Blog Week 7

In the literary works “This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams, “l(a” by E. E. Cummings, and “Love Medicine” by Louise Erdrich there are themes of desire and loneliness. The poem “l(a” deals with loneliness while the other two literary works deals with desire.
In the poem “l(a” by E. E. Cummings loneliness is expressed in every aspect of the poem, it is expressed in its words as well as its structure. The poems structure resembles a leaf falling towards the ground. First it starts off fast; this is expressed by each line being two letters. As the leaf becomes closer to the ground it starts to move slower and eventually it falls into the pile of other leaves. This is shown in the end of the poem where “one” and “iness” are written. The word loneliness is also written throughout the poem. The theme of being lonely and being oneself is shown strongly throughout the poem. E. E. Cummings may be trying to represent to the reader that ism important to take a stand and to be your own person, and have your own beliefs. But this is hard to do because the temptation to be apart of the crowd is so great that many of us fall into this trap. We have to use our own ideas and thoughts to better our country and the world around us.
In “This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams there is a theme of desire. In the poem the speaker eats the plums that someone else was saving. In the second stanza is shows that he knew that the plums were someone else’s and that he shouldn’t be eating them. In the last stanza the speaker asks for forgiveness from this act but also brings up how good the plums tasted. Even though the speaker knew it was the wrong thing to do he ate the plums anyway. The desire to eat the plums was much stronger than the will to do the right thing. William Carlos Williams may be trying to tell the reader that we have to learn how to overcome our desires and learn how to do the right thing. The plum in the poem may represent something different than a plum; it may represent something more important. In life we have to put our desires to the side and we have to think about the wants of other people and put them first. Forgiveness may not always be granted that’s why we have to think before we give into our desires.
In the short story “Love Medicine”, by Louise Erdrich there is also a theme of desire. In the story the grandmother desires the love and faithfulness of her husband once again. Her desire becomes so great that she tries to take control of the situation herself and tries to play God. The plan backfires and the grandfather dies from her actions. Desires are not always the best thing and can not always be given into. This can represent the “devil” in all of us. As a society we have to ignore the “devil” inside us and think through each situation for the best. We can’t let our desires take over.
Desires can be very strong and potentially can have negative affects on our life. It is our job to think before we act and to make smart choices to help us achieve the potential we have in life.