Storm Warnings

     It's a shame that we didn't get the chance to cover more of the literature in class.  The problem is that so much of it deserves much more dicussion than time allows.  That is the heart-break of a literature survey class.  I had the same problem with the British Literature survey class.  There was a great deal more reading assigned in the British Literature class.  However, the issue of wanting to spend more time on everything was still present.  The authors represented in both classes deserve much more time than we are able to give them in a survey class.  Storm Warnings by Adrienne Rich is a short poem that, by itself, deserves far more time than we spent being confused by Gertrude Stein.  Sadly, we weren't able to get to Rich.  My suggestion for the next class is to leave out the Tender Button crap and go on to some actual poetry.
     The descriptive quality of Storm Warnings paints a real picture that the reader can understand and relate to.  On the surface, it is a poem about weather warnings and predictions.  It discusses how little these warnings mean to those who live with that weather often.  When one lives with that type of weather, they realize that the weather will come regardless of predictions and warnings.  Underneath, the speaker seems to be struggling to control their emotions.  Perhaps they suffer from depression.  Rich writes, "weather abroad / and weather in the heart alike come on / regardless of prediction" (Lines 12-14).  In the final stanza, the speaker discusses what to do when the weather comes.  The speaker's depression is revealed by the final two lines:  "These are the things that we have learned to do / Who live in troubled regions" (Lines 27-28).  This is how the speaker has learned to deal with the depression.  The only thing we can do is close the door and wait for it to pass.  So, perhaps it is not the healthiest way to deal with depression, but there it is.
     I recommend reading some of what we didn't get a chance to read for class.  After all, that is kind of the idea of a survey class.  It is to get the students interested in the literature enough to continue on without being told to do so.  Since many of the students in literature classes are English majors or similar, we probably should be reading on anyway.  Who knows, perhaps Gertrude Stein will start to grow on me, but I'm not going to hold my breath on that one.