Sentiment, Taboo?

I came across a startling statement this morning, declaring that sentiment is now taboo in writing and even poetry!  What, no sentiment in poetry?  What madness drives such a statement but the even bigger question why do people listen to this or any other mandate?  It’s no surprise to learn that I am an individualist who has gone her own way since childhood.  Perhaps it’s more surprising that a person who is a diehard socialist is also a sentimentalist of gigantic proportions.  Or perhaps not, hence the term “bleeding heart liberal”?  In any case, I adore a good love story whether it is about people or animals.  I cry at the drop of a sentimental commercial.

       Mother just stopped in the doorway and asked “is it going well” to which I replied “I’m writing that I am the Queen of Sentiment and Michael Landon was my prince”.  Perfect timing because I was about to comment on his series “Little House on the Prairie” which frequently (almost always) had a sentimental touch.  Corny, sure, but it was also very wholesome entertainment.

       I believe it was a short story by Katherine Anne Porter that is the epitome of what I call sentiment.  It’s a story of two sisters who grow up poor in some southern town and who are ostracized in school due to this poverty.  One of the girls talks about her fabulous new dollhouse and eventually invites her classmates to her home to see the incredible house that even has a miniature lamp.  The sisters also go to the girl’s home, make it into the house and the mean rich girl, who has known all along that the sisters were there turns viciously on them and directs them out of the house.  As the sisters leave, the youngest turns to her sister and whispers gently “I saw the lamp”.  Well, I cried for an hour afterwards. 

       Sentiment is alive and well in this house.