Inferno: Circles 6 & 7

6th Circle
Types of sins: heresy (denial of the soul's immortality)
Types of punishments: shades are eternally crammed into fiery tombs with other shades and the bottoms of their feet being burned off
Who is there: Farinata degli Uberti- a leader of Florence. In Hell because he belonged to a political party that wanted to limit the power of the church.
7th Circle
Types of sins: violence against people and property (outer ring), violence against self/suicide (middle ring), violence agains God/nature (inner ring)
Types of punishments: (outer ring) immersed in a river of boiling blood with centaurs shooting arrows at the shades if they try to escape. (middle ring) transformed into gnarly, thorny trees with their own bodies hanging from the branches and the Harpies feeding off of them. People who destroy their lives by destroying their means to sustain life, like money and property, are chased by ferocious dogs through the thorny trees and bushes. (inner ring) desert of flaming sand with fiery flakes falling from the sky onto their naked bodies and the tears being forced out of their eyes.
Who is there: Pyrrhus- son of Achilles. In this level for killing King Priam of Troy.

Cantos 23-25

Canto 23
"Not like his mere companion, but like his child" (pg. 237). It is interesting that Dante compares Virgil to God in this level of Hell. This section of Hell is reserved for those who spent their lives as hipocrites. It can be argued that the whole purpose of this text is to try to scare everyone into converting to the "true" religion, but now the author is going against that agenda by putting someone who is in Hell on an even higher level than God. Dante puts everyone in Hell because they aren't perfect, but when he himself isn't perfect, it's considered to be normal.
Canto 24
"and tears the mist and strikes at every White" (pg. 255). White is usually symbolic of purity and innocence, but in this part of Hell, it is something that brings even more punishment on the sinners. This also plays into the level of hypocrites by showing that something that seems pure and wonderful before death can serve to punish you after you die.
Canto 25
"a serpent darted forward that had six feet" (pg. 261). In the Bible, the serpent that appears to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden originally has feet until it is cursed by God to crawl in the dust. This serpent isn't cursed to slither on the ground because it is in a place where everything is considered evil, so it is equally as cursed as everyone else. It is almost like a backwards ressurection. The serpent starts out evil, then it's legs are taken away because of its sins while it is on Earth. Then, when it returns to where it came from, its legs are restored.

Cantos 20-22

Canto 20
"Lake Benaco, fed by a thousand sources" (pg. 203). Water is usually used to symbolize purity and cleanliness, but in this case, it serves to emphasize the pain and suffering. In the first part of this Canto, the author tells about how the ground is watered by the tears of the sinners. He uses this to reinforce the contrast between good and evil. Because these people tried to contort the miracles of God into their own beliefs in magic, they are forced to be twisted in their awkward position for all eternity.
Canto 21
"The demon's pride fell so much he let loose his hook" (pg. 215). It is interesting how Dante keeps putting Virgil up on a pedestal. In this case, the demon is humbled by Virgil's words much like how most sinners can be humbled by God's words. The relationship between Dante and Virgil is similar to a religious person worshiping God. Many of the things the author says make Dante seem just as bad as the people he puts in Hell. Technically, he is worshipping someone other that the true God, so he should be punished just like the people in Hell.
Canto 22
"one must go with boozers in the tavern and saints in the church" (pg. 223). This emphasizes the fact that Dante isn't familiar with the world of Hell. He has to have Virgil as a guide because Virgil not only lives in Hell, but he has also travelled through all the levels before. It is a reminder to the reader that, since Dante isn't one of the great heroes from the past, he is very human and he needs the help. It also helps the reader to remember that Virgil is in Hell for a reason.

Inferno: Cantos 17-19

Canto 17
"His face was just a man's face, outwardly kind" (pg. 171). The author uses this to emphasize not only the evil that there is in Hell, but also how fake the people were when they were still alive. Right now, Dante and Virgil are in the ring with the sins of fraud, so it only serves to reinforce that idea that the monster's face seems kind when the monster was made to punish the evil for their sins. The demon's deceptively kind, human face lulls souls into a false sense of security before he makes sure that they are tortured as much as they should be for lying their way through life.
Canto 18
"the bridge with all those bound toward St. Peter's, facing the Castle, while those headed..." (pg. 181). Dante uses this to show the difference that there is between the people who did good in their life and those who did evil. The way he portrays these sinners in Hell as going two opposite ways is meant to give a visualization of the way that the sinners and the people who follow God are going two opposite ways. The memory of people heading for St. Peter's is used to show how the character Dante needs to reassure himself that his goal is right. He is only going through Hell in order to gain the ultimate prize of knowledge, as well as being with God. The only way he can truely come befor St. Peter's gates is if he learns about the suffering that he would have to endure if he wasn't an obedient servant to God.
Canto 19
"...a lawless shepherd of the west..." (pg. 195). In most religious views, the shepherd is a symbol of Jesus. I think the author placed this picture of the evil shepherd in Hell in order to show how discouraging it is for Dante to try and travel through the evil without some of it starting to get to him. He feels sympathy for some of the sinners and the punishments that they have to suffer, and starts to wonder if he might have acted in some of the same ways as them. The author put the picture of the evil shepherd in the fradulent ring of Hell in order to show that nothing is as it seems and Dante just has to trust in God in order to be saved from the same fate.

Canto 16

The wheel made up of the three warriors is supposed to represent the unity of the people in Hell. The people in Hell are drawn together by the common bond of being condemned to suffering by God. They don't seem to feel any genuine affection for each other because, lets face it, love isn't what sent them to Hell in the first place. However, being in the same situation makes them face the facts that they are all suffering and the only way to get rid of even a fraction of that pain is to work together. This way of joining forces can be seen in the way the men hold on to each other for support at they spin around Dante in order to talk to him as well as keep moving. A wheel is usually a part of a tool that is used to help a person go faster or to carry a heavier load (like a bike or a wheelbarrow). It is a device to make things easier, as these warriors seem to be doing for each other.

Allusions Cantos 13-15

Canto 13
"If you remove a little branch from any one of these pieces of foliage around us, the thoughts you have will also be broken off" (pg. 129). There is a contrast here between Hell and a parable that Jesus spoke in John 15. In the parable, he speaks of how he is the true vine and the only way to become a part of the true vine is to be grafted in by the husbandman. The contrast that we see in this allusion serves to emphasize the evil in Hell. Where becoming a part of the vine is something of purity, breaking off pieces of the bushes leads to forgetfulness and that could cause a soul to get lost.
Canto 14
"There where, repented guilt removed, souls gather to cleanse themselves" (pg. 147). There are many places in the Bible where one of God's servants instructs a sinner to go wash themselves and be clean. After they are made clean, the miracle happens. It is amazing the amount of hope that the author seems to be finding, especially considering his situation. Every chance he gets, he finds a way to fit in more souls getting saved from eternal suffering.
Canto 15
"One recognized me, and took me by the hem" (pg. 151). This line alludes to the time when Jesus was passing through a huge crowd of people and there was a woman who had a sickness in her blood. She believed that if she could just get close enough to touch Jesus' clothes, then she would be healed. The comparison that Dante makes between his character and Jesus suggests that he is a savior travelling through the ranks of the dead to bring life to condemned souls. Dante's travel through the stages of Hell is similar to Jesus' journey to earth and the sacrifice of his life to save everyone from their sins.

Canto 11&12

Canto 11
1. "Inscribed: I hold Pope Anastasius" (pg. 109). It is ironic that the Pope is one of the most prominent figure heads of the Chrisitan religion and he still ends up in Hell. The author could be using this to serve as a warning to the reader that they should be careful with what they do with their life so that they don't enter in to the same fate.
2. "But please, could we retrace our path" (pg. 113). This is one of the first times where Dante actually asks that they could turn around rather than continuing on their journey. This scene is meant to show the reader the horrors that he is facing as well as provide as a contrast between Dante and the old heroes. Dante is finding it hard to continue and he has a guide. The heroes were able to go into Hell and come back out again with a pretty small amount of help.
Canto 12
1. "love: the force that has brought chaos back" (pg. 121). Love is not usually thought of as something that brings about chaos, but rather peace, joy and happiness. The author's suggestion that love brings turmoil could be referring to the suffering that is being felt by those who defied God. Love is something that is supposed to be posessed by all of God's servants, so it is the one thing that will always cause regret and anguish in those who fell from favor.
2. "rise out of the blood more than its guilt makes lawful" (pg. 123). This reinforces the idea that there is pity in Hell. Unfortunately for the sinful, that pity isn't enough to lessen the suffering very much. In this case, a soul could find some relief from being boiled, but if they try to take advantage of the mercy too much, they will be punished by the sting of the arrows.

Canto 9&10

Canto 9
1. "if you looked at her- there would be no returning above" (pg. 89). Once again, we are shown the danger that stands between Dante and his journey to get out of Hell. If he were to look at this woman, there would be no way of escaping and he would be trapped forever. The author uses this to emphasize the importance of completing this journey. It is also showing how it is much more risky for a writer to travel through Hell than one of the great warriors of Rome or Greece.
2. "Some sepulchers grow hotter, and some less" (pg. 93). It is very interesting the way Dante chose to classify the sins of the condemned souls. Many religious people just believe that a person is cursed to burn in Hell if they don't follow the way of God. Dante's view makes the suffering greater or less depending on how bad the person's sins against God are.
Canto 10
1. "If it should please you, stop a moment here" (pg. 97). Each time that Dante and Virgil speak to another dead soul, they have to stop. It has to be their choice to speak to the soul. This is possibly making it easier for them to complete their journey undisturbed. If the souls were the ones choosing to do the talking, Dante wouldn't ever be able to move forward and he would become completely bogged down by the needy souls that are trying to remember what it was like to be living on earth. He would become trapped because of the weight of their pain and problems and his inability to move would be a curse in itself.
2. "no evidence or knowledge, except if others bring us word" (pg. 103). It is interesting how the author shows that the tortured souls do still have some abilities, but the things that once seemed so simple to them and were a part of everyday life have now become impossible. They have no way of keeping track of their loved ones and because of that, their suffering is increased.

