Unit 4: Selection Vocabulary 4

Mrs. Fairfax turned out to be what she appeared, a placid -tempered, kind-natured woman, of competent education and average intelligence.

She made reasonable progress, entertained for me a vivacious, though perhaps not very profound, affection; and by her simplicity, gay prattle, and efforts to please, inspired me, in return, with a degree of attachment sufficient to make us both content in each other’s society.

I felt a conscientious solicitude for Adèle’s welfare and progress, and a quiet liking for her little self: just as I cherished towards Mrs. Fairfax a thankfulness for her kindness, and a pleasure in her society proportionate to the tranquil regard she had for me, and the moderation of her mind and character.

I could not help it: the restlessness was in my nature; it agitated me to pain sometimes.

Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer...

I found this rejection unbearable and, encouraged by my parents to read, sought an escape in books, which were usually hard to come by.

At six or seven I was slogging through Papa’s dull issues of National Geographic and Mama’s tepid copies of Reader’s Digest and her favorite murder mysteries.

But between my raids on the adults-only stuff, there were only the Sunday funnies (Brenda Starr), comic books (Archie, Little Lulu), and Heidi, reread in desperation until I could quote chunks of the text, mentally squeezing it for what I imagined to be hidden underneath.

Lewis Carroll’s influence on my poetry is easily discerned.

Black and Mexican children were chastised or ignored for behavior that earned White children recognition and praise.

and now
the thought stark and irrevocable
of being here without you
shakes me

and now
the thought stark and irrevocable
of being here without you
shakes me

beyond love, fear, regret or anger
into that realm children go
who want to care for/protect their parents