“A Light Exists in Spring”
Emily Dickinson
This, like most of her poems, is a sad poem. However, it does have a slightly lighter aspect to it. In the beginning of the poem Dickinson speaks of “a light [that] exists in spring”. This is the lighter part of the poem. Her poems are normally about her solitude or generally solemn ideas. Any light is good. She goes on to say that the light is only their in spring, which dampens the mood slightly but still leaves a chance of good. In line 7 she says that “science cannot overtake” the light. This means that science cannot describe it accurately. Only “human nature” can. The third stanza describes the light as illuminating everything and how it “almost speaks to you”; again a brighter outlook. However, in the fourth stanza she describes how It leaves suddenly “without the formula of sound; it passes, and we stay-“ .
In this poem, the light that Emily Dickinson is talking about is hope. It is hope that she will find a good life. She was a very solitary person and probably had either issues with depression or society. The light in the first 3 stanzas represents her hope for a better life, a happy, life. However, the final 2 stanzas show how she believes that hope abandons people without even a warning. The person is left more sad than before and longing for the “light” again. The title and first stanza, which state that the hope only comes once a year, either mean that the hope and chance is very rare. Or they are an allusion to an activity that happens in early march every year.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
3 nights, 7 times forgetting to save, 7 cursing rampages, 15 pages, 268 paragraphs, 537 lines, 6038 words, 26603 characters, ONE analysis of 43 poems
Chapter 3
There is no Frigate like a Book
1) If “miles” was substituted for “lands” in the poem the element of majesty would be lost. Miles implies a distance that is long and usually uncomfortable. “Lands” gives the poem a majestic and mysterious tone. In literature, if you go lands away then you have traveled to a new realm that is usually very different from home. If “Cheap” was substituted for “frugal” it would again take away the majesty of the poem. Cheap implies something of little value or worthless. Where as a more imaginative and valuable word, “frugal”, gives the chariot a sense of value and majesty but makes it seem like it is a great deal. Like reading the poem is an easy escape to a new land.
2) Prancing is very appropriate for coursers because coursers are horses and horses prance. It is appropriate to poetry because poetry usually has a rhythm like a galloping horse. It also can be very beautiful like a prancing pony.
3) Yes this account is appropriate for all kinds of poetry. Every poem gives colorful insight into a different world or view on the world. Poems are a journey to something new, as this poem describes.
Exercise on Page 763
1) A. Steed
B. Tyrant
C. Samarkand
2) A. Dam
B. offspring
C. sibling
3) A. Slender, Thin, skinny, gaunt
B. Affluent, Prosperous, Moneyed, loaded
C. Intelligent, Smart, brainy, eggheaded
4) A
5) Fast in these contexts means quick or speedy. Fast living could be not only that the person’s life passed quickly but also that they lived well. Fast color could mean a bright color.
6) White in the first example is a good thing it is used to describe a good characteristic of a white breast. However, in the second white implies that the lady was deeply shocked and frightened. White, although it literally means a color, can be used in either a good or bad way.
On my First Son
1) “Right Hand” has many connotations. It could mean that the father went through much labor to get his son. Also the most prized person sits on the right hand of the master. Exacted is a harsher word for taken. Such as ‘he exacted revenge’. However, just is a word for fair. Saying that it was a “just day” could mean that his son’s death was fair. His son’s death is compared to a loan because a loan must be taken out and it makes your life better but it has to end one way or another. In the end it will be as painful or more so than not taking the loan out at all.
2) Poetry is a piece of art with life and rythym much like a child’s life is.
3) Hope can be a sin because hoping too much can create lust and want. These are two of the sins of the church. Hope can also make people make bad decisions.
A Hymn to God the Father
1) Yes, this information is of value because it helps to clarify what he is writing about. It also shows that he is a holy man and he isn’t mocking the church. Any information that tells about the author helps to decipher the poem.
2) The sin he refers to in lines one and two is his marriage against the will of his wife’s father. That is where he “began” in his faith and work in the church. In lines 13-14 he talks of when he dies and has made his last impression on earth, he will die on the shore so he will have easy access to heaven.
3) “Done” could be interpreted as meaning that something was done like an action. Or that they were done as in finished. This means that by doing the action they could be finished or have more time. All of which is pertaining to death. The pun on sun is that it could be sun as in the star in the sky or sun as in the son of god. The sun in the sky physically shines down on him at his death because he lived a good life. However, God’s son will protect his soul and take him to heaven.
Chapter 4
Parting at Morning
1) The world of men needs the lover and the lover needs the world. He thrives, symbolized by the rising sun, on life and he needs the world to thrive off of.
2) The sea appears to come around the cape as the sunlight hits the water. This could symbolize how humanity needs him and is coming to him guided by the sun. He mentions the effect before the cause to give more imagery and to provide a slight hook.
3) What was the first poem?
Spring
1) The statement in the first line that “nothing is so beautiful as spring” is proven true through the vivid descriptions of Thrush’s songs and eggs, and of “the gassy peartree leaves and blooms”.
2) The poem is rich in its vivid imagery. The Garden of Eden is considered to be a rich place. It also has a lot of alliteration that helps to please the readers ear.
3) In line 9, spring is compared to juice. This is appropriate because juice is nectar, which comes from the flowers which come in spring time. Also they talk of the Garden of Eden which is the original place where flowers grow. Also, juice is awesome! In line 13, spring is compared to an innocent mind of a child. This is appropriate because spring is a time of new life. It is innocent with all of the budding flowers and trees. It is birth from the harsh winter.
4) His lines are more effective because they use words like “sour” and a specific ordering of words to not only make the poem more confusing, but to help create a picture of savior, and give a noble sound.
I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain
1) The senses that are evoked in this poem are visual, auditory, and physical. You can hear the funeral procession marching and feel their boots. You here them lift the coffin and the speaker creates an image of the funeral in your mind. Smell and taste are the senses that are not appealed to.
2) The first event is the procession of mourners to the graveyard. The second is the service when they are all seated at the grave. The third is the placing of the coffin in the grave, and the final is the burial. The mental events that correspond with them are just that with every step in the funeral, the mind of the speaker gets less and less apparent. It senses less and finally “finished knowing-then-“
3) The speaker according to the funeral is located underneath them in the graveyard looking up at the people and feeling their boots.
4) The speaker finally lost his mind, his “plank of reason” broke and he died and, I am assuming, left his body to either heaven or hell.
To Autumn
1) Hook: the poppies are hooking people with their beauty but they also hok over as the die. This stanza is talking of the fall when flowers are dying and “hooking” over.
Barred: means that the clouds are dark and hold rain in them which will help the flowers bloom.
Sallows: The gnats are hanging by the shallow stagnant waters of the rivers.
Bourn: grassy hill that the sheep are on and bourn on.
Croft: a place in a garden where birds hang out.