Canto 7&8

Canto 7
1. "Why do you squander? Why do you hoard" (pg. 67). This line shows us that there is a fine balance between spending too much and not spending enough. Some of these souls chose to live their lives more fully than they had a right to and some didn't live their lives enough to have any kind of gratification. The fact that they are cursed to fight each other in death shows us that the author thought of these different personality types as being unchangeable. Someone who hoards will always hold on to what he has and never share, and the squanderers will always be giving away more than they have.
2. "like a snake in the grass" (pg. 71). This serves as a warning to Dante. So far, he has witnessed many sins, but the one he has the most trouble understanding is the hoarding and squandering. Virgil reprimands him for already having an idea in his head as to who these souls are. The author does this to show that there is a very fine balance. The hidden snake shows us that this is one of the sins that we need to be most careful of because it can sneak up and strike without our notice.
Canto 8
1. "Let him retrace alone his foolish way -try if he can!" (pg. 81). This shows us how out of place Dante is in Hell. It also serves as a parallel between Dante and the heroes who once travelled through on their own errands. Each of the living souls who pass through Death meet with some kind of resistance from the dead souls. In this case, the souls even serve to discourage Dante's guide a little bit. This shows us either that Dante isn't as strong as the heroes of old, or that the souls in death are getting stronger and more resistant with time.
2. "None can deprive us of the passage One has willed for us to have." (pg. 83). Virgil is telling Dante not to get frustrated because the dead souls are giving them trouble. They can't stop him from travelling on if it is what is fated to happen. The author uses this to show the reader that the only way a soul can become trapped in Hell is by their own doing.

Canto 5&6

Canto 5
1. "Beware how you come in and whom you trust" (pg. 47). This tells us that, while Virgil is Dante's guide, he will not be the one who makes all the decisions of what they do while they pass through Hell. Dante will still have to think and make decisions for himself. He will have to choose which souls would be useful in helping them out. There is a tone of warning in Minos's statement that if Dante doesn't choose well he will get stuck in Hell.
2. "Swooning as in death, I fell like a dying body" (pg. 53). As soon as we see Dante feeling pity for the lovers and the sins that brought them to Hell, his soul faints from the exhaustion of pushing against the call of death. His emotional connection with the lovers is preyed upon by the evils of Hell and he finds it so hard to with stand the pull of sin that his physical body gives out. The fact that Virgil didn't do anything to warn Dante of the dangers of speaking with the souls suggests that Dante must learn on his own how to not get too close to them.
Canto 6
1. "Treading upon their emptinesses, which seemed like real bodies" (pg. 59). This suggests that the souls have become empty of the things that a soul should have, like love, joy and happiness. Instead, they have been beaten down by the rain and the noise of Cerberus' barking. The sin of Gluttony (which would make a person full), leads to this emptiness. These souls are condemned to this in death because of their greed for more in life.
2. "and the hostile Power comes" (pg. 61) Most religious people don't think of God's power as being hostile, but this line brings to light the feelings of those who don't believe in God, or don't follow his way. To them, His judgements would seem harsh because of his wrath for those who disobey Him.

Canto 3&4

Canto 3
1. "all fear must be left here, and all cowardice die" (pg. 25). Hell is a place where the evil and the suffering feed off of the fear and cowardice. This sign serves as a warning to Dante that he shouldn't become involved in what the condemned souls are feeling. If he doesn't leave his fear at the entrance of Hell, then his soul might get sucked into the suffering and he could become trapped forever.
2. "cursing the human race, God and their parents" (pg. 35). The only people that these souls have the right to blame for their fate is themselves. In the Aeneid, there were many reasons why a person could end up in Hell, such as killing your kin, betraying your country, etc. In this book, we see that one of the ways a person can end up in Hell is by blaming others for a fate that was your own doing.
Canto 4
1. "not trees, but a wood of thronging spirits" (pg. 37). The woods are something that can't be moved because of their roots in the place where they are planted. The only way to make an entire forest move would ultimately cause the destruction of the woods. You would have to chop down the trees and transport them as smaller pieces, but this would also kill them. These souls also can't be moved because they are rooted in the place where fate has put them.
2. "and far more honor: that fair company then made me one among them" (pg. 39). It makes Dante feel like one of the heroes of old to be considered one of a group of such great writers. This makes him more confident about his ability to pass through Hell unharmed. He feels especially honored to be linked with Virgil in his journey through the depths of Hell, and he believes this is why he is gifted with the presence of these great poets.

Canto 1&2

Canto 1
1. "in the day of the false gods who lied" (pg. 7). Virgil is suggesting that the gods in the time of the Roman Empire weren't actually gods, but demons. They tricked people into worshiping them and thinking that they were doing the right thing, when they were only condemning themselves to a life in Hell.
2. "Saint Peter's gate, and the multitude of woes" (pg. 11). It is interesting that Dante chooses to connect the gate of Heaven with sorrow. This might suggest at his doubt in the judgement that comes when you reach the gate. He is unsure of what his feelings would be when he approaches the gate. The woe that he speaks about could be speaking of the tortured souls that he has not met yet, but he knows exist. He doesn't have a good enough understanding yet of the way God's acceptance works.
Canto 2
1."what cause, whose favor, could send me forth on such a voyage" (pg. 15). This is the first hint we see of Dante feeling unsure of his worthiness to travel through Hell. The only accounts he knows of people who have made it in and back out were the great heroes like Aeneas. He thinks is glad to have Virgil as his guide and believes that this will help to make him more worthy of completing the journey that all the great heroes did.
2. "Why be a coward rather than bolder, freer" (pg. 21). The holy lady is telling Dante that he shouldn't be afraid when he goes through Hell because he has the help of Virgil and the 3 Holy ladies who are watching from Heaven. The only way he will be able to make it through just like the heroes from ancient times did is if he trusts his guide. He can't be fearful of the things that he sees and hears, or that will take his focus off of the goal of just passing through Hell and his soul could get trapped.

Lit. Elements

Litotes: understatement used for rhetorical effect. (A statement is expressed by denying its opposite)
example: "The grave's a fine a private place, but none, I think, there do embrace." -Andrew Marvell

Lyric Poem: a short poem where the poet expresses an emotion or illuminates a life principle. It might have conflict and a sense of resolution, but there is no plot. Can be a personal statement from the poet to another person.
examples: "I Heard a Fly Buzz- When I Died" -Emily Dickinson. "Dreams" -Langston Hughes. "Daddy"- Silvia Plath.

Romanticism

Characteristics:
-symbolism
-religious and philosophical allusions
-motifs and imagery
-appreciation of Christianity
-passionate/emotional
Common Themes:
-return to nature
-the supernatural
-love of the common man
-strange and far away places
-nationalism
-romantic heroism
Well Known Poets:
-William Wordsworth
-Lord Byron
-John Keats
-William Blake
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
-Percy B. Shelley
-Samuel Coleridge

Last Sonnet
Bright Star, would I were steadfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night,
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like Nature's patient sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priest-like task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death.
-John Keats

Augustan Poetry

Characteristics:
-mock epics
-heroic couplets
-commonly uses satire and irony, iambic pentameter, and paradoxes
-often has a plain/ordinary plot
-alludes to ancient Roman/Greek epic poetry
-themes include: human frailty, the standards of man's potential, order in the universe, mocks human behavior
Authors:
-John Dryden
-Alexander Pope
-Jonathan Swift

The Progress of Poetry
The Farmer's Goose, who in the Stubble,
Has fed without Restraint, or Trouble;
Grown fat with Corn and Sitting still,
Can scarce get o'er the Barn-Door Sill:
And hardly waddles forth, to cool
Her Belly in the neighb'ring Pool:
Nor loudly cackles at the Door;
For Cackling shews the Goose is poor.

But when she must be turn'd to graze,
And round the barren Common strays,
Hard Exercise, and harder Fare
Soon make my Dame grow lank and spare:
Her Body light, she tries her Wings,
And scorns the Ground, and upward springs,
While all the Parish, as she flies,
Hear Sounds harmonious from the Skies.

Such is the Poet, fresh in Pay,
(The third Night's Profits of his Play;)
His Morning-Draughts 'till Noon can swill,
Among his Brethren of the Quill:
With good Roast Beef his Belly full,
Grown lazy, foggy, fat, and dull:
Deep sunk in Plenty, and Delight,
What Poet e'er could take his Flight?
Or stuff'd with Phlegm up to the Throat,
What Poet e'er could sing a Note?
Nor Pegasus could bear the Load,
Along the high celestial Road;
The Steed, oppress'd, would break his Girth,
To raise the Lumber from the Earth.

But, view him in another Scene,
When all his Drink is Hippocrene,
His Money spent, his Patrons fail,
His Credit out for Cheese and Ale;
His Two-Year's Coat so smooth and bare,
Through ev'ry Thread it lets in Air;
With hungry Meals his Body pin'd,
His Guts and Belly full of Wind;
And, like a Jockey for a Race,
His Flesh brought down to Flying-Case:
Now his exalted Spirit loaths
Incumbrances of Food and Cloaths;
And up he rises like a Vapour,
Supported high on Wings of Paper;
He singing flies, and flying sings,
While from below all Grub-street rings.
-Jonathan Swift

Speaking (Oritz)

I take him outside
under the trees,
have him stand on the ground.
We listen to the crickets,
cicadas, million years old sound.
Ants come by us.
I tell them,
"This is he, my son.
This boy is looking at you.
I am speaking for him."

