A Modern Love -- Who'll Follow?; Or Glimpses of a Mad Life

“Daddy wants your credit card,” said Miss Kennedy Eileen, a young daughter of two years’ standing, attired in a leotard and tutu, thickened in glitter; her unkempt curls flowing from under that tacky plastic crown, so trendy in toddler country.

“Daddy wants your credit card, and he says he guesses you can make him dinner too, ‘cause you’ve got plenty of time.”

This excellent reason, “’cause you’ve got plenty of time,” is conclusive as to raising a family. Who ever chooses family life will be sure to better her condition; but wo to her that brings with her dreams of perfection, whether of calm children or mere free-time. To have time, and not be willing to share it in some sort with the whole family, is an unpardonable crime!

You must lend your best car, to go ten miles in a snow storm, in the darkest night, for a box of diapers; your food, your jewelry, your utensils of all sorts, belong, not to yourself, but to the family, who do not think it necessary even to ask a loan, but take it for granted. The new hat and jewelry from JCrew spend most of its time traveling from room to room a-toddlerback; and I have actually known a stray earring to be traced to two levels below, having been lent from one to another, without a word to the original proprietor, who sat waiting, not very patiently, to commence dressing.

Not only are all kitchen utensils as much your children’s toy as your own, but pillows, blankets, sheet, travel from room to room; but used for forts and such, for which the Janssen household is becoming almost as famous as the land.

Scarves, make-up, and heels run about as if they had legs; one toothbrush is enough for a whole family; and I could point to a tricycle which has entertained half the babies in the neighborhood. For my own part, I have lent my broom, my soup, my book, my cat, my shampoo, my coat, my shoes; and have been asked for my combs and toothbrushes: and my husband, for his black socks and drawers.

Meta-Commentary:

The prior writing was a parody of Caroline Kirkland’s A New Home -- Who’ll Follow? ; Or, Glimpses of a Western Life. I chose to write a parody in tune to Kirkland because of her ability to captivate her audience through dialogue, imagery, tone and her sense for romanticism style writing. This story may have been ill received by her peers in Michigan at the time; but now makes for a wonderful historic enactment of sorts. I found this particular writing of hers to resemble the hectic-ness of modern family, with its limitless boundaries and unwritten rules.

In my parody I used a romanticism style in my writing by showcasing the idea of the “social world around them was complex” (Melani).  In Kirkland’s writing she talks about the social complexity of Mrs. Clavers’ community in Michigan, whereas in the parody I wrote I write about the complexity of becoming/being a parent. Where people go from having free-time, personal possessions, many simple luxuries in life (that are not very often appreciated until you have a family), and the lack of enjoying free-time, or nice things because essentially everything you have is given to the family; which in this sense is like Mrs. Clavers’ Michigan community.

I tried to imitate Kirkland’s sarcastic and slightly comedic tone by making small family matters seem more dramatic than they really would be, such as when I wrote, “You must lend your best car, to go ten miles in a snow storm, in the darkest night, for a box of diapers.” Another way that I tried to mimic Kirkland’s writing was through dialogue and imagery. In A New Home -- Who’ll Follow?  Kirkland begins the story with dialogue between Mrs. Mary Clavers and a six year old neighbor girl in, “”Mother wants your sifter,” said Miss Ianthe Howard, a young lady of six years standing, attired in a tattered calico, thickened with dirt” (Kirkland 114). I mimicked this dialogue through a conversation of a young daughter and her mother and then continued to describe a modern day toddler to give the reader an image of the ensuing conversation; just as  did Kirkland while describing the young grungy 6 year old. The way in which Kirkland uses dialogue and imagery plays into another aspect of romanticism, where the reader’s imagination in sparked instantaneously through conversation and small details, “Uniting both reason and feeling (Coleridge described it with the paradoxical phrase, "intellectual intuition"), imagination is extolled as the ultimate synthesizing faculty” (Melani) which ultimately allows Kirkland’s readers to become more deeply involved in her writing.

D’été Soleil

It was many a season ago,

                In a city by the Mississippi,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

                By the name of Soleil; -- 

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

                Than to shine and be bright.

I was like a child she was happiness,

                In a city by the Mississippi,

But we played an obsession that was more like love –

                 I and my Soleil –

With an love that Mére Nature

                Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

                In a city by the Mississippi,

A wind blew out of the north, chilling

                My beautiful Soleil;

So that her rays of warmth taken

                And bore her away from me,

To ploy her in a fleeting confinement,

                In a city by the Mississippi.

Meta- Commentary:

In D’été Soleil I tried to mimic the poem “Annabel Lee” by Edward Allen Poe. I chose to create a parody on this poem because Poe was able to create a sense of his love for Annabel that was portrayed so realistically to his reader that it felt as though you knew them. His words were so genuine and beautiful that it is easily one of my favorite poems we’ve read in class. As Wordsworth said, “definition of all good poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Melani). In the parody that I created I tried to keep within the romanticism style of Poe’s writing as well as using the same refrain, rhyme scheme, stanza, and tone. I feel like I was able to capture the romanticism style of writing by using, “nature as a source of subject and image” (Melani). I was able to do this through writing about a love for the summer sun throughout the poem and especially in the lines, “I and my Soleil –/ With an love that Mére Nature/ Coveted her and me.” In Poe’s full version of the poem he uses nature in his final stanza through the lines, “For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams/ Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;/ And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes” (Poe ll.34-37). In my parody I kept with the same stanza style as Poe’s as well as using a refrain, “In a city by the Mississippi” in contrast to, “ In a kingdom by the sea” (Poe), which was placed as the second line in each stanza. As for rhyme scheme I tried to stay with Poe’s ABABCB scheme shown through the first few stanzas of "Annabel Lee." Poe's tone throughout his poem is soft and loving; of a deep love he one had, I tried to mimic this by giving human emotion to the love for a sun and its summer season. Overall I wanted to present a parody for the love of nature and its summer season rather than that of a person; where unlike Annabel Lee, summer never dies only metaphorically speaking!