2) Visual imagery: “fruit and vines that round the thatch”
Taste: “sweet kernel”
Sensory: warm days
Organic: drowsed with the fume”
Smell: “the fume of poppies”
Hearing:”songs of spring”
3) The images are carefully organized. The first stanza is largely visual and it describes autumn just after summer. The second stanza is smell and physical and is the end of autumn. The third stanza is random.
4) Autumn is personified as sitting on a granary floor in stanza 2. In stanza 1 autumn is the “close-bosom friend” of the sun. In stanza three it has songs, which is a human characteristic.
5) The stanzas each give their own form of beauty which passes towards the end of the stanza and poem all together.
Chapter 5
Bereft
1) It is in the cold fall at night and a storm is happening. The speaker is in an old house alone and he has been for a while, secluded from society.
2) The comparison of the leaves to a snake shows that the speaker feels like he is being attacked. He is alone in the world and so is probably not the happiest fellow.
3) “Hissed” in line 9 is reinforced in line ten when the leaves are said to rise up and strike at the speaker like a snake would. Also, the words that the speaker chooses gave the poem a sinister tone.
4) Wind is compared to a person or thing that studies the speaker. The door is restive because it does not move. The man is alone so his door isn’t used very often. This gives the door a person like quality of resting. His life is compared to a lonely life. He is a lonely wanderer whose only friend is God.
5) The tone is of defeat, loneliness, and sadness but it is also very sinister with the appearance of the snake. The last line is very sad and lonely and solidifies the idea that he is alone
It sifts from Leaden Sieves
1) It is snow
2) In lines 1-2 “it” is compared to something that covers the wood or forest and comes from heavy clouds. In lines 17-18 it is compared to something that makes watchmen nervous like the ankles of their queen, which are white like snow.
3) Leaden Sieves are heavy clouds filled with snow that are ready to dump it like a sieve. Alabaster wool is a white blanket or covering of some kind. Even face is a vast and smooth cover like just after a snowfall. Unbroken forehead is again a large smooth face. A summers empty room is a completely clear place and shows that it is winter. Artisans are the people that don’t do anything because it is frozen outside.
The Subalterns
1) Subalterns: someone that is below the powers of god.
Wight: a person of little power.
Ark: a large ship of refuge from something. In this poem it is a refuge from death.
Fell: harsh and sad. Not good.
Owned: had control of
2) Each thing can only have the human like qualities that are similar to its actual qualities. The north wind is freezing. Sickness kills. Death happens. Each one, also, is controlled by a higher being and each of them is resentful of it.
3) We smiled at eachother then: and life was less : threatening and sad then when: the powers of evil could control themselves.
Excercises on Page 796
1) Figurative: haughty day----person that is mad. Blue urn with fire ----someone who is angry inside but doesn’t show it. This is a larger metaphor for Quinn.
2) Figurative: words are sunbeams. The more meaningful the words the deeper they are appreciated.
3) If u are happy, sober, and self control then you will be healthy.
4) Words have more of an affect than war.
5) Family is the strongest bond
6) The ladies live in extravagance
7) Literal
8) Desert is personified as being able to crouch.
9) Literal they are probably going to war
10) Literal for people who like to party and get drunk.
I taste a Liquor never brewed
1) Debauchee-mixture
Foxglove- a bar
2) Breathing, drinking, and becoming nourished are being compared to intoxication because they are all enjoyable things.
3) Tankards hold beer, but if they are scooped in pearl then they are expensive or have something to do with the sea. “Inns of Molten Blue” is a metaphor for the sea. “Snowy hats” are white caps of waves.
4) Drunks lean against lamp posts. Seraphs and saints both act uncalm and excited to see a drunkard.
Pink Dog
1) Scabies: a skin rash that is contagious
Sambas: a weird dance
Depilated: run down and dirty looking
2) The speaker thinks of the dog as inferior but also it regards it disdain. The speaker isn’t affected by the dog but he sees that other people are. The rhymes are all bad things which shows how the speaker doesn’t like the dog. Later in the poem the speaker reveals more and more personal things about the dog like how it has babies and he shos how he knows how the dogs life is like a beggars.
3) The dog could be a metaphor for a bum. And be personifying a beggar. The speaker says that in order to compensate for the dogs appearance it should get a mask and go to the carnival. The dog is looked at much like a beggar would be
To his Coy Mistress
1) Coy: playfully evasive
Humber: an estuary in England
Transpires: passes, goes by
2) He is urging his mistress to love him and marry him. She is being coy because she wants to play with him even though she does love him.
3) If we sat down and slowly fell in love that would be great. But, we don’t have all of the time in the world. Therefore we should love now and forever, because I love you more than anything. Yes the argument is valid. If she puts love off then they may never have time to be together.
4) Vegetable love is appropriate because their love takes a long time to ripen. The love will take a lot of work to make which the man is willing to give. Once it is ripe it is very good for you. The simile of the lovers as birds of prey contrasts with the vegetables because birds of prey are quick and fierce.
Dream Deferred
1) “Or does it explode” is a metaphor. It is placed at the end to provide extra emphasis and to contrast and stand out because it is different than the rest of the comparisons.
2) On learning that the author Is a black American it raises the question whether the poem is about a dream while someone is asleep or whether it is about a hope and dream that someone has. It could be the dream of equality that he is writing about.
Chapter 6
The Sick Rose
1) Personification: roses are sick. And Worms are invisible and flying.
Roses and worms are used as metaphors for people.
The metaphors make the worms seem more evil and the roses seem good. It enhances their traits.
2) The rose could symbolize innocence and the worm could be a taint to it.
3) Night would be a dark time not only visually but also it would be a bad place. The storm could be a fight or a rapid change in emotion.
Digging
1) Drills: the holes where potatoes are planted
Fell to: began working again.
2) The imagery evokes a sense of hard work and admiration from the son’s point of view. He admires both his father and grandfather.
Ulysses
1) Lees: the sediment from fermentation of an alcoholic beverage.
Hyades: the 7 daughters of Atlas and half sisters of Pleades
Meet: fitting or appropriate
2) .
3) The first section is an explanation of why he wants to travel and how an idle king is useless. Part 2 is his present state of being and that he wants to leave his son, Telemachos, in charge. The third section is about his future and how he wants to leave. The third section is addressed specifically to his mariners who will miss him. The other two sections are addressed to his close friends and family. He is probably standing most while he is introducing his son to portray hi son as a man of power and to honor him.
4) Ulysses is a proud and good ruler. But most of all he is an adventurer. He longs for new sights. He is a good father and king and he loves his family.
5) The warrior king way of life is symbolized by Ulysses. He wanders not for personal pleasure but to advance his kingdom. He goes to seek out the savage races and either destroy or civilize them. He wishes to gain more knowledge.
6) He wishes to go towards the sunset which symbolizes his final journey towards death. Also the west is a vast and unexplored land at that time. He wants to find new places.