The crickets, cicadas,
the ants, the millions of years
are watching us,
hearing us.
My son murmurs infant words,
speaking, small laughter
bubbles from him.
Tree leaves tremble.
They listen to this boy
speaking for me.

The tone of this poem suggests at the pride that the father has for his son as well as the wonder that he feels at his son's ability to speak with nature. There is a contrast between the father's need to speak for his son and the son's apparent joy in nature. The father feels at first that he has to do all of the talking for his son, but he soon finds that his son's way of "speaking" is better. It is the son's innocence and joy that actually evokes a response from the tree. The author is making a statement by showing how the son's incoherrent murmurs and laughter create a better understanding from the things he is speaking to than do the father's precise words. The father feels a need to explain what he is doing and who he is with, but the son's contentment with who/where he is makes more of a connection between him and the acceptance of nature. The repetition of "millions of years" suggests that the father has become separated from nature as the cares of his life start to get the best of him. It emphasizes the contrast between him and his son. His son has the carefree spirit of youth and someone who is being cared for while he is stressed by the world and his need to explain what he is doing and who he is with.

I like a look of Agony (Dickinson)

I like a look of Agony,
Because I know it's true-
Men do not sham Convulsion,
Nor simulate, a Throe-

The Eyes glaze once- and that is Death-
Impossible to feign
The Beads upon the Forehead
By homely Anguish strung.

The speaker says that they like a look of agony because it is the one thing that is obviously not faked. By the beads of sweat in line 7, we know that she is talking about an aspect of emotional agony that is so intense that it seems to cause physical pain. The narrator finds beauty in how "homely" anguish is. The fact that it is so evident in a person's life is what makes it so to her. She is not a person who likes being lied to and this is why she enjoys seeing such a true emotion in a person's life. She seems to focus on men when she speaks of the truth of agony. This suggests that she has been lied to before about other emotions. The only time the speaker knows that a man is being truthful is when there is evidence of emotional pain. She says that a man would never "...sham Convulsion,/ nor simulate, a Throe." I believe that the men in her life wouldn't fake these emotions because they know she will see right through them. In this sense they are trapped when they try. The speaker compares the truth of agony to the finality of death. They are both things that can't truely be faked. There are aspects of each (such as "...the Eyes glaze...") that will be noticed as missing if a person were to attempt to imitate either of them.

Poetry Questions (ch. 9&10)

Loveliest of Trees (pg. 867)
1. The speaker knows he can't keep himself from aging, so he decides to enjoy the experiences that come with getting older.
2. The speaker is 20 years old. He assumes his life will be 70 years in length because that is the average length of life for people of his time. "Only" and "little" are surprising because they are applied to 50 years. Most people would think of that as a very large amount of time, but the speaker feels it isn't enough time to enjoy as fully as he wants.
3. The snow is figurative. The life of the cherry tree parallels the life of the speaker. In this case, the snow is actually the white blossoms on the tree. This represents the youth of the speaker and the warning that the actual snow will come before too long, so the tree should be ready.
The Indifferent (pg. 872)
1. indifferent: showing no care or concern
know: to have knowledge of
travail: the use of physical or mental energy
2. The speaker is a man who is talking to his lover. He is indifferent about whatever vices a woman might have. The only qualification he has for a lover is that she doesn't make him lover her and then push him away (line 16). He doesn't want to be hurt if he decides to commit to a woman.
3. Unfaithfulness. They differ from their mothers, who vices other than unfaithfulness. He thinks it's because the daughters got bored with the other vices so they had to turn to a new one.
4. Venus investigates because the love has lost its variety, which she feels is the best part of having love. She confirms the speaker's accusation. She punishes the unfaithful ones by cursing them to love and be faithful to the ones who are unfaithful to them.
How Annandale Went Out (pg. 876)
1. The speaker is the Annandale's friend the doctor. He is speaking to a colleague and trying to explain why he did what he did. He wants to have some closure for his actions.
2. He calls himself a liar and a hypocrite because doctors swear an oath to help heal people, but he didn't heal Annandale, he just ended his suffering. (Ln 4-5) The wreck that crippled Annandale wasn't all that horrible and he could have gone on living, but the doctor couldn't bear to see him suffer. (Ln 9) The doctor knew what comes from these types of accidents (people being crippled) as well as he knows his friend. He uses the words: him, Annandale, the man.
3. "I was there": the doctor feels guilt at being at the scene of the accident and not being able to help Annandale enough to make it so he could live and not be suffering. "On the spot": there was a lot of pressure on the doctor to do the right thing and he couldn't think of anything to do to help Annandale any more than to end his suffering.
4. "slight kind of engine": Annandale had a weakening heart from the accident. The doctor gestures with a slight jab to indicate how that was all he had to do to end Annandale's life. This is illegal, but it can be argued to be moral because he didn't let Annandale suffer. The doctor reveals what he has done in order to relieve the burden of his guilt. He needs to know if anyone would place blame on him.
5. His auditor approves of his action, but Robinson doesn't.
6. To the Mercy Killers: speaks of wanting to live. We don't know how Annandale felt in "How Annandale Went Out" when he was killed, whether he wanted to live or not. Both poems involve a poor quality of life and outsiders not being able to stand watching the suffering and not being able to do anything about it.
No worst, there is none (pg. 878)
1. fell: cause to fall as if by delivering a blow
2. Auditory: "wince" "shrieked" "cries heave" - these images reinforce the desperation and pain that is being felt by the speaker.
Visual: "no-man-fathomed" "mountains" "age-old" - these pictures show the reader how helpless the speaker feels when he is faced with such power and significance. He doesn't even feel helped out when he joins with others (they "huddle" together).
3. The failure to identify a cause is a way for the reader to create a deeper meaning by reading their own fears and pains and sufferings into the poem. The religious references suggest that the speaker feels like he has been abandoned by God. He feels like he has been left out of the joy that is felt in Jesus by others.
Apparently with no surprise (pg. 882)
1. The "blonde Assassin" is a little girl who picks the flower as she passes by and in doing so kills it.
2. It is ironic that a little girl would be called a murderer. The fact that this is viewed by an "Approving God" is also ironic because murder is supposed to be a sin. In this case, it makes it sound like it's okay to kill as long as it is for the purpose of bringing pleasure to the person killing.
Crossing the Bar (pg. 886)
1. bourne: a goal or destination
2. Tennyson uses the ideas of a sunset and a journey out to sea as metaphors for death. In each case, death takes place in stanza 3. The bel tolls the time of day when the sun has finally set beneath the horizon and now there is only darkness, and the man/soul begins his voyage into the deep sea (death).
3. Once the traveler leaves the harbor, the storm (death) can take him over and have the power to decide whether he continues on or not. The speaker hopes to die peacefully in his sleep because he doesn't want to know it is coming and have to suffer the pity of his loved ones. He doesn't want other people crying over his misfortune of being at the end of his life because he feels that this will cause him to fear death.
4. "that which drew from boundless deep" is the afterlife. It takes the ones who were deemed worthy by the deep and rewards them. "Boundless deep" is death. The deep is opposed to the boat that carries the person out into the sea and keeps it sheltered and free from death. Pilot is capitalized because it is meant to represent God.
The Apparition (pg. 889)
1. feigned: not genuine
aspen: a type of tree with fragile leaves that flutter in the wind
quicksilver: heavy silvery toxic element
Aspen and quicksilver are used figuratively to reinforce the fragility of the woman and the toxic quality of the man's words of persuasion.
2. The man is a suitor to the woman. Solicitation is different from marriage beause it offers no form of commitment. It is only an offer for sex, where marriage is an offer for emotional unity.
3. The tone doesn't support that the man's love is spent. If it really was, he wouldn't be trying so hard to get her to sleep with him. His "love" probably won't be spent until she has lost all of her mystery when she has sex with him.
4. The speaker uses "feigned vestal" to insult the woman and make her want to prove him wrong. He is also showing her that she might have taken her virginity too far and will become old and no one will want her any more.
5. Murderess implies that she leads him on on purpose in order to make him suffer and potentially get rid of him.
6. The arms that the woman would find herself in would be worse than her current suitor's. The speaker is putting a curse on her so that when she finally does sleep with a man, he will always misunderstand what she wants. When she wants sex, he will ignore her offers. When she doesn't want sex, he will and he will force her.
7. The man doesn't really have an answer. He is just threatening her and also trying to make her curious enough to want to have sex with him.
8. The speaker wants the woman to repent from not sleeping with him. He argues that she would be free from the sin of murder since she is killing him by her refusal. What he doesn't mention is that she would lose her innocence.
The Flea (pg. 891)
1. Preceding the poem, the man and the woman are both bitten by the same flea. Between stanzas one and two, the woman says that they should get married before they sleep together. Between stanzas two and three, the woman kills the flea by squishing it with her finger. The woman doesn't agree with the view of the man and says that they aren't any weaker even though she killed what was supposedly both of them put together.
2. They are suitors and the man is always trying to get the woman to have sex with him. She killed him by rejecting his offer for sex so many times. She rejects his advances because she thinks they should be married and truely commited before she loses her virginity. The man is still alive because she keeps leading him on. The man's objective is to get her to sleep with him.
3. The speaker argues that they can mingle their blood now because it has already been done when the flea drank both of their blood. This serves to make it seem like less of a sin to "mingle blood."
4. The parents grudge that their daughter would associate with a man who is always trying to take her virginity. The woman is grudging that her suitor doesn't seem to take her own wishes into consideration but rather keeps asking her for sex. "Living walls of jet" is the flea's body. The woman commits three murders because she kills the flea, herself, and him when she squishes the bug. The three sins are the triple murder that she commits in killing the flea.
5. The woman triumphs by killing the flea and the man's argument for their sexual union. He argues that she has already sinned three times by killing the flea, so sinning again by having sex with him won't make a difference.
6. The man and the woman probably don't wind up doing what the man is trying to convince her to do.
7. The Flea is one of Donne's more witty poems about seduction. The Apparition is more forceful with its persuasion, and it evokes the idea of a curse.
Dover Beach (pg. 892)
1. strand: a shoreline
girdle: a piece of cloth used as a belt
darkling: occuring in the night; of darkness
2. The speaker is standing on the cliffs on the French coast in the middle of the night. He is calmly addressing someone that he is very fond of.
4. The speaker isn't a believer and he sees no possible cures for the horrors that exist in the world.
5. The "armies" are figurative. The speaker and his friend are standing on the cliffs, not a plain. But, this is what the speaker pictures when he thinks of the battle between the believers and the nonbelievers. He thinks that one or the other will make a surprise attack. Some of the "soldiers" are deserting their side to escape the battle. The imagery is meant to parallel the situation that the speaker finds himself in.
6. The tone of the speaker is very calm, but there is a note of regret. He wants to be one of the believers, but he can't seem to make himself faithful in something that he can't see with his own eyes.
Getting Out (pg. 896)
1. The poem doesn't assign blame to either of the people. Both were tightening their hearts so they both held responsibility for the end of their relationship and the way things turned out.
2. The couple's physical similarities make them think they should be more alike emotionally. This makes them feel confined. Neither one is very emotionally mature if they think that they have to conform to each others views in order to stay in love. The last line shows that they still love each other, but they aren't mature enough to deal with the emotional pressure they're putting on themselves.
3. The poem would be more aptly interpreted as a confinement to a mental institution because the people obviously love each other, but are driven apart by their own madness that makes them think they need to be restricted.
4. The tone shifts as the couple realizes the only way to save whatever feelings they may have left is to separate. Now they feel less confined in their emotions so they don't want to let go of each other. We know that they still love each other because of the evidence given to us in stanza three about them not wanting to let go of the other's hand. The only problem is that they have to separate in order to gain the maturity to make their love work.

