I loved it when Martine Leavitt explained during our interview with her that one of the reasons she used poetry as the form in My Book of Life by Angel was that she and the reader could distance themselves from the narrative and focus more on the language. She deliberately used form as a tool so that she could write about a topic that is difficult for people to openly discuss. That was a powerful example to me of someone who knows how to expertly use literary techniques to bring across a message.
In Hoiland's essay "Twelve Times I Prayed," I loved how she used her journey through the forest as a symbolic representation of her own journey and facing her loneliness. While in the forest, she described the warm feeling that came over her as "a mother's love. An ancient love that flowered deep inside the furthest recesses of my mind and heart and moved through all of me to that very spot where I stood. . . . Being in the forest . . . felt like a mother I've always known" (13). While the concept of a Heavenly Mother is a sensitive and sacred topic, Hoiland was still able to respect the sacredness of that topic by seeing the manifestation of her Heavenly Mother's love in the simple things in nature. She used descriptions of nature that provided insight into her own beliefs. Like Hoiland, I want to be able to manipulate setting in my own personal essay in a way that it reflects my own internal journey and beliefs.
I also loved that essay. The topic that I am thinking all write about for my personal essay would do a similar thing. I feel like her feelings become a lot more real when we can visualize them.
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