7) In lines 18-21 Ulysses says that he is influenced by all of the places that he has traveled but he still longs for new experiences and adventure. In lines 26-29 he talks of how his isolation for ten years changed him. He remembers how he suffered and now longs for more new ideas. In line 23 he compares stationary life to a rusting piece of metal. The thunder and sunshine” symbolize the highs and lows of mariner life. They mean that the men are free to wish and do what they want.
I Started Early—Took My Dog
1) This could be the relationship between a woman and a man or society. She tries to be strong but eventually runs away. Women were seen as inferior during the writing of this poem
2) The sea is personified as a male to portray the dominating relationship that men had in women’s lives. The phrase “no man moved me” is significant because it shows that she resisted the man’s force until it overwhelmed her.
3) My simple shoe portrays the woman’s simpler lifestyle. “overflow with pearl” shoes how men would help women and give them gifts. “the solid town” represents the safety of women’s social life. They had the town and their fellow townswomen as their main connections.
4) In line 20 her shoes “overflowed with pearl”, mermaids are generally happy, and the frigates extended hands to her. This gives the poem a lighter tone, almost friendly. The mixture helps to more accurately portray a woman’s life. She is overpowered by men, but she also can command respect and receives courtesy from some men and the community.
Excercises on Page 828
CAN’T DO THESE! WE DON’T HAVE THE PAGES
Chapter 7
Incident
1) The last stanza is effective because it makes simple reflective statements. It is also a very deep statement. The title is an understatement. Incident implies a small but harmless occurrance whereas the actions of the poem seem to be more serious.
New England
1) Saying that the wind is “always” north-north-east, that children walk on “frozen” toes, that people “boil” who live in other places, and that the chalice “overflows” are all examples of overstatements. Love causes them to behave as they do.
2) The speaker seems to be resentful of the traits in the personifications. “We’re told” aids in that resentful tone because it makes it seem like the speaker is being forced to do something. Or has a cumbersome task. Learning that the poet is from Maine is a little surprising because the poem has such an anti-New-England tone. However, it does make some sense because he would know of the harsh winters and times of New England.
Barbie Dolls
1) The girl had dexterity, sexual drive, strong arms and back, she was healthy and intelligent all of which are characteristics that a Barbie doll can’t possess. The girl was advised to act like a doll would if it were real. She was advised this so that she would fit into an un-accepting society.
2) Because it helps people at first but some little particle starts to wear it slowly, just like that little comment did to the girl.
3) The speaker mentions manual dexterity and strong back and arms to give the girl life like qualities that the Barbie cannot have. They contribute to her fate because she maintains them when she loses her legs and nose.
4) Puberty isn’t usually magical or enjoyable. The last three lines are ironic because she obviously doesn’t look pretty, she doesn’t have consummation, and she doesn’t get anything near a happy ending. The author is targeting the unnaccepting society of today and how the accepted warps the youth.
Ozymandias
1) The hand is of the society that left the statue. The heart is of the rulers of the society that was the heart of the society. Personification and symbolism are in hand and heart. They symbolize the parts of the society that they were left from and they have personification in that the hand mocks and the heart feeds.
2) Ozymandius probably was a ruler who believed in divine right. He was probably a dictator who was confident and fixed on expansion.
3) Ozymandius is a symbol of the power of ancient rulers. In contemporary times the poem could have been referenced to Napoleon’s reign. Or to the reign of the tsar’s in Russia.
4) Even the mightiest empires and rulers will fall and become worthless. This theme is shown by the imagery of the statue surrounded by nothing. It is the only remaining tribute to a great ruler and nation.
The Unknown Citizen
1) Scab:
Eugenist: hereditary scientist.
2) The irony in the title is that they know everything about him and yet it is called the Unknown citizen. The citizen is unknown because he has no oddities or adversities and so he is not typical.
3) This citizen had nothing odd about him. He lived a normal life and was very respectful. He was a good man.
4) It satirizes at the fact that no one in modern society is perfectly normal. Everyone has something different in them. This man, however, has no oddities.
APO 96225
1) The irony in this poem is situational irony. The speaker is more sympathetic of the cause in Vietnam. He believes that sometimes the truth hurts and shouldn’t always be told.
2) The American public was largely unaware of the wartime atrocities that were happening in Vietnam. When the news came out it shocked and frightened the people much like the mother.
Mr. Z
1) Profane- unholy or uncivilized ways.
Kosher-an accepted food
Exotic-foreign and not native to ones land or state of mind.
Ethnic-pertaining to a characteristic of like people.
Obit-the date of a person’s death/ obituary.
2) Mr. Z’s motivation is that he did not want to be discriminated against like his mother was. He did this by dropping all of the characteristics of his native society and adhering to the qualities of the high class whites.
3) The author commends Mr. Z and makes fun of the society that produced him. He portrays it as a very unaccepting society and a cruel one. Mr. Z doesn’t get a name because he gave up what defines him when he left his culture for a white culture.
4) In line 6 his marriage is judged a “chameleon”. Which means it is multi colored or interracial. It also means that it is strange and that he is considered odd. In line 22 he is compared to an “airborne plant” this is because he is growing and thriving. However, he left his ethnic roots.
5) Verbal irony is detected in the last line. Whenever the speaker discusses actions in which African Americans take part, he portrays them as bad, however this is verbal irony because he doesn’t actually mean that they are bad.
6) Mr. Z is a black man who wants to be accepted as a white man would be
Chapter 8
Out Out
1) A newspaper account would have given more facts about what he was doing and would have included less figurative language. It also would have included quotes from witnesses but not what the victim actually said.
2) “they” refers to the casual onlookers, the doctor, and society in general. A teary and sentimental ending to this poem wouldn’t lessen the quality of the poem but it would entirely change its meaning. The poem, as it is, is a comment on society. If it were changed then it would be a comment on family tragedies and the sadness that they cause.
3) Personification is used in lines 21-22 to describe his hand as appealing and trying to hold life in.
In Just
1) He is called “goat-footed” because he is steady footed but he is also very awkward looking. Much like a goat. This is a mythological allusion to the faun which is a powerful creature.
On his Blindness
1) Spent: passed by
Fondly: kindly, lovingly
Prevent: stop, not allow,
Post: go, travel
2) “Talent” has the meaning of being either a skill or capacity for skill and success. Milton’s “one talent” is life.
3) Lines nine and ten are an allusion to the bible. In both, someone with little is given a chance.
4) The point of the poem is that it doesn’t matter what you have. What matters is how hard you work.
Leda and The Swan
1) Leda gave birth to Helen who is the reason for the battle of troy which ended in troy’s wall being burned and Agamemnon’s death
2) This poem gives a picture and a tone to an episode of mythology. The final lines are asking whether she realized it was Zues and accepted him because of it. I would answer this by saying that, yes, she did know.