Poetry Questions (ch 7&8)

Incident (pg. 832)

1. The title is very key with the meaning of the piece. It emphasizes the reality in which this is the only "incident" the boy remembers. The last stanza is so effective because it emphasizes by overstatement that the boy is continuously affected by this moment. It's probably not all he remembers, but it is the most significant.

New England (pg. 833)
1. Learn to walk on frozen toes

wind is always north-north-east

who boil elsewhere

They have become mad with the heat and their prosperity. They also become wild and out of control from all of the drinking that they do.

2. The speaker is curious about those in a warmer climate. He hasn't met them and has to form an opinion from what "we're told." Because his knowledge of these things is somewhat second hand, the speaker seems to look down on their lifestyle. Learning that the poet is from Maine emphasizes the envy/wonder at the way of life in the warmer states. He seems to be saying bad things to make himself feel better about his own situation.

Barbie Doll (pg. 835)

1. Barbie dolls are made to look "perfect"- just how many people want to look. The girl in the poem wasn't perfect looking. The contrast is supposed to emphasize the goodness of the girl and show the corruption of a society that praises the perfection of a plastic doll before the perfection of a person's heart/attitude.

2. The image of a fan belt is fitting because it is the part of the engine that keeps the motor from getting overheated. In this case, the part of the girl that cools her anger and frustration wore out and she overheated.

3. Her strong arms and back served to help the girls with the hard physical labor of cutting off her own legs. Her manual dexterity helped her to snip off her nose without seeming to do any damage to other parts of her face.

4. Puberty isn't good magic. It is a time of awkwardness and a time when most remove the mask of innocence. The last lines show the reader how everyone felt bad for criticizing the girl and they try to make up for it by calling her pretty when she's dead. Her ending wasn't happy because she had to die to earn praise from others. The satire targets the vainness of society and says not to be too beauty conscious because you'll miss out on the bigger picture.

Ozymandias (pg. 838)

1. The sculptor's hand, the king's heart. Metonymy.

2. Ozymandias: powerful ruler at one time, vain, thinks of himself as a god, cruel, looks down on everyone else.
3. Ozymandias is a symbol of the corruption of powerful leaders/governments.

4. Theme: corruption of power over time. Stated by the words on the plaque and the look on the face of the collapsed statue. The man (statue) is surrounded by nothingness and waste and no one remembers him. He may have thought that people looked up to him as a god and he will always be remembered, but he is soon forgotten.

The Unknown Citizen (pg. 843)

1. scab: a low or contemtible person

Eugenist: a specialist in eugenics (the study of hereditary improvement through choosing who mates and produces offspring)

2. The citizen was "unknown" because he was completely normal. He did nothing (that the Bureau knows of) that was radical in any way. The people who are usually remembered are the ones who made an impression- this man didn't because he was so regular.

Allusion to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers where the unidentified soldiers from WW1 were placed.

3. The title shows us that Auden doesn't feel especially interested in this man. He feels that he did nothing to make himself any different than thousands of other Americans. Auden does feel that this citizen showed good character and morals. he had a wife and childern and enjoyed going out with his friends, he served in the army and was in a Union and worked hard, but we know nothing about how he felt about any of this.

4. The poem satirizes the "average citizen" from the point of view of a government agency. It warns us that being average means sacrificing the individual. It also satirizes the way we judge people based on the way they choose to live their life.

APO 96225 (pg. 846)

1. Dramatic irony. The speaker's attitude toward his story is one of sympathy for the young man, but also the need to inform the readers. He feels that people don't really understand the disconnect that there is when a family member goes to war.

2. The American public wanted to know what was going on in the war (like the mother), but once they got some facts they were upset and withdrew some of their sympathies. This left the soldiers (the son) to feel abandoned.

Mr. Z (pg. 848)

1. profane: vulgar; coarse

kosher: conforming to Jewish dietary laws

exotic: having the charm of the unfamiliar

ethnic: of or pertaining to particular religious, racial, national, or cultural group

2. Mr. Z was motivated by his mother's race to not become like the racial stereotype expected of him. He got a good education, took on the beliefs of white men, avoided his cultural background, and married a blue-eyed woman.

3. The author is satirizing the society for rejecting race. He doesn't give Mr. Z a name because that is probably what the people he was trying to fit in with did. The author likes Mr. Z, but he doesn't like the way he rejects his race and his background.

4. Chameleons blend in with their surroundings, which is what Mr. Z and his wife are trying to do.

Plant without roots: Mr. Z has rejected his background (roots) and because of that he can't grow within his society. He can't grow within white society because he doesn't have a background there either.

The author is judging Mr. Z because of his rejection of who he is.
5. Dramatic irony. (Ln. 8, 16, 19-20)
6. Mr. Z is "black."

"Out, Out-" (pg. 853)

1. A newspaper article with the same incident wouldn't be colored with the same emotions as the poem. It would deal only in the facts.

2. "They" refers to the doctor and the boy's family. The ending of the boy's life is fitting. The family going about their business adds to the realistic effect of the poem. It shows us the vanities of human nature. A more tearful and sentimental ending would be worse because it would remove the reality of it and the disconnected feeling of shock.

3. Metonymy

On His Blindness (pg. 857)

1. spent: exhausted; depleted of energy, force, or strength

fondly: with love or affection

prevent: to keep from happening/ to make impossible

post: assign to a station

2. talent= natural abilities or qualities, a unit of money from ancient times. Milton's talent is writing.

3. Three servants were each given money by their master according to their abilities and told to use it to make even more money. Two of the servants used their talents to double their money and were rewarded by the master. The other servant was afraid of his master and hid the money given to him in the ground. He was not rewarded by the master and was left behind.

The poem is similar to the parable because the speaker has an ability that he must use to make a profit. It is different when the speaker first questions God, but then goes off to do His bidding.

4. The point of the poem is to show the reader that if they have a talent, they should use it to make a profit and they will be rewarded.

in Just (pg. 856)

1. The balloon man is called "goat-footed" because of the way he stands. This alludes to Pan, a Greek god with the bottom half of a goat. He was the god of spring, fields and groves, and fertility. This enriches the poem by reinforcing the idea of spring and youth. The balloon man brings children running, and the god Pan bring children to life.

Leda and the Swan (pg. 859)

1. Leda was raped by Zeus in the form of a swan. One of the children that was born as a result of this union was Clytemenstra, who is the one who murdered Agamemnon (her husband). The broken wall and burning roof could be referring to the end of the Trojan War when Agamemnon would go home and be murdered by his wife.

2. This poem also serves as a warning abou the dangers of strange unions. The question in the last two lines asks if Leda accepted the knowledge that Zeus had when he raped her. I think she did know what her children would do, but she slept with Zeus anyways because then she would get the glory over others from being loved by a god.

Life with Father (pg. 862)

1. Sunday is represented in the poem to reinforce the fact that the children are getting a rest from the attacks of their father when he is drunk. "Last night's raving" means that the father gets mean when he drinks. He beats the children when he gets home from the bar. The "demon" is an allusion to both the devil and the drink.
2. Yes
3. The title becomes ironic with this information due to the fact that it is life with mother that keeps the children fairly safe. Or it's possible that the controlling influence of the mother is what drives father to drink in the first place.
4. The funnies "save" the children by making fun of a situation that is very similar to their own. The allusions are all tied together with some kind of social restraint. There is something blocking the characters in each situation from finding true happiness.
5. The children fear the abuse that comes when the father is drunk, but they also wish for the richness of his love that comes when he is sober. The father's drunken stupor is like the giant's beanstalk because it first has to be planted and then climbed in order to achieve the drunkenness. The stupor is something of his own doing just like meeting the giant came from climbing the beanstalk. Father's drunken stupor makes him think that he can have everything, including money, which he doesn't have. The poverty of the family is shown by the children having to get up even on Sunday to take care of chores, and by the father dreaming of gold. He uses his money to pay for the alcohol that puts him into the stupor and this is how his "dream gold" is gone.

