Tweetspeak Poetry

  • Home
  • FREE prompts
  • Earth Song
  • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • Teaching Tools
  • Books, Etc.
  • Patron Love

‘The Yellow Wall-Paper’ Book Club: Tell It Slant

By Megan Willome Leave a Comment

Sara Barkat
birthday gifts clip
Editor’s Note: Our book clubs are regularly set aside as exclusive experiences, as thanks to our Patrons, whose generosity helps us bring wisdom, kindness, and joy to the world.

Today, we hope you’ll enjoy this edition of The Yellow Wall-Paper book club, as our National Poetry Month gift to you—a piece that ordinarily would have been for patrons only.

***
In the sections we read last week we got a glimpse of Mary, who takes care of Our Lady’s baby, and a mention of John’s sister, Jennie. Other people show up in this section as well, including “mother and Nellie and the children.” We hear about Cousin Henry and Julia. Oh, and there is someone else:

The faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out.

I got up softly and went to feel and see if the paper did move.”

The Nursery Yellow Wall-Paper Sara Barkat
Who is this someone? Is she real? A ghost? A hallucination? A manifestation of Our Lady? Are we getting the story straight, or are Gilman (and Barkat, with her illustrations) telling it slant?

Tell all the truth but tell it slant –
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind –

—Emily Dickinson

After Our Lady gets up to investigate the Someone, she wakes John but doesn’t tell him about her discovery. She never does tell him.

In 1913 Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote a piece titled Why I Wrote The Yellow Wall-Paper in The Forerunner. In it she identifies the cause of her suffering as “a severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to melancholia.” She could have written a straightforward story about a woman going through exactly that type of breakdown, but she didn’t. Instead she wrote one that could be about a haunted house (or at least, haunted wallpaper), about a husband who could be a sociopath, about the need to write and what happens when a woman can’t do the thing that might save her.

I think the success of the story is in its circuitousness. Our Lady gets up. Our Lady lies down. Round and round the wallpaper she goes, day after day.

and I determine for the thousandth time that I will follow that pointless pattern to some sort of a conclusion. I know a little of the principle of design, and I know this thing was not arranged on any laws of radiation or alternation or repetition or symmetry or anything else I ever heard of.”

flourishes The Yellow WallpaperAt this point Barkat’s illustrations get truly weird as she takes on “the bloated curves and flourishes—a kind of ‘debased Romanesque’ with delirium tremens—[that] go waddling up and down in isolated columns of fatuity.”

I spy bodies, snails, disembodied eyes. I like the panel that shows Our Lady’s feet on the bed, her toes somehow still playful despite her tiredness and her husband’s mysterious tonics.

Dickinson says “The Truth must dazzle gradually / Or every man be blind —.” In one panel Our Lady’s hands are over her eyes as if she were blinding herself. But she’s only adjusting her eyes so the truth can dazzle her gradually.

For this is when the “formless sort of figure” becomes “a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern.” The “faint figure” is the hope Our Lady has been seeking. Only “in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and … by moonlight,” does she begin to see the unseen. It is, as Dickinson described, “Too bright for our infirm Delight.” Lightning has struck and the only explanation for Our Lady is to study the wallpaper.

and I am determined that nobody shall find it out but myself!”

This can’t end well. Or can it?

For Discussion

1) How might you suffer if your creativity were denied you?
2) In the first section, Our Lady had a vision of what she thought would cure her. What do you think might have helped her recover?
3) What effect do the other characters have on Our Lady as they interact with her? How do these other people see the wallpaper?

The Yellow Wall-Paper Graphic Novel cropped cover

We’re reading The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, illustrated by Sara Barkat together this month. We’re also considering the story using poems by Emily Dickinson as a lens. Are you reading along? Share with us in the comments your thoughts on this section of the story.

 

Photo by Jonathan Kos-Read, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Megan Willome.

