With a shock of dyed red hair, statement glasses, and colourful sweaters, Lorna Jean Crozier dresses as eccentric as she writes. Although she never considered writing as a career when she was young, at 68 she has authored 15 books. Crozier has lived everywhere from Victoria to Toronto, but to me, her poetry shows that her heart has never left the Saskatchewan Prairies where she was born. Her works often showcase her interests, including cats, gardening, and sex--sometimes rolled together.
Her poetry is greatly informed by her childhood in hockey town Swift Current, Saskatchewan, with that environmental aesthetic often forming the backdrop to her stories of poverty, alcoholism, and the natural world. As a prairie girl myself, it’s easy for me to picture the agricultural landscapes and rustic animals described in poems such as “Inventing the Hawk”. Her authorial voice is wistful yet confessional, a voice that looks back fondly, but not blind to the issues of the past. Sex is also a recurring theme of her work, and the intimacies of her relationship with her husband Patrick Lane are a common topic of her work. One of her poems, “Watching My Lover”, tells of Lane bathing his dying mother, the mother’s scent lingering "so everyone who lies with him / will know he’s still / his mother’s son". Animals from cats to horses feature heavily in her work, tying in once again to her love of nature.
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In her eyes, cucumbers are pesky perverts with an anal fetish, carrots are passionate but worried lovers, peas are prudish, and onions are entirely self obsessed. The poems are at once funny and relatable, covering various ways sex is seen by people in society in a way that’s not alienating or deliberately button-pushing. It’s simple truth through a lens of good humor, a signature trait of her
Richey assigns Kingsolver to organize and shelve every book in the library. In doing so, literature saved Kingsolver from the dullness of her day-to-day life. Nevertheless, monotony was not her only problem. She also had no passion or drive for school, but was uncertain about life, even going as far as to say, “I was developing a lean and hungry outlook.” But what that, ‘hungry outlook’ was for, was uncertain; she saw few career paths with the ‘practical’ skills she had learned in Home Economics, luckily, that aspect of her life would come from not within, but from the hallowed halls of the library, and from the dusty pages of classic literature. Her time categorizing books for Richey enlightened Kingsolver to the works of great writers, exposing her to the vast worlds, hidden, waiting to be found. Kingsolver most definitely found those world, immersing herself into them, allowing them to seep to the furthest corners of her brain, and changing her rural outlook to one of sophistication. This passion for reading allowed her to develop a sense of career, and facilitated her future as a writer. It did for her what schooling could not: give her a passion for
Gwen Harwood is a well renowned poet for her poems written during the 1950’s-90’s as she explores the realm of universal human concerns which are the source of her poetic inspiration, these include; love, friendship and memory. Today these concerns are still relevant in our society and are what connects us to each other and immortalises our sprit. Throughout many of Harwood poems she exposes her life in writing to create an intimate relationship with the paper. These documents create a personal account of the struggles and the love a woman feels in moments in changing times. This becomes evident in Harwood’s interpretation of marriage, motherhood and love. She uses symbolism and tone to hint to the undelaying meaning of the poems and the importance of them to her.
When Kenyon got married to another poet, Donald Hall, her world became completely turned around after she left her old life behind and moved to Eagle Pond Farm in 1975 (Gundy). These new surroundings influenced Kenyon in ways she could never have imagined, making her feel as though she was part of something great and giving her a sense of community and togetherness (Gundy). As Kenyon stated, “It makes one less self-obsessed...it gives you a feeling that you are part of the great stream” stressing the importance of the ideology that working together does achieve more (qtd. in Gundy). As Hall and Kenyon never had any children of their own, Kenyon often explored the farm she lived at with her dog, waking up early every morning to write and wander (Hall). This routine is clearly explicated in her poem “After An Illness, Walking The Dog” where she recalls how in the mornings, “Soaked and muddy, the dog drops, / panting, and looks up… / It’s so good to be uphill with him, / nicely winded and looking down on the pond” where she felt the most at peace (lines 20-23). During the summer time, Kenyon enjoyed her other favorite pastime which was gardening and she had a natural affinity to any nature that grew outside, especially flowers and trees (Hall). In one of her most famous works, “The Pond at Dusk”, Kenyon admires the way that “The green haze on the trees changes / into leaves and what looks like smoke / floating over the neighbor’s barn / is only apple blossoms”, validating her deep knowledge of the natural world (lines 5-8). While living in New Hampshire, Kenyon enjoyed going to church and worshipping God gave her a feeling of hope, knowing that she was never alone (Gundy). This feeling translated deeply into her writings, especially in the poem “Let Evening Come” where she tells the reader, “Let it come, as it will, and don’t /
By presenting the competing sets of industrial and rural values, Jewett's "A White Heron" gives us a rich and textured story that privileges nature over industry. I think the significance of this story is that it gives us an urgent and emphatic view about nature and the dangers that industrial values and society can place upon it and the people who live in it. Still, we are led to feel much like Sylvia. I think we are encouraged to protect nature, cherish our new values and freedoms, and resist the temptations of other influences that can tempt us to destroy and question the importance of the sublime gifts that living in a rural world can bestow upon us.
Sex is more than just a physical act. It's a beautiful way to express love. When people have sex just to fulfill a physical need, as the poet believes sex outside of love-based relationship only harms and cheapens sex. In the beginning of the poem, Olds brilliantly describe the beauty of sex, and then in the second half of the poem, she continues reference to the cold and aloneness which clearly shows her opinions about causal sex. Through this poem, Sharon Olds, has expressed her complete disrespect for those who would participate in casual sex.