Life With Father
1) Sunday is used in particular because it is a Holy day. It is supposed to be a day of family and love. The drunken raving is proof because they view alcohol as a demon from the devil that possesses their father. Yes demon is an allusion to drink and the devil.
2) The father does physically abuse the children. He is depicted as a giant which is a very abusive and violent creature in common literature.
3) The title is ironic because in this story, unlike the original story, the father is not being checked by the mother.
4) All of these comics have something to do with an abusive parent or a parent that isn’t quite at par. These funnies save the children because they make them feel less isolated because other people have the same problems and because they are comic relief to their daily painful lives.
5) The giant represents the children’s fear because it is scary and abusive. It is what they want because it is different and magical and children are curious about such things. The drunken stupor is compared to the beanstalk because as he gets more drunk he climbs higher on his beanstalk to an abusive giant. Poverty is implied by how the children have no source of entertainment except for comics and drunks hold a large part of the class in poverty. The father dreams of “gold” because gold is his symbol for alcohol. When people are drunk they want more alcohol.
Chapter 9
Loveliest of Trees
1) You don’t have very long, even if it may seem otherwise, so make the best of the time that you have.
2) The speaker is twenty and he assumes that he will be 70 because that is about how long people lived then. The words “only” and “little” are surprising because they present 50 years, which we think of as a very long time, as very short and quick.
3) I think that it is literal. He wants to see as many of the cherries as possible and so he will look for them in the winter snow as well as every other time.
The Indifferent
1) Indifferent: without interest or concern
Know: to understand as a fact
Travail: difficult work
2) The speaker is a man who is in love with a woman. He is speaking to that woman. He is indifferent to her varying characteristics. He insists that a lover be true and faithful.
3) He accuses woman of the vice of not accepting men’s characteristics. Their mothers were accepting of different men and were less focused on looks.
4) Venus investigates his complaint because she has never heard it before. Her investigation confirms his accusation. The heretics are people who wish to make only one type and characteristic of a person admirable or attractive and she punished them by making them be faithful to those who weren’t faithful.
How Annandale Went out
1) The speaker is Annandale’s friend who is being accused of murdering his friend. He is talking to his accuser and the court. Pleading his innocence.
2) He understates the scene of Annandale’s death. He calls himself a “liar” and a ‘hypocrite’ as an overstatement and to remain modest. In lines 4-5 he means that it was a very gruesome sight to watch his friend die. In line 9 he means that he remembers the accident as well as he remembers his friend’s life. He uses gruesome words like “ruin” as pronouns for his friend. He also uses “it”
3) These phrases show that he was there at the incident but since he is speaking to people that could prosecute him, they show that he didn’t do it he just witnessed it.
4) The engine is his car and he has done something illegal and immoral but he is trying to plead innocent. He uses his hand to show that he wasn’t moving with his car. This shows that he couldn’t have done it….I don’t understand this question…..
5) The auditor does approve of his action. He accepts it as truth, however Robinson doesn’t.
No Worst, There is none
1) Fell: fierce
2) Pitch of grief: a cry
My cries heave.
All, or almost all, of the auditory and visual imagery is sad or of crying or wailing
3) The failure to identify a cause gives the poem a universal cause. It could be used for many ideas. The religious references suggest that the poem is about some sort of dilemma that must be overcome. It also suggests that the poem could be based around god or a religious figure.
Chapter 10
Apparently with no Surprise
1) The blonde assassin is winter as it kills many plants.
2) The flower is beheaded at no surprise, but it is by an assassin whos job is to surprise. There is no surprise to the people who have seen it every year, but the flower is surprised.
Crossing the Bar
1) Bourne: destination
2) Lines 1-4 and 9-13 are used to describe approaching death. Death happens when he puts out to see right after sunset.
3) The moaning of the bar metaphorically represents that the bar doesn’t want him to die; it is trying to protect him. The speaker is wishing for a peaceful death at sea which is why he doesn’t want anyone to worry about him.
4) The thing that drew from the boundless deep is the storm that would kill him and the boundless deep is both the ocean and death. The boundless deep is opposed to the bar which contains it. The Pilot is capitalized because it represents God.
The Apparition
1) Feigned: pretended
Aspen: a type of tree
Quicksilver: the element mercury
The last two words are figurative, the woman is tall like an aspen. And she is bathed in a heavy sweat
2) They were lovers but not married. A solicitation is an urging where as a proposal is just asking.
3) No, the tone of the poem suggests that he is still in love but he isn’t happy about his failure to be able to marry her.
4) He believes her to be cheating on him. He is accusing her of being either unfaithful or a liar.
5) He gives it the twist that she purposely doesn’t satisfy him to kill his love.
6) He envisions her in arms worse than his own in his mind but obviously not hers. This man will be tired because he has slept with other ladies. He will think that she is calling for more sex. He is implying that he and the woman have had sex.
7) He doesn’t even know. He is trying to threaten her so that she won’t leave him.
8) She would remain innocent of sex before or outside of marriage if he told her what the ghost would tell. The speaker really wants her to stay with him.
The Flea
1) Before the first line the flea had bitten and sucked blood from 2 people, a girl and a boy. Between the first two stanzas the flea has been found and the woman is about to kill it, which she does in the third. Between stanzas 2 and 3 she kills the flea. The female character is unconcerned and acts as if it is no sin to kill the flea. She says that she killed it because it took life from the man.
2) The speaker is a pursuer of the woman but her parents don’t wish them to be together. She has denied his advances and sex. She has killed him by denying him this. She has done this to preserve her virginity and because her parents want her to. He is still alive because she is still there for him to uselessly pursue.
3) His argument is that through the tick mingling their blood, they are lovers and have had sex without her losing her virginity. This is a bent logic that is true to the belief at the time but still far-fetched.
4) The parents don’t want them together, the living walls of jet are the ticks sides. She will kill him, her, and their love. She will commit the three sins of murder, suicide, and deception of his love.
5) She triumphs by killing the flea and destroying their connection. His final argument that the flea took the life from her that would keep them apart isn’t very logical because she still won’t be with him.
6) After the conclusion of the poem they go on as always. He will pursue her and she will resist.
7) The apparition is more vengeful, he is mad at her. Whereas in the Flea he is still pursuing and pleading with her.
Dover Beach
1) strand: beach
girdle: belt, cord, or sash
darkling: in the dark
The cliffs of Dover are cliffs on the side of Britain that face France
2) The speaker is on the beaches of Dover at nighttime watching the waves and beach. He is speaking to any audience or maybe to a lover.
3) The visual aspects of the poem are all very romantic and sometimes verge on illusion because of their vividness. The auditory description is more realistic and mostly describes the movement of the waves and the sounds of the beach.
4) He is a believer in faith. However, he like so many others, is believing less.
5) The armies are figurative, they represent the armies of people who are and aren’t religious. The dark plains represent the dark topic and dark outcome of the discussion and battle.