Browse more from the The Yellow Wall-Paper book club

Yellow Wall-Paper Graphic Novel on Kindle

Buy The Yellow Wall-Paper Now

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Megan Willome
Megan Willome
Megan Willome is a writer, editor, and author of The Joy of Poetry: How to Keep, Save & Make Your Life With Poems and Rainbow Crow: poems in and out of form. Her day is incomplete without poetry, tea, and a walk in the dark.
Megan Willome
Latest posts by Megan Willome (see all)
  • Perspective: The Two, The Only: Calvin and Hobbes - December 16, 2022
  • Children’s Book Club: A Very Haunted Christmas - December 9, 2022
  • By Heart: ‘The night is darkening round me’ by Emily Brontë - December 2, 2022

Filed Under: Blog, book club, Classic Books, Emily Dickinson, Graphic Novel, Patron Only, The Yellow Wall-Paper

Write with Us

About Megan Willome

Megan Willome is a writer, editor, and author of The Joy of Poetry: How to Keep, Save & Make Your Life With Poems and Rainbow Crow: poems in and out of form. Her day is incomplete without poetry, tea, and a walk in the dark.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Cute Comic

😊

The Sadbook Collections

A stick-figure human sure to capture your heart.

Take How to Read a Poem

Get the Introduction, the Billy Collins poem, and Chapter 1

get the sample now

Welcome to Tweetspeak

New to Tweetspeak Poetry? Start here, in The Mischief Café. You're a regular? Check out our June Menu.

Patron Love

❤️

Welcome a little patron love, when you help keep the world poetic.

Your Comments

  • Dheepa R. Maturi on Poet Laura on the Moon
  • L.L. Barkat on Poetry Club Tea Date ✨ The Color of Eyes
  • Beverley on Poetry Club Tea Date ✨ The Color of Eyes
  • L.L. Barkat on Poet Laura on the Moon

How to Write Poetry

Get Every Day Poems

Featured In

We're happy to have been featured in...

The Huffington Post

The Paris Review

The New York Observer

Tumblr Book News

Stay in Touch With Us

Categories

Learn to Write Form Poems

How to Write an Acrostic

How to Write a Ballad

How to Write a Catalog Poem

How to Write a Ghazal

How to Write a Haiku

How to Write an Ode

How to Write a Pantoum

How to Write a Rondeau

How to Write a Sestina

How to Write a Sonnet

How to Write a Villanelle

5 FREE POETRY PROMPTS

Get 5 FREE inbox poetry prompts from the popular book How to Write a Poem

Shakespeare Resources

Poetry Classroom: Sonnet 18

Common Core Picture Poems: Sonnet 73

Sonnet 104 Annotated

Sonnet 116 Annotated

Character Analysis: Romeo and Juliet

Character Analysis: Was Hamlet Sane or Insane?

Why Does Hamlet Wait to Kill the King?

10 Fun Shakespeare Resources

About Shakespeare: Poet and Playwright

Top 10 Shakespeare Sonnets

See all 154 Shakespeare sonnets in our Shakespeare Library!

Explore Work From Black Poets

About Us

  • • A Blessing for Writers
  • • Annual Theme 2022: Perspective
  • • Annual Theme 2021: Generous
  • • Our Story
  • • Meet Our Team
  • • Literary Citizenship
  • • Poet Laura
  • • Poetry for Life: The 5 Vital Approaches
  • • T. S. Poetry Press – All Books
  • • Contact Us

Write With Us

  • • 5 FREE Poetry Prompts-Inbox Delivery
  • • 30 Days to Richer Writing Workshop
  • • Poetry Prompts
  • • Submissions
  • • The Write to Poetry

Read With Us

  • • All Our Books
  • • Book Club
  • • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • • Literacy Extras
  • • Poems to Listen By: Audio Series
  • • Poet-a-Day
  • • Poets and Poems
  • • 50 States Projects
  • • Charlotte Perkins Gilman Poems Library
  • • Edgar Allan Poe Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Blake Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Shakespeare Sonnet Library

Celebrate With Us

  • • Poem on Your Pillow Day
  • • Poetic Earth Month
  • • Poet in a Cupcake Day
  • • Poetry at Work Day
  • • Random Acts of Poetry Day
  • • Take Your Poet to School Week
  • • Take Your Poet to Work Day

Gift Ideas

  • • Every Day Poems
  • • Our Shop
  • • Everybody Loves a Book!

Connect

  • • Donate
  • • Blog Buttons
  • • By Heart
  • • Shop for Tweetspeak Fun Stuff

Copyright © 2023 Tweetspeak Poetry · FAQ, Disclosure & Privacy Policy

We serve poetry with our cookies. Because that's the way it should be.
We serve poetry with your cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you... accept the cookies with a smile.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
update cookie prefs

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT