/lit/ - Literature

By calling this event ‘typical’ it is revealed she understands the nature of things. She calls this addiction“[humiliating],” for the reason that it is boring and commonplace. Unlike in the first stanza where she ironically played up the insignificant events in her life, the final stanza transitions into being submissive about the fact her life was not as reckless as she would’ve hoped. The narrator is dynamic, going through a significant change in tone throughout the poem: at first she is naïve and delusional, and in the end she is accepting, even if she is unhappy with her life. The theme of the poem is revealed through the narrator’s character development: although people, especially artists, spend time trying to find absurdity, singularity and recklessness in their lives, many of them will nonetheless go through life with a common job and encounter widely shared experiences by the time they reach old age.
“Forgive me, for my sins are mediocre,” is a religious allusion in the same vein as the title, conjuring the image of the act of contrition occurring in a church. This is a humorous way to end the poem, where her mock seriousness is taken up in a manner parodying the traditional religious mantra “Forgive me father, for I have sinned,” which leads up to the holy sacrament of contrition. Through revealing her background, the narrator explores the singularities of her life only to conclude that she has lived a plain existence. (fin)