Let me begin by saying I really enjoyed Monday’s seminar class.  We began poetry recitations and while poetry is not my favorite topic, I do enjoy hearing poetry being read and hearing other people’s interpretations of poetry.  I love how one poem can mean several different things to different people, and how there is not one concrete answer about a poem’s meaning, because a poem speaks differently to each individual person. 

There were two aspects of Monday’s class that both surprised me and resonated with me.  First, after reading my own two poems, “Lament” and “Recuerdo,” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dr. Kahan pointed out that sometimes, a poet’s personality and the way they write are at odds with each other.  Millay was known to be a very flamboyant person around other people and in society, and yet, the poems I read seemed to be very conservative, simple, and moderate.  I had never given much thought to the idea that personality and writing style can be so contrasting for one person.  I personally liked the idea of having two different sides: one everyone sees and one that is more private and hidden, just for that own person to express his or her feelings or ideas.

The second class discussion that particularly interested me was the discussion that began with Marilyn Monroe and ended with the idea that the way people are portrayed is not necessarily true, nor is it “their own fault.”  Everybody knows Marilyn Monroe as a promiscuous, provocative, showy actress, singer, and model from the 1940’s and 1950’s.  However, as we discussed in class, how can we know that this description was who she really was?  What right do we have to judge her and label her?  Some people might argue that she wanted the attention and knowingly made a name for herself.  But in reality, what we know of Marilyn Monroe is a result of the media and other people’s ideas about who she was.  Sure, she is and was known to the American people as one of the most well-known sex symbols in contemporary culture, and that was no doubt, a result of the time period when she was popular; but there was so much more to her than we could ever know.  We tend to label people based on what we see and the gossip we want to start; the catch is that the gossip we start and the labels we attach usually only refer to one aspect of the person’s personality.  They most likely have much more substance than we give them credit for. 

I look forward to hearing the other poems in the class and seeing the kinds of discussion they lead to.  These discussions not only interest me, but help me develop a more open mind about the world around me.