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Lucinda Matlock's Attitude Towards Life Analysis

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Poets and other writers often express life through their works and characters. Some poems convey a depressing, gloomy attitude towards life, while others show the world as a joyful and simple place. Two skilled creative writers, Edgar Lee Masters and Edwin Arlington Robinson, wrote detailed poems describing the lives of characters with extremely different perspectives on life. Many obvious differences can be identified between the lives of Robinson’s Miniver Cheevy and Masters’s Lucinda Matlock. Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poem about Miniver Cheevy paints life as miserable and useless. The source of Miniver’s misery was due to being born in the wrong time period. Robinson writes “Miniver loved the days of old / When swords were bright and steeds were prancing; / The vision of a warrior bold / Would set him dancing” …show more content…

She was given many reasons to have the pathetic and weak attitude displayed by Miniver Cheevy. She buried eight of her twelve children and had no exciting life experiences; however she remained motivated, peaceful, and content with the cards life has dealt her, while Miniver sulked and complained about the inopportune timing of his life. In retrospect I believe Miniver would regret the way he lived his life, and Lucinda would be proud to have had the opportunity to experience it. The comparison of Edwin Arlington Robinson’s Miniver Cheevy and Edgar Lee Master’s Lucinda Matlock offers an excellent example of how different people view circumstances. Many people, such as Miniver Cheevy, will look at life as a miserable existence plagued with a series of unfortunate events, but stronger people, like Lucinda Matlock, will look at life as a series of opportunities to enjoy the smaller pleasant moments that make life worth living. The clear differences between the lives of Lucinda and Miniver serve as lessons for many

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