Poetry Questions (ch 5&6)

Bereft (pg. 787)
1. It is the end of the day in the fall. The speaker is standing on the porch of an old house (that is in pretty bad shape). There is a storm brewing.
2. The comparison reflects the apprehension of the speaker for the storm, but at the same time he doesn't feel scared. He doesn't move when the imagined snake moves to attack him and that is why he isn't actually hit by them.
3. A hiss is a sound that usually makes people want to step back. This reinforces the idea that the speaker is alone because all of his loved ones have stepped back from him.
4. The speaker's life is compared to his empty house. The wind is compared to a monster/beast (such as a lion or tiger), reinforcing the speaker's lonliness and helplessness. The door is restive because it has the power to shut things out. Figuratively, this makes the door seem secure because it separates the speaker from his feelings of lonliness.
5. The tone can easily be figured out by the title "Bereft." The speaker feels lost and lonely and the reader isn't reassured by the last line of the poem. They are left to feel bereft just like the speaker.
It sifts from Leaden Sieves (pg. 788)
1. "It" is the snow.
2. (ln. 1-2) the snow is compared to dirt (which is sifted) or metal which has to power to powder trees.
(ln. 17-18) snow is compared to a serving maid who takes care of royalty and dresses the queen.
3. Leaden sieves: this reflects the dark (leaden) color of the clouds that the snow falls from
alabaster wool: this represents purity. Both the reference to wool (baby sheep) and alabaster (very expensive) are meant to reinforce the purifying nature of the snow.
even face: the snow is powerful enough to smooth out mountains and plains
unbroken forehead: no wrinkles to detract from the purity
a summer's empty room: the weather has the power to make people do things, like go outside when it's warm or stay in when it's cold and blizzarding
artisans: the snow is creative and shapes the whole world into something that is smooth and beautiful.
The Subalterns (pg. 791)
1. subalterns: lower in position or rank
wight: a human being; creature
ark: a place of shelter or refuge
fell: of an inhumanely cruel nature; fierce
owned: to acknowledge or admit; to confess
2. All four personifications view humanity as a limitation. They each have the attitude that they say they don't want to harm the speaker, but they have no choice. We know that they actually slightly enjoy their work. They are passive to the human's feelings.
3. The speaker and the four personifications acknowledge and smile at each other. The speaker reckognizes their passive stance on their jobs and feels hopeless in life. He becomes resigned to the fate he has of being weakly mortal.
Exercses on pg. 796
1. Metaphor. Day= haughty. Urn= filled. The day/time passes without consideration for anything else. Because of this, the urn (a person) is filled with fire (life) in order to try and make a difference in the haughtiness. The urn is answering a challenge.
2. Simile. Words= sunbeams. When they are just small or few, they are warm and make you feel content, but when they are condensed together and hit too close to the truth, words have the ability to burn like the sun.
3. Personification. Joy, temperence, and repose= healty people. They don't need the doctor because they aren't sick, so they can shut the door in his face.
4. Metaphor. Pen= weapon. When the pen writes the truth, it can do more damage to a person's life than a real weapon can. It has the power to drive away friends and family and acquaintances.
5. Metaphor. Oath= straw. Blood= fire. The oath is something that is tried by the blood. Straw feeds the fire and makes it burn brighter. For some people, their word is as good as their blood.
6. Literal
7. Literal
8. Personification. Desert= beast. The desert is a dangerous place where many die. Here it is waiting to trap/hunt another person and kill her.
9. Literal
10. Literal
I taste a liquor never brewed (pg. 797)
1. debauchee: a dissolute person or a man who is morally unrestrained
foxglove: a plant with drooping/tubular purple or white flowers on tall spikes
2. The experiences of nature are compared to being drunk.
3. Pearls are too small to be a tankard to a person. This is more to show the narrator's connection with nature.
Molten blue inns= either the sky or some body of water. This helps to show the freedom that there is in this kind of drunkenness. An inn is where the drunks can finds rest.
Snowy hats are meant to reflect the snow-covered tips of the mountains.
4. Comic drunks lean on lamp posts. The seraphs wave at the nature-drunk and the saints run to the window to watch. This isn't a normal response for holy men to drunkenness.
Pink Dog (pg. 798)
1. scabies: contagious, itchy skin infection
sambas: a lively ballroom dance from Brazil
depilated: hair removed
2. The narrator speaks to the dog with a tone of curiosity/sympathy and warning. He isn't scared of it like many other people who pass by. At first, the speaker seems to just be warning the dog not to be caught as a beggar, but then he seems to form a kind of attachment to the dog and tells it to disguise its condition so it can come have fun at the carnival with everyone else.
3. The atmosphere helps the reader to see that the speaker's treatment of the dog might be similar or even better than the way beggars are treated. The speaker says the dog should cover up the nakedness with a carnival costume and a mask so it can go out and have fun. The dog relates to the beggar. They are outcasts, but for one night they can wear costumes and masks and no one will know the difference at the carnival.
To His Coy Mistress (pg. 803)
1. coy: annoyingly unwilling to make a commitment
Humber: a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England
transpires: to give off vapor containing waste products
2. The speaker is trying to get his sweetheart to have sex with him. She is bing "coy" because she doesn't want to lose her virginity before marriage.
3. If I had time to love you as slowly as you want me to, then I would. But time is passing and we are both growing too old for these things. Therefore, we should take advantage of our youth and do it now. The argument is valid in the fact that time is passing them by, but the speaker could eliminate this by just asking for his sweetheart's hand in marriage. He just doesn't want to have to make the commitment to her.
4. Vegetables are ever-growing, which is fitting for the argument the speaker is trying to make. The distance between the two rivers is contrasted by the closeness of the two birds of prey. The speaker would complain about the distance between them when he is by the Humber and she is by the Ganges River.
5. "time's winged chariot": time is running out. It is racing towards them both like a horse in the ancient Greek chariot races.
"deserts of vast eternity": deserts usually represent solitude. The speaker is suggesting that his sweetheart will be alone forever if she doesn't take this opportunity now.
"slow chapped power": they should eat up this moment quickly. If they don't take advantage of it now, it will never happen, not even if they try to savor it.
6. "Sun"= metonym for son. They can't make a child, but they can make the sun run quickly (make time pass swiftly).
7. The poem is principally about time. Making love is a way to make the time pass more quickly. The poet advances the philosophy that the purpose of sex is to make the time worth passing, not to show your complete and utter devotion for a person.
Dream Deffered (pg. 805)
1. "does it explode"= metaphor to a bomb. It is at the end, like the dream is at its end. The explosion is fitting because it destroys completely, just like the lost dream.
2. Knowing that the author was African American might make the reader think the poem is about the dream for equality. The fact that the dream exploded could suggest that there was a little bit of hope, but that was lost very quickly.
The Sick Rose (pg. 811)
1. Personification, imagery. Personification helps with the symbolism of the rose as a person, as one able to hate, love, feel, and die. The imagery helps the reader to better understand the symbol through the suggestion of darkness and secrecy.
2. The poem could also be interpreted as a deception, or a plan for assassination. The exclaimation of sickness in the beginning could be a person acting at their surprise. The worm in the night suggests at a secrecy and the howling storm holds an omen of death. "Found out" suggests that the "rose" was hiding from the killer (someone close to the rose).
3. Night: a time of secrecy and black magic. A time for murder.
Storm: a troubled relationship. This could be suggesting at feelings in the one doing the killing that they're trying to keep hidden because of being shunned before.
Digging (pg. 812)
1. drills: trench/furrow in which seeds are planted
fell to: got back to work
2. The imagery evokes the feelings of love and perhaps jealousy that the speaker feels for his father and grandfather digging in the potatoes. He shows us the physical aspect of planting potatoes and contrasts it with the "digging" he will do with his pen. He will be digging at people by writing harsh things.
Ulysses (pg. 818)
1. lees: the side sheltered from the wind
Hyades: 5 daughters of Atlas placed by Zeus in the heavens
meet: to pay; settle
2. Ulysses plans to sail towards Greece and Troy so that they can see the battlefields and be able to lay themselves/their guilt to rest.
3. Section 1: Ulysses speaks to his people about his unrest. He doesn't want to just be a figurehead who sits around doing nothing. He feels that doing so will destroy his country. Section 2: (still speaking to his countrymen) Ulysses leaves his country under the rule of his son, who he feels will do well with it. Section 3: Ulysses speaks to his mariners about their new journey. He is filled with pride for them and what they're doing, and he wants them to know he's glad to have them with him. I think Ulysses is standing at the front of his ship making the speech as he prepares to leave.
4. Tennyson represents Ulysses as a heroic figure setting out to free his country from the ruld of his idleness. He isn't making a sacrifice to do this because he wants to leave, but at the same time he isn't being selfish either. The author makes it seem like it really is better for his country if he leaves.
5. Ulysses symbolizes the nomadic way of life of a warrior. He travels to bring honor to his country. (lns. 1-4, 22-23, 43, 52)
6. West: the sun sets in the west, so it could symbolize the ending of Ulysses' career as a leader. It could also be symbolizing the beginning of the afterlife because Ulysses and his men are going into the light.
7. (18-21) Everything that I have seen is a part of me. Every experience creates an opening into the things that haven't been explored yet, and it disappears if I don't take the opportunity.
(26-29) Not a lot of life is left, but every moment holds a new experience of something more than death that would be selfish to keep to myself.
(23) A sword that rusts if it isn't used. (48) The good times and the hardships. Free hearts= free people/ no responsibilities. Free foreheads= no worry: free from wrinkles/frowns.
I started Early- Took my Dog (pg. 826)
1. This poem could be an attempted suicide. The woman goes out into the sea to drown herself, but then gets scared and runs out again. She fears that she will be forgotten if her body is taken by the ocean.
2. Sea= male because it's meant to parallel her situation in her home life. She fears that she will be "drowned" if she continues on in her relationship with this man. Ln 9: She wasn't worried by this man until she got in too deep, then she realized that she could really be hurt by him and she had to leave.
3. "My simple Shoe": The man she was involved with may have told her she was too plain and that's why she now views her shoe as being simple.
"overflow with Pearl": the woman has been led to believe that if she lets the man seduce her, then he can make her happy. He does this by giving her expensive gifts (such as pearls) to make her seem less plain.
"the Solid Town": she eventually sees that there is no security with this man/the sea. They are both always changing and unpredictable, so she returns to the place where she feels safe: a place that doesn't change.
4. Mermaids= pleasant. Mythical creatures are usually considered to be beautiful. Silver and pearls suggest at the experience being a "rich" one. The woman is both pleased by the man's attentions to her and scared of her emotions and being hurt.
Exercises on pg. 828
1. a) symbol
b) literal
c) metaphor
d) metaphor
e)symbol
2. "I heard a Fly buzz- when I died" is more symbolic, where Shapiro's poem simply describes the life of a fly and its relationship with people. Dickinson uses the fly's buzz to symbolize the expectation that comes when someone is about to die. The use of the fly shows how the speaker's loved ones sit around in silence as she prepares to die.
3. Blake's tiger symbolizes God and how he can be great and terrible at the same time, depending on how you look at His work.
4. a) symbolic
b) symbolic
c) symbolic
d) symbolic
e) literal
f) literal
g) literal
h) symbolic
i) symbolic
j) symbolic
k) symbolic
l) literal