6) The overall tone of the poem is sad and hopeless. The speaker has given up on the idea of a completely religious society and he is sad about it.
Getting Out
1) The blame goes out to both people in the couple; however, only one of them was the cause of “tightening the heart”.
2) The “matching eyes and hair” suggests that they were so alike that they did everything together and therefore were confined to each other and started to look alike. They aren’t very emotionally mature in that they can’t make up their minds. The final line shows that they are still undecided as to if they want to let go.
3) No but it can be mental imprisonment. They are mentally imprisoned by the relationship as in they can’t change.
4) The shift in tone between the two stanzas goes from angry to wanting and rememberance. The two people still somewhat love each other, because they are still reminded of each other when they see people who look like the other. Also because they look forward to the yearly letter.
There is no Frigate like a Book
1) If “miles” was substituted for “lands” in the poem the element of majesty would be lost. Miles implies a distance that is long and usually uncomfortable. “Lands” gives the poem a majestic and mysterious tone. In literature, if you go lands away then you have traveled to a new realm that is usually very different from home. If “Cheap” was substituted for “frugal” it would again take away the majesty of the poem. Cheap implies something of little value or worthless. Where as a more imaginative and valuable word, “frugal”, gives the chariot a sense of value and majesty but makes it seem like it is a great deal. Like reading the poem is an easy escape to a new land.
2) Prancing is very appropriate for coursers because coursers are horses and horses prance. It is appropriate to poetry because poetry usually has a rhythm like a galloping horse. It also can be very beautiful like a prancing pony.
3) Yes this account is appropriate for all kinds of poetry. Every poem gives colorful insight into a different world or view on the world. Poems are a journey to something new, as this poem describes.
Exercise on Page 763
1) A. Steed
B. Tyrant
C. Samarkand
2) A. Dam
B. offspring
C. sibling
3) A. Slender, Thin, skinny, gaunt
B. Affluent, Prosperous, Moneyed, loaded
C. Intelligent, Smart, brainy, eggheaded
4) A
5) Fast in these contexts means quick or speedy. Fast living could be not only that the person’s life passed quickly but also that they lived well. Fast color could mean a bright color.
6) White in the first example is a good thing it is used to describe a good characteristic of a white breast. However, in the second white implies that the lady was deeply shocked and frightened. White, although it literally means a color, can be used in either a good or bad way.
On my First Son
1) “Right Hand” has many connotations. It could mean that the father went through much labor to get his son. Also the most prized person sits on the right hand of the master. Exacted is a harsher word for taken. Such as ‘he exacted revenge’. However, just is a word for fair. Saying that it was a “just day” could mean that his son’s death was fair. His son’s death is compared to a loan because a loan must be taken out and it makes your life better but it has to end one way or another. In the end it will be as painful or more so than not taking the loan out at all.
2) Poetry is a piece of art with life and rythym much like a child’s life is.
3) Hope can be a sin because hoping too much can create lust and want. These are two of the sins of the church. Hope can also make people make bad decisions.
A Hymn to God the Father
1) Yes, this information is of value because it helps to clarify what he is writing about. It also shows that he is a holy man and he isn’t mocking the church. Any information that tells about the author helps to decipher the poem.
2) The sin he refers to in lines one and two is his marriage against the will of his wife’s father. That is where he “began” in his faith and work in the church. In lines 13-14 he talks of when he dies and has made his last impression on earth, he will die on the shore so he will have easy access to heaven.
3) “Done” could be interpreted as meaning that something was done like an action. Or that they were done as in finished. This means that by doing the action they could be finished or have more time. All of which is pertaining to death. The pun on sun is that it could be sun as in the star in the sky or sun as in the son of god. The sun in the sky physically shines down on him at his death because he lived a good life. However, God’s son will protect his soul and take him to heaven.
Chapter 4
Parting at Morning
1) The world of men needs the lover and the lover needs the world. He thrives, symbolized by the rising sun, on life and he needs the world to thrive off of.
2) The sea appears to come around the cape as the sunlight hits the water. This could symbolize how humanity needs him and is coming to him guided by the sun. He mentions the effect before the cause to give more imagery and to provide a slight hook.
3) What was the first poem?
Spring
1) The statement in the first line that “nothing is so beautiful as spring” is proven true through the vivid descriptions of Thrush’s songs and eggs, and of “the gassy peartree leaves and blooms”.
2) The poem is rich in its vivid imagery. The Garden of Eden is considered to be a rich place. It also has a lot of alliteration that helps to please the readers ear.
3) In line 9, spring is compared to juice. This is appropriate because juice is nectar, which comes from the flowers which come in spring time. Also they talk of the Garden of Eden which is the original place where flowers grow. Also, juice is awesome! In line 13, spring is compared to an innocent mind of a child. This is appropriate because spring is a time of new life. It is innocent with all of the budding flowers and trees. It is birth from the harsh winter.
4) His lines are more effective because they use words like “sour” and a specific ordering of words to not only make the poem more confusing, but to help create a picture of savior, and give a noble sound.
I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain
1) The senses that are evoked in this poem are visual, auditory, and physical. You can hear the funeral procession marching and feel their boots. You here them lift the coffin and the speaker creates an image of the funeral in your mind. Smell and taste are the senses that are not appealed to.
2) The first event is the procession of mourners to the graveyard. The second is the service when they are all seated at the grave. The third is the placing of the coffin in the grave, and the final is the burial. The mental events that correspond with them are just that with every step in the funeral, the mind of the speaker gets less and less apparent. It senses less and finally “finished knowing-then-“
3) The speaker according to the funeral is located underneath them in the graveyard looking up at the people and feeling their boots.
4) The speaker finally lost his mind, his “plank of reason” broke and he died and, I am assuming, left his body to either heaven or hell.
To Autumn
1) Hook: the poppies are hooking people with their beauty but they also hok over as the die. This stanza is talking of the fall when flowers are dying and “hooking” over.
Barred: means that the clouds are dark and hold rain in them which will help the flowers bloom.
Sallows: The gnats are hanging by the shallow stagnant waters of the rivers.
Bourn: grassy hill that the sheep are on and bourn on.
Croft: a place in a garden where birds hang out.
2) Visual imagery: “fruit and vines that round the thatch”
Taste: “sweet kernel”
Sensory: warm days
Organic: drowsed with the fume”
Smell: “the fume of poppies”
Hearing:”songs of spring”
3) The images are carefully organized. The first stanza is largely visual and it describes autumn just after summer. The second stanza is smell and physical and is the end of autumn. The third stanza is random.
4) Autumn is personified as sitting on a granary floor in stanza 2. In stanza 1 autumn is the “close-bosom friend” of the sun. In stanza three it has songs, which is a human characteristic.
5) The stanzas each give their own form of beauty which passes towards the end of the stanza and poem all together.
Chapter 5
Bereft
1) It is in the cold fall at night and a storm is happening. The speaker is in an old house alone and he has been for a while, secluded from society.
