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Comparison between Lucinda Matlock and Fiddler Jones

Edgar Lee Masters was a renowned American poet whose poems mainly portrayed what the then contemporary society looked like. Through her numerous literary analysis and skills and excellent writing techniques, she writes some masterpieces of poems. Her two poems, Lucinda Matlock and Fiddler Jones have close relationships and some similar themes. The two major characters of the two poems are Lucinda Matlock and Fiddler Jones whose traits who are not only different but also similar in the manner in which they are portrayed in the poems. Their traits are revealed in the manner in which they respond to various situations, their attitudes towards certain ideas and many other platforms of categorizing personalities. The two characters are the protagonists in both the poem. This paper discusses succinctly some of the differences and similarities between the two characters as depicted in the two poems.

To begin with, Lucinda Matlock seems to be a positive person who does not want to lose hope in life or die mourning her kids. Matlock has lost eight kids but she has never cried. She seems to be very satisfied and is not ready to complain or feel bad about her sons. Her tone in the poem indicates that of a person who does not find life a bit easier but is not complaining. Matlock also reveals to the readers that she is happy with the kind of life she lives. Considering that Matlock has lost 8 kids since she first conceived. It is clear that she does not care about some things in life. Life requires patience and ability to realize your goals. Lucinda is positive about life. In fact, she seems to be shouting with proud because she has lived the life that she loved despite the tragedy and traumatizing times when she lost her children. "Shouting to the wooded hills, singing to the green valleys" (Lucinda, Lines 16). The poet employs irony to enable the readers understand the traits of certain characters. The excerpt is an elaboration of strength in Lucinda. She is contented with what she has. Besides this, her conclusion sounds epic because it summarizes what she really believes in. “It takes life to love life." Struggle is a part of life. To love life, one must deal with struggle while appreciating life's blessings” (Lucinda Matlock, Lines 21-22). Lucinda represents those who never give up in life when troubles appear.

Fiddler Jones, on the other hand, loves life at the expense of work. He has forty acres of land and is not ready to gain more. He loves doing what makes him happy each day, but all that he does are not any kind of paying jobs. Fiddler’s hope in life is seemingly becoming happy at the expense of everything. Fiddler Jones was content with his forty acres. He never gained more. And he was always ready to put aside work and enjoy life. He says that he has no regrets based on the decisions he has made in life as long as she remains happy in all that she does. He loves dance and picnic and wish someone could take him away from the road to a dance or picnic. “And I never started to plow in my life. That someone did not stop in the road. And take me away to a dance or picnic” (Fiddler, Lines 3-4).

From the analyses, the two characters are similar based on the manner they view life. Lucinda loves life despite the misfortunes that befall her. She does not give up. Fiddler, on the other hand, loves life but does not like to work. He can let go the work but remain happy with other people. He wants easy things unlike Lucinda who works hard to acquire everything for herself. The similarity noted between them is their passion for life. To them, life is very precious and should be well taken care of and well lived.

The two characters have similar and different traits. However, Lucinda seems to have a better taste of life troubles and misfortunes than Fiddler. She knows how to handle different situations maturely and has her head held high believing that one has to enjoy life when he or she is still alive. Probably, seeing her eight children die gave her the idea that life can end anytime and it is important to live it when it is still there.