Questions tagged [interpretation]
Questions asking for general, open-ended, interpretation of a text. Use this tag if you want answers that address all and any aspects of the text: its meaning, atmosphere, style, images, structure, references, context, and so on. Best used on short texts only.
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Kolatkar's alphabet poems
tl;dr
What is the relationship between Arun Kolatkar's two alphabetical poems, the one in English, the other in Marathi?
Deets
Arun Kolatkar's Collected Poems in English (ed. Arvind Krishna Mehrotra; ...
- 38.9k
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Kolatkar's "The Setting Sun" as the conclusion to Jejuri
The final poem in Arun Kolatkar's sequence Jejuri (1974), "The Railway Station," depicts the narrator's frustration as he awaits a train that never arrives. "The Railway Station" ...
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How to understand the ending of the poem "An Old Woman" by Arun Kolatkar
The poem An Old Woman, by Arun Kolatkar, from his collection Jejuri, starts out quite straightforwardly. You are looking around the pilgrimage town of Jejuri, and are approached by an old woman who ...
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How to interpret this passage in McCarthy's The Passenger?
Late on in Cormac McCarthy's The Passenger the protagonist, Western, has been meeting with his lawyer, Kline, to discuss what can be done about Western's ongoing harassment by the authorities. The ...
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How do you interpret "Before the Law" on its own vs. in The Trial?
On its own, "Before the Law" has spawned numerous different readings. It was published as its own story in 1915 and again in 1919. It was published again in 1925 in The Trial; instead of a ...
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How does Passing make use of its epigraph from Countee Cullen's "Heritage"?
Nella Larsen's novel Passing (1929) uses as its epigraph the following quotation from Countee Cullen's celebrated poem "Heritage":
One three centuries removed
From the scenes his fathers ...
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‘Medusa’ by Countee Cullen
Here’s the sonnet ‘Medusa’ (1935) by Countee Cullen:
I mind me how when first I looked at her
A warning shudder in the blood cried, “Ware!
Those eyes are basilisk’s she gazes through,
And those are ...
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What is the significance of the 'one word' in Gabriela Mistral's poem Una palabra
In Gabriela Mistral's poem Una palabra (literally "one word"), the speaker says (in the first stanza, from the translation in Mapping a different star: five poems by Gabriela Mistral),
I ...
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Social commentary in "In the Graveyard" by Chekhov
Within "In the Graveyard" (1884) by Chekhov, the narrator and his friends meet an actor in a graveyard. They initially mistake him to be a clerk, and are promptly corrected.
"No, an ...
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Questions about Alfred Noyes' Midnight Express #4: Is Mortimer's death suicide or murder?
I have this(these) question(s) regarding Alfred Noyes' "Midnight Express"
Because I have about ten questions regarding this, I will post each individually.
I don't want to give any exerpt ...
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Questions about Alfred Noyes' Midnight Express #3: What is Mortimer's "escape"?
I have this(these) question(s) regarding Alfred Noyes' "Midnight Express"
Because I have about ten questions regarding this, I will post each individually.
I don't want to give any exerpt ...
- 213
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Questions about Alfred Noyes' Midnight Express #1: Why did Mortimer forget what he read in the battered old book?
I have this(these) question(s) regarding Alfred Noyes' "Midnight Express"
Because I have about ten questions regarding this, I will post each individually.
I don't want to give any exerpt ...
- 213
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Gabriela Mistral's La flor del aire
Gabriela Mistral's poem La flor del aire is the second in a group titled "Historias de loca" ("Madwoman's stories"); it comes right after La muerte-niña. The speaker of the poem ...
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Who or what is Gabriela Mistral's death-girl?
Gabriela Mistral's poem La muerte-niña is the first in a group titled "Historias de loca" ("Madwoman's stories"). According to the first stanza, she was born in a cave, but ...
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Gabriela Mistral's La pajita
La pajita is another poem from Gabriela Mistral's second collection Ternura ("Tenderness") that uses simple language without necessarily being easy to interpret.
On the surface, it is about ...
- 52.2k