One thing that surprised me from the short poem “The Wife” by Emily Dickinson was how short the poem actually was but the message that it gave off in such little time left me a little baffled trying to think of a response for it. It hits on a topic of a women at the ready of her man for in any given moment she would drop everything for him. The same thing that surprised me was also what intrigued me in the language they use to describe her actions. “She rose to his requirement dropped the playthings of her life.” That metaphor gives me almost everything I need to get a sense in this story. She’s given up everything for her man but at what cost. The last part puzzled me as “But to himself is known the fathoms they abide.” I cannot decipher it to internalize its value at all.
In the “Story of an Hour” The only thing that came as a Suprise was the woman actions after finding out her husband had died. The happiness could be covering something much deeper that hits only the surface, but it really made me think. Something that interested me was how the woman began to see two options be sad and sulk and grief or move on with a newfound freedom and opportunity.
One thought on “Week 9”
Nyhiem, thanks for addressing the poem! The part that puzzled you about the sea refers to how the sadness of the women is buried as deep as the deepest reaches of the sea. Only she is aware of it because she is expected to be happy and honored to be a wife.