gabe's essay

Gabriel Campbell

Mr. Salsich

English B

April 20, 2009

 

                                                Sentimental Value:

                                           A Comparison of Poems

 

            Sentimental is defined as “resulting from feeling rather than reason or thought”. This definition can be proved true if compared to almost anything. One of these places is in poems. In conclusion, the poems “the Traveling Onion” by Naomi Shihab Nye, “I’m Nobody” by Emily Dickenson, and the story “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield can be related to the definition of “sentimental”.

            In the poem “the Traveling Onion”, Naomi Shihab Nye can be described as sentimental. First, she is praising this onion. She feels sentiment from her heart as opposed to her mind. She appreciates the onion nourishing her. In addition, she appreciates the onion’s complex design - many paper-thin layers all condensed into one big plant (appositive). The fact that something so complicated could be so easily penetrated by a knife intrigues her. Once again, this feeling of sentiment is resulting from her thoughts about the onion. Overall, while the poem may be short there were plenty examples of sentimental feelings in the poem “the Traveling Onion” by Naomi Shihab Nye.

            In the poem “I’m Nobody” by Emily Dickinson, sentiment seems to blanket her writing. Firstly, Ms. Dickinson feels sentimental because she is prompted by the fact that she is “nobody”. Instead of being provoked (FAST) by feelings of sadness, she is ecstatic (FAST) about this. She feels that being well known would make you “public like a frog”. Similarly, the idea of being well known produces sentiment, but in this case disgust induces it. She would rather be meek (SAT) than being a haughty hedonist (x2 SAT and alliteration) who draws attention to themselves. She feels that if you were “public” you would be stuck in the same place, or a “bog”, as opposed to being free to wander if you’re nobody. Overall, the feeling of sentiment recurs frequently in the eight-line poem “I’m Nobody” by Emily Dickinson.

            In the short story “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield, sentiment seems to set the tone. Trying to organize the perfect party (participle), Laura’s mother Jose felt sentiment. She had ideas, or emotional idealism, of the perfect party. She was bent on making this become reality. In addition, this meant not stopping for anything. She was so focused on this happening that she had the party continue even though on of the servant’s husband just died. She had such a perfect picture in her mind of what this party would be like that she carried on anyways, not caring how anyone felt (participle). Overall, the story “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield displayed sentiment not in the way that we would expect.

            Sentiment can be interpreted different ways. The definitions range from “marked or governed from feeling rather than thought” to “emotional idealism”. These definitions can be found anywhere – each one different with the same meaning (appositive). In conclusion, while the poems “the Traveling Onion” by Naomi Shihab Nye, “I’m Nobody” by Emily Dickenson, and the story “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield are each individual, they are connected through the feeling of sentiment.