The first class of Women's Literature was spent reading two poems I had never heard of before, and a discussion about them. When I began reading "First Hour" I really enjoyed it and found it very well written. I thought the description created an incredible illustration and I found the poem in general very interesting. The first line caught my attention and curiosity. "That hour, I was most myself"(Olds). This poem talks of an innocent baby just born; free and curious. I love the language the author uses to describe the child's first impressions and experiences. Suddenly, at the end of the poem, the last two lines turn dark, saying that reality was setting in and the beginning of real life had started, hinting that life is dark and terrible. I was not expecting that when I was reading the poem. Those two lines turn this poem into a very solemn one. In the poem, it talks about the wonderful things the baby was discovering, and it called itself not very human. Does that mean that only things that are not human can "hate no one"(Olds), be free, or not belong to anyone? I think this author has a very dark perspective on humans. The ending surprised me because the beginning was so light and fresh. Over all though, I really like this poem. It has a great perspective on the first few minutes of life and I love the description, even though the ending turns dark.
The second poem is called "Against Love Poetry", which is interesting because after reading it I didn't feel like it was really against love poetry at all. There were a lot of generalisations and not so many concrete examples or arguments. She blatantly states that "marriage is not freedom"(Boland), which is a very general statement that not everyone agrees with. The author goes into a story about a king in chains walking through the city and when he passes his wife and children he showed no emotion. It was only when he passed his old servant that he "[broke] down and [wept]"(Boland). My first thoughts to this story was, "is this even relevant? Does this have anything to do with the author's argument?" However during our class discussion, someone brought up the idea that this story could represent the idea that men appreciate servitude over love, which would make the story more relevant to what I think the author is trying to get at. Further along, the author writes "I did not find my womanhood in the servitude of custom. But I saw my humanity look back at me there."(Boland) I think maybe the author is arguing that "humanity" is serving men and that in these lines she is discussing womanhood vs. humanity. In my opinion, this poem was about a woman who wasn't happy playing the traditional role of a woman but was trapped. That is why I was confused of her argument "against love poetry".
I really enjoyed reading these poems and discussing them with the class and trying to figure out the meanings hidden beneath them. It was a fantastic first class and it got me excited for the rest of the semester. I am looking forward to what we will be reading and discussing next!