2) The comparison of the leaves to a snake shows that the speaker feels like he is being attacked. He is alone in the world and so is probably not the happiest fellow.
3) “Hissed” in line 9 is reinforced in line ten when the leaves are said to rise up and strike at the speaker like a snake would. Also, the words that the speaker chooses gave the poem a sinister tone.
4) Wind is compared to a person or thing that studies the speaker. The door is restive because it does not move. The man is alone so his door isn’t used very often. This gives the door a person like quality of resting. His life is compared to a lonely life. He is a lonely wanderer whose only friend is God.
5) The tone is of defeat, loneliness, and sadness but it is also very sinister with the appearance of the snake. The last line is very sad and lonely and solidifies the idea that he is alone
It sifts from Leaden Sieves
1) It is snow
2) In lines 1-2 “it” is compared to something that covers the wood or forest and comes from heavy clouds. In lines 17-18 it is compared to something that makes watchmen nervous like the ankles of their queen, which are white like snow.
3) Leaden Sieves are heavy clouds filled with snow that are ready to dump it like a sieve. Alabaster wool is a white blanket or covering of some kind. Even face is a vast and smooth cover like just after a snowfall. Unbroken forehead is again a large smooth face. A summers empty room is a completely clear place and shows that it is winter. Artisans are the people that don’t do anything because it is frozen outside.
The Subalterns
1) Subalterns: someone that is below the powers of god.
Wight: a person of little power.
Ark: a large ship of refuge from something. In this poem it is a refuge from death.
Fell: harsh and sad. Not good.
Owned: had control of
2) Each thing can only have the human like qualities that are similar to its actual qualities. The north wind is freezing. Sickness kills. Death happens. Each one, also, is controlled by a higher being and each of them is resentful of it.
3) We smiled at eachother then: and life was less : threatening and sad then when: the powers of evil could control themselves.
Excercises on Page 796
1) Figurative: haughty day----person that is mad. Blue urn with fire ----someone who is angry inside but doesn’t show it. This is a larger metaphor for Quinn.
2) Figurative: words are sunbeams. The more meaningful the words the deeper they are appreciated.
3) If u are happy, sober, and self control then you will be healthy.
4) Words have more of an affect than war.
5) Family is the strongest bond
6) The ladies live in extravagance
7) Literal
8) Desert is personified as being able to crouch.
9) Literal they are probably going to war
10) Literal for people who like to party and get drunk.
I taste a Liquor never brewed
1) Debauchee-mixture
Foxglove- a bar
2) Breathing, drinking, and becoming nourished are being compared to intoxication because they are all enjoyable things.
3) Tankards hold beer, but if they are scooped in pearl then they are expensive or have something to do with the sea. “Inns of Molten Blue” is a metaphor for the sea. “Snowy hats” are white caps of waves.
4) Drunks lean against lamp posts. Seraphs and saints both act uncalm and excited to see a drunkard.
Pink Dog
1) Scabies: a skin rash that is contagious
Sambas: a weird dance
Depilated: run down and dirty looking
2) The speaker thinks of the dog as inferior but also it regards it disdain. The speaker isn’t affected by the dog but he sees that other people are. The rhymes are all bad things which shows how the speaker doesn’t like the dog. Later in the poem the speaker reveals more and more personal things about the dog like how it has babies and he shos how he knows how the dogs life is like a beggars.
3) The dog could be a metaphor for a bum. And be personifying a beggar. The speaker says that in order to compensate for the dogs appearance it should get a mask and go to the carnival. The dog is looked at much like a beggar would be
To his Coy Mistress
1) Coy: playfully evasive
Humber: an estuary in England
Transpires: passes, goes by
2) He is urging his mistress to love him and marry him. She is being coy because she wants to play with him even though she does love him.
3) If we sat down and slowly fell in love that would be great. But, we don’t have all of the time in the world. Therefore we should love now and forever, because I love you more than anything. Yes the argument is valid. If she puts love off then they may never have time to be together.
4) Vegetable love is appropriate because their love takes a long time to ripen. The love will take a lot of work to make which the man is willing to give. Once it is ripe it is very good for you. The simile of the lovers as birds of prey contrasts with the vegetables because birds of prey are quick and fierce.
Dream Deferred
1) “Or does it explode” is a metaphor. It is placed at the end to provide extra emphasis and to contrast and stand out because it is different than the rest of the comparisons.
2) On learning that the author Is a black American it raises the question whether the poem is about a dream while someone is asleep or whether it is about a hope and dream that someone has. It could be the dream of equality that he is writing about.
Chapter 6
The Sick Rose
1) Personification: roses are sick. And Worms are invisible and flying.
Roses and worms are used as metaphors for people.
The metaphors make the worms seem more evil and the roses seem good. It enhances their traits.
2) The rose could symbolize innocence and the worm could be a taint to it.
3) Night would be a dark time not only visually but also it would be a bad place. The storm could be a fight or a rapid change in emotion.
Digging
1) Drills: the holes where potatoes are planted
Fell to: began working again.
2) The imagery evokes a sense of hard work and admiration from the son’s point of view. He admires both his father and grandfather.
Ulysses
1) Lees: the sediment from fermentation of an alcoholic beverage.
Hyades: the 7 daughters of Atlas and half sisters of Pleades
Meet: fitting or appropriate
2) .
3) The first section is an explanation of why he wants to travel and how an idle king is useless. Part 2 is his present state of being and that he wants to leave his son, Telemachos, in charge. The third section is about his future and how he wants to leave. The third section is addressed specifically to his mariners who will miss him. The other two sections are addressed to his close friends and family. He is probably standing most while he is introducing his son to portray hi son as a man of power and to honor him.
4) Ulysses is a proud and good ruler. But most of all he is an adventurer. He longs for new sights. He is a good father and king and he loves his family.
5) The warrior king way of life is symbolized by Ulysses. He wanders not for personal pleasure but to advance his kingdom. He goes to seek out the savage races and either destroy or civilize them. He wishes to gain more knowledge.
6) He wishes to go towards the sunset which symbolizes his final journey towards death. Also the west is a vast and unexplored land at that time. He wants to find new places.
7) In lines 18-21 Ulysses says that he is influenced by all of the places that he has traveled but he still longs for new experiences and adventure. In lines 26-29 he talks of how his isolation for ten years changed him. He remembers how he suffered and now longs for more new ideas. In line 23 he compares stationary life to a rusting piece of metal. The thunder and sunshine” symbolize the highs and lows of mariner life. They mean that the men are free to wish and do what they want.
I Started Early—Took My Dog
1) This could be the relationship between a woman and a man or society. She tries to be strong but eventually runs away. Women were seen as inferior during the writing of this poem
2) The sea is personified as a male to portray the dominating relationship that men had in women’s lives. The phrase “no man moved me” is significant because it shows that she resisted the man’s force until it overwhelmed her.
