Reading Short Stories and Poems

Whether reading a short story or a poem, there is always a story to be found within. The authors of these stories are able to capture readers through the use of characterization, rhythm, and setting throughout their narrative. It is imagination that allows the reader of these literary forms to be able to visualize what the author would like the reader to perceive. Through the use of symbolism or descriptive wording. In the poem “The Road Not Taken” or in the short stories “A Worn Path” or “I Used To Live Here Once” – There is a prevalent theme. No matter what solitary journey we find ourselves on, ‘we’ determine how the journey ends. The solitary journey that each of these literary pieces share is presented differently in each ending. Robert Frost designed “The Road Not Taken” with specific designs in the narrative that revealed for me as the reader that there was a forthcoming journey. Frost also utilized the word “I” many times, which made me imagine him alone. Comparative to this example let us compare “A Worn Path” where Welty utilized the word “she” throughout the writing piece. The linguistic choice inspired my imagination to visualize a woman walking alone. This visualization was reinforced in other places of the writing when the character spoke to animals to get out of her way: “Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, and beetles”. When Welty posed this conversation in the story, it gave me a sense of solitude. The submission that the woman also was walking a uphill path provided the symbolic comparison to a ‘hard life’. Walking uphill for any length of time is exhausting for anyone and when you add the notion of being elderly, it brings pity to this woman walking uphill. Rhys also utilizes the word “she” many times in ‘Used To Live Here Once’. Once again, this presents to a reader that the character is in solitude, be example: “She came to the worn steps” and “She was standing by the river”. In each piece of literature reviewed in this paper,

References: (Abel E 1979)Abel, E. (1979). Women and Schizophrenia: The Fiction of Jean Rhys. Retrieved from Contemporary Literature Web site: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1207964 (Clungston R W 2010 Journey Into Literature)Clungston, R. W. (2010). Journey Into Literature. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. . Frost R. (1916). The Road Not Taken. Mountain Interval. New York: Holt. Rhys J. (1976). I Used To Live Here Once. Sleep it off, lady. London: Penguin Books. Saunders, J. (1992). A Worn Path: The Eternal Quest of Welty’s Phoenix Jackson. The Southern Literary Journal, 25(1), Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20078057 Welty, E. (1996). A Worn path. A Curtain of Green And Other Stories. New York: Doubleday. (original Paperwork published 1941).