Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Poem questions?

I had to read 3 short poems and answer questions on them and some of the questions confuse me because the poem confuses me. The poems are ''The Day-Breakers'' by Arna Bontemps, ''Sanctuary'' by Elinor Wylie, and ''This Door You Might Not Open, and You Did'' by Edna St. Vincent Millay. So the questions are for ''The Day-breakers'':



1. What kind of strife does the speaker wish to avoid? What kind of struggle does he think worth dying for? Explain the meaning of ''Beating a way for the rising sun''



2. In the context of the poem, what might the rising sun symbolize?



''This Door You Might...''



1. The room in this poem stands for soemthing other than itself, something that is not directly mentioned in the poem. What quality of aspect of the speaker might the room represent?



2. Why is the speaker angry with the person addressed? Why does the speaker want the room ekpy private? Why must the speaker never behold the other's face?



Poem questions?kawasaki



THE DAY-BREAKERS



1. The strife to avoid is using weapons ie ''With swords''



strategy worth dying for is daily agitation through peaceful demonstrations ie. ''Beating a way for the rising sun.''



Agitation in preparation for a definite new beginning.



2. New beginning



Bluebeard



1. Latent intangible existential identity ie. ''this alone out of my life I kept /Unto myself.'' It is a conceptual abstraction.



2. The addressee is untrustworthy, exploitative, devious, murderer, repugnant, revolting and given to profanity ie. ''Here is no treasure hid,



No cauldron, no clear crystal mirroring



The sought-for truth, no heads of women slain



For greed like yours, no writhings of distress.''



The room keeps the essential life of the speaker, the very nucleus of self-identity, the existential castle of his/her skin ie. '' this alone out of my life I kept



Unto myself, lest any know me quite.''



Like God, the face will never be manifestly visible. It is a conceptual entity/an abstraction/an idea.



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