3) My simple shoe portrays the woman’s simpler lifestyle. “overflow with pearl” shoes how men would help women and give them gifts. “the solid town” represents the safety of women’s social life. They had the town and their fellow townswomen as their main connections.
4) In line 20 her shoes “overflowed with pearl”, mermaids are generally happy, and the frigates extended hands to her. This gives the poem a lighter tone, almost friendly. The mixture helps to more accurately portray a woman’s life. She is overpowered by men, but she also can command respect and receives courtesy from some men and the community.
Excercises on Page 828
CAN’T DO THESE! WE DON’T HAVE THE PAGES
Chapter 7
Incident
1) The last stanza is effective because it makes simple reflective statements. It is also a very deep statement. The title is an understatement. Incident implies a small but harmless occurrance whereas the actions of the poem seem to be more serious.
New England
1) Saying that the wind is “always” north-north-east, that children walk on “frozen” toes, that people “boil” who live in other places, and that the chalice “overflows” are all examples of overstatements. Love causes them to behave as they do.
2) The speaker seems to be resentful of the traits in the personifications. “We’re told” aids in that resentful tone because it makes it seem like the speaker is being forced to do something. Or has a cumbersome task. Learning that the poet is from Maine is a little surprising because the poem has such an anti-New-England tone. However, it does make some sense because he would know of the harsh winters and times of New England.
Barbie Dolls
1) The girl had dexterity, sexual drive, strong arms and back, she was healthy and intelligent all of which are characteristics that a Barbie doll can’t possess. The girl was advised to act like a doll would if it were real. She was advised this so that she would fit into an un-accepting society.
2) Because it helps people at first but some little particle starts to wear it slowly, just like that little comment did to the girl.
3) The speaker mentions manual dexterity and strong back and arms to give the girl life like qualities that the Barbie cannot have. They contribute to her fate because she maintains them when she loses her legs and nose.
4) Puberty isn’t usually magical or enjoyable. The last three lines are ironic because she obviously doesn’t look pretty, she doesn’t have consummation, and she doesn’t get anything near a happy ending. The author is targeting the unnaccepting society of today and how the accepted warps the youth.
Ozymandias
1) The hand is of the society that left the statue. The heart is of the rulers of the society that was the heart of the society. Personification and symbolism are in hand and heart. They symbolize the parts of the society that they were left from and they have personification in that the hand mocks and the heart feeds.
2) Ozymandius probably was a ruler who believed in divine right. He was probably a dictator who was confident and fixed on expansion.
3) Ozymandius is a symbol of the power of ancient rulers. In contemporary times the poem could have been referenced to Napoleon’s reign. Or to the reign of the tsar’s in Russia.
4) Even the mightiest empires and rulers will fall and become worthless. This theme is shown by the imagery of the statue surrounded by nothing. It is the only remaining tribute to a great ruler and nation.
The Unknown Citizen
1) Scab:
Eugenist: hereditary scientist.
2) The irony in the title is that they know everything about him and yet it is called the Unknown citizen. The citizen is unknown because he has no oddities or adversities and so he is not typical.
3) This citizen had nothing odd about him. He lived a normal life and was very respectful. He was a good man.
4) It satirizes at the fact that no one in modern society is perfectly normal. Everyone has something different in them. This man, however, has no oddities.
APO 96225
1) The irony in this poem is situational irony. The speaker is more sympathetic of the cause in Vietnam. He believes that sometimes the truth hurts and shouldn’t always be told.
2) The American public was largely unaware of the wartime atrocities that were happening in Vietnam. When the news came out it shocked and frightened the people much like the mother.
Mr. Z
1) Profane- unholy or uncivilized ways.
Kosher-an accepted food
Exotic-foreign and not native to ones land or state of mind.
Ethnic-pertaining to a characteristic of like people.
Obit-the date of a person’s death/ obituary.
2) Mr. Z’s motivation is that he did not want to be discriminated against like his mother was. He did this by dropping all of the characteristics of his native society and adhering to the qualities of the high class whites.
3) The author commends Mr. Z and makes fun of the society that produced him. He portrays it as a very unaccepting society and a cruel one. Mr. Z doesn’t get a name because he gave up what defines him when he left his culture for a white culture.
4) In line 6 his marriage is judged a “chameleon”. Which means it is multi colored or interracial. It also means that it is strange and that he is considered odd. In line 22 he is compared to an “airborne plant” this is because he is growing and thriving. However, he left his ethnic roots.
5) Verbal irony is detected in the last line. Whenever the speaker discusses actions in which African Americans take part, he portrays them as bad, however this is verbal irony because he doesn’t actually mean that they are bad.
6) Mr. Z is a black man who wants to be accepted as a white man would be
Chapter 8
Out Out
1) A newspaper account would have given more facts about what he was doing and would have included less figurative language. It also would have included quotes from witnesses but not what the victim actually said.
2) “they” refers to the casual onlookers, the doctor, and society in general. A teary and sentimental ending to this poem wouldn’t lessen the quality of the poem but it would entirely change its meaning. The poem, as it is, is a comment on society. If it were changed then it would be a comment on family tragedies and the sadness that they cause.
3) Personification is used in lines 21-22 to describe his hand as appealing and trying to hold life in.
In Just
1) He is called “goat-footed” because he is steady footed but he is also very awkward looking. Much like a goat. This is a mythological allusion to the faun which is a powerful creature.
On his Blindness
1) Spent: passed by
Fondly: kindly, lovingly
Prevent: stop, not allow,
Post: go, travel
2) “Talent” has the meaning of being either a skill or capacity for skill and success. Milton’s “one talent” is life.
3) Lines nine and ten are an allusion to the bible. In both, someone with little is given a chance.
4) The point of the poem is that it doesn’t matter what you have. What matters is how hard you work.
Leda and The Swan
1) Leda gave birth to Helen who is the reason for the battle of troy which ended in troy’s wall being burned and Agamemnon’s death
2) This poem gives a picture and a tone to an episode of mythology. The final lines are asking whether she realized it was Zues and accepted him because of it. I would answer this by saying that, yes, she did know.
Life With Father
1) Sunday is used in particular because it is a Holy day. It is supposed to be a day of family and love. The drunken raving is proof because they view alcohol as a demon from the devil that possesses their father. Yes demon is an allusion to drink and the devil.
2) The father does physically abuse the children. He is depicted as a giant which is a very abusive and violent creature in common literature.
3) The title is ironic because in this story, unlike the original story, the father is not being checked by the mother.
4) All of these comics have something to do with an abusive parent or a parent that isn’t quite at par. These funnies save the children because they make them feel less isolated because other people have the same problems and because they are comic relief to their daily painful lives.
