Alfred Romero
2/15/2023
Professor Frank
LIL 420
Journal #4
For my first quote, I’ve chosen the last two lines from the work by Rich, where the narrator states that she’s “visible and invisible, remembering and remembered” (Rich lines 19 and 20). For my second quote, I’ve chosen the first line from the work by Seelye, which starts by asking “Who is this little girl with doll and lamb?” (Seelye line 1).
What initially stood out to me when observing these two quotes along with their respective images was how they contrasted from each other. On Rich’s side, Effie is visible within the picture and is named within the poem through a first-person narrative. Whereas in Seelye’s work, the girl with the doll and lamb isn’t even pictured and it’s being described from an outsider’s perspective. It appears that Effie has passed away and her parents are mourning her death. But in Rich’s work, she appears to still be present, perhaps as an entity watching over her parents. This isn’t seen in the Seelye work, as this work seems to focus on where Effie could be. Rich’s work stands more personal, with Effie directly addressing the audience from her perspective and how even past death, she’s still present.
With this concept of ghosts and the supernatural, why is it that humans naturally assume ghosts to be hostile and aggressive? Why is it that ghosts of people who once lived have their humanity stripped away from them and are seen as a foreign soul who haunts rather than watches?