Poetry Questions (ch 3 & 4)

There is no Frigate like a Book (pg. 758)
1. Miles suggests only distance, but the word "lands" speaks to the reader of someone who is moving around and experiencing the adventure that comes with different cultures. When you think of someone being cheap, you only think that they won't part with their money unless it's an emergency. Frugal suggests that a person likes to save their money, but they will spend it. Frugal people spend wisely and cheap people try not to spend at all.
2. Prancing applies to poetry by suggesting at the way in which it should be read. It speaks to the reader of the way that rhythm and meter work to create deeper meanings within the poem. Prancing is also very fitting for coursers because they are meant to be swift and eager to run. This suggests that they are never standing still, but are always moving and ready to go.
3. This poem was meant to speak of other poems, such as those mentioned by Keats and Coleridge. The tone of this poem suggests at trying to escape some of the horrors of the world through the written word. Owen's poem brings brutal reality to life and that isn't the type of poetry Dickenson spoke of.
Exercises (pg. 763)
1. a.) steed
b.) king
c.)Samarkand
2. a.) mother
b.) children
c.) brother
3. a.) slender, thin, skinny, gaunt
b.) loaded, prosperous, moneyed, affluent
c.) intelligent, brainy, smart, eggheaded
4. a- having acted foolishly
5. fast runner- denotation: swift and capable of moving quickly
connotation: a person who is able to escape from uncomfortable situations. They run from their problems.
fast color- denotation: a dye that's stable to color destroying agents
connotation: something that's bright and colorful and unaffected by the elements
fast living- denotation: wild, disposed to dissipation
connotation: someone who is living the good life. They have a lot of money and friends and are constantly socializing
fast day- denotation: a day on which fasting is observed
connotation: a day when the activities were fun. The time seemed to pass more quickly than usual.
6. a.) The connotation of white symbolizes purity and virginity. It is meant to make the princess sound even more beautiful and desirable.
b.) The whiteness in her face shows the fear she feels at being caught and reflects or enhances her deception as a princess.
On My First Son (pg. 764)
1. Right hand: it is considered a place of honor to be seated at the right hand of the head of the table. It also symbolizes someone who is very helpful (i.e. I couldn't function without him. He is my right hand).
exacted: to call for demand or require
just: guided by truth, reason, fairness, and justice
Many people argue that all people are just loaned life by some kind of deity. In this case, the loan was made to show the father a taste of the love that he has the ability to give, but he was greedy with his love. Because of this, the loan had to be repaid earlier than was originally planned.
2. Poetry is something that is meant to be beautiful and simple, much like a child. In one sense, an author creates a poem and is emotionally connected to it, perhaps in the same way a father is to a son.
3. I think that the author didn't mean hope in the traditional sense. I think he meant that the father had too many expectations for his son's life. This may be hinting at some guilt that is felt over the son's death.
A Hymn to God the Father (pg. 768)
1. This information is very helpful. I think the poem is a way for Donne to reflect both his religious leanings and his love for his wife. The lines "For I have more" show his love for his wife and how much he thinks of her while he is ill, as well as showing the reader that we will always have more sin in ourselves. Possibly "I have no more" means that he is having a hard time fighting death when she isn't there to encourage him.
2. Donne could be hinting at his secret marriage with Anne More. Or perhaps he is speaking of having sex before they were married. I think he means the sin (or secrets) that began his marriage. (Lines 13-14) I think Donne is speaking about when he has told his last sermon, or lived his last moment. Or he could mean when he has told his last lie. (Line 14) He fears that he won't be accepted into the afterlife because of his sins. His fear is that he will die right after he tells a lie.
3. Sun: the natural sun which makes things grow and decay, and the Son of God who died for the remission of sins. This is at the end of the poem, hinting that Donne's sins were forgiven.
Done: this hints that a person has committed sins and that they aren't finished committing them. It is fitting that this is how each stanza ends because it shows the reader just how true those words are. It reflects a repentance for the sins already committed, but also a knowledge that it could happen again.
Parting at Morning (pg. 773)
1. The last line implies both that the lover needs the world of men and that the world of men needs her. More specifically, the woman needs the world of her lover and he needs her world. It could also be suggesting that although they are lovers, they still need to go on living their own lives.
2. The sea only appears to come suddenly to the ship. This reflects the man's regret at leaving his lover behind. It seems sudden because he feels that one night together wasn't long enough for either of them. Or he could be suggesting that the sea seems to come quickly because the man can't wait to be leaving the commitment of the night before.
3. The two poems together suggest that love is fleeting. They show the reader that Browning may have phrased them romantically, but what he meant is that the heart is filled with secrecy. This suggests that he believes in love, but that he also feels it's something that can't last. He feels it is a short-term thing created for the pleasure of the lovers.
Spring (pg. 774)
1. The word "nothing" helps the reader to better understand the conviction that the author has about the beauty of spring. This words suggests that he really means what he says. It is a statement that would be made with conviction. I think that the narrator not only admires the growth that comes with the beginning of spring, but also admires the complete cycle that life will make when spring is over.
2. The imagery in this poem helps to make it rich. It speaks of things growing and coming to life: an aspect that is considered one of the riches of the world.
3. The spring is compared to the beginning of the world and to the beginning of a person's life. The first comparison is fitting because the Garden of Eden was once beautiful like spring, but it wasn't appreciated enough so it was taken away. The comparison of spring to a baby is fitting because spring leads to summer and fall (the aging of a person) where the growing things ripen and fall off the tree, then winter comes and the fruit dies.
4. The syntax of the lines maintains the connection being made between spring and innocence- "Before it cloud" (ln. 11): spring will bring rain and innocence will lead to sin eventually. The imagery evoked by Hopkins's lines ties in the idea of spring being a time of growth that too soon leads to decay.
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (pg. 776)
1. The imagery evokes both sound and touch, but never a visual. This suggests that the narrator is going into her situation blindly, with her eyes closed. She doesn't want to know what she is getting herself into, but she already has an idea. There is the idea that if she goes in blind then she won't have any expectations to be crushed.
2. The funeral is reflected as the mourners enter the church and sit down. They listen to the sermon and the coffin is lifted to be taken out of the church. The funeral bell (wedding bells) tolls and then there is silence as the coffin is dropped into the grave (silence reflects that the narrator is now married and is buried without hope of escape).
3. The speaker is located in the church as she prepares (or doesn't prepare as the case is here) for her wedding. The saddened tone of the piece reflects her doomsday view on her marriage and how she mourns the loss of any freedom she might have had.
4. The poem ends as the speaker finally gets married and loses all connection with what she knows as herself. Her emotions at this moment are reflected by the image of the coffin being dropped into the grave.
To Autumn
1. hook: a sickle
barred: ridges formed by the action of currents
sallows: European willows
bourn: a boundary (as between properties)
croft: a small enclosed pasture or field near a house
2. Auditory (ln. 30-33): "lambs bleat" "with trebel soft" "swallows twitter"
Visual (ln. 4): "with fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run"
Tactile (ln. 15): "hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind"
Olfactory (ln. 16): "drowsed with the fume of poppies"
3. Stanza 1: visual- helps the reader to see the fruits beginning to ripen. It reinforces the very colorful beginning of fall. Stanza 2: tactile- the harvesting is going on and it requires a lot of physical labor. Stanza 3: auditory- it reflects the birds flying south and the winds beginning to pick up.
The first stanza represents the beginning of fall whne the fruit is just beginning to get ripe enough to harvest. Stanza two is when the harvests of autumn are being stored for the winter months. The third stanza is when fall is beginning to turn to winter.
4. Stanza 2 personifies the autumn as a harvester. I think stanza 1 is supposed to personify the planter.
5. This poem shows that the author appreciates beauty, even if it is passing. The first stanza holds the most beauty, which reinforces that it is something that doesn't last forever. The author uses the last line to show that the transition from autumn to winter also holds some beauty.

