Poetry Challenge #282-The Littlest Rebel
Kate Chopin, did not lead a life in keeping with prim Victorian images of her captured on film.
I hunted for a feisty photo of Kate, alas…
Born Katherine O’Flaherty, in St. Louis, Missouri on Feb. 8, 1805, Kate had, as they say, the fiery temperament of a redhead (although whether she actually was a redhead, is hard to tell), and as a young girl, she earned a reputation as the "Littlest Rebel" when she tore down a Union flag that had been tied to her front porch by Yankee soldiers.
In spite of her “wild streak” (or maybe because of it—she was involved with those suffragettes after all) Kate was popular in St. Louis society. At 19, she married Oscar Chopin, a twenty-five-year-old French-Creole businessman who whisked her off to Louisiana. Despite relatives who warned him not to, Oscar “treated Kate as an intellectually equal, and didn’t mind that she smoked, drank, and behaved as her own person.”
The Awakening was considered dreadfully immoral at the time, although The NY Times praised her writing.
Fortunately for fans of her work—unfortunately for Kate and her six children—Oscar died of Swamp fever when our Kate was 33. She returned to St. Louis, took up the pen, and wielded it boldly.
Kate Chopin is considered one of the first feminist authors of the 20th century. Her second and last novel Awakening (published in 1899; rediscovered in the 1950s), is her most famous work, as well as the most infamous. Although she never published another novel, Chopin wrote about 100 short stories and poem, too, Here’s one example:
Poetry Challenge #282
Littlest Rebel
Notice how Kate began each stanza of “By the Meadow Gate” with the same line, and ends it with an echo?
For this prompt, use all of part of the first line of “By the Meadow Gate” as the first line of your poem. And, just as she did, begin and end the stanza (or stanzas) the same way.
However, in celebration of Kate Chopin’s wild streak, unlike her sweet poem, let yours veer as far as you dare to the wild side!
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, Write it!
Wonder if this movie starting Shirley Temple was inspired by Kate Chopin? Might have to rewatch it and see!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 2400+ days ago. Now we take turns creating prompts to share with you. Our hope is that creatives—children & adults—will use our prompts as springboards to word play time. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
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