Richard Wright

I just finished reading the story "The Man Who Was Almost A Man" by Richard Wright. This fictional story reminded  me of the book Tom Swayer in many ways. Both of the main characters are young men living in the rural South who believe that they are tougher and bigger than they really are; so therefore, their culture and backgrounds would be of similarity as well because where they grew up and the time period. Both love to accept challenges and prove people wrong. Tom was always getting himself into mischief like the main character Dave in this particular story. The boys act and live against their parents' wishes, which creates a problem in both of the fictions. Each boy travels on their little adventures to find themselves in this world as well. Each stubborn boy goes on a discovery to prove that he is a dependable man and that he should be treated like one. The children's tale immediately came to my mind while I was reading Wright's story.

 Alfonsina Storni is one of the two poets that I had to read for my English class tomorrow. I enjoyed most of her poems that I read. I found a lot of imagery in her poems that I particularly liked.  In one of her poems "You Want Me White", she repeatedly uses the terms "white", "snowy", and "dawn"  to represent the delicacy of the woman she is describing. Most of the words Storni uses in this poem are related to "white" in some way. "Foam", "pearl", and "lily" can all have the physical appearance of a white color.  I was interested to why she picked the flower lily and I looked up what it represents and found this description by http://www.britinfo.net/florists/flowers-meanings.htm:
 
   "The Madonna Lily is a symbol of purity, and became known as the Madonna Lily, the white ones being associated with the Holy Virgin by Christians. Christians believe that the lily had been yellow until the Virgin Mary picked it up. Lilies are a symbol of fertility, being used as a wedding flower, and also of death, being placed on graves. It is said that lilies spontaneously appeared on the graves of people executed for crimes they did not commit. Dreaming of lilies in spring signifies marriage, happiness and prosperity. Dreaming of lilies in winter signifies frustration of hopes and the premature death of a loved one".


Since Storni is a feminist that would make sense for imagery of a lily to be in her poem. White is a symbol for purity and cleanliness. The color also reminds of angels and heaven as well, so maybe there is more to her story that meets the eye!

Pablo Neruda Poetry

Pablo Neruda is a Latin American poet and writer. Some of his writings involve love and intimacy while others can be described as depressing and astonishing. I consider him a very creative writer, even though all the poems I read for my class tomorrow are all sad. "Tonight I Can Write..." is a poem of his lost love. The reader can notice how passionate his love was for this woman by the way he writes about her. "I no longer lover her, that's certain, but how I loved her. My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing" (23-24). In the beginning of the poem he describes how he misses her and how he used to hold her, but towards the end he describes that his love was so great for her that he can no longer bear it and must forget her and move on. I found a quote that I thought was interesting that describes his thoughts on love as well...


"I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close." 
— Pablo Neruda (100 Love Sonnets: Cien sonetos de amor) http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/4026.Pablo_Neruda

Neruda's writing is very beautiful because he can very intimate and simple at the same time. I can understand exactly what he is trying to portray... that his love is so powerful and that there are no words to describe how he feels about someone. 

But now I am curious about what made him write this poem. Did he have a lost love? Because I wonder how someone could write such a powerful poem if he had never experienced anything like this before?