5) The giant represents the children’s fear because it is scary and abusive. It is what they want because it is different and magical and children are curious about such things. The drunken stupor is compared to the beanstalk because as he gets more drunk he climbs higher on his beanstalk to an abusive giant. Poverty is implied by how the children have no source of entertainment except for comics and drunks hold a large part of the class in poverty. The father dreams of “gold” because gold is his symbol for alcohol. When people are drunk they want more alcohol.
Chapter 9
Loveliest of Trees
1) You don’t have very long, even if it may seem otherwise, so make the best of the time that you have.
2) The speaker is twenty and he assumes that he will be 70 because that is about how long people lived then. The words “only” and “little” are surprising because they present 50 years, which we think of as a very long time, as very short and quick.
3) I think that it is literal. He wants to see as many of the cherries as possible and so he will look for them in the winter snow as well as every other time.
The Indifferent
1) Indifferent: without interest or concern
Know: to understand as a fact
Travail: difficult work
2) The speaker is a man who is in love with a woman. He is speaking to that woman. He is indifferent to her varying characteristics. He insists that a lover be true and faithful.
3) He accuses woman of the vice of not accepting men’s characteristics. Their mothers were accepting of different men and were less focused on looks.
4) Venus investigates his complaint because she has never heard it before. Her investigation confirms his accusation. The heretics are people who wish to make only one type and characteristic of a person admirable or attractive and she punished them by making them be faithful to those who weren’t faithful.
How Annandale Went out
1) The speaker is Annandale’s friend who is being accused of murdering his friend. He is talking to his accuser and the court. Pleading his innocence.
2) He understates the scene of Annandale’s death. He calls himself a “liar” and a ‘hypocrite’ as an overstatement and to remain modest. In lines 4-5 he means that it was a very gruesome sight to watch his friend die. In line 9 he means that he remembers the accident as well as he remembers his friend’s life. He uses gruesome words like “ruin” as pronouns for his friend. He also uses “it”
3) These phrases show that he was there at the incident but since he is speaking to people that could prosecute him, they show that he didn’t do it he just witnessed it.
4) The engine is his car and he has done something illegal and immoral but he is trying to plead innocent. He uses his hand to show that he wasn’t moving with his car. This shows that he couldn’t have done it….I don’t understand this question…..
5) The auditor does approve of his action. He accepts it as truth, however Robinson doesn’t.
No Worst, There is none
1) Fell: fierce
2) Pitch of grief: a cry
My cries heave.
All, or almost all, of the auditory and visual imagery is sad or of crying or wailing
3) The failure to identify a cause gives the poem a universal cause. It could be used for many ideas. The religious references suggest that the poem is about some sort of dilemma that must be overcome. It also suggests that the poem could be based around god or a religious figure.
Chapter 10
Apparently with no Surprise
1) The blonde assassin is winter as it kills many plants.
2) The flower is beheaded at no surprise, but it is by an assassin whos job is to surprise. There is no surprise to the people who have seen it every year, but the flower is surprised.
Crossing the Bar
1) Bourne: destination
2) Lines 1-4 and 9-13 are used to describe approaching death. Death happens when he puts out to see right after sunset.
3) The moaning of the bar metaphorically represents that the bar doesn’t want him to die; it is trying to protect him. The speaker is wishing for a peaceful death at sea which is why he doesn’t want anyone to worry about him.
4) The thing that drew from the boundless deep is the storm that would kill him and the boundless deep is both the ocean and death. The boundless deep is opposed to the bar which contains it. The Pilot is capitalized because it represents God.
The Apparition
1) Feigned: pretended
Aspen: a type of tree
Quicksilver: the element mercury
The last two words are figurative, the woman is tall like an aspen. And she is bathed in a heavy sweat
2) They were lovers but not married. A solicitation is an urging where as a proposal is just asking.
3) No, the tone of the poem suggests that he is still in love but he isn’t happy about his failure to be able to marry her.
4) He believes her to be cheating on him. He is accusing her of being either unfaithful or a liar.
5) He gives it the twist that she purposely doesn’t satisfy him to kill his love.
6) He envisions her in arms worse than his own in his mind but obviously not hers. This man will be tired because he has slept with other ladies. He will think that she is calling for more sex. He is implying that he and the woman have had sex.
7) He doesn’t even know. He is trying to threaten her so that she won’t leave him.
8) She would remain innocent of sex before or outside of marriage if he told her what the ghost would tell. The speaker really wants her to stay with him.
The Flea
1) Before the first line the flea had bitten and sucked blood from 2 people, a girl and a boy. Between the first two stanzas the flea has been found and the woman is about to kill it, which she does in the third. Between stanzas 2 and 3 she kills the flea. The female character is unconcerned and acts as if it is no sin to kill the flea. She says that she killed it because it took life from the man.
2) The speaker is a pursuer of the woman but her parents don’t wish them to be together. She has denied his advances and sex. She has killed him by denying him this. She has done this to preserve her virginity and because her parents want her to. He is still alive because she is still there for him to uselessly pursue.
3) His argument is that through the tick mingling their blood, they are lovers and have had sex without her losing her virginity. This is a bent logic that is true to the belief at the time but still far-fetched.
4) The parents don’t want them together, the living walls of jet are the ticks sides. She will kill him, her, and their love. She will commit the three sins of murder, suicide, and deception of his love.
5) She triumphs by killing the flea and destroying their connection. His final argument that the flea took the life from her that would keep them apart isn’t very logical because she still won’t be with him.
6) After the conclusion of the poem they go on as always. He will pursue her and she will resist.
7) The apparition is more vengeful, he is mad at her. Whereas in the Flea he is still pursuing and pleading with her.
Dover Beach
1) strand: beach
girdle: belt, cord, or sash
darkling: in the dark
The cliffs of Dover are cliffs on the side of Britain that face France
2) The speaker is on the beaches of Dover at nighttime watching the waves and beach. He is speaking to any audience or maybe to a lover.
3) The visual aspects of the poem are all very romantic and sometimes verge on illusion because of their vividness. The auditory description is more realistic and mostly describes the movement of the waves and the sounds of the beach.
4) He is a believer in faith. However, he like so many others, is believing less.
5) The armies are figurative, they represent the armies of people who are and aren’t religious. The dark plains represent the dark topic and dark outcome of the discussion and battle.
6) The overall tone of the poem is sad and hopeless. The speaker has given up on the idea of a completely religious society and he is sad about it.
Getting Out
1) The blame goes out to both people in the couple; however, only one of them was the cause of “tightening the heart”.
2) The “matching eyes and hair” suggests that they were so alike that they did everything together and therefore were confined to each other and started to look alike. They aren’t very emotionally mature in that they can’t make up their minds. The final line shows that they are still undecided as to if they want to let go.
3) No but it can be mental imprisonment. They are mentally imprisoned by the relationship as in they can’t change.
4) The shift in tone between the two stanzas goes from angry to wanting and rememberance. The two people still somewhat love each other, because they are still reminded of each other when they see people who look like the other. Also because they look forward to the yearly letter.
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