Unanswered Questions
22 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
5
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What does this mean about the interpretation of Lauretta's song at the end of Day 3?
At the end of Day 3 of the Decameron, Lauretta sings the following song after dinner, at the request of the new "king" Filostrato:
What dame disconsolate
May so lament as I,
That vainly ...
- 79.6k
5
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0
answers
2k
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What metaphor(s) are represented by the mysterious figure in Charles Causley's "Innocent's Song"?
The other day, I came across this rather sinister poem by Charles Causley, set to music.
Innocent's Song
Who's that knocking on the window,
Who's that standing at the door,
What are all ...
4
votes
2
answers
93
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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 ...
CommunityBot
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3
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0
answers
82
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Why does the chronology of Smith's The Fraud jump about?
Zadie Smith's The Fraud (New York: Penguin, 2023) is historical fiction about the novelist William Harrison Ainsworth and the Tichborne Case. The story is told largely from the point of view of ...
- 35k
3
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0
answers
117
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John P Portelli, "Upwards I Surge"
This question seeks an analysis of John P. Portelli's very short poem "Nog la 'L Fuq" / "Upwards I Surge" (1977), originally written in Maltese and included with an English ...
3
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0
answers
238
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Is there an anti-semitic subtext in Roald Dahl's The Witches?
I read this article which suggested that Roald Dahl's The Witches is basically a work of anti-Semitism. Now I am aware of Roald's own apparent/alleged anti-Semitism but this is a question specifically ...
- 10.2k
3
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0
answers
339
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Ko Un's "Around Unmun Temple at Ch'Eongdo"
Ko Un's poem "Around Unmun Temple at Ch'Eongdo" can be read, in its English translation by Sunny Jung (and Hillel Schwartz?), at the Poetry Foundation website. There's a lot to unpack in ...
- 79.6k
3
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0
answers
476
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What is "ache-and-pain-a-me back-o-hardness" in "We the Women"?
I need an explanation for what Grace Nichols is trying to say in the following stanzas from her poem "We the Women":
We the women who cut
clear fetch dig sing
We the women making
something ...
- 51.8k
2
votes
0
answers
10
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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 ...
- 35k
2
votes
0
answers
109
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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 ...
- 68.9k
2
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0
answers
86
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What's with the rat and the bride in Gabriela Mistral's La rata?
In the first stanza of Gabriela Mistral's poem La rata animals run after other animals in a way that defies expectations. In the remaining stanzas, the speaker addresses someone else, telling him or ...
- 51.8k
2
votes
0
answers
976
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"Walking to Work" by Frank O'Hara
I'm looking for any insight on the poem "Walking to Work" (1952) by Frank O'Hara. I feel like the meanings are just escaping me, and I can't find any analysis on the Internet to support/...
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1
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0
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40
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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 ...
- 213
1
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0
answers
37
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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 ...
- 51.8k
1
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0
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782
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How do you understand Auster's Baumgartner ending?
Paul Auster's last novel ends with a cryptic:
"When he comes to the first house and knocks on the door, the final chapter in the saga of S.T. Baumgartner begins."
My interpretation, which is ...
- 35k