David Updike Summer Poem Analysis

1006 Words3 Pages

Cortney Harris
Melvin
English 101
November 19, 2014 American Poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay, once said, “I know I am but summer to you heart, and not the full four seasons of the year.” Summer is the point in the year where one is free to act however one may feel. When one can have that of childlike behavior and leave it behind once the season ends. David Updike’s “Summer” depicts a young boy, Homer, on a summer vacation who soon discovers his feelings for Fred’s sister, Sandra, but fears she does not feel the same. On the other hand, Susan Minot’s “Lust” portrays a young girl who is searching for love with a variety of guys. According to Merriam Webster, the word “Love” means “a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person, but “Lust” …show more content…

In Updike’s “Summer”, Homer looks at Sandra as more than just a summer fling. He would like to gain a longer lasting relationship with her, but he doesn’t feel that the feeling is mutual. He begins to catch on to her teasing ways, but doesn’t want to get the wrong idea. He was following behind her watching her “pale legs” and her “tripping sneakers”(361) So he left her taking off running recklessly down the path, “howling into the woods”(361) trying to release his tension of his attraction. He stopped and waited for her. When she caught up to him she asked “where’d you go? I thought I’d lost you.”(361). Sadly, all summers come to an end, some earlier than others, but you are left with makes it worthwhile, memories. Opposing this statement, The narrator in “Lust” describes the way each boy approaches her for their sexual desire, a different scene is given for each guy; similarly, with each guy, she is not able to fight the desire to satisfy them. “We started off sitting at one end of the couch and then our feet were squished against the armrest and then he went over to turn off the TV and came back after he had taken off his shirt and then we slid onto the floor and he got up again to close the door, then came back to me, a body waiting on the

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