Today, we read "Mrs. Charles Bliss" by Edgar Lee Masters. Read now the epitaph of Reverend Wiley. Compare their views and tones. (The deadline to post a response to this blog is midnight Friday, April 15, 2011.) Rev. Lemuel Wiley
I preached four thousand sermons,
I conducted forty revivals,
And baptized many converts.
Yet no deed of mine
Shines brighter in the memory of the world,
And none is treasured more by me:
Look how I saved the Blisses from divorce.
And kept the children free from that disgrace,
To grow up into moral men and women,
Happy themselves a credit to the village.
Edgar Lee Masters
6 comments:
The tones in the two poems are very different. Wiley's tone is optimistic and proud of his accomplishments. Bliss' tone is regretful and full of dislike for Wiley. Bliss views the decision of not getting a divorce as her greatest regret. She was incredibly unhappy and needed out of her marriage. Bliss had extreme dislike for Wiley for not permitting her to get a divorce. Whereas Wiley is extremely proud of saving her marriage. He cares nothing about her unhappiness, but strictly what the bible tells him is right.
Both of the speakers in the poems have very different tones and views. Bliss' tone is hatred and spiteful against Wiley for not letting her divorce her husband. She believes that the children will suffer less if the do not have to be around fighting adults. However, Wiley's tone is proud. He believes he did the right thing by keeping Bliss' marraige together. He thinks that the children will be brought up the right way with their mother and father.
Each of these poems has a different tone. Mrs. Bliss' tone is showing the way the true family feels. They are all so angry at one another and unable to forgive each other and themselves for the anger and grudges they are now holding depending on the side they have chosen. The children cannot support both the mother and the father. Wiley, on the other hand, seems to think he has just saved this family and these children. His tone is quite proud and ignorant. His tone is ignorant because he is so very proud that he is unable to see what is truly going on within the family's household. While he is quite proud because he truly believes he has just saved the children's futures and the parents' marriage.
The tones of each of these poems are completely different. In this poem, Reverend Wiley is very proud of what he did and thinks he is right. Mrs. Bliss thinks he was wrong and was upset because he did not see the bigger picture. Wiley did not see that if they stayed together it would cause more trouble and pain than if they were seperate. Mrs. Bliss had a more angry and sad tone, where Reverend Wiley was proud and a bit erogant.
The views and tones of these poems various drastically. In Mrs. Charles Bliss, the tone was bitter and spiteful towards Rev. Wiley for condemning the separation of her and her husband. She blames him for the unhappiness in her and her children's lives. Meanwhile, Rev. Wiley does not see the damage that he has caused by the advice he has given Bliss. His tone is proud and satisfied that he has given the Bliss family freedom from shame.
In Mrs. Charles Bliss, she is rather angry and spiteful towards the reverends and judges of the town for forcing her to stay in a marriage that tore apart her family. In Rev. Wiley's epitaph, he feels proud and happy that he stopped the divorce, obviously unaware of the damage he caused.
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