After the Attack

The title of this piece hints that the death referenced later in the poem is something that is to be expected. It begins with "the sick boy" and then goes on to speak about the painting. The imagery used to describe what is happening in the painting helps the reader to better understand the symbolism of death. The author uses the painting to portray some of the different aspects of death that many think about. "...peaceful even though the wheat is a golden storm" No one is a stranger to the idea that death is something that is supposed to bring about peace, especially those who believe in the afterlife. But, this line also brings up the idea of the fear or anticipation of death. The fear of death is mostly for the unknown, just as it is for the fear of a storm. The narrator speaks of the man in the painting who could symbolize any number of religious figures, but for this poem is just the one who helps bring people over into death. As the poem continues on, the painting expands as if to welcome the sick boy inside to become a part of the wheat field. It "begins to stretch and open" like a doorway leading into the next world. The poem ends with "He has come nearer./No one notices it." I think this is talking about both the boy and the man in the painting. The man has come nearer to help the boy into his transition to the other side and the boy has come nearer to death. The tone of this piece makes the reader feel somewhat like the sick boy. It is as if the author put the reader in the place of the boy calmly waiting for death to come. It isn't indifferent, but rather ready for what will surely come next.

I Crave Your Mouth, Your Voice, Your Hair

There can be a couple of arguments made for what Neruda meant by this poem. I believe he meant for the love in the sonnet to be the kind that comes from a distance. There is a menacing quality to the way the narrator speaks. He uses words such as "crave" and "starving" to suggest that this love is something that has to be satisfied. He has a great desire for this woman, but there is the suggestion that she is somehow out of his league. Her "sleek laugh" sounds like she is blowing him off, or perhaps sharing a joke with another person. The speaker becomes jealous(?) of the sunbeam that falls on the woman and he speaks of eating it, which suggests at making it a part of himself. If he were part sunbeam then he would be able to touch this untouchable woman, even if it's only for a moment. There is also a hint here that he wants to make her happy. Sunbeams bring warmth to a person and that is what the narrator wants for this woman. Unfortunately, there is an impatience (suggested by the pacing) in him that makes it impossible to wait for her to notice him. Neruda's comparison to a puma shows the reader that the speaker has decided to take on a predatory role towards this love. There is the chance (suggested by "twilight") that this can bring about the beginning of a relationship with this woman, or the ending of any chances he has with her. It is hinted that he knows the outcome will be solitude ("barrens") and the speaker will be forced to remain impatient and craving.

Beloved entries 28-45

28. "Denver needed somebody normal in her life" (pg. 200) This suggests that Denver is the only person in 124 who is even partially sane. There is a contrast here between Denver and Paul D. While both seem to be normal people, Denver becomes addicted to Beloved while Paul D. is completely creeped out by her.
29. "Spirit willing; flesh weak" (pg. 203). Allusion to Bible- Matthew 26:41. Jesus tells Peter to watch out so he doesn't become tempted. Stamp Paid is tempted to knock on the door of 124. There is the possibility that by doing so, he would meet Beloved and become one of the ones who is addicted to her. He wants to help Denver, but he is being saved from evil by not entering into temptation.
30. "...nobody saw them falling" (pg. 205). This hints at the affect slavery has had on the minds of the people in this family. They start to go crazy, but no one sees until they are unsalvageable. This also parallels how no one knew Sethe was insane until she attempted to kill her entire family.
31. "The peace of the winter stars seemed permanent" (pg. 208). Now that Sethe knows about Beloved, she can be content with it. The past doesn't seem so horrible to her now that something good has come of it. "Seemed" foreshadows to the way that Beloved becomes spoiled by the love that is shown to her by her family. After the time of peace is over, Beloved will have to go as well.
32. "He hoped she stuck to blue, yellow, maybe green, and never fixed on red" (pg. 213). Stamp Paid hopes that Baby Suggs was able to focus on the good things in life (such as harmony, joy, heaven, trust and truth) and never got sidetracked by the things that will make a person want to die (such as rage, malice and anger). He has a great respect for her and the way she helps others in the Clearing and wants her to feel the same release of problems that she brought to everyone else.
33. "I can forget that what I did changed Baby Suggs' life" (pg. 217). Sethe knows that her decision to kill Beloved ruined any chance that Baby had of growing roots with the townspeople. This causes her even more bad memories, but now she doesn't seem to be showing any remorse for what she did. This suggests a parallelism between Sethe and the white slave owners: they may have some bad memories, but that doesn't stop them from doing what they do. They don't seem to care what effect their actions will have on certain individuals.
34. "...leastway act like a Christian" (pg. 219). This suggests that no one in the town treats Sethe with any respect or familiarity because of what she did and possibly because they also think she has too much pride. It is perhaps more her pride in what she did that keeps her from being a part of the community. If she showed some humility, or even some remorse, they would be more willing to accept her.
35. "...that people who die bad don't stay in the ground" (pg. 221). This hints at both the way Beloved died and what she becomes when she is alive. It is common for ghosts to be the people who died a violent death, so it is not surprising when Beloved returns to haunt her mother. This also foreshadows to Beloved's "bad" behavior later in the book when she becomes demanding like the spoiled infant she is at heart. The question that Morrison is posing to the reader here is "what is Beloved's unfinished business?"
36. "Feel their judgement or their pity, especially now" (pg. 225). Morrison has already established that the people in the town look down on pride, and that is probably the real reason Sethe doesn't want to go to the store with the others. She isn't accepted by the whites or the former slaves. To one group, she is an animal. To the other, she is a murderer full of pride for what she did.
37. "Away from me. Always away from me" (pg. 226). This reflects not only the abandonment of Sethe's own family, but also the theme of slavery and its effect on the individual. Sethe's family (especially Howard and Buglar) are afraid of her and that's why they abandon her. Denver might not physically abandon her, but she isn't able to show her the love that she holds inside because of the fear of what might happen. This part also reflects the damages that slavery can have on families. Many were torn apart because many of the members were sold or hanged.
38. "Who in the world was he willing to die for?" (pg. 239). Sethe's insanity drove her to try and kill her children, but she didn't die. She was the one killing, so it's ironic that she would think of Paul D. like this. She feels that he doesn't love at all and therefore he is flawed. The problem with Paul is that he actually does love, but he tries very hard not to because he doesn't want to have to let the things/people he loves go.
39. "Don't love her too much" (pg. 243). This is a warning that Denver should be speaking to herself about Beloved. She is becoming too attached to her, even though she subconsciously knows that Beloved doesn't belong in her world. The fact that Denver has so much love to give and so much lonliness to make up for is wasted on Beloved. However, this will eventually be a benefit to Denver. Her lonliness is what helps her to break her addiction to her sister and go out to get help from the people of the town.
40. "...sent him running toward blossoms" (pg. 261). This suggests that Paul D. was running towards Sethe from the very beginning. The cherry blossoms on her back are symbolic of the dead slaves hung from the trees, so this passage could also be hinting that going to Sethe will be the death of a part of him. By the end of the book, we find that running to Sethe saved Paul D. from his fear of loving.
41. "For his song perhaps to end?" (pg. 266). The songs of many of the slaves were made up to symbolize their lives. The fact that the whitemen wait for Sixo to finish his song could be showing the reader that they are just wanting him to die. It is fitting that it is Sixo's song that convinces the men to put him to death. Perhaps he appealed to their subconscious and got them to kill him to put him out of his misery.
42. "A teasing August rain that raises expectations it cannot fill" (pg. 268). The weather reflects the failure of the escape plans and the fact that Paul D. gets caught. It could also be symbolic of the expectations that Beloved's family has. At first, they all want her to stay and that is the teasing. Once she decides she is going to stay, things start to go bad and she becomes spoiled. Beloved can't live up to the expectations because she isn't really meant to be in the world of the living.
43. "...ask your pardon. Apologize" (pg. 271). Stamp is like family to everyone he has ferried across the river. He is perhaps the only one who can take a duty like this upon himself. He feels ashamed that no one in the town took it upon themselves to invite Paul D. into their home. This seems to reflect on him somehow. I think it makes it look like he didn't try hard enough to get his "family" to offer Paul D. a place to stay.
44. "Saw Sethe's eyes bright but dead, alert but vacant..." (pg. 285) This is the point in the story where Beloved and Sethe seem to be trading places. Where Beloved was dead and vacant before, now Sethe is. Before, Beloved was thin but now she is becoming bloated from being pregnant as well as taking most of the food in the household. This marks a turning point for Sethe. Now, if Beloved were to leave she would feel some pain, but it would be something that she could be drawn out of with a few kind words. I think before if she would have lost Beloved, there would have been nothing that could have been done to keep her from killing herself.
45. "Denver lowered her head" (pg. 288). Perhaps the reason why the people in town are able to accept Denver is because she doesn't show any of the pride that is so evident in her mother. In fact, Denver sees no reason why people would want to help her out. This is what makes them more inclined to like her. She is respectful to everyone and that makes them feel better. She gives them a sense of importance that they never had in their lives as slaves and that is a priceless gift.

Beloved Structure (Part 2)

Part 2 reflects the passage of a person from slavery to freed slave. We see the transition that many of the characters are trying to make to free person. Morrison begins this section with the presence of Stamp Paid to show the reader that the people in 124 are making the voyage across the river to true freedom. Stamp's connection to the ferryman, Charon, on the River Styx reflects how he ferries the dead across to the freedom of the world of the dead. Another important element of Part 2 for the reader to consider is that this is the first time that Sethe finally decides to accept that Beloved is her dead daughter (and dead memories) come back to life. The ablility to make this realization shows the reader that Sethe is finally beginning to make the transition from freed slave to free person. Love is something that the slaves can't accept because it is something that can cause heartbreak even more easily. Each chapter has its significance, but perhaps the most important is the one where the voices of Sethe, Denver and Beloved all come together. The almost poetic harmony of their voices together becomes a transition for the three of them: each begins to accept the love that they have and are able to give. It can be argued that this is Beloved's whole purpose in coming back from the dead. Her main goal is to help Sethe to learn how to love again. The section ends, once again with the ferryman, suggesting that this is the passage of a slave to a free person. At this point, each slave is still too close to their past and the river that they have had to cross to truely be a part of the free society.