Dorothy Parker’s poems in The Portable Dorothy Parker vary from humorous commentary on romance to social critique, but her format holds on to the rigidity of older styles. While several writers choose this time period to step outside of the normal confines of writing norms, Parker retains a vintage format of strict end-rhymes and polished line lengths. Her use of comedic devices lines up with the typical craft choices that emerged in the twentieth century; however, her approach is much different than anything else of her time. She creates a tension between several dimensions—gender and expectations, format and content, humor and serious issues—that makes her work so complex.
Lesley Choyce is a Nova Scotian author and publisher of Pottersfield Press, who offers insight on life that focuses on the natural landscape around his home. This insight derived from his unidentified personal crisis. Choyce examines his life in the Seven Ravens, as an act of therapeutic nature writing that interweaves a philosophical and perceptive memoir. He writes about his journey over a two-year span of self-understanding by exploring everything around him. For example, Choyce uses ravens as a benchmark to guide him along his journey. Thus, he decides to hike north from his house until he has passed seven ravens, and then he returns home.
In the poem “what the living do,” by Marie Howe explores the emotional impact of incest and death on a woman from childhood to adulthood.
This creates a nostalgic and warm mood. As she reminisces about the vivid imagery surrounding surrounding her during her childhood, the mood greatly develops. It is extremely visible when the author says “learning how to stalk wild raspberries before breakfast, and how to find fungus in the forest”. The current connotations about foraging seem to always include a rustic and natural feeling, and
Influenced by the style of “plainspoken English” utilized by Phillip Larkin (“Deborah Garrison”), Deborah Garrison writes what she knows, with seemingly simple language, and incorporating aspects of her life into her poetry. As a working mother, the narrator of Garrison’s, “Sestina for the Working Mother” provides insight for the readers regarding inner thoughts and emotions she experiences in her everyday life. Performing the daily circus act of balancing work and motherhood, she, daydreams of how life might be and struggles with guilt, before ultimately realizing her chosen path is what it right for her and her family.
When driving home her cow in the dark Sylvia’s “feet were familiar with the path, and it was no matter whether their eyes could see it or not” (Jewett 682). Sylvia is familiar with the woodlands to such an extent that she forms a strong physical connection to the natural world because even her “feet were familiar with the path.” She also refers to her cow as a “valued companion” and considers the cow’s pranks as an “intelligent attempt to play hide and seek” to which she responds to “with a good deal of zest” (Jewett 682). Sylvia escapes urban society because she was “afraid of folks,” and now relies on her “valued companion” to fulfill her need for friends and playmates. In doing so, the cow becomes the sole being she interacts with and consists of the totality of her amusement, which in turn prompts a close emotional attachment and relationship. Prior to coming to the farm, she had lived “in a crowded manufacturing town” but now feels “as if she had never been alive before.” Sylvia is content in her isolation from humanity at the farm where she only lives with her grandmother, and finally feels “alive” in a setting where she is alienated from other people and surrounded by nature and animals. She in turn seems content and welcomes her close relationship to the natural world around her and willingly gives up human interactions to achieve this. After trailing through the woods late into the night she feels “as if she were a part of the gray shadows and the moving leaves.” Sylvia comes to the realization that she becomes “a part of” and finds a sense of belonging in the natural world, which shows her close emotional
Jane presents one aspect of woman in The Waking collection (1953): Ross-Bryant views Jane as a young girl who is dead. The poem expresses concern with the coming of death. This poignant elegy is presen...
In her poem she describes the couple watching the passing cars at Lytle and South Dixie to an “ egret grazing the canals who darts and pecks and lunges and after an eternity at Lytle and South Dixie the light changes.” In her last poem written in the booklet, “Getting Through”, she describes different types of snow. When she writes, “No mail today. No newspapers. The phone is dead. Bombs and grenades, the newly disappeared, a kidnapped ear, go unrecorded but the foals flutter inside warm wet bags that carry them eleven months in the dark.”
She expresses the delights, joy and fulfillment of these roles, as well as the empty aspects and meaninglessness of domestic suburban roles of women. Harwood explores, critisises and challenges the changing nature of the expectations of women as housewives and mothers. In the poem “In the Park”, Harwood challenges the societal assumption of the role of women as mothers, whose sole purpose to raising children. The heavily negative introduction states that the women’s clothes are “out of date”, the children “whine and bicker… draw aimless patterns in the dirt”, immediately displaying a negative image of the unhappiness and emptiness of the woman’s life, suggesting that the burden of motherhood has overwhelmed and consumed her. The mother’s comment “they have eaten me alive” creates an image of desperation and misery, implying that the role of being a mother is very “consuming”. Furthermore, in “Suburban Sonnet”, Harwood exposes a darker side of motherhood, suggesting that the role starves individuality and creativity. The strong use of imagery, such as “Nausea overpowers”, “veins ache” and “scours crusty milk” show that housewife duties are often hindered by their physical capabilities, emphasizing the balancing act that mothers must perform in order to achieve happiness and raising
“Spinster” by Sylvia Plath is a poem that consists of a persona, who in other words serves as a “second self” for the author and conveys her innermost feelings. The poem was written in 1956, the same year as Plath’s marriage to Ted Hughes, who was also a poet. The title suggests that the persona is one who is not fond of marriage and the normal rituals of courtship as a spinster is an unmarried woman, typically an older woman who is beyond the usual age of marriage and may never marry. The persona of the poem is a woman who dislikes disorder and chaos and finds relationships to be as unpredictable as the season of spring, in which there is no sense of uniformity. In this poem, Plath not only uses a persona to disclose her feelings, but also juxtaposes the seasons and their order (or lack thereof) and relates them to the order that comes with solitude and the disorder that is attributed with relationships. She accomplishes this through her use of formal diction, which ties into both the meticulous structure and develops the visual imagery.