Response to 'Happy Ending'

'Happy Ending' is written by one of the famous Canadian authors, Margaret Atwood. In this story, she tells many different possibilities of ending for the same plot. The different endings from A to F basically deal with the marriage of John and Mary. In some cases, they happily live together, and in other cases they divorce.
In this story, Atwood tries to make a point that many authors rely too much on traditional and unoriginal storylines. Throughout this story, the author is being sarcastic and also criticizing. The author infers that many writers are not being creative enough that the ending of the story could be confined into seven choices. 'One thing after another, and what and what and what. Now try How and Why.' This last sentence of the story indicates that the author hopes to see more dramatic and creative endings. As she emphasized the words 'How' and 'Why' by using capital letters, she leaves her message for other writers to create imaginative and thorough plots and endings in depth.
Although the story is short, the author did a good job on classifying possible endings with humour included. Also, the author’s message toward the readers could be clearly revealed through the story.
I really liked the story as I could see how a simple plot could be ended in many different ways like how music can be changed into various arrangements. Also, I was encouraged to try write a creative ending afterwards when I was writing my short story.
by Molly Kim

Welcome to Canadian Poetry!!

Welcome!
Below are the amazing, fantastic Canadian poems.
I hope all of you can enjoy and learn more about Canadian literature :)
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Response to old Canadian Poem

The Swimmer's Moment

Margaret Avison

For everyone
The swimmer's moment at the whirlpool comes,
But many at that moment will not say
"This is the whirlpool, then."
By their refusal they are saved
From the black pit, and also from contesting
The deadly rapids, and emerging in
The mysterious, and more ample, further waters.
And so their bland-blank faces turn and turn
Pale and forever on the rim of suction
They will not recognize.
Of those who dare the knowledge
Many are whirled into the ominous centre
That, gaping vertical, seals up
For them an eternal boon of privacy,
So that we turn away from their defeat
With a despair, not for their deaths, but for
Ourselves, who cannot penetrate their secret
Nor even guess at the anonymous breadth
Where one or two have won:
(The silver reaches of the estuary).


Unlike older traditional poems, The Swimmer's Moment by Margaret Avison written in 19th Century has no regular meter or rhyme scheme. Through this poem, the author makes a significant, metaphorical comparison between swimming and life.
The usage of metaphorical comparison in the poem requires a reader to have an ability to link their life with swimming. Once the reader understands the relationship, the poem makes more sense and it touches the readers' heart. When I understood the inner-meaning , I felt great sympathy with the poet. The whirlpool stands for obstacles or challenges that people experience. At the moment when the swimmer is drowning, he or she chooses whether or not to overcome the difficulty, which is the whirlpool. I would highly acclaim for the usage of adjectives such as “mysterious”, “ominous”, and “black”, which help readers to imagine the picturesque. If I have to point out one thing, I would suggest using more literary devices: alliteration, assonance, and simile. Otherwise, it was a great poem that makes the readers to relate poem with their own life.

-Comment by Molly Kim

Response to Campbell's poem

Different Side of the Lake

Campbell Parsons

As the wind brushed my cold cheeks
And as the snow crunches by each step I take
I feel something different
The Canadian winter is incredible

I have walked there in the summer
But on these cold days the lake shore feels different
Although the winter looks calm the creatures of the forest are still near by
The rabbit’s foot steps are lying in the light powder on the beach.
I feel something different
The forest still feels warm to me

As I walk along the beach I breathe in the fresh air
I feel the cold as the snowflakes fall upon my hair
I can only imagine the warmth of the hot chocolate I will drink later
But for now ill bask in natures great changes
I feel something different
I winter is such a different place
I could stay there forever

This poem is a lyrical ballad which tells a story about the poet’s experience at the lake. First, the expression of wind brushing is a unique idea to talk about the blowing wind. It was also a personification which made the poem more lyrical. Second, ‘the forest still feels warm to me’ set the contrast with other cold atmosphere. I could sympathize with my own experience, as I mention the warm heart amongst the coldness in my poem. I could imagine the different scene of Canadian summer and winter at the same time. I liked how the poet tried to apply the end rhyme (air and hair) at the last stanza. The repetition of “I” at the beginning of each line at the last stanza made the poem more flowing and rhythmical. More sensory adjectives of sight, sound, taste, feeling, and smell could have enhanced the reader to imagine the picturesque. In addition, the line saying ‘ I feel something different’ and ‘winter is such a different place’ is repeating the same idea twice. Explaining more about how it is different might be helpful.

-Comment by Molly Kim

Gratitude - Molly Kim

Gratitude

Molly Kim

I see sparkling snow
I hear laughing wavelets
I smell refreshing air
I taste the cold
I feel my warm heart

I leave my five senses by the lake

Looking at the gigantic lake in front of me
Thinking of the children around the world
Who cannot escape from reality

Amongst the cold day that made my skin shiver,
I feel the warmness in the corner of my heart

Gratitude

Being thankful for:
Splendid nature that I can see, hear, smell, taste, feel

Nature of Canada - Molly Kim

Nature of Canada

Molly Kim


As pure as baby’s mind
The dew is sitting still
The very first kind
That freshens up the lives

The cloud above the ground
As pure as baby's mind
Like creamy, milky silk

Is floating for us to find

Yet nothing has disturbed
The baby asleep at night
As pure as baby's mind
The peaceful harmless light

In a peaceful world she dreams
The baby smiles so kind
Around the tranquil land
As pure as baby's mind

(Iambic- trimeter, Viator, end rhyme)

Molly Kim - Frozen!

Frozen!

Molly Kim

Ding-Dong
Frozen!Frozen! It’s frozen!
Come out! Come out! Get your skates out!

In our little town, when the sun is setting,
The delicious dinner-time scents floats toward the pond:
American, Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Vietnamese
All combining together making a unique fragrance.

Holding our maple spirits together
Passing a puck to each other
Black, white, yellow no matter what
We become one on the frozen pond.
Cheering for our team, we become stronger and stronger
Full of smiling faces, that’s what we see.

So absorbed in our game
The time passed without warning
Although that night we went back to our own houses,
Eating different foods from one another, speaking different languages
That night on the frozen pond, we were one,

the Canadian

DennisLee -400:Coming Home

You are on the highway and the great light of
noon comes over the asphalt, the gravelled
shoulders. You are on the highway, there is a kind of
laughter, the cars pound
south. Over your shoulder the scrub-grass, the fences,
the fields wait patiently as though someone
believed in them. The light has laid it
upon them. One
crow scrawks. The edges
take care of themselves, there is
no strain, you can almost hear it, you
inhabit it.
Back in the city, many things you once lived for
are coming apart.Transistor rock still fills
back yards, in the parks young men do things to
Hondas; there will be
heat lightning, beer on the porches, goings on.That is not it.
And you are still on the highway. There are no
houses, no farms. Across the median, past the swish and thud of the
northbound cars, beyond the opposite fences,the fields, the
climbing escarpment, solitary in the
bright eye of the sun the
birches dance, and they
dance. They have
their reasons. You do not know
anything.
Cicadas call now, in the darkening swollen air there is dust
in your nostrils; a
kind of laughter; you are still on the highway.