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.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
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
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.
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."
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.
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
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
Thursday, February 4, 2010
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)