The following questions are taken from your blog posts…
Reaction-affection
Which one was your favourite poem and why?
What themes did you find in the poems? How did they make you feel?
If you are a woman, what aspects did you found yourself identified with that most surprised you?
Is there an overarching theme to Gabriela Mistral’s Madwomen poems? If you think that there is, what theme is it?
Love?
How did these poems make you feel about love? Overall, did you reach a postive or negative conclusion about the emotions intrinsic to love? Why?
Women and Writing
Do you think any of the speakers in this anthology are truly “mad”? Would you say they respond reasonably to their circumstances?
Some of them are for sure, but all of them? If not, why do you think the collection as a whole is called Madwomen? Also, Did any of the poems resonate with you?
How did you feel about Mistral writing from existing character’s perspectives? Like those of Cassandra, Electra, Martha and Mary, and Clytemnestra?
If the book wasn’t written in free-form poetry, do you think the main themes of the text would remain? If not, how would the portrayal of women differ if written in a novel template?
Other
“East” and speakers and others travelling in said direction is mentioned repeatedly in several of the works here. What might this be indicative of?
Do you think, that if Mistral’s sexual preference was disclosed to the committee, it would have influenced her candidacy to the Nobel Prize?
Do you like Greek mythology? Which fable is most vivid for you?
