Dark and Light: A Small Collection of Poetry

       Though I do love my classics I am also a hugh fan of poetry, being a part-time poet myself. So, I decided to embark upon the journey of reviewing a poetry collection for the first time.

       Dark and Light is a short collection of poetry (there are 5 poems in the collection) that was published in 2011 by, K. W. McCabe.True to its title, the collection moves from darkness to light
taking you from the depths of despair to the edge of the tunnel where you are just beginning to see the light again. I enjoyed McCabe's writing style and how the despair of the poems at the collection's beginning was interwoven with hope at the end in what was my favourite poem of the collection; Butterfly. To me Butterfly stood out from the rest of the collection as the strongest poem, the imagery of a butterfly in its cocoon solidified the dark theme of the collection and the diction brought to life the sense of hope and light that the title suggests should accompany the darkness. I would have appreciated a few more poems being included in the collection mainly because I believe it would have enhanced the emotionally journey of the collection. Overall I thought Dark and Light was an interesting, if short, collection of poetry.

The Old Curiosity Shop 1/5 of the way there...

      The version of The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens which I am currently reading has about 500 or so pages. Since my last post I've gotten to page 95, considering this is my first time reading Dickens I'm pretty happy with the 95 pages that I've read since last week. However, since I do take longer to read classics I've decided to post everytime I read another 100 pages.

Little Nell is Anxious

     Only 95 pages in and Dickens has me completely hooked! At this point in the novel I can already appreciate why Dickens is one of the most famous authors in the world. The characters simply come to life with his words, they are so vivid I feel like I am right there with them the entire time!

Spoilers Warning!

Little Nell as Comforter

    So, I've figured out what the whole secret is with the grandfather. And I can't say I condone his ideas for saving for Nell's future at all. His excuses are so typical of a gambling addict; I didn't do it for the pleasure, I did it just to make money. I mean come on! I get that he really cares for Nell and wants to look after her best intentions but it annoys me that he seems to be viewed entirely as this tragic person who was just a victim of his circumstances. Though he likely didn't have many other options, a little planning could have changed all that, had he maybe considered that they would need money to save for  the future maybe he would have spared a couple of dimes for the future! That being said, I really do hope that he does ok for himself and Nell as the book progresses.

The Legal Gentleman named Brass

    Nell is such a darling herself, she pines for her grandfather in the loneliness of her rooms all day. I think I like her so much because she is so relatable as a character, she has something that everyone can relate to; the struggle between staying hopeful and giving in to sorrow. I really hope that she and Kit (who might I add has been treated very unfairly) do get the chance to reconcile in future.

A Cool Proposal

     As for her brother, what can I say, I hate him! He is such a fiend trying to get her married off to some snobbish friend so they can steal the money the believe she has! Lets just say he and Daniel Quilp that nast little man that abuses his wife and steals from those who are already down; make my skin crawl!