Beloved entries 16-27

16. "Denver had worried herself sick trying to think of a way to get Beloved to share her room" (pg. 79). Denver has finally found someone who takes away the loneliness, but it seems like Beloved doesn't love Denver as much. Later in the story, we actually read about Beloved saying that the only person she loves is Sethe. In a sense, this makes Denver more alone than she ever was because now she thinks she isn't. I think Beloved is just using the way Denver seems to worship her. When Denver finds out how Beloved really feels, she will be devastated.
17. "Other people went crazy. Why couldn't she?" (pg. 83). Most people are afraid of the unknown of being crazy as well as being rejected by society. Sethe has already been shunned by society, so that isn't a concern for her. Now she just wants to go crazy so she won't remember the horrors of the past. The main problem here, I think, is that Sethe is already crazy, but she hasn't suffered any of the memory loss that others have. Fate in this book seems to keep from people the thing they want most in the world.
18. "There's a way to put it there...which is worse" (pg. 84). Paul D is saying that it's bad for the slaves to be treated cruelly enough with the bit that they go mad. He wonders if it's worse to take out the craziness because when you're mad the pain and suffering doesn't seem quite as real as when you're perfectly sane. On the other hand, Sethe suffers a lot and she's a bit on the crazy side.
19. "This moment of certainty...the spore itself" (pg. 99). This parallels the lives of the slaves and plays into the theme of slavery. The only future they have is the one that exists for them before they are born, the imaginary plans that parents make that they secretly know will never happen, but it makes them happier to think about it. When the baby is born, their future dies in slavery.
20. "...opened her great heart to those who could use it" (pg. 102). It has been mentioned often that former slaves are afraid to love or even become attached to people/things. Baby Suggs just allows herself to love and be loved. This is what makes her such a great preacher(?). She doesn't seem to worry about the future and things being taken away from her, but rather she lets herself be content with the love that she has for the time being.
21. "It started...children cried..." (pg. 103). Baby Suggs knows how the escaped and former slaves try to hold everything in because the less emotion they show the less likely are to be punished for it. They try so hard to be perfect in order to keep from losing everything (or to keep from being beaten) that they become hugely burdened by the weight of their emotions. Baby helps them to let go, playing into the idea of rebirth.
22. "...Sethe knew grief at 124 had started when she jumped down off the wagon..." (pg. 105). This suggests that the blackness of grief and despair that Sethe can't seem to let go of brings everyone else down, even the most easily inspired of the slaves. This also contrasts with the luck that Denver has and the way Paul D can get people to talk to him about their problems.
23. "...it didn't matter if it was real or not" (pg. 110). This Sethe contrasts with the character we see now. This one seems to love her children and dote on them. The current Sethe doesn't seem to pay much attention to Denver. It is possible that Sethe resents that she wasn't able to kill Denver to protect her at the same time she did Beloved.
24. "...for they would not visit...mistreated" (pg. 112). This aspect of the story parallels society both in the time of the author and the society we live in now. When a person does something out of the ordinary, even for love, it is frowned upon by the masses because it just isn't the way things are done.
25. "Beloved so agitated she behaved like a two-year-old" (pg. 116). I think Sethe knows subconsciously that Beloved is her ghost daughter. She is trying to block out the facts that are facing her. She doesn't want to know that Beloved is her daughter because she prefers to think that her daughter is safe from all harm that could come from the world.
26. "They sang lovingly of graveyards and sisters long gone" (pg. 128). This is ironic for the reader coming from a different view point, but for the slaves, death was a blessing that was supposed to bring the peace and rest that could never be found in life. This sentence both parallels and contrasts Beloved. She was in a graveyard for a little bit of time, but she isn't the sister who is long gone.
27. "Looking kept it at bay" (pg. 141). Denver thinks she's happier with Beloved around and perhaps she is a little bit, but she is still lonely. She isn't loved by Beloved as much as she gives her love. Beloved told Paul D that the only one she loves is Sethe. Denver may think that Beloved feels affection for her, but the reader can see the emptiness that is there. Thinking that Beloved loves her will only make Denver more lonely in the end.

Beloved entries 1-15

1. "Time never worked the way Sixo thought..." (pg. 25). Here, we see the idea that time and fate never like people think it should. They try to plan by it and try to make it work for them, but in the end the way time is changed never works out in a beneficial way.
2. "...the 'tree' lying next to him didn't compare" (pg. 26). To Paul D, the tree is something that should remind him of good times and companionship. Sethe's tree only makes him regret. Where trees are usually symbols of something that is living and growing, Sethe's scars are only a reminder of pain and the death of her happiness. If it represented true death, the tree would be a kind of release from her memories, but it only reminds her of the terrible things she has seen and experienced.
3. "...while the whitegirl talked, the baby slept" (pg. 40). The peace that the baby in the womb feels when Amy is talking parallels the contentment Denver feels when Sethe tells her the story of her birth. Thinking about Amy makes Denver feel less lonely. The author uses this part of the story to show the reader just how different Denver is. Where most slaves would be horrified at the thought of white people and reminded of everything they suffered at their hands, Denver feels a kind of peace and kinship with one of them.
4. "Anything dead coming back to life hurts" (pg. 42). The fact that the ghost is caught in between the spirit world and the world of the living shows the reader how there must be a lot of pain there. In a sense, the ghost is always in a state of coming back to life. This parallels the pain that the baby must be feeling at being murdered by her own mother and not being able to be near her and love her as she should.
5. "...the kind who know Jesus by his first name..." (pg. 44). This is ironic because the ability to talk to Jesus through prayer is supposed to be the one thing that keeps all people equal despite any situation they might be in. All are supposed to be equal in God's eyes, but the life of serving is so ingrained in the slaves that they actually believe that they aren't worthy to call him by his name.
6. "None could appreciate the safety of ghost company" (pg. 45). This is one of the first moments that shows us the extent of Denver's loneliness. The fact that she has to rely on the ghost for company because no one else will really pay attention to her makes the reader feel sympathetic to her. So far, Denver is the only one who is comforted by the presence of the ghost, even when there's the red light and the feelings that come with it.
7. "Would it be all right?...Go ahead and count on something" (pg. 46). This is the first we see of any guilty feelings in Sethe. She regrets that she hasn't already started making plans, but at the same time she doesn't want to depend on something that won't always be there. This moment also reflects the uncertainty of her life. It seems that the ghost baby is the only thing that she can count on since the rest of her family (except Denver) left her.
8. "They were not holding hands, but their shadows were" (pg. 56). This hints at the trouble that all of them have with forming any kind of attachments. Shadows may represent a kind of dream life where they can all be together and happy. This serves to make the reality of the situation more harsh to both the characters and the reader.
9. "Arabian Nights Dancer cut her performance...Abu Snake Charmer, who followed her" (pg. 58). There is a huge contrast her between the adults and the children. Where the adults feel the stinging insult of the dancer's leaving the stage, the kids feel that it is something to be glad for because what is coming next is better. This symbolizes in their real lives how the children find it easier to pick up and move on and find adventure in what they do. By the time they reach their adult lives, they become jaded and unable to look at things for the benefits rather than the problems that are developed.
10. "...but because amid all that she was smiling" (pg. 64). This is a huge contrast to almost all of the other characters in this book. Most are made bitter or sad because of the hardships that they suffer, but this woman is able to push through it. It is possible that this is because she has accomplished her goal where so many of the other characters have failed at theirs or even forgot to set goals for themselves.
11. "She's not sick!" (pg. 64). Denver has always felt a close kinship with the ghost. She has figured out quite quickly that this is her sister. She knows that Beloved is tired because she has returned from death and that experience weakened her. It is perhaps because of her connection and love for the ghost that Denver is able to believe the unexplainable that her sister has been resurrected.
12. "This place is heavy" (pg. 65). This is the only suggestion the reader has at how difficult it was for Beloved to return to life. The heaviness may stem from the freedom that she was used to having in death, but doesn't exist in life. It's possible that she doesn't mean that the real world is literally heavy, but that the atmosphere at 124 is heavy. There are so many things going on that weigh the people who live there down (Sethe's memories, Paul D's past and future, Denver's lonliness).
13. "...holding on to furniture...neck alone" (pg. 67). Beloved was murdered when she was around 2 years old. She never got the chance to use her muscles properly while she was living, so now she has to learn what she never knew before. It is odd that Sethe doesn't make any kind of connection between Beloved and herself. Perhaps she's blocking out what she doesn't want to know.
14. "I want you and Halle to be happy" (pg. 71). It was rare in the times of slavery for a white person to care for their slaves like Mrs. Garner does for Sethe. She not only doesn't beat her for stealing, but she gives her a gift. Mrs. Garner's caring is perhaps a better gift for Sethe than the earrings because of the rarity of it. On the other hand, it's possible that this is just a tactic employed by some of the better slave owners: the happier you keep the slaves, the less danger you are in.
15. "The rest was a gleaming powerful world, made more so by Denver's absence from it" (pg. 74). Before, it was mentioned that Denver is very lucky. Perhaps that is why the world without her is so powerful. Her luck is strong enough that it seems to keep certain things from happening. She doesn't like to hear about things without her because it makes her feel even more lonely, like no one would care and she would be abandoned.