The Rebellious Gertrude Stein and Patriarchal Wendy Videlock

Gertrude Stein’s Patriarchal Poetry is not your typical poem. In fact it makes no sense at all, but that may be the purpose of the poem. One can make the argument that Stein felt poetry was boxed in by certain distinctions such as meter, structure, etc. and question why those distinctions have been placed on such a free form of writing. The word patriarchal is defined as “characteristics of a system society or government controlled by men” (dictionary.com). Stein felt that poetry had been developed by men with guidelines that men wanted to have, which trapped a form of verse that Stein felt should allow people to have an exuberant freedom. One can conclude this in the fact that Stein never answers exactly what Patriarchal poetry is, but after a lengthy poem filled with a lot of repetition of adjectives about patriarchal poetry she writes, “Dinky pinky dinky pinky dinky pinky dinky pinky once and try. Dinky pinky dinky pinky dinky pinky lullaby. Once sleepy one once does not once need a lullaby.” The beginning of this statement seems like a lot of nonsense, and it is, but the end of the statement gives the reader the meaning behind the poem, which is that poetry as people knew it was patriarchal by design and that makes no sense. Why would someone sing a lullaby to child whose eyes are already closing due to sleepiness? They would not, they would just put the child to sleep. Why would someone make create rules for what should be the most freeing form of expression? One should not, one should sit with a pen and write, letting their emotions and thoughts regurgitate onto the paper by way of the pen. 

Patriarchal Poetry by Gertrude Stein

http://www.scribd.com/doc/85887062/Gertrude-Stein-Patriarchal-Poetry

            Wendy Videlock’s poem Hullo follows the very distinctions that Stein argues are ridiculous. Videlock, in her poem about loneliness, uses a popular four line stanza with every second line rhyming. She also makes each line contain only four syllables which makes her poem patriarchal due to the fact that it holds to all of the standards of structure that Stein argues hold back the freedom in writing poetry. I think that Stein’s argument has merit, though the structure of poems, such as Hullo, give the text more feeling and can more easily set the mood in which the poem should be read. There are times when emotions should be regurgitated on paper with no rhyme or definite structure, but the guidelines that Stein calls patriarchal make poetry more enjoyable and connectable to the reader.

Hullo by Wendy Videlock

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/179344