Red+Slippers

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Amy Lowell can mostly be remembered for her great outspokenness in her poems and personality (Amy Lowell Criticism). Amy Lowell was brought up in a good home with opportunities to a good education and formal upbringing (Amy Lowell Criticism). Amy Lowell’s outspoken personality began to clash with the personality that was expected of her from her family, which is why she began to write out what she was thinking and feeling (Amy Lowell Criticism). Her will to be outspoken and be heard about her different thoughts make her a real modernism writer (Amy Lowell Criticism).

At the beginning of “Red Slipper”, Lowell begins to describe the setting outside as windy and sleety, but makes the red slippers stand out in the shop window (Red Slippers). To a reader it may seem that the red slippers are new and exciting and different from anything that a shopper has seen before, but just a couple of stanzas later, Lowell describes the shoes at multiplying in all of the shop windows (Red Slippers). In the modernism time, red shoes should have been normal attire to see or be worn. However, it is an entirely different story if the same or similar red shoes are being shown in the window of every shop on any particular street. Lowell is referring to the same monotonous life that people were once living when she describes the shoes as being in every window (Red Slippers).

Further down in the poem, Lowell describes another shop that has cardboard boxes with lotus and wax dolls (Red Slippers). A normal reaction to a wax doll in a cardboard box should be something close to weird, but when compared to a boring old pair of red slippers, a wax doll is interesting, new, and exciting (Red Slippers). The modernism time period was all about being different and brave in the world full of new inventions and styles, so the red shoes should have been new, which should have made them exciting. However, overindulgence in one thing will often lead to exhaustion of a product. Perhaps the red slippers quickly grew old and tired once they began to appear in the windows of all the shops. Being similar to someone else would be just like the scenery, windy and sleety (Red Slippers), and unnecessary.

Amy Lowell also wrote a poem entitled "At Night". In "At Night", the setting and theme is completely different than the setting and theme of “Red Slippers” (At Night). At Night takes place during the summer with a nice breeze and trees that sing a cadence (At Night) while “Red Slippers” took place in the winter with sleet and wind (Red Slippers). The theme of “Red Slippers” was much more depressing and angry than that of “At Night” (At Night).

Comment: Although the reader has not read "Red Slippers", he or she can draw a good conclusion about the poem from this essay. This analysis clearly states how the poem relates to Modernism and gives many examples from the text to support claims! I enjoyed reading about how Lowell broke away from her family's expectations and rules to become her own person through her writing.

"Amy Lowell Criticism." //ENotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans, and More.// Web. 01 May 2010. [].

"At Night by Amy Lowell." //PoemHunter.Com - Thousands of Poems and Poets.. Poetry Search Engine//. Web. 03 May 2010. [].

"Red Slippers." //Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More//. Web. 30 Apr. 2010. .