me to completely gather my thoughts. The seminars are good to discuss and hear other people’s opinions but unfortunately they aren’t long enough for me to always establish my position on the matter that we are discussing. However, because I knew I had to pick a side, it was kind of fun to gather all of the support for my claim. I decided that Edna is an artist by the end of the book. It became very obvious to me that she is reborn before she drowns. At that moment, she has come into a world that is new but familiar. So, this means that she has let go of all relationships. No more Robert, and no more family. By letting go of relationships and responsibilities, all of her attention can be put on art which is self-truth. I know that most of my peers hated Edna and I wasn’t a huge fan of her either, but to me she became so much of a symbol of freedom that I sort of disregarded her as an actual person. Also, that imagery of Venus that you noticed at the end of the book was actually mentioned earlier as well. When I was re-reading some of the parts I noticed that Victor describes Edna as Venus. That furthered my conclusion that Edna reaches a rebirth into nature which makes her an artist. She drowns because she is no longer meant for life on earth, Venus has taken over her and she is a part of the sea or freedom. To me, the ending was awesome. It gave me chills a little bit. It was just so dreamlike and entrancing. But anyways, I was surprised to find that I liked the book. I am not a feminist but I think that everybody can relate to Edna’s point in some way or another. We are all prisoners to something at times, and she shows that we aren’t alone.